Dinner for hungry Order Members

''Jess, people usually say such things before they die. You're not dieing, are you? I mean, that's fine with me, but you could have told me'', Wilson said upon entering the kitchen. He walked over to Jess and leaned down to his ear. ''Lad, is there really a point in me being here? I am not the least hungry and the school should be protected. Just nod'', he whispered and left for a corner in the kitchen. He leaned down near the fridge and waited for Jess to give a reply, cleaning his glasses in the meantime.

Berty was a rather happy elf. He and his master had a very happy life together, Berty wore clothes, upon the master's insistence, mainly because Jess gave him a new article of clothing every Christmas, birthday and Easter, and Berty didn't want to hurt his feelings by not wearing them. He did however refuse a wage, Jess had tried to give him one, but had not pressed the point. The master understood that money was different for house elf culture, and that he'd be insulted should it be offered, so he'd left it as it was.

Looking to his left he smiled at the master then began to dig into his own meal, roast chicken with a greek salad, his own personal favourite, mainly because of the colours. He really did like colours. He was going to repaint his room when he got the chance, how exciting that would be!

"Hello Sir," he said, smiling at the man across the table, the master had called him Jacob but Berty wouldn't assume they were on first name terms just yet. "My name is Berty, I trust that your meal is satisfactory?" He asked.

Meanwhile Jess was stuffing his face. That was the beauty of Berty's cooking, there always seemed to be more, never once had he successfully reached the bottom of the plate, and often he even noticed new items appearing as he thought of wanting them, that was something he never quite got used to.

Listening to Nikki's story he nodded understandingly and smiled at her. "Gosh, how old is young Jake now?" He asked curiously as he ate a piece of salad. "I remember him, I've not seen him in ages though, you should bring him around some time," he told her with a smile.

At that point Wilson walked in and Jess listened to what he said. "Well now that you mention it my friend," he said loudly, "Eurghuaflaghnabla," he shouted, slumping in his chair, passing off looks of lack of air and cluthcing at his chest.

With his eyes still closed and his posture still one of a dead man, he replied in an equally quiet tone, "Wilson I would prefer it if you stayed and at least mingled with the Order. A time will come when we will look at each other for support, it'd be nice for you to be one of the people that everyone looks to," he said quietly, "However if you wish to leave, you're fine to do so," he told the man, before springing back to life and making an explanation of surprise. "He lives," he shouted across the chatter in the room

Grimmauld Place was beyond archaic. The idea that people used to live there was fairly disturbing. Lauren didn’t care to know whether people still did. There were probably some House Elves left but apart from that she doubted very highly that a wizard would want to live there. It was dank, dirty and mildew seemed to be everywhere. The only thing it didn’t have was fog. If that was floating around the house then it would be perfectly haunted. The portraits on the walls definitely gave off that feeling and the sound of elderly wizards snoring in oils was hardly the most welcoming. That was why Lauren didn’t linger in the foyer or on the staircase. She moved quickly with the other order members, desperate to get out of the darkness of the house.

She hadn't realised how quietly menacing it was upon first entering. Now, as she walked through it with the other Order members, she honestly saw just how terrifying it must have been during its hay-day. Walburga Black must have ruled the house with an iron fist and ruled her family the same way.

Shuddering, Lauren stepped into the room they’d begun to congregate in. She took her seat and smoothed out any wrinkles in her shirt. Lauren felt very much the odd one out in the close knit group. She was aware of how precarious her position was – or at least, how precarious her father thought her position was. Joining the Order hadn’t been about saving the world – she’d done it to prove a point. She had wanted to prove to her father that she wasn’t like her mother at all and that she wouldn’t go bad. Lauren didn’t believe for a second that she would but she didn’t see this place as her future. She didn’t see any faction as her future and that was the grimmest prospect of all.

Jack had stayed upstairs after Jess left, because how many times did you get the opportunity to explore such a well-known and iconic house such as Number Four Grimmauld Place. After she had ventured from the room, she went down the hall and peeked into other rooms, tried doors, searched for adventure wherever she could, but mostly found dust.

