Order Only: Private message to Charlie and Tonks

[alt_bill]

Charlie, got your patronus. Sorry to worry you; no, I haven't been arrested! Yes, I saw Severus last night, but there isn't much to tell. Which he thinks, in its own way, is even more worrisome. Whoever did this to me was very good. An exceptionally clean obliviate, with no fuzz on the minutes fore and aft. We couldn't get any other information using the Pensieve, either. It was just sheer luck, that I looked at the clock right beforehand, that allowed me to realise what must have happened.

Tonks, thanks for talking with me last night. It helped, honest. At least it set my mind at rest about some other stuff.

Severus said he's going to ask Alice to put out a general Order alert, given the situation.

Yes, I will continue to be careful, stick to routine.

Comments

[alt_charlie]

Yeah, that worries me even more too. Fuck.

We're all on freeze watch tonight, too, so I'm going to be out, but if you need me for anything, or suspect anything, send word.

And be careful.

[alt_nymphadora]

What about you, dragon boy?

How are you keeping yourself, then?

[alt_charlie]

Freezing my fingers off! Or other bits that are less polite to talk about. It's all very hurry-up-and-wait this time of year -- we're never sure if we'll have nothing to do or if we'll all be running ourselves ragged trying to stay ahead of the weather. But it's warmed up a bit, at least, so we haven't had to spend tonight keeping the eggs warm.

I'm ready for spring. These short days are getting to me.

If the weather stays decent, I'll pop in tomorrow or thereabouts. Anything I can bring you lot?

[alt_nymphadora]

Sirius favours Himalayan HotWot for frostbite. We keep it in stock here.

Not sure if it's as good for frozen bits as it is for fingers and toes, though. I should think that too much heat, or too sudden, might be as bad as the cold. I could ask him for you.

I reckon you get less daylight than we do down here. We're beginning to see the difference in dawn and dusk. I notice it coming home from work in the mornings when I walk. Of course, I don't always. When it's pissing down or freezing, I take the Floo. I expect Frank would tell me I ought to be tough enough to stand a bit damp, but I say it's a good use of resources to Floo if you can do!

No need to bring a thing. You and your bits just come along if you're able. We'll set a cake aside for you just in case.

[alt_charlie]

We usually go for a bit of firewhiskey in the tea -- might not do much good in the long run, but it usually makes you feel a hell of a lot warmer!

And yeah, the days are getting longer -- which is nice -- but they're still miserably short up here, this time of year. I think we've only got about twenty minutes more dark than you do, but it certainly feels like forever. Summer never comes fast enough, does it? And then it does, and everything's all hot and sticky, and you wind up whinging and moaning about how much you miss winter and wish it would hurry up again. Or maybe that's just me.

I like September best, just when the leaves are starting to turn. And the beginning of April, when all the first flowers are starting to peek up. I guess I like transitions best, and all the signs that things are starting to change. Says something about me, yeah?

I think taking the Floo when the weather is shite is demonstrating excellent awareness of situational conditions, me.

[alt_nymphadora]

April and September are lovely months. I like the sound of change, myself. I quite see its appeal.

My favourite month is May now, but that's because it's when Miss Albia arrived.

Private Message to Bill Weasley

[alt_charlie]

Oh, also, in all the fuss, I forgot it was my move: C6.

Re: Private Message to Bill Weasley

[alt_bill]

Mum is majorly hacked off with me this morning, ever since Alice's post.

I guess there are some things that Mums prefer to hear directly from their kids rather than via other interested parties. Or in this case, through the journals.

It felt like I was about six years old again and she had just ferreted out who actually broke that window with a bludger or something.

E3.

Re: Private Message to Bill Weasley

[alt_charlie]

Did you see Minerva's comment to Alice? I don't know, somehow it doesn't make me feel better at all.

I don't know what to say about Mum. I mean, she's always reacted badly to one of us not telling her something, but if you'd told her right up front, she just would have worried and fussed. And it not only would've been one more thing to deal with, it would've upset her even more. Sometimes it feels like we can't win, you know?

Did she eventually calm down? Or are you still in the soup?

Nf6.

Re: Private Message to Bill Weasley

[alt_bill]

Minerva's message did help. I think under its beneficent influence, Mum should calm down sometime in, oh, the next century or so.

I do feel reassured myself. Sort of. At least I trust Minerva not to lie about this, that I'm not in imminent danger of arrest. It's a huge load off my mind. Although the theory that Poppy floated, that I was targeted for recruitment is calculated to have Mum have kittens in a whole other way.

(Sorry for the delay in replying. I spent the afternoon doing a bunch of unpleasant goat-related chores, in hopes of raising my credit some.)

Nf3.

Re: Private Message to Bill Weasley

[alt_charlie]

I'm the last person to twit you about how long it takes to hear back. My record is, what, five days? Six? If you don't count the however-many years when I was just ignoring the thing entirely. A few hours while you're off doing chores is nothing.

