Terry Boot Longbottom, once known as boot

Fred? You around?

You said I could talk to you or George. If I needed to.

I'm an official member of Settlement 4's Zulu Company now. There was an opening, so I asked to be considered. It was quite a process. Once I had permission from my company Captain, Daralis MacHeath, there was a group interview with all of Settlement 4's captains (three of them). They asked all sorts of stuff, like what would I do if I was trying to lead a family of refugees to safety and ran into a work detail from their camp. Or a squad of MLE, or a picnicking family of purebloods? When would I use my wand, and what spells would I use? When would I try to hide, what muggle fighting techniques would I use, and under what conditions; how would I round up my charges if they panicked and scattered? Or if they refused to follow my orders? How could I find my way back to camp if I became lost, or were blocked by Enforcers? Reckon some of the CCF stuff you lot have learned would have helped me answer, but I did the best I could.

After those interviews, I guess they talked over all the candidates with Settlement 4's Major, Brett Ward. Dunno who else they consulted with, maybe even the Lieutenant-Colonels at Central, but I waited several days, wondering.

Finally, Reece Sunderland, one of Settlement 4's Zulu Lieutenants, stole in at dawn into the shelter were I've been staying with Dudley and Finn. Scared me half to death when he woke me up--he's a big man, but he can be as quiet as Kingsley--and he told me to grab my kit and come with him. That's how I learned I was in.

This week I've been listening to one-on-one lessons and doing other training. Tracking, Defence, Orienteering. Those sessions we had at Moddey Dhoo have been really helpful. My trainers are trying to hide their reactions, I guess, but I have the feeling I've pleased them, because I overheard one of them talking to one of the Zulus from Settlement 3 about how I was doing. He sounded pretty proud that I was the only animagus among all the Zulus, and he said it was going to come in dead useful.

So far the only excursions I've taken away from the Settlement were with a couple of other Zulus, a man and a woman, to fetch back milk from a neighbouring farm that's friendly with the Band, in the dead of night. But I've heard they've had a button contact say that there are a few people who are going to try to escape from a work detail that will be in the area next week, and my Lieutenant has promised he'll allow me to go along for that.

I'm pleased about this change. It feels as though I'm finally getting to use my skills for a reason.

Hermione?

It happened to me, too. The 'soiree,' remember?

If you want to talk, I'll listen.

If you don't, that's all right, too.

I'm sorry.

I had hoped to meet up with Ron tonight for another practise session with him and Professor Dumbledore, but maybe I missed him? Or misunderstood the time. I was backed into the alcove of the statue of Bufarious the Befuddled, which is a good place to look at the students coming from three different directions, without them being able to spot me. (It's deeply in shadow, too, and the fact that Cedric turns my fur black after I transform in the morning makes me even less visible).

Hermione, you walked right by me without seeing me. You looked so happy, almost like you were floating on air.

I had to put my head down on my paws and shut my eyes to tamp down the urge to go after you. But it was great to see you, if even for just a fleeting moment.

Ron, I'll stay here for another hour if you still want to meet up tonight (just transformed quick to write this up when most everyone is in dinner).

This was the first safe place I ever had that I could remember.

This was the first place I could be Terry instead of boot.

I've stayed up late, re-reading everything. Almost wishing I could memorise it, really. Even the terrible things. Will I not be able to read things that even I wrote tomorrow?

I will miss everything you wrote to encourage me, especially Fred and George. I never would have made it through if it hadn't been for all of you.

Maybe it's better that way. When I re-read what boot wrote, it's almost as if what I'm reading was written by an entirely different person. boot and I are moving further and further apart, and once the lock closes for me, in a way it will be like leaving him behind.

Except not really, or at least not entirely. I hated boot, mostly, but one thing you can certainly say for him was that he was a survivor. That part I'll take with me, wherever I go.

Please keep questioning things, and encouraging each other, and being kind to each other here. That can make a difference even in the lives of people who aren't on this Lock. Venting is good, but remember not to be too hard on or impatient with the adults, or at least not all the time (and I'm not just saying that because I'll be one). I've lived close to Mr and Mrs Longbottom, and I'm starting to see that things aren't always as cut and dried as I used to think they should be. Whenever you think they're being weak or cowardly or too stupid to live, maybe consider that sometimes they do have good reasons for the things they say or do. It could be you just might not understand or know about them yet.

Tomorrow I'll be seventeen, a wizard come of age with my own wand in my hand. I'm so grateful for everything that's brought me to that point, and this Lock has been a huge part of that.

See you on the Order Lock.

Did Mr Longbottom smell different to you?

Well, I mean different, aside from taking into consideration the fact he'd been battling in sea air, around fires, and then had a bunch of stinking potions poured down his throat. I dunno. Something seems off. Maybe? I can't tell if it's the low notes, what you call the signature, or the tang--what he gets from the environment and what he eats and drinks. (All those potions in other words. Phew, that nutritional replenisher Madam Pomfrey uses is rank.) Or if it's the afterbuzz, the magical harmonics.

