A/N: I would ask if you would please take a moment to read the Q&A this week. It's important.

And as always,

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: All characters of the Harry Potter series (hereafter known as 'legal property') are the sole ownership of J.K. Rowling (hereafter known as 'owner of said legal property'). No infringement on any copyright of owner of said legal property of the legal property is knowing intended. Published by author (hereafter known as 'other') for entertainment purposes only. No monetary or personal gain was knowingly made by other with the publication of this story, which was based on ideas and characters created by owner of said legal property as they pertain to legal property. No plagiarism of legal property or of any ideas of the owner of said legal property was knowingly intended by other. This statement is fully transferable and is legally held binding for all chapters of the story Family Relations as they are presented under different chapter headings and titles for individual chapters.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE -THE BARGAIN

For the next several days, Harry wandered about the castle looking for things to occupy his time that also kept him clear of Voldemort. Most of that time was taken up stopping by the infirmary a dozen or more times a day to check on Orion's condition.

Much of what Snape had said proved all too frighteningly true. Many of the times that Harry had stopped by, Madam Pomfrey and Snape had been in the middle of trying to counter a seizure.

Unable to help, Harry was forced instead to stand by and watch as one of the worst moments of his life was lived out over and over before him. Sirius' own near death experience of few weeks earlier as he struggled to breathe after apparently similar seizures to the ones Orion was now suffering from.

After a few days of witnessing the frightening spectacle numerous times, Arabella finally suggested to Harry that there was little he could do for the time being and perhaps it would be best if he left Orion in Madam Pomfrey's and Snape's hands for a while.

So more or less restricted from the infirmary for the time being, Harry decided the next best thing to do to fill his time was to explore about the castle. With its seemingly ever changing topography, Harry found that Hogwart's never lacked in being able to surprise him with a recently unknown pathway if he just looked for it long enough. And so wandering down a little used corridor late one afternoon on his second day of restricted access to the infirmary, Harry was pleased to pull aside a large tapestry to find a small door hidden behind it.

Even better, it was unlocked.

Having to bend down to get through the small opening, Harry wondered if the door wasn't perhaps one that the house elves used to get about the castle.

Once he was through the doorway, Harry stood up only to find himself standing in a whole lot of dark. He quickly lit his wand to reveal a passageway that was fairly unimpressive. It wasn't any higher than he stood, actually forcing him to bend down at certain junctures to avoid hitting overhead supports. The walls were the same stone blocks that made up most of the castle, while the floor was an array of different size and color stones fitted together. Following the passageway for what seemed like miles, Harry finally stopped for a much needed rest. As he stood in the stone corridor listening to his own breathing, Harry suddenly froze.

Ahead of him he distinctly heard two voices.

Harry hurried as silently as he could back to the last juncture he remembered passing by and hid around the corner, listening to the voices. After several minutes, he realized that the voices weren't actually getting any closer. They, in fact, seemed to stay in one place.

Slowly making his way back to where he had stopped, Harry began a painfully slow progression forwards as he sought out where the voices were coming from. But only a few yards further down the corridor, he found himself standing below a small hole in the ceiling of the passageway. Above him he could clearly hear Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape having some sort of discussion. Harry reasoned they must have been in Professor Dumbledore's office since he could just hear the gentle tones of Dumbledore's phoenix in the background.

"But surely there is something we can do?" Harry heard Dumbledore say. ""Somewhere there is a cure for this. Voldemort would not have made the offer to help if there wasn't a solution to the problem."

Harry quickly settled down to listen to Snape's reply.

"Knowing how Voldemort's mind works, I wouldn't put it past him to offer us a carrot when none really exists." the potions master answered. "He could just be trying to force our hand, hoping we give in before Mr. Black's time runs out."

Harry heard the old wizard sigh. "How long do you think we still have?"

Snape seemed to consider his answer for a few moments. "At the speed I have seen the seizures progressing, I would doubt the man will survive more than a few more days. The problem, however, isn't how long he'll survive, but more what condition he'll survive in."

"Meaning?"

"The seizures are getting worse. That means the poison is progressing. Left to long, even should Voldemort produce a cure, he may never be free of them entirely. The longer we wait, the more that possibility becomes, as well as do we have no idea where the point of no return is. Without the antidote delivered soon enough, the poison may simply become incurable."

