ORDER ONLY

[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_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.