blind men in the dark

[Prewetts, Aberforth]
Tonight. We have plans and contingency plans and back up contingency plans and all three of us can cast messenger Patroni and the bypasser's been working like a beaut on all the last tests we've run of it. There is absolutely definitely nothing else we could do to prepare.
[/Prewetts, Aberforth]

[Order]
For the full moon on Friday, those of us who aren't going to be moving away from known residences (and even them) should make sure to have wands, obviously, at all times, and also something sharp or projectile made of silver. Not spoons. I wonder if the Ministry couldn't start some kind of initiative to teach people to protect themselves from Dark Creatures. It looks like the vampires are starting to get onto these journals as well. Next time I've got some free time I'll do some in-depth research on the most common ones that Fenrir's likely to be using to make sure we all know their strengths and weaknesses - maybe we could run a seminar on it at the community centre.


ETA:
Anyone who's on patrol tomorrow night, I'm going to spend the afternoon scrounging through pawn shops for anything sharp and silver I can find. If you can't find anything yourself, tell me and I'll make sure you're set up.

Though obviously using spells so they can't get close enough to you to need a silver knife would be more ideal.
[/Order]

[Gideon, Fabian, Aberforth]
Right, well a bit of story - a couple of weeks ago I got an owl from Auror Savage, that friend of Pepper's, saying that Rodolphus Lestrange has enough dark artifacts in the seventh floor of his library to possibly bring down the whole Lestrange family. I didn't report it to anyone at first because she didn't want me to tell anyone and the idea of going in alone and actually succeeding was so completely and utterly ludicrous. But Gideon and Fabian and I decided to look into whether it might actually be possible to break in, just on the off-chance.

It turns out, it might be. We've got a ward detector and magical lockpicks to break the easier stuff and we're working on a prototype that could bypass stronger things using the same theory behind Muggle electrical circuits and it seems to be working. We're still testing and modifying, but it's getting to the point where this might actually be plausible, and that means actually telling someone else what we're doing because rushing off into something like this without anyone knowing what the hell's going on would be monumentally stupid.

[Private]
So with the weekend over we have a detector and the design for a bypasser. I like the detector. We'll probably tweak it a bit more, but it's pretty smooth going at the moment, easy to use and more effective than it was when Fabian got hold of it. Clearly I'm in the wrong profession here. It's the bypasser that's going to be the most important though. No use detecting the wards if we can't get past them and those lockpicks can only do so much. Feel a bit bad leaving Alana to go off and work on this crap all the time but it's important, and at least if I drop off all the career pamphlets she can have a go at deciding what to do with herself.

So we have a detector which goes ding when there's stuff, a bypasser to plug into the stuff (hopefully) and lockpicks for the easier stuff. Gideon's coming up with the map and best route to take. Their neighbours already hate us but that's never anything new. If we do a night of testing the bypasser to make sure it absolutely works, we might actually be good to go sometime late this week though I don't feel confident picking a day yet. God, if we could pull this off, and after the Auror's victory as well, it could really boost morale, and hopefully get some of this infighting to calm down. Everyone has their skills.
[/Private]

The word 'exponential' gets tossed around too much. One thing I can say for sure, magical use does not increase exponentially on sequentially more difficult tasks. Exponential has a very specific meaning and I really wish my coworkers would stop using it.

But then I suppose that's why I'm the numbers guy.

[Added: Prewetts]
We should probably be telling someone what we're planning sometime soon.

[Order]
This has been happening a lot lately. What's up?

Just wondering - the greater wizard that gets to replace Trimble in this hypothetical scenario, would he (or she, obviously) be decided by popular election of all citizens of legal age?

[Order]
Si?

[Prewetts]
So I immediately come to do the one thing I've been told not to do. I've just had an owl from Jo Savage, the Auror? She says the seventh floor of the library is full of Dark artifacts, enough to bring down the Lestranges. If she wants me to deal with it myself she's over-estimating me. Even she admits it's hard to find and passworded and we'll need a way to deal with the wards. I do think we should keep it quiet until we have a proper plan of action, but we're not going to go in without telling anyone - the Aurors, Aberforth and Dumbledore will have to be informed of what we're doing, when we're doing it and where we'll be.

