Order Only: Ginny

[alt_charlie]

This one's for the Hogwarts crew, if you lot have a few minutes.

I've invited Ginny up to the reserve over Easter hols, both because she said something in passing about feeling a bit left out for never having been invited up except with the whole family and because I want to try to get a bit more of an idea what's going on in her head. I'm not planning on telling her any of the big secrets, or even hinting at the fact the Order exists or anything, but I'd really like to get a better sense of how she might react if the worst happened and she wound up overhearing something she shouldn't, for instance.

Do any of you have any reasons why you don't think she'd be trustworthy? I know there's been some issues in the past with her not being as careful as she might, and that's definitely something to keep in mind, but has she said or done anything recently where any of you lot could see that made you think she has (or hasn't) bought in to the Protectorate's garbage? You all see her so much more than I do, and I'd like to know anything you think might be useful, whether it's big or tiny. (You can write me privately if you're more comfortable that way. I won't share it.)

Oh, and Alice -- whichever week Ginny's not visiting is when I'll be going back to have it out with the centaurs again. I'll let you know when that is. I want to steal Ragnik and bring him with me, if Melli can spare him for the day. Maybe showing them proof that we're putting our money where our mouths are on the interspecies cooperation idea will sway them a bit. (Of course, that's assuming Ragnik isn't going to tell them how miserable it is working with us, but last time I talked with him, Griphook said Ragnik's doing fine._

Comments

Private message to Tonks

[alt_charlie]

And let me put in my claim on you for one of those days somewhere in here somewhere. We still have a date for a nap.

[alt_sally_anne]

She's been a lot better this year. We gave her a galleon. And she's the one who had the copy of 'Pure Hunger' we read aloud.

I mean, I think if she DID find out....she might be completely horrified but she wouldn't run to MLE because that would mean betraying her family (other than Percy). You know? She might not fancy risking her life to protect muggles, but she'd risk her life to protect her brothers.

[alt_charlie]

Yeah. That's what I'm hoping.

The thing I'm worried about is how -- you know when EVERYBODY but one person knows a secret, and even if there was a good reason for that person not to know the secret, when you are ready to tell them about it you have to do it really carefully so they don't wind up wanting to do something horrible with the secret just out of spite because they feel betrayed that you didn't think they were trustworthy?

Yeah. That's the thing I'm worried about.

Private message to Charlie

[alt_sally_anne]

Well, hopefully no one will say anything DAFT about her where she can see it.

It would be worse if she were, oh, Harry's girlfriend or Draco's or Justin's, you know? Draco could understand why no one told him sooner, but it made him really cross with Pansy. It made him feel like he never REALLY knew her.

Anyway when Pansy found out she went and read and one thing she told me later was that she was glad that I had NEVER said anything unkind about her. But, you know: I knew that eventually I'd be able to convince the others and we'd let her on the lock. So I was always careful what I said, because I KNEW eventually she'd be reading it.

Just how awkward did some of you feel when Draco joined the Order?

Re: Private message to Charlie

[alt_charlie]

Oh, Merlin, 'awkward' isn't the right word for it. I'd just spent a lot of ink carefully explaining to Alice why I thought it was a bad idea to invite Malfoy and Lestrange to join us when, surprise! Thanks, Professor Dumbledore! I'd say I hope he hadn't read back, except, come on, I know you all did. (I'd say I should write to him and apologise for getting it wrong, except somehow I don't think that would go over all that well either.)

But, yeah. I don't think she'd run off and rat us out either, but I can imagine how Malfoy must have felt finding out that Pansy had this whole secret life he didn't know about, and that's kind of what I mean.

(And don't think I didn't notice you calling me daft, there. But if and when we are ready to tell her, I'll tell her all of this to her face anyway. And if she's ready to know the rest of it, she'll understand.)

Re: Private message to Charlie

[alt_sally_anne]

I wasn't calling you daft! I was just worrying that other people might say something daft, and of course if you swear her in properly she'll be able to read everything we say here.

Anyway she won't mind terribly if people say unkind things about what she was like before last year; she had some cursed tiara that made her hate her family, she told me a bit about it when we went shopping in August. Just people should be careful what they say about her NOW.

Re: Private message to Charlie

[alt_sally_anne]

Oh, and of course we all read back. So Hydra got to see that Sirius thought she was a spy for Bellatrix -- she's used to that, though. And Draco got to see that everyone hated his father. Which shouldn't have been a surprise to him, honestly, but it's different seeing it all spelled out.

[alt_ron]

As far as I'm concerned, I think we should tell her about the Order straight out and invite her in. She's ready for that.

[alt_evelyn]

I agree. Especially after this past year.

I think it might be difficult for her to keep the Order a secret from Honoria, but not because she can't keep secrets, only because it would be difficult for anybody, if that makes sense.

But we've had some conversations at Galleon meetings and the like, and I think that even if she weren't a Weasley, she'd be someone I'd consider.

[alt_sally_anne]

Well one of their reasons for wanting to hold off with us last year was that they didn't want to distract us with years' worth of fascinating secret journal entries when most of us were supposed to be revising for OWLs.