The old wizard sighed again. "Well, there's nothing we can do. Harry has to agree of his own free will. We can't try to influence his decision. And Sirius himself told Harry not to help Voldemort. He must have had a reason."

"But the circumstances have changed, Headmaster. Surely even Sirius Black would not wish this death on his brother."

"Well, we won't ever know. Voldemort has refused to let Harry talk to Sirius. He says the boy has to make the choice on his own."

"I still have time." Snape answered finally. "Come and look at this book I found. The poison listed here is very similar to the one Voldemort may have used. Perhaps if we could rework it a bit, we may be able to make an antidote out of it. Or at least something that may slow the poison down."

Harry heard the rustling of pages and the voices grew too soft for him to hear well enough anymore. But it didn't matter. He had basically heard all he needed to. If he didn't accept Voldemort's terms, Orion died. The choice seemed to be just that simple. And what was so wrong with accepting Voldemort's proposition? All he wanted Harry to do was to find this wizard so Voldemort could stop him. A wizard who, as far as Harry was concerned, seemed just as bad, if not worse, than Voldemort himself. So, Voldemort wanted to help them get rid of another dark wizard. Where was the harm in that? To Harry, it seemed like a good thing.

But even as he made his decision, another thought rose to the forefront.

Sirius had said 'no'. And he had been fairly adamant about it. And whatever his reasons were, Voldemort hadn't wanted them to hear them.

But why? What was Voldemort hiding? What part of this new scheme of his was he keeping so carefully guarded? Did the wizard have something Voldemort wanted? Something like the Sorcerer's stone? Did he have some way to restore Voldemort to a body of his own?

Harry shrugged at his own question as he made his way slowly back down the tunnel. Where was the harm in that either? If Voldemort got a body of his own, he would leave Sirius' body and Harry and Arabella would have Sirius back.

If Voldemort kept his promise.

But what is the spell could be made to work for him for a change?

Harry considered that for a moment. Instead of trying to work things to make the fit Voldemort's plans, what if he could dictate a few rules of his own? After all, he was the wizard's secretkeeper. Surely the spell would respond to him more than to Voldemort.

Harry was still deep in thought over his many possible courses of action when he emerged from the tunnel. So totally preoccupied that he ran straight into another person as he stepped back into the corridor as they were hurrying past.

"I'm sorry." Harry apologized quickly as the person grabbed him by the arms to steady him. "I wasn't watch..."

Harry stopped in mid-sentence. The exact same response he imagined the woman standing before him would always elicit from him and the other half of the world's population.

"Katlin?"

The Elite barely acknowledged him before she grabbed his arm and pushed him through the door next to them.

"Harry?" she exclaimed, slamming the door shut. "What are you doing here?"

"Me?" He all but laughed at the question, throwing himself against her as he hugged her, happy just to see her again and know that she was all right. "The last I heard of you, you were headed for Azkaban."

The Elite frowned as she carefully peeled the enthusiastic teenager off of her. "Yes. Well, thankfully, I didn't arrive."

"But how did you escape? Dumbledore said that you had, but he never said how."

"And it's going to stay that way, Harry. A lot of people could get into a lot of trouble otherwise, all right?"

Harry nodded quickly. "But what are you doing here? At Hogwarts?"

Katlin started to answer before she thought of the consequences. "My hu...," she stopped herself just in time. Instead she pulled herself up and crossed her arms in front of her, regarding the teenager before her like nothing more than a casual acquaintance. "My business here, Harry, isn't really any of yours." she replied in a conversationally cool voice. "My question is, what are you doing here? School hasn't started yet, surely. There are no other students around from what I seen."

Harry shook his head. "School starts in about two weeks. But we're here with Volde..." Harry stopped suddenly, unsure of how much he was allowed to say to someone about why he was at the castle, much less a Deatheater.

"You're here with Voldemort." Katlin finished his sentence for him. "I know all about the spell Voldemort used to take over your godfather's body, Harry. It's old news, I assure you."

"Oh." Was the most intelligent thing Harry could think to say at the moment.

"I also know why your standing in basically the same space with the dark lord and he isn't trying to kill you."

Harry stared mutely up at her.

Katlin returned an equally inquisitive stare as if waiting for him to supply the information. But when none came, she sighed softly and turned to the ceiling. "All right." she said, "how about a quick game of fill in the blank?"

"Fill in the blank?"

"Yes, I'll tell you what I know, you tell me when I go wrong and fill in the blank."

