Order Only

[alt_lupin]

We've been contacted by another resistance group.

I should back up. Dora was approached this evening at the shop by a man claiming to be a runaway muggleborn needing a place to hide. Dora settled him into that building across the way, and minutes later Beth came in -- er, I should add that Beth is a woman we know from the beer garden. A regular, and someone we've known for a while to be sympathetic.

Beth warned us that the man who'd come in earlier was part of a 'sting' operation to trap us into disloyalty. We went across the way and sure enough -- he had a wand, and attacked us the moment we came in. He underestimated Padfoot, fortunately, and we subdued him. We had enough time before his friends arrived to ask him a few questions, and get his confirmation of what Beth had told us.

Fortunately, it wasn't MLE after us -- just that horrid group of vigilantes that call themselves the Watch. We Obliviated the man when we heard them coming, played dumb, and told them he'd asked us for help and we'd done our best to subdue him so that one of us could fetch MLE to turn him in. How fortuitous their arrival! Etc. They took him off, and we went back to the shop for a chat with Beth. Or at least, Dora and I chatted with Beth. Padfoot listened.

She's in a group that's smuggling muggleborns out of the camps and into free settlements. She was hoping we'd be willing to help out with a safe house. We told her yes, of course; we were eager to help. Moreover, we told her we might be able to help with safe houses further along the route -- we'd need to know where she needed them.

We didn't tell her about the Order, we didn't tell her our dog was Sirius Black, and we didn't tell her I'm a werewolf. Although she's clearly rather suspicious that I'm hiding something, she seems to think I might be hiding the fact that I myself am an escaped muggleborn. Oh, she'd also noticed we aren't living at the shop anymore, and thought her people might also be able to help us there.

Her group wants to provide someone to help us with the shop and the beer garden. If we're going to work with these people, we'll need to think about exactly what we're going to tell them, and what we're going to hide. I have to admit we could use a bit of extra help; we get a good crowd most nights. It's difficult to keep up.

Comments

[alt_sirius]

Bill, Beth has been a regular at the garden since summer. You might remember I told you lot about her and Mrs Parsons, back in early September. She was the one who told Mrs P how to get round her landlord (which worked, apparently, as she's not had any more trouble from him since).

Then I suppose a couple weeks after that, she came in one day and asked Dora to hold something for a 'friend.' Only the friend was actually a muggleborn domestic, needed a potion. We wondered at the time if it was a setup or the start of a trap. But we held the parcel for a couple of days, a woman came and got it, and that was the end of that as well.

Since then, she's helped us out a time or two with unruly customers and the like. She and Dora were getting quite chummy, in fact.

Come to think of it, she did disappear for a while, right after Bellatrix came to see Dora. But then she was back before we noticed it much.

Let's see. That was about the time that that trio used our place to plot their escape, wasn't it, Dora?

... And it was just after that that I went up to join Lucinda and John and theirs. And, well, then everything 'round here changed, as you all know. So I suppose we haven't mentioned her much in the last couple of months, but she's been about the place. She's had ample opportunity to lodge a complaint about something or other, if she wanted.

[alt_frank]

I remember your mentioning her.

it would be a lot of effort to follow up on a slim lead and develop it that long if she were playing for the other team.

they can be persistent, but only for the fish that look really big. and on the surface of things, you don't look big enough to be worth all that trouble.

[alt_nymphadora]

It was about the same time.

I didn't notice any connection between them and Beth, but if you're saying it could have been a way for Beth to test whether we'd help someone trying to escape, then I guess it's possible.

We've always had pleasant chat, she and I, and she's got connections who are willing to help halfbloods. The business with Mrs Parsons is a good example, but she pointed someone else to a Healer who charges different rates depending on what a person can pay--and when Mary'd been to see him, she told me, he was the nicest professional person she'd ever had to deal with. Didn't treat her like a half-worth, is what she said. Anywiz. Point is, Beth helps. I really do think she's the real thing, only-

It makes me queasy how well she plays her important cards close, you know? But then, I hope I play ours at least that well.

It's really difficult to trust anyone. I don't know how we ever do it.