Order Only: Private message to Charlie

[alt_bill]

Charlie,

We've been like brooms passing in the night, and I've barely seen you. Besides, I've been buried in lists, interview transcripts, maps, and other parchment work. I didn't hear the latest report from Stornaway until this morning.

Charlie, I can't say how sorry I am about the dragons you've lost.

Do you have any eggs clutching? Are their mothers still alive? I've lost track.

Alice mentioned you think we should be instituting--how'd she put it? Oh yeah--Days of Rest, No Work, And Get The Fuck Out Of Here. (You're the one who came up with that title, yeah?) If we can actually pull one off in the next few days, want to spend it with me? I can lay my hands on some Firewhiskey and I have good sobering potions. I can limit myself to pouring, if you feel the need to get completely pissed.

Or we could just talk. If that's what you'd prefer.

Maybe you want to spend the time curled up with Tonks and Adam or Dree and Em instead, and that's fine, too. Melin knows that Rachel and I are grasping for every moment we can snatch together. But if you want some time for the two of us, or maybe with Ron and Ginny too if it suits you, that's important, too, and I'm willing to help make it happen.

Comments

[alt_charlie]

Thanks, you. I can't really wrap my head around it, honestly. Over half of them gone in the last year.

We had three eggs this year. Two of them hatched just before Victory Day or whatever we're calling it -- one of those died. The third should have hatched a few days after, and didn't. You can't use the checkup charms on an egg in the last week or so of gestation without risking damage to the kit, so we were pretty reluctant to check on it, but Dree decided on Wednesday it was long enough past when it should have hatched and checked the egg, and it's no longer viable.

I'm just glad that the one kit who didn't die didn't lose her mother. I just don't know that we'd have the capacity to hand-raise right now.

I was actually going to grab you sometime soon if I didn't see you, and see if you wanted to have a chess afternoon this weekend. Or if you don't want to lose time with Rachel, maybe the four of us, you and me and her and Tonks, could take a picnic out to the lake. If my kids see me visibly and ostentatiously relaxing, it might help them believe they're allowed to as well. Between that and Draco's party, it might help. (Save the bottle of Firewhisky for later, though, I don't think I'm in the mood.)

And yeah, I was the one who told Alice that we need to get people to take care of themselves more. (The name is probably not going to stick outside our circle, at least!) I know we have so much stuff to do and not enough time or people to do it, but we all have to stop driving ourselves like this, because people can't keep up this pace forever.

[alt_bill]

Has the dragon population had a history of a precipitous census drop like this before? If so, how have the reserves handled it? Did they look for orphaned kits in the wild, or were there trades to strengthen bloodlines between reserves?

I like both the chess idea and the picnic idea. (I hope to grab time for chess with both Gin and Ron this week sometime, too.)

I'll look for you at the party tonight and we can firm up the details.

[alt_charlie]

There are enough wild Welsh Greens and Hebridean Blacks in the area that the population bottleneck shouldn't be too severe there -- I tagged two Greens at Snowdonia, actually, and the charm says they're ranging properly and are both alive and well. I'm mostly worried about the Vipertooths, we only have one breeding pair left of those and it's going to take some careful wrangling. Thom says they used to trade eggs and the occasional yearling between reserves (there's ones in Romania, China, Japan, America, and Brazil, or at least there was when the wards went up, and Thom tried to remember where else and couldn't) but obviously it's been a while since that's been possible. Thom and Dree are trying to work out a plan that will allow them the best chances, but they won't know for sure (and we're all trying really hard to keep some emotional distance) until after we know what we're going to have to do with the wards.

Sorry I didn't catch you at the party, I was doing the rounds and noticed Honoria Sandoval sitting out in the garden and looking like she was half a step away from a breakdown, so I went out to see if she's all right. She didn't want to talk at first, but she didn't want me to go, either, so I sat with her for about an hour until she started sobbing on me and talking about her family and -- well, she was talking about a lot of things, but you know. She said she felt better after, at least, and I think she was going to go find Ginny and have a soak in the Prefect's bath. Merlin, these poor kids. I'm glad I've learned to carry handkerchiefs in my robes for Adam, that's for sure, they've come in useful once or twice this week.

I'm exhausted so I'm going to bed, but picnic for lunch tomorrow, maybe? I'll write you and Rachel and Tonks all together in a minute.

[alt_bill]

You know, if there's anyone who might know anything about where there might be any wild Vipertooths left, it would be Hagrid. Or even where to find some black market eggs, since they're very rarely sold on the black market for use in some Dark potions, aren't they? There's a certain type of wizard who doesn't give a damn if he's using bits from an animal that's about to go extinct.

Anyway: Hagrid loves dragons, is obsessed with them, really, and he'd be anxious to do anything to help. And he has his own network of information, and maybe he can turn up a stroke of luck.

[alt_bill]

And good on you for looking out for Honoria, by the way. I've heard Ginny mention her a time or two, as they're friends, and I've heard Ron chunter on about her vile sister, Lana. Sounds to me that Honoria's as odd a duck in her family as Sirius was in his.