Dis-Order
"What else can we do?"
"You heard them shouting to hand over Harry!"
"They're Slytherins, what do you expect?"
"They had no choice."
"It's not as though we have dementors there anymore."
"Some of them are kids!"
"Snape was a Slytherin. He turned out alright."
"They were troubled by Nargles, I hear they live in the dungeons."
"What happens when they turn on us again?"
The shouting continued in the newly refurbished 12 Grimmauld Place, it was so loud, and so impassioned, that muggles passing outside the street in Islington could, if they focused enough, almost feel the tremors in the air. The dispute in question was about what to do with the followers of Voldemort who were "forced" to follow him or too young to put into prison. While Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley gave evidence in support of some of them such as Narcissa and Draco Malfoy, this was not enough. House arrest might sound like an overly lenient sentence, but there were members of the public who had lost loved ones who were taking things into their own hands. The newest year group of Hogwarts students attending the rebuilt school quickly learnt of the house divides. Slytherins were being bullied and hurt by the students old enough to be effected by the war. More worryingly, the most recent Hogsmeade trip saw something similar to a muggle protest, leaving Slytherin students incapable of leaving the castle. Employers were warier this time around of trusting reformed death eaters and were refusing to hire Slytherin students. People were afraid of pureblood families. The prejudice felt by many muggleborns in the war had flipped to those in "Dark" inclined families.
The Order of the Phoenix having only recently buried their dead were polarised in their views. Half thought it was about time the pureblood families got a taste of their own medicine. The other half were worried of yet another war caused by the increased hatred. What emerged was a distraught Kingsley Shacklebolt trying to get help from the rest of the Order to stop the Wizarding World falling into chaos. Many wizards and witches had moved to Europe to escape and had settled there. The Wizarding World would not survive in the current fear and paranoia filled UK that was gradually destroying the wizarding population. Diagon Alley had been bolstered slightly by the return of Weasleys Wizard Wheezes but the absence of Fred was felt keenly by all, George had been struggling to keep the cheery atmosphere of the shop going when every now and then he would stop speaking, waiting for someone who wasn't there to finish his sentence. Lee helped in the running of the shop, so did Angelina and Katy. Surprisingly, Mrs Weasley had a part in catering to the families who were still nervous after the war, her clocks were now in a section of the shop, and were the only new product since the end of the war.
So, the bickering ended immediately when George spoke up saying, "Well don't we just sound like a new batch of Death Eaters?" as he poured a generous amount of muggle Whisky into a tumbler.
There was a second of silence which followed. It was even louder than the shouting, as the room absorbed what was said. Kingsley, the newly voted Minister for Magic, took advantage of the quiet.
"I know we are still mourning and recovering, but our world can't go on like this. Either we all die out or move, or we have another war but this time have purebloods begging for equal rights. I struggled to get elected in the first place and I was with the Order. Other purebloods can't get a job or even go into some shops. Tell me that's not exactly what we fought against?"
"And you want us to allow people like Malfoy to follow in his father's footsteps to buy his way out of his crimes?" Neville asked sceptically. As a protector of many of the younger years back in Hogwarts, he was perhaps one of the more polarised in the room.
"You want us to forget that Hermione was tortured by these people? That Luna was tortured? That my brother died?" Yelled Ron, his ears turning red.
"Ron, we talked about this when we testified. It's about stopping the innocent ones being hurt." Hermione put a hand on Ron's arm which was quickly shaken off but not without softening his face. Things weren't yet ok with them. Following their heat of the moment kiss they'd been consumed with the rebuilding of Hogwarts and themselves. Hermione couldn't yet let go of the fact he left them in the middle of their Horcrux hunt and was wary of getting hurt again. Ron felt as though his attempts were futile in helping them and while his insecurities were lesser than they had been at Hogwarts, he still had to face up to the jealousy he felt.
"They are Slytherins, they aren't innocent." Came Charlie's voice.
"The hat wanted to put me in Slytherin. Snape was a Slytherin and he saved us all." Harry spoke, to widened eyes from some of the Order, and a few knowing nods from the newly recruited Order members dedicated to rounding up the death eaters and snatchers who escaped while the Aurors were re-established and structured by a reluctant Harry Potter. After the small pause which followed this he continued, "In the muggle world we have rehabilitation."
Hermione here spoke up in true Hermione fashion, "It's used to help people deal with anger or drug problems instead of just putting them into the system. Restorative justice is increasingly and successfully used by muggles in making offenders meet and speak with their victims. It can help not only the offenders but also the victims."
