it came to me

[alt_hydra]

Last night I caught Cressida looking through my things.
Not just looking for a piece of parchment on my desk but trying to open the trunk in my wardrobe.
So I hexed her and now her fingers are swollen up like sausages and she was crying in the night because it hurt.
She couldn't even hold her wand to hex me back, and I think she wanted Norma to do it but Norma wouldn't.
She gave Cressida a salve, instead.
I don't know that it worked that well because at breakfast just now Cressida kept dropping her fork.
Maybe she didn't think I knew that she was the one who stole Tex so long ago.
But I knew and I didn't forget, and I don't want her stealing anything of mine ever again.
Maybe it was a little bit mean to hex her, but Mummy would have done it and so would probably a long time ago, too.
And then I got a parcel from Daddy this morning, so I think it will be a very good day!

Comments

[alt_draco]

What in the world is Tex? Anyway, if Cressida was getting into your wardrobe you had the right to hex her, but next time you could just put some curses on the trunk itself, and then it's her own fault if she gets hurt trying to open it and you're not in trouble for hexing her, see? I bet your father knows some good dark curses that he could put on your trunk.

[alt_hydra]

Tex was the folded origrami rabbit that Sally Anne made for me a long time ago.
Am I in trouble for hexing Cressida?
No one has said that I'm in trouble.

From,
Hydra

[alt_draco]

That depends on whether she's turned you in, and it sounds like she hasn't. Still, you've just confessed here so you can probably expect that some busybody will come along and scold you, at least. I thought you told my Mother that some boy was tormenting you. I didn't know that it was Cressida. Or that she was a boy for that matter, ha!

[alt_hydra]

She's not a boy, but she still stole Tex, and it was just to be mean, too.

From,
Hydra

[alt_narcissa]

Is your hamper even larger than Draco's? I've a feeling it might be. Knowing your Father it has an automatically refilling charm or something like it.

During my first year at Hogwarts, there was a girl who insisted that anything any of us received from home had to be shared out. A few of the other girls complied (in fear, I think, as she was older). I simply put a hex on a packet of chocolates so that when she ate them, she would get very, very ill. She never tried to commandeer my care packages again.

And as Draco says, his tea box has an alarm system as well. I could send you a second one, if you like. Perhaps for next year?

Is the boy still bothering you, dear, or have you sorted that out?

[alt_rodolphus]

I didn't go quite that far. Not quite. Had just dropped some projects off at the Ministry, then went through an after-lunch stroll through New London. Somehow ended up in Knightsbridge, and from there the Harrod's food halls. As usual, there were far too many things to choose from, so what's a doting Daddy to do?

[alt_narcissa]

And once again, the Sandovals have much for which to answer. I admit I have more than once succumbed to impulsive purchases at Harrod's for just such a reason.

It's uncanny how shopkeepers entice and tempt, particularly when one is missing those far away.

[alt_rodolphus]

Purchases of a different kind, I imagine, or else your figure would suffer as mine has of late. I fear Hydra's taste for sweets was inherited from me, seeing as Bella has no use for them whatsoever. Let us hope she doesn't get my penchant for whiskey and cigars, too.

[alt_narcissa]

Oh, not for myself - at least, not of the sweet variety. Though I will admit I do like seasonal treats for the table, but not of the pudding variety.

Somehow, I cannot imagine Hydra puffing one of those great belvederes of yours, nor tipping back firewhiskey by the shot. I'm sure you're safe from worry on that account.

[alt_bellatrix]

What an unpleasant picture, Cissy. And as much as he likes his little indulgences, you know my husband is just as apt to forget himself for hours at a time over some cursed trinket, then come gasping up the stairs, parched and ravenous. It's good, then, that I left all the elves with specific instructions to attend to his feeding times.

I do hope that you restrained yourself from sending Hydra a hamper as well, or else she'll come home swimming in the stench of sweets.

[alt_narcissa]

No fear, Bella, I knew Rodolphus would see to it that Hydra is well-provided-for now that the floodgates have reopened.

As for your husband, you know I worry about him shutting himself in his workroom even more obsessively when he has no prospect of seeing you at day's end, but you make it sound like he and Rigel both must be tended to in the same manner. I would much rather you leave him and your elves reminders that he ought to increase his visits to the Manor, if he is liable to starve himself otherwise.

(Hydra, we shall have to arrange a portrait of you with one of your Father's cigars, just for the humour in it. What do you think? Perhaps the next time one of your friends hosts a masque?)

[alt_bellatrix]

Husbands and infants can at times be alarmingly alike, Cissy, though I'm sure you will deny it. But you are right that it would be good for him to get out and see family more - especially now, when there is really no way of knowing where the investigation will take me next. Or for how long. I can only praise our Lord that my family yields in understanding and accepts that my absence is necessary at a time when the woefully misguided are out there, threatening our hard-fought way of life.

[alt_narcissa]

Yours, perhaps. Mine, bless him, is generally highly self-sufficient. Infancy is not the age that comes to mind, however, when I think of Lucius in his more fractious moods. But if I am to enjoy any peace I had best leave it there, except to say that I have been extraordinarily lucky that such moods are few and far between.

Rodolphus is welcome as often and for as long as he likes. I'm sure he'll miss you terribly, as shall we all, but it will be worth the sacrifice in the end.

[alt_rodolphus]

You're my family, now. Rabastan's more like the hired entertainment. Who shows up late.

But of course I accept your absence; I only pray that the turning of the tides (a turning which is, of course, inevitable) will bring you back soon.

[alt_hydra]

He's been more kind lately, so maybe he doesn't like me after all, since you said if a boy likes a girl he will torment her.
Does Draco keep tea in his tea box?
I would like a tea box with an alarm system but I might not keep just tea in it, if that would be all right?

From,
Hydra

[alt_narcissa]

Well, I said that if a boy torments a girl, it might mean he likes her. Usually if they are kind it is certain that they do.

You may keep anything you like in the box, darling, provided you can make it fit inside. It sounds as if you've already something in mind. Letters from your young beau, perhaps?

I'll see if I can find one for you the next time I am in London, shall I? Have you any preferences as to the pattern?

[alt_hydra]

Ooh, I didn't know that part!
I would like a pattern of flowers, but only if they are little flowers, not big ones.
Pink coloured flowers might be nicest.

From,
Hydra

[alt_hydra]

Oh, and thank you for the offer very much, but don't look too hard for a tea box if it will be a bother, but if you just happen to run into one, with little pink flowers, then I would adore it very much.

From,
Hydra

[alt_narcissa]

Well, I think I know exactly where I might just happen to run into one. There's a shop where they hang about all day, you know, just waiting for chance meetings, tasteful pink flowers and all.

[alt_bellatrix]

You should have sent your message earlier, Hydra. Day one earlier. But better to grow a spine now than never, I suppose. We'll only have to sit back and hope that if it lasts, won't we?

I would consider a more virulent hex next time, as well. Pain is useful, but not very creative - oftentimes, humiliation gets better results. Use your watchful ways to take note of what shames the girl, then put the knowledge away for later use.

[alt_hydra]

Oh, you think my watchful ways will be good, Mummy?
Cressida sometimes doesn't wash her hands after using the toilet.
Is that something I should put away for later use?

From,
Hydra

[alt_bellatrix]

If she doesn't bother to wash them within your sight, then it's not the sort of habit that she's truly ashamed of. Look to what she does when she thinks that you're not there, and then you'll have your knowledge.

[alt_hydra]

I will have to think about how to do that, then.
Thank you, Mummy.

From,
Hydra