Florian Leffoy (prince_florian) wrote in lightning_war, @ 2008-09-19 18:14:00 |
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Current mood: | tired |
Owl from Lucius Malfoy to Kathleen Lovegood, dated 15 September 1942...
Accompanied by a basket of fruit; warded as strongly as Kat can handle, and sealed with his seal, in reply to her owl:
Dear Kat:
I am sorry that things have been so terrible. I suppose I should not be surprised that there was a demon killing those girls, but even so, it is still awful. You are very brave and I will help you learn whatever you need to know about Defence when I come back. I wish I knew when that was going to be.
Minister Fortune wants us to come back tomorrow, but my mother is not sure she is going to send us that soon, even though Yvon is feeling much better now and has decided to marry Alessio, which is what he should have done a long time ago. He has gone back to work today and he is helping them take care of your brother. Of course he is not allowed to tell me what is really wrong, but it sounds quite serious. I do not have any chocolate frogs to send you, but I will send you some apples and berries from the Bois. Don’t worry, they are perfectly safe to eat outside of the Bois, they are the same ones that we send to market in Londinium, only a little nicer because we have picked them out specially, and Mamma made sure that there is enough for you to share with your sister and some of our friends so no-one will think you are selfish.
I wanted to send you a locket from the attic (it is very pretty, and maybe someday I will give it to you anyway), but Mamma says that it is not appropriate for me to give you jewellery because we are not courting. She did say that she would send you a book later since you are interested in Defence, which was one of her best subjects. The other ones were Charms and Housewitchery, and Potions—she took OWL Healing and Apothecary but she only finished the Apothecary part.
I really miss you, even more than Jon and Meric and Fia and Theo. I have been spending a lot of time with Alastor and Endymion. We went to visit Alastor’s old house and found sigils there; somehow demons had got into it, too. Mamma and Nico were in town being political, so I ended up arranging the defence of the Bois and the Manor and the village until they got home! I know logically one would think that it would be Charis or Marco, but the “country cousins” will only follow Mamma, Yvon or me, and Yvon was at the hospital yesterday as well. (He said to thank you for the frogs, they were delicious and he hopes you don’t mind that he shared them with me and Alessio.)
It was rather awful actually. I have been playing war-games all my life, but it is very different when it’s not tin soldiers but rather people you know, and the sandbags and cairns are the land and the stones, and you know that they may get hurt if you make the wrong decision. Fortunately even though I did make two wrong decisions (I told Yvon and Alessio to stay in Londinium, not knowing that there would be trouble there too, and I did not let my seventeen-year-old cousin Liane work on the Floo because I didn’t know she was almost a magister) it worked out all right. Two people died, but Santino and Keresek say that was less than they would have expected. And Mercutio got hurt, but it was because he did not follow orders, which is not my fault at all. (Charis and Marco also got hurt, but they are fine now, and they were trying to save Mercutio from his own stupidity.)
So that is why I have not written, because today I wanted to write you, but I needed to go outside with Alastor and ride the kelpie and pretend that I’m just a boy for a while, and so we did, and we swam naked in the pond, and chewed gillyweed and went for kelpie rides. Mamma and Nico and Yvon say they won’t leave me here by myself again, but realistically, they will. Because she has to do politics, and Nico has a job, and Yvon and Alessio are moving into the townhouse so they can have someplace to sleep near their work where they won’t have to break curfew.
I want to come back to school because I miss you and I miss our friends, but if they need me here then I suppose I have to stay. Yvon thinks I feel safer at school, but I don’t, because even though Uncle Will (Professor Goyle) is someone I trust, there are a lot of adults at school that I do not trust, and the dark side of having authority over you is that sometimes it can’t be trusted.
But I miss you.
And I wish you were here. Because you’d like Mamma, and you’d like the Bois, and you’d like my cousin Liane and you’d like Moruith, and we could have a lot of fun.
I am not a big fan of your brother, but you love him, even when you say you don’t. (Yvon told me that.) So I’ll pray for him, because I want you to be happy and that means he has to get well very soon.
Yours,
Lucius (Malfoy)