"Granddad... Move."

Moody shuffled down the counter dragging his cutting board along with him.

Verity opened the cooker and dragged the squash out. She set the sheet pans on the top of the range next to the soup pot. She pulled the top and stirred it. "The soup's ready."

"Good," Moody responded, slicing bread. "The beets?"

Verity replaced the lid on the stew and opened the pan with the beets. She speared one with a fork and replied, "They're done, too."

Moody finished slicing the bread and placed it on a platter, which was then placed on the table. "Excellent."

Tonks knocked loudly on the door to the kitchen.


"It's Tonks and Bishop, and you put eyeballs in my milk," she said, grinning. She enjoyed dinner with Moody and his family, and since her parents weren't around, it was kind of like a dinner with her parents.

"Eyeballs in your milk?" Bishop asked, looking at Tonks with a disgusted expression. "That's just gross."

"Well, his eyeball," Tonks replied, squeezing his hand. "Just to freak me out, and to make sure I was paying attention."

Moody opened the door. "Well, I did need to clean it. Ever since... well. Anyway." He stood back and let them enter.

"How is everything?"

"Well enough," Tonks replied, coming into the room and handing Verity the dessert they'd brought with them. "Busy, and not. You know how the work is. Evening, Verity. How're you?"

"All right," she replied. "You?"

Slipping an arm around Dora's waist as he came to stand beside her, Bishop grinned at Moody's granddaughter. "She's cranky and tired, but lovelier every day. And I have it on good authority that I'm as much of a bastard as I ever was. So, all in all, we're doing quite well."

"I'm not cranky. Not tonight, at least," Tonks said, pinching Bishop's side. "Dinner smells wonderful. Is there anything we can help with?" She was offering to be polite; Mad Eye knew of her lack of skills in the kitchen.

Verity smiled and asked, "Does this need to be warmed up?"

"Yes, I had to bake it earlier in the day, so it's probably cooled by now," Bishop replied. "Really, I can cook, if there's anything you need help with. And Dora sets a mean table."

"I think we're set in the kitchen," she said. "Unless you want to help plate?"

"I'll drop it. Or break it. Or something else. I'll just get out of the way," Tonks smiled, and hastened to the dining room.

As Verity disappeared into the kitchen, Moody hobbled over to the buffet, where six glasses were already laid out on a tray with two bottles of something that appeared to be white wine and two dark brown bottles of something or other.

"We've got some..." he looked at the tops of the bottles, where they'd been sealed above the cork with wax. "Semi-dry mead, dry mead, ginger beer, and pumpkin juice." He looked at Tonks. "How's your tummy?"

"Not full enough," she answered honestly, and cheerfully. "No morning sickness, or any sickness. I'm just more hungry than usual. I'll take the pumpkin juice. Bishop'll probably take the dry mead."

"Dry mead would be excellent." Helping Tonks into her seat, Bishop went over to where Moody was pouring their drinks. He carried them to the table, setting Tonks' pumpkin juice in front of her before taking the chair to her right. "Any new developments in our favorite secret society?"

Moody poured Verity a glass of the semi-dry mead, and then another for himself. He placed Verity's glass on the table and took a sip of his own and said, "Not as such. Werner's working on cracking the spellwork on the silver communication devices, and we still haven't found the camp in Scotland."

He placed his own glass down in his spot, and then set two glasses down in two extra spots.

Tonks raised her eyebrow. "I wasn't aware we were expecting others. Anyone I know?" She looked at Bishop. "Do you know?"

"I have no idea." Bishop looked at Moody curiously. "More family?"

"You might say that," Moody said cagily.

From the kitchen they heard Verity snickering.

"Damnit, Alastor, who else did you invite?" Tonks demanded. "You're not going to tell me, are you. No, you're going to sit and make your 'I know more than you do' face and lord it over us. They had better be good."

"Cranky pregnant woman off the port bow," Bishop teased, snickering.

"As long as she doesn't start listing to port, I think we'll be all right," Verity said, bringing out a bowl of green salad.

She grinned cheekily before disappearing back into the kitchen.

"I'm not cranky," Tonks said. "I'm correct. There's a difference."

"I'll just say that you're certain to be surprised when you see our other guests," Moody said. He smirked across the table at Tonks.

