Re: STATE OF ORDER
Both of them stood up. Fabian got to start: "As most of you know, both of us are well-versed in contract law and bindings. Our remit includes the basics of some powerful bindings like Unbreakable Vows and the operation of the Fidelius, even though they're not exactly in daily use. As you may also recall, we each took a binding oath that's a variant of the Fidelius to ensure our silence on identities and so on and so forth." He carefully did not look at Peter, who had certainly skirted the boundaries of his oath while under the tender care of the Death Eaters.
"On the basis of some theoretical discussion with Gideon, I proposed a test: I should try to talk about my Order involvement with a sympathetic civilian on whom I could rely, and on that basis determine if I was still bound by the oath. Due to the nature of the oath, with the Secret Keeper, as it were, dead, the secrecy of the oath should be bound to each of the oathtakers. Simply, we should each be able to govern our own oaths, and open the secret to other people. And yet, I couldn't discuss it. My tongue was locked, as it was when the Headmaster was alive.
"Ergo, the basic syllogistic logic applies: the oath holds only if the binder isn't dead; the oath held; therefore the holder is not dead." He finished: Albus Dumbledore is alive."