Sirius Black

Bill,

That parchment and everything for the Goblins - Draco's coming up to the Great Hall. I said you'd meet him. I hope you don't mind. I'll come down, too, if you like.

He'll sign whatever we need, just please if we can minimise what he has to do, that's for the best. I mentioned the trust. If he can sign the parchments for that at the same time, so much the better.

I didn't tell him you might need a print or a drop of his blood but he'll do whatever we need to do to get this over and done.

Well, the good news is that Lilias Boardley is safe and sound at Moddey.

The bad news is that the camps are tightening security - at least if East Yorkshire is any indication. Not too surprising, what with Erewash slipping from their reach.

We got in without much issue and it didn't take long to find someone in the button network to help us find the Boardleys. But in the middle of our conversation with them, we were interrupted by one of those surprise inspections the camp administrators seem so fond of. Mrs Boardley handed off little Lilias quickly and the spotter got her off to another family while the administrators came through. We had to pretend to be 'very interested' in how they assured that the census was accurate and the rules of the camp enforced; it was nearly two hours before we could safely return to the Boardleys' quarters, by which time Lilias had been handed round to about six families in order to keep her hidden from the inspectors.

So after all that, they were well prepared to let her go, but they wanted to spend a bit more time with her before we took her away. All the while, Kingsley and I were trying to chivy them along without seeming too eager to pry her from their loving hands. Somehow we convinced them that they'd be able to keep in touch well enough with the button, ring and picture, and that the longer we stayed with them, the more likely it would be that the camp administrators would suspect we weren't who our papers said we were.

Finally we got them to surrender the sprog and we got out as quickly as we could. But Bill, I'm afraid that we can't use the identities you provided for us for any other forays into the camps. Not for a good long while, at least.

Bill, let us know when you've some time to stop by Grimmauld.

Don't get your hopes too high. It's not finished yet - that is, it's not as effective as we'd like. But we've agreed that this version of the potion will do in a pinch. We want you to test it so we can customise any modifications from here out.

We just wanted you to have something at your disposal, even if it's not perfect yet. There are some side effects and Snape can explain them to you. If Alice is available to meet us here when you are, she'll come as well so we can all discuss it together.

Hang in there.

Right. Well, our Institute members had a swift cuppa here yesterday, then we let them use the Floo to get to Milton Keynes. (The only hard part there was finding an active grate!) From there they flew toward the coordinates Terrie had supplied for the farm.

Harry, Justin, from what you lot said yesterday you didn't hit any trouble, but you got close enough to see that it was fairly well fortified, yeah?

Terrie did reply to my owl, too, and said she's still working on convincing some of the residents that she's on their side. I've told her to go careful. She's got her little boy to think of, and all. She said in her letter that it's slow going but it's going. She's had to stop letting Beth's people pass through, in the interim, too.

So Alice, I think we'd best keep in touch with her, but let her tell us when things there are ripe for an uprising. She did send me a copy of the new identity papers for someone being transferred, as well as the type of badge they let the overseers use, so we might be able to infiltrate sometime in the next month, before they change the forms again, and see for ourselves. Perhaps an appearance by a bonafide rebel will help impel them to act in concert.


Meanwhile, Bill, how are you feeling, mate? Anytime you want to come by, do.

Any further word, any of you? How has the Ministry been today, Bill? Charlie, have the dragons settled down?

If something large is occupying their attention, maybe we could turn that our to advantage somehow. Could we stage another large breakout like Derby? Maybe get Davidson and Turner into position somewhere in the south?

Or ... has anyone checked the wards? Frank, fancy a sail? I'm sure we'd have known if suddenly the country became accessible to the outside but if the anti-muggle charms weren't affected then perhaps no one's noticed.

But there must be something we can do.

We spent a quiet day today and put together a picnic tea party in the sitting room, with Moony ensconced on the sofa and Bea happily climbing all over him to celebrate that she's 18 months old now (and that in itself is somewhat unbelievable!). But taking a lazy day like this seems to lead to thinking about all the balls we currently have in the air.

Kingsley, don't take our silence here as disapproval of the decision to call an end to the Players. Today aside, it's usually fairly busy round here. But your choice is a brave thing in its way and as Frank says, it's not the end, just a new chapter.

Arthur: Well done, mate, on Terry's file. It's good to know it can be done, particularly if we work with Beth on more smuggling of people as well as goods.

Bill, happy birthday! Believe it or not it does get more fun as you go along (I never thought it would do, either).

Molly, any luck with Mrs Perks? It's only three weeks now until the solstice so if we're going to get her a place on the boat we need to get moving.

Minerva: The Book? How many do we have adding up?

Alice, I've been thinking about the list of topics you mentioned from the meeting at Moddey when our people came back from Ireland. And we've been chatting about them, off and on, but with no firm conclusions. I do think that our success has to lie on these multiple trajectories, even if it keeps us all fragmented. We have to be able to keep moving forward on a number of fronts, and not put all our ashwinder eggs in one fire - in case something goes wrong, like in Ireland.

Still thinking about what that means.