The Kitchen

*The central Hub and meeting place for the entire family. This is the place where everyone can tell about their day, share their accomplishments, and complain about those who aren't doing their fair share of the cleaning. A large, solid wooden table stretches down the length of the room, which was modified from two by moving around some supports and tearing down a wall. The floors are wooden, like most of the rest of the house, but here the boards are more worn down with the tread of many feet. Around the table are mismatched chairs - the children's preference overruling any aesthetic reasoning - but their placement is well understood. Woe to he who dares rearrange the furniture in this room!

Cupboards line two walls of the room and reach all the way to the ceiling, filled with cups, plates, bowls, and snackfood items(on the top shelves, all the better to keep it out of the hands of ravenous teenagers). Bellow the counter that runs below there are more cupboards and drawers, holding utensils, cooking ware, baking products, and canned goods. Full-sized fridge and freezer stand next to each other, the former filled mostly with juice, fruit, and eggs(And cream cheese. Mustn't ever forget about the cream cheese), the latter with meat and pre-made meals. Bread and bagels can be found on the counter by the toaster.

Large windows look out on the back field, unhindered by curtains. The back of the house faces South, so while the sun is never shining directly in the window, it is strong enough against the panes to warm the room quickly on sunny days. On cold days, though, the large glass panes usher in the cool, making necessary a small space heater that sits in the corner when not in use.*

Emerson clomped noisily into the kitchen and threw himself into his chair, unintentionally kicking Rabastan's in the process.

"Hey - watch it!" The smaller boy glared at his brother. Emerson stuck out his tongue in return.

"Mature, Em. Real mature," muttered Rowena sardonically as she finished dishing out scrambled eggs to the Trio. Setting the large bowl back in the center of the table, which contained four more just like it and with varying levels of egg, she sat down and started into her own breakfast.

"What's wrong?" whispered a small voice. Emerson leaned forward to look down the table, where two seats down Tomoyo was watching him with large eyes. Emerson sighed dramatically but answered her question.

"Only the end of my life."

At the sight of the young girl's eyes rapidly filling with tears, he quickly amended. "But not seriously! I'm only joking - oh, don't cry! I'm sor- gah! Not you too. Darn, wait-"

"Nice, Em." Said Sirius in awe as their younger siblings rapidly dissolved into tears, some sobbing quietly while others were practically howling.

"Emerson, I. Am. Going. To. Kill you!!" growled Rowena as she tried to placate all of the Trio at the same time. She wasn't having much luck and Emerson suspected Janvier was crying more to add to the noise than any actual discomfort.

Emerson turned his attention to the still sobbing Tomoyo, as well as Dreydon who'd come over to cling to her sleeve as soon as the commotion began. It was difficult to get through to them, though, was with all the crying and screaming going on around them, so he was visibly grateful when Savannah came over to help. Crouching down, she pulled Dreydon close to her and grinned at Emerson over his head. "You've really done it this time, haven't you?"

Emerson mock glared at her, but then smirked in agreement. They went back to placating their respective child and soon had them calmed down. It seemed everyone else'd met with success as well, and for the most part no one was crying anymore. Well, except for Robert, who'd been kneed in an unfortunate part of the anatomy by a petulant Myrtle and was still on the floor recovering.

Wincing in sympathy, Emerson returned to his seat and started in on his already cold breakfast, but was stopped by a steeling glare across the table from Rowena.

"Well, Emerson? Aren't you going to tell us what's happened to make your life suddenly end?" Emerson noticed the others giving him similar looks, especially Minerva, who was rubbing her arm where Fenrir had bit her.

"Uhh, well..."

"What's that? Speak up!" Remus said from the far end of the table, his usual gentle demeanor somewhat lacking as he pulled mashed hashbrown out of his hair. From beside him, Gemina waved her dirty hand happily.

"I just, it's just that.."

"Yes...?" prompted Filius.

Emerson flushed in embarrassment and fiddled with his fork. "They pushed back the release of Dragon Quest IX for the DS again."

Half an hour later he was in the shower, peeling off his clothes and grimacing at the shower of eggs, toast, and juice that cascaded off of it.