Order Only: An encouraging owl....

Arthur, I know you see the aftereffects of my occasional Grim Truth columns more than perhaps some of our other members (Kingsley, you might begin to overtake Arthur on that score, I dunno), and thank you for letting me know when they seem to be doing some good. But today I received an owl post that means more to me than all the reports we've had so far.

Harry owled me.

Putting his letter together with Malfoy's recent post, it sounds as if he tried to ask some questions and met with a brick wall. I'm quite sure he knows he's not supposed to write to me; he says as much:

I dont trust you still but you know a lot about my parents or you say you do anyway. And people seem to think you do or else they wouldn't tell me not to talk to you. I know that Father isn't my real Father, I'm not stupid. Or if he is, something really bad happened to my mum, so he wont talk about it. But I saw something and I want to make sure.


He goes on to ask some questions about Lily and James.

Minerva, any idea what he might have found to bring this on? Of course, it could be an elabourate trick of some kind, but somehow I don't think so. Anyway, I'm going to write him back, carefully, of course, using a different owl than the one he sent (she's very distinctive). But I wanted to let you know so that you can watch out for any sign that he's pulling away from that snakepit - or that they're using him to trick me into revealing my location. Don't worry, I've learnt my lesson and I shall go slowly with him. I don't want another four months of stonewalling!

By the way, Agatha also owled: still no sign of Death Eaters at the house, so I'm heading back that way to check on things. Might be the last time for a while, now that we're back in the importation business.

A little snow in Avignon would have been welcome at Christmastime. But the sunshine is much better for riding, anyway.

Oh, and Kingsley - thanks, mate. It's been a while. Looks as if I've some re-reading to do!