ORDER ONLY: A New Name

[alt_mcgonagall]

A new name appeared on the rolls today: Saunders Morys, of Caernarfon.

Alice, I think that this might be a family to speak to. They're closer than the children in Taunton and Inswich, and the camp is much safer to approach than the one in Manchester.

I know you've been feeling - brittle - about the Swithin incident. Think of Shah and, perhaps, Saunders.

I shall hope to hear from you soon, you know.

Comments

[alt_alice]

Frank is already working on the Morys boy.

Do you really need to be so cruel to Remus? It's his last bit of family, Minerva - you know what happened to his mother.

[alt_mcgonagall]

I fear I must. Alice, you know he isn't to be trusted.

[alt_alice]

Bollocks. That is bollocks and you know it, Minerva. He can't help what he is any more than I can help the freckles on my face.

[alt_mcgonagall]

I tried to reach out to him, Alice. He didn't want to see me. And how can I be sure of him?

[alt_alice]

Look at the way he's treated, and ask yourself, would you want to bother with people who hate you?

He's been hated all his life. Now, he's accepted only because of the thing he loathes the most. His friends have forsaken him and his family is dead or dying.

Put yourself in his shoes. Just for a moment, pretend you're not where you are, but where he is. And see how you feel.

I saw that he found a letter from Lily his mother hadn't sent him. Did anyone think to ask him about it? Did anyone offer to talk to him? No?

Cowards, all of you.

[alt_molly]

Alice . . . I admit, you prick my conscience. No, Arthur and I haven't reached out to Remus since he's come back. But it's not quite as black and white as you're making it out, don't you see? It's not that we hate him--we don't! Or that we fear him because he's a werewolf. It's because we don't know whether we can trust him. He was gone for years, and when he came back, he was cool, polite, distant . . . and seemed to be entirely in synch with the Lord Protector's program for werewolves. We simply didn't know what to think.

And if you think it's cowardly to not dare to speak to him--well, you and Frank, more than any of us must understand the necessity of pulling back from any ties that are not absolutely trustworthy. All those children the two of you are shepherding from day to day--they're the ones we're risking, if we guess wrongly about Remus.

You know that Arthur and I are in the same position with Percy. You have no idea how painful it is to not even know whether we can trust our own son. So we have to draw back, to guard our words. I don't want to give the enemy the opportunity to use our love as an opening for betrayal. We can't. Too much is at stake.

I am holding out hope for Percy, and yes, I'm holding out hope for Remus, too. Perhaps we'll be able to discern his true loyalties if we watch carefully, and they'll still be for the Order. I hope so with all my heart.

But I don't want to put the Order (including you and Frank, mind you) at risk by guessing wrongly.