Alice Longbottom

After some conversation, Draco has decided to stay with the Order. However, this incident, and others that have happened this term, has raised some valid concerns that need to be addressed. I’m very much hoping that what we cover today will be in the spirit of making the Order a better, stronger, and more effective group. It’s not meant to single any one person out, but to point out systematic difficulties we’ve been having in communication and meet them head on.

When it comes to the council challenge, here are some basic guidelines that I would like to see put in place.

1.) I will be touching base with Harry regularly regarding the contest’s progress, and your collective strategy. I want us all to be aware of the general plan and how it’s working, and modify it if necessary.

2.) When you receive a challenge, you will let one another, Harry, and myself know what your challenge is, and if you have a specific strategy in mind for what you plan to do. If your challenge would significantly impact a fellow Order member who is not competing, I expect you to keep them informed as well.

3.) If you need help or advice, please, make sure to ask. I and the rest of the Order will do our best to provide our support, our resources, and our understanding. Likewise, if you need to coordinate something more complicated amongst yourselves or using other members of the Order, I anticipate you’ll identify what you need, and work together as a team to accomplish it.

I understand that you may need to make quick decisions, and may not have the ability to keep us in the loop right away. But as a general policy, if you encounter an emergency situation that risks extreme personal injury to yourself, a fellow Order member, an unintended target, or presents a security risk, try to tell another Order member right away, and let us know what happened after the fact.

I anticipate that as we progress, we will have to make adjustments – but I hope that we can approach future challenges with a united front. There’s a difference between communicating every little thing and chewing over it endlessly (Remus said it best, we’re a chatty and opinionated bunch), and being able to use our information intelligently, as a group. I hope to foster the latter.

I want to know what's happened.

And I do not want excuses. I want the truth.

From what I can see, while he was at St Mungo's, Draco very specifically asked for help. Is he correct in saying that you knew what had happened, and deliberately kept this information from him?

Is there anything else other than that I ought to know about?

I had my long-overdue meeting with Rachel Brodie this morning, and I believe we sorted out a great deal in a way that was satisfactory to both parties.

She wants to join up with the Order, and after spending some time talking through our long-term goals and practices, I think we’re both on the same page, and I agree that she’d be a good fit for us.

Currently, her obligation to Dogstar is her main priority, and will continue to be as such until she’s formally quit of them and joined our organisation. I respect her loyalty, and believe the exchange we bargained for with Ridley is a fair one, and now that we’re no longer experiencing a shortage of materials, we can afford the fee. Furthermore, I believe it would be in our best interests to not actively make enemies with Dogstar by snaffling a valuable operative from under them without the agreed upon process, and maintaining contact would be useful rather than burning all bridges. Along those lines, once we’ve sorted out the particulars, Rachel expects that she will continue to pass along intel to Dogstar from the Auror’s office, but we agreed that her primary duties and obligations would be with the Order, and as such, she would not be passing along information to Dogstar about us unless we explicitly told her to, and that if we needed her to edit her reports to Ridley or pass along communication from us she would do so.

She will be an incredible asset to the Order. I also hope that our working together will be good for her as well, and that we can show her a future worth fighting for.

We were able to spend some time at the end of our meeting reminiscing about her parents, Melinda and Carmichael Brodie – such good people. Carmichael was an incredible Auror, unfailingly optimistic when it came to thinking the best of people, and Melinda was so sharp. She put together that I was pregnant with Neville before Frank and I had told a soul. We were at tea, and I’d had a chamomile and was complaining about how hot the weather had been, and she just quirked her eyebrow and asked me if Moody knew the good news yet.

I look forward to her joining us. Her parents would’ve been so proud of her, and I’m glad we’ve found her again after so many years.

How are you holding up, dearest?

Easter hols are fast approaching, and I'm hoping we'll be able to take advantage of this time with extra training, meetings, and for those of you who can be spared, some additional ley-mapping and camps visits. I'll see if we can't get us all together for an Order-wide meeting at some point. Harry, Draco, Hydra, let us know when you'd be available for your tea meeting. Pansy, Ron, I'm hoping you'd be able to attend that as well, and I hope I'm right to assume that your schedules will be a bit easier to work with.

If something should come up suddenly regarding the contest, we'll see what we can do to work around it.

Luna, love, consider us all at your disposal if you need to work over a particular topic over hols that we could help with. And Luna, Evelyn, and Hydra, you all have yet to master Apparation, which could be a possible goal for you to work towards as well. (Hydra, I know you might have trouble getting away -- perhaps you could convince your parents to hire a tutor so that you won't be at a disadvantage for the contest?)

Charlie, Hagrid might be able to help out with some of our octoboros work, so just make sure you coordinate with him so that you can both be available at the same time if you're going to be working further with the centaurs.

Poppy, Pomona, Severus, I'm wondering if we might be able to sneak a peek at the book before hols, just to cover our bases.

Lee, let us know once Dr Harris's pamphlets are printed and ready for distribution in the camps. We'll package them with our nutritional supplements.

Since Charlie's been talking about Easter Hols, I figure it would be a good idea to think through other ways we might use our time wisely.

