alt_lucius | News from Paris

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News from Paris

Received word that the referendum on muggleborn registration passed through the French Confederation to-day. Over the next sixty days, all mudbloods residing within the country shall be required to submit their wands to be registered. Any mudblood using an unregistered or unmarked wand shall be subject to arrest or fine. Have already sent congratulations to Dideron and Minister Rousseau. This marks a vital step in their campaign to align themselves more closely with the Protectorate - and a necessary one if our borders and countries are to become linked more openly than they have been.

As if to demonstrate this commitment, this month's Muggleborn Labour Committee came to complete agreement regarding the need for a decennial census within the camps. What the Committee could not determine with any consensus was whether or not to grant Carpenter's request for a hundred test subjects. His proposal showed merit, but some fundamental misunderstandings of the challenges facing their adoption as domestics. Although if successful, his method would virtually ensure the obedience of said servants. Nonetheless, until such time as he can prove to the committee's satisfaction that he adequately understand and has prepared for the risks, a one-hundred subject study is far too ambitious. Recommended he revisit the feasibility of conducting a five-person pilot instead, to be reviewed next quarter.

Excellent bit of sparring, however, on Wednesday. Ouroboros has revamped its course, which brought our party back to square one and led to some unintentional humour. I daresay Cadmus had grown entirely too used to the left turning after the third obstacle on the old course; it's now a right followed by a swift vault left onto the balance bridge. He saw it a split-second too late and bounced off the corner - right into my stunning spell (and thence into the water trap). I think the whole episode added perhaps ten seconds to the side's overall time. I very much doubt we can count on the same again, however.

Continue to note with interest how the newest feature of Our Lord's beneficence - Private Messages - has been adopted with both success and, it would seem, its own etiquette regarding appropriate use. Urquhart's misguided choices aside, it seems there are some topics still sensitive enough to warrant the formality of an owl. Though one wonders, in some cases, why it would be worth the bother. For example, if one addresses a private message, the contents are hidden but the recipients are named plainly for all to see. What then, one wonders, is the logic in using an owl to apologise for sending the first message? Particularly when to do so draws more attention than simply leaving the first message lie, and moreover when the matter had been concluded with no special need for additional communication? Believe the reasoning must either rest in the author's youth and inexperience, in her lack of exposure to any semblance of polite society or perhaps simply owing once more to her determination to prove that her complaint and request had no basis in validity in the first place. It could be a simple side-effect of residing in Gryffindor House - but one is acquainted with some Gryffindors who do have more sense than a transfigured turnip. Few of them, for certain, but it is possible. Well. No matter; this is why one has a competent clerk.

Another week-end of social obligation awaits: I believe it's to be an anniversary and a house-warming? Oh, and Narcissa has a shower or two on Sunday, I think, though thankfully I may count on those hours to catch up on manuscripts for Obscurus and new applications for entry into the Protectorate.

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No further rumblings from the Transfiguration corridor?

I'm sure that your uncle would be happy to help keep Carrow at bay, should you need immediate assistance.

He hasn't done anything physical. He hasn't really even done anything to try to humiliate me in front of everyone, like he often does to other kids. But he does keep...smiling at me. And he's decided to make me work with Milli instead of Harry, for whatever reason, even though Milli always works with Daphne.

I see you've written to Pansy. I don't know what you said to her, but I hope it's something that will make her use her head, for once. I don't know why she's decided that Weasley is her best mate above all others, or when she came to the conclusion that Harry and I don't matter, but she has. Do you know what she was doing on the day that Weasley was having a go at Harry for fainting? She was consoling Weasley, of all people - mucking about with him by the lake.

Don't tell her I told you any of that. She'll accuse me of telling on her, or something, and I don't even mean to. I just don't know what to do anymore.

Keep an eye out then, son, but do not give him reason to think you are concerned. Be respectful, yes, but show no fear. Fear is like blood in the water to a shark. As for your partnering, do what you can to compensate - or convince Miss Greengrass that if your marks suffer due to her former partner, she will suffer also.

As for Pansy ... I have quite washed my hands. We spoke extensively over the summer - that night she left the YPL trip to New London and turned up at the St James' house - about what she sees in the riff-raff she has attracted. There is a certain logic to keeping cannon-fodder about, but she has grown entirely too attached to her pets. Unfortunately, I am afraid it means that some lessons she must learn the hard way. She knows that I disapprove yet she refuses to disavow her 'friends,' despite already once experiencing some betrayal at their hands. (I take that to mean she has seen Weasley and Perks growing more involved with one another, perhaps? I confess her account was convoluted so I was unable to ascertain the whole cause of her distress at the time.) She also knows that since she persists in her defence of her associates, their failures reflect on her every bit as much as any success they may be able to accrue. It is on her head, therefore, if they bring her shame.

Rest easy on the subject of my reporting back to her; just remind her, if need be, to be careful invoking the endorsement of the Malfoys when it comes to upholding her cadre of adherents. And you may tell her I told you to protect our name and reputation in that regard, should you see fit.

