"I don't think much to your sense of interior design," said Remus slyly, eyeing up the grim kitchen around him.

"Moony, you forget, I've been round yours and you have no grounds for snide comments," chimed Sirius, without turning to him. He was rushing around the dingy room, banging cupboards open, searching the back crevices for forgotten corkscrews, candles and scraps of blank parchment.

"Well, I'm just saying, I can see why you never invit-"

"Believe me, this squalid place of my forebearers is a lot more inviting now they're all dead," Sirius snapped, dumping all his useful finds on the scrubbed wooden table. "Now stop being a condescending prat and help me get the goblets out."

"Sorry old friend, I meant no offense. Well," paused Remus, pulling his wand out and smirking slightly, "I did, but I didn't know how attached you were this piece of your beloved past."

"Unemployment seems to have enriched your sense of sarcasm Remus!" exclaimed Sirius, his voice muffled from inside the pantry, where he appeared with a number of aged bottles of indiscernible alcohols. "I hope these will be alright, I think they were made about a century ago."

"I'm surprised the adosescent you managed to leave some of it untouched for so long," muttered Remus, mostly to himself. "How many are attending tonight? How many goblets?"

With his face screwed in concentration, Remus could see Sirius doing the mental maths. "At least ten, I think a few of the newcomers are coming for the first time."

"Oh really?" asked Remus over his shoulder, summoning a jumble of glass and brass cups out of the dresser. "Newcomers? I thought I'd met most of the revised Order at mine last month."

"Well Kingsley says he's managed to recruit a very special Auror from his department, so we'll have some new blood in tonight." Said Sirius, before adding "I might ask Kreacher to sample a few of these bottles, see if they're still fit for human consum-"

"Sirius!" cried Remus in alarm at this serious misuse of power, letting a single glass to slip from his enchantment. He had to scoop low to catch it, and Sirius howled with laughter.

"Only kidding Moony, Would I really waste a good drink on that excuse of a creature!" Cackled Sirius, arranging the table with candlesticks. Remus brought the glasses over and Sirius poured a generous amount into a handsome silver goblet. "I'll just give it a quick sample shall I, before they arrive?"

"I dare say you will," whispered Remus, as Sirius threw his drink back and grimaced, "So we have a new auror among us? Well, I hope he will-"

"She, you mean," added Sirius, eyeing his best friend, "And I must say, she comes from a very-"

But what she did come from was not known to Remus, because at that very minute, the heavy front door above them gave a rumble, and footsteps had descended into the hall. Replacing his drink to the table, Sirius beckoned Remus up the staircase to meet their guests.