Hermione Jane Granger

I was just thinking a little more about your business and all.

I will say that Sirius and Mr Lupin and Tonks made certain of Ellie before they told her. Because there's the strong possibility that the muggles or muggleborn that they've sent you to work for you have been promised things if they turn in anyone who's not behaving properly. Properly for the Protectorate, that is.

So before you make any announcements, be sure that they haven't been planted by someone in the camps or the Ministry.

Sirius hung around Ellie as a dog and got a sense of her that way. Maybe Terry could do the same?

I'm not sure how to do this, so I wondered if you could help.

Have either of you talked to Tim Clark before? Remember, he's one of the muggleborns who escaped at the Quidditch World Cup and now he lives at Sherwood with Sarah and Terry and Dudley and the others. Only I suppose not Terry soon, if he's going to go off with a Zulu company. Anyway, he's quite nice and really very fit, at least I think so, and he was at the Order meeting Saturday because he used to live at Moddey before he moved out to Sherwood and I talked with him there a bit, and I don't know if you noticed but we talked on Saturday too and then he wrote to me yesterday because he said he went straight to Mrs L to ask to be sworn in to the Order and then he wrote to me to tell me he'd done that specifically so that he could write to me and--and I think he fancies me and I think I just might fancy him back but I'm not sure because I've never really fancied anyone who was actually someone I ever could fancy, I mean not really, and I don't want Draco or Terry getting upset about it and how do you do this?

I mean, I want to write back to him but they'll see the message header. And with the way things are with Draco right now, I mean, he's really leaning on me a lot and I know he'll improve and it's not that I don't want to be supportive, I really do, I want to stick with him and we've even got a plan and we've talked to Sirius and he thinks it will be a good thing to do, and very helpful, so I'm really happy we have that to work on, but I don't want to upset him right now or make him think I'm going to abandon him. And Harry, I know you're spending loads of time with him, Hydra, but I could see how lonely he looked at the Order meeting on Saturday and I want to make sure he knows I still care about him.

Only. With Tim it's different. I mean, we don't really have a history together. And yes, he's a muggleborn but it's not as if that's the only thing we have in common, either.

Did I mention he's really quite fit?



Oh, bollocks. It'll never work, will it? I mean, he shares a tent with Dudley and Finbar and he's mates with Terry and I just don't think I can hurt Terry like that. Not right now, certainly. I mean, it would be different if it weren't someone he knows well, like that. Wouldn't it?

How do you lot ever manage to date different people at school? It's hopelessly complicated. I think I was better off not ever thinking about anyone like that. Maybe I'll just tell him we can only write to one another if we're just going to be mates, nothing else.

You asked about how I'm doing. Sorry, I was going to reply and then I was working with Harry on his Transfiguration and with Mr Snape on more Potions research and--well, then I thought I'd just write to you fresh.

Anyway, the thing is that Hogwarts has actually been really good. I mean, Umbridge wasn't but she barely paid attention to me. And most days I spend either in the library or working with one of the Professors who's in the Order, or with Mr Snape (who isn't a professor but really should have been, he's ever so good at Potions and Occlumency and Defence and so on), so it's really like I can do whatever I like. I just have to make sure the other students don't notice.

And Mr Snape says I'm well beyond Hogwarts level in most of my subjects, anyway. So I don't even mind if I'm not in lessons with everyone else. It's more like I'm studying independently all the time.

I know I make contributions, like with this potion that Sirius has been working on. Mr Snape's been helping only he and Sirius--well, you know, they don't get on. Sometimes it's as if they're speaking different languages. So I try to translate, I suppose, and explain when Sirius is only joking about something or being sarcastic, or stop them when they start talking about something that happened a long time ago.

And besides that I actually did make a suggestion that made a difference. Mr Snape said so.

I wish they could get along, though. It'd be much easier if they could see that they really aren't all that different. Well. Sirius is much more handsome, of course. And Mr Snape has more book-learning. But Sirius is adventurous and Mr Snape is very brave, and they're both ever so much better than they think they are. But even Mrs Longbottom hasn't been able to get them to like each other so I'm not sure it'll ever happen. But I can keep trying, I suppose.

Buckingham's a slightly different story. Sometimes I pick up interesting information but mostly, there are others now who have better conduits for the Order. Draco and Hydra and Harry. But sometimes people forget I'm there.

I don't know. I suppose I'm not really a fighter. I know what you mean about feeling like you're sitting back while others are taking on the risks. But I think as long as we're all doing what we can do, we're all contributing.

(Not that anyone else in the Order can't read this but I can't send a PM to all four of you, so if anyone else in the Order is reading, well, you can but it's not really for you.)

Mrs Longbottom asked me to tell the others that the Order would like to offer them membership but she wanted us to think through first the best way to tell them and also plan for the things that they might say about it.

So, I thought maybe first we could think what each one's reaction might be and what we might have to explain depending on what they say, and that would help us decide the best approach for them.


Draco: He'll probably be the person with the biggest objections (not surprisingly). What he's said before about the Order (not that he knew what they were called but he knew there was a group) is that they aren't very effective and that they don't have a plan for how to actually make anything change. I think mostly he's afraid. And he's torn, too, because he still loves his family and so many of them would be on the other side if he joined us properly.

Evelyn: Will want to join up right away

Harry: Will probably want to join up as soon as possible, too. I think he might hesitate, though, if Draco's strongly against it, only because he already had to leave Draco behind for a little while when he joined the ISS and usually he wants Draco along for anything and everything, whenever possible. So I don't know, I think he'd have to know that Draco doens't mind if Harry joins without Draco. If Draco decides against joining.

Hydra: I'm not sure. On the one hand, she's got some of the same reasons Draco has to worry about fighting against her family. On the other, she hates her mother and the Lord Protector. I think if Justin joins, so will she. One thing's almost certain and that's that they'll talk it over first and decide together.

Justin: I'm sure he wants to join, it's one of the most important reasons he stayed here and didn't go back to France (and of course, Hydra was the other). He really wants to be useful (especially to Sirius) and we all know he hoped to make a difference. But he'll be careful to ask Hydra what she thinks first, as I said.

Luna: I'm pretty sure she'll join without too much fuss

Neville: Wants to join last year

Pansy: She's the other wild card, isn't she? I think in the end she'll join but she might be afraid of it first. She'll have some questions, too, mainly about what will happen to people like the Malfoys or Professor Lestrange.

Ron: If this were Christmas, I'd say he'd join in a heartbeat. But he gets his ego bruised so easily I don't know if he'd delay just out of spite or anything. Probably not, though he might ask a question or two first. He's been writing to Director Selwyn's daughter, you know, and he's got back together with Greengrass, I think, sort of, and that might twist him round a little.

Sally-Anne: I was sure she didn't have any interest but then Mrs L said that she did want to join. Maybe because she got to see her mother. As if that should make Anyway, she really cares about Madam Pomfrey and doing the right thing but she can be stubborn and she's so Slytherin in the way she sees things. Plus she's really fond of Professor Dolohov (and practically anyone else who pays her any attention or tells her she's done a good job).

Susan: Will probably join.


I'm not sure what to tell Draco or others who accuse the Order of not being able to get itself together to make a real or lasting impact. Except that of the other alternatives, the Order's the most successful and the one with the best philosophy toward everyone--I mean, Muggleborns, Muggles and Squibs and all. So even if someone's not altogether convinced about joining the Order, maybe they can at least admit that it's the best option out of what's available?