Private message to Effs

[alt_hydra]

Hi.

I've been listening to people whisper about Pansy and Sally Anne and Ron and Neville and Luna all day. I'm trying to figure out why it matters. They go to school here too, so why should it matter if Pansy's friends with all of them? It shouldn't matter, of course.

I don't think people would care, if they didn't notice, but Pansy makes sure that they do. When she wrote after the Dogstar arrests, it seemed like a little bit of a challenge to the people who were giving Neville and Ron dodgy looks. Neville because of his parents, and Ron - well, because of his parents, too. You probably know by now that some people think they're took soft for purebloods. And by writing what she wrote, it was almost as if she said "I'd rather be with them than any of you." Even if she didn't say that at all, it's clear now that people took it that way.

I understand how she feels, but...

I don't know if I could do that. Say something so bold and so public. It's just not the way that I am.

Do you hate me for it?

Comments

[alt_justin]

Hallo.

No, I don't hate you, silly. If I did, I had bally well better back out of moving here, what!

But Pansy.... Pansy's a very Dramatic person, isn't she? She doesn't do things by half-measures, for one. For another, she seems to have to express every feeling she has, all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes. Between you and me, I find it well exhausting. I rather prefer to simply get on with things, what?

I've half a feeling she makes stands like that to call attention more to herself than the people she champions. I say, I do think her heart's in the right place but--well. As I say, I find her a little tiresome, now and then.

It's difficult, though, because I quite like Sally-Anne. And Ron and Luna. And Neville's actually quite a good chap, as well. But she does seem to attract more attention than any of them would wish for on their own.

So on the whole, I'm well glad you're more sensible, really. And more subtle.

-Justin

[alt_hydra]

You prefer to get on with things - that's very British of you, really. And quite French of her to not, isn't it?

I just thought you might want me to be the sort of person who took a bold stand about things.

But then you're pretty cautious yourself, so I don't know why I thought that.

I suppose that I just feel bad for Pansy, but at the same time, I feel like she ought to have known better. It wasn't very Slytherin at all.

From,
Hydra

[alt_justin]

Well, as I understand things, this is not an easy time of year for her, and whether it is or isn't, those cartoons certainly weren't half cruel. They'd be inappropriate at any time. So yes, I well sympathise with her finding herself at the centre of such controversy but it's quite true that she put herself there deliberately.

But I feel just as badly for Luna, Neville, Ron and Sally-Anne, what?

Oh, speaking of becoming properly British, what do you think it means that Remy's parents have offered to be my foster-family? (I say, I'd almost begun to think we'd get 'round that, dash it.)

-Justin

[alt_hydra]

I think it's because that this is the time of year that Regulus died, my cousin. They were close, though I didn't really ever understand why.

Yes, I feel badly for them, too. They get it bad enough as is.

Well, Mummy's always sneered about the Jugsons a little. She does that with a lot of people, but in this case I get the sense that she sees them as a little below the Blacks and Lestranges and Malfoys and Rosiers, and probably as social climbers, too. Because their history isn't as established, but they became a lot more respected when they became connected with the Lestranges. She likes to remind them of who they were before, and that they haven't been important for that long compared to us.

So if I had to say, I think they might want to look like Model Protectorate Citizens, by volunteering for the Fostering programme.

[alt_justin]

Yes, quite.

I must admit, I'm a bit concerned about all the parchment Gringott's wants to set up my funds. And the idea that they'll be able to set an allowance out of it. Particularly if they're social climbers, what?

I don't suppose there's a choice (well, of course there is but I hope you follow me). I'm also well undecided which government to ask him to contact on behalf of my mother. I don't fancy sending her to South Africa or the Argentine but he didn't offer Canada or the United States. I think the best I can do is pick off the list he supplied. I say, I beg your pardon; I don't mean to sound ungrateful about it but--well. South Africa, I mean to say. It's not what one would call safe, perhaps more now than even a few years ago.

What does your father think of them? The Jugsons? I mean to say, if one decided to follow your mother's tastes one should have no friends at all, what?

-Justin

[alt_hydra]

I'm afraid I don't know very much about South Africa or the Argentine, other than they're awfully far away. I'm sorry that the options are so poor.

I think Daddy gets on with Uncle Janus quite well but they don't go out of their way to socialise one-on-one all that often. At gatherings and such they drink too much together, though, along with a few of the other men. I don't hear him say insulting things about the Jugsons the way Mummy does, but then, his Mother was a Jugson. She died about five years ago. I always thought she was rather sweet, but she didn't really listen and seemed in her own world. She seemed ages older than Nanella, for some reason.

Oh, Daddy did once say that Auntie Camille was frumpy and bland. She's definitely not in Auntie Narcissa's social circles, either. And when he's been drinking I've seen Uncle Janus look at her a little regretfully, I think.

And Remy... he can be a lot of fun but he's sort of a trouble-maker, you know. I don't think he means to be, he just doesn't think sometimes. Alfie can be sort of awful, though. But you're much bigger than he is, so I don't think there's much to worry about.

From,
Hydra

[alt_justin]

No, I don't expect you to know anything about other countries; it's all right. I suppose I could recommend Norway only I know Mother doesn't like the cold.

I wonder how expensive the Virgin Islands are?

I say, they sound delightful, when described like that. Ah, well. It's only for a year, what, and someone recently told me one can bear anything if it's necessary.

I can't look at these bally old financial parchments another moment or my eyes will surely cross permanently. We should get some sleep. Sweet dreams, Dux.

-Justin

[alt_hydra]

Why are they called Virgin I suppose that if you bought some islands, it would be a way to invest your money so that no one else got to it. Not that I believe you for a second.

Good night, Justin.

Love,
Hydra

[alt_justin]

To live there, goose, how expensive are they to live there?

(I've not got that much money! I hope you don't hate me for not being quite as rich as your family or the Malfoys. And unless the Jugsons are as generous as Mr Rosier believes they will be, I shall probably be quite a deal poorer than I'm accustomed to being for a while.)

Good night, sweetheart.

-Justin