The Beginning (ISO: OotP, the trio, and Ginny)

[Mari]

Friday, August 16, 1996

Number 12, Grimmauld Place wasn’t what one would refer to as a traditional home. Naturally its neighbors were normal, and yet this home which never quite existed, just squeezed itself into appearance for the Order of the Phoenix. But if squeezing into place didn’t make you think twice, maybe the fact this home had the fidelius charm upon it made it different. Or maybe it was the picture in the hall of ranting Mrs. Black that made the house unique. For whatever the reason, the house was unique.

The summer had been dreadful, at least from Arthur Weasley’s view point. Lucius Malfoy was now the man’s boss. And his children were trapped in that miserable excuse for a camp. What was worse was that Lucius’ own son wasn’t even there? Didn’t that seem strange to anyone? Apparently not, rumor had it that Narcissa had taken her son on a tour of Europe. Arthur wondered why.

Luckily his precious youngsters were fine. Ron and Ginny managed to be the lucky ones. Arthur knew very well that Molly would die if anything happened to any of her children. She always said her boggart was the death of one of her children, even Percy. But things were normal for now, sort of.

With Lucius Malfoy as Minister, things definitely would never be the same. Arthur now feared the loss of his job was eminent. This was a muggle hating man, leading the wizarding world. What would he want with a man whose job was to protect muggles from wizards? Sure Arthur’s job was rubbish, but if he helped one muggle from a man eating loo, then he did his job. But everything was in jeopardy.

That is why the Order of the Phoenix was meeting. The main topic was school, since new issues would be confronting the trio, and jobs at the ministry. Both Arthur and Nymphadora were precious if the Order wanted inside information. In the house were some of the Weasleys and Sirius Black, to name a few. The rest were now arriving and soon the meeting of the Order of the Phoenix would take place.

Arthur was sitting in a chair in the kitchen apparently not alone, drinking a bit of tea, while reading the instructions off a box of batteries. “Fascinating, indeed.” He said as if the darn thing were so complicated and interesting. “Do you know that it says you shouldn’t carry these loose in your pocket or purse? Wonder why muggles would carry around a dangerous item? They are sold in store shelves with food and water.” Arthur returned to reading the label, wondering if wizards had ever tampered with them, which caused muggles to add on warning labels. But Arthur was sure they were just over protective, after all Muggles added warning labels to everything. He even heard that warning labels were on mattresses. Funny that muggles had so much faith in their items. It was both bizarre and fascinating.

[Yoshimar]

There were so many other things that he could be doing with his time. There was a particular potion at his home that needed to be finished before nightfall and yet there Severus Snape was, walking around the muggle side of London. Thankfully most of the people that occupied the houses that were near the Order Headquarters seemed to be either off on vacation, glued to whatever instrument they found entertaining, or otherwise busy to notice the tall pale wizard in black clothing that carefully walked down the streets.

It was probably too hot to be wearing black or even long sleeved robes but if anyone were asked they could probably think that Severus had started to not be affected by such mundane things as the sun, fatigue, weather, or other things that affected other human beings. It seemed that he didn’t even minded that he was certainly out of place among these type of people, or that he had most unnerving news to communicate, in fact no one would quite tell by looking at his face whether he was secretly planning to kill someone.

At the moment he wasn’t planning to kill someone, but just to make the little students he could have to run into when he reached the Headquarters suffer with veiled hints of doom.

That seemed to be the only good thing about leaving his small run down home, because truth to be told he didn’t feel at all like having to lead with any of the too cheery characters of the Order. Well perhaps Sirius Black since he would always taunt him.

The man stepped into the house, being one of the few that remembered not to knock on the door he detested having to hear Miss Black’s screams and shrieks coming from her portrait. Since he didn’t saw anyone in the hallway he concluded that he would probably be in their favorite place to meet: the kitchens.

Now why they chose the kitchens Snape had no idea, but he wasn’t one to dwell on the stupidity of others unless they were from his own students. In which case he found a secret pleasure since it usually wasn’t one of the students from his house.

Walking down to the kitchens he noticed Arthur Weasley looking at something that seemed to be a package of some muggle instrument which Snape (all though he should know what it was) he didn’t bother to figure it out. His presence didn’t stop Arthur from actually speaking out loud something that made Snape roll his eyes.

“All though you may loose your job you decide to read the fine print of muggle instruments, I sometimes really can’t help but to wonder what the requirements for joining the Order are.”

[Mari]

Arthur thought the footsteps he heard were that of his sweet Molly or one of his dear children. If not he hoped them to be the footsteps of Sirius or Nymphadora. But they weren’t. Instead the footsteps were that of Ron and Ginny’s potions master. “Good evening Professor Snape,” Arthur gave the man respect, because that was his children’s teacher and he didn’t want to be a cause of them suffering more detention. “I didn’t hear you sw… come in.” He wanted desperately to say swoop in, since that was from Ron’s description of his teacher. He thoroughly enjoyed hearing his children refer to Snape as an overgrown bat.

Arthur immediately put down the box he was reading and turned to face Snape. Unlike Snape, Arthur gave a half smile. The professor’s words were damaging but there wasn’t much Arthur could do. Malfoy was minister, and if the rotten slimy jerk had it in for him well he was stuck. “Well, Professor, not much I can do at the moment. So I… like to dabble a bit in my hobbies. You must have some hobbies of your own,” he paused for a moment. In his mind he finished the sentence up with, ‘since sleeping from the rafters of the ceiling by your toes isn’t much of one.’ “You know potion making, reading, and giving detentions.” Arthur let it slip.

Of course realizing his Freudian slip, Arthur quickly redeemed himself by inviting Snape to sit down. “Please Professor sit down, have a spot of tea.” He could sense Snape wanted less and less to be in the room with him, and with the children coming, Snape wasn’t going to get in a better mood. “I think will be moving to the other room as soon as more people show up. Last, Molly was supposed to be in there cleaning.” Arthur could see Snape’s every expression, so he went back to reading the back of the battery box.

He would have gone on about how fantastic it was for people to not only include English, but other languages as well. He thought it showed how the muggle world was trying to unify and make things for everyone. Arthur believed that wizards could learn from such a muggle behavior. But noticing this was Snape, he kept his thoughts inside. He would have to share them with men like Dumbledore who appreciated such wise thinking. Arthur sipped his tea and remained quiet, praying that his children or wife would soon appear.

[Cat_Astrophe]

Summer cleaning a house was not the way she had imagined she would spend it, but Ginny supposed there wasn't much else to do. Assignments over the school break? That was ridiculous. Read ahead in her text books? Did she look like Hermione? Honestly, it was absurd to spend her days dusting and de-pixie-ing this place when there were places in the Burrow that still needed work. Then again...she wasn't crazy about discovering what a mess the twins could have made to their room...