Order

What's happening?

[Severus Snape]
Agnes has been arrested. Did you see anything she did that might explain why?
[/Snape]

It's really quite surreal to realise that my little sister's grown up now. I remember playing with her when she was a toddler, I would have been eight or maybe nine, and now I'm taking her out to dinner and actual, proper, grown up men are giving her looks. Not even teenage boys. The human perception of time must be one of the least mathematical and rational things around.

[Order]
There is  way too much going on for me to reply to all of it. I suppose that's what I get for sleeping through the day.

For what it's worth, I think James did pretty much as well as he could, under the circumstances. He didn't panic, he took control, made sure Marlene was stable, told everyone what was happening and delegated the things he couldn't do himself. It was a triage situation and he doesn't have training, I don't know what else he could have done. Except report it. I'm really not sure I buy this argument that they'd put Lupin down when there's absolutely no evidence he did it and plenty evidence that someone else did.

I'm not sure if we'll want to add my family to the patrol schedule now. I don't know the Muggle werewolf and I only recognised Fenrir from photos, but they may well have ways to figure out who I am, and I probably pissed them off.
[/Order]

[Meaghan]
No need to apologise - I'd started in on a bottle of whiskey by then and I only have vague memories of writing to you anyway.
[/Meaghan]

[Frank, Alice, Moody]
Right, so, me and Gideon and Fabian are going to get together on Thursday to discuss safe ways to use our in at the Lestrange library to get information. Obviously we cannot be too careful with this. What we need to know is exactly what sort of information we need and how much of it to actually put him behind bars and have him not buy his way back out. It's going to be risky whatever we figure out so obviously we want it to be as worthwhile as possible.
[/Frank Alice Moody]

[Private]
Shit. I have to admit this isn't exactly the sort of danger I expected Gideon would be in, working there  though it almost makes sense.

I'm sure Moody and Frank and Alice will make sure nothing happens to him, but I still can't help worrying. I should check on Fabian when work's done.

They arrested Marius and Rodolphus Lestrange. More evidence against him, as if we needed it. When Gideon's out we need to talk about this, because I doubt they're going to be able to pin this on Lestrange - again - and things are just going to keep happening. We're in the perfect position, it's been nearly two months since he saw us at Diagon Alley and he hasn't done anything. We need to make a plan.

Which means talking to the Aurors too, at least running the concept past them, after we smooth it out and before we do anything, because we are

Yes.
[Private]

What a week! If nothing at all could happen this weekend, that would just be fantastic, if the universe could arrange it. Seriously, I want to do absolutely nothing except play with my dog and maybe read a bit and spend some time with my family. If possible? Thanks in advance.

[Private]
If anyone else had bought her that drink
Knowing the Ministry departments and regulations does not make me

Fuck it. Fuck everything.
[/Private]

[Prewetts]
Please keep me the hell away from anyo

You guys want I should go with you or are you going to be sticking with Molly et al?
[/Prewetts]

[Warded against Blacks, Lestranges, Averies, Malfoys - added Rosiers]
At least I can still laugh, though admittedly it's a bitter sort of laughter at the utter ridiculousness of the naturally occurring social pecking order. Matinees.
[/Ward]

It's been  an interesting week at work. It's actually been easier to focus than I thought it might be, though admittedly I've always been sort of good at losing myself in theory. It used to really annoy my parents, they'd ask me to do something and I'd answer without really noticing, and quarter of an hour later they'd notice I hadn't come out and have to come and find me only to find out I didn't have a clue they'd even bothered me in the first place.

I've had no less than three long owls from Alana this week about NEWTs. I'm sure she'll do fine, really, and at least she hasn't had a complete breakdown (apparently one of her classmates is in tears almost constantly, you just have to mention anything related to exams or school or jobs and she'll burst out sobbing). I think I remember when they were the most important thing ever and I was going to fail them because my mind was going to go completely blank and then I'd never get a job and end up living on the streets with barely a penny or knut to my name. It'll be over soon and she'll wonder what she was ever worried about.

