Severus Snape

I suppose congratulations are not the appropriate sentiment, given the reality of the situation, but as I cannot think of a more suitable method of honouring the work you have done, they will need do. I had not thought the Dark Lord would accept you so young, but your showing has been strong enough it is clear He would be a fool to delay your initiation.

I do hope your mother does not prove too insufferable.

You are not in need of the same instruction as I have been providing Draco, and you have clearly developed a number of mechanisms throughout the years for maintaining your inner landscape in the face of extreme provocation, but should the strain of your rôle become too much for you, I will offer the same bargain I offered him: a listening ear and inviolable secrecy should you need to unburden yourself, an additional mind in organising your plots to the goal of making them as airtight as possible, an extra wand wherever it might do good, and any other assistance I might provide, in any way.

I will not press that assistance upon you, but it will always be there for the taking. I regret I will no longer be at Hogwarts to offer that assistance more regularly, but you have but to say the word.

I was exceptionally pleased to learn you were able to free yourself of the malign influence of living with one of Voldemort's horcruxes for so long. Though I have not ever had the dubious pleasure of experiencing such influence myself and therefore can only speculate as to what you must feel at the moment, I have sufficient experience with Dark objects that the speculation is, I fancy, rather more informed than others' might be.

It is a credit to your strength that you were able to find the will to destroy it. I hope that you have received sufficient support from Albus -- or from Miss Lestrange, come to think of it -- in the aftermath.

I regret that the consequences of my having discarded my cover identity will include no longer having opportunity to work with you, and the others of your cohort, throughout the coming academic year. Should you be interested in continuing our lessons over the summer, I would be pleased to do so; now that I will no longer be stretched so thinly, I will have leeway to impart considerably more theory alongside the pressures of necessary production, once the immediate aftermath of this last week's events has faded somewhat.

Draco is talking again, at least to me. He is, as expected, doing poorly; his sense of self-worth has been tied up in his ability to be of use for quite some time, and that ability to be of use is now being threatened.

I have done what I might to convince him that his life is not over, but — a task for him in the next few days might help, more than any amount of verbal reassurance. Something to show him that the Order did not only value him for what he can no longer provide.

Harry: Draco and Hermione are safe, have had their wounds treated, and will be given whatever they need to recover from today's ordeal.

You must disavow Hermione entirely. Play stupid about her wand and her lessons: you lent her labour frequently to "Milland" to assist in keeping the castle clean, since you did not have enough work to keep her occupied yourself, and you had no idea Milland was a wanted fugitive in disguise. You are horrified by the idea that she was learning magic, glad that the deception has been revealed despite the means by which it was, and are upset by the thought that she has had a wand the whole time and could have done you harm.

Do not, for the moment, say anything about Draco's involvement: as far as you are concerned, Draco is loyal to the Protectorate, treated Hermione precisely as the listener would expect him to treat a 'mudblood', and you cannot imagine Nott's evidence is anything other than an attempt to frame Draco for treason to remove him from the competition.

I have written to Lucius Malfoy to let him know Draco is alive and well, and done so in such a fashion as to make him think I have kidnapped Draco at wandpoint. This will buy us time while we see what additional evidence Nott had, and what his father knows. It may very well be that Draco is thoroughly compromised and cannot be redeemed; it may very well be that Draco does not wish to return to the school and would prefer to join in more decisive action against the Dark Lord. Either way, tonight is not the time to make those decisions, and my message should at least provide us time to make them in less haste.

I am sorry for today's trials, and that I am no longer there to help you through them. If you can, find one of the girls and have them sit with you in the common room for now; you ought not be alone.

clear from fight with AD but PJ wore off

draco where are you we must retreat NOW

To ensure everyone sees this:

Hogwarts' Floos are disabled. Bellatrix and Nott are present in the castle. Draco and Hermione are under questioning.

All of you: Prepare for evacuation, but do not act precipitously. With the Floos disabled, you will need to place yourself within range of one of the tunnels outside the castle. If I or anyone gives the signal, get out as quickly as you can, without stopping for any reason at all.

Miss Granger: I have notes on my latest iterations of the Anti-Sleeper potion research for you to collate, and another test draught for you to analyse. For proper experimental rigour, perform your own analysis before reading mine; as of yet I have not been able to achieve consistent results in my own analysis of this batch, and I would like you to perform the standard battery at least thrice on each numbered candidate before you look at my results, to see whether you have the same difficulty.

