Order of the Phoenix Meeting 14

Wilson entered the house at Grimmauld Place, covering the old had in the hall, making his was to the kitchen. The whole house was getting rustier by the minute and the kitchen began to transform itself into a tower of dust. Before taking his seat, he took his wand out and cleaned the place up. Although it still looked gloomy, moody and old, it seemed quite a bit cleaner than before. The last meeting wasn't as precise as it should have been, and he was quite sure this one wouldn't be too... but still, he had a task to do and he would do it. He sat down at his usual place.

Khaat arrived with Michael Tremaine. Michael had bought her a large French Roast in a paper cup, and he'd bought himself a large paper cup of Earl Grey. Given the past few weeks, Khaat rarely travelled alone these days, and Michael had taken it upon himself to make sure Khaat got to Grimmauld Place in one relative piece. As for herself, she was always glad to spend time with Michael. His sense of humor was healthy for her and kept her from getting to maudlin.

Walburga's portrait didn't seem to like Michael, because as he entered, she threw out a long winded shout of obsenities at Michael. It made Khaat laugh. She looked at Michael who had been sorely tempted to hex Walburga, but when he saw Khaat laugh, he thought otherwise and merely shook his head, laughing.

"Why doesn't she like you?" Khaat asked.

"Walburga?" Michael frowned. "I don't think she likes anybody. And especially anybody who was friends with your uncle." He took her coat and hung it with his. They made their way to the kitchen.

"Greetings," Michael said to Wilson.

"Hello, Wilson," Khaat said, taking a seat at the table as Michael sat beside her.

Robert was exceptionally busy these days. He had left the Ministry this morning with people in every direction pestering him. He didn't know if it was the holidays that was making people a bit more hyper than usual or what exactly the problem was. And with Khaat back at the helm of St. Mungos after her absence, it lightened his load considerably. There were moments, still, where being two places at once was a difficult thing to manage.

He apparated into an alley about two blocks from Grimmauld and walked the short distance in the frigid December weather, pulling his black wool coat a bit tighter.

As he walked in, he heard Walburga still on some angry tirade. He walked into the room where her picture hung, and she opened her mouth and started shrieking about another Lupin being in her house.

"Oh, shut it," he sighed. She paused, now silent, her mouth open like a codfish, and then promptly snapped her mouth shut and glared at him. "Thank you," he said to her, and continued down the hallway. When he reached the kitchen, he saw Khaat, Michael and Wilson all there.

"Good day, Wilson," Robert said. He looked at Michael. "Somehow I knew you were here, MIkey. All you seem to need to do is be in the same building as Walburga and we all know you're around."

"Crazy old bat," Michael mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Now, now," Robert said, taking off his coat. He walked over to the chair on the other side of Khaat and kissed Khaat on the cheek before sitting down beside her. She gave him one of those sparkling smiles of hers that lit up his heart.

Matt got to the door to Grimmauld Place just as Layton did. "Hello Hershel," he said opening the door for him. "Morning Matt! How are things?" he had asked as the two entered the house. The portrait was still screaming from Michael and Khaat's entrance. "Things are good, but my eardrums could use a break." he groaned. The men made they're way towards the kitchen were most meetings were held. He was hoping to see Jess, they never did as much anymore. Hell, he rarely spoke to anyone besides Khaat these days.

But alas, Jess aluded him once again. Layton took a spot next to Wilson and nodded to him, "Hello James." he said to him. He smiled at Khaat and Michael, "Hello to you two as well." he said to them. Matt grinned and moved next to Khaat. "Hey, so how have you been Khaat?" he asked her smiling. "Soph has been doing better." he told her. "Michael," he nodded to him. "Wilson." he finished nodding to Wilson.

