Locked to Professor Snape

It's done.

Usual safehouse locks.

I've re-discovered that my life goes along much more smoothly when I don't try to involve myself in the world at large.
It's slightly less interesting as far as any of you know, but it's loads less stressful.

Private

There isn't a chance that He's powerful enough to take more than small pockets of Britian, and if that creates an unacceptable living environment, I can leave quickly and quietly to wait it out somewhere else. Not much of a point in sticking my neck out unless it's at wandpoint.
Even then, it would depend on exactly whose wand.

Locked to Remus Lupin

If I'm not mistaken which I rarely am, it's your birthday, yes?
Anything in particular you'd like smuggled past your post office screener?

Usual safehouse locks, excluding the Malfoys for good measure.

I cannot be the only person who has to ward off the giggles laughter every time I see the phrase "Special Auror Squad" printed in what's supposed to pass as a legitimate news publication.

Or, for that matter, used by what's supposed to pass as a legitimate governmental entity.

Usual Safehouse lock.

I've heard the most interesting rumour, though there's no way at present to verify as to its truth.

However, just in case it is, I'm going out for drinks this weekend.

Usual Safehouse Locks

Finally, something interesting that doesn't involve questionable death, corruption, or shades of grey legality.

Right, perhaps not the latter two.

Usual Safehouse locks.

That felt good.
Better, in fact, than anything I've done in ages.
She's lucky that I decided not to embed the remains of her dicta-quill somewhere on her person.

I wouldn't have thought I had the ability to pull that off without a wand.
Evidently my last nerve isn't very pretty.
Or subtle.

Despite the fact that it's very possible that I may be sacked over what happened, it would be more than worth it.

Private

Who would have thought that introducing my fist to Rita Skeeter's face could have possibly felt so good.
Nosy bitch had it coming.
With any luck she'll forget to disown her quill.
My hand hurts.

All I know about what's going on is that it's making me have to take the longest possible way in to work, the smoke gives me a constant dull headache, the noise is grating, the gossip even worse, and the 'guards' stare. I'm not entirely sure at what; they don't move much. Perhaps they're not real. Reminds me of those Muggle guards, only with outfits that are slightly less silly.


OOC: So many thanks to Ali for that offhanded suggestion of thwapping Skeeter; I haven't giggled this much in ages. RL is sucking pretty hard lately for me so...yeah...makes me glad Rita is NPC-ed around here 'cos you KNOW everyone wants to smack her around a bit.

Usual safehouse locks. To be safe, locked specifically against Bellatrix Lestrange and the Malfoys

Luna, thank you for that little pot of concealer.
It seems to work rather well, and it's nice to not see the head of that ridiculous looking snake peeking out at me from under the right cuff.
Bad enough that I can still dully feel it, but that's to be expected given the intent.
Sometime I'll have to show you exactly what I wanted to partially cover for the time being.
Would you like to keep the dog?

Charlie, it was good to see you again.

Locked to Charlie Weasley

I seem to be a bit scattered absent minded lately; whenever you have a free evening, let me know.
Work is generally over by five these days.

Locked to Luna Lovegood

How's the dog Seeker doing? I trust he's not giving you any trouble.

Locked to the Safehouse women

I don't suppose any of you have any makeup tips that cover ridiculous drawings left on my right hand and arm by a completely mad witch slight imperfections.
Charms are, unfortunately, not an option. They work, but they're detectable and would draw attention.
I'm sick of wearing gloves and having 'a unique sense of fashion'. Even in winter it looks damned silly.

Usual locks.
OOC: Locks should work as Phoelia's not in the Safehouses. And completely unrelated, Real Life(tm) has settled quite a bit since I quit taking my meds and reverted to Normal Human as opposed to whatever the hell I'd turned into so hopefully I can weasel my way back in around here. I'll work on a feasable IC reason for OOC life catching me in a stranglehold. ;)

Still alive.

Disappointed?

Usual safehouse locks.

It's become so quiet and routine again that one could almost forget anything abnormal had ever happened.

