The basement kitchen they found themselves in which was scarcely less gloomy than the hall above, a cavernous room with rough stone walls.
Most of the light was coming from a large fire at the far end of the room.
A haze of pipe smoke hung in the air like battle fumes, through which loomed the menacing shapes of heavy iron pots and pans hanging from the dark ceiling.
Many chairs had been crammed into the room for the meeting and a long wooden table stood in the middle of the room, littered with rolls of parchment, goblets, empty wine bottles, and a heap of what appeared to be rags.
Arthur and Bill were talking quietly with their heads together at the end of the table.
Molly cleared her throat. Arthur, a thin, balding, red-haired man, who wore horn-rimmed glasses, looked around and jumped to his feet.
"Harry!" Arthur said, hurrying forward to greet him and shook his hand vigorously, "Good to see you!"
Lucifer saw Bill hurriedly rolling up parchments left on the table.
He was going to get answers, one way or another, "Journey all right, Harry?" Bill called, trying to gather up twelve scrolls at once, "Mad- Eye didn't make you come via Greenland, then?"
"He tried," Tonks said, striding over to help Bill and immediately sending a candle toppling onto the last piece of parchment, "Oh no-sorry-"
"Here, dear," Molly said, sounding exasperated, and she repaired the parchment with a wave of her wand. In the flash of light caused by the wand, Lucifer saw something that looked like the plan of a building.
Molly caught him looking and snatched the plan off the table and stuffed it into Bill's heavily laden arms, "This sort of thing ought to be cleared away promptly at the end of meetings," she snapped.
"Why?" Lucifer asked.
No one, however, answered him, which ticked him off.
Bill took his wand out and muttered, "Evanesco," and the scrolls vanished.
"Sit down, Harry," Sirius said, "You've met Mundungus, haven't you?"
"You mean the piece of shit who was supposed to be watching Harry when the Dementor showed up?" Lucifer asked and everyone suddenly looked as though they were ready to calm him down.
"Some'n say m' name?" Mundungus mumbled sleepily, "I 'gree with Sirius..."
He raised a very grubby hand in the air as though voting, his droopy, bloodshot eyes unfocused.
Ginny merely giggled at his incompetence.
"The meeting's over, Dung," Sirius said as they all sat down around him at the table, "Harry's arrived."
Lucifer glared at Mundungus the entire time, "Eh?" Mundungus asked, peering balefully at Harry through his matted ginger hair, "Blimey, so 'e 'as. Yeah... you all right, 'arry?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, except for getting in trouble with the Ministry because of you," Harry said, not holding back how he felt about the man.
He clearly looked like he didn't want to bring it up, but Lucifer knew Harry.
He fidgeted nervously as he pulled out a grimy black pipe.
He stuck it in his mouth, ignited the end of it with his wand, and took a deep pull on it.
Great billowing clouds of greenish smoke obscured him in seconds, "Yeah... owe you a 'pology..." his voice grunted from the middle of the smelly cloud.
"For the last time, Mundungus," Molly called to him, "will you please not smoke that thing in the kitchen, especially not when we're about to eat!"
"Ah," Mundungus said, "right. Sorry, Molly."
The cloud of smoke vanished as Mundungus stowed his pipe back in his pocket, but an acrid smell of burning socks lingered.
"And if you want dinner before midnight, I'll need a hand," Molly said to the large room, "No, you can stay where you are, Harry dear, you've had a long journey."
Lucifer had stood up to help, but Molly acted like he hadn't traveled with Harry too.
He felt like he stepped into the twilight zone or something with how everyone was acting with him.
He still bounded forward at the same time Tonks did, but he didn't get very far from his chair.
"What can I do, Molly?" She asked.
"Er- no, it's alright, Tonks," Molly said, looking apprehensive, "you have a rest too, you've done enough today."
Lucifer decided to go and get plates out instead of helping with dinner, because he remembered that Molly liked to cook with magic, whereas he did not.
"For the record," Hermione whispered to him as they gathered plates, "the food has yet to taste anywhere near as good as what you made for me," she winked at him, causing him to smile.