Harry never got a change to agree or not before Katlin started.

"You are here with that pesky godmother of yours..."

"She's not pesky." Harry quickly put in.

Katlin stared down at him. "That's a matter of opinion, but I'll let it go for now. You are here with Figg and Voldemort. The reason you are still alive is that the dark lord needs you to help him find the wizard in the north because you are somehow this man's secretkeeper. However, somewhere along the way, your dear godfather told you not to help Voldemort find this man, and so you refuse to cooperate. In the hopes of persuading you, Voldemort ordered the Auror, Orion Black, poisoned, and refuses to cure the man unless you tell him where this wizard is. How am I doing?" She smiled down at him.

Harry frowned. "How do you know all that?"

"Sources, Harry. Any changes to make?"

Harry wandered over to the stairs and sat down on them, staring past the banister. "Nope. That's pretty much it."

Katlin followed him and took a seat next to him. "Well, Harry Potter, the ball is, as I believe they say, in your court." Her expression grew suddenly very serious. "What are you going to do?"

Harry sighed as he continued to stare at the banister railing. "I wish I knew." he said quietly. "Sirius told me I wasn't to help Voldemort. Not for anything. But that was before Orion got poisoned. I mean, surely Sirius wouldn't want Orion to die, would he?" he ask, turning a hopeful stare to the woman next to him.

Katlin studied the anxious face of the teenager next to her. It would be so simple to tell him what to do. To direct him down the paths that would best suit her. Help Voldemort. Get the cure for her husband. Keep her family safe.

It would all be so very simple, and the boy would never suspect a thing.

But that was the problem.

Harry was simply too trusting. And somewhere she had promised herself she was going to teach him a few life lessons to hopefully cure him of that. Teach him the world was a very cruel and heartless place and you had to watch out for number one or become the world's doormat, happily letting people walk over you and wipe their feet while they advanced and you remained their doormat.

"Harry...," she began. But she stopped suddenly as she met the boy's stare. She started again, but stopped just as quickly.

It would be easy to lead the boy. Give him the answers she wanted him to hear. Make him do the things she wanted him to do.

But in doing so, wouldn't she just be doing the very thing she swore she would teach him to be on guard against?

"Harry...," she started again, "I wish I could help you. Truly I do."

"Uh-oh." Harry stated forlornly. "I've heard this before."

"This?"

Harry nodded. "The same thing I get from everyone whenever I ask what I should do...except Voldemort. He's all too happy to tell me what to do."

Katlin smiled at his assessment. "Well, he's very good at that." She replied. "He's been doing it for a while. But what does everyone else tell you?"

"That I have to make the decision on my own. No one can make it for me."

Katlin reached up and gently smoothed a bit of hair down on his head. "Well, someone has indeed saved me a lot of time." she said. "And I'm sorry I can't tell you differently, Harry. But you do have to make this decision on your own. But in doing so, maybe you can eliminate one of the factors causing you the most trouble in making that choice."

Harry turned hopefully to her.

"Maybe, Harry," she offered, staring intently down at him, "maybe just this once, you shouldn't listen to what Sirius told you to do with such a single minded devotion."

"But he said..."

"Not to help." Katlin finished. "I know. And I am sure he had his reasons. But Harry, at the time he said that, his brother wasn't laying on a bed, fighting for his life."

"But if that would make a difference," Harry replied, "why won't Voldemort let me talk to him now? Surely he would think Sirius would agree now. It would make everything simpler for him to let me talk to Sirius. But he refuses to let me. Like he knows Sirius will tell me not to help him still. And if he does, knowing Orion will die if I don't, he must have a really good reason. And maybe that's why..."

Katlin slapped a hand over the boy's mouth. "Maybe, maybe, maybe." she stated in irritation. "That's all I'm hearing here, Harry. "Maybe this is the reason, or maybe that is, or maybe this will happen. Harry, stop driving yourself in circles with 'maybe'. Center on the facts."

"I am."

"No, you're not."

Harry stared at her.

"All right. Let's look at it. Tell me how you see things."

"I already have."

"Humor me. Do it again."

Harry sighed. "Where do you want me to start?"

"What are you basing your choices on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Voldemort wants you to help find the wizard, right?"

Harry nodded.

"All right. Why do you think you should?"

"Should?" Harry ask in surprise.

"Just give me some reasons, Harry."

