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[alt_alice]

We've had an eventful 24 hours. The Institute pulled off a successful extraction of one of their Sophie's Army members. There might be repercussions after the fact, but we'll keep our eyes open and hope for the best. Hermione, Fred, George, Lee, please keep us appraised.

From what Sarah's told me, Umbridge was prepared to torture her until she revealed who gave her the potion. She expected that her offence would mean she'd be shipped immediately off to the camps (or killed, like Ms Fleet) along with anyone else she mentioned, endangering the rest of the Army, especially Sally-Anne Perks.

Sarah made it very clear to me that when she volunteered to take the medicine to a fellow student, she did it knowing full well what the risks were, and made the conscious choice to proceed due to her sense of moral obligation. And what's more, she followed a specific protocol -- she dropped off the potion in an out of the way place, left an anonymous note for Ms Jones to find with the potion's location, and didn't check to see if the potion had been taken until several hours later. Unfortunately, her one error was that she did not anticipate that Ms Jones would lie in wait for her to return and then turn her in.

Kingsley, I do agree that a post-mortem would be very useful when we're all able to get back together again. However, from what I've heard, the level of planning and coordination that went into this entire set of actions from the attempted potion delivery to her extraction is quite sophisticated, and even though she's a member of the larger Sophie's Army rather than our core Institute members, Sarah has displayed incredible resolve, dedication, and bravery. The Institute has been key in the creation of this Army, and as a result, has created a powerful movement within Hogwarts that is far bigger than their core membership, which is encouraging indeed.

Severus, what's your anticipated timeline?

What are everyone else's thoughts about Order admission for the Institute?

Comments

[alt_bill]

I would have said, I think they should be admitted. EXCEPT now that they've added Draco Malfoy, that's a whole other cage of pixies. Or it could be. I know, I know, you can't judge the son solely on the basis of the father--look at the situation with Sirius' family, or Percy and Dad, for example. Still, it's something that requires careful thought.

Except--has he been actually added to the group? Or does he just know about it? Hermione?

I think the ones we worked with over the Easter Holidays should at least be given the opportunity to be admitted. If they still want it. As for Marvolo, well...I need to hear from Sirius and Hermione on that, since they know him best. On the one hand, what a coup that would be for our intelligence-gathering.

On the other, the danger in his case would also be extreme, given that his foster father is our chief enemy.

[alt_bill]

Oh, and also, on the tasks you mentioned for me, with regard to your last post, Alice: I'm so glad that Minerva was able to sneak in to check the book. Nick and I will get going on those. I still haven't been able to track down Petunia Dursley. I'm wondering whether she's died, or changed her name, or gone underground somehow. I will keep looking.

[alt_alice]

Seeing as she has rather well-known relations, I can see how she'd be motivated to fall off the books and disappear.

Perhaps she got re-married, and changed her name that way?

[alt_bill]

About Sarah Fawcett...has Frank spoken with her yet about her mother? About how we acquired Matthew? Because if you wanted me to be there for that conversation to speak with her, too, I'd be willing to come. Tomorrow, if you like.

I've never forgotten her mother. She was so bloody brave. I'd like the opportunity to tell her daughter that in person.

[alt_alice]

I think she'd like that a great deal.

We haven't told her too much, only because it's been so very much for her to handle to begin with, so we can certainly all sit down and chat about it.

Thank you.

Private Message to Severus

[alt_alice]

Sarah couldn't say enough about Harry last night, Severus.

How he came up with the plan for dropping off potions and the emergency evacuation in the first place, and how he's been working so hard to champion on behalf of the halfblooded students. It was so very clear how much she respects and admires him, and how central he was to the entire enterprise last night.

She said that as soon as she saw him bursting into Umbridge's office, she knew everything was going to be all right. Because she trusted that Harry would do whatever he had to in order to keep her safe.

He's an incredible young man.

Re: Private Message to Severus

[alt_severus]

That he is. Every day I see him I wish I had

The sharing of Miss Fawcett's observations is appreciated.

Re: Private Message to Severus

[alt_alice]

My tea has been rather lacking since you've gone back to Hogwarts, by the way.

I hope you'll be able to come back for a nice long visit over summer.

Re: Private Message to Severus

[alt_severus]

I will admit that the company was not unpleasant.

I do not yet know what my plans for the summer will entail, aside from as much laboratory time as I might carve from Milland's schedule, but if I have not worn out my welcome I will gladly return.

Re: Private Message to Severus

[alt_alice]

And I will gladly have you back.

[alt_severus]

If you are referring to the timeline for my Sleeper research: McGivern's notes on his furtherance of our work over holiday have contained some promise, though I am not yet willing to commit to trial as of yet. Predicting advances in research is difficult, particularly when I do not have a quality laboratory in which to work, but I am confident I have isolated the key ingredients of the potion; now it is simply a matter of building an antidote, step by step. I cannot imagine it will take much past summer for a working version, unless the final steps prove tricky. The chance to examine a living Sleeper in person would likely speed the research, but I am not yet confident enough in my formulation to suggest that an operation be conducted to obtain one at risk to the Order or the risk of heightened security in future.

