An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Five

I was focused on the stairs with Lupin and Sirius, so when a loud POP! sounded behind me, I jumped and got into a fighting stance.

"Hey, watch it!"

"Yeah, you're gonna take someone's eye out with reflexes like that!"

I turned to see Fred and George, both fixing me with mischievous grins. They'd apparently decided to apparate downstairs instead of walking, even though they were only a few floors up.

"I guess it'll teach you two not to sneak up on me, won't it?" I shot back, a teasing grin on my face. Fred and George just shook their heads, but stopped short when they noticed the blank spot on the wall.

"Whoa! Is that what you've been up to since you left?"

"Alexa, how the bloody hell did you manage to get that down?"

"Muggle tech," I said, my grin only widening. The twins kept staring at the wall, but I turned back to the stairs and ignored them as they processed the updated design of the house.

Mrs. Weasley was the first to appear, looking a little flustered and confused.

"What on earth is going on down here?" she called. "And why hasn't that portrait started going? Don't tell me somebody finally found a way to shut her up?"

"Yup! That would be me!" I said cheerily, smiling and heading over to give her a hug as she made it down the stairs. "It's good to see you Mrs. Weasley."

"It's good to see you too, dear!" she said, hugging me back but still clearly distracted. "But how on Earth did you manage that?"

"Well, you see-"

"ALEXA!"

Before I could get into telling my story, a firey ball of red hair and energy barreled into me and almost knocked me flat. I laughed and returned the hug, barely managing to keep my balance well enough to save Ginny and I from a hard landing on the floor.

"Hey Ginny! Good to see you!"

"It's so good to see you too!" she said, still not letting me go. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too! So much!" I gave her an extra tight squeeze, and then we finally broke apart, both of us with massive grins on our faces.

"Welcome back, Alexa!" said Hermione, absolutely beaming as she came over to give me a hug. Ron and Harry were a few steps behind her, but both greeted me with smiles as the reached the landing.

"Hey, Alexa," said Ron.

"It's great to see you," Harry chimed in.

Neither of them made a move forward for a hug, probably since they'd reached an awkward teenage boy phase, so I stepped in and closed the distance myself.

"It's great to see you guys too," I said, pulling them both in tight for a hug. After a second, they both returned the hug, and when we pulled apart I was met with the smiling faces of so many of the people I'd missed most over the summer.

It was nice to see everybody together again after such a long break.

"Alright, now that everyone's said hello, I want to hear exactly how you managed this!" said Mrs. Weasley, gesturing to the spot of exposed wood paneling where Mrs. Black's portrait once hung.

I grinned. "Fortunately for all of us, my sort-of brother Harley is weirdly into HGTV, and he got me watching it with him."

Obviously, that didn't mean much to the wizards. I quickly explained how I'd realized Mrs. Black's portrait was stuck to the wallpaper, not the actual wall, and wallpaper was removable. I was hoping she wouldn't ask how I got the supplies, or where the portrait had gone now that it was off the wall, but I should've known I wouldn't get that lucky. I told her about the hardware store and blowing up the portrait, and although she didn't look happy about it, Remus backed me up and kept her from being too worried. All the kids behind her were grinning at me like I was a hero, and it was a serious struggle to keep a ridiculous grin off my face.