Order of the Phoenix Meeting 17

Jack scowled deeply at Jess as he stole the Firewhiskey from them. "Oho..." she said in a stunned, quiet voice. "You don't know the war you've started Jess." Michael gave her a look that promised more Firewhiskey and friendship, so she settled down. She pointed her middle and index finger to her eyes and pointed her finger at Jess, suggesting he watch himself. But a twinkle in her eye told him she was not too serious.

But she kind of was.

Everyone began entering and settling and Jack felt the real purpose for their meeting here tonight. She vaguely wondered if it had anything to do with the recent end of the alliance with the Death Eaters. When they began, though, Jack felt her eyebrows meet and reeled her head back. Really? A cold? That was their reason to meet tonight?

She really did need that Firewhiskey then.

Mariana was thinking slowly today so by the time she processed being introduced to the new Anna person they already moved on to more important issues. People were just storming inside the room, some grouchy and some more cheerful though no one's entrance was unnoticed. She followed the entering people with her eyes before they moved on to the desease announcement.

"And where are we expected to find these prehistoric ingridients? If the plants or the animals are dead and we need some part from those, the only place to find them is a museum or we can simply go dig for them ourselves." she asked after Robert finished his speech. She did not mind at all going to search for those ingridients, after all investigating was her favorite summer hobby. This should be intresting, her first healer research.

Jess nodded as Robert spoke, before listening to Mari's interjection. "No, if it were that easy there'd be no need for us to do anything. You should all feel very special, evidently the minister has placed higher faith in us than in his own aurors (though there was nothing really new about that) - the two of us have been talking, and have decided that it shall fall to us to attempt to find these ingredients. These aren't hard to get, we think, the real problem lies in that we've both looked at some of these potion books, and have both only found vague references to where we can find these ingredients," he explained, standing up and conjuring up a map of the UK which he allowed to magically hold itself in the air.

"For example, we know that there's a very distinct beetle that lives here," he said, circling the Forbidden Forest, "that when crushed, exerts a juice which is good at recolouring skin," he explained, scratching his arm subconsciously as he spoke. "And also, there's meant to be a reef like plant that can be found at the bottom of Loch Ness which helps contain the spread of rashes. These are just a few of the ingredients that we've found, but Robert knows a lot more about their properties and their effects than I do - I've just been looking up how to find it all," he explained, a slight manic grin in his face.

"Well we have to have enough for everyone who has been affected. Are there any muggles that seem to have gotten this mysterious illness?" Damon asked as he looked at Jess and Robert. "There's a lot of people who have the illness and most of them are probably frightened as to what will happen when it goes untreated for much longer. If we can get enough of these things quickly the more people will be happy to rid themselves of the illness. I think we need to work fast but efficiently enough to get the antidote without anyone else dying from this."

Jack practically jumped out of her seat halfway through Jess' speech, raising her hand. She realized she had better wait, so she sat down and waited to him to finish before she said, "Dibs on Loch Ness. I've been there- the monster and I are tight." She beat a fist over her heart as though to indicate they were... ehem, 'homies.' "Really, I can handle that on my own."

Jack glanced at Damon and nodded. Muggles could present a problem. "And how are we going to brew that much?" She paused. "Amelia's still Potions master, right? I could ask her for a list of smart students capable of doing portions of the brewing. She could give extra credit or assign it in class or something..."

"Might I interject here?" Robert asked. "Before you all run off to chop off every magical herb at the roots or go on a hunting spree of every magical creature--there is a critical concern here that will dictate your movements." He paused to be sure they were all ready to truly hear him. "We do not have all the answers of what is causing this. I have been in touch with the muggle prime minister, as well as some of the ministers of magic from other countries.

"It is important to note that the only people who seem to be getting this are witches and wizards here. Nowhere else in the world. And--to the best of what we know, it is not affecting muggles. Nor do I see the slightest evidence to suggest that it is passed by sneezing, coughing lack of handwashing,...the pattern still appears to be random.

"So, I have been in consulatation with my staff. Amelia Lyons is very skilled with potions she is not an experience potions master. Right now, most of our potions makers, with few exceptions, are lacking substantial experience. I welcome their help, but Amelia is going to be needed at the school. This is escalating sharply through the school already. It needs its headmistress.

