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[alt_poppy]

Oh, for Mercy's sake! Will this inspection never end?

Do you know what they're most concerned about? That I haven't enough supplies to treat truly dire injuries. Not enough Skele-Gro. Not enough blood replenishing potion. Not enough Magistery of Bezoar. Not enough Cinnabaris Vitalis. (And whose fault is it I haven't got the dragon's blood I need to make it?) Oh. And my cupboards were found inexcusably lacking even a single pot of Ward's Fistula Paste. Imagine.

Alice, Frank. It seems ages since I was there. As soon as the inspection team leaves tonight, I will send off that parcel for you. I've managed to find half a dozen pairs of spectacles you might try with Felicia Saint. If none of them works sufficiently well at improving her ability to read the fourth line on the chart (remember to use the charm so she doesn't simply memorise what it's supposed to say!), then she'll need to wait until I'm able to come again and transfigure the curvature of the lens to address her particular deficiency. That's a bit of a delicate procedure, I'm afraid.

Would you offer my apologies to the Lees? I'm afraid I was rather sharp with them for having confused which of their twins is which. If I were to hazard a guess, it would be that the one they're now calling James Xiabo is the one endowed with magic. But, really, only time will tell at this point.

Do let me know how the Christiansen boy does with the potion I left for him. I should like to see him grow a bit more sturdy. I will worry for him this winter: he'll be vulnerable to every fever and flu, and a chest cold could well carry him off.

I must go. My task masters are back from their excursion down to Horace Slughorn's storeroom. I had hoped he might distract them a while longer.

Comments

[alt_alice]

Thank you for the update, Poppy. It looks like you were certainly up to your neck in administration yesterday -- are you going to the game today? What sort of security measures are in place, from what you can see?

We'll try out the glasses -- Felicia is so eager to please that I'm worried she'll tell us a set works just to make us happy, but we'll be sure to check with the chart until we've got something that we can all be satisfied with.

Will is responding well enough -- he makes such a face when he takes it, but he doesn't spit any of it back up, and he's been taking in more formula as well.

The Lees don't take offence at much, so you oughtn't worry. I think a proper solution would be a christening, don't you? Although, would it be the same for the muggle twin? I suppose people regularly christen Squibs before they're known to be so, I can't imagine it would hurt the muggle twin any. It might be interesting to see, and I know they'd be intrigued by the whole ceremony. Barring that, we can just use wristbands or something.

[alt_poppy]

Pomona and I arrived this morning via Portkey along with Horace Slughorn, Cordelia Carpenter, and a number of people from Hogsmeade--Rosmerta, for one. There were several Portkey times for our area. Hooch and Acton are coming later. Brutka, too. Apparating, possibly. I'm not certain.

Security is stringent, but that's no surprise. As soon as we arrived, they herded us into a queue, relieved us of our wands, and passed us through a stone archway that turned out to be infused with some sort of disillusionment charm. In our group it did nothing more dramatic than ruin a few hairdressing and cosmetic enhancements. Rosmerta was a bit fussed about the fact that it took the sparkle out of her robes.

They're checking the contents of everyone's satchels and inspecting wands. We did have one of our group questioned about why his wand showed signs of having been used by someone other than himself: he was able to point to his four-year-old daughter and persuaded the officer that it was simply a matter of child's play.

We've been hearing rumours, since we got through into the grounds, that they have caught a number of people using polyjuice or glamours as disguises, and that they found some potentially dangerous devices hidden in rucksacks or concealed under clothing. A number of arrests have been made, apparently, but from what I can see, they are mostly trying to put a smiling face forward.

[alt_alice]

I wonder, I really do, whether they've simply used this as a chance to sweep up people they've been keeping their eyes on -- using excuses like "Oh, someone else recently used your wand," and just whisking them away.

It makes me nervous.

Is Remus staying back? I hope he does.

And Sirius, love, you'd better stay away too.