I suppose that's the point though, isn't it?

The rest of you, by the looks of things, have been busy and have had several interesting things happen.

Unless hearing about the filing of Ministry documents (Merlin help you if form Q-4392B isn't filed in exactly the correct order. It creates a whole other disaster of paperwork for other departments.), useless office gossip, or my spending time away from work doing little more than reading and none of you need to know about the 'little more' aspect. Or what I've been reading for that matter., I can't say I've got much interesting to say at all.

Luna, Seeker hasn't bothered that mouse? rat? What is Albus anyway? your pet again, has he?

Usual locks.

It's a bit like working in a place that's carpeted with exploding eggshells.
They haven't replaced those who were rather involuntarily terminated take that as you will, but it's just as well as there's less and less to do as more and more people just get registration out of the way.

Last week much of the chatter among those waiting centered around the Minister being a "nice piece of ass either way."

This week things have been relatively subdued.
It's beginning to get a bit boring.
I'm going to need to find something else to do with my time soon enough.

Usual locks.

Just when I think work is becoming tedious and repetitive, the last of the Aurors holding out on registering all decide to show up in the same afternoon.

It's surprising that nothing was completely destroyed.

They can be quite a disagreeable bunch of Witches and Wizards.

Not that I blame most of them.

Locked against those who would post anonymously and, of course, who aren't safehouse/allies. Also locked against Alastor Moody, as we don't want to make his head explode even if he does turn a very interesting shade of purple.

I find it interesting how much easier life became once I passed the miniature trial by veritaserum.
Evidently, I now rate as a "very low risk."

I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop since.

Locked to Luna Lovegood

Luna, if I'm remembering correctly, you seem to be fairly decent with and fond of animals, yes?
Would you mind looking after my dog while I'm out here and he's in there?
I can't believe I'd all but forgotten about him.
I'd really appreciate it, and I'm sure he would as well.

Private

I shouldn't be talking to Visconti; it'd probably be best to let him keep his thought that he's not at all addicted.
Eventually he'll admit it to at least himself, but likely nobody else.
No one I've ever known has, just as no one I've ever known has given it up.
Perhaps they stop for awhile, I do, but they always come back. Any excuse will do.
Self defence, an experiment, 'helping someone else', or really any excuse one could think up, but it really boils town to wanting it.

I wouldn't die if I were somehow stopped from ever using the Dark Arts, but it would certainly feel like it, and the want to do it would never ever completely go away.
All we do is get better at hiding it from those who object out of nothing more than ignorance and fear of something they don't have the fortitude or the brains to use well.

I wouldn't give it up for anyone or anything, and neither would anyone else who's had a good taste of it.

Now that I think about it, I do have the day off, and it's been awhile since I've spent a good night with a very good book. I've already been up all night trying to clean the sodding kitchen without magic because Merlin knows how magic would react to the disaster in there, what's a few dozen more hours?

Usual locks

There were three less staff today.
That meant a rather large increase in wait times and overall work.
People tend to talk a bit more than they ought to when they're stuck like that.
Of course, we're Ministry employees; most of those registering trust us implicitly, or at least they want to.
There's more dirty gossip here than in any Knockturn pub.

Just before we closed for lunch, I ended up being subjected to a half hour long discussion as to whether the current Minister is really a natural blond.
It wouldn't have been so interesting if it hadn't been a group of elderly Wizards discussing it.

Usual locks.

It worked.
It actually worked.

Sometimes I have a positively disgusting amount of good luck that is likely very undeserved. It has to be luck, because the minute I convince myself that it's actually skill or possibly brains is the minute I'll disappear entirely.

I reckon it's only a matter of time before the metaphorical wand pointed at me doesn't misfire.

Don't flinch, sidestep.

Locked to Minerva McGonagall & Remus Lupin

I'm not entirely sure if you know about any of this or if I'll be shouted at for telling you I should mention it at all, but despite the fact that Professor Snape said he had a safe, anonymous owl spot set up and was sure that he'd receive what I've been sending him, I'm a bit worried about it.

