Hydra Lestrange Finch-Fletchley

(I realise you're busy, so don't read this until time allows - only, I know that you won't.)

The evening Prophet came an hour or so ago. I assume that the news is accurate and my cousin and her husband's shop was raided last night? I've been to that shop, you know. On more than a few occasions. I even saw the dog, once. It just seemed like an ordinary dog.

I ought to have noticed something. I keep trying to think if there's anything I noticed and dismissed, because she was rather kind to me, Dora. And Mummy was the one who brought me for my first visit so I thought if Mummy was alright with me visiting the shop, then there was no reason not to enjoy myself. Dora just didn't seem like the sort... well, I suppose you know what I mean, since your family fostered her.

Only I keep thinking about what happened with Draco, too, and how I never expected that, but then again no one else did, either. You're right, you can't let your guard down with anyone. And not even if you have legilimency to rely on. You can only be prepared, at all times, for anything.

Is Draco with you lot, helping you look for Ron-the-snake?

Oh, and have you seen Teddy around?

I saw Draco in the prefect's car this morning, but he was busy with Daphne so we couldn't speak. Not that we could have really talked about what happened while riding the train, anyway, but I have no idea what's happened and I'm sure others are confused, as well. I only saw him say that he's quitting, and all his reasons why, and then there were a load of private messages between people.

It was thoughtless of Ron and the others not to tell anyone what they were doing, or what their challenge was to begin with. I didn't even know what Ron and Pansy's challenges were, I only knew that Draco and I hadn't received any. I told that to somebody when we were at Tea appreciation, only I don't remember who.

I can see why Draco was cross, but I was surprised that he decided to quit. He isn't quitting, is he?

I know we've been teaming up on this challenge, and I've been allowing you to lead the way, mostly. But the next time you come up with a grand idea to turn my life inside-out, how about you discuss it with me and Harry, rather than convincing Harry first, then having him present it to me in a way that makes it impossible for me to say no.

I realise that the fake girlfriend approach has worked well for you, but that doesn't mean everyone else wants or needs to follow suit.

Hi Harry,

I just wanted to let you know that a new club, Tea Appreciation, is meeting tomorrow at Lazlo's of London, in Camden. Probably around 3:00. Don't worry, I haven't made you president or anything, but if you want out of Buckingham, you're welcome to join us. It will be Remy and Justin and me for sure, and Sally Anne and Luna, and maybe Ron and Neville. I also asked Draco and Pansy, but they haven't gotten back to me yet.

I think Draco feels uncomfortable about coming to the shop because it's owned by our cousin, Dora Ponds. She's a halfblood, and her parents were traitors, so Draco doesn't really know her at all. I've been getting to know her better, though. Her family is very polite, and very loyal to the Protectorate.

I hope your summer has been going well. Have you enjoyed coming to the clubs and being a YPL counsellor? I know that the clubs weren't really your idea, after all, so I hope it hasn't been burdensome. I know that it's been nice for me, to have a good reason to socialise away from St. James. Mummy hasn't remarked on it much so far, she's so busy with her investigations, you know. But I keep waiting for her to suddenly snap to attention and put a stop to it...That's how it usually goes, with her.

Let me know if you can make it tomorrow.

From,
Hydra

I went to Draco's French speaking club today and I don't think I've learnt very much yet, except for Oui, s'il vous plaît and Non, merci. But Draco says you don't have to speak all that much to make a good impression. I hope that's right. I also found out that almost everyone at Durmstrang speaks German, even if they're not from Germany, so Remy sent away for a book on that and we've been looking over it together a little bit. So far I've memorised Hallo, Guten morgen, and Guten tag.

For some reason Deutsch seems much more familiar than French.

And I was curious because Teddy Nott was reading a book on parseltongue when he was in the commonroom. He let me look at it. It was extremely confusing, though, because it doesn't have words or even an alphabet, it's really just noises more than anything. The person who wrote the book said that for a long time it was thought that the parseltongue was hereditary and couldn't be learned, only imitated. But he also said that it's an intuitive language and if someone can properly visualise themselves as a serpent, they can penetrate the mysteries of the tongue. Then he listed different exercises for visualising yourself as a serpent, such as moving along on your belly, and sleeping in dark corners while coiled in on yourself, and eating dead mice.

So, I don't think I will be trying out parseltongue. Not now, anyway.

Dear Uncle Raz,

Do you know about the lists that were passed around this week?
They were made by someone in the third year and the Head Boy wrote about them yesterday.
The lists have different categories, like "Most Fit" and "Most Talented" and "Mousiest" and "Biggest Mudblood Lover," and under every category there are five people listed and you're supposed to vote for one of them.
I asked Draco about the lists yesterday because I was curious, but he said if I just waited until third year I would probably see them because they would surface again, like a new tradition.
So because of that didn't see the lists until this morning, because Jeremy had a copy at breakfast.
He's good at getting his hands on stuff like that.
Now I'm worried, though, that someone in the second year might decide to copy the lists and pass them around for the second years.
And even if that doesn't happen, I'm worried about it happening next year, when I'm a third.
I just don't know what I'll do if my name is under "Most Squibbish," or "Biggest Crybaby."
Or what if there are whole new categories by then, like "Most Disloyal," or "Weakest Character"?
I just don't know what I would do, and I know that Mummy would be so angry and disappointed.
Can we make it a new school rule that lists aren't allowed anymore?

