Machine
A world of your own
Hollow inside
Careful when worlds collide
I'm filling my life
With all it can hold
Carry it on with pride
Jenny
10/1/10
4:30 p.m.
Despite my selfishness with Draco, we continued to be close. He was my light in the darkness; he gave me something to be happy about. I knew that I was twisted and ungrateful, but he made me laugh and smile. It made Lupin not feel as bad about the whole thing, even though the major injury from getting caught in the trap wasn't his fault. Neither was the fall that broke my ribs and sprained my ankle, but he wouldn't listen. Draco finished his first batch of Wolfsbane Potions, and had stored them securely in the attic. He immediately started another batch. It made all of Grimmauld Place much happier; Lupin and I wouldn't be in danger anymore. Both of us were ecstatic about the whole thing. The one hard decision that had ruined my life for the past month was completely erased by Draco.
I got better quickly, and when they still wouldn't let me spy at the Ministry, I trained harder than I ever have before. I worked everything, mind and body. Mostly, it was because I wanted to be ready to kick Kingsley into miniscule pieces and then burn them, but it was partly so that I could keep spying. Surprisingly, I had come to like spying for the Order. Doing good felt good. Time passed faster and faster. I learned how to ride a broom at the Weasley's house, and 'inherited' the old Comet Two Sixty in their gardening shed that liked to walk around sometimes on its own. Now I could travel discreetly as a Muggle, but then fly great distances on a broom. I taught the Aurors as they would swap out of the hunt for Kingsley some basic self defense and attacks they could use to take his ass down.
I wanted to join the man-hunt for him, but the Order started me out spying again when I pestered them to give me something to do. Kingsley was being followed constantly, and the Ministry still hadn't caught me yet. Draco highly disapproved of the whole thing, but I had to earn my keep, whether he liked it or not. That's what I was currently doing, sitting once more on the floor in a Ministry official's office, some Death Eater, taking notes behind a rather ugly and bushy potted plant. He was my favorite one to spy on, Travers something or other, because he used a Quik Quotes Quill and spoke out loud, leaving me free to take notes instead of trying to steal important documents that would be missed faster than Snape running away from shampoo. Even though his office was the best to spy in, the topic was the worst. He was in charge of all the attacks and imprisoning of Muggle Borns. We had started a pretty efficient channel of information, starting with me. I would write down all the names of families that were going to be brought in, I would send them out on owls as soon as I got back to the Order, and most of them would be able to escape in time, leaving the Ministry pissed off because they could never catch them.
I got out of the Ministry as soon as I could. After rushing home and sending out the owls, I plopped onto the couch next to Draco, who was reading some important looking Potions textbook. Even though Mr. Weasley and I had gotten home as fast as we could, I knew some families would be caught before the message could reach them. How could I have a constant flow of information that wizards could tap into instead of us tapping them? There had to be a way, there was magic for goodness sake. I remembered Hermione saying something about those coins she used for D.A. meetings, but those were too risky, and we couldn't distribute them to every witch or wizard. Most would fry a computer just by being near it, so emailing wouldn't work. A newspaper was too dangerous, and we didn't have enough supplies.
And that's when it hit me.
"Radio!" I shouted triumphantly, standing up as Draco flinched from behind his book in surprise, shooting me a quizzical look as I grinned.
"Radio? What are you talking about?" He set down his book on the table and stood up too.
"I've figured out a way to keep more wizarding families from being sent to Azkaban! I hear everyday who is wanted by the Ministry. Then we keep a running list on a radio station! And we'd have other news and stuff…" I trailed off at the look on Draco's face.
"You mean a private radio station? One were wizards need a password to access the channel at a certain time? That's old, old magic, but it's a great idea, considering you'd be able to run it from almost anywhere." I left the room, him following, and hunted down Lupin, who ended up to be aimlessly pacing in his bedroom.
"Lupin, I just got the best idea, an idea for communication from us to witches and wizards who don't support You-Know-Who! What if we made a radio station?" I said hurriedly after knocking twice on the doorframe, making him jump. His face went from concerned and worried, to hopeful.
"A private one? That's…that's perfect! We could use it for any kind of information we needed to distribute, and it would be private. All we would need to do is let people know that it exists…but we could definitely do that." Draco went to get other Order Members on upper floors as Lupin and I walked to the kitchen.
"You looked so worried." I said into the silence, and he sighed. "Lupin, what's wrong?" I pressed when he didn't answer. He looked indecisive as he looked at me for a moment, and then sighed again.
"I'll tell you later." He said as I heard feet on the stairs. He dusted off the radio in the kitchen as I muttered, "You better," under my breath, making him chuckle lightly. People poured into the kitchen. All the Weasley's except Ginny and Ron were here, making the kitchen unusually packed.
"What's happening, something about a radio?" Mr. Weasley said mildly.