Not so much worried about anything being traced or tracked back to me I've taken steps to make sure it's someone else who takes the fall if any of it is found out, but more worried as to whether or not the information is going to someone who will put it to good use.

I've been sending him, as I have time to copy properly, bits and pieces of the official Registry list. I'm sure lack of response is simply due to him being unable, at the moment, to safely send or make a return note, but recently I sent off another fairly decently sized portion of information to him.

If either of you are in regular contact with him, could you find out if he's received the latest owl? If he hasn't, I need to find out exactly where it went and what happened to it.

Private

All the Professor said was that I wasn't to tell anyone about the wands.
Nothing about the lists.
I can't imagine he wouldn't have passed that sort of information along to, at least, Professor McGonagall.

Warded owl to Professor Snape

Another bit of the list. You'll find a few interesting names on this portion.
I've also come across a couple of people who have wands that are very similar to your own; they're on the last page. One is presumed deceased.

Locked to the Safehouses, and just because I'm sure they'd find it amusing Professor Snape & Valerius Visconti

Auror Moody,

Forgive the public reminder, but we haven't seen one sign of you down at the Registry.
Or, if you have come down, whoever you worked with didn't bother to actually note that you'd been here.

People are beginning to talk.
You're an Auror.
You've not yet registered your wand; in fact, you're one of only a small fraction who haven't done so.

While there is not an official policy on the matter (yet), if you're keen on keeping your position as an Auror and not either being shuffled into to a desk job or being made redundant,or being arrested the next time you try to do just about anything in the Wizarding world, you'd best hobble stop by sometime soon.
We have your schedule.
We know you're not busy with any officially assigned work.
We are the Borg.

It's not a particularly good idea to wait for the Ministry to come to you.
They won't send your workmates to fetch you if it comes to that.

Judging by the looks of you, you can't afford to lose any more body parts.

Private

This is like waiting for the axe to fall.
I'm terrible, absolutely terrible, with even simple potions, let alone one as complicated as this nightmare.
I can't exactly bother Professor Snape with inane questions; he's got enough to worry about without me pestering him like one of his students.

Remus I haven't spoken to in ages, and I don't know if he's any good at it anyway.
Same goes for Bill and Charlie.
Hm, Padma Patil, if I recall, is reasonably well versed in just about everything. Figures she was in Ravenclaw in quite a few subjects; she might have some insight.

It couldn't hurt to try.

Locked to Remus, Bill, Charlie and Padma Patil

Are any of you any good with potions?
I'd rather not bother Professor Snape at the moment.

Private

I'm not at all looking forward to the day that Moody finally hobbles himself down to the Registry to actually register.
Presumably, he wants to keep his job and, if he does, he'll have to register his wand.

I know he's not going to be happy with his placement on the list.

Or the aptitude tests.

I'm sure he's been singled out for that; other Aurors have registered their wands and there was nothing fancy or different about the process.

Alastor Moody, however...

They are, at least on paper, to prove that he's still physically and mentally capable of keeping not only his job but his wand as well.
If he's got any shred of sanity or self control, he'd do well to keep his temper.
Really, to be fair, I've only had minimal contact with the man, but he struck me as just a touch unbalanced.

On one hand, I probably should warn him.
On the other, it's so dull most days.

The Prophet's horoscope tells me: "This situation will seem absolutely hilarious in retrospect. For right now, however, sit tight and let the events fall where they may. You're not in control, and in its own way, that's pretty enjoyable."

Divination being rubbish be damned.
I suspect that the other hand is going to win out this time.

Locked to Auror Moody

If I'm not mistaken, you're still an active Auror, yes?
There's really no need to answer, you're listed as one.
One that's not registered his wand yet.
It might be a good idea to get that over with if you're planning to stay on as an Auror; if you don't, you're likely to be sacked made redundant and arrested.

If you can manage it, take window two. You're on the second most restricted list; just a little notch below the ones who get arrested if they try to register or use their wands. I may be able to alter that a bit so it's not quite so nasty plus, I'll make sure it gets traced back to Celia Furmage, and not me. We'll see how she likes that!.