Finally, she resigned herself to facing the social situation downstairs- ugh- and turned and stumbled down the stairs. She found where they had all decided to collapse to eat and she grabbed a chair at the end of the table and pulled it out, plopping onto it. She looked around at the food and began to pull some onto her plates before digging in, listening to the conversations around her.

Shacklebolt usually despised noise. He always preferred peace and quiet over it. But actually, after a year of spending time at the Shrieking Shack, with virtually no one for company, he was rather enjyoing being around so many people. He didn't converse much though, instead focusing on the food. It was delicious, although frankly anything would be good after eating rats for a year. Always kind to house elves, He turned and complimented Berty on his cooking. The house elf resembled the one who used to live her before him, Kreacher.

((But with a smile on his face, sir!))

Jess looked up and saw the last straggler - Jack - walk into the room and chuckled, "Nice of you to join us Jack," he said, hanging his head over the back of his chair to speak to her as she walked in, before snapping it back up and gobbling some more food down, it was truly devine, Berty had gone all out for this one.

"So, Kingsley," he said, looking over at Kingsley and putting another forkful into his mouth, swallowing it before continuing. "I imagine that wherever it was you were staying ((If you've already told us, just replace that with Shrieking Shack)) didn't serve food of Berty's quality. Without ruining my appetite, what was it like?" He asked him with a smile on his face

After a few bites of her honey pork, Nikki had an answer to Jess' question. "He'll be two soon," Nikki smiled at Jess. "I'll be sure to bring him around soon." Nikki added. She poured herself a drink and took a few sips to make swallowing of the pork go down quickly.

She looked at Sophia, and bit her bottom lips. She also still couldn't bear to look at Andrian, though. She frowned and sighed and looked around her, hearing parts of different conversation. Sometimes, she had going through her head, flashes of memory of the last few days when she arrived back after touring with Lucas. It was all too awful and she wondered why they didn't go away and kept flashing up. Was she to do something about it? Or maybe the person she went to has now messed up her mind.

Jess nodded and took a sip of his wine, a lovely 50 year old Riesling. "Two years," he said, his eyebrows raising, "Two years, my gosh, they grow up so fast," he said, smiling gently. "I remember when he was born," he told her chuckling.

"So, what's everyone been up to recently?" He asked no one in particular as he munched on his pork, feeling slightly disappointed in the lack of conversation around the table

It was annoying, he thought, knowing that you weren't really living up to people's expectations when holding meetings like this. It was enough to admit that he'd not held one in several months, so attendance was bound to be moderately low, however he had hoped that people would follow his advice and plan out some reconnaissance during or prior to the dinner, particularly on the subject of Death Eater stalking, or Death Eater initiations, he really hated to tell people to do that sort of thing, and he had been hoping that they'd just naturally form the groups themselves. Nonetheless it appeared that next meeting he would have to tell them what to do. For now though he'd just enjoy his dinner and the good company.

Nikki took a sip of her drink, which was water and nodded. "Oh yes they do Jess, it's unbelievable!" Nikki agreed. "Soon, he'll probably be at this table..." Nikki sighed, thinking. Soon, she thought...maybe soon by the time he grows up, he mightn't need to join forces to fight.

Nikki preferred not to answer Jess' recent question, as it would become quite messy. She bit her bottom lips and ate a bit more of her meal. "Um...Mari's dinner party was good," Nikki said, in a random way. She felt weird and awkward just saying that sentence. Felt so naked and blank. "It's good to have her back, it's been a while," Nikki added.

Jess nodded and smiled, one day he would have his own children, he had decided, if he could that was. But right now he was just not stable enough to even think about it, any life he could offer now would be one fraught with issues, ranging from the commonplace nervous ones, to the more specified, individual ones - his constant state of danger - for a start.

"One day, though soon isn't how I'd describe it," he said with a smile, "15 years can be a long, long time," he told her with a nod. "But then again, I've heard that parenthood just speeds things right up," he told her, grinning all the while.

"And yes," he said, nodding again, "It is nice to have her back, she said she might arrive later this evening," he told them all, looking around at all the people, wondering who knew Mari and who didn't, "She said she wanted to try Berty's cooking," he added, turning to Barty and winking at him with a grin.