InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "And I'm good at it too. "

NPC Journal (questling) wrote in thequest,
@ 2019-04-03 19:48:00

Entry tags:

!: journal, !: order of the phoenix, c: fabian prewett, c: gideon prewett, c: james potter, c: remus lupin, c: sirius black, npc: minerva mcgonagall

3 April: Order Check In
[Filter: Members of the Order of the Phoenix]
Mister Lupin as my castle is still standing today, I take it you might have actually used the items that I returned to you and your friends for good. Can we soon be expecting any updates?

I am also seeking updates of any working theories or knowledge about Albus Dumbledore and the Oath. Misters Prewett, anything to share with the class?

Alastor will be finishing up work at the Burrow this week to ensure that appropriate protection wards are in place.

Let us work to keep us all well informed of any relevant ongoings. I do know that many of you attended the CLAMS fundraiser on Friday, and might have learned some things. Although, of everything, I will say that Ms. Evans and her dancing partner made quite the scene.

(Post a new comment)

disobliged
2019-04-04 02:40 am UTC (link)

The oath is almost weirder than the idiosyncratic way it's annotated in the notes. So far, we've been able to transform the oath back into a standard format, but it uses constants where I expect variables and variables where I expect constants. It's obfuscated arithmancy, and I don't even think it was done that way on purpose.

The firm of Prewett and More Prewett have managed by sheer bloodymindedness to make a reduced test case that we can use to test the modified oath.

I now bring to the stand Master Prewett to explain how we are endeavoring to test the Oath, and our results so far...

(Reply to this) (Thread)

disobedient
2019-04-04 03:02 am UTC (link)

We've tried two groups of test subjects, one of which has been working with oaths involving biscuits and Fortescue's ice cream, and one of which has been working with more serious and adult oaths. (And while the adult group might figure out what kind of thing we're up to, they are sympathetic and don't ask questions.)

Anybody who wants to go through the arithmancy with me is welcome to a full discussion. I just remember Caradoc's eyes glazing over every time we used to talk about this sort of thing and don't want the rest of you to snore in public while reading your journal.

When we try the reduced test oath, we can't find any weaknesses in it. But also there seems to be a lack of flexibility. I think the irrational terms are fundamentally a weakness.

My sense of a solution is for the firm of Prewett and More Prewett to rewrite the oath, possibly using Fawkes as a binding pole since his death wouldn't release the oath, and making it something of a corporate oath. And modifying the terms somewhat to require a double-release instead of a single release, and all of us retaking it. Including to be honest, the supporters, because the supporter bindings are another point of weakness in my opinion.

As always, we cannot guarantee that nobody is breaking an oath we didn't administer. And I'm not sure the terms of this oath are insufficiently breakable since it's not an Unbreakable. On the other hand, I don't think we want it to be an Unbreakable. But with the Headmaster, saving your presence, Professor McGonagall, in hiding, I also have concerns about whether he knows the oath is whole and certainly about whether he can be relied on to tell us so under present circumstances.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	questling 2019-04-05 11:21 pm UTC (link)
	So, we remain bound together by a fallible oath, and still remain uncertain of the whereabouts of Albus. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	disobedient 2019-04-05 11:30 pm UTC (link)
	I don't think I have the skills to trace back to him from the oath, and to be honest that's probably a good thing, because if I could do it, so could someone else. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	questling 2019-04-05 11:45 pm UTC (link)
	Right. Well, I suppose it is a place to start. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	disobedient 2019-04-06 04:40 pm UTC (link)
	There are things I could try--Caradoc taught me a little--and combined with my own knowledge--I just don't want to raise hopes when I feel a positive outcome is very unlikely. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	skittering 2019-04-06 06:45 am UTC (link)
	You want us to take another oath on top of the oath we already have taken even though it hasn't actually broken? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

disobedient
2019-04-06 04:38 pm UTC (link)

We proved it's breakable. Do you want your security to depend on an oath with holes in it held by someone we don't know where is? I mean, it's not even that I don't trust the Headmaster but what if he's seriously injured by the backlash and just can't die?

Ultimately we'll have to undo the other oath ourselves if he can't undo it and can't explain to us what's going on. But a second oath is a stopgap measure and the terms would be slightly different and safer for us.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Order

padds
2019-04-04 11:27 am UTC (link)

We're working on it, Professor. We had a minor setback initially (doing this without dark magic is hard, as it turns out, guess that explains why old You Know Who liked being bad so much,) but we've just come up with a new avenue of inquiry and we're on it. As soon as we have any concrete results, you'll be the first to know.

By the by, if anyone spots a tiny dog figurine running around Hogsmeade, let me know? I'd like to know how long he keeps going.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	Order fallingshort 2019-04-04 12:45 pm UTC (link)
	1. We have will continue to use those items for good 2. There was absolutely no dark magic used 3. We have some rather interesting incidental projects [...] The tiny dog is a menace. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Order padds 2019-04-04 01:17 pm UTC (link)
	Remus Lupin don't you libel Minifoot, people might believe you! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Marauders + Lily fallingshort 2019-04-05 11:48 pm UTC (link)
	We have undertaken the burden of making Molly Weasley a clock in order to track the state of her children. For her benefit. And also science. Plus why not? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Marauders + Lily isolemnly 2019-04-06 12:11 am UTC (link)
	That is...ingenious. How much detail are you lot planning for the clock to divulge? Surely Molly will be glued to it once they go off to school. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Marauders + Lily padds 2019-04-06 12:23 am UTC (link)
	We're thinking it needs to be fairly nonspecific. If we put in all the details or every possible scenario, it'll be illegible. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Marauders + Lily fallingshort 2019-04-06 12:26 am UTC (link)
	More about general physical or mental status, than opposed to specifics. No one needs a clock in the kitchen that proclaims if you're having sex or not. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Marauders + Lily isolemnly 2019-04-06 12:35 am UTC (link)
	I just lost it laughing. All seriousness of this conversation is now gone (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Marauders + Lily -

padds, 2019-04-06 12:39 am UTC