Auggie's got 99 problems but a bitch ain't 1

I settled down, a twisted-up frown disguised
as a smile. Well, you would've never known.
I had it all, but not what I wanted 'cause hope
for me was a place uncharted and overgrown( Read more... )

I know many see the heralding of snow as a sign of the dying of the year. The trees, the flowers, the sunlight. I see it as hope, however. Blankets of white, pure and untouched and beautiful. At least for those first breathtaking moments before even it's pristine is ruined. The first snow is always the most hopeful.

WARDED TO REGULUS

I could understand if your cousin's entry has made you hesitant to make your presence known. I assure you, I have no derogatory things to say to you. I simply want to be assured of your safety.

WARDED TO ELLIOT

Are you thinking of possible jobs? I am compiling my own list, and when we meet next (shortly) we will choose a job for you based on one of our lists. If my list is the only one available then it is the only one we will use.

It is not an easy job to be responsible for wisdom. I would not wish that responsibility on either my dearest friend or my worst enemy. For to be the bearer of wisdom and truth one must be willing to accept the consequences for their decision. What is the worst choice? What is the lesser of evils? To send someone who might be innocent to the Dementors? Either to lose their soul or their sanity? Or to send someone who might be guilty back into the world without repercussions? We who sit on the benches and watch this circus, we think we know that wisdom. We think that we can hear this same information and use our opinions on these people to know their hearts and minds and truth better than those whose job it is to weed through lies to find the heart of the matter. Are the individuals who serve on the Wizengamot perfect and without failure? Of course not. They are human, and therefore they cannot possibly be without fault. But this is their job. Just as I could never assume to be able to be a better Auror than those who have had training, and how an Auror would never be able to unravel the mysteries that have become my life's work deep in the darkness of the Ministry, no individual can appoint themselves to be wiser than those whose job it is to be a judge.

The Wizengamot's decision is that one teenage boy is guilty of heinous crimes that belie his age, crimes of his own admission. And it burdens my heart to imagine what could have happened to such a boy to land him in this place, to turn him towards these crimes. Some clamour that he deserves to be Kissed for them. And to that I cannot agree. DO I believe what he has done is heinous? That cannot be disputed. But I cannot support the act of removing a soul - even from the most evil around us. Losing ones sanity amongst the Dementors is extreme enough. For none among us - even those who sit upon the benches of the Wizengamot - are equipped enough to decide to deprive a man of an essence so uniquely his than a soul.

It was also their decision that another teenage boy is victim to a curse so vile it removes our freewill. I have listened to supporters on both sides. People convinced of his innocence, and others so steadfast in their belief of guilt. But that is not our job to decide. In our country we have a court of law and that court of law believed that he had been compromised. Perhaps I am a sentimental old man, but I feel far more confident in our men and women on the bench that they did not sentence a boy with reasonable doubt to a life of Dementors. Does this mean there is that chance that they let him go when he himself could be capable of the same crimes as his young friend? Yes. There is always that chance. And perhaps my naivety and belief of the good in people will be my undoing in the end, causing me to become a victim myself. I cannot know the future. All I know is that I do not want the responsibility of judgement on my shoulders, for I cannot abide the crime of playing God with a life.

This war has split us all into factions, and most of them are extreme. I am afraid I am too old for such extreme black and whites. I heard a girl say as she left the courtroom that anyone who supports the Death Eaters, even in silence, is as good as a murderer as those that held the wand and they all deserve to die. But how does that view make anyone less culpable of hate and murder? I suppose there is no easy way to live in a world at war when every opinion you might have is so easily condemned by the person sitting beside you. All I can do is listen to my conscience, for I am the only one who has to sleep easy with my ideals.

WARDED TO ELLIOT

I do not expect you to look at your journal for some time. However, when you bring yourself to peruse its pages once again, know that my flat is, as always, at your disposal should you need the privacy.

WARDED TO DEATH EATERS

Marlene McKinnon has been disposed of. There were no complications.