I'm not afraid of him, not really. ~~Not in the way he thinks~~ If he could do something to hurt me then he would have already done it by now.

What do you mean that you've washed your hands of her? Do you mean you've given up?

Why do you think she persists, though? What could she be getting from Weasley and Longbottom that she isn't getting from the rest of the Slytherins? Ugh, it's just like when she wouldn't leave Regulus alone, even though he was a grown-up and had his own life to worry about. It's like she just wakes up on a whim one day and decides that some person is utterly snitch and nothing you can say or do will convince her otherwise.

I believe you are substantially correct regarding Carrow, son, but do not underestimate him. He may simply be putting you into a false sense of ... well, not security, precisely, but let us say, stability. He knows that I would dearly love to remove him from the school and would not like to hand me the opportunity, but he is unpredictable. Give him no excuse to exercise his jealousy.

I thought I had made myself plain? Clearly not. Perhaps I am too fond of my god-daughter to, ah, write her off completely, but on this issue I am quite as much at a loss as you are, son. She claims reason to believe them stalwart companions and yet freely admits that they have kept secrets from her and have used her for her status and prestige, to shield themselves from harm whilst at school. I see the transaction as wholly one-sided and disagree on the benefits she seems to perceive from continued association. Therefore I have determined that she must face the consequences of her decision to stand by them entirely without my support.

I had not known she has acquired Longbottom in her parade of misfits. The dregs of pureblood society, indeed. Disappointing. Exceedingly disappointing. And you're quite correct: No amount of reason will budge her. As I say, she is determined to learn the hard way that they are worth neither her time nor her protection. She will certainly learn that on this matter, at least, my protection toward her is withdrawn. Again, you have my full permission to remind her of that, should she at any time attempt to bring the weight of our name to bear against detractors.

Sorry I didn't answer you right away. I thought about this for a long time last night.

If reason won't budge her, what about sentiment? I think that sometimes, she feels like we're not real friends anymore, just two people who share a history in common. And you. I know I feel that way quite a lot, especially since she makes it so utterly clear that she prefers Weasley and Longbottom to everyone else. And Perks, too, but she's not really the problem.

Sometimes I want to just shut her out completely so that she knows just how isolated her choices have left her, but then, why should Weasley get to have her? Plus, with the way that she thinks, isolation will only make it clear to her that she made the right choice to begin with.

Also, I miss her sometimes.

God, why does she have to get so attached to pathetic misfits. And when anyone points out to her that they're misfits, we're just being horrid bullies.

This is why reason won't work. But she is sentimental, isn't she? She's a girl, after all.

Yes, it is a conundrum: Ostracising her would send her running into the arms of her followers, who should be only too happy to welcome her. On the other hand, indulging her attachments makes them seem acceptable.

I am not sure what kind of sentimental appeal might exert more pressure than that I have already applied, but if you have something in mind I do not see how it could make the situation worse.

I think you know what I wish to say, Little Bit.

I only hope those you have given your protection know what you offer - and express the proper appreciation.

How is your year thus far otherwise?

I can wager a fairly good guess.

In terms of classes, Runes is absolutely brilliant, as is Defence and Care of Magical Creatures, and I've been working very hard in Potions so far, and I'm hoping all that work will pay off with stronger marks this term. I guess up until this summer I didn't quite understand how Professor Slughorn was all that in Potions -- I mean, he was just my Professor, you know? But seeing his laboratory space at the Potioneers and all, I think it'd really be worth it to talk to him more about it. After I've worked a lot harder at it this term, of course.

And I've been making a solid effort at branching out, like you said. I've even been quite civil with Patil, even though she can be really annoying at times. And I've been practicing my French off and on with Draco and Daphne, too, which has been nice. ~~Sometimes I wish Draco would be a bit less~~

I do see what you mean about how we sometimes have to pay a price for the choice of friends we have. Right now, though, I still think the cost I'm paying is worth my while.

But I do listen to you, and if I ever decide that it isn't, it'll be your advice that helps me sort it out. I'm not going into this blind, you know.

While you were in school, who were your really close friends? Not just people that did things for you that you wanted, but people you genuinely liked, and who you trusted? I'm just curious, with all this talk of my friends and all, who you chose to be friends with and why.

I admit I pay little attention to Miss Patil. Draco seems to find her reasonable company, though. What perturbs you about the girl?

Draco tells me he would spend more time with you as well, were it not for your other acquaintances. It does seem odd that you could give such preferment to relationships that are so one-sided. What benefit do you receive that you could not obtain from those who have been lifelong friends - and who do not bear such obvious handicaps to acceptability? Longbottom, for example? His grandmother may have tried to prevent her son's stains from tarring him but to little avail, as I have heard it. The whole family have been disappointing for generations; I hardly think your associate will reverse their reputations single-handed. You may rightly suspect that he has every reason to be grateful of your assistance, for it elevates him at any angle: Lessons, society, &c., but it only lowers you to his level.

