Who: Nicholas and Matthew Selwyn What: A friendly warning that Diana's ALIVE and COMING HOME... or so SOMEONE THINKS...! When: Monday, 26th April 1982 (BACKDATED!) Where: Matthew's house in Chichester, West Sussex, naturellement! Rating: Let's call it T for Teens, with a stipulation/WARNING: there WILL BE talk of INCEST and CHILD ABUSE in this log!
Matthew seemed... unusually animate today, as most people at the office noticed, so when he asked to take a few personal hours for himself, they assumed he was ill, and gladly let him leave early! Of course, he was not at all sick – save, of course, with worry: worry for his sister, the prostitute! She was all alone out there, and Mathew had to save her, as he had not been able to do when she had faced imminent death at the hands of his own formerly-beloved Dark Lord. She needed his intervention now, as she had needed it then, and he had failed her then! It was a God-given miracle, certainly, that she was still alive for him to have a second chance to save her!
He went straight home first, wanting to change into some more... sensible clothing than his usual dress robes for work, before he ventured into Soho. Of course, since he was home, he stopped in to check on his father – and his Uncle Nicholas, of course! Matthew was fit to burst, however, and had to tell someone where he was going, and why. His father was sleeping fitfully, and Uncle Nicholas was watching him intently. “Uncle Nicholas? May I speak to you, outside, perhaps?”
Usually, he wouldn't have been down at the house at this hour unless Kinjala called him up to deal with something major happening to Frederick. This wasn't often of course, since she knew as well as he did that there was never anything particularly wrong with Frederick aside from what Nicholas himself happened to be the cause of. But today it so happened that Frederick was feeling particularly uppity today. He hadn't quite resigned himself to his fate yet, which irritated Nicholas a bit. It was the least his charge could do. After all, Nicholas had been content to resign himself to his suffering when he was a child. But no, he had to yell at Kinjala again, as if he hadn't figured out already that she was perfectly aware of what was happening. And if he'd stopped after she'd told him to, Nicholas wouldn't have had to come over and tranquilize him. But all the same. It was rather convenient that he was meeting with Matthew today. He stood up and nodded to Matthew when he came in, and then walked out into the hall to join him. "Yes, yes. You had some questions about the nature of your father's condition?"
“No, not really,” Matthew began, then shook his head. “Sorry – I mean, I do, quite naturally, but... that's not why I wished to speak to you out of my father's hearing!” A slightly... mournful expression crossed his face, as he thought of how little time his father actually may have with them. “I didn't wish to upset him, in case it came to nothing, but – Diana's alive! My sister... is alive, in fact! She told me, over the Journals, that she could be found on the streets of Soho, any given afternoon. She's been... whoring herself out to survive... Whoring herself out to my... colleagues, and Lord only knows what they're doing to her...!” Suddenly he was animate again, as he had been at work, which had so worried his superiors. “It's why I took the afternoon off, in fact! I must find her, and bring her home!”
Then why did you call me in? thought Nicholas, though he then considered that the question have have been a pretense to get his attention, since perhaps his nephew had something dangerous to tell him. And indeed...Nicholas stood there, shocked at what he was hearing. It was difficult to believe, with all he'd heard about the political situation in Britain - it seemed like they were killing everyone. He took in a sharp breath when he heard what, exactly, Diana was doing with her life. How cruel it was, after what her father had done to her. "Yes, yes!" he said, a excited and worried, "Would you like me to help you find her? I do think I should speak to her - but it's much more important than you are reunited with her. How horrible that she must live like that!"
“No, no, I'll be fine on my own!” Matthew said eagerly. “I mean, she won't even know you – though admittedly, you do have the family's eyes! But no, I'll be fine on my own, really! I mean, the wizarding district of Soho is only a few blocks wide, and I can easily search it within an hour – that is,” he added, blushing furiously at the thought, “unless she's with a... customer!” And... then he backtracked in his mind, back to what his Uncle Nicholas had said before offering his sympathies to the poor girl. “Sorry, why would you need to speak with her, exactly? To warn her of Father's condition? Because I can certainly do that myself – while I'm breaking the bad news of... Mother's death, as well...! I mean, to get all the bad news out of the way, first off!”
Somehow, Nicholas doubted that, but Matthew did have a point. Diana wouldn't know him if she saw him, he would just be some strange man. But he had meant to tell Matthew precisely what was happening to his father - and what Frederick had done, in any case, since he quite doubted his nephew would know. "She and I -" he paused for a moment, unsure of how to say it, "Your father - he - his condition can be partly -" he stood up straighter, "There is something you should know about your father and the nature of his condition."
“Indeed?” Matthew looked... suddenly rather concerned, aware that he was about to be told what he feared most: that his father's condition... “It's... genetic, then? I'm... going to die in my seventies, as well?” He smiled sadly. “That is, of course, if I don't take my own--” Life, he was about to say, but seemed to think better of admitting such an idea to his uncle. “That is – well, no long and full life for me? That fool Dumbledore has already lived to be over one hundred, and I...” He shook his head, miserably, but all the same trying to clear it. “I'm sorry, Uncle Nicholas. You were saying...?”
"You should talk to Kinjala if you're thinking about that," said Nicholas quite seriously, and then his expression grew even more grave as he said, "You needn't worry about dying early, Matthew, and in some ways neither does Frederick. Or he would, if he wasn't in his current state. Perhaps this is a bad time but you do deserve to know the truth about your father," he paused, "And that his fate is in your hands and not mine.”