And now, there were only weeks left before returning to Hogwarts. Ginny couldn't wait. Considering she was in the Order of the Phoenix headquarters, things were rather dull. She was still working on convincing her parents that she was at least old enough to sit and listen. Two years before she came to age, and hell, she was more mature that Ron. As if proving it, Ginny blew at a spider inching its way up the wall, not that it did anything. Raising her hand to squash it, she sighed.

She was resorting to insect exterminating to prove her worth. Sitting back, Ginny took a break from her assigned duty. The close was looking a lot better than before. For something that had held only old clothes, it had taken her forever to clean. She was still puzzling over what use Mrs. Black would have for a short red dressrobe that was obviously too small for her, and she didn't want to really know why. She'd just tossed it in the pile with the others and finished up the job before her mother came up to check on her.

Mum was unbearable at times. If it had been anyone else who had asked her to clean out a musty upstairs closet, Ginny would have refused, but her mum was the one person she was afraid of irritating. Beneath that plump, homely lady she called her mother was a banshee. She'd seen her mother's howlers to her brothers, and it was definately unnerving to see that side of her.

"Done! Until she decides I missed a spot..." Better claim she was finished before that happened. Twirling the rag absently, Ginny nearly kicked the door when she remembered the other banshee in the portrait downstairs. How Sirius had ever lived here, she did not know. Summer was proving to be very much a disappointment. Absently dragging the rag across the balcony banister, things only seemed to darken.

Ginny just didn't understand it. Even now it was so hard to believe that the most unlikely professor at school was part of the Order. It was just, well...unnerving. Professors weren't meant to be seen out of school. It was like an unwritten rule somewhere. Just too strange. Frowning, Ginny made her way down to the kitchen as well, set on finding out if something happened. At least until her mum kicked her out for Order business...Settling on the bottom stair, she faked polishing the banister for a moment before coming into the kitchen.

"Oh um...hello, Professor Snape. What are you doing here? Dad? Have you seen Mum?" Ginny kept her eyes away from the professor out of dislike, nodding to her father as she held up the rag. "I couldn't figure out where to put the clothes from the upstairs closet I cleaned.

[Mari]

A pleasant voice this time had distracted his reading, until she asked a question. She didn’t humbly ask when he had arrived and how to make him comfortable, not that Arthur expected that. It came off the way Sirius would talk. It meant she was listening to Sirius for too long. All Snape would have to do was tell Molly and the banshee in his wife would come out. Not only would Ginny be yelled at but Arthur too. She tended to blame their reckless behavior on his laidback ways.

Arthur quietly sighed, shaking his head in disbelief. He silently muttered, “Ginevra Molly Weasley, what am I to do with you?” He knew the answer to that, love her. He loved all his children, each was special to him. Percy was about the only one pushing his luck. But he hoped one day his son would come to his senses and realize the most important things on the planet were those he loved. Fame and wealth were just bonuses, not necessities. Arthur cleared his throat and spoke so that Snape heard him correct Ginny, “Ginny, we do not talk like that to Professor Snape.” Sure they did, well not to his face, more like behind his back. Molly had always disapproved, correcting the children and telling them to show more respect, Arthur included. “Be a good girl, and apologize.”

When Ginny held up the rag, Arthur let out a few sneezes. The dust irritated his nose, mostly how he got out of his wife’s physical labor. His glasses in the process of his sneezes slid down his nose and became a bit askew. Arthur straightened them out and gently pushed the cleaning rag away. “Aren’t you a sweetheart, being mummy’s helper?” He was smiling, trying so hard to show what a wonderful family the Weasley’s were. Arthur and Molly knew that, but pure-blooded imbeciles tended not to see it that way. Being a bit more serious, Arthur proceeded to answer Ginny’s question, “No dear, last time I saw your mum, she was cleaning the main room.”

Arthur would have liked to have seen each and every robe be given to the poor and unfortunate of their community, however, he wasn’t sure if Mrs. Black had hexed any of the clothes. “I don’t know what your mum will do with those old robes, possibly use them for scrap. Oh and that red dress robe you were looking at, I found this picture nearly torn up in Kreatcher’s room.” He showed her a black and white photo of a young blonde girl. Although one couldn’t see the dress was red, one could tell it was the same because of the style. In its day it was a very stylish, a very pretty robe, today dust and age had settled on the item. He handed Ginny the picture of a blonde girl smiling wearing the robes. Arthur lifted his glasses as he wiped what appeared to be a drop of water from his eye. A tear? Arthur wouldn’t admit that he cried or that single tear left his eye. It was the weather, allergies, and chronic dry eye.

Arthur wanted to see what Ginny thought of the mysterious woman in the photo wearing that red dress robe. Of course knowing it was a Black, might have her instinctively hate the woman, though not for long. That was because the woman in the photo was Cedrella Black, but better known as Cedrella Weasley. She was the wife of Septimus and father to three boys, one of which was Arthur. Cedrella was Arthur’s mum, and the grandmother of the girl now holding the photograph.

[Cat_Astrophe]

The shake of a head and, as far as her lip reading could make out, her full name, that was always worth at least a little alarm. But rarely was he as bad as Mum. This wasn't one of those rare times, it was easy to see from his gentle scolding, and she returned a sheepish smile. Dad never seemed to angry too easily, but she hated disappointing him just the same. With a little nod of acknowledgment, she turned to Snape as she suppressed her reluctance.

"Sorry, Professor Snape," Ginny replied obediently, putting as much sincerity as she could into the words. For good measure, a smile was added as she felt grateful this wasn't school. Couldn't take house points if there was nothing to take. That was the real meaning behind the smirk and sly glint in her eye. Her brothers had always been on worse terms with Snape than her, but it didn't mean that she wouldn't end up sharing the hard feelings.

Her father's sneezes had the rag whisked behind her back as she shrugged innocently. That was what she'd forgotten to do, take it out back to shake it out. To make up for it, she gave it a quick shake behind her back as tiny particles floated to the floor. With her mother's cleaning spree, she'd have to mop this anyway, although she still couldn't understand why her mother couldn't charm a mop instead. Housework did not build character, only bored minds and tired arms.

Blushing with the "mummy's helper," Ginny loved her family, but she had to admit, being the youngest had its hard time. It was Snape, but it was still embarrassing to be treated as a child. Honestly, she would be of age in two years, and she was loads more mature than Ron had been at her age. She didn't even have to make a comparison against the twins. Enough was said right there.

