InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "same bat time same bat channel"

minerva_renewed (minerva_renewed) wrote in snark_n_bark,
@ 2008-04-02 22:39:00

Entry tags:

complete, harry, hermione, minerva, neville, padma, remus, ron, severus, sirius, tybalt

Once again into the breach

Characters: The Order of the Phoenix
Summary: The Order reconvenes

"Thank you, Flowbee, that will be all." Minerva turned in a slow circle, inspecting the meeting room off her office. Tea services were set up at either end of the magically expanded room, and the elves had made a large assortment of biscuits and cakes. They didn't know who was attending the meeting, but they must have sensed its importance to their headmistress, because they spared no effort in cleaning the little-used room and preparing refreshments.

Minerva thought Potter was none-too-clever in strong-arming her to host the Order at the school, but enough students had ended up in the hospital wing lately that she was anxious to have answers before someone was hurt beyond Poppy's abilities.

The Floo at the far end of the room flared to life, and Minerva turned, her hands clasped in front of her. She took a silent, steadying breath as the Order of the Phoenix was yet again called to action.

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ensnared_senses
2008-04-04 11:27 pm UTC (link)

It took great effort, but Severus valiantly refrained from making a scathing comment about stating the obvious in response to Black, but as difficult as it was, he knew he ought not risk derailing the meeting with a quarrel. At least not so soon. He really wasn't so sure how long he would be able to hold out if Potter and Black kept making such asinine remarks. Instead, he forced himself to focus on the matter at hand.

"It seems to me that we should concern ourselves less with what is happening and more with who is causing it. No matter what the source of the problem is - spell, ritual, or artifact - it would have to be activated by a mortal agent. Who would gain by causing this kind of damage and chaos among the Wizarding community? The list of suspects is quite short, I imagine. Find the culprit, and no doubt we will find the source of this ever-growing problem and thus be able to put a stop to it. Perhaps we can succeed in that respect," he added with a pointed look at Moody, who glared back balefully.

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hg_reads
2008-04-05 02:04 am UTC (link)

Hermione straightened her papers and waited for her former professor to finish before speaking. "If I may?"

She paused until she was sure her voice wouldn't rise to adolescent shrillness in the face of so many of her old teachers. "It may not be as simple as finding a person or entity, I'm afraid. The incidents are spread widely enough, and enough people have been involved, that it would be almost impossible for an individual or a small group to be responsible.

"It also seems to be largely confined to Britain, whatever it is. I was out of the country for much of the winter, as were several of my colleagues. None of us had major problems when we were - elsewhere, only after we'd gotten home."

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mussed_hair
2008-04-05 08:30 am UTC (link)

"The Inferi that attacked Hogsmeade came from all over the area. I went back the next morning and ran every detection, identification and tracking spell I could think of, looking for anything that might imply a specific person's magical signature. There was none." Harry glanced around the table, taking in many confused expressions. "It's like they rose from their graves and just started walking. Muggles would have called them zombies. What I don't know is why they all ended up in Hogsmeade."

He shifted and spoke directly to Hermione, even though his thought were for everyone. "Voldemort and his Death Eaters nearly threw all of Britain back into the Founder's time. I'm not ready to rule out the idea that there might be a central figure or group behind all this."

If he didn't look directly at Snape, it wouldn't exactly be like Harry was agreeing with him. "If our main objective is to find the source of these problems, we should have some people looking for signs of direct wizard or witch involvement. We need to turn our guesses into proof." Harry thought it was funny how quickly the old war-speak came back to him, even though it was the first time he was the one doing the speaking.

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minerva_renewed
2008-04-05 08:36 am UTC (link)

Minerva found herself granting Potter reluctant respect for his conduct so far - not that she didn't hold the boy in high esteem before, but he'd been too young to be considered much of a leader during the second war. She clasped her hands under her chin and continued to listen, unwilling to speak until the other Order members had aired their thoughts, which would give Minerva a better platform from which to speak.

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cocoa_cardigan
2008-04-05 01:05 pm UTC (link)

Remus listened, mulling over things in his head, something about the sheer randomness of the events nagging at him. "You know, even if it is a person, they might not know they're doing it," he said slowly, his thoughts on Cymbeline and the things that had occurred when she had been quite small. "What if it's a powerful person, a child, perhaps, or even someone who is mad, who is causing this without realizing it? It all seems just so unfocussed and without reason, it just doesn't feel like there is any coherent thought behind it. I would suggest checking out the psychiatric ward at St. Mungo's, and if that falls short, starting on Muggle hospitals. Children would be a bit more problematic, of course, unless there was a sudden surge at Hogwarts."

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savage_storm
2008-04-05 01:09 pm UTC (link)

"The Ministry has spells to help locate underage use of magic," Tybalt said, glancing at Moody, who snorted to show what he thought of the effectiveness of that particular group. "Perhaps an enhancement of those charms? And, as much as I know I'm going to get laughed at for saying this, has anyone checked with any Seers? They seem to get brushed off whenever they try to warn people, and I'm not saying all of them are always right, but I'm a Gypsy - I've seen far too much to believe they're always wrong, either."

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siriuslytrouble
2008-04-05 06:40 pm UTC (link)

Sirius coughed. He looked at Remus as he spoke. "The Infe-- zombies, then. Could it be the other side of the ghosts?" The thought was unnerving, but he continued with it anyway. "I mean, it's far too late for Lily and James to suddenly be showing up, but I've heard they're not the only ones. So maybe some people had their souls come back, and some unlucky sods just had their bodies come back instead?"

He hoped all those bodies hadn't held trapped souls. That was too disturbing to think about.

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hg_reads
2008-04-06 12:52 am UTC (link)

Hermione slid a copy of the news clipping about John Lennon's latest political protest across the table to Sirius. She waited for him to start reading, then quietly passed copies around to the rest of the Order.

After a moment she pulled out another sheaf of papers and began distributing those as well. "My department hasn't launched a formal investigation - yet - but this is what I've managed to cobble together. There have been incidents all over Britain, with a few scattered in Europe and the United States. It's definitely worse here, though. I was in Italy for most of the winter and didn't have any problems until I came back about a month ago."

She would not tell them about seeing Viktor. He hadn't resurfaced to her knowledge, and the less she thought about it, the better.

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	siriuslytrouble 2008-04-06 04:05 am UTC (link)
	Sirius stared at the article. "Wow," he said finally. "Think he'll put out a new album?" He wasn't surprised that the joke fell flat. Shrugging, he looked back at Hermione. "Think it matters that he's British?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

hg_reads
2008-04-06 10:39 pm UTC (link)

"Maybe. Almost everything has taken place or involves British wizards or witches." Hermione swallowed. She'd seen Viktor in Diagon Alley, and there hadn't been any other reports, even though she'd put out feelers to her contacts in Eastern Europe. "What's bothering me is that the incidents are getting more frequent, and they're getting worse. What's going to happen next? And who will appear this time? Somehow I don't think Freddie Mercury is going to show up next week."

She tried to smile but couldn't hide the worry in her voice. Would Narcissa and Andromeda return next? Bellatrix's other victims?

Or - worse?

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	siriuslytrouble 2008-04-06 10:45 pm UTC (link)
	"Well, maybe we should make a list of the known dead," Sirius said. "There might be a pattern. If not, maybe they could start a social club." He wasn't that he wanted to sound frivolous; it was just that, for now, it was too frightening a matter to approach without jokes. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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