Order Only: Arrests

The Ministry is a-buzz this morning. Llewellyn-Davis, the head of Protectorate Affairs, hasn’t been in since Friday, and Selwyn has been announced as the Acting Director. One of Bill’s operatives in that department has sent word that Llewellyn-Davis was summoned to the palace on Friday and didn’t return. Bill’s still trying to learn more.

If the Ministry somehow got the idea that Llewellyn-Davis is some sort of traitor, well, it’s certainly news to Bill and me. But if so, there may have been one ugly repercussion already. Norma Brownmiller came to see me this morning, and once my office door was shut and a Muffliato spell was in place, she dissolved into a flood of tears. Word has come that James Prescott has been arrested. This is simply dreadful, a serious blow. He is a smart and resourceful man, and I had such hopes of adding him to the Order--but thank Merlin, we hadn’t formally approached him yet! From the rumours Norma has heard, he was fingered as a resistance worker of some kind (by Llewellyn-Davis?)

Norma, as I said, was extremely distressed. It was apparent that she thinks the world of her boss (they’ve worked together for five years). She was also quite afraid, and most anxious that we not be overheard. The more we talked, the more I felt that my initial impression of both Ms Brownmiller and James Prescott was correct. It wasn’t the fact that she might have been working with a traitor that she was bemoaning, it was that he had cared, and who would look out for or give a damn about those poor souls in the camps that his department oversees now?

I decided to take the risk and probe a bit, to see if I could learn anything about what they might have on him. "If they ask you about James’ work, or what he might have been up to that was, shall we say, not quite according to regulation, what would you tell them?"

She wiped her red eyes with her handkerchief and I could see her literally pulling herself back together. "I won’t tell them anything," she said calmly, with immense dignity. "Not a thing! James Prescott never did anything that gave me the slightest inkling that he might not be a loyal subject to the Protectorate." She looked at me steadily, and I had the strong hunch that she was practising, mentally preparing herself to answer the questions that she’ll be facing over the next several days.

I waited, holding that gaze. "But . . . ?"

She weighed her answer for a long moment. It was apparent that this was one of those moments when a person has to decide whether to trust. "James always thought--Arthur, I think you would agree that there is . . . more than one way to be a traitor."

"Norma, you know you’ll be questioned in the next few days—-"

"I know," she said impatiently. "But do you agree?"

Now I had to decide whether to trust. "If those same interrogators asked me, I would deny it. But yes. I agree."

She sighed. "James thought you might. And he was going to talk to you about-—about some people he was working with."

"Who are those people?"

"I can’t tell you. I’m sorry, I would if I could, but James never told me. And I won’t tell anyone else anything about it. But if do learn something-—I’ll let you know."

Could Prescott have been working with another resistance group we don’t even know about? Or did Llewellyn-Davis peach on him just to save himself, giving up the name of a man already suspected to be generally sympathetic to Muggles?

There’s word of another arrest, too, an apprentice healer at St. Mungo’s. The charge, I believe, is that she was dealing black market potions to supplement her income. Again, I wonder who made the accusation, and Bill is trying-—very carefully-—to find out. Sirius, the name is Anna Lexington. I hope that there is no mention of her name in any way on Laszlo’s parchmentwork.

Will pass along anything more I hear.

Lucius Malfoy had an appointment at the Ministry this morning but didn’t show up. I see that something he has eaten recently has disagreed with him. Hmm. I wonder what it could possibly be?