"Oh...I forgot to check there..." Ginny frowned. There was her excuse to stay in here, hopeful that her father would explain Snape's presence. Eavesdropping was another option, her next idea as she nodded. Snape had better not be here for school reasons, unless visits to his individual students was a new thing he was attempting. In that case, then perhaps she should have tried a bit harder in Potions in the last semester. People could keep telling her that it was a lot like cooking, but Snape looked nothing like her mum, peering over her shoulder in one of her mother-daughter cooking lessons.

With her question answered, Ginny turned to leave the kitchen for an eavesdropping spot when her father caught her attention with a photo. Was that the rag she'd tossed aside earlier? It had to be, but the face was a stranger to her. It was a pretty girl, a happy young face that shocked her for a picture found in this house. Her immediate thoughts figured it was a Mrs. Black, but the wrong one.

"That's Sirius's mum? Then did she turn into such a hag!" the rude comment slipped out. The picture was definitely not the woman in the portrait outside, but who could it be? Her forehead furrowed slightly as she held the picture for closer examination, searching the gray for an answer with no success. If this was Mrs. Black, Sirius could have been a very pretty woman. He must have taken after his father...

The picture, was baffling, especially as her expression softened at a gentle wave from the photo. No, it couldn't have been Mrs. Black, but then what was the reason for her wearing that robe she had found? Touching the photo gently, Ginny looked up with confusion crossing her face as she handed it back to her father. "The owner of that red dress," Ginny spoke as if it were the only answer to the girl's identity. "Do you know who it is?"

[Red_heads]

Ron really didn’t think that after the summer camp he should be forced to do house chores. Yet there he was, for reasons unknown to him his mother seemed to fancy using him to clean up the highest places of the main room. The dust that had gathered really didn’t do much for his allergies and he really thought he should have been like the twins who had decided to leave before their mother would make them join the cleaning.

He sneezed covering his mouth with his sleeve as he used an old rag to make sure that the area was actually quite cleaned. Unlike Ginny Ron really did not try to do a good job as such this was probably the fifth time his mum had told him he had missed a spot yet Ron didn’t figure out what he had missed. Maybe it was that odd burn mark in the edge? He was convinced that could not be removed no matter the amount of cleaning supplies he used. Yet, perhaps he should spray it with water.

The moment he sprayed it with water and rubbed the stain was gone; wow it was quite impressing how some stains could be easily removed if one didn’t thought that they couldn’t be removed.

Well that did it, he was done that was until his mum decided he needed to clean a chandelier or something that was out of his reach. He thought that after fighting that stain he needed a break so before his mum could see him he slipped off and walked to the kitchen hoping to find something to eat but yet the person he saw there actually made him forget that he was hungry.

There were quite a bit of persons he would do the summer without and one of them in particular was the professor standing in the kitchen. While Ron might have made a crude comment when in the company of Harry or the older brothers he thought that at the moment he shouldn’t, it was better to ignore the vampire standing in the kitchen.

His blue eyes then saw the familiar shade of red head and he walked over after pointly ignoring Snape and walked to his dad and sister. They were holding an old photograph and as such he concluded that for the moment his mum couldn’t come and grab him by the ear telling them to head out to clean some other random room of the house.

“What’s that?” He asked curiously and since he was taller than both Weasleys it wasn’t difficult to see the photograph in their hands. The woman in the picture was quite the bird and she was smiling charmingly at him however Ron concluded that from the style of the robes and the state of the photograph the woman if alive would probably be an old lady.

“From where did you get that? I doubt that is the old hag yelling at people upstairs.”

[Iris2]

Hermione never would have thought that it would've taken so much work just to walk down a flight of stairs. The old portrait of Mrs. Black always made her feel incredibly uneasy and unwelcome. Hermione was, after all, the only complete Muggleborn in the house and that was a topic the woman in the painting loved to shriek about. With a Malfoy as Minister of Magic, the last thing she needed was to be shouted at by a stupid, old portrait. Although, she was lucky to be anywhere outside of home with her parents.

In order to convince her parents to keep her home from the Ministry summer camp, she had to tell them everything that had happened with Voldemort and how the Ministry was ignoring it. She succeeded in avoiding the camp, but she had made her parents so nervous that they barely let her leave her bedroom for a month. It took her a good two weeks to convince them that she would be safe with the Weasleys for the end of the summer. Of course, they thought she was going to the Burrow. If they knew that she was in any way associated with the people that were planning on fighting Voldemort and the Death Eaters, they would probably try to pull her out of the Wizarding world altogether.

She had made it down the staircase without disturbing any of the house’s former residents and she let a small sigh of relief escape her mouth. The sound of Ginny’s voice in the kitchen prompted Hermione to switch the book she was carrying from her right hand to her left and push the door open.

“From where did you get that? I doubt that is the old hag yelling at people upstairs.”

“Ron, you shouldn’t call Sirius’s mother an old hag.” she told him as she laid her book down on the table, not noticing the picture. “I believe the words miserable, vile and horrid should also be used.” Hermione’s was surprised at her own words and she flushed a little. She was not usually so bitter about things. Mrs. Black’s portrait just got under her skin.

“I think there are more Doxies in the upstairs reading room, Mr. Weasley.” Hermione told him plainly, taking a seat at the table behind her book. “I was just there reading through my Rune Dictionary and I heard something rustling in the curtains. If we still have some Doxycide, I can go check it out. We may not have gotten all of the eggs the last time.” Hermione didn’t really relish the thought of dealing with more Doxies, but she knew how busy Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were. They had more important things to worry about than a few more pests in the house.

“Hello, Professor.” She said quickly, realizing the Snape was also in the room. She hadn’t noticed him at first, but she was certain that it wouldn’t have bother him much. It wasn’t like Snape had ever shown her anything but disdain anyway.

[Mari]

Ginny’s apology might not have been that truthful, but it showed some respect towards her professor. She made him proud, how mature she could be. But Arthur wasn’t ready to let his youngest out of his sight that easily. She would be guarded by him and her mother, not to mention her older brothers. Ginny would be their baby, their last remaining little Weasley.

Arthur smiled as Ginny looked at the picture. He stifled a laugh as she called Mrs. Black an old hag. Arthur could think of a few more words to call her, but they weren’t suitable for not so mature audiences. As Ginny handed him back the picture, he quietly said, “she was one of the unlucky Blacks who got blasted off the family tree. She disgraced the name of Black when…”

Arthur was suddenly cut off when trudging footsteps entered into the kitchen. Arthur thought maybe it was Sirius and a war was about to ensue. But luckily that wasn’t the case, instead Ron walked in. He looked just as tired and overworked as Ginny. Molly was sure building character from these two, making them do everything the muggle way. He wondered what she would do in 2 years when Ginny would be of age, and all the Weasleys would be using magic. He actually had a dream that she would hide all their wands and make them scrub the burrow by hand. What fun?

