Moving on

Kingsley did not like where this was going. Clearly, Jess and Robert disagreed with each other, and being the leaders of the wizarding world, that was not a good thing. Shacklebolt personally agreed somewhat with both of them, though of course, he leaned towards the order's side. He thought Jess was right about Robert appointing known ex-death eaters to high ranks, but it didn't matter either way, all that was in the past. He had thought they would be talking about their next move, rather than arguing about why this had happened.

"Robert, don't be so easy to trust people in the future. Whether Thaor has been working for us or not is debatable, but you must realize that the death eaters can make people do things for them in many ways. Coercing, intimidating, mind control… We had to be careful at a time like this and we weren't. And also, I must say we should have resisted. Thaor should not have handed Grindelwald the ministry. Many would die if Grindelwald attacked the ministry with all his force, but we will lose many anyways now. What do you think Grindelwald will do next?" he questioned rhetorically. They all knew, of course, there wasn't too much difference in Grindelwald and Voldemort. Muggles would be attacked, muggle-borns sent to azkaban, it was a catastrophe, but Kingsley didn't want to point fingers, they had to move on. Sighing, Kingsley took his tea with a thanks and sipped it for a while, slowly refocusing his thoughts.

"You two, stop fighting like children, I know what has happened is horrible, but we need to plan our next move to minimize the damage." Shacklebolt said, as calm as still water. "Even if we have some undercover people helping us, it won't matter unless they are on exactly next to Grindelwald, in his inner circle. I doubt all the death eaters are happy about Grindelwald, especially those loyal to Voldemort. They might help us, even if they aren't the greatest allies, they would still be a good source of information. After that, some of us should be spread around London. St.Mungos especially, I have a feeling that will be Grindelwalds next target."

Kingsley thought that was a pretty good plan, but he wasn't done speaking yet. "And Robert, if we are going to win this, you are going to have to be more open with us and consider yourself to be a part of the order as well. I don't like this division between you two. I hope you can sort it out quickly."

Jess frowned slightly and opened his mouth to speak, but found that he was cut off by Kingsley having his two cents.

"Pretty much took the words out of my mouth," he said, a slightly impressed tone in his voice as he looked at Kingsley.

"Look, I don't want to fight, but there are things which need to be said. Not debated and discussed, but merely laid out on the table. They're out now, what you do with it is up to you, ignore it if you will, but they're just things to consider," he said.

"However, just one more thing," he said, holding his hands up in a clear sign of defence, "Books can be misread, and covers can be indicative of what lies within. I've read the pamphlets given out by the '97 administration, and if I'd been around at the time, I would have read the cover then tossed them aside. Also, for the record, I would have said no if you'd offered the position Robert," he said, "As you said, I'm the leader of an illegal vigilante group, I can recognise how bad that position would be for me. The public would rip out your throat," he told him.

"We need to plan for the future, we have numbers which are probably equal, if not greater than his inner circle, and we have a stronger bond than he does. My history with Dark Wizards has told many things, and most apparent seems to be that they don't make friends, and they're distrustful, so in my opinion one of them is worth two of us... that is if we can overcome our arguments," he said with a quick look to Robert.

"If you have people in his ring, I applaud you, however if Thaor is the only person there, I don't like your chances. From what we saw at the battle, they've had a falling out, and if I were Grindelwald, I wouldn't be trusting him one little bit," he told them both.

"So, what do you propose we do now gents? Intelligence is, of course, very important, but we need to know what we can do with it. Robert, what information have you got so far?"

"For starters, I have 2 people deliberately in the Death Eaters. I have two inside Hogwarts in various positions. I have two in Potters Army--yes, students. Good, dedicated, very capable fighters. We need people on the inside with what is happening with the students, and who better to know than another student? The young people I have asked are going in with their eyes wide open. One of them I am the guardian of. I've been training him in the summers. He's more than he looks like, and I have his guardianship papers well buried. It will be almost impossible for Grindlewald to see that he is linked to me. I have several people inside the ministry in various departments stil.

"And, I deliberately put you as Acting Chief Warlock, Jess. My family and Khaat's pregnancy aside, I wanted you in there for now. Furthermore, I am working on a new, very advanced polyjuice potion. I may well have need of it. I have some of the hair of Albus Dumbledore. Furthermore, Dumbledore left his pensieve with all its memories in it to my wife. She and I have every memory Albus ever put in there--including memories of Gellert Grindlewald. It may well be of great use to us.

"I have hired a fighter as the Acting Director of St. Mungos. I trust in my healers, but I do need that place protected since no one but Khaat and me ever saw it as a security risk. Never mind that the deepest medical secrets of every witch and wizard in our world is kept there. I see that as potentially being a very powerful weapon in the wrong hands. And I have done my best to make it completely inaccessible.

"How's that for starters?" he asked, not wanting to lay out everything at once.

((Why would Dumbledore leave Grindelwald's memories with Robert's wife? Just wondering. When there was Harry, Lupin, Kingsley etc. ))

Kingsley was impressed by how much Robert had prepared for this. He was acting almost like his brother, Remus, who always took the initiative. He was troubled by a one thing he had said though. "Impressive Robert, but if you indeed have Dumbledore's hair Robert, I would ask you not to use it. That would be immoral, even if using it does help us in whatever way your planning," Kingsley replied uneasily.

OOC: I applied for that for Kate Lupin when I first made her a looooong time ago. I'll try to cover it in my post.

Robert opened a desk drawer and drew forth a test tube with a cork in the top. In the tube was a rather large quantity of long grey hair. "I do have the hair," he said. "But, I'm sure you both know as well as I do that polyjuice is a completely foul tasting potion. It always tastes like someone's dirty boxers. I do not have any desire to taste anyone's dirty shorts, no matter how famous they were. This would only be a measure of last resort.

"What would give us an advantage if we had to use it is the fact that we do have the memories to go with it. It would certainly make the polyjuice more effective as a weapon if we had to use it. We have not told more than a couple of people that we had the pensieve. When Kate was in Hogwarts, she was particularly gifted as a seer. The fact that I am Remus's brother made Kate and I a good safehaven for that information. As we understood when we got the pensieve, Dumbledore wanted the pensieve well hidden but avaiable for Order or Ministry members if the need came up to use it to protect our world. If there was anything predictable about Albus Dumbledore, it was that he was an expert at using the unexpected to his advantage. I always presumed that was the reason he gave the pensieve to Kate. He wanted it to go to a seer, and he wanted it well hidden, protected in safe hands and used only if it became absolutely necessary. I think he wanted to put it someplace where people would not look for it. We have never had to use it. Perhaps we wont' have to now either. But it is available to us."