Disclaimer in Chapter 1

Authors' Note: This is it! The end at last, and only …er, um… five years late! Hope it gave you a giggle, even if it was a belated giggle.

Chapter 10: The Morning After

The waking hour came all too quickly for the Order of the Phoenix. Mundungus had dragged himself upstairs to bed after his partner departed and was the first up the next morning. When he entered the kitchen, he surveyed the scene.

Lupin was sitting at the kitchen table, head back and legs propped up on the table. Mrs. Figg had her head in Lupin's lap, Tonks was stretched across the table with her head resting on his feet. Molly Weasley was half on the table, with her head on Tonk's stomach, and half off, with her feet on Mrs. Figg's back. Were sound asleep, except for Lupin who had no way of extricating himself without disrupting his comrades, so he remained in position, groggily staring at the ceiling, trying not to think about how much he needed the toilet.

Minerva McGonagall was curled up in a chair, her long grey hair covering her like a blanket. Even in sleep she was smiling broadly, dreaming of her perfectly executed plan of the previous night.

Charlie, Bill and Arthur were on the floor in a heap near the door. Snape and Sirius still lay hunched over the table between them, exactly as they had fallen. Both were still clutching full shots of Firewhiskey.

"Time to raise the dead, I think," Mundungus muttered to himself. He made his first course of action freeing Lupin from his duties as pillow and mattress. They both set about gently rousing the crowd.

Lupin woke the ladies at his table. Mundungus rose McGonagall and the Weasley men. They were all up save Snape and Sirius, whom everybody was afraid to touch, when Hagrid and Mad-Eye Moody stumbled in.

"Where did you two go?" Mr. Weasley said as they entered, deeply regretting the agonizing din of his own whisper.

"Er…we was… the thing is…" Hagrid stammered.

"We woke up a few minutes ago in the flower bed next to the front door." Moody growled. Everybody who was able winced through a laboured laugh. At that moment, the duelists stirred. Sirius pushed himself upright as slowly as possible, his face bearing an imprint of the wood grain from the table. He struggled to keep his head up and didn't dare try to raise his body. He looked across the table as Snape made the same effort. He greasy hair was plastered to his face.

"Hangover control," said Mundungus, far too loud for the taste of anyone present. He conjured a tall glass of water for each person present and instructed them to drink if they wanted to be coherent by the end of the month.

"I don't even know what happened," Tonks moaned, "I…I remember dancing." She looked at Lupin who blinked and looked at Mrs. Figg.

"Mmm." He took a big gulp of water. "That I do recall. How about you, twinkle-toes?" Mrs. Figg waved away his words as she drank from her cup. Bill and Charlie looked up.

"Were Fred and George here?" Bill asked, putting on a look of extreme concentration. Molly's head shot up, much to her regret.

"No, no, they couldn't have been. They don't even know the Order exists," she said in earnest.

"Who won the contest?" McGonagall asked Mundungus. Snape and Sirius both looked at the wizard too. They were curious as to who had won themselves, neither remembering the end of the night at all.

"You both hit the table together on the same shot," he crowed, "guess you'll have to have a rematch." Both wizards turned green and looked ill at the thought.

"Do any of you remember Aberforth Dumbledore being here?" Lupin asked the crowd at large.

"Who?" Asked Tonks

"Dumbledore's brother's called Aberforth, but I've certainly never met him," Bill said.

"Me neither."

"Nor have I."

"I haven't either."

"I've heard some stories about him though." They all nodded in consent and went back to their water.

"Was Gilderoy Lockhart here?"

Snape, who had just taken an unusually large drink from his glass, relieved his mouth of its burden. He spit the water all over the room with the highest concentration aimed directly across from him, right in Sirius Black's face. Snape looked livid.

"NEVER say Gilderoy Lockhart while I'm drinking."