A few notes to wrap this one up:
- Amazing that HK won Immunity by doing nothing and opening not one gift!
![(rofl)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/rofl.png)
Such a stark contrast to Diggle who was so precise but still thought there'd been a mistake when Lucius started boasting about 9 seconds (not realising it was about when the Member Group was joined, not how long it took to post acceptance; like we were gonna do another day of aligning timestamps
![B-|](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/notamused.png)
)
- It basically went as I outlined above, except that Yaxley for some reason decided to accept all the dummy prizes? Not sure if out of a good sense of humour or a hope there'd be more too them (Moody took the ghost punishment hoping it'd keep him Immune over the merge weekend) but yeah by the time the later Gifts rolled around HK was literally the only one eligible for Immunity. The lesson here isn't laziness though, it's
don't discuss the ongoing Challenges FFS!- Lucius was locked in as the DoM vote from the start of the round. Even Tonks was tiring of him, but also secretly hoping for a Switch to spare him. Tonks did tell him flat out it would be him, and of course he's claiming the whole week was a ploy to get Switched. Which... well let's just say it certainly wouldn't have worked at any point before tonight and I suspect he'd be singing a different song in St Mungos.
- Not much other drama on DoM. Had Lucius won immunity it probably would have been Regulus? But reluctantly, and knowing he'd be saved by a Switch. It might have turned chaotic like the Pyrites round, but honestly I think comparing notes on Lucius (who really ramped up the cross-checkable bullshit even more) has weirdly bonded the four from the Order back together, and stopped them from focusing so much on the paranoia of who got the Item or lied about clues at Grimauld Place.
- I'm legitimately not sure whether HK or Karkaroff would have been the target on TDP had neither won Immunity. Plans got as far as splitting votes between them and then revoting for whoever they wanted gone before the announcement that HK was Immune and they'd need to pile on Karkaroff.
- I get the sense that it probably would have been Karkaroff regardless though. Last round it was a real debate for a while between HK and Pyrites, but since then Karkaroff became far more dislikable. And the mere fact that HK was no longer a given for his/Tonks' threat level shows where the momentum was swinging. This despite a few different people wondering if it was a mistake to want Karkaroff out now just for being annoying.
- HK turned on Karkaroff quite dramatically too, and it seems more like he's legitimately been put off rather than just sensing the tide. It's enough though that people were widely comparing Karkaroff complaints: He shut down some conversations, took others badly (one in particular stands out where Crouch asked to avoid a particular avenue for ID reasons was interpreted as not wanting to strategise together at all), and got rather angry at Yaxley for not sharing clues from Owl Post.
- I
think the Item clue blowup was legitimately a misunderstanding, as the only clue Yaxley himself received post-swap was the first section, which has exactly the same text as the first section of the pre-swap. The edges are different but if you just looked at it briefly and weren't scrambling to trade for the other sections (like Karkaroff assumed everyone would be) it's possible to really believe it wasn't a new set of clues, which is what Yaxley had said to Karkaroff - who took it as Yaxley being obtuse and withholding the real information.
- The Karkaroff-bashing wasn't limited to TDP, with Canary assuming the no-clue-for-you Owl Post was Karkaroff because why would Wood do such a thing
![:lol](https://i.imgur.com/X4ixXao.gif)
A contributing factor is that Diggle picked up on the fake Wood letter being Karkaroff, which doesn't help.
- Not fun that we needed to lose one of our paranoid overplaying villains right before a Merge (and their reunion!) but I'm glad it was Karkaroff. Not because Lucius has more potential (he may burn brighter this weekend but he'll almost certainly burn out quicker) but because Karkaroff's arc post-Rodolphus-debacle has been quite the downer.
- But Karkaroff did work out the clues right before the Magical Councils, and offer all the information up to HK. Which was sweet. Clearly going nowhere when it's a 7 hour task and Merge was clearly happening in under an hour, which HK knew and wasn't too polite to call out. But still a nice note and a bit of a positive to leave on. After all he'd done to mess up HK's game, leaving him with some information to share about and rebuild trust (even if Karkaroff mockery is part of that rebuilding process) when the Merge hits is a nice gesture. Even if it was intended as a last minute plea to hustle and save an ally.
- But Karkaroff used all that to throw HK under the bus after being voted out and left his Wand to Lucius whhhhhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyy? These Death Eaters
![:smh](//storage.proboards.com/7252598/images/qNnigqDBRwmLStksufWc.gif)
- Also full circle: Wood changing his mind at the last moment and casting Switch on Lucius!
![:wub](https://i.imgur.com/Wu7cQfz.gif)
Pushing them over 100 House Points for an instant ID Reveal at the Merge! Couch/Lily were so obviously going to hit that too and that's fun for them but also they knew it was coming; Wood/Lucius haven't even spoken directly in two weeks, and Wood has heard all the bad things about Lucius, and was supposed to be the bumbling student to Lucius' overthinking master. But now Wood is solely responsible for getting Lucius through the Swap... Incredible
![:fan](https://i.imgur.com/074wyXd.gif)