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[alt_gredforge]

We wanted to raise an idea with you. Well, mostly with Dad, but the rest of you at Hogwarts might want to weigh in. It's about Nicholas Towler. (For the rest of you, he's one of Mark Towler's brothers--Mark was one of those killed at the Frost Faire. And so to make nice the Ministry had the bright idea to raise the remaining Towlers from half-blood to pureblood, remember?)

He's a Gryffindor like us, and we know him pretty well. He was a Chaser with us on the Quidditch team, and a Prefect, and we've played loads of chess with him over the years. Ron's played him, too.

Anyway. We had a long talk with him on the train on the way home. The thing is, he's always hoped for a job at the Ministry, but he's worried he won't get one. Because people won't think he's as good as a real pureblood. Or they even think he's bad luck. He tried to get a jump on things, applied for some jobs already by owl, but all he's received back so far are rejections. Some of them even a bit snippy, almost like, how could you think we'd ever consider someone like you?

Dad, do you think you might be able to put in a word for him, maybe? The thing is, we wonder if he might be a help to us. The Order we mean, in the future. You get a sense of a person after rubbing shoulders with him for six years. But more than that...well, he has a good sense of humour, and he knows how to have fun, but something's changed in him the past few months. Since February. Well of course what happened showed him a whole world of ugly, made him think about things. Maybe nobody else would have noticed it, but we know him so well.

We just have a sense that he might be a good candidate for recruitment in the future. Call it a gut feeling, but you know our intuition's good. What do you say?

Comments

[alt_arthur]

Interesting thought, boys. There is some shifting around going on: they've had to plug some holes in Muggle Domestication with people from my department, because they're turning Muggle Domestication upside down, what with the investigation since Norma's death.

So we may have an opening soon. Perhaps it might be possible.

[alt_bill]

I remember, I've met him. I went to fetch him and his brother from Hogwarts to take them to that stupid elevation-to-pureblood ceremony.

They were both very quiet; shock, you know. Still, I distinctly remember one detail: right before he went into the room to receive the certificate, Nicholas rolled his eyes at me and said under his breath, 'What a bloody farce.'

Fred and George may be on to something.

[alt_gredforge]

Imagine that.

[alt_bill]

Well, I always know you're up to something. It's just since April that I've gained new respect for the times you're on to something.

Minerva? Poppy? Pomona? What do you think? Or Macnair? You taught him too, didn't you?

[alt_macnair]

Not recently. But recall him as fairly sharp, and a quick learner. Good-natured enough. Too much, maybe. Took the mick from others quite a bit as a result. Might be a bit on the naive side, easily taken in and such. But that might've changed after recent events.

[alt_poppy]

Ah. The Towler brothers.

Yes, indeed.

Trouble. Almost on a scale with a certain pair of Weasleys. Nearly as good natured, as well.

Not, perhaps, as discerning. The one just leaving school, this Nicholas, has been to see me more than once because he was taken in by someone's cleverness. Mind you, I don't believe he's the sort to become a target out of weakness, but because he ends up embroiled in cyclical bouts of 'giving as one gets'. I do think he's a good sort, though and wish him well.

Whether that makes him a good prospect for your department or for our work, I can't say. But he's certainly worth your time to consider the matter, Arthur.