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[alt_alice]

It looks like we're well on our way to a productive two weeks of holidays. I visited Grimmauld yesterday, and it's wonderfully prepared for our young people. I'm glad we'll give them an opportunity to revise intensively for OWLs and NEWTs, and relieved that they'll be learning to Apparate as a security measure until we can get our portkeys sorted.

Along those lines, I'm hoping that as many of the non-OWL and NEWT members of the Hogwarts group will be able to join in on the Apparation lessons as possible. Terry will be joining in, of course, but I'm also bringing along Patricia Stimpson, Lisa Turpin, and Colin Creevy to learn Apparation, and they're hoping to sit in and take notes on certain classes that they wish to learn more about. Patty's interested in learning more about Runes, Lisa's focused on Herbology, and Colin's got his mind set on Defence. I'm hoping they'll find the experience useful rather than overwhelming, but we shall see.

Thank you to all who are volunteering your time to instruct, supervise, and otherwise help.

Bill, would you be willing to meet this weekend with Cecelia Perks about her helping with Runes? She took a NEWT in them, after all. She's very sharp when it comes to theory, but seems a bit rusty when it comes to standard runes beyond those she has used regularly. I do know that she'd be very willing to help. As runes are not my area, I trust to your experience more than my own in sorting out whether she would be in a good position to help with revising OWL level work. I also think she ought to be present whenever Albus comes to visit, as between the two of them, they might make some headway regarding the device we've obtained.

Another thing I'm going to add to the list of considerations for hols is a rather thorough conversation with Hogwarts staff and students about what can be done regarding Madame Umbridge. The food supplements are brilliant, Poppy, and I've already got a list of needed supplies from the twins that I'm working on, but I'd like to go one step further and address how we might remove her from her current position of power. Any ideas are welcome (short of outright assassination, which would put too much uncomfortable attention Poppy's way), and I'm hoping some of the Hogwarts group might also be able to provide insights as well. It's a chance we all have to communicate directly with one another about how best we might work together, and I hope we are able to take advantage of that opportunity.

I'll be following up on some other projects that need our attention once we're done with the Easter hols season. I hope everything goes smoothly.

Comments

Private Message to Remus and Tonks

[alt_alice]

I am grateful for all three of you, and I'm so very pleased with the work you've been doing leading up to this.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Private Message to Hermione Granger and Harry Marvolo

[alt_alice]

Hermione, I was thinking, and, well, we decided collectively to call your group at Hogwarts the Junior Auxiliary without ever really asking what they would prefer to be called.

Do they have a preferred name that might be more appropriate?

Is there anything else you think needs doing during hols that would be particularly useful?

Re: Private Message to Hermione Granger and Harry Marvolo

[alt_hermione]

They haven't really named themselves. The only sort of name they use is an abbreviation of the secret phrase we use to lock the posts from anyone else seeing them.

Everyone's been gorging themselves on choc and food, even Draco and some of the others who have never had to go hungry. If there's a way to help bring more food into the school while everyone's gone that would be good. But I don't expect we should be able to do that, it's too difficult and anyway, we've got enough to be going on with at Grimmauld Place with the tutoring and everything.

Re: Private Message to Hermione Granger and Harry Marvolo

[alt_alice]

That's good to know. Thank you.

I can certainly work with Pomona and Severus to sort out some way to bring extra food supplies in, and Poppy's working on a supplement to add to the pumpkin juice that ought to help as well.

And how have you been eating?

Re: Private Message to Hermione Granger and Harry Marvolo

[alt_hermione]

Oh, don't worry about me. I'm fine.

Re: Private Message to Hermione Granger and Harry Marvolo

[alt_alice]

Of course you are. I'm glad to hear it.

[alt_bill]

Of course, I'd be happy to meet with Cecelia. I can drop in at Sherwood tomorrow, see how she's doing. I think that would be a good thing to do, anyway, given that after all, we're the ones who yanked her out of her old life, and we should see how she's settling in.

[alt_alice]

Thank you, Bill.

[alt_gredforge]

You know, if things get much worse at Hogwarts, we gotta think that more and more people won't even boggle at assassination.

[alt_molly]

Boys! You shouldn't joke like that.

[alt_gredforge]

We're not entirely joking.

[alt_alice]

The likelihood our Poppy or even Minerva could be placed under suspicion and closely questioned is far too great. I'd rather explore other options at this time.

I also strongly discourage our Hogwarts associates from attempting such measures themselves. Are we in agreement?

[alt_gredforge]

We gave our oath to Dad to obey the directives of the Order, and we take that oath seriously.

Frankly, if Mum hasn't added the condition for our joining the Order that we had to pass our NEWTs, we would have been mighty tempted to blow up the Great Hall with a blaze of fireworks by now. And fly off to set up Weasley Wizarding Whizbangs as a proper business in New London.

You have to understand that we don't control our associates at Hogwarts. We're also a step removed from the group now that we don't have a totally secure method of communicating with them anymore, since we've aged out of our own Lock. If you want to give 'em conditions, you're going to have to make the case to them directly.

If things get much more desperate, we don't know if we can say for sure whether they'll listen. No one's spoiling to murder anyone, believe us.

But....yeah. It's Umbridge.

[alt_alice]

I'll be sure to make that a part of the conversation when we're all together, then.

And here's hoping that talk of potential solutions will help provide other alternatives to direct all our energies towards.