I've been reading all the newspaper articles about the bombing on Dalby Moor and they seem to have certain things in common. They talk about the loss of life with statistics, and they blame the DMLE. Now, normally people tell me to stick with numbers, but one of the reasons I like numbers is because they're not people. They're a lot less complicated than people, there's no emotional mess with numbers, people aren't attached to numbers.

I went to Dalby Moor to look at the aftermath and lay some flowers down. Quite a few other people were doing the same thing. I talked to some of them about the people they'd lost, people who always read the last page of a book first to see how it would end, people who never used the right colours when colouring in, people who loved to eat raw cookie dough, and that has nothing to do with the number 327.

I tried to get a list of the dead, but couldn't. So I'm going to make up names. It's not quite perfect, but at least this way we see them as people. So I'd like to take a moment of silence for those killed on Dalby Moor.

Michael, Jennifer, Christopher, Amy, Jason, Melissa, David, Michelle, James, Kimberly, John, Lisa, Robert, Angela, Brian, Heather, William, Stephanie, Matthew, Nicole, Joseph, Jessica, Daniel, Elizabeth, Kevin, Rebecca, Eric, Kelly, Richard, Mary, Jeffrey, Christina, Scott, Amanda, Mark, Julie, Steven, Sarah, Thomas, Laura, Timothy, Shannon, Anthony, Christine, Charlie, Tammy, Joshua, Tracy, Ryan, Karen, Jeremy, Dawn, Paul, Susan, Andrew, Andrea, Gregory, Tina, Chad, Patricia, Kenneth, Cynthia, Jonathan, Lori, Stephen, Rachel, Shawn, April, Aaron, Maria, Adam, Wendy, Patrick, Crystal, Justin, Stacy, Sean, Erin, Edward, Jamie, Todd, Carrie, Donald, Tiffany, Ronald, Tara, Benjamin, Sandra, Keith, Monica, Bryan, Danielle, Gary, Stacey, Jose, Pamela, Nathan, Tonya, Douglas, Sara, Brandon, Michele, Nicholas, Teresa, George, Denise, Travis, Jill, Peter, Katherine, Craig, Melanie, Bradley, Dana, Larry, Holly, Dennis, Erica, Shane, Brenda, Raymond, Deborah, Troy, Tanya, Jerry, Sharon, Samuel, Donna, Frank, Amber, Jesse, Emily, Jeffery, Linda, Juan, Robin, Terry, Kathleen, Corey, Leslie, Phillip, Christy, Marcus, Kristen, Derek, Catherine, Rodney, Kristin, Joel, Misty, Carlos, Barbara, Randy, Heidi, Jamie, Nancy, Jacob, Cheryl, Tony, Theresa, Russell, Brandy, Brent, Alicia, Billy, Veronica, Antonio, Gina, Derrick, Jacquiline, Kyle, Rhonda, Erik, Anna, Johnny, Renee, Marc, Megan, Carl, Tamara, Philip, Kathryn, Roger, Melinda, Bobby, Debra, Brett, Sherry, Danny, Allison, Curtis, Valerie, Jon, Diana, Vincent, Paula, Cory, Kristina, Jimmy, Ann, Lawrence, Margaret, Victor, Cindy, Dustin, Victoria, Gerald, Jodi, Walter, Natalie, Joe, Brandi, Alexander, Kristi, Christian, Suzanne, Chris, Beth, Alan, Samantha, Shannon, Tracey, Wayne, Regina, Jared, Vanessa, Gabriel, Kristy, Martin, Carolyn, Willie, Yolanda, Jay, Deanna, Luis, Carla, Michael, Sheila, Henry, Laurie, Wesley, Anne, Randall, Shelly, Brad, Diane, Darren, Janet, Roy, Sabrina, Arthur, Katrina, Albert, Erika, Ricky, Courtney, Lance, Colleen, Allen, Carol, Lee, Julia, Andre, Jenny, Bruce, Jaime, Mario, Kathy, Frederick, Felicia, Louis, Alison, Darrell, Lauren, Damon, Kelli, Shaun, Leah, Nathaniel, Ashley, Zachary, Kim, Casey, Traci, Adrian, Kristine, Jeremiah, Tricia, Jesus, Joy, Jack, Krista, Ronnie, Kara, Dale, Terri, Tyrone, Sonya, Manuel, Aimee, Ricardo, Natasha, Harold, Cassandra, Kelly, Bridget, Barry, Anita, Reginald, Kari, Ian, Nichole, Glenn, Christie, Ernest, Marie, Steve, Viginia, Seth, Connie, Eugene, Martha, Clinton, Carmen, Miguel, Stacie, Tommy.

