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Who: Tonks and Hermione
Where: The Island of Hoy safe house
When: 16 March, 2002 - afternoon
Status: Complete

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[protean_nymph]

Tonk did up the clasps on her coat with chilled fingers and looked at the small, shabby house. She knew that, like nearly all their safe houses, it was sturdier than it looked and the inside was far better than the outside. Even so, it wasn't anywhere she'd want to stay for too long

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Hermione nodded in agreement. She was glad to have Tonks, one of the more experienced out of the group at the present moment, working with her on this part of the plan.

It wasn't the wards to keep people out that they needed to be the strongest of all, but the one to keep Ron in. If the wolfsbane potion that they'd been working on since Ron returned wasn't exactly right, then it would have no effect. Rather than an ordinary wolf pacing the floorboards.... well Hermione didn't want to think of the alternative. She'd seen Professor Lupin change without his potion before. She didn't look forward to seeing that repeated.

Looking over at Tonks briefly, Hermione started to build on her spellcasting, weaving in a proximity spell around the existing wards that had worn down over the months.

It was like a tapestry.

"Tonks... " Hermione's voice only just barely raised above the wind. "Do you think we're making any progress...? The Order, I mean."

[protean_nymph]

Tonks liked working with wards, which was good since the Order certainly needed wards built, rebuilt, or taken down often enough. They made sense to her though, the way they surrounded an area, the way the different spells wove together, each part harmonizing with the others. There was something fulfilling about creating magic that would protect people

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Do you have any ideas?" Hermione focused on a thread of a spell that seemed to have come undone. It was like a tapestry of magic. Very few people knew this. She frowned and concentrated her magic a bit more.

She agreed with Tonks. But she didn't know what side to choose. On the one hand Hermione wanted to change the world... to make it safe for everyone. On the other hand, she didn't want to risk losing more than what they'd already lost. It was a thin line to walk.

They weren't organised. They weren't numerous. A number of them weren't even strong with their magic. The Order was a mere shadow of what it used to be and what it could have been.

"I want to strike them where it hurts." Hermione's tone shifted and turned a bit cold. "I just don't know how to do it."

[protean_nymph]

"I have a few ideas." She moved closer to the house, starting on the next layer of spells.

Actually, Tonks had more than a few ideas. It had started off as wild speculation, crazy ideas she'd discuss with Charlie over a late night drink, 'what if' scenarios she'd puzzle out as she checked wards or waited for news. The Order had other priorities, so she'd kept them to herself, but over time the ideas started to seem more reasonable, more like real possibilities.

"We can't all go storming off on some mad mission like the old days, leaving one person behind to hold down the fort. We do need to protect what we have now." They all deserved that much, deserved the time to keep rebuilding their lives. But also, if a mission went wrong now, that basic foundation would still be there, the entire Order wouldn't be lost. That was a luxury they'd never had before.

"If there were just a few people though, with nothing to lose?" She looked over at Hermione with a mischievous smile. "Then I'd say the first thing we need to do is make some noise."