Ask me anything!

[alt_rachel]

I am Rachel Brodie, former head of Albion MLE, Order of the Phoenix member, Dogstar member, and general troublemaker. Ask me anything!

Several of my old Aurors promised to come by and answer questions as well -- Ron Weasley, Hydra Finch-Fletchley, Draco Malfoy, Jason Montague -- and they can answer questions, too. And hey, some of our old friends promised to read along so WHO KNOWS what sorts of questions you might be able to get answered (ALICE) (#nopromises)

(If you have questions about the Battle of Penzance, which ended the Albion wizarding war 17 years ago this week, you'll want to ask someone other than me -- I was badly injured the night before it happened, and sat that battle out. But Lee Jordan talked me into this, he seemed to think people would have some questions.)

I actually have to step out for a bit but I promise I'll come back and answer questions later.

Comments

[elisem]

What skills and experiences did Dogstar and the Order, respectively, give you personally? Any comments on the strengths and weaknesses of both organizational models?

[alt_rachel]

Both Dogstar and the Order gave me hope. Dogstar gave me hope that I wasn't alone in my convictions. The Order gave me hope that we could actually change things. In terms of skills -- I arrived at both organisations with a fairly extensive skillset, but of course after the May Battle, when Alice put me in charge of Albion's MLE, I had to learn how to be an administrator, a manager, and a recruiter. I'd supervised a few people in MEU, like Jason and the occasional trainee, but to a significant extent I had no damn idea what I was doing. The relatively low number of deaths during that summer should be credited to my recruits' skills as Aurors, and not my ability to do appropriate risk assessment.

As far as the two organisational models -- well. The Order's idea of operational security was like a Gryffindor's idea of a clever plan. (You know that one, right? "All together, on three!") The Order lock was both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. We had the ability to communicate securely, which was a huge advantage at times. But this also meant that every Order member knew every other Order member. Even with a cell structure, Dogstar was nearly wiped out at one point. I think the Order could have been completely eliminated, if they'd captured and successfully interrogated even a single person who was on the Lock.