If you are referring to the timeline for removing that woman: the best (and most undetectable) poison must be started under a full moon and finished under a new moon, which brings us to 10th May. I have gathered the ingredients and will begin the brewing on schedule.

I am in favor of admission for the children, though someone ought have an extremely emphatic word with Mr Weasley about his temper first.

[alt_alice]

May the 10th it is, then.

And let me know when you're ready to move to the next step of your analysis.

[alt_charlie]

I vote yes.

Not all of them. Not Malfoy, and not Lestrange -- they're too close to the thick of it. And I'm itchy about Marvolo, but if he's the one the Prophecy's about, he's the one the Prophecy's about. But the rest of them, yeah, I'll say they've proven their nerve.

[alt_alice]

Let's talk more about Draco, Hydra, and Harry.

I must admit to more than a small degree of trepidation when I found out that Pansy Parkinson was running with this crowd, but those fears have certainly been addressed.

I think that if we trust the Institute's judgment and trustworthiness, that applies to their entire membership. But there is a difference between trustworthiness and security risk.

For instance, I can see the worth of Harry as a person, and I trust his intentions and desire to keep confidences. But the reality of his situation is that he is in a visible and vulnerable position. This means that were he to join, he would have more direct access to us, and would be less vulnerable as a result, but we would open ourselves up to greater risk in turn.

It's something we'd have to weigh carefully.

We also must consider that the Institute knows most of our secrets by now. And that includes Malfoy and Lestrange. Their joining makes them more secure, and doesn't put us at too much higher of a risk than we're already experiencing. I'd have to think long and hard about whether to reveal the location of Moddey to them as a final precaution, but they know nearly everything else.

And offering it to some but not others might be associated with its own set of risks -- fostering alienation, division, and resentment among people who would otherwise be useful allies. With that in mind, it might be preferable to have them in the fold than out.

[alt_charlie]

Ugh. Yeah, you have a point about the resentment, but ... the thought of trusting my life to Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange's daughter or Lucius Malfoy's son leaves my blood cold.

[alt_alice]

To a certain extent, you already do.

[alt_severus]

I might point out that what the children have deduced if not been outright told about our membership, and the fact they have almost certainly discussed things among themselves since the beginning, means you already are.

[alt_charlie]

Yeah, cheers, both of you, that's going to keep me up tonight.

I'll go along with whatever everyone else says, but I reserve the right to be fucking nervous about it.

[alt_alice]

Oh, trust me, Charlie. I've been shaking in my boots ever since Frank and I sorted out between the two of us that Lucius Malfoy's ward knew our Hermione had a wand.

This is something we've put off dealing with for a long while, because it is terrifying.

Private Message to Alice Longbottom

[alt_charlie]

Do you ever just stop and wonder what the fuck we're doing, and how the fuck we've got away with it for so long?

I mean.

I don't know what I mean. I guess I'm just feeling like it's a wonder I haven't cocked all this up yet, and I've had some mighty close calls for keeping my mouth shut, and if you multiply that by however many of us there are...

Sorry. It's just something I've been thinking a lot about lately. While I think about whether or not to tell Dree and Em that I

Look, when things calm down a little bit and we're not all chasing our own tails quite as fiercely, can I come sit down with you for an evening and get some advice? Not as the leader of the Order. Well, not only as the leader of the Order. There's just something I'm tying myself in knots about, and it's something I would've brought to Dad, except... yeah.

Re: Private Message to Alice Longbottom

[alt_alice]

Of course. When we've got a moment to breathe, I'd love to.

And I, for one, am constantly amazed that so many of us are still alive.

I'm going to try my best to keep us that way. Merlin knows I'm far from perfect, and sometimes I question the collective madness that put me in charge of all this, but if we're going to move forward at all, we need to have faith in other people along with our usual healthy dose of caution. Not just stay in our own little circle.

We can't topple an empire by ourselves.

Re: Private Message to Alice Longbottom

[alt_charlie]

Yeah. Yeah, I know what you mean, it's just... well, there's an awful lot of 'it's just', sometimes. But you're right.

And for what it's worth, I think you're doing an amazing job.

Re: Private Message to Alice Longbottom

[alt_alice]

Thank you, Charlie. That means quite a lot to me.

I depend a great deal on the example set by your father, and I hope to do his memory proud.

[alt_nymphadora]

Yes, I think it's a matter of In for knut, in for a galleon, isn't it?

I think we're better off swearing them in, so they can give us a bit of warning next time before they pop into Laszlo's kitchen out of the blue!