Instead of any greeting to Professor Snape, Ron just wanted to know what everyone was staring at. Arthur replied, “A photograph, I think that’s what they still call it.” Arthur was just as playful as the twins. Fred and George inherited some of his wit, but most of it was unexplainable.

Ron was unlike Ginny, he needed about four more years to fully mature to some state. He ignored Snape and proceeded to just insult the late Walburga Black. Not that either was nice and needed to be put on pedestals. But for Ron’s own sake and the fact he would be spending ten months with the overgrown bat, Ron should have shown some respect to Snape. If not to keep himself from spending every waking moment in detention, it should have been at least to prove he has matured. But Ron was much like his father, and Arthur knew that Ron had stopped maturing long ago, just like Fred and George.

Another set of foot prints came bounding in. The voice of reason began to instruct Ron that it wasn’t nice to call Mrs. Black an old hag. She was right, they had no business to insult Sirius’ mother. He and he alone was the only one who had the right to do so. Arthur nodded with Hermione’s statement, until she began slipping out her own comments. Arthur furiously waved his hands to stop them and to explain who the picture was of. “No, this is not Mrs. Black. This is Cedrella Black, you won’t see her on the Black family tree. She married a Weasley. In fact, this woman is my mother, your grandmother.” Arthur handed the photo over to Ron so he could see a picture of his grandmother in her youth.

While Ron seemed to be quiet, Hermione nagged on about the Doxies. Arthur remembered seeing her put stuff in a cabinet, but he wasn’t sure if it was Doxicide or Mrs. Whipple’s Easy Cauldron Cleaner. Arthur pointed to the cabinet as he answered Hermione, “I think she might have some in that cabinet. If not she might have it with her.” Arthur wasn’t sure and he was asked to remain in the kitchen and greet the order members as they came in.

Upon hearing Hermione, greet her professor. Arthur looked sharply at Ron, hoping his son got the message. Yes, Arthur wasn’t the big Snape supporter, that honor went to Dumbledore. But Arthur figured Ron better start learning to respect people, even when he didn’t like them.

[Yoshimar]

“I am not here to discuss my hobbies, and neither should you be indulging in them Arthur.”

If Snape had an ounce of feelings he might have cared for the approval of the kids, after all he was a professor and most people thought that professors actually wanted the approval or at least acceptance of students but Snape didn't care for what these brats had to say. They wanted disrespect? He would show them disrespect once they were back in school by taking points away for even breathing too much over their potions.

When the youngest Weasley spoke Snape merely rolled his eyes. "An Order member Miss Weasley oh but truly you would have no idea what that is...oh right your parents don't see you fit to join..." Snape was really childish at moments, taunting students that could not even reach to his knees but there was just some sort of sick pleasure in doing it.
"I seem to be the only competent member since I see that no one else is on time for the meetings." Snape said as he sat down in a chair looking at each of the persons in the room.

"Pity that it seems that the young ones are more bound to be on time, but then again I think that is because they are just trying to eavesdrop, quite a nasty habit that shouldn't be found in well behaved persons." He drawled clearly just trying to get on everyone's nerves. After all they were getting on his nerves not only with their presence but also with wasting some of his precious time that he could be using for doing the fine art that was potions brewing.

"All though you are being far more resourceful than the real members at least you can do something unlike some of the members that spend the day locked up keeping animals company." He could have preferred to use that phrase for when Sirius would be present but seeing at how he didn’t seem to be coming down anytime soon. “And yet even he is late I do wonder what he could be doing? Chasing birds?”

At the whole event over a photograph Snape rolled his eyes this was such a waste of his precious time. What was next? Bring out old school mementos and show them off? No...hopefully not if Sirius was to take out old school photos Snape could make sure that dementors were the last of the convict’s worries.

[wintersnow]

Huffing and puffing from the lower levels Molly sighed a breath of relief as she pushed the door to the second drawing room open. She set an overloaded laundry basket down on the floor, and then stood straight cracking her back. "Well don't dawdle," she said aloud as a few other laundry baskets came floating in. They settled themselves down by her basket and sat silent. Stretching once more Molly grunted, her back popping again. She was getting to old for this stuff, but then again. . .she was a mother and a mothers job was never done. . .no matter how old her children were.

Come to think of it wasn't this the room that Ron had been working on? She pursed her lips to the side and spying the ladder he'd been perched upon, climbed it and checked it over. She gave an exasperated sigh. "Ronald Weasley. . . " she muttered under her breath. It took so little effort to wipe dust and spray cleaning fluid on a wooden surface but no, Ron didn't ever give much more than Quidditch his all. Actually that was unfair. You're just being a foul tempered woman, she thought to herself. Ron had . . .done an okay job. There were still streaks of dust, but she supposed that it was better than nothing. A flick of her wand and a small rag was in her hand as she wiped up what was left of the mess and climbed down from the ladder putting the rag in her apron pocket. She trudged toward the door, her mind on making dinner. With a flourish of her wand the clothing in the baskets wriggled and sprang to life being folded by invisible hands and stacked into separate little piles. She'd fetch the clothing later and put them in their respective bedrooms.

It took little time to get to the kitchens from there, and hear a very greasy voice drawling from inside. So Snape had come. Professor Snape, Molly. Much like her husband she had gotten so used to hearing her children referring to the man as Snape.

And yet even he is late I do wonder what he could be doing? Chasing birds?

She pushed through the door. "If you're talking about Sirius, I think he's upstairs. And hello, Professor, I'm so glad you've shown up. Will you be staying for dinner?" She said to the overgrown bat. As much as an asset that Snape was to the Order. . .Molly didn't like it. Sure Dumbledore trusted him, but Snape was always acting childish and foolish around Sirius. Trying to constantly press his and the children's buttons. Having him here was about as fun as having the Malfoys over. She had to admit a Malfoy like vibe always seemed to emit from him.

She smiled seeing Arthur, Ron and Ginny looking at an old Photograph. Peeking over their shoulders looking down on to Arthur's mother. "Bit of a family history lesson, dear?" she said with a grin. "Hope you haven't gotten too involved. I need Ginny to help me with dinner." Molly gave her daughter a soft pat on the shoulder. "Come and wash up, we've got rolls to bake. Ron I have clothes folding in the room where you just cleaned the cabinet top, you did a fair job." So she was lying. . .she didn't have the energy to scold him for half-arsing it. "Ron, you wash up too, I need you to start cutting up the vegetables."

She gave Arthur a peck on the cheek. "Should save that and put it in the photo box."