As for my friends, I am surprised you should ask. Your father, of course, and Mr Baddock, whom you have met, were my roommates and closest confidantes, as you know. Cadmus Mulciber was also in our year and our dormitory and has remained a good friend. In my day it was not general practice to closely befriend students in other Houses, but we did know and get on with a handful of them. Commonality of purpose, intellect, attitude, status, ability, politics - these are the qualities one ought to seek in friendships among equals. And in none of your associates can I identify such qualifications in excess of their demerits.

Or can they claim higher attributes than one discerns in casual observation? If so, pray enlighten me. Otherwise, you squander your charity. I do believe you must have a low opinion of your own worth if you prefer their gratitude to the reciprocal nature of a true friendship of equals.

Draco has made it very clear that he cares about my behaviour, and how when it is poor, it reflects badly on him.

I'm not sure he cares quite so much about me. When I was in the Infirmary after I had the ulcer, I needed someone to visit me and read through the notes I missed and be my friend. And when I went through a really hard time after Regulus killed himself, I needed someone who wouldn't think it was weird that I felt badly about it, even if he did those awful things, and who would be there for me when I got really sad, and make sure I was okay. And first year, when I got in so much trouble because I was being stupid and I was so confused because of Marie, I needed someone who wouldn't wash their hands of me just because I was acting a little funny and needed to get my head back on straight again.

And Draco wasn't that person.

You've been that person, and so has Sally-Anne, and so has Ron.

I'm not asking him to be something he doesn't want to be, and I know that his best friend is Harry. But that's what I get out of the people I call my friends. I know it's a simple view, and I'll probably change what I look for as I grow up a bit. I know how important it is to have friends that I can truly call my equals. And I will try and seek out other people besides them so I won't close myself off to other opportunities that could provide me with so much more. But that's where I am right now. And the real world can get complicated. I mean, Patil and me have a lot in common sometimes, I think, but in terms of our personalities, we just rub each other raw sometimes. And that's not something you can really control a lot -- when you just plain don't care for someone, and they just plain don't care for you, even if they do have a lot going for them.

And Longbottom? He's friends with Ron, and Sally-Anne tutors him. He hasn't done a thing wrong in over two years at school except for trip at the wrong time. I know his parents were awful, and if I'm to be associated with him through our mutual friends, I'm going to make certain he doesn't embarrass me unnecessarily, and I don't believe he would.

I wish Draco and I could be closer, like we were when we were younger. And if he ever needed my support in any way, he'd have it. It's just pretty obvious to me that the opposite isn't true.

Surely that's an injustice. Of course he cares. He simply holds you accountable for your actions, while you indicate that your other acquaintances 'accept' your bad behaviour. But I believe that what you interpret as 'caring' for you on their parts derives from not recognising proper conduct in the first place, nor how to advise you to comport yourself appropriately, which does nothing to improve your relationships with those who should be in your cohort.

It might help to recall that he has had good reasons to behave as he has done. Consider as well that he has had his own worries to be going on with, now as well as then, and may not have had as much time to spare to cater to you as you would have wished. Also, speaking as someone who once was one, boys tend not to be highly sensitive to the needs or sentiments of girls their own age. I rather think you give your Weasley too much credit in that regard. Certainly I cannot imagine he has provided much in the way of mature emotional support, let alone insight! Indulgence, perhaps, but that is not the same thing.

It does not surprise me in the least that Draco withdrew from you during the bizarre turn in your first year, nor ought you hold that against him. Regarding Regulus, he expressed his sympathies, but it is understandable that at his age, he did not wish to dwell on the loss. And surely it was more appropriate for someone like Perks to provide you with your assignments while you were in the hospital wing than to expect Draco to take time to see to you during what turned out to be a minor issue, easily remedied. Moreover, did you ask it of him? I rather think not.

If you compare his friendship to the others', then clearly, the actions they perform to court your favour will inevitably appear more solicitous. But on the whole, it appears to me as if you have moved away from Draco, not the other way 'round.

You have observed the effect of his being embarrassed and ashamed by you. Have you taken into account why you have brought him that shame? Have you followed his line of reasoning or done anything to avoid repeating those actions which earned his contempt? Most importantly, have you listened to what he has had to say? Or do you merely ignore it, as you do my advice, in the surety that you and you alone can correctly assess the characters of those about you?

In any event, I have not the time to act as referee between you or to broker your reconciliation. If you truly are interested in maintaining your lifelong connexion, then you will afford his argument its due weight and see the situation from his perspective. Doing that, it is easy to see why he has acted toward you thus.

Is this what you were writing while I was getting ready to go to the Whisps'? Gloating over your duelling victory?

Well, then. Congratulations, my dear husband, for Cadmus' ill luck in hitting a wall. I'm sure it's one for the books.

And although it was their decision, congratulations to us all on the French Confederation's sensible attitude toward law enforcement. I know how hard you worked last summer to make this and other changes come about. And of that contribution, I am justly proud.

I wouldn't call it gloating, no. It was quite comical. Even Cadmus laughed, once his team fished him out from his ducking.

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News from Paris

Private Message to Draco Malfoy

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Private Message to Pansy Parkinson

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