Hydra Lestrange Finch-Fletchley

Mrs Longbottom has made it clear that we should share with the entire Order when we believe someone is in danger, so that's what I'm doing.

Harry, Hermione - Teddy hasn't decided to stop interfering with the both you. If anything I think he's got worse. You might have noticed he's been trying to follow me around ever since Justin and I yesterday. He sat next to me at supper last night and offered to "take my mind off" things. And then he sat next to me again, tonight, because I was late and couldn't get in next to Remy or Pansy. I tried to be very busy with my woolten pie, but he just doesn't care about interrupting a person. And it's not that he doesn't know he's interrupting, he just doesn't think to care.

Well, he started talking about "Harry's mudblood" and said that he's thinking of changing his strategy. It was then that I started actually listening to him. Because it was about you, Hermione, and this is Teddy we're talking about after all. You see, he thought that Hermione was awfully unconcerned when he threatened to expose her secret, so now he's sure that Hermione's secret must have been a lie. He also thought she was way too certain that Harry wouldn't allow her to do anything she didn't want to do.

I had to start talking to him then, to find out more. And it meant I had to say terrible things. But I just pretended I was Mummy, and it wasn't really so hard, even though I couldn't finish my food because of it.

So I asked if he thought Hermione's secret was very awful, and he said it was awful enough, but then he said "I think that mudblood bitch had the stones to lie to me. To a pureblood! One of her betters! And I want to know why."

I said: "They probably all lie." (because everyone does, honestly)

He said Harry was far too trusting and that it was important we find out why Hermione thinks she can get away with lying, and make sure she knows she can't. Only then I asked him if that wasn't Harry's job, not ours, and he said that Harry's been tricked, and it's our job to look out for him and drop the scales off his eyes.

And I knew then that what Teddy wanted me to do was legilimise Hermione, find out what her real secrets are, and share them with him.

He kept calling me Hides and touching my hair. I thought I'd be sick.

I suppose I paused a little too long, because then he said that I must have "gone soft." (What does that mean? When have I ever not been soft? That's what Mummy's called me my whole life... only I think Teddy believes I'm like her, or he thinks I'm like him, which is a frightening thought. He kept going on about how "we" were both too clever to be fooled by a mudblood, even Harry's mudblood.)

I told him I found his obvious goading a bore, and he didn't like that. Said he'd just find out by himself if I wouldn't help him. So I told him, very low and clear, "I'm not helping YOU. I'm going to find out myself, for myself. How are you going to get it out of her? You don't have the means. I do. If you want me to share with you what I find out then we do it my way."

A really horrible smile crossed his face and he said "Oh, I have means, but yours are less likely to get my arse kicked again."

I tried to get what he was thinking just then, because it sounded so awful. But Teddy isn't easy to listen to. It doesn't seem as if he's afraid of anything, and his mind fires in all sorts of directions at once. All I saw was that he thought his black eye made him look dashing. I told him that it didn't. He must've been flattered that I legilimised him because he only said "you know you think it's sexy."

He's really so repulsive and foul. But he's not stupid at all. I only wish that he were.

So I finally told him that I would legilimise Hermione and find out what she was hiding, but that I would only tell him what I discovered if I was in the mood. He was smug and ever so confident that I would tell him everything, but at least it finally made him leave.

We'll have to think of what to do. Some false secret I can pretend to have legilimised out of Hermione. Or, I don't know, maybe we ought to have Vince and Greg kill him.

I'm sorry. That's a horrible suggestion, I realise. But his head is dark and awful and I know, I know that he's capable of anything.

Did you see that my mother wrote me? She wrote me and it's all mad, just mad. She says things about legilimency and how I'll learn that everyone is a frightened animal, deep down, and how I have her to thank because my frightened animal is dead because she killed it when I was still young. Which I suppose must be about all the awful things she did when I was little, and not so little. The whole thing has my skin crawling all over and it only goes to show that she's wrong, I'm afraid all the time. I'm hiding in the loo because I feel I might be sick. Where are you, are you in Noble Arts? Astronomy? I forget. Can you leave?

How many of you have met with Madam Umbridge by now? I know she's not done with everyone yet, and might not be for another week or so, maybe longer.

I thought she might just not know how to talk to young people, because lots of adults don't. So I wanted to give her a chance before I fully formed a first impression of her, even though I know a lot of you don't care for her.

Anyway, I think you were right not to care for her. She had me in today before lunch, and - she's just horrid. Yes, right. She's horrid.

Daddy -

You know how I'm always meant to owl Mummy every week with copies of my homework and essays and other school progress?

Well, last week, I forgot to send the owl.

But I remembered yesterday, so I just put last week's work in the bundle that had this week's work. Mummy hasn't said anything, so do you think she noticed that I forgot to owl her last week?

From,
Hydra

Dear Lord,

I very much apologise for sending You owls, and I promise not to do it anymore.
When You didn't respond to my private message I thought perhaps an owl would be a better way to get in touch, and then when You didn't respond to my owl, I thought maybe I should send mor another one, just in case.
The owl came back this morning and it still had its letter and
I know that it didn't get lost.
Even the most daft and foolish of all owls knows the way to Your palace, after all.
I was very wrong to interrupt Your life, I know that You are very busy.
I thought You
I won't do it anymore.

Always Your loyal servant,
Hydra Elladora Lestrange

Something dreadful happened on Monday.
Tully's leg was hurt.
I found him huddling behind my trunk, and his left back leg was bloody and twisted.
I took him to Professor Brutka before dinner and he fixed it, thankfully (and without removing any of the bones on accident, too).
He said that maybe the charm that protected Tully from the cats in Slytherin had wore off, so he put it on Tully again.
Tully was just so frightened when I found him and that frightened me, too.
But now he seems alright, almost as if nothing happened at all.
Maybe rabbits don't remember for very long, which could be useful sometimes and not at all at other times.
A girl from Ravenclaw wrote in her journal about how her Mummy died doing a charms experiment.
It made me afraid of doing my charms homework for a little while but then I realised I was being silly.
Still, it scares me a little to think of how Daddy works with dark, cursed objects all the time.
He's never had one of them hurt him, but what if one did?
Dark, cursed objects can do worse things to you than killing you.
I told Draco about it and he said I worry too much, and that I should play more games like imploding snap and gobstones.
So does anyone want to play gobstones in the common room tonight?
Let me know if you do.
Mummy's owl this morning wrote about how we're going to have a special guest staying with us over the holidays.
I wonder who the special guest will be?