WARDED TO THE IC

Gentlemen. As previously discussed, I took Mr Pettigrew for lunch today and approached him about fulfilling his end of our bargain - to which he did so most generously.

Confirmed Members:
Dedalus Diggle
Robbie McKinnon
Marlene McKinnon
Caradoc Dearborn
Sturgis Podmore
Mundungus Fletcher (although I have my suspicions on whether he is a valuable contributing member or merely an asset)
And, perhaps most interestingly - Franka and Alice Longbottom

Regarding the Wireless broadcast, Pettigrew confirmed that he named members responsible, however the speakers would switch out. Given the list, I am leaning towards Marlene McKinnon being heavily involved given her position with the WWN. However, I will leave that up to your wise discretion.

While Mr Pettigrew proved most forthcoming, he is still hesitant about his new position. I believe it would not be wise to press him again so soon. Allow him a moment to believe we have all we need and come back to him when he isn't as guarded as he likely is now. I believe he will prove a most useful asset in the future, provided he's dealt with carefully.

If there is anything else you wish from me then do let me know and I will endeavor towards it.

How terrible it is where we now live in a world where no one is safe. Where infants are stolen from their beds and left in hospitals, and the elderly are killed so mercilessly. Lawlessness runs amok, from the brutality of the Death Eaters to the open defiances of the law from the Order. We should all take a moment and remember that the law is here for a reason. The law is here to protect us and defend us and keep us safe. Acting outside the law is where we get death and destruction. I do not know if these vigilantes are responsible for death at this time, but if they are willing to break the law so vehemently then I suppose it is not long until they are responsible for murders of their own all in the name of justice. Poor justice. The term is so abused. The only true justice comes from the law. All other justices are just slaves to those who weild that word without meaning and thus it becomes sadly meaningless.

Warded to Xander

Thursday. We are going to practise proper disposing of a body so that it is not found by the DMLE. Elliot excelled in this area of study so if you need to ask his opinions and study before Thursday you are free to do so. Before the actual lesson you will be allowed to pick out, capture and kill the Muggle. Is there a spell you are wanting to try?

Warded to Regulus

Your school year is almost done and with the end of Hogwarts schooling will bring the begining of your schooling the the Dark ranks. I would like you to begin composing a list of things you are most interested in learning and I will ensure those studies are added to my usual teaching regime. Meanwhile, in your last days of school, keep your nose clean and yourself out of trouble and suspision. No need to make you a target before you can properly learn.

There are so many conflicting emotions surrounding the recent arrest. I am, of course, overjoyed at the capture of a man who would kill those helpless to defend themselves. But we must not lose sight that he leaves behind a family. A small child with a gift for art, a wife. And while his existence in this life is marred by the evil he committed, there are those who will mourn the loss of him. My heart goes out to his wife and his children, having to deal with not only the loss of a husband and father but with the knowledge of why they lost him.

However, with one Death Eater in prison and another to hopefully follow, it is with optimism in which I look to the future. Surely this is the start to many more to come! And while I do look forward to a time of peace, it is with a saddened soul that I acknowledge how high the price will be to obtain it. The families who will be, and have been, torn apart, and those who have laid down, and will continue to lay down, their lives.

WARDED TO TEAM AVERY

As Benedict has reminded you all, there will be no failure from us. That being said, I would like to work with each of you on training in light of the recent failures to ensure none of you have become lazy or complacent as of late. Elliot, we will resume or normal schedule. As for the rest of you: one day a week will be sufficient. Choose a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Sunday. First come first serve on preferred day of the week so your prompt response is not only demanded, but encouraged.

You are also, in your response, to tell me what area you feel as if you are weakest in that would benefit from a more intensive training. Continued failure will not be tolerated.

WARDED TO DEATH EATERS

So our own Elliot shared some interesting information with me at our training session last night which I am passion on. It turns out the poor Minister has been committed to St. Mungo's under Auror surveillance. How dreadful for him. Unfortunately, we cannot allow Mungo's to examine him for long and we still have the Dark Lord's orders to adhere too.