I'm sure you've heard, but there's rumour that Ministry employees in select departments, including Aurors, will need to go through a bit of an interview that involves veritaserum. It's just a rumour so far as I know at this point; might want to keep an eye out alert for it.

Usual safehouse locks

Would it be safe to assume that the good majority of you aren't at all familiar with the meaning of the words "scapegoat" and "diversion?"

You do realise, of course, that by doing what you did, you very likely played right into the Dark Lord's Hhis hands.

Congratulations; most of you would be well suited to work at the Ministry. Ungrateful, cowardly brats.

Private

It's like watching someone try to put out a fire by throwing gasoline at it.
I have to admit, at least to myself, that I'm starting to feel a bit bad for Professor Snape.
He really can't win either way.
If he says nothing, he's accused of hiding and is, more or less, damned by his own silence.
If he speaks up, he's accused of outright lying.
He can't exactly do what quite a few anonymous students are demanding. Doesn't matter if he doesn't actually serve the Dark Lord anymore, as far as I know, that mark doesn't go away just because someone changes their mind. It doesn't matter what he's done to protect any of them, the majority is unlikely to ever be able to look past that.

That can't be at all easy.

Hm, and speaking of Professor Snape, I owe him another owl.

Another nice, shiny, very warded owl to Professor Snape. As before, it will allow for inspection to the point of being proven that it's safe to go inside, but if anyone else tries to open it, this one bites.
Hard.


Professor,

It's a bit slow getting the entire list, and I've still no idea where they keep the actual master list. Nobody here does, as far as I know, and it would create a bit of suspicion if I were to even appear as though I wanted access to it.
Watch the copy, if I've done it properly, it should change if the master list changes.
People can move positions in any direction, though most end up moving onto the more restrictive lists.

The portion included in this parcel is, essentially, the "If it wouldn't cause a scene, we'd have our workers simply Avada Kedavra you right at the window" list.
Nobody is listed, on ANY of them, as actually dead unless there's a body that's been found and identified; everyone who can't be proven dead is presumed dead.
There are a couple people who have "Unknown" as their wand type; those people haven't ever had an Ollivander wand.
The wand they've got listed next to my name is one that I destroyed close to nine years ago, but as it was the last Ollivander I'd had, it's all they've got. Not that it matters as I'm also in the presumed dead column.

- Ophelia

Usual safehouse locks

If you must comment anonymously, or even comment at all, please at least attempt to spell properly.
I'm afraid that I'm not fluent in gibberish.
There is absolutely no good excuse to not type out the word "you."

Owl to Professor Snape.
Very, very, very, very warded. It will be able to be checked for any sort of tracing charms and things that would endanger the safehouses, but it will not be able to be opened or otherwise inspected by anyone other than Snape

Should anyone else try to open it, they'll run into endless wrapping and, should they not give up, the package will become agitated and try to run away.

Professor,

In case it's not obvious by the fact that this note was wrapped around a wand, this is one of the pre-registered ones.

- Ophelia.

Usual safehouse locks

Really, this question is more for Hagrid, but I figure there have to be a few of you who were decent in Care of Magical Creautres so...

The augurey in the office is acting funny.
They're not supposed to make noise unless it's going to rain soon, from what I understand, and this one has been making a pitiful little squeak now and again.
It seems to happen whenever someone tells their child to "stop fidgeting."

When it hears that, it perks right up and looks as though it's waiting for something, and when nothing happens, it makes the squeaky noise and looks absolutely put out.
Even more put out than an augurey in a cage usually looks.

Have any of you any ideas as to what might be the problem?

Usual safehouse locks.

I don't think the rumour regarding veritaserum is going to go away any time soon.
What's more, I doubt that it's a rumour.
In general, I'm finding it very easy to guess as to the future of my workmates. I may actually keep score and see how accurate my guesses end up.

Mary Ackerley has the habit of giving friends and relatives fewer restrictions than they're owed. She's likely to be officially sacked. If she's lucky that's all she'll get.

