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[alt_molly]

Poppy, I need your advice. Arthur sent me off to stay with Bill as soon as he got home from Surrey--I'm there now. Have you managed to find out anything from St Mungo's about how long Frank and the baby would need to be quarantined? What about Arthur? I can't imagine any excuse that he can give to avoid going into work. I don't think he's so worried for himself or his coworkers, but he says he doesn't want to endanger me.

Comments

[alt_bill]

You can stay with me as long as you like, Mum. It's rather a novelty having dinner waiting for me when I get home.

[alt_arthur]

I've grown rather accustomed to it myself. It's a good thing your mum's still sending me a hot supper through the Floo, because I'd be lost in the kitchen.

[alt_poppy]

I wish I had better certainty about this, Molly, but I have had a short conversation today with one my contacts at St Mungo's. I couldn't ask anything too direct, but luckily she opened the topic. They do not know what the disease is or what to expect for those who have fallen ill with it. However, they have decided that it's almost a certainty that the source of the disease is the teeming population of rats in the camps. (I shudder to think.) More particularly, they theorise that the disease is transmitted by flea bite from infected rodents to humans and on and on.

Before I say more, I want to be clear that I think the situation is very different for Frank and the infant in his care than it is for you and Arthur.

Assuming that they are correct--and I do trust that they've solid reasons to support this conclusion--we should determine whether Arthur has noticed any bites (probably around his ankles) since returning from the camps. If not, then I believe that we can suppose you are at little risk. After all, he was in the camp for a very brief period of time. I would, if I were you, take reasonable precautions at home to be sure that you are not harbouring fleas (or rodents), which could spread the disease should Arthur turn out to be carrying it.

I will answer Frank on his own entry so he's sure to see it, but what I am going to tell him is that he and the baby need to remain in quarantine until we know that the baby is not ill. It had much greater chance of exposure than either Arthur or Frank, and we cannot risk loosing disease on the Sanctuary. They are too precious.

The last thing I would say, Molly, is that if you have any concerns, any doubts whether to take this information as an All Clear, then the safe course would be stay at Bill's. It's difficult to say how long would be necessary if this disease passes by some other means. For some epidemic-prone ailments, the incubation period can be as much as three weeks.

[alt_arthur]

Thanks much for the information, Poppy. I've checked, and I'm quite certain I don't have any bites. I did use a detection charm, just to be absolutely sure.

Molly, it's up to you, my dear. I'll miss you if you decide to stay with Bill a bit longer, but there's no reason not to be perfectly safe.

[alt_poppy]

I thought I'd check to see that all is well.

Have you made a decision about whether Molly will stay with Bill?

I must say that all of this has focused my attention on the welfare of people in the camps; I'm afraid I hadn't given it much thought since last year's concern about diphtheria--and then it was a narrow interest I took because of Mr Boot's presence there. That seems very callous, I know.

I'll be interested in anything you are able to share, Arthur, as your Department and others attend to this situation.


You are well, today, I hope?

[alt_arthur]

Molly and I have talked it over exhaustively through the Floo. She doesn't like it at all, but I'm continuing to have her stay with Bill for now. I'm tending to the chickens and goats this weekend, and she'll apparate home to do that during the week while I'm at work.

Technically, this isn't my department, if you'll remember. Officially, I'm with the Department of Purity Control, with the Committee of Muggle-Born Labour Services. I'm only a liaison to the Department of Muggle Domestication. Since I'm in a different department from the people primarily concerned with this epidemic, I wouldn't even have any of this information yet, except that Norma Brownmiller defied Griderson's order to keep word of what was going on strictly within that department. Since no one with magical ability seems to be affected--yet--his instinct seems to be to keep it all very hush-hush. I gather he doesn't care how many people dies; he just doesn't want to admit how many work requisitions he isn't able to fill.

Norma's very worried. She actually Floo-called me at home this morning to discuss the issue, which is quite unusual for a weekend. Although Griderson scoffs at her, she's not convinced that the disease will remain confined to Muggles only. And it is beginning to affect my department, because the growing shortage of Muggle labour means that there is more of a demand for Muggleborn workers.

It seems hypocritical for me to plan to go into work next week while quarantining myself from Molly at home, but as best as I can tell, no one with the Department of Muggle Domestication is concerned with the issue of quarantine, even the ones that have been visiting the camps. Norma seems to be alone in her concerns.

[alt_arthur]

And yes, I am very well today, myself. I had a goat try to take a bite out of the seat of my trousers this morning while I was attending to the morning milking--they aren't as familiar with me as with Molly--but otherwise all is well here at the Burrow.

[alt_bill]

They must not like your fashion sense, Dad.

[alt_arthur]

I wouldn't have thought that goats would be that critical.

[alt_poppy]

I confess that I have difficulty distinguishing one Ministry department from another sometimes, Arthur. From the outside it all seems rather Byzantine.

Does Griderson have a reason for expecting the disease to affect no one beyond the Muggles who are current ill with it? The flea theory in no way ensures this. And does your colleague Brownmiller have a special reason for expecting it will spread beyond the camps?

I myself would expect that any disease afflicting Muggles could equally infect any person, magical or otherwise. From a medical point of view, that ought to be a baseline assumption. Unless there is some special reason to believe that magic makes a difference in the specific way that the disease attacks the body. There are, of course, magical ailments that seem not to affect Muggles, and there are infections we are able to protect against with magic, but in almost all respects the human body is the same whether a person possesses magic or does not.

And so I wonder: does someone know something beyond what we've heard?

[alt_arthur]

Tom Griderson's 'reasoning' is nothing more than anti-Muggle prejudice, pure and simple. Anti-Muggle spite. He thinks they're nothing but animals, and so he's classified this in his mind as nothing-to-do-with-us-real-people. It's criminal that he's a supervisor in that department, although given this regime, not surprising.

Norma Brownmiller, on the other hand, deals more with facts and figures. She has a background in statistics--quite the whiz in Arithmancy--with a strong interest in public health. She actually studied at St Mungo's for awhile, but ended up not getting her Healer's certificate, and ended up in the Ministry instead. I'd listen to her instead.