The Order of the Phoenix
May. 13th, 2015 10:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alt_dracoMy name doesn't matter because you all already know it anyway.
I grew up having everything most of you didn't. Manor homes with more than thirty bedrooms; life-size Gingerbread Houses at Christmas, any fruit or luxury item galleons can buy, the best designer robes and the most high-end quidditch gear. More than that, I grew up with the most valuable thing of all: the knowledge that my name was one of the best you could have; that my blood was some of the most premium around. With all of that, what could touch me?
If you've read Harry's post, then you know that I wasn't, as it turned out, untouchable. But for years I continued to believe that I was. That if I just behaved and followed the rules, that I'd be safe. You may be reading this right now thinking the same thing. Sure, I get knocked down every now and then, but if I just sit tight, things will work out. Well, I'm here to tell you they won't.
Just a handful of days ago, some of you witnessed the murder of Daphne Greengrass, Head Girl at Hogwarts. She was Rabastan Lestrange's natural daughter, and married to a council-wizard and Auror. If anyone ought to have been safe, it was her. But she wasn't safe, and now she's dead. And the fact that you're still alive and well is likely down to two things: sheer luck, and the Order of the Phoenix.
You may not be a member of the Order, but they've already touched your life in immeasurable ways. It's thanks to the Order that you no longer have to live under the tyranny and disgusting grooming habits/general deviance of people like Amycus Carrow, Dolores Umbridge, Corax Mulciber, Teddy Nott, and others, all of whom were directly removed thanks to Order operatives.
Wayne Hopkins, Adelheid Zimmerman, Norma Stein, Eloise Midgen, Mandy Brocklehurst, Su Li, Sally Anne Perks, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Luna Lovegood, Katrina Bundy, Michael Corner, Megan Jones, Bobby Stebbins, Steven Capper, and John Summers. If your name is on this list, then the Order saved you. Dolores Umbridge planned to hand you over to Marston Strangeweale for an experiment involving a magical device intending to extend life. But the device required the blood of young wizards and witches to work - and no, I don't mean just a pinprick. The Order destroyed Strangeweale's device and they destroyed him. You're welcome.
The Order has poured money and assets into the black market so that luxury goods and coveted medicinal items are available to people who would otherwise not have access to them. The also saw to it that there were professors and staff at Hogwarts who actually cared about every student, and could offer a degree of protection. Those professors and staff are gone, now, but they likely provided for you generously over the years.
The Order saved the lives of Sarah Fawcett, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and myself. They have offered shelter to people they weren't able to save directly, like Evelyn Longbottom. They have helped perform the Fidelius Charm for people seeking a life outside of MLE's reach - not all of those people were Order members, but the Order helped them, just the same.
The Order has done all of these things to help you, and what have you done to deserve it?
If it were up to me to answer that question, I'd say that you don't deserve it. You huddle together and hope for the best, and sure, you'll take help - when it's offered - but you won't lift a finger to actually propagate real, lasting change. You want everyone else to do the dirty work for you, and get hit by the fire that's cast in your direction. Make no mistake: you are basically pathetic.
Fortunately for you, it isn't up to me to answer that question.
Unless you're working actively to oppress others, then the Order believes that you deserve help and protection no matter who you are. They believe that you have a right to live in freedom, outside the iron grip of the Lord Protector - whether you're a muggleborn, a halfblood, or one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. You don't have to join up with us to receive this protection, either; it's given to you freely. What a tremendous gift. What kind of ingrate would squander it?
But the Order, too, has suffered its losses. We've had great successes but there's still much that we're up against. Every person who joins us gets us that much closer to our goals - the end of the Lord Protector and his tyranny of oppression. It doesn't matter if you're rubbish at Charms, or you're poor, or you grew up with muggleborn servants - you still have things to offer the Order, if you dare to give them.
Some of you reading this may feel outrage, and that outrage may be masking other feelings. You might feel shame, because you had a life of privilege and relative peace compared to others. You might feel guilt, because in the past you've either directly or indirectly contributed to the oppression of someone else. Those are uncomfortable feelings, and you might prefer to ignore rather than acknowledge them.
