Re: From the McKinnon Estate - Alastor, Callum, Others (?)
"They just took over," Alastor confirmed, "which means we have a very small window of time to act before they do come after all of us. And this unemployed dragon keeper without a knut to his name has just that -- his name."
They were running out of time. "Look, very few people realise exactly what all this means and we don't have time for me to explain everything. But, they will soon enough. Cal, Dumbledore is dead. That's why this is happening now. Dumbledore is dead. They've taken the Ministry. As soon as they've secured it, they will come for the Order and Hogwarts, anyone and anything that could be a rallying point for resistance. They've had someone in the Ministry for months feeding them information. We never learned who. If they have any sort of tactician working for them, they'll be checking the bodies of the Aurors to determine which of us are still alive and checking records for residences, family, anywhere we might go and anyone we might care about -- Auror and Order alike. I know we see the secrecy differently, you and I. But, there is precious little of it now and they know who we all are. All of us. They will know you are back and they will come hunting, just as they will come hunting for any family with a connection to the Order or the school."
Sighing, Alastor shook his head, desperate to make his brother understand and quickly. "This isn't like last time, Cal. This isn't two sides of vigilantes taking each other on in the shadows. This is a systematic takeover of our world. Match to the enemy. Their Seeker caught the snitch. Churchill's dead and Hitler's moving into Buckingham Palace as we speak. We've lost. They've won. And now we need to survive until we can take our world back because if we don't, it doesn't stop here. The Muggles will be next. I've just come from King's Cross where the station is in shambles. Blown to hell. We're stopping the Express and getting the kids to their families through alternate means and telling the muggleborns to get out of the country. But, an attack on the Express once they find it wouldn't surprise any of us. Hogwarts is the only place that is going to be safe and we haven't had time to finish all the defences there as it is.
"And we need you. I need you. I've already taken my second chance at life. The second chance I want to take is the one where I have a brother and I can't have that if you don't come with me. -- And dammit all, if I get emotional to the point I can't give orders when we get there I will hex you into the middle of next year and feed you to those dragons you care so much about as soon as we get them."