Private message to Barty

[alt_antonin]

Things here continue to be full of ridiculous bullshit, from the Enforcers having taken over my damn school to a double dozen students' trunks having turned up 'contraband' (by which they mean black-market sweets or the most inane and inocuous mudblood literature one might imagine). And Savitha is breathing down my neck attemping to be 'helpful'.

This year cannot be over soon enough. And after it is, we must talk about the prospect of

Say you'll be returning tonight? You shouldn't be alone right now, solnyshko, no matter how much you want to crawl away and lick your wounds in peace. I promise I will not press you to talk tonight any more than I did last night, but I don't like the thought of you by yourself.

Comments

[alt_crouch_jr]

Batya.

I'm sorry. Would come if I could, but OL insists I continue the search.


Do you remember old Mrs Bagshot, the 'historian', Batya? Foolish woman. Heard the reports of the boy's rebelliousness, was moved by his outrageous declaration in the journals last night, and then made a false claim to have seen him in hopes of distracting us from his pursuit. Confessed her treason before I finished her. Should have continued to hide in obscurity in that miserable village. Do you know the Potter house is still under Fidelius? (Had thought with the secret keeper dead, it would have broken. Another example to show one never knows how that spell will behave in the long run.) Made a thorough inspection, though. Floors unstable, roof falling in, birds nesting in the rafters. No sign of Harry there.

Am in York now and have a list of people to question here. Then two separate sightings in Edinburgh to pursue, and then Brighton, Sherborne, and Rye. Expect cooperation to rise in direct proportion to the lateness (earliness) of the hour. To join Travers' search of the Forest of Dean tomorrow if they've not called it off by then. Certain there will be a fresh list by then in any case.

[alt_antonin]

Mordred and Morgana, I haven't thought of that house in -- oh, fifteen years, at least. I'd forgotten you had the secret, too. Mostly I just remember that night as full of endless waiting. And the way Lyoushka picked up the baby, and he would not stop crying until Lyoushka took off the mask.

And now that baby is a man, and apparently ready to claim his original lineage. I should have urged him more firmly to run, when he told me what he believed Our Lord had in store for him, but I am still holding out the hope, thin though it might be, that you and I can make our way through this; I am not yet ready to set up a final gambit.

Do you think he's found Black? Or Black has found him? I would not put it past the man. And since he's been able to elude us this long, I doubt you will find Harry in York. Or Edinburgh, or Brighton, or Rye.

I'll keep the lights on for you, either way. Or go back to Cottesmore when you're able to get some sleep, but I would prefer to have eyes on you. The children will undoubtedly be traumatised at your presence, but I find I do not much care.

[alt_crouch_jr]

What I remember from that night was watching with Travers, expecting the half-giant, the werewolf and Black to roar in on that magicked-up muggle motorbike. I remember we didn't trust Pettigrew's assurances they'd fallen out and wouldn't be a threat.

No one is saying anything about Black in His hearing now. Who knows. If the boy has found Black, suggests he's been in contact with him for some time. (And raises questions about Hydra.)


It's not about the likelihood of finding him. It's about satisfying OL's rage-- and avoiding it.

[alt_antonin]

There is that. And I am most invested in you avoiding His rage.

For that one brief second, you know, I was terrifed that He would think you'd waited too long, and call up on me to kill you both. It would amuse Him, I think, to do so. Pulling the wings off flies, and setting ants ablaze with a magnifying lens.

One thing you should know, lapushka, and then I will leave matters to your discretion and wait until you decide it is time to talk about it, if ever: I have both written the prayers for her and said them over her body, and I have said before the Gods Themselves that she was ours -- for however brief a moment -- and that we claim her. Her name will be forever written among our honoured dead.

[alt_crouch_jr]

If that time comes, I'll take death from your hand and be content, Batya. As deaths go, that would be better than most. Not for you, I know.

For the prayers, my thanks.

[alt_antonin]

A better ending than others we might have, maybe. But let us avoid that prospect as long as possible.

When If we come down to the wire in any other fashion, though, I expect you to do anything and everything you must do in order to live. Consider it an order like the order you gave me. Whatever you must do, and however you must do it. I forbid you to die without my permission -- and assume I will not give it.

[alt_crouch_jr]

You command my life and my death, Batya.

I vow it in full knowledge that it strains the prior claim on both our faiths, but I vow it all the same.

[alt_antonin]

First claim is not always strongest. And if I am judged in the world beyond for breaking that claim to uphold the one you have upon me, so be it. Что напи́сано перо́м, не вы́рубить топоро́м -- you have been mine since the moment I found you, солнышко.

Now sleep. It will likely not be better in the morning, but at least it will be morning, and you'll need to be well rested.