Harry and Sirius both turned around, and Sirius' jaw dropped when he saw the one woman he thought he would never see again. "Is that you Courtney?" Sirius asked, as he looked at the blonde-haired, light-blue eyed witch. Courtney winked at Sirius, and made her way to their table. She sat on top of Sirius' lap, and kissed him on the cheek.
"I missed you a lot Sirius." Courtney said in a sad voice. Harry just looked at Sirius, until he asked "Sirius, who is this woman?" Sirius looked at his godson, and said "Courtney, this is my godson, Harry Potter. Harry, this is my longtime friend, Courtney." Harry reached for a handshake from Courtney, and she eagerly shook his hand. "Heya Harry, I've heard some stories about you." Harry looked at Courtney with a questioning look, and asked out of curiosity "what exactly have you heard about me?"
Courtney looked at the lightning-shaped scar on Harry's forehead, then proceeded to answer his question "I heard you can form a pretty powerful Patronus for one as young as you. Also, that you killed a Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets a year ago, and that you stopped ol' Voldemort from getting the Sorcerer's Stone. And that you were quite the ladies' man." Harry felt himself turn red, then went back to his dinner.
When he was finished, Sirius bid goodnight to Courtney, and the two went back to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Upon entering, Harry found himself looking at his snowy owl, Hedwig, and she had a reply from both Hermione and Ron. Harry congratulated Hedwig on the good job, and quickly opened the letters. He read Hermione's letter first, and it said:
"Dear Harry,
I do hope you are having a better summer, now that you moved out of your aunt and uncle's house. I asked my parents, and they said I could come stay with you and Sirius, and I'll be in London next week. Can't wait to see you, but until then, have fun.
-Hermione
Then he tore open Ron's letter, and reading it took longer, because Ron's reply was rather lengthy.
"Dear Harry,
I talked to my mum and dad about it, and we would all love to come over to you and Sirius' house. We're coming next week by Floo powder, so if you can get Sirius to tell us the address, we'll Floo right over. Also, dad managed to get everyone a ticket for the Quidditch World Cup, even Sirius. Since we're all coming over, we're all going to leave from your house to the site of the Quidditch World Cup. Also, when we come over, I was wondering if Hermione was coming, because she hasn't answered my letter yet. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, mum wanted me to tell you that, we are going to do our clothes and school shopping the day after the World Cup. Hope you're having fun with Sirius.
-Ron
Harry's heart filled with joy, both Hermione and Ron were going to come. In fact, all of the Weasley family was coming: Fred, George, Percy, Ginny, and Mr. & Mrs. Weasley. He walked to Sirius, and said "Sirius, Hermione, Ron and the Weasleys are coming next week." Sirius smiled and replied "Well we better get this place in shape for company. This house has been uninhabited for over twelve years, and that old excuse for a house-elf that lives here, hasn't bothered keeping the place fit for human life. So tomorrow, we are going to start cleaning up house.
Harry nodded, then headed to his room to go to sleep. In one week, he was happier than he had been for most of his life. He changed into his pajamas, brushed his teeth, then got under the covers, as sleep found him peacefully. He rested well for the rest of the night, waiting for tomorrow to come, so he could immediately help Sirius clean the house.
When Harry woke up he went to the bathroom to brush his teeth, and wash his face. After he had done that, he went to the kitchen to get some breakfast. When he entered, he saw Sirius reading a morning edition of the Daily Prophet, and a variety of magical cleaning supplies behind his godfather. He sat down and helped himself to some eggs, bacon, and toast. As he finished eating, Sirius folded his paper and put it down "Harry, did you sleep well?," Harry nodded, and then continued listening to Sirius "last night when I was talking to Courtney, she told me she wanted to help clean up the house, so she'll be here shortly."
No sooner than Sirius said that, Courtney popped in the kitchen from out of nowhere. "Hey there Harry," said Courtney, she then sat in a chair by Sirius and continued talking "so what are we going to start cleaning first?" Sirius said "We'll start with the drawing room, there's a nasty infestation of Doxies in there. Then, we'll move on to the bedrooms." Harry grabbed a shiny, black bottle called Doxycide, and a big bucket, then he, Sirius, and Courtney proceeded to the drawing room. When they entered, they could see about twelve years worth of dust was piled up, and they put on nose and mouth masks. Sirius said, his voice muffled under the mask "point the bottle at the curtains and spray them completely. On the count of three. One, two, three."
They all started spraying, and the amount of Doxies falling out of the curtains was ridiculous. There were hundreds of them, and the tiny cleaning crew had to toss them all in the bucket that Harry brought up. After making sure they had gotten rid of all of the Doxies in the room, they started sweeping up the dust in the room, which was rather hard to do, because Courtney opened the window and the dust flew everywhere. It took them a solid two hours to finish cleaning the dust, and a solid six hours to clean the drawing room. They were all so exhausted from it, that they decided to move onto the bedrooms tomorrow, and went to sleep that day without eating anything.
The cleaning process was continued for the rest of the week, and on the day before Hermione and the Weasleys were coming, they finished cleaning the entire house. "Sirius," Harry started asking his godfather "why don't you get a different house-elf if you're tired of Kreacher?" Sirius contemplated this question, and finally answered "to be honest with you Harry, I've never thought about it. I'll definitely find a different house-elf. One that doesn't have any blood status prejudices and keeps a house clean. I might even hire five of them."
The day that everyone was supposed to come, Sirius, Courtney, and Harry went to Diagon Alley to go to Florean Fortescue's, and got some ice cream. Harry got a Banana Split with a cherry on top, Sirius got Minty Chocolate Chip, and Courtney got Cookies 'N Cream. After they finished, they paid for the ice cream and went back to Grimmauld Place. As soon as they stepped through the door, Harry heard a familiar voice "Harry, it's so good to see you. I hope you've been having a wonderful time." Harry turned around to see his bushy-haired best friend, Hermione Granger and her parents. While Sirius and Courtney were introducing themselves to Hermione's parents, Harry and Hermione were exchanging summer stories.
Harry helped Hermione take her luggage to her room, and she stared at the house in awe. "It's huge. I would've never thought that Sirius would have a house like this." Harry nodded, and said "Join the club." They went back downstairs, just in time to see the Weasley family arrive by Floo Powder. The first to come out of the fireplace was Ron, looking gangly and taller than he had last year. Then came: Ginny, Fred, George, Percy, Mrs. Weasley, and Mr. Weasley. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had a long time taking the luggage upstairs, but when they were finished, they were welcomed by the wonderful feast Mrs. Weasley had made. After eating dinner, the three friends went upstairs to go to bed, knowing that they were days away from going to the Quidditch World Cup.