James Pennifold quite likes to brag about giving attractive Witches no restrictions. Chances are he'll join Ackerley.

Celia Furmage will stay gainfully employed. She happily lets those known to support he-who-is-currently-playing-king-of-the-castle off with no restrictions and will place extras on those who are more outspoken against Hhim. She'll also rat out Ackerley, Pennifold, and Viridian without any prompting.

Quistis Viridian will be lucky to survive.

Vivian Marchbanks will spend the next week alternating between fits of snippiness and crying jags. In other words, nothing will change where she's concerned.

Penelope Cronk will put all of her bets on whoever does the interviewing being easily swayed by a good view of a lot of cleavage and more than a bit of leg.

As for me, I'll be just over there in the corner in a state of mild panic I'll simply have to figure out a way to skirt the irritating little detail of veritaserum. It's not infallible as far as I'm aware. There are ways out of every trap, and if I'm lucky, I'll find this exit before I end up killed.

Private

It's only a rumour.
It's only a rumour.
It's only a rumour.
It's only a rumour.

Usual safehouse locks.

There are Wanted posters up everywhere today.
I spent the last eight hours being glowered at by what looks to be a sixteen year old Professor Snape.
He's got on a Hogwart's uniform, for Merlin's sake; couldn't they have found a more recent photograph?
They've put the one in the main office right next to the augurey's cage.
I have the distinct feeling that the placement was intentional.

Whoever is in charge of putting those things up has an absolutely tasteless sense of humour.
And I'll never admit that my first reaction on seeing it was to nearly choke trying not to laugh.

Usual safehouse locks.

Well, at least the headline is accurate.
There's a big blond one in the head office.

Locked to Professor Snape

On the off chance that you'd like a small distraction from today's "news", Apart from self inflicted death, knocking the interviewer unconscious and leaving, or antidote as I'm certain they'd check for that, are you aware of any tricks to skirting veritaserum?
There's rumour that the Ministry plans to use it on current employees.
Hopefully it's just a very silly rumour.

Private
The stories just get better and better the longer people have to wait in line.
I think I preferred the grumbling over having to register their wand over this.
I'm just waiting for someone to insinuate that Professor Snape hides a tail under his robes and a set of horns in his hair...and that his wand is, perhaps, a pitchfork in disguise.

Due to the Prophet, it seems that "not terribly personable" has somehow transformed to mean "vicious, puppy eating, baby killing, Voldemort worshipping horror from Beyond."

Really, if he spent as much time killing people as the crowd at the Registry would have me believe, he'd not have a single moment to teach classes.
One man nearly talked my ear off on the topic while I worked on clearing him for registration.
"I heard from a friend who has a brother who has a niece who has an aunt who was at school with that Severus Snape and everyone knows he knew all sorts of Dark stuff. Stuff even students older than he was didn't know or wouldn't touch."

Evidently, quite a few people in today knew him, or at least claim to have known him back when they were in school.
They're very, very nervous and twitchy. There's been a bit of 'if I'd known he'd resort to this, I'd have been nicer!'. I'm not entirely sure what they think Professor Snape is going to do, but I suspect it involves the words "hunt down", "torture" and "kill".

The Professor really had/has some terribly unflattering nicknames.

One Witch was describing him to another, trying to explain what he looks like, and pointed to the bloody augurey.

I'm glad, for once, that I'm not in the safehouses.
The "do not approach" advice may be very well placed for those who are however.

Hm, and as for that Horrific mention, I could swear it was Dame Locke who did that, not Professor McGonagall.

Locked to Professor Snape.

Professor,

My apologies for taking so long to answer your question about security measures at the Registry. I'd felt it best to take a closer look and poke around a bit in order to make sure I had it all covered.
Or, at least, had it mostly covered.

There are several layers of supposed security, the first of which is acts as a counter to the polyjuice potion; it's given to everyone in the waiting area. You're not allowed in without taking it, and while one can technically refuse, those who do usually end up blacklisted.