I do believe I feel a cough coming on. I best see a Healer tomorrow before it grows worse.

I am horrified and aghast at the displays from a man that is supposed to be the symbolic representation of the UK magical community. A man I once respected for being politically shrewd and fair has shown his true colours and incompetence for a sacred position, especially in these trying times. We need an individual who can handle the trials and tribulations without crumbling under the metaphorical dust the woes that are befalling us create. Not a man sick with vices he is unable to control. My heart breaks for us.

WARDED TO ELLIOT

You did very well tonight, Elliot! Simple, clean, effective. I am very impressed with your progress. Given the success we had in Waterford perhaps we can embark on something a bit more interesting for our next outing. Go and enjoy the rest of your St. Patrick's Day, my boy. You have well earned it.

The beautiful thing about the journals is, yes, our ability to express our opinions and our thoughts. It's an uplifting sense of freedom! But with such freedom comes a responsibility: You have the right to your opinion, but you have a responsibility to be respectful about it. We have to recognise that the person reading your opinion is just as entitled to their own often differing opinion and that if you are not respectful towards them than they have no business being respectful of you. Opinions are a very tricky thing, and if not handled appropriately you will quickly find that if you have neglected your responsibility of respect than your right to your own opinion will be invalid in the eyes of many. What is the use of having an opinion and voicing it if no one reads it or listens?

That said, I certainly expected better of all of you. For months all I have been reading is complaint after complaint. "Why isn't the Ministry doing more," "Why hasn't the DMLE done anything," "Why are they letting the Death Eaters keep killing and attacking," "Why, why, why!" And, frankly, I am more than tired of the overwhelming selfishness and lack of respect towards not only each other but the government in general.

I know a good many fine ladies and gentleman in the DMLE, upstanding people who sacrifice days, nights, weekends, holidays, personal vacation time, sick time and above all their lives in order to do everything in their power to try and keep you safe. It is a thankless job. Yes, horrible things ARE happening. But without them I guarantee that you cannot comprehend how much worse things would be. They have been given the grave responsibility of handling a very corruptible type of magic. Magic that people such as you and I have no business learning or wielding. But they have to. I have heard complaints such as "If they can land an Killing Curse then they can land an Expelliarmus" and to that I say you are foolish. The reason these magics are so dangerous is their extreme difficulty - and in some cases impossibility - to block or dodge. I doubt anyone in the DMLE is excited to wield this power, but they will because they must fight fire with fire. So instead of fighting them and calling for their heads I would pause and say a prayer for the preservation of their souls, souls which they are sacrificing in order to continue to protect you. To do so better.

I also know some of the tireless people in our fine Minister's office. Individuals who are charged with fighting these Death Eaters in an entirely different but still exceedingly important way than our DMLE. One of these options is a curfew. This curfew is not here so that you can be inconvenienced, so that they keep you from going to pubs and visiting friends and shopping. It is here to keep you alive. It is lives like yours and mine they are trying to protect. Because if there is a curfew then chances are the people breaking it our up to unsavoury activities and it will help keep our villages and towns safer. Is this forever? Doubtful. But it is for now. And instead of throwing a tantrum we can do our civic duty and actually pitch in and lend our good servicemen our help by not making things difficult for them.

This is not a disagreement. This is not a skirmish. This is not even an unrest. This is a war. And it should be a war of us against the Death Eaters. Not Us against Each Other! So we have to learn how to swallow our prides, how to be respectful with our opinions and - most importantly - how to support the people laying down their lives, their souls, and their sanity for you. It is above importance now, more than ever, for us to stand together. Because if we do not then we most assuredly will die alone.