"Well yes, but I can assure you most of these Death Eaters will only look at that as muggle and something to be hated. These lot will do anything to keep their money and influence being taken. It's about time there were some real consequences." Mad Eye Moody gruffly stated. He had been found, injured, with memory loss, and defending a group of muggleborns from a group of snatchers following the end of the war. No one could find out how he survived the fall. He asked about 20 security questions of each member of the Order who attempted to treat him and in the end only accepted help from Molly Weasley when she shouted about worrying them all to death and had since hovered on and off where the rest of her family were out and about, dealing with the war in their own way.
"Dumbledore had a plan." Professor McGonagall revealed, "The details were limited at best, but he suggested getting them involved in the muggle world, get them jobs."
Andromeda Tonks, holding a blue haired Teddy on her knee, said "Remus tried that. Those purebloods will never agree to do what they view as House Elf tasks."
"What if we put them in a muggle neighbourhood without wands?" Anthony Goldstein asked, the members of the DA were the first of the recruits to the Order. Hermione quickly made all order members, new and old, sign a sheet of paper much like the one she used in the DA. Privately, the fact that Dumbledore hadn't done so when it could have prevented Pettigrew from fooling them all, was a concern to her as she had become less trusting of authority figures following the corruption in the Ministry even after the final battle at Hogwarts, where many of the arrest warrants were still in action over a month after the fall of Voldemort.
"Poor muggles when one of them tries to steal a wand from whoever's assigned to look after them." Said Neville.
"They wouldn't know how to work anything like the Tellyview. How would they manage?" Arthur asked followed by a whispered "Television" by the muggleborn and halfblood members of the order.
"I still don't get what this has to do with us? We've fought, we beat the noseless one, we're done." Ron asked, growing confused. Following the restructuring of the ministry, the Order had become a Pseudo Auror department, or military, and had been tasked with helping once more.
"We can't leave the job half done." Hermione spoke up, "Slytherins deserve a chance to prove they aren't like Voldemort, Pettigrew came from Gryffindor, evil isn't confined to something as simple as house politics."
"SPEW again? Really?" Ron smiled making the harshness of his words lose his edge.
"It's the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Wel…. It's not a joke Lee!"
"Who's saying the people assigned to watch or guard or teach them has to have a wand?" Goldstein asked.
"CONSTANT VIGILENCE. No one's going into a snakes den without protection they could be too easily overpowered. Never mind whether or not we think they've changed." Mad Eye raged.
"I'm not suggesting they be unarmed or protected," Anthony explained, "You all know I'm vaguely related to the Scamander's? Well we have muggle sides to the family too. They are all involved in police work or animal care…."
"You think they'll be able to handle death eaters? Although the animal carers might be well suited!" Mad Eye cut him off.
"I was actually referring to my cousin. She's a halfblood, descended from squibs." Anthony replied.
"You think a girl can keep those monsters contained?" Lee asked only to be met by glowers from the women of the room.
"I thought my days of censoring your words were over Mr Jordan." Sighed Minerva, her hat seemed to droop in her frustration baring a remarkable resemblance to her cat animagus form.
"Sorry Professor but the likes of Crabbe and Goyle will be hard to contain." Lee reasoned sheepishly
"Vincent Crabbe will be hard pressed to cause trouble from beyond the grave Mr Jordan." Professor McGonagall said sternly over her glasses.
"Wouldn't be a problem for her, she's a black belt, in more than one fighting style. Used to be with some secret training group. She's a muggleborn, she'd go without a wand if she needed to." Goldstein spoke again.
"What does the colour of her belt have to do with it?" Ron asked.
"It's like an award, and it's all well and good but would she do it? More importantly, are you sure that would ensure her safety?" Harry quickly answered Ron, grasping the first potential solution they had in weeks of meetings with both hands.
"Well, she works for a big company or something. Not sure what it is, think it's to do with law or something. I'd help. We could help teach them about the muggle world maybe get rid of some of the prejudice." Anthony suggested.
"Doesn't matter. We aren't endangering this girl. Bad enough they are asking us to do anything for the blighters in the first place." Mad Eye responded.
"Even dragons need tamers." Charlie joked "I'd love to see them at a theme park." Having been to Alton towers on a much-needed family day out Hermione organised to get them all out and away from the sadness of the wizarding world for a day or two. The Weasley family and extended family all smiled, either at the memory, or at the potential hilarity of the situation.
"We could speak with her, try and organise logistics. This is one of the first suggestions we've had in weeks that doesn't involve putting kids in prison." Kingsley implored with Mad Eye.
"Where would they learn, Hogwarts is too magical for muggle equipment? Who out of us would volunteer? Who would we include in this little scheme?" Mad Eye questioned.