On the counter sat a rather over sized bowl with a hand towel laying over it. Molly washed up and took out two over sized cooking sheets. She removed the towel, over the bowl, and in an instant the sweet smell of oatmeal made biscuit dough wafted about the room. Flouring up her hands she began taking bits off the large risen lump in the bowl and fashioning them into rolls. Her wand in the dust rag-less pocket, Molly took up a butter knife and pressed a large X into the dough. Magic could have made this go faster, but Molly enjoyed doing things the muggle way with her children. At least while the children couldn't do magic. It reminded her of when they were little.

"Vegetables are in the pantry Ron. Six carrots, the celery, and that bag of potatoes, use five of those and leave the bag out." she instructed her son.

"Dumbledore hasn't arrived yet?", she said to Arthur. "And where's Harry?"

[Cat_Astrophe]

Cedrella Black. Her grandmother. It was clear she had gotten her looks from a different side of the family other than the other female Black she knew. Ginny's eyebrow lifted in surprise as she searched her father's face for the truth, for a resemblance to the black and white face that smiled back. It seemed that the name Black wasn't exactly synonymous for ugly, evil, house-elf corrupting hellions after all. No offense to Sirius.

She wasn't sure why she particularily disliked Snape. After all, she did try in class, and she was an angel compared to her brothers and their antics, apart from that tiny...incident in her first year. So why did Ginny hate the professor? Then he opened his mouth and she realized.

If only she hadn't already been reprimanded for a simple rude welcoming, she would have said something. Instead, her eyes darkened as he spoke, biting her tongue to restrict her comments. It wasn't a surprise, the words flowing from his lips. But it didn't mean that they didn't anger her whenever he spoke. Forcing a thin smile, Ginny decided to ignore him, turning her attention toward others less likely to provoke a curse from her. Peh...not in the Order...give her a few years and she would show him who was "competent."

Hermione and Ron, presences that further outnumbered Snape with those who didn't like him. Then again, the professor was practically outnumbered as soon as he had walked through the front door. Flashing a look that clearly illustrated her irritance at their guest, she gave a grin at the older girl's description of Mrs. black. That was another mutual feeling of hate in this household.

Mum just had to insist on being polite, even if it meant inviting Snape to stay through dinner. It would be a meal Ginny wouldn't eat much of, watching him closely for signs of poison slipping into food. He was the Potions professor; who knew what kinds of things he might have. Besides, he could probably glance at the soup and curse it with something.

"Hello Mum, Dad was just showing us a picture of our grandmother. Please say that doesn't make us family with the hallway bansh- Mrs. Black, does it?" Ginny peered over Ron's hand once more for a peek of the woman, suddenly feeling a light kinship with her now that her identity was known.

Nodding to her mum, Ginny headed toward the sink with a frown at Ron to follow along. There was always a bit of satisfaction when her brother was asked to help, a blow to the stereotype that as the only daughter, she was the only one that was required to help cook. Although...she'd heard from Hermione of some of Ron's Potions class mishaps...perhaps it wasn't best to have him cooking...

[wintersnow]

"Sirius is your father's cousin dear, so yes, it does make you related to Mrs. Black." Molly said stifling a smile at her daughters nose wrinkled in disgust at the thought.

She rolled another neat sphere in her floured hands and looked across the room to the clock that was sitting on the table by Arthur. It was the clock that was given to them as a wedding present and over the years more Weasley's had been added to the hands. All the hands pointed at Peril. It hadn't moved for weeks. Even Percy, her most successful son, or. . .relation in her husbands point of view, had his handle on the same place.

Molly was getting worried though. Harry was supposed to be showing up, and Dumbledore was supposed to be bringing him. Harry was like one of her own and it had never really occurred to her that she should probably add a hand on the clock just for him, until now. They were late, and if anything she could at least know if he was traveling now or not. Her brow furrowed in worry, her rolling of the dough becoming a little more forced. What if he got separated from Dumbledore during their travel and the death eaters had cornered him? What if someone had bewitched the broom he was flying on? Where WERE they?

She slapped the dough onto the pan. She marked the X across it so hard that the dough was literally cut into four sections. Dumbledore was late on some occasions, and normally those occasions involved danger.

"Arthur? Professor? Have either of you heard from Dumbledore yet?", she asked again in her worry.

[wintersnow]

He was in the air. The wind howled in his ears whipping his hair back against his face. The snitch, with it's silver wings was whizzing above him. He was almost in reach. He grabbed for it his fingers stretching to their fullest capacity to snatch it out of the air. His broom jolted underneath him and he missed. Harry leaned forward jetting his broom through the sky. He was nearly there. He stretched his arm out again, but again he was jolted - and then there was Dumbledore shaking him awake.

To be honest Harry never thought he'd wake up to find Dumbledore shaking him awake but then Harry thought that stranger things had jolted him from his sleep. A few days before Harry had received an owl saying that Dumbledore would be picking him up, and it appeared that he was here - though he had been a few hours late. Harry had been expecting him with the Dursley's that afternoon, but Dumbledore had never shown. Harry sent a few owls off to Sirius labeling them 'To Snuffles' but had yet to receive any word back aside from, "He'll be there."

Harry remembered reading something a book from Dudley's shelf called The Lord of The Rings. One line Harry had read reminded him ironically of this moment. "A wizard is never late. He arrives precisely when he means to." Harry thought that perhaps this was the best way to describe Dumbledore's attitude toward him.

It didn't take too long for Harry to get his belongings together from the cupboard under the stairs. As always they had been locked up, and as always when the time came about the cupboard burst open allowing him access to his things. With a wave of his wand Dumbledore had whisked them to where ever their destination was (which he supposed was Grimwauld), placed a letter on Harry's pillow and dissaperated.

With a thunderous CRACK they were in a back alley behind a home on Grimmwauld Place. Inside the house they were next to a muggle was sleeping in front of his telly. They really are thick. . .Harry thought watching the large bulbous man snore away, as though nothing out of the ordinary happened outside the window by his trash bins.

Dumbledore hurried him forward in no time Harry was back inside Grimmwauld, which despite the horrible decor, was looking MUCH better than he had left it last.

He heard voices coming from the kitchens and Harry didn't wait for Dumbledore to guide him. He bounded forward excitement filling his heart. He was back. He was back where he belonged and there was nothing that made him more happy than being among his friends.

This in mind, he burst through the kitchen door.

[Iris2]

“I think she might have some in that cabinet. If not she might have it with her.”

“All right, I’ll check.” Hermione answered, pushing her chair out from the table. “Thank you, Mr. Weasley.” She thought it would be best to leave Ron and Ginny to the photograph, seeing as it was a family matter, and she crossed the room to the cabinet Mr. Weasley had indicated. Hermione bent down to the cabinet and brushed a bit of dust off of the small door handle. The door opened with a creek and she began peering around for a sign of the squirting bottle of Doxycide.

