ORDER ONLY

[alt_alice]

First of all, I hope everyone is having a lovely Valentine's, and I hope the distribution of the books went well. We'll have to wait and see how they're received. If our Hogwarts people could keep a careful eye on things over the next few days, that would be appreciated.

With the distribution of this book, and an increased radio presence, I’ve been giving some thought lately as to how we might capitalise on this exposure and expand our circle safely and effectively. We’re doing fairly well with the connections we’ve made in the camps, and the Order members at Hogwarts have done an admirable job cultivating a group of trusted people, but one thing working with Dogstar has shown is that they are far better at recruiting and gathering a network of wizard informants, and we are at a disadvantage for it.

I believe that our mission and message is worth fighting for, and that if we were to recruit people to hold buttons to pass on relevant information, and potentially be on-hand to provide small scale support (providing temporary shelter, passing along needed supplies they can access, standing watch if we need an extra set of eyes), that would be something worth pursuing. Not everyone needs to be a full member or know everything about our organisation right away, but I’d imagine there might be several people out there who start off as button-holders who could end up becoming a great deal more.

Tonks, Remus, Sirius, you’ve spent a while cultivating a group of regulars at Laszlo’s. Perhaps it might be time to take that one step further, and see if any of your trusted clients would be willing to do this? Lee, Fred, George, Jeremy, Cedric, you might think about some of your recent classmates. Bill, I know you’ve got your network of informants well-established, but perhaps ask them if there’s anyone they would trust to start expanding our circle? Molly, what about your old bartering network? Poppy, Pomona, perhaps some of your trusted colleagues might fit the bill?

This would have to be carefully done, of course – we’d have to sort out how much we would share about our organisation, security in case a person we think would be trustworthy turns or gets caught, and to be ready with Obliviation if an initial conversation goes pear-shaped. I know that as the primary contact for these recruits, you all would be at a higher risk of exposure. I’m hoping that we keep this initial circle of people who can be linked directly to us a tight one – people we trust, people we know directly – so that we can be responsive, and know what we’re dealing with. I'm also hoping that eventually, they in turn can establish their own networks, to make future recruits a little less directly linked to our core members, but still a trusted circle. Would this be something you would all be willing to do?

On a related topic, now that we’ve had some space, it’s high time we reconsider the question of Ms Brodie. What is our current state of boomslang skin and our polyjuice supply? Can we afford to pass along some boomslang to Dogstar in exchange for Ms Brodie? And should we? The offer is very tempting, but comes with a high degree of risk. I know we’ve chewed over it before, but we need to come to a decision while the offer is still on the table. I would be willing to take on Ms Brodie – I think she’d be quite the asset, and believe she has a firm enough understanding of how to manage risk so that she wouldn’t put us in too much additional danger – but I would want to be sure that she’d want to join us, and to very carefully sort out what her continued role with Dogstar would be.

Comments

[alt_sirius]

I have a feeling that if we left it to Ms Brodie she might decide to help us on her own behalf, without requiring anything in trade for the DogStar. She's come to the shop once or twice and chatted with Dora - nothing concrete but I can tell she's predisposed to us. I'm a good deal more comfortable with that possibility than giving Ridley some of our boomslang. Polyjuice isn't the only thing it's good for.

We've been chatting a bit over the last few weeks about some of the Laszlo's patrons who'd make strong potential allies or Order members. We'll have a short list in a few days.

[alt_alice]

That's good to hear. Very good.

I have a feeling that were we to make things more formal by letting her into the Lock, however, we'd risk souring Ridley unless we negotiated with her first.

[alt_justin]

Mrs Longbottom,

I know this isn't quite the same topic, what, but I thought someone ought to report that we (or rather, Pansy's elf) successfully gave out all 50 of the copies of Pure Victory in Hogsmeade.

And of course, there's the reading club that got together to read it last term, what, which we've kept up, thanks in no small part to Evelyn.

I believe we've got a jolly good start on the older students at Hogwarts, as a result. I wouldn't be surprised if by the Easter holidays we had an idea or two about who else might be interested in taking small actions, if not full Order membership.

I say, I've just read Terry's account of Professor McGonagall's predicament. Do you think there's anything we can do to help her?

-Justin

[alt_alice]

That's a spot of much-needed good news.

I owe you all an enormous debt for the work you've done at Hogwarts. It's taken a lot of hard work to build what you have. I agree that it is well worth our while to look at some of the people you've been working with to see if they'd be willing to take things further.

You all are much closer to the kettle than I am, as it were, so I trust your judgement when it comes to who might be good candidates. We'd need to sort out the level of involvement that would be appropriate for the people you have in mind, of course -- their proposed level of membership, and what sort of things we'd be asking them to do.

And yes, it is rather sudden and shocking to hear of Minerva's state.

I don't know the extent of the spellwork involved, but it may be harmful to her to approach her and talk to her openly about anything regarding her current situation or the Order, because even if she hears seditious talk and does nothing in response, that could be enough to activate the bracelet. Until we know more, I would suggest either being scrupulous with any conversation, or avoiding it altogether.

You might see what Professor Dolohov has in his rather extensive library regarding loyalty compulsions and unicorn blood -- naturally, he may pick up on what you're interested in, which is a risk. One can always fall back on academic interest, hearsay, and keen observation, I suppose, but tread carefully.

[alt_justin]

Yes, I agree, clearly she meant us to understand that she's entirely compromised. I rather meant to either neutralise the bracelet's capability to communicate with Voldemort or at the very least to limit what it can do to harm her. I say, it rather sounds similar to the bracelet Mr Lestrange gave Hydra to spy on her. Perhaps if we analyse that we could reach some better conclusions about what spells were used to create the bally awful thing.

In the meantime, is there anything we can do to help obtain the names from the book?

-Justin

[alt_alice]

Yes -- learning all we can about Hydra's bracelet would be incredibly useful.

When it comes to the book, we might give her reason for leaving the office, and have someone go up in her absence to take a look -- Hermione, Poppy, you know how to access the book? Do we have the current password to her office?

[alt_poppy]

Pomona and I thought we might be able to finesse the matter in a way that would not require the password. Neither of us is certain whether it's been changed. Neither of us has been invited in for quite a long time.

However, we thought we might go up together with a story about difficulty in Hufflepuff House that absolutely requires Minerva's intervention (I shall have pressed Pomona to take the matter directly to the Headmistress and we shall endeavour to lay on the right amount of fussing to chivvy her out of the office. If it goes to plan, Pomona will whisk her away, whilst I stay behind and have a look at the book.)