Tell me I'm imagining things. I suppose I don't have enough experience to figure it out, but perhaps you and Remus do?

Like I said, I dunno. It's not quite full moon, which I understand is Remus' best time for figuring out scents. Or maybe with Sirius hurt so bad neither of you noticed? It's not as though you didn't have other things on your mind.

Dudley and I have been here almost a week now.

It's a bit confusing, but I think I have the way things are structured mostly figured out now. Sherwood is not just one encampment anymore, but an expanding web of them, seven settlements in all at the moment. Of course, it isn't safe to keep too many people together in one spot. There's also Central Command, which is separate from the settlements, but coordinates with all of them. Will Davidson's the head of the Sherwood Band and although he takes care to rotate among all the settlements every two weeks, he spends a good deal of time at Central. He's taken the rank of Colonel. Some people thought he should be our General, but he refused that, saying that 'Colonel' was more appropriate, considering the level of service he'd reached in the SAS.

The people directly under him at Central, the Lieutenant-Colonels, do the strategic and long-range thinking. They each have their specific units (with people under them) based on the functions broken out to help run the settlements. John Turner's one of those. Guess I'll learn more about that later.

Each settlement's within about a day's walk of one of the Protectorate's camps. Sherwood does their best to build network ties with people inside the camps, using the buttons, both to get supplies in (and sometimes out, if it's a hungry time during the winter), and to help smuggle people out to escape, as long as it can be done without the camp administrators noticing.

The settlements, each led by a Major, are numbered, and then each is broken down into three to five companies. Those are led by Captains. The company names sound sort of strange to me, but supposedly they're part of a traditional military code. So you might be in 'Settlement 1, Bravo Company' or Settlement 6, Foxtrot Company.' I'm with Settlement 4, Charlie Company.

Then there are what they call the 'Zulu Companies,' which are scouting groups, each associated with a settlement. They're flexible: might be two people going out on bivouac for one night or ten people going out for a week. If they break into three groups, they're called 'Zulu 1, Zulu 2, and Zulu 3' but when they're operating as one unit, they're just 'Zulu.' They travel lightly, staying in tents, or even just bedrolls on the ground. Those people are the ones who know the territory around each settlement just like the back of their hand. They go out to procure food for the settlements, either from people helping us from within the camps, or from sympathetic local farmers. We try not to take too much from any one source. They also try to find muggles or muggleborns who have escaped from the camps or who have left a work detail, and they bring them to safety. The Zulus are led by Captains, too, and although they're supplied by the Settlements, they work closely with Central, often doing errands for them.

It's clear there's been so much thought put into everything. Anytime someone new arrives, they're assigned to a settlement and company, and they spend the first month either building their shelter or helping adapt an existing one so it can be shared. Me and Dudley are moving into Tim and Finbar's, for instance. (They've been pleased to share space with us, but to tell the truth, Finbar snores something awful. Worse than Dudley. It's like a duet of muggle machinery, Tim says. That'll take getting used to.) Each settlement designs their shelters depending on the local terrain and materials. In our settlement, they're made with wood over dug-out pits. Posts are shoved into the ground and then covered with branches and camouflage spells.

You join the general chore roster for your company (helping with building fires, cooking meals, sanitation and so on) until they figure out what you can do. If you have a wand, you get tested to see how good you are at Defence, and then you might get training, but muggles who can fight get muggle fighting training, too.

I took the Defence test third day I was here. They said my response spells are fast enough, but I need to work in more fine-point aiming. They'll drill me on that. My animagus ability certainly got a LOT of attention. The person testing me said it might make me a really good sentry, because I can hide so much more easily.

On the other hand, now that some people have found out I can do it, it's been a little bit of a nuisance. There are a couple of young woman in my company always asking me to transform. I did it a time or two, just to be obliging, but it wasn't like they wanted me to transform for any useful purpose. All they do is giggle at me.

For Dudley's Defence test, they said he needed to work on his footwork, but he can pack a lot of power in his punches.

Duties expand as you prove yourself more. After the first couple months, you might be trusted to be an inner sentry, and after a few more, you can be an outer sentry, one who watches for trouble at the edge of the perimeter wards.

Dunno what I'll end up doing. Maybe sentry duty, like they say, but I might prefer to volunteer to assist the button network eventually: sending and receiving messages and passing them on to the right people.

Sleepy. Besides the concert in our shelter from Dudley and Finbar, I was up early this morning. It rained, and we'd missed a spot on the roof of our shelter when we were doing the waterproofing charms. Hope it stays dry tonight.

I do miss the sea.

Thank you for what you did for Hermione.

I don't think you could have given her anything better.