WARDED TO DEATH EATERS

The Order of the Phoenix has interfered with the explosion in Tinworth. I suspect they may be monitoring magically populated areas. I was preparing to cause the scheduled explosion when two came upon me (a boy with bright red hair and freckles and a girl with blonde hair and glasses - both were young, though the girl was practically a child) and declared for me to "prepare for trouble" because they were "the order" and were there to "fight evil and right wrong" which meant me, apparently. The boy was knocked out and the girl was dealt with. If she lives I will be most surprised. However the boy woke before I could finish her off and I left before more undue attention was drawn.

WARDED TO CHARLEMAGNE

My back is burned. Nothing dramatic but it needs to be seen to. Are you available?

Queer sight today. I was on my way back from lunch when I passed a stuffed lion in the halls dragging a steak. At first I thought I was perhaps going a bit senile in my advancing age since - unless I am mistaken - stuffed animals do not have a digestive track. However the little thing seemed quite determined. So I put a feather charm on the steak for him and he pranced happily along down the halls as if he had just killed an elephant on the Serengeti all on his own.

The Ministry can be quite an amusing place, even amidst such serious times.

With the trial fast approaching, I find myself led to wonder about the mob mentality movement of believing someone is guilty for the same reason that the public will watch a burning building without lifting a wand to help. It is a terrible thing, to be sure. This is the life of a man at stake. A man who is a brother, a son, a Healer and a beacon of hope to many of the less fortunate in a time when so few people think of helping others. I do not know the accused well, or at all, really, but I have heard of his work and I have admired the things he has done. If he is a Death Eater it does not negate the positive he has done in his life. It does not make those orphans in Cameroon any less grateful for the assistance he has given. It does not make the lives he has saved any less prevalent.

Is Mr Savage a Death Eater? Did he murder the fine Mr and Mrs Gamp? Well, I don't know. That is not a decision I am equipped to make. I do not know the evidence, and I do not have the training. Neither do most of you. I am appalled to see so many of you fine people playing judge, jury and executioner. So eager to send to a life imprisonment within Azkaban. Who has given you that divine knowledge of what is guilty and what is innocent? I do not envy the fine men and women of the Wizengamot for having that fate in their hands. For having to look a man in the eyes and decide if he is worthy of life, or if he has abused the privilege of freedom.

What if - what IF - our Mr Savage was indeed framed, as others have suggested. What if he was at the wrong place at the wrong time? Are any of you comfortable with cheering on the sentencing of an innocent? Are any of you prepared to have the blood on your hands of a proverbial Muggle Witch Hunt? Where anyone can point a finger at someone and claim "They are a Death Eater!" and fear mongering overtakes us past the point of human decency? I am not prepared for that. I will not sit and watch and hope for the ending of a life.

Because, even if Mr Savage is what he is being accused of. Even if he is capable of those atrocities. I am not. I am not willing to lose my humanity in an effort to see someone else be stripped of theirs. And I would hope none of you would be either.

To the fine men and women of the Wizengamot, I wish you wisdom in the tough decisions you will face, and I offer you my condolences for having to make them.

My heart is saddened by the events which began this New Year. It was my hope that 1979 would be a beacon of hope to the darkness of 1978. My heart and best wishes go out to the people of Tinworth in this difficult time.

WARDED TO DEATH EATERS

I believe it is high time we started forming a list of potential vigilantes, as there is little doubt in my mind that is who was fighting us. The woman I fought knew what she was doing, but was not DMLE as far as I could tell. It might help if everyone who went to Tinworth could give a description of who they fought against. From there we can make a list of suspects and watch them. Some of you have replied to Benedict with descriptions and I have included them. Elaborate if you are able.

• Augustus - Woman. Dark skinned. She wore a hat so her hair colour was not ascertainable. It appeared straight from what did escape the cap, however. Age was not apparent, however she was both experienced and quick so I would assume she was neither very young nor was she an older woman. Average sized. Nothing overly distinguishable. She was found of projectiles. Snowballs and Christmas decorations, notably. Her slicing hexes were very strong.
• Benedict - Male.
• Evan -
• Rodolphus -
• Alexander -
• Alecto - Woman. Average height. Dark blonde hair. Skilled dueler.
• Gareth - Woman. Young. Short brown hair. Blue cloak with fur lined hood.
• Walden - Male. Idiot. Awful hair. Skilled but not overly.
• Charlemagne -
• Severus -
• Lucius -
• Bellatrix - Woman. Wore a mask. Features unfamiliar when unmasked (perhaps glamoured). Voice familiar. Mid-20s. Skills unknown, not DMLE.