While they were busy with the plates and silverware, they heard a shrieking Molly, "Fred - George- NO, JUST CARRY THEM!"
Both Hermione and Lucifer turned around just in time to see Harry, Sirius, and Mundungus dive away from the table as a large Cauldron of stew, an iron flagon of butterbeer, and a heavy wooden breadboard, complete with knife, hurtle hurtle through the air towards them.
Lucifer didn't have the time to save the stew entirely, but he extended his hand and the stew, butterbeer, and breadboard with all of its contents, floated in the air, including the liquid and stew that hadn't hit the table.
Everything moved upright, and liquid floating went into its proper container, and it was set gently on the half of the table not covered in a black burn on the wooden table.
Harry and Sirius were laughing as Molly began yelling, "FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE! THERE WAS NO NEED - I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS! JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO DO MAGIC NOW DOESN'T MEAN YOU NEED TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY LITTLE THING!"
"We were just trying to save a bit of time!" Fred said in a loud voice. He quickly apologized to his mother before turning to Sirius, "Sorry, Sirius, mate didn't mean to ruin the table..."
"Boys, your mothers right," Arthur chimed in finally, "You're supposed to show a sense of responsibility now that you've come of age."
"None of your brother's caused this sort of trouble!" Molly yelled, slamming a fresh flagon of butterbeer, and almost spilled more than half of it, but Lucifer kept it from flying everywhere.
"Bill didn't feel the need to Apparate every few feet! Charlie didn't Charm everything he met! Percy-" Molly stopped yelling and caught her breath, looking at her husband, who had a wooden expression on his face.
"Let's eat," Bill said quickly.
"It looks wonderful, Molly," Lupin said, ladling the stew onto a plate for her and placing it across the table.
For a few minutes, there was silence, except for the chink of plates and cutlery, and the scraping of chairs as everyone settled at the table.
Hermione sat on Lucifer's right, and he sat as far left as he could at the table, so he wouldn't have to turn his head very far to talk to someone.
If it weren't for the fact Hermione liked sitting near the center of the Gryffindor's Table at Hogwarts, he'd always sit at the end of the table.
Molly turned to Sirius, "I've been meaning to tell you, there's something trapped in that writing desk in the drawing room, it keeps rattling and shaking. Of course, it could just be a Boggart, but I thought we ought to ask Alastor to have a look at it before we let it out."
"I can take a look at it right now and we can get it out of the way?" Lucifer offered.
"Oh, don't be silly, I would never ask you to do that," Molly said, shaking her head.
"Nonsense, I'll go take care of it," Lucifer said and stood up from the table, "My Boggart is only a creepy me or a Dementor anyway..."
"But-" Molly was about to speak.
Lupin, however, cut in, "If there is anyone in this room I trust to deal with a Dementor, it'd be Lucifer and Harry, but maybe... after what happened a few days ago, Lucifer should definitely be the one to deal with it."
"What if it's not a Dementor!?" She asked exasperatedly.
"Lucifer is the most capable wizard in this room right now to deal with magical creatures. From what I was told last year, you proved exceptionally well and capable in your Defense Class with Top Marks," Lupin smirked.
"Oh, fine," Molly relented.
"I'll be back," he said to Hermione and left the room.
Molly continued after he left, "The curtains in there are full of Doxies too, I thought we might try tackling them tomorrow."
"I look forward to it," Sirius said in a sarcastic tone that Molly didn't pick up on.
Hermione looked at Tonks and saw she was changing her nose, and Hermione's attention was caught.
She then requested her favorite nose from Tonks, "Do that one like a Pig Snout, Tonks! Please?"
She scrunched up her face with a pained expression and her nose was a Pig's Snout.
She began to laugh, having to cover her mouth as she had just gotten a bite.
She swallowed her food and she heard Mundungus speaking loudly about something, "-and then, if you'll believe me, 'e says to me, 'e says, ' 'ere Dung, where didja get all them toads from? 'Cos some son of a Bludger's gone and nicked all mine!' And I says-"
Before he could continue his story, a loua explosion was heard from somewhere above them, "Lucifer," Hermione said breathlessly as she bolted towards the door, everyone getting up and following her.
xxxxxx
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