I don't know what to think about Poppy's suggestion. And Snape commented after, and he didn't say that Poppy was being silly, and you know Snape never misses a chance to say when people are being silly. I'd feel a lot better if he'd said that Poppy was borrowing trouble.

...Do you think you could? If that is what it was, I mean. And if there was some way of making it so that the Lord Pretender couldn't take one look at you and know everything.

I don't think I could. And I don't think you could either.

And now I'm even more creeped out. Ugh.

Nbd7. (Neither of us are really covering ourselves with glory, this match.)

Re: Private Message to Bill Weasley

[alt_bill]

Well, it could be that, and the fact that they obliviated me means that after the conversation, they decided I wasn't a good candidate after all. So maybe I just wasn't up to snuff. Which would be both a disappointment and bloody relief.

Another thing occurred to me, though: perhaps it was some kind of followup to my witnessing that ritual? Maybe they were checking up to see if, I dunno, it had any kind of long-term ill effects? I mean we know it probably affected other people who were there, since it was a huge surge of Dark Magic, and so maybe someone (the Department of Mysteries?) was checking on me? Perhaps as part of their research?

I realise I'm grasping at straws here, but at least that would fit the parameters of Minerva's reassurances: it doesn't have to do with the Order, and it doesn't mean I'm about to be arrested.

Bd3. Is this game going to turn out to be a bore?

Re: Private Message to Bill Weasley

[alt_bill]

(Not that I couldn't maybe use some boredom in my life.)

Re: Private Message to Bill Weasley

[alt_charlie]

Well, I know better than to complain about being bored in a chess match with you. Because when I do, you lure me into a false sense of security and then pounce. So ... Bd6.

As for the rest of it -- you know, that would make sense. Maybe that whole thing with Dolohov falling ill had something to do with the ritual and they had to check up to see whether anyone else who'd been there would have the same thing happen to them?

Ugh. I don't know. This whole thing is giving me heartburn; I can barely imagine how you must feel.

[alt_nymphadora]

Bill, I'm sorry. I meant to answer yesterday, and then I don't even know where the day went today.

What do you think of it all now? With what Minerva said and the rest of them?

[alt_bill]

Ha, I've had days like that. Whole months, actually. Trust me, I understand.

I'm...vaguely reassured. At least I'm trying to be. Anyway, I feel a lot better since talking about it with you. I do trust Minerva not to lie to me about this. Charlie and I have been chewing over possibilities about what it could all mean, if it's not that we're all about to be arrested. Yeah, it could mean they're targeting me for recruitment, but the fact that they chose to obliviate me after the conversation I guess means that no one's going to be asking me to murder anyone soon.

The other thing that occurred to me is that maybe someone's following up to check on me because I witnessed that ritual. Maybe the Department of Mysteries is doing research or something?

Maybe I'll never know. As long as I don't have to murder anyone, and MLE isn't about to haul me or my family away, I guess I'll have to be willing to live with that.

[alt_nymphadora]

It's funny. I'm not happy someone might be recruiting you to the Council, if that's what it is, but my first thought when I read what Madam P wrote was, 'At least, it might not be DIRRT!'

I suppose I'm just used to thinking everything sinister that happens in that building is that lot skulking around, getting people to narc on each other.

[alt_bill]

Your tips for avoiding that skulking lot's attention have been absolutely invaluable. Thanks to you, Nick and I (and my analysts) have been keeping our noses perfectly clean. Which has saved our arses, I'm sure.

It's fun in a way, isn't it? Outwitting the spies. And you're bloody good at it, you know. I'm sure DIRRT never imagined anyone dreaming up such imaginative uses for bleach wipes.

[alt_nymphadora]

Bleach flannels are totally underrated as an alternative to magical cleansers and charms. DIRRT have a giant blindspot, going after magical evasions and forgetting ordinary ones, so it's their own fault if we use that against them.

Only, don't ever get to feeling smug about outwitting them. That's right when they catch folks. I've seen it too many times. Every time someone 'quits', we all wonder what happened. Was it really maternity leave? Did so and so actually take early retirement or an offer of work at a village school? Sometimes it's so obviously a lie. Other times, you just can't be sure. And that's really worse.

[alt_bill]

I promise I won't let myself get smug. I've harped on that very poont myself to my analysts (and Dad used to warn me). You're right. I may like matching wits--must be the chess player in me--but I won't underestimate or dismiss the danger.

I can't help but think about it sometimes: what would it be like if going to work simply meant, you know, going to work? Picking a job because you liked it and it interested you, not because you're trying to position yourself to help overthrow a corrupt regime? Or going out for a beer after work because you like your mates and not because you're trying to pump people for information.

Not that I mean that's what I'm doing when I hang out at the beer garden with at Doughty Conduit, though. I doubt that Bea has much in the way of intelligence that's useful to the Order.