"Pity that it seems that the young ones are more bound to be on time, but then again I think that is because they are just trying to eavesdrop, quite a nasty habit that shouldn't be found in well behaved persons."

“We aren’t here to eavesdrop, Professor.” Hermione told him as respectfully as she could, still having her head half-way into the cabinet. She wasn’t one to talk back to her elders, but Snape was just searching for someone to bicker with. He was trying to provoke them on purpose. Of course, they all listened in on Order meetings whenever they could. While Hermione did try and discourage her friends from being nosy, she couldn’t help the interest it all held with her. They were discussing things that could have a dramatic affect on her future, after all.

The Doxycide was nowhere to be found and upon hearing Mrs. Weasley enter the room, Hermione decided it would be easiest to just ask her. Mrs. Weasley generally knew where everything was all of the time. Especially when it came to her children. She was always amazed at Mrs. Weasley’s talent for knowing when Ron was getting himself into trouble.

“Mrs. Weasley, do you know where the rest of the Doxycide is? I think we missed a few in the reading room upstairs.” She hoped she wasn’t being a bother to the Weasleys. They were both probably more concerned with the Order meeting than with a few pesky Doxies, but she wanted to be as much of a help as she could. She knew how hard Mrs. Weasley was working to clean up the old, Black house. It certainly wasn’t an easy or delightful responsibility.

"Arthur? Professor? Have either of you heard from Dumbledore yet?"

At the sound of Mrs. Weasley’s question, Hermione felt a small twinge of nervousness. She hadn’t heard from Harry yet, and he was supposed to be arriving that night. That fact that he hadn’t shown up yet didn’t mean that something had happened to him, but Hermione couldn’t help but think about the kind of trouble and danger he could get it. The fact that he was being escorted by Dumbledore helped ease her nerves a bit, but it didn’t stop her from worrying altogether.

She heard someone come through the swinging door of the kitchen and upon seeing Harry, she rushed over to him, letting out a squeal mixed with delight and relief and pulled him into the biggest hug she could muster. It was safe to say that she had completely forgotten about Doxies.

[Yoshimar]

"If you're talking about Sirius, I think he's upstairs. And hello, Professor, I'm so glad you've shown up. Will you be staying for dinner?"

If Snape had an ounce of kindness he would have accepted in a polite matter since he couldn't remember when precisely was the last time he had an acceptable dinner (research, and other matters were often a lot more important than little things like dinner after all). However, since this was Severus he merely eyed Molly as if she had just asked him to roll around on the floor while he sang Christmas Carols. An exasperated and annoyed sight later he drawled.

"I rather get this meeting over with after all unlike the persons who remain in this house I do have plenty of work to do." Now Snape was aware he was pushing it, even pushing it with Molly who had not really gave him any reason to detest him. Well except being the mother of some of the most incompetent students Hogwarts had ever seen but truly it wasn't her fault that her offspring were so...imbecile. Then he glanced at Arthur and came to a conclusion.

It was indeed her fault; it was all in the genes.

He crossed his arms as he watched with disinterest as the family members were set in certain house membering duties. For once Severus was glad he lived alone. Having people constantly nagging him seemed like a tiresome matter.

"Dumbledore hasn't arrived yet?"
"And where's Harry?"

"Arthur? Professor? Have either of you heard from Dumbledore yet?", she asked again in her worry.

"If he had arrived I wouldn't be here wasting my time in pointless drabbles and actually start working." Snape said clearly annoyed at the fact that Molly kept asking questions.

Just as he said this a boy's head that resembled an urchins came into view and Snape braced himself. As much as he hated the boy only seconds after Harry had gone into the kitchen Dumbledore walked in and it was not prudent for him to speak ill of Harry while the old man's presence was in the room. As much as Snape enjoyed the fact that Dumbledore had arrived and as such this meeting could be cut short he had actually enjoyed the fact he was allowed to taunt the other Order members and their offspring but now he actually had to behave. Terrible, terrible, terrible timing!

It had been a while since Dumbledore had requested a meeting, and while worried actually showed in his features he actually smiled softly to the people in the room and even more brightly as he saw that Molly was working on dinner. While he couldn't complain since the owner of the place were he was staying was more than happy to cook and send him exquisite types of food there was just something about home cooked dinner that called to his senses.

All though he was smiling Dumbledore didn't at all seem presentable. To be able to hide he had to resort to wear old dark rags since his usually like for purple colored bright ones would be a give away to any wizard in the area.

"Ah, Molly dinner should certainly come before a meeting your timing is quite precise." The old man said as he smiled at the group that seemed to have formed around Harry. It wasn't good to keep friends away from one another sometimes it was all someone needed.

"Wouldn't you think it prudent to start the Order meeting first, sir?" Snape asked.

"Not much thinking can be done on an empty stomach and I wouldn't want to keep this young people from their well deserved meal."

[Red_heads]

Ron wished he would ignore his mother as easily as he ignored his professor. Ignoring Snape was an easy task but ignoring what his mother was asking him to do was a completely different matter. he was aware of the fact that she had not been quite truthful with her comment about the area he was cleaning, hell not even he thought he deserved praise but cooking was a hateful task that reminded him too much of potions. Not that he was bad; a mother that believes in equal rights had told them to help her with cooking probably even sooner than she had made Ginny help. Not to mention work a lot of more difficult tasks.

The red head had pretended for the past minutes to pretend he was actually looking at the photograph of his grandmother with interest, but he knew that as soon as his mother had Ginny start working he couldn’t ignore it. He handed the photograph back to his dad and then walked to gather the ingredients his mother had set him. As he grabbed the knife and started cutting up the pieces of ingredients he found it very hard to not throw the knife at the greasy haired professor in front of him. Ron could never hold back his temper when people were throwing jabs at the women in his life, more so when it was to the main one: Molly Weasley.

The boy glared at the professor and looked up at him tempted to shout something at him. However for once he re-thought things, Snape would be in control of his student life at Hogwarts so it was better to pretend he wasn’t bothered by it. It might give him more things to use when back at school. That didn’t stop him from glaring at the pale man with such ferocity that he wasn’t focusing on what he did and only became aware when he felt the blade came in contact with his hand.

He shouted loudly but it was in that moment that Harry came into the room and Hermione ran over. For a moment Ron felt envious, being the childish immature person he was. Once again the attention was on Harry, Ron wondered if he might bleed to dead but no one would notice.

The cut wasn’t too deep but deep enough to be worrisome and he grabbed a cloth and wrapped around his injury and walked to were Harry was and put a hand on his shoulder. “There mate, I kept thinking we were going to have to go and fetch you!”

[Mari]

“I am not here to discuss my hobbies, and neither should you be indulging in them Arthur.”