Hestia shifted uncomfortable and knocked on the door. She wasn't so sure about this, and she didn't want Tonks upset with her for not telling. Hestia looked at Sirius as they waited for soemoen to answer the door.

Sirius grinned and kissed her cheek. "Don't be so nervous, love. This is going to be fun!" he said, then shifted into Padfoot as the door began to open.

"Sirius," Hestia hissed. "Don't..."

He was already running into the house

Verity came into the kitchen to see her grandfather opening the door to Senior Auror Jones and very large black dog... Who came bounding in, and looked bent on knocking her over.

Verity picked up a meat mallet (Her first instinct had been a knife, but she didn't want to have to be the one to kill Senior Auror Jones' dog) and tossed it at the dog's head.

Hestia immediately used her wand to defect the mallet, sending it spinning off into the wall. "Don't."

"Well then, get your dog out of the kitchen," Verity raised an eyebrow -- much like the elder Moody would have -- and asked, "What's he doing in the house, anyway?"

Moody the elder, for his part raised an eyebrow back at Verity. "Verity, the very large, very obnoxious dog that you very nearly brained is one of our dinner guests."

Sirius leveled a doggy glare at Moody, before turning back to Verity, his tail thumping against the floor.

A number of emotions (including confusion, mortification, and finally, anger) flashed across Verity's face as she figured it out. She threw a dish towel at the older man. "You could have told me he was an Animagus," she hissed.

She looked at Hestia and Sirius. "Sorry about that... I'm not big on dogs... Especially when they look like they're going to knock me over and gnaw on my bits."

Sirius shifted back for a moment. "Don't worry, your bits are safe from me. Besides," he said with a grin, glancing at Hestia, "I prefer to be human for that sort of thing." Hearing movement in the dining room, he quickly returned to his canine form.

Verity's ears went a bit pink... As if she hadn't been mortified enough.

"This should be good. Let's go and watch the carnage," Moody suggested.

Bishop looked up as the group entered the dining room, nodding his head at Hestia in greeting. The large black dog at her side perplexed him. He didn't remember her having a dog, and why she'd chose to bring one to dinner was a mystery. "Are pickings really so slim that you're dating actual dogs now, Hestia? Or maybe you decided to put Burke into his proper form?"

Tonks' face had gone white, and she was staring at the dog. The dog who growled at Burke's name. She knew that dog.

"That's not Burke. Oh, no. You're dead. Or gone. You're supposed to be.... not here." She stood then, and glared. "Show yourself properly, cousin. Unless I've really lost it and gone batty like Aunt Bella."

Padfoot jumped into one of the empty chairs at the table, then turned to give Tonks a wink, which looked decidedly odd on a canine face.

"Right," Tonks said, then turned on her heel and left the room.

"It's not a difficult rule," Bishop groused, rising to go after his fiancée. "Don't upset the cranky pregnant Auror." He shot a glare at the dog that was apparently Sirius Black, and followed Tonks into the living room, careful to keep his distance until she'd gotten the urge to cause destruction out of her system.

"Verity!" Tonks called. "Do you have something suitably blunt in the kitchen I can use as a bludgeon? I'll clean it when I'm done." She was still standing in the middle of the living room shaking, not sure whether she wanted to cry or scream.

"There's a meat mallet sticking out of the wall that I chucked at Sirius' head when I thought he was going tear my arm off," she suggested from her spot near the doorway.

"Pregnant," Hestia asked, blinking.

"I thought we were keeping that under wraps," Moody called. "What are you drinking Hestia? I have Dry and semi-dry mead and some ginger beer, and some pumpkin juice."

"We are. Verity, could you send the meat mallet in with my former mentor? I'd like a word with him in private," Tonks said, still not moving. "You should stop announcing that, dear."

Deciding to risk the threat to his person, Bishop wrapped his arms around her. "We're among trustworthy people, and your cousin. Besides, I was irritated, it just slipped out. Do you you want me to obliviate them?"

Verity went into the kitchen and moments later she returned with the requested item which was still white with plaster dust. She smirked. "Here you go, Granddad."

"Thanks," he chuckled, taking the mallet from her. "Hestia, here are the bottles. Give Sirius whatever he wants in the soup bowl."