"I haven't looked at all my parents' properties yet." Harry stated
"They'd be wizarding, wouldn't they? It depends on numbers." Hermione asked
"We're overlooking that this girl would be taking on a lot of responsibility. Granger's evidence that they aren't above using knives where needed"
"Alastor! That's enough!" Minerva shrieked.
Hermione looked down but was resolved, "None of these children carved Mudblood on my arm. I'll volunteer to help if it means it won't happen again. Frankly it's all atrocious. If I hadn't read Hogwarts, A History I would never have understood the wizarding world. I think both sides need instructing in the other. Muggleborns need teaching well before they turn 11 about some of the basics of our culture and they need to know about the customs they could well be disrupting by doing something innocuous. Equally I'd bet you have no idea about the genetics and birth defects inherent with inbreeding? Neither do they, that knowledge could have stopped this whole mess before it started. The Muggle Studies at Hogwarts is a joke and we have no magical equivalent."
"So we get a house for stuff like electronics and cooking. Beyond that house arrest?" Kingsley asked
"Sure we could do day trips open to all purebloods when the next year starts and trial it on the children or relatives of death eaters." Hermione suggested, the gears already turning.
"Well let's ask, what harm can it do?"
"How come she wasn't involved in the war then? Why don't you know her from Hogwarts?" Mad Eye asked suspicious, his magical Eye roving round the room only to land on Goldstein.
"She wanted to stay in muggle education, go to University. She did bits with some others in keeping muggleborns safe." Goldstein said, cryptically.
"I don't like it." Mad Eye said.
"You'd have them all kissed by dementors." Ginny said accusatively.
"Damn right." Mad Eye confirmed.
"Albus wanted them rehabilitated." Minerva said
"I've already testified for the Malfoy's, they could have given us up, they didn't." Harry reasoned.
"They didn't to save their own hide in case we won and because they realised they were serving a madman." Mad Eye said.
"You have no idea what happened at the school when you were gone. We were made to torture first years and if we didn't we'd have the crucio put on us. Now I know exactly how my parents felt." Neville cried out.
"That may be. I miss those two dearly. But I know they wanted an end to the fighting for you. We are making it worse by letting them stay stupid." Neville's grandmother said, more softly than he thought she was capable which made him raise his eyebrows in shock.
"This is exactly why you need someone who isn't as involved in the war." Goldstein pointed out. "She has no prejudice from school bullying and other than me had no family directly involved."
"She has a job doesn't she, where will she have time?" Molly asked
"I didn't say she'd be easy to persuade." Goldstein smiled.
"Why weren't you in Slytherin?" Terry Boot asked.
"Intelligence over ambition." Goldstein replied.
"Well let's invite her here it's a Saturday she should be free." McGonagall suggested.
Anthony already had floo powder in his hand and his head in the fire. On the other side, Lydia Goldstein was on her exercise bike, listening to YouTube on her phone when she saw rather than heard her floo go off. She rued the day her grandmother convinced – read emotionally manipulated – her into getting a floo installed.
"Hey Ant what's up?" She asked resigned.
"Don't call me that. And can you come to speak with the Order? You know the address." She knew of the Order of the Phoenix and personally thought they were idiots. Knowing Voldemort was a half-blood yet allowing his pureblood drivel to gather him followers was a stupid move. She'd not been directly involved in the war but she had, with a group of friends she had home-schooled with, opened up safe havens for the wounded from both sides and helped muggleborn's get out of the country. It shouldn't have been necessary if you asked her. But then again no one did. Her cousin disappeared as soon as he appeared so she couldn't ask for clarification. Looking at her reflection above the mirror she saw sweat and her dark red hair piled messily above her head in a bun of sorts. She was in pyjamas she decided to have a go on the exercise bike in because today was most decidedly a pyjama day. Having forgotten to take off her eye makeup properly she was sporting partial panda eyes, making her blue eyes look slightly crazed and more tired than she felt. Wiping the worst of it away she took a breath and stepped into the fireplace. Having been raised in the muggle world she still wasn't used to the magical means of transport and all out refused to learn to apparate. Feeling the squashed through a tube sensation wasn't a favourite, so when a stick came from nowhere on the other side, the reaction was immediate with a sidestep grabbing the stick and throwing her assailant to the floor to a chorus of "Moody!" and "Alastor what in the name of Merlin are you thinking." And a subdued "Wicked."
"Well I had to see if she was vigilent. No point asking if she'll get herself hurt."
She took one look at the sheepish ex Auror and one at her mischievous cousin only to say "Whatever it is, the answer is no." and turning on her heel back towards the floo.
"I'll tell nan you blocked the floo on your last day off." Antony said, stopping her footsteps as she whirled back round glowering.
"What do you want? And make it good." Lydia all but growled.