Kate was running just a wee bit late. She had been held up by doing midwife duties to a young wizarding couple who were having their first child and who had been determined to have the child at home. All had gone well, but it had taken hours. She had stopped at Sparks and had brought a large paper cup of spiced tea along with a large box of chocolate cookies that were so fresh from the oven that they were still hot and the chocolate was still melty. They smelled wonderful.

"Hello, Everyone. I know this is a business meeting, but I thought I'd bring a treat. They smelled too fabulous not to share," she said, putting the box in the center of the table. She took her coat off and found a place beside Robert.

Well, one thing about it, life was never dull since Brian had moved in with Khaat. He had been busy apprehending a couple of really ridiculous young wizards who thought they were billiant enough to knock off Gringotts. The attempt had failed, and one of them had actually dropped a hand written receipt for a purchase they'd made for polyjuice potions from Slugs and Jiggers. It had led Brian right to the pair, who turned out to be a couple of Hogwarts drop outs. Brian knew they certainly had not ever taken one of Wilson's DADA classes. They didn't act as if they had the first clue.

He had arrested them and turned them over to Jenifer Dent accordingly for her to deal with. He really did hope that nothing truly foul happened to them. They really were just incredibly stupid. He'd had a craving for a soda, so he'd stopped and gotten a large bottle of a muggle cola on his way through the neighborhood. he entered the house, shook the snow off his clothes at the door, and laid his coat on top of some of the others before going into the kitchen.

"Hello," Brian said to them all, "Sorry if I"m a tad behind schedule today. Wilson, I just ran into a couple of 18 yeare old dingdongs who clearly never took your class. I wanted to send them back so you could teach them everything they missed." He took a seat at the table.

Elliot made his way towards Grimmauld place, his long overcoat flapping gently in the wind as he reached his gloved hands to pull it around him and buttoning it. He slipped inside and, immediately, warmth spread throughout his being. He slipped his gloves off and hurried inside, pushing his gloves deep into the pocket of his overcoat. Had to love cold weather.

He walked over to the usual meeting spot and slipped into the nearest chair, not spending time debating on who to sit by. He had not really gotten close to any of the Order, something he knew he should try to work on, but was not exactly sure how to go about fixing that. He and his cousin shared the same trait; wanting to relate to people, but having no idea how.

"Morning all, happy holidays," he said, nodding to them and taking off his knock-off grey felt Fedora, before setting it gently on the table. His eyes found the cookies and traveled up to Katherine. "You, madame, are a life saver." He gave a small smile and reached out to take a cookie, nibbling it. Pleasure accompanied the taste. "These are amazing."

Skeeter entered moments behind Elliot, grinning a bit at the irony, seeing as they always seemed to be only a few moments difference between their arrival. He did not know much of the older man, because he did not have any associations with the Ministry like most of the other Order members preferring, it seemed, to act alone. Very different.

He slipped into the kitchen and grinned around at all of them. "Hey everyone. Keeping warm?" The heater in his apartment had broken so he had to revert to filling jars full of Bluebell flames around the apartment and had spent a bit trying to see if he could get a more permanent fix. For now, it worked. He sat down, cradling the mug of coffee he had traveled with and sipped some of it.

Victoire had ridden her broom. She was coming from Diagon Alley. As she landed she was trying to find out what they were gonna talk about. When she landed she sent her broom away. When she walked in she saw that some people had already made it. "Hi." She gave a small. Wave. She took a seat and waited for the meeting to start. She cant say she was excited. It was more fun in Potters Army. But this was for adults. And seeing as she was one she had to act like one.

''Greetings to you all'', he said. This Low Attendance syndrome was, obviously, becoming an epidemic of some sort. ''Now, as you may see, Jess is, as it has happened before, absent and I shall be running today's meeting of the Order. To those of you who don't know me, my name is James Wilson, and I am the incumbent Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. I shan't be the one to pray about hard times and such, that is just not my style, but I am going to stress out that we do have to act rapidly and devise some sort of plan. But, first things first... is there anything someone would like to report, comment on or state?'', he asked.