From,
Hydra

Dear Sir,

I hope that it's alright that I've chosen to write You here instead of using an owl.
I've been thinking for days of what I need to tell You and I wrote it down on a piece of parchment first so that I won't miss anything or ramble about something that might not be interesting or important.
First, You wanted to know what I told Tom about You and the Protectorate, and I already told You all that I could remember.
And it was true, I really did go on an awful lot to him about New London and how wonderful it is, and all of the statues of You, and how the air is cleaner now and wizard-kind is much safer now that muggles are strictly controlled.
Tom was very happy about that.
But what I didn't tell You was that he was very happy with everything...except he didn't like that there were muggles still around at all.
I know that I should have told You that face to face, but it was such a difficult thing to say, I hope You understand.
I find it much easier to write down difficult things.
What Tom said was that the muggle and mudblood filth should be stamped out of England, and especially from Hogwarts, and that he thought You would have taken care of them by now, and that he hoped You hadn't turned soft.
He said that no one can control filth, they can only get rid of it, the way they would get rid of any other rubbish.
That's what he said, but I didn't agree with him and I told him that I thought You had done everything just right because it made the most amount of people happy.
It was so confusing sometimes, though, because he seemed to know so much about You, even though he was from ages and ages ago.
The way he spoke of You, it was almost as if he saw himself as Your Mothe parent.
Sometimes what he said about You made me so upset that I would be cross with him, and I would refuse to speak to Him for a while.
I even tried to flush him down a loo one time.
But then I decided that maybe he didn't mean to be insulting, because Hogwarts really did mean so much to him, he was always asking me about my teachers and classes, and wanted to hear all about my classmates, and also about Draco and Harry.
Especially Harry.
But he seemed to remember everything about the school, and knew ever so much more about its secret passages and hidden nooks than I ever could.
That's why I let him come over me, that first time.
He had shown me what Hogwarts looked like when he was a student, and I wanted to show him what it looked like now, when I was a student.
And then, when he starting taking me over more often, I wouldn't know that he was doing it until something big happened, like when Dennis fell over like a piece of stone, or when Tully was died.
He was so very powerful, my Lord, and he wasn't even a man yet.
Do you think that Harry really killed him?
It didn't seem like anything in the whole wide world could, but if there were one thing that could, it would make sense that it was Your son.

I didn't tell Mummy what Tom said about You.
I'm sure that she would punish me dreadfully for saying such evil words, even if they weren't my own.
She's already so unhappy with me for keeping secrets, even though I swore to her that I wasn't trying to.
Did You say something to her about it?
I don't want to preso presume but she seemed to act differently after our last meeting, like she was leaving it all to You now and would stop questioning.
Thank you

I'm also wanted to write so that I could tell You that I very much apologise for being so jumpy the first few times we had tea.
Only I didn't know what to expect, and I thought that it must surely mean that I was in trouble.
But you were just
It was just like
But now I would just very much like to serve You and please You, so if we have tea again sometime before I go back to Hogwarts, I would like that.

From,
Hydra

I've been back at home for a few days now.
My home in New London not Le'Strange Hill, since Mummy has had such an awful lot of work to do.
Rigel looks different from when I saw him last, and I don't think he remembers me at all, he keeps biting me.
Draco had a birthday party and it was utterly fun, even though his birthday was actually a few weeks ago, he wanted to wait until we were out of school to celebrate.
Father and Uncle Razzer are here and I think they've been celebrating all night, not because of Draco's birthday but because Sirius Black was captured.
Now that Sirius Black is caught, I wonder what will happen to him?
And I was wondering, if he says that he's sorry and that he didn't mean it, could he maybe be forgiven?

Some people have asked me where Tully is so I suppose I should just tell.
He's been sick, but I don't know with what, I just knew that he wasn't feeling very good.
I noticed it a few week ago, right after Draco's mudblood was killed.
I took him to Professor Brutka who said he didn't seem that sick and then he reminded me that animals can't get the epidemic.
But then he said he could keep Tully for observation for a little while if it would make me feel better, so I said yes please, Sir, and that's what he did.
Only today Tully was back in his hutch by my bed and Professor Brutka left a note saying that Tully was doing well and to just make sure he gets plenty of water.
So I think that means Tully is all better now.
That's good, right?
I have to say, though, that Tina was a lot less work and worry.
The older students are talking about electives today.
I wish I could take electives next year, I'm certain I'd be very good at Care of Magical Creatures by now.
And very good at Dark Arts too, of course.
I don't know if I'd be allowed to take Divination, though.
There seems to be a lot of birthdays this time of year, haven't you noticed?