The waiting room and line inside the main part of the office, I think, were designed for maximum discomfort and irritation. That augurey doesn't help matters; he's our office bird.
Lines move slowly, but it's really not on purpose.
We have to do a disgustingly thorough background search on every single person. I swear, it stops just short of them making us do a full body cavity search as well.
I've had a few that have taken several hours to finish.

There's already a master list of names; rumour has it, it came from Ollivander himself, so it's rather accurate and detailed. Aside from that, there are what is essentially a blacklist. Witches and Wizards who, on the outward side of things, would be accused of supporting the Dark Lord Him but who (I base this only on the fact that I recognise a few of the names listed), in reality, oppose Him.
They're still allowed to register, and are sent on their way as if nothing amiss, but it's noted and they're watched.
Closely.
Every time their wand is used, other departments of the Registry know and can pinpoint almost exactly where that person is. The wand shows up as a blacklisted "supporter" during routine purchases, and those on the list are supposed to be refused anything other than very basic supplies.
Interestingly enough, I noticed that the Weasley family was listed there with the notable exception of Percival.
Most of the Hogwarts staff and the older students who are thought or known to be in the safehouses are also listed there as well; that's not really a surprise.

They do, just to create the illusion of them not targeting those who oppose Him, toss a few people that very likely do not onto the blacklist as well; those are flagged differently, and they're allowed to shop normally, so to speak.

There is a third list that goes beyond the blacklisting as well.
Names on that list usually end up "arrested" on the spot or, more commonly, as soon as they're out of sight of the Registry office. That one has photographs.
Not that you were planning to pop in and register your wand, but you're on that list.
So is Valerius Visconti, not that I'd imagine he would have suspected any differently.
Take a guess as to where Mr. Potter's name falls.

All of the lists include the living and the dead; the dead are actually marked as "presumed deceased".
I'm on that one.
All of the lists also include the person's last known wand, and previous wands if there were any, which only indicates that the rumour about Ollivander giving the information to the Registry is correct.

When wands are registered, they're also charmed a bit so that if the owner decides to try to circumvent the restrictions or 'label' given, the department of the Registry that deals with such things is immediately alerted. Given the level of tracking and monitoring on even supposed clear wands, one would have little time to try to escape and would have to leave the wand behind or they'd be followed.

The constant barrage of "it's for your own good, we're protecting you from the bad people" propaganda doesn't help matters. That's the repeated message. The Ministry is trying to protect the public from the forces or darkness or something equally as asinine; those who are innocent have nothing to fear, and all of that rubbish.

We're supposed to put on a good show for those who dissent, sometimes loudly and almost violently.
They're allowed to leave without a fuss or are escorted out if they refuse, but they're marked from that point on. If they refuse to register, of course, they can't buy anything. If they try to do a bit of shopping and present their wand, it will show as unregistered and they'll be refused and directed back to the Registry.
Those who try repeatedly usually either relent (whether willingly or by force isn't at all clear) or disappear altogether.
Most people, unfortunately, don't mind having to register their wands at all as they actually believe that it's for their own protection.

Oh, right, and those of us who work there aren't supposed to let on at all that someone has been blacklisted, flagged, or is a candidate for immediate arrest. Same smiling, cheery face for everyone, no matter how irritated they may be.

If you've got any other questions, I can certainly try to answer them.

- Ophelia

Usual safehouse locks.

I have learned so many unusual curse words these past few weeks.
Quite a few were actually in English; I got the jist of the others, however.
It pays well, the drone-work at the Wand Registry, if nothing else and Merlin knows I'll need the spare galleons if I have to keep enlisting that dirty Mundungus man to do the things I'd rather not risk.

So far, everything I've come across has been from Ollivander.
That stands to reason, but I do wonder how they're going to handle people who aren't from the country or who had the common sense to get their wand elsewhere bought their wand somewhere else.
Hm, then again, simply because all I've seen are Ollivander's wands that...didn't sound right at all doesn't necessarily mean anything. I'm hardly the only person working here.