Harry thought carefully. "Well, the wizard seems to be awfully powerful. Even Voldemort seems worried about him. And he seems dangerous."

"So he might be a good person to get rid of then."

Harry nodded.

"Anything else?"

"If I do help, Voldemort said he might be able to cure..."

"Stop." Katlin interjected quickly. "That's conjecture, Harry."

"Conjecture?"

"Did Voldemort say for sure he could cure the Auror?"

Harry shook his head.

"Then there's no bases there for allowing it into your list of pro's and con's here. Go on. What other reasons are there for helping Voldemort?"

"That's it really." Harry admitted.

"All right. Why not help him?"

"Well, that's a hard one." Harry replied with a frown, pretending to think. "Sirius said not to and..."

Katlin help up a finger. "And the situation has changed, Harry."

"But Voldemort won't let me talk to him, so he must know that Sirius will..."

The finger stayed up. "A and B, Harry."

"A and B?"

"Because of A, B must be true. Simple logistics, right?"

Harry thought for a moment.

"Well?"

"But if he won't..."

The finger stayed up. "Facts, Harry. Deal only in facts. Do you know for sure why Voldemort won't let you talk to Sirius?"

"I think it stands to reason." Harry replied defiantly. "He won't because he knows Sirius will say 'no'."

"Really?" she drew out the word in a manner that made Harry suddenly very nervous. "So that's the only reason, is it?"

"What other one is there?"

"A whole book full if you get past your favorite for a few seconds."

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that Voldemort knows more about this spell than anyone, Harry. Maybe he won't let you talk to Sirius because he knows you have to make the decision on your own."

"But he's manipulating me to help him."

"And maybe he knows that anyone directly trying to influence your decision negates it by the parameters of the spell."

Harry considered the possibility. "So you think maybe Voldemort won't let me talk to Sirius because there's no point in it?"

Katlin shrugged. "Either that or he thinks Sirius will tell you not to help him."

Harry dropped his head to his knees with a barely stifled groan. "You're not helping, Katlin."

The Elite starred down at him. "I don't recall ever saying I was here to do that, Harry."

Harry turned to look at her. "You must have been with Voldemort for an awfully long time."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because sometimes you talk just like him...and just as vague."

Katlin tossed her hair back as she took to studying the banister rail. "I'm to trying to be vague, Harry." she pointed out. "I'm trying to make a point."

"What point."

"Maybe Voldemort is right in not letting you talk to Sirius."

"Because he knows what he'll say."

Katlin shook her head slowly. "Stop looking at him like that all the time, Harry. Try a different approach and you may find different answers. This wizard is a very devious person. Make no mistake. Now, don't you think, with everything he's gone through to keep himself protected from Voldemort, he would not have overlooked the dark lord's trying to force or manipulate you into helping him?"

Harry thought about that. "Maybe."

"And perhaps Voldemort knew about this?"

"That's just another 'maybe'."

"Then let me offer you another suggestion."

"Like what?"

"One you're not going to like."

Harry sighed. "Go ahead."

"It's not a new one, Harry." she answered softly. "But maybe now you'll hear someone telling it to you. You can't get this answer from anyone else. You have to find it on your own. The choice is solely yours. I think Voldemort knows what he's talking about with this spell. And I think you'd do well to give him at least half a benefit of doubt in what he tells you. And is it really so hard here? To make the choice on your own? To not let anyone or anything influence you."

"How can I do that? That's how you make choices."

Katlin shook her head again. "Not always, Harry. Sometimes you have to look inside yourself for the answers. You just have to listen to your heart, for lack of a better explanation."

"But Voldemort is influencing me, Katlin." Harry pointed out. "If not for Orion, I would have still said 'no'."

"Really?" The Elite studied the boy for a few moments. "Didn't you just list for a me at least one good reason why you thought helping Voldemort was a good thing to do? Because this wizard seems very dangerous. And has anyone contested that? Come to you and said, 'You know, Harry. I don't think this wizard is really such a bad chap. Let's just leave him go for a while and see what happens.'?"

Harry shook his head.

"Again, Harry, you're going to have to look into yourself for this answer. That may be the very parameter of the spell that allows you to find this wizard as his secretkeeper. Remember that for me, all right?"

Harry nodded as he watched the Elite rise up to her feet and carefully dust off her robes.
"Well, I have to be going." she said conversationally. "I have people to see while I'm here still."

"Are you going to see Dumbledore?" Harry ask.

