ORDER ONLY. Messrs. Macnair and Snape.

[alt_albus]

It would, all things considered, be advisable to trust Messrs. Macnair & Snape. Many people, after all, have hidden depths.

I shall look forward to conversing with them upon my return. (And, of course, to seeing the rest of you all.)

Comments

[alt_sirius]

What return? When?

You can't mean to say you want Minerva to swear them into the Order? That's madness.

[alt_albus]

Dear boy, you must have a very limited view of the possibilities of 'madness.'

[alt_sirius]

Don't get cute with me, Professor. I've seen enough of madness to recognise the warning signs.

Are you truly ordering us to let them into the Order? To let them read messages behind the Lock? To include them in our plans?

Or are you simply telling us to trust they won't give away what they already know, and we can let Frank and Kingsley stop sitting on them?

[alt_albus]

Allow them in.

Take it as an opportunity to develop your character. You have many excellent qualities, but a forgiving nature is not one of them. One of the few ways in which you are like your cousin Bellatrix, I must say.

[alt_sirius]

....

[alt_sirius]

They're Death Eaters, Albus. They didn't go and take the Mark to keep Hogwarts safe like Minerva. They joined on their own.

Macnair's killed for Voldemort. And --

[alt_frank]

and for all his talk about changing colours, he tried his level best to kill harry.

[alt_sirius]

Oh, but he's thought better of that, hasn't he? Buggering Snape made him think different.

Morgana. I just don't understand what Albus is thinking.

Not like he'd tell us.

And what's this 'return' he's talking about? When's that going to happen? And what does he expect us to do when he decides to provide his leadership again, hm? If it's more orders like this - well.

I just hope he really knows what he's doing.

[alt_sirius]

This is such a bad idea.

[alt_bill]

Yes, but the Order lock, too?

Merlin, Professor.

[alt_mcgonagall]

Truly, Albus?

I suppose it must be as you say.

I wish you would tell us your plans. Or where you are. Or any thing.

[alt_kingsley]

I'll second that.

Albus, it would relieve my mind if you have any further information about the two of them that would help us accept your advice.

[alt_frank]

that's all we get? after three years, that's all we get?

[alt_frank]

okay. I get snape. you have a history. I'll give you that much, but why macnair? what reason do you have to trust him, sight unseen?

[alt_frank]

and what about the prophecy, then?

Private Message to Frank

[alt_sirius]

Apparently they both have hidden depths.

Depths of what, I'm not sure.

Re: Private Message to Frank

[alt_frank]

dammit, he knows exactly what this means, how dangerous it could be, but he just swans in and expects us to jump to and merlin forbid we ask questions and get them answered.

Re: Private Message to Frank

[alt_frank]

I don't expect any answers.

the man is impossible.

and he writes us after so many years away, so many years we've been trying to get by without his leadership

and he gives us so damn little to work with.

it just makes me so fucking steamed.

Re: Private Message to Frank

[alt_frank]

where was he last year when you nearly died, and we were all facing merlin knows what?

was he reading when our hermione had to go under cruciatus? or when her parents were sent to be bitten by werewolves?

could've used a bit of goddamn leadership then.

at least minerva answers back.

Re: Private Message to Frank

[alt_sirius]

Sometimes I think he still thinks we're at school and he's headmaster.

Still. No room for argument, is there?

Wonder what he'd do if we decided not to take his word for it?

Re: Private Message to Frank

[alt_frank]

I know how you mean, mate.

and I doubt he'd really do anything. but then again, I don't doubt that we will end up doing what he says.

might be unhappy about it, and frustrated as hell, but the man has more than a little weight to throw around, and he's thrown it.

[alt_bill]

Bloody hell. What?!

[alt_bill]

He's got to be kidding.

[alt_arthur]

He wouldn't kid about something like this, son.

[alt_bill]

Seriously, though. How do you expect us to accept them on your say-so? Have you interviewed them, maybe dropping in them while they've been on the run?!

You're in America!

[alt_arthur]

That's enough, Bill. Stubble it.

Private message to Arthur Weasley

[alt_bill]

Dad, you can't be serious, either! He has no way to know that they can be trusted!

Re: Private message to Arthur Weasley

[alt_arthur]

No, I don't believe that's true, son.

He created the Order. He is not going to set us upon a course that will destroy it. And he has powers that are so beyond anything that any of the rest of us have.

