The kitchen at 12 Grimmauld Place was never going to reach The Burrow levels of cosiness, but after a week of rigorous cleaning and of Mum filling it with delicious cooking smells on a regular basis, Ginny was beginning to like its vibe. She and Hermione sat drinking tea there whilst the Order were having yet another meeting from which they were excluded. They chatted aimlessly to distract them both from worrying - about Harry, still stuck having a horrible time at his uncle and aunt's house, about the somber and serious things that the Order was doubtless discussing, and in Hermione's case about what, if anything, she should be reading into the fact that Ron was currently in the shower for the third time that day.

"Fred and George had better hurry up with whatever new scheme they're working on to infiltrate those damn meetings, or I'm going to take matters into my own hands," Ginny grumbled. "How can Mum and Dad not realise it's worse not knowing what's going on, and that we could help?"

"I wonder whether we're all trying to be too clever," Hermione replied, thoughtfully. "What if we tried simply boring a hole in an appropriate bit of the wall?"

Ginny snorted. "Never thought I'd hear you say there's such a thing as too clever, Hermione! What d'you mean?"

Hermione began to explain how muggles did DIY, although it was one of the rare subjects on which her knowledge was extremely limited and she began to wonder whether what she meant was actually drilling.

"Oh, I thought you meant boring, like, be so boring that somehow a hole appears," Ginny laughed. "I did think it sounded weird, even for muggles. Mind you, some of that lot in there are probably boring enough to have done that already, if it was a thing."

Hermione smiled. "I don't know, I'd say most of them are probably interesting enough," she said, fairly. "Nobody could accuse Sirius of being boring, for a start."

"Well, no, obviously not Sirius with his tortured soul meets bad boy vibe," agreed Ginny. "But he's the only one who anyone could say is too sexy to be boring."

"Again, I'm not sure about that," Hermione said, slowly, realising as soon as she'd said it that the conversation could now only descend into Ginny mercilessly teasing her over some imagined crush. "I don't mean I - I'm just saying I can see how from some people's perspectives, some of them might- Well, I mean Bill, for instance! You can't deny he's good-looking."

"Obviously I can't see it, because he's my brother. I suppose some people might have a thing for great gangling gingers," Ginny added with a sly look at Hermione, "but we have to leave out anyone who's related to me, it's too weird. And the others are all so old!"

Just then they were distracted by a pop and Tonks apparated into the kitchen, knocking over a chair as she appeared.

"I've never known anyone to apparate into a space with an object in it before," observed Hermione, interestedly. "I'd understood that it was an inherent feature of the spell that that couldn't happen."

"Ah, it's a gift not given to many to be able to subvert the laws of magic to wreak havoc," said Tonks, with a wink. "Wotcher, girls. Looks like I'm late for this meeting."

"Hi, Tonks. They've been going about twenty minutes," Ginny told her. "Would you like some tea?"

"Ooooh go on, then, plenty of time," Tonks said, easily, righting the chair and sitting on it at the little table while Ginny got up to put the kettle back on the stove. "Kinglsey put me on a shift at work that literally finishes in ten minutes, so he can't complain if I miss the beginning of the meeting. And be doesn't know it's finished early," she added, with a grin. "What are you girls taking about, anyway?"

Hermione shifted evasively and prepared to deflect the question. She'd quite like to go back to the mechanics of apparating. Ginny, obviously, had other ideas. "We're discussing who're the most fanciable men in the Order," she said, cheerfully and Tonks whooped with laughter.

"Nice one," Tonks said, accepting a cup of tea from Ginny. "Who've you got at the top of the list, then?"

"Well, we had to take out anyone I'm related to, obviously."

"Fair enough."

"We've got Sirius, of course. For his haggard but devestating good looks and his bad boy vibes."

"Also fair enough, but since I'm related to him, we should take him out, too. Who else you got? Remus and Kingsley are a given, but -"

"Sorry, who was that you said?"

"You what? Tonks, are you mad?"

Hermione and Ginny spoke together, in very smilar tones of disbelief. Tonks looked surprised.

"Which one are you having trouble with?", she asked. "Or is it both?"

"Kingsley's a fair shout, if you like being intimidated. He's obviously good looking, apart from having no hair."

"Yes," Hermione added, "and his eyes are lovely. But Remus - do you mean Remus Lupin?"

"Yeah, 'course. He's got that sexy professor thing going on, you guys can't see it? I can see it and he wasn't even my professor! I'd've thought he'd be right up your alley, Hermione."

Ginny snorted. "Hermione like them stupid," she said, rudely, and moved her legs before Hermione could kick her.

"Don't say that," Hermione said, crossly, and added haughtily "Anyway, I don't know who you mean.""

Ginny fairly cackled at this. Tonks looked uncharacteristically thoughtful as she sipped her tea. "Maybe professory types tend not to go for other professory types," she said. For some reason she seemed to find this a heartening thought.

"Back to Lupin," Ginny said, "the man's like a walking cardigan, Tonks."

Tonks chuckled. "Yeah, but it's what's underneath that counts. He's really funny, but because he's quiet, people don't notice. That's sexy. And he's got that sweet, slow smile and those lovely, long fingers, and he looks like he knows what to do with em. And if it's a bad boy vibe you want, I reckon it's there, in a subtle way."

Even Hermione looked sceptical at this. Then she looked a bit shocked and said "Oh! Do you mean because of his lycanthropy?"

"No, not that. I mean, he's always so mild mannered and polite, right? In the face of extreme provocation, I might add, I've seen it. And nobody's that calm naturally. It's like.. what could be lurking underneath that mild demeanour, y'know?"

It was clear from the girls' faces that they did not know. Tonks laughed and shrugged. "Well, he's a bit of an acquired taste, maybe. All right, who are you proposing then? Who's going to own up to a soft spot for Elphias Doge?"

In the laughter that followed this, nobody noticed the door open and Lupin enter the kitchen. When they looked up and saw him standing in the doorway, in one of his famous threadbare cardigans no less, the girls' laughter redoubled. Tonks started guiltily and spilt the remnants of her tea all over the table. Hermione started to reach for her wand, but Lupin had already accio'd a cloth and was quietly mopping up the spill as if that was what he'd come into the room to do in the first place.

"Hullo, Tonks, how are you? Mad-Eye said he thought he'd heard you arrive. If you're ready to join us, he wants a report on the surveillance you did last week."

"Wotcher, Remus. Thanks for that," Tonks said, nodding at the cloth. "Ah, well. No rest for the wicked," she sighed, getting up. "Bugger Mad-Eye, it'll have been that damn chair that tipped him off."

"It may have been the sounds of the sort of laughter that only you are wont to produce," Lupin replied, smiling gently. Ginny raised an eyebrow. It looked like a pretty ordinary smile to her, but maybe to Tonks it came across as sweet? Weird.

"Lead on, then, Remus."

As she followed Lupin out of the room, Tonks turned back to the girls, gestured to his bum and made a circle with her fingers to indicate perfection. Ginny and Hermione erupted into laughter more violent than ever, but Tonks's face was a model of demureness by the time Lupin turned around, puzzled, to see what all the hilarity was about.