An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Nine

Sirius and I worked together to explain the muggle disguise, the legend, and everything we'd gone and done today. We fielded question after question, even as Mrs. Weasley stood up to finish off dinner and float the plates to the table. Just as she set them down, Lupin, Tonks, Mr. Weasley, and Moody appeared on the stairs to join us. Tonks, Mr. Weasley, and even Lupin stuttered a step at the sight of Sirius, but Moody didn't break stride as he headed to the table and made Bill scoot down so he could sit next to me.

"Alright Stark, I need you to tell me more about these muggle disguises."

I spent the rest of the night explaining legends and covers and muggle style techniques to Mad Eye Moody. That left Sirius alone to field all the other questions, but on the few occasions we made eye contact and shared a look, I knew he wouldn't trade spots with me for anything in the world, even if the twins were recovering from their shock enough to have an absolute field day mocking his outfit.

Finally, after hours of explaining the day's activities, it got late enough that everyone was ready to go to bed. Sirius and I fell into step with each other, both of us slumping in the same exhausted way.

"At least we'll never have to explain that again, if everything goes well," I muttered as our group started heading up the flight of stairs from the first floor to the second. "The whole point of the disguise is to keep you safe from people we don't want to explain it to."

"That's a little optimistic," grumbled Sirius. "Not everyone in the Order was here tonight, and at the very least Mundungus Fletcher is going to be grilling you for all the details he can get on how to replicate this whole muggle disguise thing."

I snorted. "The rest of the people in the Order know you better, so they're your problem. And if Fletcher wants details, he can take it up with Moody or learn how to use Google."

Sirius shot me a tired grin as we split off, and I returned it before continuing into the room I shared with Hermione and Ginny. It had been a good day, but it had also been a long one, and I was more than ready for bed.

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The next morning, we all woke up and headed down to breakfast like usual. Everyone was giving Sirius weird glances and staring at him out of the corners of their eyes, and I couldn't blame them. It was strange to see him come downstairs looking like some guy on the golf course in the Hamptons, but on top of that, he was practically vibrating with energy, even when he was sitting still.

"How much coffee have you had this morning?" I groaned, taking a sip of my own dark roast and glaring at Sirius. Everyone else had filtered out of the dining room after breakfast, leaving just the two of us.

"None! I'm just excited to finally start changing this place," he said, a massive grin on his face. I sighed. Fair enough, I suppose.

"Alright, then I guess we'd better get to it." I set my mug in the sink and pushed off the counter, and Sirius did a little jump as he turned to head upstairs. I just shook my head and smiled.

We'd only managed to get paint and carpet yesterday, but that was enough to get started. We spent the morning painting the walls, AC/DC and Aerosmith blasting out of my speakers while we worked. Sirius didn't really know any of the songs, but you'd think he grew up listening to them with the way he bobbed his head and got into the music.

Once we got the first coat of paint on the walls, there was nothing to do but let it dry. So, we ventured out again, grabbing lunch at a little muggle place before starting the hunt for some furniture to put in the former dining room once it was done.

We made a quick stop back at the house in the afternoon to put the second coat of that bright red paint on the walls, then left it to dry while we wandered. By the end of the day, we had a good idea of all the furniture we wanted to put in the room and just how we wanted it to look. The next morning, we put down the fuzzy carpet Sirius had picked out, and then loaded in all the furniture with a little help from my sling portals. We worked all day, and managed to finish up just before dinner.