Re: Private message to Arthur Weasley

[alt_bill]

But he's telling us to let them in to the Order Lock, Dad! The lock that I created!

Merlin, that's one of the few, true advantages we have.

Re: Private message to Arthur Weasley

[alt_arthur]

What, are you afraid that they're going to go back to Voldemort then and blab about it?

Son, they've been on the run from the Ministry for months. They'd fall in a hail of Avada Kedavras if they tried. According to Dumbledore, they won't try.

Re: Private message to Arthur Weasley

[alt_bill]

According to Dumbledore. But if he's wrong....don't you realise what will happen to all of us?

Re: Private message to Arthur Weasley

[alt_arthur]

Son, I've never seen him be wrong. About anything.

[alt_sirius]

He's not.

He may be completely round the twist, but he's not joking.

[alt_alice]

I'm glad to see you're alive, Albus.

This is more than a little unexpected. I know you have your reasons, and I wish you'd share more with us about what they are -- if we're to take this big of a risk, and so soon, it would be best to know where you're coming from.

Thank you for your advice.

[alt_frank]

bloody hell, al.

Private Message to Frank

[alt_alice]

I know you, Frank Longbottom.

And I know that you're letting your anger towards Dumbledore cloud your ability to listen to what he is saying.

Yes, he's left us to our own devices for a long while. Yes, sometimes, his methods are difficult for us to understand.

But you know as well as I that you are Dumbledore's man through and through, even though you're spitting nails right now.

We've been struggling about what to do with Snape and Macnair, and now we have an answer. I can see how you and Sirius are unhappy about it, but weren't you saying just the other day how much you believed their intentions to be sincere? How dependent they were on us? What are we to do with them? Dump them off at Sherwood?

They've been of real use to us. And could continue to be of real use.

You've spent days talking with these men. You of all people know what they are capable of, and where they are coming from.

And you, of all people, can inform us whether this is possible and safe.

Re: Private Message to Frank

[alt_frank]

damn it all.

can't say I'm happy about it, about any of it, but you're right.

Re: Private Message to Frank

[alt_frank]

I can see you're back to making sense again.

Re: Private Message to Frank

[alt_alice]

Yes, well, a good night's rest can do wonders.

And one of us must keep our head about us. We seem to take it in shifts. It'll be my turn again soon enough.

Private Message to Alice

[alt_sirius]

Kiss-arse.

Private Message to Alice

[alt_sirius]

And I mean that in the kindest possible way, of course.

Re: Private Message to Alice

[alt_alice]

Oh, naturally.

You are just jealous that I happen to be better at negotiating than you lot of hot-heads.

Re: Private Message to Alice

[alt_alice]

Hush, love.

I know this is not the sort of message you'd like to get from him, and that there's no love lost between you and Snape.

I think at this point, it all comes down to trust. And whereas we might not entirely trust Snape and Macnair, not yet, I do know that Dumbledore wouldn't speak up unless this was important, unless he was absolutely sure.

So if we can't trust Snape and Macnair entirely, we must decide whether we can trust Dumbledore.

And I do.

And thus far, in all your dealings with both of them, they have both attempted to tell us everything they know that could be of use, and have made every effort to show their trustworthiness to us. I know, I know, there could be hidden motives there, but that's something, isn't it?

Re: Private Message to Alice

[alt_alice]

And we could all use a bit of good news. And hearing from Dumbledore, as frustrating as it can be, is good news.

Re: Private Message to Alice

[alt_sirius]

Dumbledore wants to think the best of people.

But some people just don't have a best in them.

I don't like the idea of letting them in any further while we still have to watch our backs, either.

Cutting them loose I could understand but ... this?

Do I trust him?

Yes. I suppose I do.

Do I think he's right?

I don't know.

[alt_poppy]

Well. Albus. A timely surprise.

I've something I've wished and wished I could ask you, and now here you are and of a mind to offer recommendations.

Would you, all things considered, think it a wise investment towards my retirement to put money in a scheme being offered me by the persistent Messrs Forke & Shovelle? They offer to bring me in as a silent partner in their redevelopment of Milton Keynes as a new spa and resort, and they say the potential for future returns is simply vast.

I'm not certain it's a wise investment, given the past uses of the properties in question and their current state of, well, considerable disrepair.

What would you advise?