An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Four

A/N: I'm gonna be in and out of service for the next two weeks or so, so if I'm slow with an update or I don't respond to comments/messages, that's why 😄❤️❤️

****************

I stood in front of the portrait, still covered with drapes, and put my hands on my hips. I pulled out my Stark glasses and had Ana do a quick scan of the wall to give me some information about just what I was seeing. I'd had an idea on my way downstairs, and now I needed to know whether it would be possible.

I looked at the information on my Head's Up display, then smiled to myself as it confirmed exactly what I'd been hoping. This house was made of brick, and between the portrait and the brick, there was a layer of wallpaper and a layer of wood paneling.

"Perfect," I whispered to myself. I grinned at the portrait, even though she couldn't see me through the drapes, and then I turned on my heel and started for the front door.

Before I could reach it, somebody grabbed my arm and stopped me in my tracks. I whirled around, striking out with my free arm on instinct and ripping the other one out of the person's grasp. I managed to stop my fist just before it made contact as I realized the person had familiar bright red hair.

Bill was standing in front of me, his hands up in surrender and a grin on his face.

"Sorry, Alexa," he whispered. "I didn't mean to startle you. And thanks for not finishing that punch."

"Bill! What are you doing?" I whispered back, dropping out of my fighting stance as the adrenaline faded away. At least all that work I'd done this summer was still paying off.

"I should be asking you the same thing," he said. "You look like you're heading for the door. Aren't you supposed to be on cleaning detail with my mum?"

I just shrugged. "I'm kind of doing something related to that, technically."

"Really? What?"

"Can I explain outside? I'm gonna lose my mind if I have to keep whispering everything so we don't wake the demon portrait."

"Sure."

I turned and headed back out the front door, and Bill followed me. Once we were safely on the front step, away from the hair trigger of the portrait, I turned back to him.

"Alright, so that demon portrait? I'm sick and tired of it," I said. Bill nodded, shooting a glare back towards the house in the direction of the portrait. "So, I'm going to do something about it."

"What are you going to do?" he asked. "You can't pry it off the wall, it's stuck. Believe me, I've personally tried everything I could think of."

"Don't worry, I thought of that. Since I can't remove the portrait from the wall, I'm going to remove the wall from the house." I grinned, and Bill just looked shocked. He didn't say anything for a few beats, so I went ahead and explained. "These old houses are all made of brick. But that entrance hallway has this horrible dark wallpaper all over it, along with a bunch of tacky wood paneling behind it. The portrait's not permanently stuck to the house. It's permanently stuck to the wallpaper, and at the very most the wood, which is easy to get rid of."

Bill just stared at me for another minute, then slowly, a smile spread across his face.

"Alexa, you're a genius."

"Thanks! It's kind of my brand."

Bill laughed. "Fair enough. Although, I have to ask, how exactly are you planning to remove part of the wall?"

"A few muggle power tools ought to do the job," I said. "That's where I'm headed, actually, to pick up the gear I need to take that thing down."

"I like it," he said, nodding appreciatively. "Although, I feel like I have to mention that the... organization... doesn't really want non-members leaving by themselves. It's not very safe these days."