Order Only: Private message to Tonks

[alt_charlie]

It's actually quiet over here -- touch wood and Felix have mercy that I haven't just jinxed us -- and all the factions I'm talking with have gone off to think for a bit, so unless Alice wants me to eat some gillyweed and go play nice with the Merfolk, I think I can actually wrangle twelve whole glorious hours with nothing to do on Thursday or Friday.

Got anything on your plate you need someone to tag along behind you and look big and dumb for? Or we could go Octoboros-hunting some more. Or we could just hole up somewhere and nap on each other and snog for a while. I'll rub your feet if you dig your elbows into those muscles in my shoulders, they're not speaking to me again and you're better at fixing it than anybody I know.

Comments

[alt_nymphadora]

Is it the Goblins who've got so many factions--or the Centaurs? Or have you started up with the Werewolves?

[alt_charlie]

Oh, Merlin, if Alice added the werewolves in on the list I'd have to give up sleeping until Easter. No, when we're ready to approach the werewolves I'll be picking Remus's brain first. Right now it's the goblins for the Gringotts connection and the centaurs in hopes we can negotiate better access to the Forest for wand material.

The goblins are the ones with all the clans. I'm starting to get the hang of which clans are allied to which and who you just don't mention to who, but oh, if you thought memorising Binns' litany of the commanders of the Goblin Wars was tough, this is twice as bad. If you gave Binns the wrong answer, he wouldn't threaten to behead you. (No one has threatened to behead me yet. Well. Not exactly. There was a lot of heavy hinting at first.)

Still, I'm definitely getting somewhere with the goblins -- us offering to let one of them apprentice with Melli was huge, and I think I can build on that. I like most of the clan-leaders (ugh, words. clan-elders? clan-heads?) that I've met so far. And I think they like me, for a wizard. They at least appreciate that I've been exceptionally careful to make it clear that I'm not so much trying to figure out what they can do for us as trying to learn enough that I can be a good advocate for them later, you know?

The centaurs, on the other hand, are driving me spare. I might be this close to negotiating a treaty with them! I might be this close to having them throw me out and go running straight to Voldemort to betray me! I have no bloody, blinking clue! Getting a straight answer out of a centaur is harder than getting a straight answer out of Professor Dumbledore.