WARDED TO CHARLEMAGNE

Assault against a superior is serious.

Explain.

WARDED TO MACKENZIE

My dear, are you quite alright? You left in such a hurry. I assumed you were concerned about Mary. If anything is the matter please let me know.

WARDED TO TEAM AVERY

Mackenzie MacDonald is under the Imperius. Unfortunately she is rather good at throwing it off and I doubt it will last much longer. Whatever anyone might need of her, speak now.

I am so pleased at all of the positive reactions and encouragement for Muggleborn week! It certainly says something that the majority of the Wizarding world is made up of Halfbloods. Those of us with ancestry both in the waters of magic and in muggle. The juxtaposition of these two weeks of celebration of the culture of those who come from purely magical and purely muggle backgrounds is both informative and much needed. I hope we absorb the knowledge that comes from these celebrations of heritage on both sides so that we as a society can come together and better understand each other. Only then can we lay down our weapons of war and embrace each other as kin.

WARDED TO TEAM AVERY (BENEDICT, AUGUSTUS, CHARLEMAGNE, WALDEN, DEMETRIUS, ELLIOT)

Gentleman. I am disappointed that in the days following the announcement of our Lord I have heard and seen none of your handiwork. I would think you would all be more proficient then to need encouragement and more direction, but apparently not. Therefore Benedict and I have discussed a way to ensure your complete focus to Our Lord's task.

A game.

The Imperius Challenge

1. Each of you must choose one person to Imperius into doing Our Lord's bidding.
2. You will have until before Christmas to complete your assignment
3. Your Imperius' will be graded on three criteria:
• Importance of your victim to our Lord's cause (on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being a cafeteria girl and 10 being Head of the DMLE)
• Difficulty of your victim to obtain and hold an Imperius on (1 being a child and 10 being Alastor Moody)
• Strength of your Imperius (1 being as if a Muggleborn attempted it and 10 being as if it were the Dark Lord himself. None of you will receive a 10. However that is no excuse not to aim for a 9)
4. The winner will be given a most generous honour while those of you who do not win will have to suffer in equal humiliation: The winner will demonstrate his Imperius on each of you so that you may better understand the effort you should be putting forth to our cause

Is this all clear? If I do not hear confirmation in the affirmative from all of you I will immediately begin assigning penalty points. If you are caught or fail to perform an Imperius it is an immediate forfeit and you will be dealt with with more than an Imperius.

Best of luck, gentleman.

Chin up, all of you. We had that excellent peace rally and now? Nothing except hatred and offensive dialogue on both sides. Unacceptable! We should be uniting in our displeasure at the state of the Ministry: not at our displeasure in our fellow man. I expect better of all of you.

WARDED TO MISSION KEVIN (Augustus, Lucius, Evan + Benedict and Demetrius)

Gentleman. Tomorrow's mission is straightforward and I want to keep it that way. So let's make sure we have our plan down.

Benedict: If you could keep him until around 8 it should give us sufficient time.
Demetrius: We need sound proof wards along the office that would be ideal. Don't want any late workers hearing him if he puts up a fight.

Lucius: When he's in our sights and vulnerable do the actual grabbing.
Evan: Keep watch. If he gets away from Lucius make sure he doesn't get far.

I'll have the rear guard and keep an eye out for Aurors.

If for whatever reason there needs to be a retreat, unlikely given the nature of this mission, I will send up sparks. Get out immediately at the signal.

Any questions?

WARDED TO MAC

I just read the most interesting journal from a Mr. Gudgeon that was warded to all men.