Sirius Black

Rachel, what's the likelihood that your source in the Death Eaters could give you warning the next time they decide to impersonate us?

Ginny Weasley's got additional confirmation that those attacks could be the key to winning over anyone who's still on the fence about whether or not we're the good guys.

Right. It took all hands but we managed to hit and/or protect all the Sleeper caches we knew about. We estimate that the Death Eaters got to more than half before we could cast the Fidelius. And worse, it looks like Crouch sent out nine teams overnight.

I hope some of them were to stop the Fiendfyres. Must have done, though, right, or we'd have heard about it from our sources?

Rachel, if Bill can't get us that list quickly, I think Lee ought to mobilise the button network to inquire about additional caches - any we can find. Might not be a bad idea, anyway, since we can prioritise to avoid places where we're likely to encounter Crouch's forces.

And we'll need every available person who can both Apparate and cast Fidelius.

Well.

First: Kingsley, Frank, Dorcas, Caradoc, Moody - Good show. It looks like your actions may have saved a few lives, anyway. It sounds like there were some spared in Killarney. But I'll get to that in a moment. Kingsley, Moody, how are you feeling?

Second: Benjy and Emmeline. There's not much else to say except that they died in action, fighting for something they believed would make a difference. I hope their faith in our mission isn't in vain - and so, related to that

Third: Well done, Arthur. Let us know how Towler fares when you bring him up to speed on our various efforts. If it's true that each act the Death Eaters take to avenge themselves only wakes more ordinary people to their injustices, then we really can say that there's a purpose to the losses we've suffered.

Finally: Now that we're all back from our adventures, I've spent the day poring over the Prophet and a few other sources for clues as to what's happening across St George's channel. There seems to be at least one wizard who's been able to post to his journal somewhat regularly; I've no reason to think he's not giving a true account but of course, he's only in one place, and relying on owls from friends to find out what's going on elsewhere.

So. The official story is that all those muggles who were corralled onto the ruins of the Shannon Airport were co-conspirators. They cleaned out the camps in Drumline Cross, Cloughlea, Corlack, and Smithstown to make up the number your Towler's report had in it, Arthur. Of course, the article dwells more on the eyesore of the airport and the 'industrial complex' just north of the airport, and how it really ought to have been destroyed years ago.

But down in Killarney, it seems that the muggles you lot told not to move were not actually killed, Frank. Reports from that sector (from this other bloke, er ... Murphy, his name is, Sean Murphy. Horrible thing is I can't tell if that's really his name or if he's thumbing his nose at the Ministry) - anyway, reports from the sector indicate that only the armed muggles were killed outright. About half of the others were detained for questioning. No word yet on whether they've executed any of them, sorry.

There's some more good news, though it's only found reading between the lines of the Prophet: Yaxley's not in charge anymore. Not sure whether that means he's dead, gravely injured or has just been made the scapegoat. Whichever way, it's one less Death Eater to have to worry about.

And we had a message from Beth that the first two of our refugees have made it to their next safehouse.

Hey, kiddo.

Welcome back. Alice told me you spent a little time as the Professor yesterday. Hope it helped.

For what it's worth, being Padfoot usually helps me think, too. It helps to cope with the things in this world that just don't make any sense.

And I saw what Severus wrote; he's a git smarmy pillock, even if he is working for us. If he's working for us and not playing some game of his own, which I'm none too sure.

But then, he was also in Azkaban a long time. You've been near Dementors. Imagine being surrounded by them every day for years. Most wizards aren't half insane when they leave - if they ever leave there.

That doesn't excuse him, of course. Or us, for letting him have his way about Milland.

But, there is a difference between us and them. I think, if you think about it, you can see the differences.

Anyway, I know you've got the best people in the world looking after you at Moddey, but if you ever do want to talk, or somewhere else to be for a while, well. I'm here. Moony's here, and Dora'd hex me if I didn't remind you that she's here for you as well. Grimmauld's dead awful, and I'm sorry it's still not the home we'd like it to be, but the grate's always open to you, too. Or to the Professor. Padfoot won't mind sharing a water bowl.

I wish it were as simple as we're right and they're wrong. We're not always right, kiddo. We don't always make the right choices. We're human.

But we keep trying to make it better. And when we realise our mistakes, we try to fix them, if we can do.

That counts for something, eh?

I've been tromping about as Padfoot for most of the day but I just chanced transforming to catch up on the journals, in case Stint has been spotted anywhere (not here, by the way, it's all clear).

Have you noticed some of the traffic from Rosier, Rookwood and Crouch? Private Messages to 'Toshenka.'

That can only be one person, surely? It's not Karkaroff. And how many others of Eastern European descent were there in Voldemort's close circle?

Arthur, have you heard from Minerva about it? Tell me you've kept Molly from going round the twist that he's back.