Arthur merely half smiled at Professor Snape. He could care less what a man who crept around in dungeons and spied on innocent children thought of him. In Arthur’s opinion, his eccentric love of muggle items like plugs and batteries weren’t that bad. It was true that it somewhat annoyed Mollywobbles, but even she never said not to indulge on a hobby. Still if she didn’t get on his case about it, then it wasn’t any of Snape’s bloody business.

“An Order member Miss Weasley oh but truly you would have no idea what that is...oh right your parents don't see you fit to join…”

Now that comment stung. Why? Arthur and Molly weren’t about to share parental guardianship with Snape. Yes, it was an immature comment, but it verged on something Malfoy would spit out of his mouth. “Professor,” he had to hold back the urge of wanting to strike his children’s teacher right in his swollen sized nose. “Ginny Weasley is my daughter and though quite intelligent, I don’t want her dragged into our mess. And just as a further reminder, I have 7 children, 5 of which are adults while you have none. I think Molly and I are doing a wonderful job, as we don’t have low lifes, criminals, or Death Eaters in the family.” There that was a direct blow to Snape.

May he heard it, maybe not It didn’t matter much since the room filled ever so more, and the conversation switched from Ginny being a baby to Arthur’s mother. He smiled as the children seemed mildly interested in the photograph. They had to admit it was just a bit more fascinating then doxies or Snape’s lectures.

“Bit of a family history lesson, dear. Hope you haven't gotten too involved. I need Ginny to help me with dinner. Come and wash up, we've got rolls to bake. Ron I have clothes folding in the room where you just cleaned the cabinet top, you did a fair job… Ron, you wash up too, I need you to start cutting up the vegetables…”

“Should save that and put it in the photo box.”

Arthur tilted his cheek as he felt her draw near. “Yes, my Mollywobbles” He mouthed the last words, Snape didn’t need to know how affectionate the two still were. Some might not like her at all, but Arthur saw nothing but fair beauty in his wife. She looked as beautiful as the day he married her.

“Sirius is your father's cousin dear, so yes, it does make you related to Mrs. Black.”

Arthur caught a glimpse of Molly’s reaction to the thought of being related to the Blacks. Sure, it was true that he was second cousins to both of Sirius’s parents, but that also meant he was cousins with Arthur, Andromeda, and Nymphadora. They were up standing Blacks and people Arthur was mighty proud to call family.

“Dumbledore hasn't arrived yet? And where's Harry?”

“If he had arrived I wouldn't be here wasting my time in pointless drabbles and actually start working.” Snape said clearly annoyed at the fact that Molly kept asking questions.

Arthur caught a glimpse of Ron, who seemed to fume at Snape’s not so subtle attempt to put down Arthur’s beloved wife. “I beg to differ, Professor.” His voice trying to remain calm and steady, it was hard since Snape was insulting his wife. “You are only wasting time because you are sitting here, there’s work to be done and you are most welcomed to join. I’m sure a potions master must be a good cook. Why don’t you chop some vegetables?” Basically it was his way of saying, either work or shut up. Arthur had about enough of Snape’s mouth which like a muggle American football game was entering into overtime for no apparent reason other than to bore every one else.

“I seem to be the only competent member since I see that no one else is on time for the meetings. Pity that it seems that the young ones are more bound to be on time, but then again I think that is because they are just trying to eavesdrop, quite a nasty habit that shouldn't be found in well behaved persons.”

Pity, his mouth continued on. It seemed that all night they would be subjected to the usual self righteousness of Severus Snape. Where was Dumbledore when you needed to put Snape into place. And with that the pair had bounded in. Yes, it seemed the game was now turning in favor of the absolute good side. And the victory dinner was soon to be served.

For Molly, along with Ginny and Ron, were in the process of preparing dinner. That was until Ron cut himself, smart boy.

“Although you are being far more resourceful than the real members at least you can do something unlike some of the members that spend the day locked up keeping animals company. And yet even he is late, I do wonder what he could be doing? Chasing birds?”

“If you're talking about Sirius, I think he's upstairs. And hello, Professor, I'm so glad you've shown up. Will you be staying for dinner?”

“Ah, Molly dinner should certainly come before a meeting your timing is quite precise." The old man said as he smiled at the group that seemed to have formed around Harry. It wasn't good to keep friends away from one another sometimes it was all someone needed.”

“Wouldn't you think it prudent to start the Order meeting first, sir?”

“Not much thinking can be done on an empty stomach and I wouldn't want to keep this young people from their well deserved meal. ”

Arthur smiled and nodded as Dumbledore insisted they all sit down for dinner. “Besides the young ones, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind a helping of Molly’s home cooking. Her spagbol¹ is one of the best in world.” Arthur sounded weird saying spagbol, but his children often used that term when they were very small. “Please make yourselves comfortable. Molly, I’ll go upstairs and see if I can find out what’s delaying Sirius.” This time it was Arthur’s turn to give Molly a kiss on the cheek, and with that he turned and headed upstairs.



¹ - Spagbol is a term used by lazy children and the likes to refer to spaghetti bolognaise. It is a dish of Spagetti pasta topped with Italian herbs and lamb or meet mince. This information is from the Aeternus Sapientia Website, no stealing was intended or plagarizing was intended.

[wintersnow]

Harry Potter

No sooner had he entered the kitchen, a mass of busy brown hair nearly bowled him over, knocking a good bit of wind from his chest. Harry gasped trying to catch precious air back into his lungs, which was a rather hard feat with Hermione crushing your ribs. Figuring he wasn't going to be released until he returned the favor he gave her a quick hug back in hopes his breath would return when she let him go. Her bushy hair tickled his cheek as he did so, and her scent, some kind of smell good shampoo wafted under his nose. He sighed finally feeling her grip loosen. "Okay, Okay, Hermione, let me say hi to everyone else."

Finally released from her grip Ron had come forward and patted his shoulder heavily.

There mate, I kept thinking we were going to have to go and fetch you!

He grinned. "Still having a hard time with sharp objects are you?" He laughed at Ron's expression. "Honestly I thought you'd have to come fetch me too, lucky Dumbledore got me first eh?" He leaned closer to Ron and said in a hushed voice, "Though I really wouldn't have minded a jail break get away car again." He paused looking at Ron's hand again," Might want to run that under some water, mate. . ." He muttered.

