ORDER ONLY: Xenophilius
Sep. 29th, 2008 07:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alt_mollyWe received an urgent Floo call from Xenophilius just before dawn. It seems that the Ministry has taken great exception to the latest issue of The Quibbler, which had been sent to the central owl office for distribution. Sirius, he had written all about your appearance in the journals. And now all copies of this issue have been seized, and I gather will be destroyed.
Xenophilius was calling in great distress because he hourly expects arrest, and so he asked us to take Luna. He doesn't want to subject the poor child to such a scene. We said of course we would, and so he and Luna arrived by Floo, Luna much rumpled, barefoot and owl-eyed, with all of her night things stuffed into a pillow case.
I took her upstairs and got her settled in with Ginny, while Arthur did his tactful best to calm down Xenophilius. The poor man is extremely distressed over losing the income from even one issue. Apparently, he is running things quite close to the line. By the time I arrived back in the kitchen and started making tea, Arthur had artfully suggested that if he had to fill in a missing issue anyway, he might choose a topic that would really seize attention, as well as sell a lot of copies. Perhaps he had some sensational recent reports of a really fabulous beastie about which he could print a story? Xenophilius lit up at this suggestion and started going on about some seven-legged monstrosity from Africa. I gathered that he hadn't written about it before now because reports of its seemed so contradictory, unlikely and sketchy (this, a quibble from Xenophilius!). Arthur responded with so much enthusiasm while still keeping a remarkably straight face that it cheered Xenophilius up beautifully. (I suppose that working at the Ministry of Magic has taught Arthur much about controlling his facial expressions when listening to nonsense.) I see Arthur's plan: have The Quibbler follow the dangerous issue with one that makes Xenophilius look as dotty as possible. Perhaps then the Ministry might conclude that he is harmless and end up leaving him alone.
I hope it will work. And that Arthur's gentle suggestion to Xenophilius (that perhaps he should leave sordid matters of politics to those lesser publications that didn't have such an urgent mission to fill the gaps in the public's need to learn about cutting-edge natural history) will fall upon fertile ground.
Ginny has taken Luna right to her heart. She is even moving her things into the twins' room for the nonce so the girls can share a room, so Luna won't be lonely at night. Luna is quite worried about her father, although doing her brave best to hide it. I will do my best to keep her busy and try to make her stay with us seem as much of a treat (rather than a necessity) as possible.
Xenophilius was calling in great distress because he hourly expects arrest, and so he asked us to take Luna. He doesn't want to subject the poor child to such a scene. We said of course we would, and so he and Luna arrived by Floo, Luna much rumpled, barefoot and owl-eyed, with all of her night things stuffed into a pillow case.
I took her upstairs and got her settled in with Ginny, while Arthur did his tactful best to calm down Xenophilius. The poor man is extremely distressed over losing the income from even one issue. Apparently, he is running things quite close to the line. By the time I arrived back in the kitchen and started making tea, Arthur had artfully suggested that if he had to fill in a missing issue anyway, he might choose a topic that would really seize attention, as well as sell a lot of copies. Perhaps he had some sensational recent reports of a really fabulous beastie about which he could print a story? Xenophilius lit up at this suggestion and started going on about some seven-legged monstrosity from Africa. I gathered that he hadn't written about it before now because reports of its seemed so contradictory, unlikely and sketchy (this, a quibble from Xenophilius!). Arthur responded with so much enthusiasm while still keeping a remarkably straight face that it cheered Xenophilius up beautifully. (I suppose that working at the Ministry of Magic has taught Arthur much about controlling his facial expressions when listening to nonsense.) I see Arthur's plan: have The Quibbler follow the dangerous issue with one that makes Xenophilius look as dotty as possible. Perhaps then the Ministry might conclude that he is harmless and end up leaving him alone.
I hope it will work. And that Arthur's gentle suggestion to Xenophilius (that perhaps he should leave sordid matters of politics to those lesser publications that didn't have such an urgent mission to fill the gaps in the public's need to learn about cutting-edge natural history) will fall upon fertile ground.
Ginny has taken Luna right to her heart. She is even moving her things into the twins' room for the nonce so the girls can share a room, so Luna won't be lonely at night. Luna is quite worried about her father, although doing her brave best to hide it. I will do my best to keep her busy and try to make her stay with us seem as much of a treat (rather than a necessity) as possible.