Veracity - ✔️

Six

"The powers of a man's mind
are directly proportional to the
quantity of coffee he drinks."
- Sir James Mackintosh

Six hours of constant writing and rewriting gave way to a beautiful one-page article on the Education Decree 22 and the Ministry's hinky involvement in Education. Athene was quite proud of herself as she watched an owl fly out of her shop with several copies of her article. Each member of the Order was set to receive a copy along with Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and some other students enrolled at Hogwarts.

Athene's pride only grew as the line outside of Epeolatry began to form as news got out about her latest article. There had to be at least twenty people loitering outside of her little shop. That was approximately twelve more people than usual. A sense of giddiness was curling in the pit of her stomach. Her excitement only grew as the people poured into the bookstore, and a smile exercised the muscles in her mouth.

The smile didn't leave her face, even when someone told her how wrong she was about the Ministry. The only thing that was in her article was the truth, and if Karen Lockwood didn't believe it, well, that wasn't Athene's problem.

The only thing that could possibly ruin her mood floated into her shop around noon. There had been a brief lull in her day. She had just pulled out a ham sandwich when a silvery Patronus completely shattered her mood and the rest of her afternoon. Dumbledore had claimed that the Order communicated by Patronus, but this was the first time she'd seen anything of the sort.

"An urgent meeting will be held at Headquarters in 30 minutes."

An urgent Order meeting was just what Athene needed. She was running on three hours of sleep, and a muggle wonder called caffeine. Truthfully, she was grasping to reality by a thread. Her eyes fluttered, the dark abyss of sleep threatened to pull her under, and she felt awful. But if this meeting was important than by Merlin, she was determined to be there.

When Athene arrived at Grimmauld Place, she was exactly three minutes late. She stumbled through the dusty hallway and fell into the main meeting room: the kitchen. The room was already filled with several members of the Order with a few key members - such as Charlie Weasley and Mad Eye Moody - missing. Dumbledore sat at the head of the table, and it seemed that he was discussing something important.

"It is our belief that Podmore has been compromised," Dumbledore spoke calmly, a firmness hidden under the years of wisdom. "He was caught trying to break into the Department of Mysteries on August 31."

Athene pictured the man in her head. Sturgis Podmore had served in the Order during the First Wizarding War, and he had supposedly known her parents. He had only spoken to Athene once, and he had left her with the promise of more information on her parents. That had been nearly a month ago, and they had yet to speak again.

"Impossible," Sirius rubbed his chin, "Sturgis was a good man and loyal to the Order." Athene watched as the table erupted into discussion. Many stood by the fact that Sturgis was a good Wizard who was loyal to the Order while others commented on his odd behavior. It was complete chaos with no rhyme or reason.

"I'm really sorry," Athene stood from her seated position to gain the attention of the arguing group, "I'm running on an empty tank, but it seems to me that Mr. Podmore might have been placed under the Imperius curse." She wobbled before falling back into her chair and resting her head in her hands. The table stared at her in shock, but she paid it no attention.

"She's got a point," Tonks nodded her head in agreement, "Somebody coulda' got to him while he was on duty. Made him do the Dark Lord's dirty work so that the Death Eaters wouldn't get caught."

Quiet mumbles of agreement broke the silence, and it seemed that the Order had come to the conclusion that it wanted. "If that's all-"

"That is not all," Dumbledore cut Athene off, "Sit down, Athene." Once again, Athene fell back into her chair and cursed herself for not getting more sleep the night before. "It is also my belief that the Ministry has more than Dolores Umbridge planned for Hogwarts."

Things began to click in Athene's mind. When she had visited Hogwarts and Dumbledore hadn't spoken up for himself or when Umbridge refused to give straight answers. The famed Professor Dumbledore didn't even attempt to correct her. He had known that there was something else going on and had played the Ministry. It was a smart plan to stay quiet, play ignorant, but Athene couldn't help but wonder as to how long it would last. "Education Decree 22 is just the beginning."

"We need to be careful, and we need to be informed about who we're going up against. Athene," her head shot up and looked at Dumbledore, suddenly wide awake, "I need you to write an article on Dolores Umbridge."

Author's Note:
A bit of a shorter chapter here, but oh well. I got what I wanted out of it. The funny thing is, when I planned this out, there were more bullet points for this one than the one for the longer chapters.