Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. The doors, the floors, cabinets, and other furniture. Some of the wardrobes were rattling, which made Sarah wonder whether boggarts had taken refuge within them. The living room curtains, similarly to Grimmauld Place, had been overtaken by doxies.
Safe to say, cleaning Copper Beech was going to be a lot more of an ordeal than Sarah initially expected. Thank Merlin that Mrs Weasley was there to organise and help them. The group was gathered in the foyer, awaiting instructions.
"Alright. This is a large house, so we should focus on making the important areas habitable," Mrs Weasley began, staring at the group like a Captain with his sailors.
The group was exactly who Sarah expected to show up; Fred, George, Capri, Fleur, and Sirius. Still, she was thankful for their help. On her own, the house would take ages to clean up.
"Capri and Fleur, try and tame the garden!" Mrs Weasley instructed.
That was the job no one wanted. It was tipping it down with rain outside, and the temperature felt as if it was below zero. Capri and Fleur shared a look before nodding reluctantly. Sarah was tempted to jump in to help. However, Mrs Weasley had already assigned her a job before she could.
"Sarah, George, you'll clean the living room."
"Great! We have to deal with the doxies?" George complained, throwing his arms out in annoyance.
His complaint went ignored.
"Fred, Sirius. You'll clean the formal dining room. I'll clean the downstairs bathroom and then get started on the kitchen," Mrs Weasley finished.
Fred and Sirius grimaced at one another.
From a box beside her feet, Mrs Weasley withdrew multiple copies of a household chores spellbook. She had enough so that each small group received one. Sarah took one, finding the cover of the Witch surrounded by household objects like a broom and a pan quite unnerving.
"Use the spells in there to make the process faster. Ideally, we should have the downstairs and garden done by lunch!" Mrs Weasley sent them on their way.
Mrs Weasley hurried off to the bathroom with a basket of cleaning potions and her spellbook, leaving the others loitering in the foyer.
"The garden in this weather! I'm fuming!" Capri complained as she pulled her winter cloak on.
"Eet eez most unfortunate weather!" Fleur agreed, staring at the window warily.
"Cutting the overgrown grass and deweeding the cobblestone is easy. There's spells in that book for those. You'll be done in no time. I think what Mum really wants you two doing is the kitchen," Fred told them, eyeing the door into the dining room with distaste.
"The kitchen must be terrible," Capri muttered, heading out the front door after Fleur.
Sarah turned to Sirius and Fred, "George and I will do the foyer as well, so don't worry about it."
Sirius, perplexed, asked, "Why are you voluntarily doing more work?"
George nudged her with gritted teeth, "Yeah, why are you volunteering us?"
Sarah beamed at them, "Trust me, George. They'll need all the help they can get when they see the size of the dining room."
George and Sarah laughed at the anguish on Sirius' face.
"Can't be that bad," Fred stated, a confident smile gracing his face.
"Don't be so sure," Sarah responded, tilting her head coyly.
YOU ARE READING
Confident | Fred Weasley
FanfictionSarah Copper made Fred Weasley's pulse race. There was something about the confidence that did it for him. * * * "So, Sarah - " George began. "We were hoping we could have your help?" Fred continued, draping an arm on the back of the sofa. "Sure...