Last year, we managed to get together several revision sessions for upcoming OWLs and Apparation lessons. Is there any additional training that might be useful for people? I was thinking we might have extra defence sessions at the outdoors course at Moddey Dhoo for those who can get away for an hour or two, and if there was another specific training that you might want, please let us know so that we can make arrangements. And Luna, is there anything we can help you with as you prepare for your OWLs?

Harry, Draco, Hydra, I know it will be more difficult for you all to get away regularly during hols, but I was wondering if we might be able to schedule a meeting with Ron and Pansy at Grimmauld (using Tea Appreciation as a cover) to talk further about the council challenge -- security measures, any ways we could further provide immediate support, and thinking about potential future options and goals depending on how things go for you all this term.

We might also have to have a larger Order meeting depending on everyone's availability -- we certainly have enough cauldrons on the fire to keep track of, and it may be our best chance to talk as a group before the end of term.

Good hunting tomorrow.

Happy birthday, my dearest girl.

On the day you were born, we were at your gran's, hiding from the chaos outside for a few precious days. You came a few days earlier than we thought, but arrived without any fuss, and I remember looking at your sweet face and your perfect little hands and feet and being so very happy, and thankful that you'd arrived safe and sound.

Neville was quite astonished when he saw you for the first time. He kept wanting to touch your hair, and he was so very gentle with you. He called you 'Eebee,' because he couldn't quite get the v's right, and I remember him staring down at you with wide eyes and a very determined expression. And the look on your father's face when he held you in his arms for the first time is one I'll never forget. He was rather battered after our retreat from the Ministry, but holding you, all his worries just melted away.

We only had a few weeks together before I had to leave you with your gran, but I treasured each and every moment of it. And now, fifteen years later, I see before me a sweet, brave, intelligent, good-hearted young woman, and I am so proud of you. You amaze me with your brilliance, and I respect and admire your ability to face the challenges you encounter every single day with grace.

I am so glad that you are working with me, side by side. You are our hope for a brighter future, and in your hands, it will be a bright one indeed.

I love you so very much, Evie. I hope your day is a good one.

Severus, do you have any idea what's gotten into Albus? He's requesting a meeting with me, and claims you're the cause. Or at least, you're the one who pointed out the need for it.

He's come by Moddey Dhoo twice. The first was to poke at our captured Octoborus, and talk cryptically with Cecelia Perks. I believe his only words to me were 'Where is it?'. The second was to bring me my Frank after Saltash, where he attempted to explain exactly what happened. After he said he didn't expect Frank would die, he abruptly left, and then sent an enormous fruit basket by way of an apology at Christmas.

I must admit, I'm a bit flummoxed. Do I have a cause for concern? He said the meeting ought to be sooner rather than later, and I'd rather not be blindsided.

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.

First of all, I wanted to thank all of you. We accomplished an incredibly complicated set of tasks, and freed over forty souls from great pain and suffering, all while preventing this from ever happening again. I am so very proud of the way we worked together. It gives me great hope for our future.

We must now begin to move our people to their locations of choice. This is much more easily done for some than others – we can’t risk floo or a second Apparation of even longer distance for our pregnant women.

Sylvia, one of the older women in the group, has become a leader of sorts, and has proposed that the women establish a home together in Bedford. She seems to have a great deal of support – over half of the women have decided to go there together, all either with babes in arms or currently pregnant. Emily Ashton has requested we bring her Mary to her from Moddey once they’ve had a chance to get settled, and I’m very glad she’ll be reunited with her mum. Ten of the women who are going to Bedford are pregnant, and would need to be escorted over land. Hiring carts is a possibility, although it would take at least two days of travel to get there from London.

Two of the women -- Jeanne Harris and Laurel Sinclair -- want to be with their sisters at Sherwood, so would need separate over land transport.

Pilar Mishraput and Clara Foster, two of the younger girls (they think they’re around fifteen, but aren’t sure – I expect they were just old enough to avoid the machine themselves) are interested in going to Moddey, and we’re certainly willing to take them. James Armstrong was also surrendered to us as well, to be raised by us at Moddey. We can Apparate with them, so that won’t prove too much difficulty at all.

A few of the women made the decision to go to Saltash – I can see how being in a place without magic might appeal to them. There’s also a few who are going to Aldrich to see what they can do there. We’ll be Apparating them to their desired locations as well.

The men have all decided to go to Sherwood, and will be making their way there today. One, Jason Crenshaw, is actually a half-blooded wizard. He got sent to the camps for hiding his neighbour, who ended up at Sherwood, so he’ll have a friendly face to look forward to. And Scott Brownmiller came back from Sherwood this morning in a tizzy – apparently, Delancy Ambleston, one of the other men, is actually related to Cecelia and Sally-Anne – his mother is Cecelia’s sister. We’d asked for everyone to make lists of their immediate family members in the off-chance that there might be a relative who’d be willing to take them in, and it’s a good thing we did. Vincent, the remaining man, also decided to go to Sherwood after some persuading – Jason insisted that he’d be welcome to stay with his neighbour too. He’s still a little in shock from what’s happened, and I’m glad he’ll have someone to keep an eye out for him.

Are there any ideas on how we might get our group to Bedford? I believe if we put them in nice coats, they’d be able to pass fairly easily in public, and if we’re careful and space them out in groups of three or four, it shouldn’t appear too suspicious.