Sirius Black

Well, that was ... interesting.

Alice, I do think we should perhaps simply meet Ridley for a summit. Too much back and forth is bound to lead to problems. More than a few.

Anyway, she's not half glad to confirm that Bill's a sympathiser, she clearly fancies him more than just as an office mate, and so does he, though I think neither of them are willing to admit it.

Which means I'd be happier if neither of them were directly involved in negotiating. Particularly given how free she is with her affections. And all those middle-of-the-night private messages, if they mean what I think they meant.

She mentioned that it's 'convenient' for the two of them to converse during the day but in their eagerness to please each other we might find ourselves agreeing to something we can't afford.

We'll have to see what Dora thinks. I think she might be willing to jump from DogStar if given the right motivation. But it might be to our advantage to leave her with one foot in each group, too.

Ellie's asleep so I can risk changing back for a few hours.

Poppy: I've been thinking about your report on Barty Crouch, Sr. What in Merlin's name was he doing at Hogwarts? Has anyone figured that out?

And Kingsley, Molly: I don't think I've any good advice for you. You seem to be doing well enough with them. Keep at it, I suppose, until he can decide what's best for him and the boy.

I thought I'd let everyone know: I watched Ellie read my Grim Truth today. She waited until Remus was in the front of the shop and Dora was upstairs. She was in the kitchen to put together tea and as she was waiting for the kettle, she took a long, guilty look out at the shop, to make sure Remus wasn't going to come back soon. She pulled out her journal and flipped to my pages.

I know it was mine, in fact, because she pointed it out to Sinbad. 'Don't tell,' she said, 'No one's supposed to read his. He's meant to be bad. But he's not.'

She reads quite slowly and occasionally I could see her lips move. I think she had to re-read some of the sentences to make sense of them. (Perhaps I ought to think about writing to a lower comprehension level.) But something I wrote made her blink away tears. I didn't think it was that awful, personally.

She stopped herself crying, though, and put the journal away and fussed about with the tea. 'Honour the lost,' she said under her breath, 'by fulfilling a better purpose.' Then she patted Sinbad on the head. 'Right now my better purpose is Mr Ponds' tea, innit?' and that's when she put the tray together for you, Moony.

I wonder if she knew someone in the camps who'd been part of DogStar.

Well, we've finally shifted the last of tonight's crowd out from 'Laszlo's Unlimited,' which is the unofficial name our clientele have begun calling the little beer garden. Both last night and Friday were extremely busy. Luckily, Remus seems to still be riding the high of rescuing those Muggleborns (how are they adjusting, Allie? Any better?) so he's been all too happy to play host to a brisk trade.

And the discussions have been fascinating. DogStar were responsible for the bomb; no, it was the Crimson Company; no, it was actually a Ministry stunt designed to turn public opinion back against the Muggles. The name Sirius Black, of course, was on many a wizard's lips, and I'm pleased to say not entirely with universal condemnation. Apparently I was either stealing Bellatrix's own Muggleborn servant or I was simply under the impression that Bagman's commentary for the Cup was sadly lacking in statistical accuracy, so I popped up to the Top Box to offer my services when the bomb went off. As far as the Grim Truth, they seemed to be equally divided whether it's real or not, but all agreed that anyone brave enough to twit Lestrange over the journals deserved a drink at the very least.

Interestingly, I noticed some familiar faces both nights this weekend. One was our shady character who'd seemed so chatty with Dora a couple of weeks ago. The other was one of our more regular regulars. (As it happens, she's one of the few who seems to look for Padfoot whenever she's in and always sneaks him a bite or two of whatever's on offer.) But she hardly ever speaks to anyone. I do know a couple people have referred to her as 'Beth' but other than that, no idea who she really is. Well, last night she struck up a conversation with Mrs Parsons, one of our other frequent patrons. I trotted over for a skritch and out of blatant curiosity.

Mrs Parsons had an interesting tale to tell her, about her landlord troubles. Apparently he objects to her running a seamstress' shop out of her flat. At first she thought it was just because he wanted to raise her rent but it turned out that his main protest has to do with the fact that it means she's got people in and out of the building all hours. She wondered why.

That's when it got interesting. Because her tablemate asked her where she lived and when Mrs Parsons told her, she smiled. 'Ah, you live in one of the Quirkes' buildings, then.'

Mrs P wanted to know how she knew that. Beth just patted her arm and said, 'Oh, Quinn and I go way back. I know where all his property is. I'll have a word with old Quinn about you. Don't you worry any.'

'No offence, dearie, but I've not a clue what you could say to him to change his attitude, that I couldn't tell him myself.'

'Well, I'll tell him that your hours aren't his, that's all. And you might tell him that you come here. That'll soften him to you as well.'

I shoved my nose under her hand for a thank-you for that comment. But Mrs P wasn't all that impressed. 'Laszlo's? Why should this place make a difference to him?'

Beth laughed. 'Why does it make a difference to you?' she countered. And then she gave me another rough scratch behind the ears and said her good-nights.

Dora and Remus and I are talking about what the business of hours might mean but I wanted to put it out here, as well, for all of us to puzzle over. And, too, we've been talking about more means to help out the Muggleborns on a direct basis. Getting them the tools and the knowledge they need to use them.

Well. That's about all I have. Dora starts back at the Ministry again this week, Arthur, so she says to tell you she'll see you in the corridors and maybe stop for a cuppa one morning if you've the time.