Now Ginny's revising for OWLs. I mean, I wish I could say it didn't matter for me, but I got an A in History of Magic; I could have easily got an E if I'd spent any time at all revising for it. (But, it was History of Magic so no one living cares. Fortunately.)

[alt_gredforge]

We think so, too.

Private message to Ron Weasley

[alt_bill]

There is much to be said for bringing her in under the umbrella of Order safety, and I think you and your friends' opinions should have the most weight, given that you interact with her the most frequently. Not sure if Mum will agree, but I'll work on bringing her around.

Do you think she can help you with whatever Order projects you have going on at Hogwarts? She's a great flyer, and we always need those.

Private Message to Charlie

[alt_ron]

I don't know what Sally Anne's telling you, but I think she'd say the same. She's spent some time with Ginny. A little.

I've spent loads more time with her this year than for a long time.

I don't want Mum to hear it this way--or from me, at all, really--but Ginny's had some things happen that weren't her fault at all. Ugh. Okay, that sounds like something else than it is. Sorry. It was a curse, not-

There was a cursed object, a tiara, that she got hold of or it got hold of her after she got to school, and she had it until last year when Umbridge-

She doesn't have it anymore, though. And it's made everything different. It was doing really horrible things to her and making her think, well. It made her think the rest of us were embarrassing and ridiculous, and that she could be everything and have everything she wanted if it just weren't for the stupid lot of us pulling her down.

But you know, she was never like that before she came to school. Not at all. And now when she talks about it, she says she can remember what the curse made her feel like, but those things she thought and said don't make any sense to her any more, now that the thing's gone.

And, y'know, I sort of think she understands things more than she would if none of it had happened to her. I mean, she had all those thoughts about how things would be better if she wasn't one of us. D'you remember when she wanted to be called Ginny W--just W, not Weasley? So, yeah, the tiara made her really open to the sort of things the Protectorate wants people to think and run after, but she fought it, even when it was strongest. So, y'know, she's thought about all of those things, and she doesn't want them. She got there a different way than I did, but she's as ready as I was. I know it.

Well, okay. I believe it.

And it's worth trying even if we have to Obliviate her. If we get a good chance to tell her over hols, I don't think we should wait. Summer's the latest I'd put it off.

Re: Private Message to Charlie

[alt_charlie]

I heard a bit of that, yeah. Sally-Anne was just telling me the rest. I didn't know the details, but it explains a lot.

And, yeah, if that's true, the fact that she still didn't go totally round the twist while she had the thing makes me a lot more willing to believe in her.

[alt_alice]

Yes, I'm sure Melli would be fine with letting him go for a day. As long as neither party will be overly offended at having to interact with one another on principle, I think it's a lovely idea.

From what I've been told, he's been doing some fascinating work lately that experiments with incorporating stone and metal -- I'm not sure whether it'll come to anything, but it's certainly interesting to think about.

And yes, I fully support testing the waters with Ginny over hols. Thank you for taking that on, Charlie.

[alt_charlie]

Great. I'll stop in some time between then and now and have a word with him, then.

Okay, and cuddle the babies.

[alt_alice]

You're more than welcome to them.

Private message to Charlie

[alt_molly]

Honestly, I'm torn. But it's clear that ignorance won't protect her.

I wish I could--I don't know. Abstain from the vote. Wrap her in cotton wadding forever. Have her growing up somewhere other than this terrible Protectorate.

It's nonsensical, because you're all my children.

But she's my baby.

Except don't you dare go telling her I said that.

Re: Private message to Charlie

[alt_charlie]

I know what you mean, Mum. It's all right, you don't have to try to explain it more than that. And no, I won't say anything to anybody, especially to her.

But -- oh, it's horrible of me to say this. And I don't mean it the way it might sound. But you have to stop trying to protect all of us so much like this. We're your children, yes, and we all know that you love us, and we all know how much you love us, and we love you too. But you raised us to be the sort of people who look at this sort of thing and know that it's our fight too. And when you try to protect us by keeping us out of that fight, you're saying we aren't supposed to be that kind of people.

If we all try to always stay safe, and we all try to keep all the people that we love safe forever, we aren't ever going to get anywhere.

And I don't want to live in this world forever, even if that means I'm less safe. I want to be doing something to make the world I live in less horrible. You and Dad raised me to be the kind of person who would.

Re: Private message to Charlie

[alt_molly]

Believe it or not, I do know that, Charlie. Your father always used to say that being a parent is a rather unique sort of job, because if you've done it right, eventually you don't feel quite so needed anymore. Which is not to mean to say that I won't always feel a connection with you all, as you leave home, but sometimes it's difficult when a Mum realises that the children she has spent years protecting and loving are willingly stepping into danger.

I wonder if it might have been easier for me to do if Arthur had lived. He was always the one who was so firm about reminding me of the necessity of allowing you all to stand on your own two feet. And then to get on the broom and fly.

Yet, losing him makes my fears worse, I suppose. I loved him and I lost him, and it all but gutted me. The thought of losing any of you just seems unbearable.

But I am trying. I even try to think of it as my way of honouring Arthur, and his hopes and wishes for all of you. He would have been very happy to see Ginny join the Order.