Order Only: Poppy

[alt_lupin]

Poppy - I have news on Mr Jones for you. I haven't managed to speak to him myself, but Tonks tracked him down on one of the other wards last night and they had a bit of a chat. He's doing as well as can be expected. He was one of the earlier patients brought in apparently, so the sickness seems to have had a greater effect on him than it has on Tonks, but he's in good spirits and should make a reasonable recovery. He's worried for his job, as most of the patients are, but he seems to have made friends with everyone on his ward and all the staff. I believe he's due to be released some time next week, but that could change depending on his condition.

I don't know how much of that you can pass on, and Tonks didn't mention Professor Sinistra to him, of course, but hopefully she'll feel a little better knowing he's all right.

Tonks herself is doing very well, as her expedition to wards unknown demonstrates. She's on course to be released at the end of the week, all being well, and is pretty much counting down the hours, minutes and seconds.

I was flicking through an old Prophet while she was with the Healer today, I think it might have been yesterday's Sunday Prophet, and spotted an article buried well into the middle, page 13 or 14, about the bodies of two ten-year-old girls being found out at Bushey Heath on Saturday. It caught my eye only because there was some nonsense about it being werewolves, although thankfully the reporter retained enough sense to point out that it's in the middle of the lunar cycle so rather unlikely.

After all that business with the little Patil boy, it seems rather suspicious that two more young children have been killed in what sounds like a rather violent way, and that it's been buried so quietly in the Prophet, although I suppose the Ministry may simply be trying to avoid more public panic.

Has anyone else heard anything about that?

Comments

[alt_poppy]

Thank you, Remus, for this report on Mr Jones. And give my thanks to Miss Tonks, as well. Aurora will be relieved to hear this news; I'm certain she feared the worst, and expected that there might never be any sure reports of what had become of her friend. She doesn't say, but I believe Mr Jones is especially dear to her.

I missed that report in the Prophet. I'll have to see if I can track down a copy. Yesterday was taken up with other business here, between Ministry departments fighting one another with me in the middle and students wilting under the pressure of impending exams. Today's been much worse, of course: I've been reviving fallen NEWTs-takers and sending them back into the fray. Tomorrow will be worse, but things should get better from there.

I'm so pleased that Miss Tonks is well enough to be sent home. I'm sure it can't come soon enough from her perspective. Will she be needing follow-on therapy or any special accommodations in order to manage at home?

[alt_sirius]

Well, I think I'm putting together a picture, but there are still a number of missing pieces.

What interested me was Miss Patil's observation that the missing girls bore a resemblance to Pansy Parkinson. Couple that with Reg's 'accident' and I can only imagine the rest.

The odd thing is that Voldemort must have known the Patil death would cause such a stir. The way this story has been handled - back page, burying the details - sounds much more the way I'd go about it if my evil plot called for the kidnap and murder of a child. I still can't work out why he'd have directed Regulus to take the Patil boy, knowing how people would react.