And so they could call us if they ever really need our help. I know they can ask Hermione or the twins to write us--or Terry--but that puts added time and chance between us. What if Hermione and the others simply don't look in their books at the moment they're needed? It can happen to any of us, but if they've got to have a go-between, that increases the odds there'll be a delay.

Private Message to Hermione Granger and Harry Marvolo

[alt_alice]

Hermione, please let me know if I've represented things accurately.

I know you've mentioned that some of your members are on the fence about whether they'd join or not, but I'd rather give them all a chance to make that decision than make it ourselves.

I'm coming to some assumptions based on what I've seen thus far. That everyone in the group now knows a considerable amount of information about us, and you are fairly united in purpose and the need for security. I'd be particularly interested in your impression of Mr Malfoy, as his dedication to these things is still only very new.

What are your thoughts?

[alt_terry]

It's been wonderful to meet Sarah. She seems pretty shy today, but we're doing our best to help her fit in. Lisa Turpin's really happy to have another girl her age.

And her story--I mean, I know it was a terrible shock and all to get yanked out of Hogwarts like that. But it's made her into sort of a heroine, as far as the kids are concerned.

I can pass on the suggestion that maybe the Institute might think about doing a postmortem. I think it's a good idea.

[alt_molly]

I can't help being afraid. I'm sorry, I can't.

But they're growing up, whether I want them to or not, and I know I can't stop them from doing so.

It helps a little that I know what Arthur would say, if I'm honest with myself. He would have been so impressed with what they did yesterday. They want to help, they want to serve. Isn't that what we hoped would happen? Sirius wrote his Grim Truth posts hoping to ignite a spark in people, and it would be grossly unfair to now try to snuff it out.

Arthur would say 'yes.'

The very idea makes me almost sick with fear, but I have to say yes, too.

[alt_hermione]

We added Draco to the Institute last night. But we'd been planning to do it for a while, so it's not like it wasn't going to happen eventually.

The thing about the Institute is that not everyone will want to be part of the Order, at least not necessarily fully a member. But what we need to decide is what happens if someone opts not to join, because they'll still know everything the rest of the ISS knows, and that means they'll know a fair amount about the Order. But the thing is that we wouldn't have trusted them in the ISS if we thought they'd tell anything.

Draco just made his first post and he talked about how he's known things about us for a long time--and how he's known that Sirius is an Animagus and he hasn't told anyone, and how he's lied to his parents' faces and they don't know he's doing it. So if he knows about that, and knows how badly his aunt wants to catch Sirius, but he hasn't told her anything, then I don't think he'll tell about anything else, either. Because the moment he starts to tell one thing, he'd have to tell everything, and he won't ever do that to Harry.

But that doesn't mean Draco doesn't still care about his parents, it just means he doesn't think that what the Protectorate is doing is right. I don't know if he'd ever want to join the Order, though.

So I think we should let them decide on their own but we have to be prepared that not everyone will accept the offer.

[alt_alice]

Thank you, Hermione.

That's my assessment as well.

[alt_poppy]

I have to admit that my thinking about the students has shifted. I know that I was among those who argued in January that we ought to wait until summer because allowing them to join immediately might distract them from their academic pursuits in a year when so many of them face OWLs and NEWTs.

Recent events leave me wishing we'd gone ahead then and sworn them in.

I'm rueing the fact that I cannot communicate safely with Miss Perks. I should very much like to have been available to her since my departure from the school; I know that there have been times when she's needed my expertise.

And I wish sincerely that I could discuss with her the choices she made yesterday and probe whether she'd make the same choices were it possible to do again. I should like to reassure her that in such events, we all make imperfect decisions based on incomplete information, and yet, it is necessary to choose and to act, and it's unfair to judge ourselves too harshly once we have the benefit of hindsight.

Of course, I also simply wish we'd been able to send and receive protected messages last night when we could have assisted them.

[alt_frank]

I say yes.

[alt_sirius]

You already know my position. Hasn't changed. Time and past time, really.

[alt_lupin]

What he said.

Swearing them into the Order protects us more, not less.

[alt_lee]

Yes. They should join.

[alt_gredforge]

Hell, yes.

[alt_pomona]

Apologies for the delay. There was chaos here last night between that absurd and miserable formal dinner and the arrival of various members of MLE to investigate Sarah. I spent much of the night - after settling my badgers - talking to Septima.

We got onto the agonies of losing students. Too many. Capper, Hannah, Sophie, now Miss Fawcett

As to the Institute, I had to think a lot about the argument for some rather than all. And I say, offer it to them all, and let them choose. They clearly have their reasons for who they've included, and I, for one, do not want to second guess those decisions.

[alt_kingsley]

I'd say they acquitted themselves well. Better than we had any right to expect, without more support.

I, too, would boggle at Draco Malfoy. But the rest should probably be offered the chance at this point.