Molly Weasley

So he wanted the meeting to get started did he? Well that was fine. She didn't really feel as though he much deserved to be fed with an attitude like that. Dumbledore wasn't even here and he wanted the meeting to start? "Well perhaps I should tell Dumbledore that his tardiness upsets you Professor. After all I'm sure he's not doing anything of much importance." Her sarcasm had slipped, and instantly Molly felt a twinge of guilt for letting her temper get the best of her again. Lucky for her Arthur had a perfectly tame and reasonable thing to say back. . .in some cases this annoyed her. Arthur had the capability to make an utter fool of himself in Flourish and Blotts by booking Lucius Malfoy in the face and starting a brawl that was fitted more for a bar than a bookshop, and yet he couldn't say really do much to fire back insults. Molly supposed this was because of his gentle nature, but to be honest, Molly rather liked his hostile side to be shown. Embarrassed as she had been in the Flourish and Blotts after the fight, once home and applying a heavy steak to his eye, she had to admit to herself that he was only upholding his family's honor, and that was nothing to be mad at. That night she had given him a reward whether he knew it was a reward or not didn't matter. Any man who stood up for his family like that deserved good treatment after the sun set.

“I seem to be the only competent member since I see that no one else is on time for the meetings. Pity that it seems that the young ones are more bound to be on time, but then again I think that is because they are just trying to eavesdrop, quite a nasty habit that shouldn't be found in well behaved persons.”

Molly smashed a roll a bit too hard placing it on the pan. Her children were curious about what was going on about them and what was being done to stop the rising of Voldemort's Army. Ginny was too young to participate, and it had pained and infuriated Molly that all of her children aside from Ginny had been ruled into staying in the order; even Harry. If Harry was ever caught by Voldemort, which had been attempted several times, what would happen if Voldemort used him, Or any one of them for that matter to get information? Torture, as horrible as it was to think about, wouldn't do it. . .but a bit of veritaserum. She smashed another roll onto the pan too hard making it an unrecognizable lump with finger marks on the side.

There was a yelp that came from her left and Molly turned to see Ron clutching his finger blood oozing from it. She sighed. Speaking of tempers. . .Ron's had the foulest temper of any of her offspring; so much in fact that it often got the better of him.

The door opened and Molly whipped around to see Hermione knock the wind out of Harry with a hug. Dumbledore strode in only seconds behind him, his twinkling eyes glancing at the pair with a smirk before his eyes rose to hers. "Hello Dumbledore." Molly said smiling, but her smile fell seeing Ron seize a dish towel and head over to Harry. "Ron!," she called after him. "You're going to get that infected it might be dirty. Oh, for heavens sake, here." She whipped her wand out and taking Ron's hand gently tapped the wounded finger. A simple spell really and one, with having seven children, she was well versed in. She looked up taking the towel from Ron's hand and smiled to Harry stuffing it in her apron, and wrapping Harry in a tight hug. "Hullo dear, have a good trip? Did you get your things? All your books and clothes?" She smiled at his bewildered face. Honestly Dumbledore had probably already sent them wherever they were supposed to go. "Oh. . .nevermind." She sighed. "Come on, you can help Ginny with the rolls I've got to get the roast ready." With that she bustled over to the ice box taking out a rather large looking roast, as a large stone looking cooking pan clanged onto the stove. As she carried the roast over to the stove she gave a small smirk and a wink to Ginny. As much as Ginny refused admit her fancy of Harry was still alive and thriving, Molly knew. A mother always knows these things.

Harry Potter

It wasn't a few seconds after Harry had muttered his last statement to Ron that Mrs. Weasley had healed his cut, and taken Harry into a tight hug. " Hi Mrs. Weasley." He said returning the hug.

"Hullo dear, have a good trip? Did you get your things? All your books and clothes?"

Books? Clothes? Where HAD Dumbledore sent all his stuff magically whizzing off to? "Um. . ." was all Harry could get out before Mrs. Wealsey smirking, in what Harry supposed was a motherly way, shook her head and told him to go help Ginny. Harry didn't have to be told twice. He was well versed in Mrs. Weasley's cooking and for the chance to be able to snick a bit of her famous bread dough? Well his mouth was already watering.

Walking up to Ginny he grinned and gave her a hug and a," Hey there", before he washed his hands up. As soon he came back to Ginny's side he watched her hands working over the bread and trying to mimic her expertise at making bread look pretty he began to roll dough himself. Plopping his first made roll onto the pan his brow furrowed. Ginny's rolls looked like nice little perfectly round lumps of bread dough, were as his looked more like kidneys. Oh well. . .he'd never been much of a cook.

[Iris2]

She was late. Again. The cloak in her arms was dragging on the floor as Tonks ran past the Ministry security. She had tried to put it on as she was leaving her office, but all she had managed to do was put an extremely large and complex knot in the laces. While rushing by the large fountain in the main lobby, she tossed in a single bronze knut. It was habit she had gotten into a few years back; it made her feel like she was doing a bit of good everyday. St. Mungo’s always needed donations. No matter how small they were in size, every little bit could help some poor bloke who was stuck in there.

Tonks slowed a bit after she had passed the Floo Powder fireplaces, waving to a few co-workers standing in the cues. She had not planned on being so late, and she was even ready to leave a bit earlier that she was supposed to, but she had gotten a whole tray full of paperwork dumped on her at the very last minute. She tried to explain that she had somewhere very important to be, but her supervisor wouldn’t hear any of it. It was one of the older Aurors and they didn’t understand that there was life outside of the Ministry and vastly more important things to worry about besides paperwork. That was just about the only part of her job she didn’t enjoy.

She stopped walking and tossed her messily cloak over her shoulder. The cloak really wasn’t necessary, but they weren’t supposed to leave their cubicles cluttered. She’d already been reprimanded twice that week for untidiness. After checking to make sure no one was close to her, she took three sound steps forward, turned sharply on her heel and disaperated.

It wasn’t long before she was facing the looming façade of Number 12 Grammauld Place. As unwelcoming as that house was, she knew that Molly would be making a delicious meal just through the kitchen’s swinging door.

The front door opened with a defiant creek as Tonks did her best to make as little noise as possible. She was sick of being the only member of the Order that succeeded in waking up the painting of her Great Aunt every time she entered the house. With a quiet whisper of ‘Lumos’, she lit her wand with the hoped of seeing that cursed umbrella stand before it got the best of her, yet again. Her efforts worked splendidly and she arrived in front of the kitchen door without a chorus of screams and shouts for a welcome.

This door opened a bit more smoothly, revealing a full kitchen. Indeed, most of the members had already arrived. At least she had gotten there before dinner had been served.

“Good Evening, Professor. Sorry I‘m late.”, she said to Dumbledore as she passed him. Tonks just could not call him by only his name as the other members did. It didn’t seem right after being at Hogwarts for seven years and always referring to him as ‘Professor’.

“Molly, is there anything I can do to help?” Tonks inquired, noticing Harry and Ginny shaping some rolls. “I’m not much of a chef, as you must have figured out,” she announced with a tiny blush, “but I could set the table if you like.” Anything to help Mrs. Weasley. She certainly had enough on her hands.