Order Only Private message to Hermione and Harry

[alt_draco]

Well, that was another night wasted on trying to sleep.

Harry, I know how helpless you feel when these things happen - I feel the same way. We all do. Nothing can be done but to move forward, and that means we have to do everything we can to find the rest of the horcruxes. They won't be hidden near the places Voldemort wants to forget. The Riddle House and Wool's Orphanage were more or less wiped off the face of the map, too much of a reminder of his muggle heritage, so Hermione and I have a theory that he might have hidden them in places he associates with his rise to power, and his transformation from Tom Riddle to Voldemort.

So yeah, that definitely includes Buckingham Palace. Are there any other places he's used for rituals, or where he won a particularly hard-fought battle? That's what we need to keep researching.

But even if we find all the horcruxes, I keep coming back to the fact that the one person who poses the biggest threat to our security is Bellatrix. That Neville knew occlumency saved us, but it didn't save him.

Is it mad to consider the possibility of having Hydra assassinate her own mother? She's the only one who could get close enough to do it. Well, and maybe Rachel, but she doesn't even work in Auntie Bella's division.

Even then, it would be incredibly risky. And probably wouldn't work.

Comments

Private message to Hermione

[alt_draco]

I saw someone's shadow at the crack beneath my door last night, and I know it was yours because I recognise the sound of your walk by now. You could have just barged in if you wanted to talk, you know. It's not as if I was asleep - and that hasn't even stopped you before, besides.

[alt_harry]

By rights he ought to have one at Leicester, then. But he didn't fight there. Do you think that would matter? That it was his people fighting, while he stayed at a safe distance?

Buckingham is a stupid place to keep your magical immortality jewelry when you live there yourself. Not that I'm sure he wouldn't do it anyway. There's also Eton. That's where he took me, after I won the Triwizard Tournament. That time he wanted me to kill Ridley.

[alt_harry]

And about Bellatrix. Don't you think Hydra would kill her if she thought she possibly could?

But maybe there's something she needs that one of us could get for her. My cloak, for instance.

[alt_hermione]

What about the Ministry? That's certainly a significant location and was a hard-fought battle to win. And Voldemort was there, wasn't he?

And...doesn't he have another place, not Buckingham, where he conducts his 'experiments'? You've been there, Harry--did you ever find out where it was?

[alt_harry]

Yeah. Eton. That's where I was talking about.

[alt_hermione]

Right--of course you were. I mean, of course that's what you meant. Sorry. I wasn't--

Sorry.

[alt_harry]

And, the Ministry.

On one hand -- it's a significant location, yeah. But it's also mostly controlled by other people. Even if Voldemort thinks he controls them.

If there is anywhere at the Ministry he'd put something like that, though -- I think it would be the Wizengamot.

Re: Private message to Hermione

[alt_hermione]

I was--coming to tell you that no one else could sleep, either, and we were all in the sitting room.

But then I thought maybe you wanted to be alone, or you really were asleep, or something, and I didn't want to wake you if you'd managed it.

[alt_harry]

It's almost like you didn't get a good night's sleep any more than Draco or I did.

Re: Private message to Hermione

[alt_draco]

Oh, I guess I should have spoken up when I sensed you standing out there.

I was up thinking about how rotten I was to Neville, back at school. I perpetuated the idea that he was a traitor for years, and yeah, I stopped, but I never exactly apologised to him, either.

I should have done.

[alt_harry]

And, the thing about Eton is, that's where he makes them. Or at least made some of them. I think.

I'm not sure if he'd also keep them there. Maybe?

[alt_draco]

A part of me is thinking a resounding "yes," because bloody nightshade, wouldn't you want to, if you were Hydra?

But I could be wrong. It's still her own mother.

And it seems a bit wrong to ask someone "Hey there, up for snuffing your mum out of existence?"

[alt_harry]

I'm trying to think where he might have put them and I keep thinking about where I'd put something like that, if I were him. Because, I wouldn't hide it in some deep cavern guarded by Inferi. I'd put it in a vault at Gringott's. Or ask Bellatrix to keep it for me. Or put it under the cornerstone of a new maternity hospital in London. Or I'd stuff it in a little box and hide it at the bottom of the North Sea.

[alt_draco]

That diary that Hydra wrote in - wasn't it originally given to you by Voldemort? Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll pass you another one.

[alt_harry]

Did you read what Hydra wrote after she had to cruciate a bunch of students, during the business with the graffiti? She said that when she has to cruciate someone, she kind of hallucinates that it's actually her mother standing in front of her.