With that, he went into the living room.

"You knew. You knew, Alastor Moody, and instead of giving me any kind of warning, you waited with amusement to see how I would react. I am so very angry with you right now," Tonks gritted out. "Give me the damn mallet so I can throw it around outside and not at you or S- him."

Moody crossed his arms, mallet gripped in his fist. "I knew, yes. I didn't know he wouldn't come and see you before now. It was suggested -- twice -- when I went and sprung him from the Department of Mysteries that he should do so on his way out of the Ministry." He had suspected that he would not go and see Tonks beforehand, though. He kept that to himself, though.

She knew Rascaile had been joking. Hestia truly did, but she was gripping the bottle in her hand tightly as she drained it. There was still a chunk of her memory that Megan's little boyfriend had taken from her that she would never have back. Perhaps she didn't want it, but it was still hers. She should not be so upset over an offhand remark, but her nerves were already frayed. They had been for a while now.

Bishop was pretty put out with the newly returned Black cousin. As few family members as Dora had, even fewer that were sane and agreeable, it ticked him right off that Sirius elected to reacquaint himself with his cousin by springing his furry self on her without any preamble. With Bellatrix on the loose, the last thing she needed was more family drama. "I'll be happy to kick his arse, if you like, love. Or hold him so you can."

"I'll take care of it as needed, thank you, Bishop."

Sirius was feeling more than a bit guilty just then. From his point of view, he'd seen Tonks not more than a month ago. It hadn't really registered that it had been eight years since he'd disappeared. It struck home now, though. You really are a bastard, he thought morosely. Shifting back, he walked into the sitting room. "I'm sorry Nymphie. I didn't mean to upset you. I was going for a laugh - I'd forgotten that it's been a lot longer for you than for me."

He spread his arms. "I'm ready for my malleting now."

Hestia grinned then. She just hoped his malleting was not followed by HER malleting for knowing about this and not saying anything. Then again, it really was not her thing to tell. Just like with Remus. She really needed to make Sirius owl him or agree to have him over. Soon.

"You are such a fucking bastard," Tonks said with heat, before balling up her fist and punching his contrite looking chin. She then wrapped her arms around Sirius' middle, holding him tight. "I've missed you. I'm so glad you're not dead. Don't do it again or I'll get the family book and bring you back to kill you again." The tears she had been holding back began to run slowly down her face, and Tonks sniffed loudly.

"Don't die. Got it." Sirius worked his jaw slowly as he hugged her. Nothing broken, thank Morganna. "It's good to see you too, Nym. I could have done without getting reacquainted with your left hook, though."

"You wouldn't have known it was me if I didn't cause you some bodily harm, on purpose or not."

Tonks let go of Sirius and got a good look at him. He really didn't look any older than we she had seen him last.

"I have a million questions, and you can answer them at dinner. I'm hungry, and I won't hit you again unless you deserve it. Or maybe I'll let Hestia have those honors." Her look at the other woman let Hestia know that she was in trouble, too, but that it would wait for later.

"Sounds good to me," Sirius replied. "I'm starving. I'm going to have to ask you to go easy on Hest, though. The Department of Mysteries forbade her or Harry from talking about me until I was released."

No one was quite moving, so Tonks made her way back to the dining room, mouthing her thanks to Verity. She sat at her place, and grabbed her drink, wishing it had something stronger in it.

"What happened?"

Verity smiled back at Tonks and took the mallet from her grandfather as he moseyed back into the dining room.

"From what I overheard the eggheads talking about," Sirius said as he pulled Hestia's chair out for her, "the Veil of Death was nothing of the sort. They think it was an early experiment in space expansion charms. It just so happens that it also expanded time as well - as in one second becomes a hell of a lot longer inside than out - along with a few other physical laws I'm a bit hazy on." He shrugged. "From my point of view, I was only on the other side of the Veil for two or three days."

Dropping into the chair next to Dora, Bishop slung an arm across the back of her chair and ran his hand lightly over her back, just letting her know he was with her. She seemed to be getting over the shock, but this sort of jolt wasn't good for her. Extending a hand across the table, he met Sirius' gaze. "Bishop Rascaile, I'm Dora's fiancé."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "And apparently the father of her child. Tell me, was the proposal before or after you found out?" He grinned mirthlessly as he took the extended hand. "And I hope you realize that there's only one right answer."

