"I really don't think we need more tea," Sirius said to him as he reached for his wand to summon the box of teabags. "I'm about to burst."
Remus gave him an unimpressed look. "You know where the bathroom is."
Sirius gave him a roguish grin. "Sure, you don't want Padfoot to water your flowers?"
"What flowers?" Remus snorted.
There were absolutely no flowers around his house. Well, there were a few weeds that flowered that were pushing their way up, which looked somewhat pretty if kept in control but they weren't there by design. A green thumb was something he definitely didn't have.
"And, no, I don't want Padfoot watering anything," he added because if he didn't say that explicitly, Sirius would take that as permission.
"Suit yourself," Sirius said with a shrug and excused himself to go upstairs.
He was soon back down, hands damp.
"You don't have a towel up there," he said by way of explanation.
Oh. Yes. That's what he had been sorting out before Sirius left. He went to fix that.
"Do you know when Albus said he was going to come over?" Remus called out as he came back down the stairs.
"He never said. Just that he'd catch up with us here. He's going to be busy trying to sort everything out what with the mess of the Tournament and everything-"
'Knock, knock'
Remus looked at Sirius. There was only one person that could be, wasn't there? And indeed, it was.
"Albus," Remus greeted as he opened the door and let their old Headmaster in.
"Remus, Sirius," said Albus, nodding at each of them in turn.
"Tea?" Remus offered as they all went to sit in the living room.
"Please."
It was odd to be sitting in his living room with Albus right there. Remus didn't know why it felt so bizarre but bizarre it was. Probably because the last time the man had been here was when he was inviting Remus to Hogwarts and sorting out all that that had entailed. He really did owe this man everything.
They sat in silence for a few minutes as Albus drank his tea and Remus and Sirius barely touching theirs. They had had a lot, after all. Sirius had been right; they really didn't need anymore. Could you get caffeine jitters from tea?
"Ah," Albus said in satisfaction. "That is the first cup of tea I've had in the last twenty-four hours. Thank you, Remus."
"No problem."
Poor man. He had probably been going non-stop since this morning between Tournament duties, host school duties and then the fallout of what had happened. Thinking about it, it sounded like a lot. It was a lot.
"I suppose I will get down to business," Albus said, sitting up even straighter than he already was which made Remus and Sirius straighten up as well.
It was time to pay attention.
"The Order," Sirius stated.
Albus tweaked his glasses. "Indeed. The Order. I am, as people say, getting it back together. It is very much needed."
Somehow it sounded an awful lot more real when it came from his mouth. Like there was no way that it wasn't going to happen, that all of this had been a huge, poorly thought-out prank that Remus had had the faintest hopes of. That obviously wasn't the case and he hadn't really thought it was. Hoped was a whole different matter.
"Well, we're here to help however we can," Remus said, indicating to himself and Sirius.
"Yes, I am most grateful for that. You can help right now by making the old crowd aware of this matter. I will take further steps when I know exactly how many there are."
Hopefully there was a fair few. Remus didn't know how else they were to get things done otherwise.
"The old crowd?" Remus repeated.
Albus gave him a smile. "Exactly. As soon as possible. Time really is of the essence here."
They nodded in agreement. Yes, the sooner that they got everyone together the sooner they could be doing something. Anything.
"We'll do it," Sirius said, as if there was ever any doubt that they would. "We just need to know who."
"And that is something I can also provide you with," Albus said, producing a piece of parchment. "It's in the old code."
Ah, yes. Of course. A muggle one that Albus had the Order use when they absolutely had to wrote something down. It was unaffected by any decryption spells which Remus always found hilarious because it was only simple letter substitution. Anyway, it worked because Death Eaters never thought of muggle tricks and if they were aware of them, they looked down on them.
Remus quickly scanned it, absentmindedly noting how easy it was to start reading the code again, "Names and addresses? Are all these up to date?"
"They should be. Of course, things can change at a moment's notice," Albus replied, smiling benignly.
Remus could have kicked himself for the question. Why on earth did he question the man? Of course, he wouldn't give him incorrect information.
Sirius looked over his shoulder at the list, eyebrows raised.
"We might need to double check Moody's address. The last time he rotated through houses and after everything that happened now, I think he'll be even more paranoid."
Something shifted in Albus' face as he thought about his old friend. But it was gone before Remus could figure out what it was.
"Don't you worry about Alastor; I will explain things to him."
Remus couldn't help but be relieved at that. He never did know how to deal with Moody during the last War. Sirius and James had but they had worked with him.
"But even with the security measures in place, please burn this as soon as you are able to," he instructed them.
They nodded. That went without saying. Being careless about such a thing, even when written in code, could cost lives.
"We better get to it, then," Sirius said eagerly.