Katlin turned back to him. "You always seem to ask that question? Why?"

Harry shrugged. "Every time he's mentioned you, he just seems...sort of fond of you. I thought if you were here, he'd like to see you."

"I see Dumbledore when I need to, Harry. Not because he might be fond of a visit. Don't color that relationship to be anything more than it is. Dumbledore has helped me out of some tight situations before. In return, I do him an occasional favor. We hardly sit down for tea on a regular basis."

Harry shrugged again. "He still seems fond of you."

Katlin placed a light kiss on his forehead. "You think about what I've said, Harry, all right? You make this decision on your own."

Harry nodded as he watched her walk off down the corridor. No matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't see the soft-spoken, intelligent, pretty woman he just been talking to in the same light as Sirius and Arabella painted her as that of a cold-hearted, feared killer. She just seemed too...nice. Or at least she was to him. But he reminded himself that when he had treaded into forbidden topical areas with her before her demeanor had changed faster than a Spring day in London. Warm and pleasant one minute, cold and chilled the next.

An hour later Harry stood outside the door of one of the castle's rooms for a few moments, still debating his action with himself.

The very thing he was getting ready to do Sirius had told him not to. Not for anything in the world.

But things were different now. Surely Sirius hadn't foreseen things turning out as they had. And despite what he had told Voldemort, Harry was sure Sirius wouldn't ask him to sacrifice Orion's life for whatever it was Voldemort wanted so badly.

Harry shook his head. He wasn't going to think about that. This wizard had to be stopped. Voldemort knew how to do that. So they needed Voldemort's help. That was what he had decided to concentrate on.

Harry raised his fist, hesitating one last time before he knocked on the wooden door.

The door carefully opened. Behind it the smiling face of his godfather looked down at Harry.

"Well now," he said pleasantly, looking up and down the corridor, "this is a surprise. Here all by yourself? Without your two watchdogs?"

"I want to talk to you." Harry stated simply.

Voldemort stepped back from the doorway. Again Harry hesitated for a few seconds before walking in. He jumped despite himself when Voldemort closed the door.

"So, Harry," Voldemort asked, limping slightly as he walked back into the room and slowly seating himself in a chair by the fire, "what is it exactly I can do for you?"

"Can you cure Orion?" Harry stated bluntly. He wasn't here to waste time or words with the man. Get to the point, get an answer, and get out. That was his goal.

Voldemort paused for a moment as though he were thinking. "Well, I haven't actually seen the man..."

"You said you could." Harry stated.

Voldemort leaned forward in his chair. "I made an assumption based on what you told me. On what Snape told you. If that information proves true, then 'yes', I can cure him."

"And you'll only do that if I help you?"

Voldemort sat studying the boy before him. For a minute Harry thought he was going to change his answer.

"I need to find this wizard, Harry." Voldemort replied finally. "I would rather not have to force you to cooperate, but 'yes', that is my price. And, in fact, I can't force you. You have to do it freely, or the spell won't work."

Harry was a bit surprised to hear the dark lord admit so freely what Katlin had suspected about the spell. "How am I suppose to do that when I'm being forced?"

"I'm not forcing you." Voldemort replied in an almost bored tone. "You have the right to refuse."

"And Orion dies."

Voldemort shrugged. "A choice is a choice, Harry. You don't have to like it, just make one."

"But that doesn't change that I'm not making this choice of my own free will." Harry reasoned.

Voldemort smiled at him. But there wasn't an ounce of warmth in the smile. It was a cold, calculated, but very pleased smile. "But you are." he replied. "I have nothing to do with it. You can either choose to help me and Orion Black lives. Or refuse, and he dies. That choice is solely yours."

"That choice." Harry answered. "But the choice to help you find this wizard won't be something I want to do."

Voldemort sighed loudly. "Listen to me, Harry. Spells are funny things. You don't study them as long as I have without learning a few things. So, you leave the particulars to me, and concentrate on the rest. Now, you want me to help save Orion Black's life, yes?"

Harry nodded.

"And I will. But you have to trust me, Harry. And you have to remember 'why' I'm doing it, and that we have a bargain between us. That's all I'll ask of you for now." Voldemort promised with a small smile.

Harry quickly decided he didn't care much for that smile at all. "You have everything planned, don't you?" Harry asked pointedly.