He shook the long-lost family member's hand firmly, mildly irritated at the insinuation. "Before, though it wouldn't have mattered to me one way or the other. The wedding's in a few weeks, you'll have to let us know where we can address your invitation."

"You hardly have any say in the matter, Sirius," Tonks interjected. "It's not like you had the key to my chastity belt."

"A man I've never met got you pregnant. You're the only family I'm willing to claim, Nym, and I love you. I just want to be damned sure that you are the reason he's marrying you, and not the sprog."

"I love you, too. But use your brain. Do you really think I would marry someone just because I'm up the duff? Me? What if it was Remus? We were together for quite a while," she sighed. Bloody man.

"Normally I'd say not," Sirius grinned suddenly as he added, "but if I knew how the female mind worked, Hest and I would've been otherwise occupied tonight."

Moody snickered into his glass.

Verity choked into hers and then drained it quickly.

Sirius shared a smirk with Moody, before glaring playfully at Tonks. "And I really don't need to think about you and Moony. When I do that, I'm torn between congratulating him and throttling him. Besides, it's going to ruin whole conversations about our love lives. I don't want to know if you're a screamer or not."

"I think we can all agree that discussing Dora's experiences with her previous lover is just a bad idea all around," Bishop ground out, frowning.

Tonks patted his leg and snickered.

Hestia finally stopped sputtering in shock. "I wouldn't go to sleep tonight were I you. You stand an excellent chance of being hexed. Just because you're not dead doesn't mean I give out pity shags."

Sirius kept grinning, but that one hurt. "Pity shags? I'll have you know that my shagging is anything but pitiful."

Moody motioned to Verity and they both disappeared into the Kitchen.

"And I am not going to sleep with you just because I am happy you are alive," Hestia snapped. "So just stop teasing about it. It wasn't funny ten years ago, and it isn't funny now."

Sirius' amused expression faded. "It wasn't teasing, then or now."

Smirking, Bishop quipped, "No, it sounds like Hestia's been doing the teasing."

Tonks kicked Bishop under the table. She morphed a bit to make her face a touch greener. "I'm going to run to the loo." She thought that this was a conversation Hestia and Sirius should without Bishop being himself. She didn't mind her little white- er, green- lie.

"This part of the pregnancy bit I could do without," Bishop said, pulling a face as he rose from his chair and followed Tonks down the hall.

Hestia sighed and took a long drink. She should not have come here tonight. She was on edge and bitchy as hell. Probably due to not having had any for over a year now. The teasing was not helping.

"Hest..." Sirius didn't know what he could say that wouldn't be dismissed outright. Mercifully, he was interrupted by the kitchen door opening.

Moody came back in holding three plates of squash and levitating a trivet and a large bowl of cubed, steaming beets. Verity was close behind with three more plates of squash and six bowls of soup following her like little lost ducklings.

Moody set down the plate that he had in his wand hand in Tonks' spot, and then set the trivet down and placed the bowl on top of it. He placed the remaining squash in Bishop's and Verity's places. Verity unloaded her first squash in front of Hestia, followed by Sirius, and then her great grandfather. She flicked her wand and the six bowls of soup thumped down to the left of the plates in an anti-clockwise fashion.

"Tonks in the loo?" Moody asked.

Verity took her seat, and her grandfather pushed her in.

"I think she was fleeing the uncomfortable silence, actually," Sirius said with a sigh. "I'm doing an unusually good job of saying exactly the wrong thing tonight, it seems."

Bishop was staring at her in the hallway outside of the loo, as her face returned to normal.

"I'm fine. I hear Moody again, so it's safe to return."

"You like morning sickness enough to fake it? You're one sick witch." Gesturing to the loo door, Bishop suggested, "If you really want them to think you were ill, you ought to splash a bit of water on your face and do a breath-freshening charm. No one likes sick-breath."

She just shook her head and grinned at Bishop as she made her way back to the dining room.

"Oh, food. Wonderful."