"And--whoever decides to do the research cannot be badly infected with this, at least not obviously, or it risks contamination of the research or, worse yet, incomplete research. The only sensible way to do that is with some level of isolation to protect the work. I am preparing to do that in a limited way so that I can continue to hold up my responsibilities.

"For now, what I need from you is only substantial sized samples in order to do research. It is certainly possible for us to make any potion in a highly concentrated manner so that it does not need to strip us of all our resources, but until we know which ingredients we need, we might do well to not go harvesting every magical resource on the list to its utter limits. Those ingredients that turn out to be essential for the final potion will be the ones that we will need to return and get more of. You might want to keep careful notes about where you find the ingredients so that you can get more if those turn out to be what we need."

She listened to Robert's explanation and politely nodded her head, accepting his words and the answers he had provided them with. Something he had said struck a chord with her and she cleared her throat. "As far as hunting the magical creatures- uh, you make sure you do it legally and humanely. I will have no qualms about having an Order member arrested." She glanced around, folding her arms. She was not bluffing and her eyes dared them all to treat it as such. She was sure there would not be a problem, but those creatures were her responsibility and her passion. She would not have them murdered in a panic.

It was hard to say where this topic was going so instead of discussing about the ministry or the headmistress of Hogwarts, she decided to keep herself on the topic of research as it was best way she had to help with being useful at the same time. "Have you located any other ingredients which would help us? Forbidden forest and Loch Ness can be taken care of in a day and two people would be sufficient for the task." she asked not really knowing whether to look at Jess or Robert so she just observed them both.

"If you need help with the research Robert i will be happy to help. I am not a potions master like you, but i still know some things. We're running against the clock after all." she added quickly taking another sip of her coffee to keep herself busy and stop talking so much.

Jess snorted into his mug of butterbeer as Jack spoke a grin appearing on his face briefly before it was wiped off as Robert elaborated on what he'd begun. "Of course, I don't think that anyone here would have interpreted that as my meaning, Robert," he added, "As I was saying, we already know of several ingredients that have a promising look to them through our studies of Robert's library. Whilst it's not much, it's a good start. Quantity may be a bit of a problem, I will admit, but I think that discovering the effects of the ingredients will be the most difficult part, as after that we can work on replicating them," he explained.

He couldn't help but grin again as Jack spoke up once more, adding her own two cents to the matter. "Rest assured, it will be humane," he confirmed, before listening to what Mari was saying.

His reaction this time was considerably different, he frowned and shook his head as she spoke, waiting until he was done before interjecting. "Sorry, but you think that two people could cover the Forbidden forest in a day? I very much doubt anyone can claim to know everything about the Forbidden Forest, luckily we know the approximate location of that particular beetle, and the sort of conditions that it can be found in, but a single day with one or two people?" He asked incredulously, a skeptical look set firm on his face. "No, I was looking more at having groups of five or six camping out for quite a few days," he explained. "Of course I'm sure the Ministry will provide compensation for any loss you face for missing work over this period of time - this is just too important to delay."

"Under the circumstances," Robert said, "the Ministry does have the ability to financially compensate those who join the quest or the lab researchers or the extra healers who would assist with this. Since this, at this point, seems to be only affecting citizens with magical abilities, that would make it a Ministry matter. But this has spread so quickly, that we need more help than what we actually have on staff, to be frank with you all. We do have the ability to hire people for singular assignments or missions, and this would certainly be one of those times. If we agree to do this, I can send Michael or Jack back to the ministry to my secretary to get the contracts for missions based work so that all is in order. The pay continues only so long as the mission continues. Of course, if you don't mind being without one or both of them for a few moments, Jess."

"But you're right, Jess. Not only are there many rare ingredients to get, but they are located in areas that are difficult to search and not without dangers of their own. This is not going to be like picking wildflowers. You need to be prepared to face some difficult conditions."

Robert looked at Michael, who cast a sly smile at Jack, hoping she would take the hint and go with him. Robert resisted the urge to laugh. Michael was always looking for some opportunity to suppress some rule or restriction he didn't like. He had no doubt he would get the paperwork swiftly, but there might be an extra 30 seconds or so before he came back. And that was fine with Robert.