Private Message to Draco

[alt_lucius]

It would seem you were right. As congratulations are in order, permit me to offer mine.

Is there anyone left in charge on your end with an idea of the terms they desire with the ICW? I am in a position where I might ... ease the transition, shall we say. Vouch for Albion's validity. It might speed along the process of reintroducing England to the world.



Your mother -

She will deny it, of course, but when she told me of your news ... the news that her cousin and her sister (and 'the werewolf') perished in the final act of this passion play, specifically, ... she related events with perfectly dry eyes, professed that she cared not a whit for any of the 'old battles,' as she put it, and then became so wracked with grief that she needed assistance to lie down.


So you may imagine that although we are removed from the direct repercussions, we are not immune to them.


I wish you well, my son.

Your

Father

Comments

[alt_draco]

Not right with a capital R, though. We've lost a lot, and the recovery will be long and hard. But we'll get there.

Your offer - I can see what it stands for, so thanks. What I can't see is Albion agreeing to be in your debt. We'll just have to make it without your anyone smoothing things along.

Huh.

Father, I still don't know if I really understand Mother. I get you backwards and forwards, but she still manages to surprise me. I mean, the part about her pretending not to be affected sounds just like her - but why pretend? If you're grieving, then grieve.

I suppose it's just not her way and I should give up pondering the matter. Sounds like it would be for the best.

Which isn't to say that I expected her, or you, to be unaffected.

I wish we were more on the same page, though. I suppose, for example, you were both troubled to hear about that rancid boil of a the dramatic conclusion to Crouch's "passion play." Or experienced mixed feelings, at the very least.

But on my end, the feelings weren't mixed at all.

That's what makes talking to you difficult.

To say nothing of ideological differences.

[alt_lucius]

You still find nuance elusive to grasp, then. Your mother is a woman, and one of the many things that endears her sex to us poor males is their ability to maintain contradictory emotions and uphold that they are unaffected by them.

I had no thought of indebtedness. If anything, perhaps I see it as a debt I owe to you, and your company. At any rate, cannot imagine the ICW will not ask my opinion; if you have no concrete terms in mind, then I must take my best guess of what would be appropriate, under the circumstances. Presumably upholding the 1692 Statute of Secrecy is completely out of the question, for a start.

Do you imagine it is that much easier for me? For us? It is bittersweet at best. But, time and distance may provide better lubrication than you realise. Then too, after only a few weeks back among the larger world, it has been ... educational ... to remember those conveniences we had renounced when we put aside all Muggle invention. (Your mother has had her eye on a 'convertible,' a device which she had not enjoyed since before we married. Have not yet consented to the expense, but as in all things, cannot deny her.)

All that is to say, it is perhaps a question of priorities. That there are topics you or I may find painful to discuss is of course regrettable. I only hope that, over time, we may find ways to broach said matters with an understanding that, while we may disagree on fundamentals, our bond precludes another falling out over them. That we may approach them as men, who may differ in details but who at the end, only wish the other healthy, happy and sound.

For my part, I can at the very least see that your choices, actions and beliefs have brought you glory. You are a hero, Draco, and you may yet attain the even more exalted heights of which I - which any father - dreams for his son. In that, I am entirely proud of you. You will always have my affection, and while my counsel may have to be limited to matters of a universal nature, insofar as I want you to succeed, thrive and prosper, then it is yours whenever you wish it. I shall not endeavour to advise you on those things at which I seem to have no skill - such as choosing friends. There you exceed me altogether.

Speaking of that, do I correctly detect that you have resolved the greater portion of your grief over Harry? If so, I am glad that you've found peace. It is a loss that will, I fear, affect us all for many more years to come. But nonetheless, it is good to see you feeling more upbeat - though, naturally, your victory must account in no small part for your joy.

[alt_draco]

Regarding ICW, I'll ask the others, see what they think. I'll tell them you want to help, but I can make no guarantees of what their response will be.

No, I don't think it's easier for you. I think it's probably easier for me. I spent years mentally preparing myself for you to hate me and denounce me, while you and mother remained unaware, more or less believing that I was following along the path you set out for me.

I'm not going to lie to you about who I am now, but I'm not going to rub your face in it, either.

And one thing I'm definitely not is a hero. Not moreso than any of the others, anyway.

Harry was one, though. Inside and out. Being raised by that fucking monster couldn't change who he was - it only made him better. It made me better.

[alt_lucius]

Heroes, like villains, are only very rarely self-appointed. They are named by their deeds and the biography of the times and places in which they lived.

Harry would no more have called himself a hero than you do, and yet, in your eyes and the eyes of those who stand with you, it is decidedly the case that he was one. I will allow that Harry possessed an indomitable spirit which enabled him to act in the best interest of all of England - to sacrifice himself for a greater good which is, in retrospect, undeniable. He rid us all of a scourge. Perhaps in fact he was the only person with the necessary qualities who could have affected such a plan. But his rôle in your revolution does nothing to discount your contributions, nor your other compatriots'.

Nor, indeed, do I believe your friend Finch-Fletchley would have characterised himself a hero, particularly as he died having failed at a task which he believed to have been imperative. Nor Sirius Black, who from what I know of him never believed himself capable of much good. Yet in the eyes of all those who now reside in the free Republic of Albion, you, and they, will be deemed heroes.

It is already occurring. One has but to look outside your circle of friends, at the posts coming from throughout the country, to see what people think and feel about the deliverance you brought them. They credit you, Mr Weasley, Black, Lupin, the Longbottoms, the Finch-Fletchleys, Mr Creevey, even Miss Granger, with the restoration of peace and freedom.

It is a bitter pill to realise that ours was the false dream, and to accept that yours may be the true one. It remains to be seen whether holding your peace will be as achievable as winning it. Still, one takes comfort from the notion that it is your dream to inherit, that the birthright you claim now is one you yourself have made your own.

This is your world now, Draco. Make it one of which you can be proud.

[alt_draco]

We will. I will.