Moody topped off everyone's glass, and then sat down himself. "So Tonks, Bishop... Have you decided on a honeymoon destination? You'll have to book it quick, if the wedding's at the end of the month."

Hestia desperately wished for something stronger to drink. Getting blasted right now sounded good. She was uncomfortable, and she felt like she was intruding.

Bishop nodded. "It's all set. We're heading to Morocco. Hestia, Dora will be on holiday the first week of December."

Moody grinned. "Aideen and I spent a day there on our honeymoon. We were staying in Cádiz that week, and took a ferry across from Gibraltar." He grinned. "I'm sure that you'll have a wonderful time."

Hestia noticed how quiet Sirius was being. This should be a happy occasion. She nudged his leg under the table with her boot.

Sirius started slightly when Hestia nudged him. He'd been considering asking if he were welcome at the wedding, but even his admittedly rusty social skills told him that he'd be in for Tonks' impression of a howler if he did something that stupid.

Shaking himself, he asked, "So, considering your options, I take it that Draco will be the one giving you away?"

Hestia choked on her drink and started laughing.

"I already asked him, and even with the thought my dress would catch on fire, he said he would. You weren't here, Sear, but I would have asked you. You're coming aren't you? You're all allowed out and about?" Tonks was hopeful that Sirius would come. It might make up for her parents not being there.

Sirius' relief was visible. "Wild thestrals couldn't keep me away, Nym," he replied with a smile.

"So, where are you staying?" Tonks asked. "With Harry?"

"Actually, Hestia's loaning me her spare room for the time being." Sirius glanced at the still clearly agitated Hestia. "Though I suppose I should probably start looking for a place of my own soon, and stop inflicting myself on her."

Hestia looked down at her plate and stabbed the squash with gusto. Why did the thought of her having her cottage to herself again bother her? She wanted him to leave her alone and not leave her? She needed to make up her damned mind because she could not have it both ways.

"I haven't gotten rid of my flat yet, if Hestia needs her room back before you find something permanent. If you want it, just let Dora or me know," Bishop offered, wondering if he'd stuck his foot in it when he caught the look on Hestia's face.

"Thanks. I still need to figure out my finances, but I'll keep it mind."

"So, Jones," Moody prompted, "How go things in the training program?"

"Fine," Hestia snapped, filled with an irrational urge to hex Bishop in the face for offering his flat to Sirius.

She really was quite moody tonight. She had no idea why.

Moody smirked. "Really? How nice." He speared a beet and ate it with gusto. "And did I hear you mention that MacDonald was going to take her tests early?"

Verity perked up at this.

"I'll be getting a new trainee, soon, now that Vane is all graduated," Tonks said, winking at Moody. "Wonderful squash."

Moody tipped his fork at Tonks.

"Do you know who yet?" Verity's fork was stopped halfway to her mouth.

"I do. You know her, even," Tonks replied, sipping her drink.

Verity wracked her brain. "It's gotta be Hazel," she finally said.

"You're going to have to be sharper than that, Verity Moody," Tonks began, her eyebrow raised. "I thought you said she'd be ready, Mad Eye."

Hestia chuckled, her mood lightening a bit. Talking about her trainees always improved her mood.

Moody shrugged. "I thought she would be. Must be she didn't figure on being promoted so soon."

Verity's mind reeled, and she was too stunned to censor what came out of her mouth next. "But I've only just started!"

"Constant vigilance, darling," Hestia said. "And it's not Hazel. She's probably going to hate me for the rest of her training session when she sees who I assign her to. Come on now, Verity, who could it possibly be?"

"Seriously?" She could remember Tonks coming to dinner when she'd been her granddad's trainee.

Tonks grinned. "Seriously."

Sirius fought the temptation to make one of his ubiquitous 'Serious/Sirius' jokes, as Hestia had made it clear that she would hex him if he did it again in her presence, and just settled for a smile. "Congratulations, Ms. Moody."

"Thank you," she said, automatically. She was a little surprised.

"You don't know that as of yet," Hestia said. "So I'd appreciate some surprise on your part when the assignments are posted."



[Synopsis: Hilarity ensues when Moody has Tonks and Bishop over for dinner, Verity spends the meal in a slightly mortified state, and Hestia is just about ready to hex Sirius in his sleep.]