alt_bill | Order Only: The new journals

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I've run the charm specifications on the new journals backwards and forwards, and I'm confident that the Order Only lock is still perfectly secure. Sirius, I can assure you that your Grim Truth entries are coming through as clearly as ever. (Massopust is fit to be tied. He swore up and down that the new journals would keep you out. I made sure he was wrong. You owe me a Firewhiskey, next time you see me.)

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From:

alt_sirius

I'll pay with interest, Bill, and gladly!

Of course, it does mean they'll be even more upset than ever that I've continued to post.

Do you actually mean to say that they went to all this trouble just to stop me writing in the journals?

Heh. Moony will be despondent. He was so proud of moving up on their 'Most Wanted' lists.

From:

alt_bill

Oh, they had other cauldrons to boil, too, you understand. They always do. Massopust did his best to sell the new journals as easier to monitor for sedition. Then, too, the problems that Harry Marvolo has had with his this summer made them uneasy.

From:

alt_sirius

Wait, tell me more. What problems?

From:

alt_bill

He was posting in his journal, but no one was seeing any of his entries. It was extremely odd--we've never had anything like that happen before--and it caused quite a flurry when the truth was eventually discovered. According to rumour, Malfoy senior was quite put out when he learned that Marvolo was under the impression that his son had been ignoring him.

From:

alt_sirius

Is that what it was! I knew something was up. Hermione said he'd just been pouting, but it was dead weird that he didn't post at all over the summer!

From:

alt_mcgonagall

She explained it to me yesterday evening, when Mr Marvolo did not appear on the train as expected. Hermione seems to believe that the two events - the journal's failure and the barrier's failure - may be connected; however, I haven't the faintest idea of why or how this could be the case. More likely Marvolo's journal simply had a weak spell somewhere in its workings and it simply couldn't stand up to the strain of constant use.

From:

alt_poppy

You are absolutely certain, then, that this spell is in working order?

I scarcely dare think what would become of us all if it were to fail.

From:

alt_bill

Yes, Poppy. It's woven into the very magical signature of the charm that makes the journals work. (One of the nice bits of charm theory I picked up from working at Gringotts.) And I've tested it, here at the Ministry--I ran it by several of my beta testers, asking them what they could read on the page, and although they thought they were seeing messages in their entirety, none of them could see the additional Order Only test entries at all. It's perfectly safe.