Hermione Jane Granger

With everyone so worried about Ginny (me included), I thought we could use some good news. We woke up over fifty Sleepers yesterday.

It was slower going than I anticipated because, well, mainly because they're very disorientated and we didn't want to move on to the next patients until the Healers had checked everyone and the helpers had had a chance to really help them. I think we'll be modifying that in future to have more Calming Draught available, and in some cases, give them a (regular) sleeping potion so that the helpers can circle back to them later, so we don't hold things up too much.

Three patients also had an adverse reaction on waking, but the Healers were on standby and they were able to put them right fairly easily. My notes don't suggest it was an allergy to the Potion, necessarily, although I suppose at this stage, that can't be ruled out. Two of the cases were of cardiac infarction and Healer Patil thinks the third probably had medical problems before she went into stasis, and she had a stroke. He thinks she'll recover in time.

That said, there was a minor side effect observed in about 5% of those we awakened. They complained of feeling bloat, or gastric distress, and several shortly thereafter suffered diarrhoea. (Which considering they weren't necessarily able to get to a bathroom was--well, it wasn't pleasant. Luckily that didn't happen to many of them, but if this is a realistic sample and it is a side effect, we'll need more bedpans when we wake the rest.) It's not clear whether it's really the potion or an effect of how long they were in stasis compared to their last meal before sleeping, or other constitutional considerations. Nonetheless, we'll be collecting notes on similar cases in the event that the potion will need to be modified further. (I hope not, since we've already made up over a thousand doses at this point, but we've many more thousands to go, too.)

I'd really hoped to move a little more quickly through the stasis population but at least this way we'll have plenty of production completed before we need it--the only thing is that at this pace, it'll take about six years to wake everyone. So we either need to assign more people to help or tell relatives they'll be on the waiting list for some time to come.

Anyway. I know it's not much compared to Ginny being in the hands of Bellatrix and Dolohov, but it's a small move toward restoration.

We're making good progress. I think we may have 200 doses ready by the end of the week, at our current pace.

The good news is that the sample batch I made using the powdered dragon scales is comparable in every way to the third version of concentrate, using about half the amount of powdered Malaclaw claws for the same yield. And since currently we have more dragon scales than we quite know what to do with, I think we'll be well-served to substitute them for the time being. It's lucky they're all the same breed; I'm not sure how much variation there might be in the properties of a different species.

Those of you assisting us in preparing ingredients, I've been observing your techniques for the last few days and I'm making some changes to capitalise on your strengths:

Divyesh, please work with Emrys Clark for now. I'd like you to concentrate on the preparation of the sliced roots and greens. Remember, the consistency of your slices gives us the best results. Particularly for the guarana roots, we want the slices as close to 1/32^nd-inch as possible, and absolutely nothing over 1/16^th. I've left samples of each type spell-o-taped to the cutting boards. Emrys, I know your potions kit has a silver knife but we've found the best results are achieved with steel or ceramic blades. Mrs Scrim can help you if you need a different set.

Nick and Zach Scrim, you two are strong enough to powder the scales to a good, fine grit. We need every last ounce of scales from the materials we recovered from Snowdonia, so be sure to give the mortars a good swipe with pertergicus so there's no waste.

Ian and Katherine: Please focus your effort on all other animal components--the livers and spleens really must be fully soaked in tepid water, not cold, not hot, before they're harvested for any remaining blood--oh, and I think you'd better rewarm and liquefy the coagulated blood that Charlie, Sally-Anne and I recovered, as well, before we use it--and the beetle eyes need to be checked carefully for any clouding or they'll taint the whole batch.

Arista and Katrina--I mean, Fitz--that leaves you two with all the other vegetation to prepare. If you have any questions about the hellebore, or you want additional help with the parsley or anything, let me know. There are other people who can help, you don't have to shred it all yourselves.

For the rest of you, I've got notes for the modification to the master potion formula based on the use of the Welsh green scale powder instead of the Malaclaw; I'll make sure everyone who's brewing has a fresh copy tomorrow.

Oh, and I also need two more volunteers (in addition to our current group) who are willing to shift away from Sleeper potion for a few days to concentrate on replenishing our other stores, especially Polyjuice. (I harvested a whole flat of fluxweed at the last full moon.) Madam P, are any of your Healers ready to help with some of the basic potions we need?

For now, I want everyone to take the rest of the afternoon off. Get some sunshine or go for a flight. We'll start fresh tomorrow.

It's worse than we thought. Subject 2A was dead this morning when I came in. The body was cold. Subjects 3A and 4A are barely hanging on, it looks like. I've put them back in stasis to try to keep them alive while we figure out what's happening.

I knew one of us should have stayed here overnight. I'm sorry. I should have been here instead of breaking plates and cups and bowls and things.