"Don't you think someone should in all this?" Voldemort asked. "Harry, we're not going to face some third year student with his book of spells open in front of him. We are going to face a very powerful, very dangerous, possibly deranged wizard who on whim could kill any one of us. Now, would you like to go prepared, or just make it up as we go along?"

Harry hated admitting Voldemort was right, no matter how twisted his reasoning in the end. But if the wizard was as dangerous as Voldemort said, it was better to go with a plan. The problem was, Harry had no idea how far the plan reached. But he was pretty sure he was already being manipulated. The problem was, there was little he could do about it for now.

But he didn't have long to ponder the question. Voldemort was already on his feet and heading over to him.

"Go and tell Snape I'll need his assistance in about an hour. I'll need to go and find a few ingredients I'm sure even the traitor doesn't have in his supplies. At that time he can meet me in his dungeon lab and we'll begin work on a possible cure. And tell Dumbledore I would prefer if no one else was present. I prefer quiet when I have to brew potions."

Harry couldn't get out of the room fast enough. But Voldemort stopped him suddenly with a hand on his shoulder.

Harry turned quickly to him, pulling back a step as he stared up at him.

"You remember, Harry," Voldemort stated in a low, even voice Harry had never heard the man use before. It was almost as though Sirius was standing before him, giving him one of his 'parental lectures', "once this is done, our bargain is sealed. So you be sure in one hour that this is what you want to do. There'll be no turning back then."

Harry paused as he looked up at the man before him. There was so little of his godfather in those eyes now that Harry was beginning to wonder if what Voldemort had said about the spell slowly integrating the two personalities was true or not.

"And you remember something as well." Harry said in a voice as equaled Voldemort's own as he could make it. "I know that everyone seems to think I'm just some innocent kid. That I don't really understand what's going on or that I could even begin to. And maybe they're right. Maybe I don't understand everything. But of one thing I am very sure and one thing I can promise you. If you harm Sirius, Arabella, or Orion, or even Snape, or anyone I care about, no matter what else happens, I will hunt you down, I will find you, and I will kill you with my bare hands if I have to."

Voldemort looked almost startled for a moment. But he quickly masked it behind a small smile. "Well," he said slowly, staring down at the teenager before him, "threatening to kill me. And with such conviction, Harry Potter. My, my. I do believe there's hope for you yet."

Harry met the man's stare without flinching. But finally he turned back to the door, wanting nothing more suddenly than to get out of that room and very sure he didn't want to know what sort of hope Voldemort held out for him. Without looking back Harry pulled the door open and hurried out.

With a satisfied smile, Voldemort shut the door behind him.

Q&A

I would ask that you indulge me this weekend, folks and instead of Q&A, which I will do next time, give a minute of your time to consider the statement below. I wrote this in response to the comment highlighted.

I would ask also you take my suggestion very seriously about how to combat this growing problem on FFN.

reporting you for abuse...sorry but too much nonstory in your chapters...maybe irc would be a better internet experience since you think this is a chat...always here to help!

All right, Dear. Let's have a chat.

My story's word count total was 2800 words.

Total not DIRECTLY associated to the story's line, 424.

Total directly related to the story, 2376.

Now, what I want out of you, is for you to explain to me and every one of the other readers and writers of this site as well as the people who sanction at FFN, what you find so offensive about those odds that you feel I needed to be reported for abuse?

Now, as to your ending comment. Please don't lie, Dear. Based on the odds listed, the only reason you did it was to be mean, nasty, and malicious. Nothing else.

With your motivation in consideration, here is what your actions have got you.

I sent an e-mail to FFN outlining exactly what I just did for you. My suggestion to them was that when abuse like this is reported and can be justifiably refuted, that the 'abuse reporter' themselves are restricted from the site for falsely reporting abuse.

I think a great many of the users of FFN will admit gladly that the reporting of abuse has gotten out of hand and has become a tool for people to lash out at others for reasons of jealousy, meanness, or whatever other petty reasons motivate them.

FFN has become too lax in allowing reporting of abuse and some very fine writers are being sanctioned for no other reason than those listed above. I would ask each of you to please add your voices to mine and send an abuse report to FFN complaining about the lax policy of reporting abuse and that new guidelines are set up where a writer can defend themselves and, if found in the right, that the reporter themselves are sanctioned.

Maybe this will cut down on some of the mean-spirited abuse reporting I have heard taking place on this site.

Thank you for your time.

P.A.R.