Miss Parkinson: Moddey's store of several basic remedies are running exceptionally low, and now that Mr Boot has left us, I have been falling quite behind on the medicinals in favour of research brewing instead. Kindly concentrate your brewing time this week on Pepper-Up and Blood-Replenishing Potion. If you are able to finish a crate of each, move on to preparing the thaumically inert ingredients for Skele-Gro and Dreamless Sleep. Do not prepare the thaumically active ingredients: there are several tricks I have not yet taught you that work with my modifications to the textbook reciept.

I believe I can say, without violating any confidences I have vowed to keep, that the core issue behind Draco's upset today is that he has taken Mr Weasley's actions, and Miss Parkinson's and Miss Perks's failure to inform him of those plans, as a sign that Draco is not trusted to keep Order confidences or to keep other Order members safe in a situation where that goal comes into conflict with his other necessities. There is also likely the subtext of his resentment of the cliques that have formed among the children, and the fact that Mr Weasley, Miss Parkinson, and Miss Perks thought nothing of informing each other while failing to inform the remainder of their cohort.

You have likely divined as much, but I present you that information anyway.

The first is a perception that cannot be addressed directly. However, as a precaution to avoid future mistakes touching upon the second I propose a change of procedure: from now until the end of this 'contest', you ought require each of the children to update you, me, and each other of their assigned task and their plans to complete it.

To avoid the issue of too many duellists interfering with the hex, I advise you instruct the other Order members against opining on those plans, much as we all pretend we do not read the posts the children make requesting no adult involvement.

Black: So that you are aware for future reference — and to prevent future disasters much like the disaster avoided this morning — the ingredient dumped into Miss Turpin's cauldron to circumvent the chain-storm before it could take hold was cascarilla bark. I learnt exceptionally quickly during my abortive foray into teaching that keeping a good quantity of diced cascarilla bark on hand and easily reachable was vital whenever the students were brewing anything with mint and mandrake leaf, as inevitably someone will mismeasure the mandrake or stir improperly.

The use of cascarilla bark to break the chaining before it proceeds to explosion is not a well known remedy, but cascarilla's low specific thaumaticity makes it suitable for deployment to avert nearly every emergency in the brewing of that genus of potions. It works significantly better than the commonly-accepted method of vanishing the cauldron, and saves the cauldron as well.

If you inform me of your planned curriculum for the next several months I shall provide you with a list of the most likely disasters each will entail, and what measures a responsible teacher ought to be prepared to take to avert each disaster. It is incumbent upon the teacher of potions to be ready to prevent such significant mistakes at a moment's notice lest they spiral out of control; had Miss Turpin's cauldron been allowed to proceed in its reaction we would have lost the building at minimum, and likely the majority of its occupants.

Alice: As I spent the early morning going through the last of Stephen's papers, I will take this opportunity to write you as well: Do not let me forget to discuss the state of the Sleeper research with you. If I am to spend the summer engaged in attempting to move it forward — which I believe I may be prepared to do — we ought to discuss the question of human trials now, to allow time to address the logistics.

I must inform you — and I have chosen to do so privately so you may decide whom to inform and under what circumstances — that I do not believe there is a way to free Minerva of the geas upon her. Or if there is, it is well hidden enough that stumbling upon it will be a happy accident and not something we might hope for.

I am limited, of course, in that I cannot study the artefact directly, nor can I speak with her about anything other than Milland's duties in any manner other than circumspectly, lest I risk her. (And here, I fear, is where her knowledge of me is a detriment; she knows full well that nothing I say or do has a single purpose, and so I am even more limited in what I dare.) I have endeavoured, in our weekly meetings about the state of the castle, to communicate that matters are being handled as well as we can. Though I cannot be certain, I believe she finds the notion reassuring, cold comfort though it might be.

I will keep working at the problem, though I am not hopeful.

Meanwhile, I am not at all certain when what feels like the entire cohort of Order children at Hogwarts collectively decided that I am to be their agony aunt, but I am certain that Lily someone is laughing at me because of it. I shall take you at your prior word that I may make myself free of Moddey, and unless you object, will plan to spend at least some of the Easter holidays. If you have ever cared a whit for me you will ensure the laboratory is free of anyone under the age of twenty.