An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Forty-One

Hermione and I left as soon as classes ended on Friday. I said goodbyes to Cedric and all my friends, and promised Jackson I'd keep him in the loop on Mr. Weasley and anything of interest over the break. I was pretty distracted for most of my goodbyes. I couldn't stop thinking about the Weasley family and everything they were going through, and it felt very strange not having the twins around, even for just the last few days of term. They'd been with me basically every step of the way at Hogwarts, so I couldn't help noticing their absence immediately.

Thankfully, it wasn't for too long. Using a sling portal, we showed up on the doorstep of 12 Grimmauld less than five minutes after our last class. We rang the bell, and barely ten seconds later it swung open to reveal Sirius, absolutely beaming at the both of us.

"Welcome!" he called, throwing the door wide and motioning for us to step in. "So glad you could both be here."

"Thank you," said Hermione, quickly bustling past before heading for the stairs. "I'm going to go check on Harry."

I waved her off, then gave Sirius a weird look as I stepped through the door, much more slowly than Hermione.

"You are concerningly chipper," I said. Sirius frowned, but his cheery attitude didn't dim.

"What are you talking about?"

"Arthur Weasley almost died. I was expecting a more somber mood in the house."

Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "First of all, he didn't die. He's going to be just fine, which I think we should be celebrating. And second of all... I have to say, I'm just happy to have people in the house for Christmas. Even with the updates we made, it gets a little... lonely, sometimes."

I frowned and clapped Sirius on the shoulder. "Fair enough. I'm glad I get to swing through before I go back to New York, too, despite the circumstances. And for the record, if you get bored or lonely, let me know. The twins and I know a few good places we can sneak somebody into the castle to hang out for some fun."

Sirius gave me a small smile. "Thanks, Tin Can."

"No problem, Fido. Now go back to singing your terrible Christmas carols, I need to go check on the twins."

He saluted and headed back off down the hall, and I didn't waste another second before booking it upstairs to the twins' room. I didn't even bother to knock before bursting through the door and immediately scanning for my friends' faces.

"Oi!" they chorused, both looking outraged at my sudden arrival.

"We could've been changing in here, you know!" cried Fred.

"Yeah, you'd have killed us if we'd just barged in on you!" agreed George. I ignored them both and crossed the room to pull them into a tight hug. After a second, they relaxed and hugged me back, sighing as we held each other tight.

"We're alright, Alexa," said Fred, much more softly than his earlier shout.

"Everyone's a-okay."

I sighed, holding the twins for another few seconds before letting go and stepping back. The adrenaline I'd been feeling on and off since they'd failed to show up at breakfast was finally, finally draining away.

"Sorry boys," I said, flopping down on George's bed. "I just... I don't know, I was worried. Bill told me everything was fine and Dumbledore confirmed it just after, but I guess I didn't quite believe it until now."

"Fair enough," said George with a shrug as he sat next to me. Fred moved to sit on my other side.

"We couldn't quite process that everything was fine until we got to do an in-person headcount ourselves," agreed Fred.