"Jenny came up with the idea of making a private radio station for the Order, to have a constant flow of information wizards aren't getting outside of the Resistance." Lupin said, and there were a few hoots and cheers after he was done. "But we've got to organize this carefully; it's got to have a name people will want to pass on, as well as code names for anyone who is talking." Lupin continued.
"The Resistance? No, too obvious…hmmm…" I said under my breath, thinking hard. We needed to make the show inviting-
"I've got it. Potterwatch. Wizards will tune into that, I'd bet my life on it." Draco said somewhat stiffly, but everyone was in agreement-that name would be perfect.
"As for code names…they should be very plain, and the people talking should be very unrecognizable. If someone on the other side was to hear what we were saying, that would be bad enough, but being able to identify anyone talking would be worse."
"Wait just a moment," Mrs. Weasley started. "Who will be talking during these? We can't all do it."
"Jenny is, nobody knows who she is, they wouldn't recognize her voice," Tonks started, making me flush slightly, "Lupin," it was her turn to flush, and I couldn't help but smile at the ground, "Lupin should do it…"
"I'll do it." Fred said calmly from the back. "George and I can swap out, no one can tell us apart."
"I think that's good for now. We can always add more if we start adding different segments. Anyway, codenames," Lupin said briskly, the slight heat in his own face dying from when Tonks mentioned him.
"And they can't relate to who you are, remember. Something random." Hestia Jones said from the back.
"I'm River." I said after a few minutes of deep thinking. "And now that I think about it, they should all start with the same letter, to add some catchy-ness to the whole show."
"Romulus is a pretty intense name, nice and old fashioned, just like you, Lupin." Mr. Weasley joked, and Lupin rolled his eyes at his joke, fingering his pre-mature aged hair and nodded. We lapsed into silence again as Mr. Weasley took the old radio from the kitchen into the corner and started to beat it repeatedly with his wand, setting up the station. I burst out laughing when I came up with the perfect name for Fred, getting strange stares and raised eyebrows for my trouble.
"Fred, you have to be Rodent." I said, and everyone started to laugh except for Fred, who's ears had turned a great shade of red.
"Absolutley not, I need something dangerous, like Rapier, Rapier! That's perfect." He said quickly, trying to settle it. I chuckled but let it go. I had never seen his ears turn so red before. It made me wonder if George did the same thing, but since he had only one ear…I started laughing again, making his ears turn redder. Then I pictured George with piercings on his one ear and laughed quieter as Mr. Weasley came back over with the radio.
"It's all set, should we do the first session now?" He asked, and Lupin shrugged, leaning against a counter as I sat by the radio on the table. Everyone got very quiet as Mr. Weasley rapped the radio once and nodded to me.
"This is a test, considering no one could hear this yet anyway. This is River, welcome to Potterwatch." I said calmly, leaning against the old radio, making Mr. Weasley chuckle and hit it again, and the light in it died.
"This is going to be good, no, this is going to be excellent. We can relay all sorts of news. Great idea, Jenny." Lupin said from the counter, and I shook my head, smiling.
"It's certainly easier than running home from the Ministry to send owls, which can be intercepted. This is safer for everyone." After a few moments of mulling around and talking, everyone started to clear out, and after just a second of looking at Lupin, Tonks hurried out. I was aware that they had been on and off even before I had gotten here, but the looks and the flushing made Lupin's pacing make sense.
"You're worried about hurting her." I said as soon as the kitchen was empty, and Lupin rubbed his face.
"It's more complicated than that, much, much more complicated. But that was certainly and issue, just like it is for you and Draco." I felt a slight flush fill my face, but thankfully, Lupin ignored it. He seemed to be trying to phrase what he wanted to say correctly.
"You remember how I told you that now that you're a werewolf, it's in your blood?" Lupin asked finally, sending me into confusion.
"Yes…" I said, trying to think about how this was possibly relevant. It's not like some of his blood got in her, or like he bit her repeatedly before a full moon; like what had happened with me. Lupin took a deep breath, then looked at the floor.
"Tonks is pregnant." He muttered, starting to furiously flush as I sat against the radio in shock. "I told her about the danger, about how I would pass on my…condition to our child…" He died away as he looked at me, his face twisted. I could understand his anguish, he was passing on a horrible, horrible thing to his child. But I was filling with happiness.
"Oh god, Lupin, you're going to be a father!" I breathed, and vaulted off the table and hugged him, his body freezing in surprise. I pulled back to meet his confused and still twisted gaze. "But your child will get all the support he could possibly need. I'll always be around, you won't have to help him alone. It's not his burden to receive, but it wasn't yours either. It will be alright, Lupin." I said confidently, picturing a little Lupin running around, possibly with Tonks' nose, with a huge smile on his face…"Plus," I added as I pictured the little kid, "he won't have any of these." I wrapped my hand around my neck. I never wore high collared shirts anymore, not with all the support I got from everyone.
Lupin smiled.
So this isn't totally DH compliant, and things will start moving faster, considering I don't want to write out months and months of Order activity that matches our Trio's aimless wanderings on that long camping trip.