“I'm sorry, Uncle Nicholas, I really shouldn't have said such a thing...!” Matthew apologised, and he did indeed seem genuinely sorry for worrying his uncle so...! “...The truth?” he repeated blankly. “What is the truth, then? I mean – how can he be in his present condition, and not die?” He looked understandably confused, seeing Uncle Nicholas's grave expression, and wondering just what was behind such graveness...
"No, no, you've nothing to be sorry for. If you've had such feelings," he decided to stop it about there, that was something that would certainly need to be dealt with after what he told Matthew what he was about to tell him. Indeed, it would probably be even more pressing then. "What you must understand that what I have done I have done in recompense for the cruelty he inflicted on your sister, and his betrayal of your mother. That said, your father's sickness is not caused by any imperfection in his blood. That would have been cured long ago. What his condition is caused by," he looked straight at Matthew, "Is the cocktail of potions that I give him. They do not fully destroy his body, but the damage they cause would kill him if he were to be taken off of them."
“Cruelty? To my sister?” Matthew repeated, his tone still blankly confused. “I mean, certainly he never showed her enough affection – I mean, she was always a rather loud child, and Father never liked anything but silence while he worked – even at parties, I mean...!” He shook his head. “I'm sorry, I don't understand... You've been poisoning him? Your own BROTHER?” He cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the lump in it that had suddenly arisen, threatening tears that were soon to follow. “I don't.... understand...! Why are you poisoning your own brother to avenge a – well, an OSTENSIBLY DEAD GIRL'S lack of love from her FATHER? Why, you never even knew her...!”
"I have," he said, "And as for your father, he claims that he loved her but," he paused for a moment, "If sexually abusing a young girl for most of her life is love, then it is a terrible world we live in. And you're right, I never did know her, and I'm sorry for that now, but until he confessed it to me," he grimaced and didn't look Matthew in the eye, "My reasons not related to Catherine were largely personal vengeance. But I suspected he'd treated his children the same way, if I knew him. A man's heart can change, but a monster's never does, I'm afraid."
“WHAT!?” Matthew went very pale, and stumbled back away from his uncle, almost as if his words had been a physical blow to his gut. Perhaps it was at least a metaphorical blow, for he struggled to catch his breath for a moment before stammering out, “N-no... I don't b-believe that... My FATHER... He would n-never have... I mean, if he preferred SODOMY... why Diana and not me!?” He realised, a little too late, that this indicated that he believed, at least, that Nicholas was after personal vengeance for what had happened to him. “I mean...” He paused, unsure of how to correct what he'd just let escape his mouth.
Nicholas pressed his lips into a thin line and sighed, putting a hand on Matthew's shoulder. "I thought the same, but he told me that you'd have told your priest. And for that I suppose you should be grateful. He always did like his secrets kept safe, your father," he smiled grimly, "But if you don't believe me - and I would not blame you - perhaps you should ask Diana, when you see her. But I will tell you, and you should tell her this, since it is her business as well, that there is a way of saving your father. It needs a bezoar and a few healers who can operate very quickly, and that's chancy at best. Otherwise, I can keep giving him the potions and it will be between five and thirty years before they kill him, or I can take stop treating him and he will die within a week."
“My... priest?” Matthew was still obviously confused by everything being thrown at him by his uncle – dear God, his father's own brother! He at last exhaled a breath he'd held for a good, long moment. “I don't know about asking her – I'm sorry, Uncle Nicholas, but I mean – she's a prostitute now...! Think of the memories I'd be dredging up for her, if it's true...!” Again he realised the folly of what he'd just said, after the words were already out of his mouth. “But then again, God willing, I'll talk her into coming home today – damn her clients – to Hell! I mean, if she's not still afraid of Father in his... present condition!” His own lips pursed in distaste at Nicholas's suggestion to kill the bastard within a week. “I'm sorry, Uncle Nicholas, but I can't just... kill him – not like that!”
"Yes," said Nicholas, almost to himself, "You had the distinct advantage of being able to run away." To Matthew's point about dredging up bad memories, he nodded and replied, "It very well may, and I wouldn't blame you if you don't. I just didn't want you to live like your dear mother, completely blind the truth. But do tell Diana that she has nothing to fear from Frederick now. He'll be bedridden for the rest of his days. And as for killing him, it would not bother me if you and your sister decided against it. If it were up to me I would continue his current treatment until there was nothing left to him but poison and skin."
“Run away!?” Matthew looked horrified at the very idea. “Oh, no, Uncle Nicholas! I never would have taken refuge from my sister's never-ending talk – prattle, actually, I called it back then – had I had but known what our Father was DOING TO HER...!” He shook his head roughly, as if to clear it. “Sorry, I mean Father, of course! Our Father is of course, the Lord and the Creator...!” He grimaced expressively. “Damn me, for all the time I spent in church, ignoring her plight...! Do you think... I mean, do you suppose she'll ever forgive me for that, Uncle Nicholas?” His grimace deepened at his uncle's last words. “...No, that's – not good, either...! I shall... have to think about it, really... Weighing his prolonged suffering against... his imminent death, I mean to say...”
"No, no, what I meant was that had you suffered like she had, you would have had a way of escaping," said Nicholas, a little tired by now. "And as for her plight, I don't know as you would have found out even if you had paid attention to her. But I can't say I know, it is the sort of thing you would want to talk over with Kinjala, your questions are more in her domain. But for now, you should go find your sister, Matthew. Talk to her - well, listen to her."
“...Oh. But... surely I would have noticed something as terrible as... that!” There was a slight lisp to the last 'TH' sound, as if he had been about to say something that started with S, instead – such as 'sexual abuse'. “Thank you, Uncle Nicholas! Thank you so much for warning me of... what I have to face...!” He grimaced again, and with that expression seemingly frozen upon his face, he turned to go...