To all of you, I hope you rest in peace. You may have been the lucky ones.

To those of us who are still alive: It isn't the DMLE we should be angry with. They are not infallible, they are human, just like us. We should be angry at the people who Apparated to Dalby Moor sometime last week, affixed explosives to the undersides of the public stands, used magic to hide them and then detonated them in the middle of one of this country's most popular sporting events. We should be angry at the people who've tried to destroy our most famous commercial district not once, but twice. We should be angry at the people who break into our homes and kill us and our children while we sleep. We should be angry at the people who are so aware that what they're doing is wrong that they hide behind robes and masks because they are too ashamed, too cowardly to use a public arena to try and change the society into what they want. Why? Because they know it would fail. They know they're a minority. And they're trying to make us forget.

They are outnumbered, they are flesh and blood and they are beatable.

I read a book once that asserted that on planes that crash, ships that sink, trains that go off the rails - and presumably, sports games that get bombed - the death toll is almost always lower than one ought to expect. The reason they gave was that, on average, such doomed vehicles and planes are running at below capacity due to people simply not turning up for whatever reason. Reading people talking about how it was lucky they weren't at the game made me think of it, the idea that many of us do have some small, imperceptible talent for divinations, just enough that sometimes, just sometimes, our brain will provide us a reason to stay home that day.

I'm thankful for the people who did, and sorry for the people who didn't. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that this was the biggest tragedy in terms of human life in many, many years, and the fact that it was an act of man, rather than god, is desperately sad.

[Private to Remus Lupin - late Friday night]
So I hear you  I guess you got the girl well we all know who the better wol man is then and Marlene are going out now, she's very tole happyfuck vibrant I hope it goes well for both of you . People can be  Don't hurt her  Please try not to let her bget in trouble I we like her alive a lot better.

                          I think she likes when people write her poetry


[/Remus]

I've been lost in mathematics all day, calculating the amount of magic used for a simple levitation spell in relation to the mass of the object, it's absolutely fascinating. It's part of studying diseases that drain magic, of course, but aside from the preliminary viewings I've barely been in the actual exam room this week, they've just been sending the data down to me and letting me run wild with it.

I wonder if anyone's ever reached the limits of algebra. There are only 26 letters.

[Prewetts, Emmeline]
So what do we think about the Order meeting? It was  interesting. Fabian, do Passive-aggressiveness all round of course, but at least it was mostly just passive. New recruits is a good idea. Anyone got any ideas other than Pepper? I think Meaghan McCormack's a pretty good bet already.

[Fabian]
Does Gideon know about Pepper knowing?
[/Fabian]

[Prewetts, Emmeline]
Pepper wrote me a paragraph and, well, I think he's been talking to Sirius. Well no, I know he's been talking to Sirius, he said so, I just don't know exactly what Sirius said, only he knows that we argued and I'm currently persona non grata with the Gryffindors so I can't think except that he must have said something to get me in it.
[/RBT]

[Order plus supporters]
I think we should add Quidditch games to the alert list. Narcissa Malfoy has been unusually interested in the layout of stadiums, specifically the locker rooms.
[/Order+supporters]