So presumably that's what she did with Neville.

I don't think she'd hesitate for a minute, if she thought she could actually kill Bellatrix.

[alt_harry]

I was such an idiot back then.

Yeah, he gave it to me. I still don't know what he was thinking about that.

I rather doubt he'll give me any more. Even if I ask nicely and say it's what I want for Christmas.

[alt_draco]

Yeah, I'd forgotten about that.

How does someone actually get enough confidence to think they can kill Bellatrix, though? Mother used to say that Bellatrix respected the Lord Protector above all others because he was the only person who could out-duel her.

But maybe it doesn't need to involve a duel. Just sneakiness, good timing, and luck.

I mean, even Bellatrix has to sleep and use the loo sometimes.

[alt_harry]

Bellatrix can't read Hydra's mind. So sneakiness could work.

[alt_draco]

Given what happened to Hydra, I think he wanted his younger self to possess you. Or possibly he didn't even know what would happen if someone came into contact with one of his nasty little soul-bits, and wanted to find out.

[alt_draco]

Yeah, and despite what she did to Hydra last night, I don't think Bellatrix is suspicious of Hydra at all. No daughter of hers would ever be a traitor.

[alt_harry]

Yeah. But then what? I mean, did he really want another Voldemort running around? Did he think possibly that other version of himself could take care of the boring political stuff he mostly can't be bothered with, and wouldn't start complaining?

[alt_harry]

I was thinking about what would have happened, if Hydra had killed Neville, like she'd planned.

Bellatrix would have known then that Hydra was a traitor. What do you think she'd have done to Sally-Anne and Daphne and Pansy, and Ron, and Remy and Evelyn and anyone who'd ever so much as sat next to Hydra in class?

Anyway if Hydra tries to kill her, she can't fail. She has to be absolutely certain she'll succeed.

[alt_draco]

Another Voldemort running around? I mean, if I didn't think he'd eventually see the doppelganger as competition, I'd say yes, because it allows him to double his power, maybe even extend his life span, too, since that's what he appears to be most obsessed with.

[alt_harry]

Maybe he didn't think through whether he'd end up being his own worst rival.

I mean, he took me, told everyone I was his 'son,' and apparently didn't think through that I might have a mind of my own when I grew up.

[alt_draco]

Yeah. The option Neville thought up was much better, big-picture wise.

That brings us back to the question of how one gets that kind of certainty.

When I killed Teddy, I knew I was going to succeed. Because I had nothing left to lose, and if I was going to die he was going to go first. But that kind of certainty only comes out of circumstance - it's not like I prepared and practised for it.

[alt_draco]

That's because other people aren't people, to him. They're just objects for him to bend to his own will. And I think he used to be quite good at using charm and persuasion to bend the will of others, but now he can't be bothered with it at all. Or he lost the ability to use charm and other human emotions when he butchered his soul up.

To be entirely honest with you, I don't think he will keep you around if he can't make use of you in a way that serves his own needs.

[alt_harry]

Right.

If I had nothing to lose, I'd try to kill Voldemort. Because there'd be a chance it would work. Not a large one, but a chance.

But I'm sitting here writing in my diary because I know I'd probably fail, and they'd kill me, or they'd take me apart to find out who I'd conspired with. I have things to lose.

[alt_harry]

I would die to kill him.

I would die horribly. If that would help.

But I don't want to die for nothing.

[alt_harry]

I'm sure you're right. Sooner or later I'll have to go on the run. Or I'll wait a little too long and wind up stuffed and in a case in the Protector's Collection.

I don't quite know what I am to him, but definitely not a person.

[alt_draco]

Yeah, I mean, I thought Hermione was dead, and that everyone knew I was a traitor. So why not take down Teddy on my way out?

But I don't think we can wait for those moments of desperation to come around again. We have to be willing to lose the things we'd lose, and I don't know if any of us are there yet, and I don't know how we get there.

[alt_harry]

You're right. We can't.

I don't think Mrs Longbottom likes taking risks. Though last week she talked about the Big Plan for next September.

[alt_draco]

I mean, I'm a Slytherin, I still had me to lose, and I wasn't even thinking about that. Pretty impressive, really.

September seems really, really far away. Especially when you think about what's happened in just the last month or two. Or just the last couple of weeks. Days.

We're bleeding out.

[alt_harry]

I am really tired of losing friends.

Including my friends on the other side. Like Raz.

[alt_draco]

You and me both, mate.