I can tell you that ignoring them is worse. I'm Draco Malfoy, and I grew up having everything most of you didn't. Every day I acknowledge that fact. I'm acknowledging it right now, by writing this. The fact that I'm privileged and most of you are not is just a random occurrence, something that was built into the design of the Protectorate, but my name will still resonate with some of you just the same. The fact that I was born with an exceptionally clever brain and a way with words is undeniable, too, but I've also had the freedom to use them, almost always. And that makes all the difference.
Imagine being born with cleverness but no way to express it, or having talents that you had no way to hone or refine. Imagine having magic, but being prohibited from using it. Imagine having parents that you weren't allowed to see, or being raised by people who treated you like something sub-human. If you are incapable of imagining these things, then you are literally the definition of an idiot and I feel sorry for you. You're lost for this world no matter what.
But the rest of you - you don't have to be.
I grew up having everything most of you didn't. Manor homes with more than thirty bedrooms; life-size Gingerbread Houses at Christmas, any fruit or luxury item galleons can buy, the best designer robes and the most high-end quidditch gear. More than that, I grew up with the most valuable thing of all: the knowledge that my name was one of the best you could have; that my blood was some of the most premium around. With all of that, what could touch me?
If you've read Harry's post, then you know that I wasn't, as it turned out, untouchable. But for years I continued to believe that I was. That if I just behaved and followed the rules, that I'd be safe. You may be reading this right now thinking the same thing. Sure, I get knocked down every now and then, but if I just sit tight, things will work out. Well, I'm here to tell you they won't.
Just a handful of days ago, some of you witnessed the murder of Daphne Greengrass, Head Girl at Hogwarts. She was Rabastan Lestrange's natural daughter, and married to a council-wizard and Auror. If anyone ought to have been safe, it was her. But she wasn't safe, and now she's dead. And the fact that you're still alive and well is likely down to two things: sheer luck, and the Order of the Phoenix.
You may not be a member of the Order, but they've already touched your life in immeasurable ways. It's thanks to the Order that you no longer have to live under the tyranny and disgusting grooming habits/general deviance of people like Amycus Carrow, Dolores Umbridge, Corax Mulciber, Teddy Nott, and others, all of whom were directly removed thanks to Order operatives.
Wayne Hopkins, Adelheid Zimmerman, Norma Stein, Eloise Midgen, Mandy Brocklehurst, Su Li, Sally Anne Perks, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Luna Lovegood, Katrina Bundy, Michael Corner, Megan Jones, Bobby Stebbins, Steven Capper, and John Summers. If your name is on this list, then the Order saved you. Dolores Umbridge planned to hand you over to Marston Strangeweale for an experiment involving a magical device intending to extend life. But the device required the blood of young wizards and witches to work - and no, I don't mean just a pinprick. The Order destroyed Strangeweale's device and they destroyed him. You're welcome.
The Order has poured money and assets into the black market so that luxury goods and coveted medicinal items are available to people who would otherwise not have access to them. The also saw to it that there were professors and staff at Hogwarts who actually cared about every student, and could offer a degree of protection. Those professors and staff are gone, now, but they likely provided for you generously over the years.
The Order saved the lives of Sarah Fawcett, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and myself. They have offered shelter to people they weren't able to save directly, like Evelyn Longbottom. They have helped perform the Fidelius Charm for people seeking a life outside of MLE's reach - not all of those people were Order members, but the Order helped them, just the same.
The Order has done all of these things to help you, and what have you done to deserve it?
If it were up to me to answer that question, I'd say that you don't deserve it. You huddle together and hope for the best, and sure, you'll take help - when it's offered - but you won't lift a finger to actually propagate real, lasting change. You want everyone else to do the dirty work for you, and get hit by the fire that's cast in your direction. Make no mistake: you are basically pathetic.
Fortunately for you, it isn't up to me to answer that question.
Unless you're working actively to oppress others, then the Order believes that you deserve help and protection no matter who you are. They believe that you have a right to live in freedom, outside the iron grip of the Lord Protector - whether you're a muggleborn, a halfblood, or one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. You don't have to join up with us to receive this protection, either; it's given to you freely. What a tremendous gift. What kind of ingrate would squander it?
But the Order, too, has suffered its losses. We've had great successes but there's still much that we're up against. Every person who joins us gets us that much closer to our goals - the end of the Lord Protector and his tyranny of oppression. It doesn't matter if you're rubbish at Charms, or you're poor, or you grew up with muggleborn servants - you still have things to offer the Order, if you dare to give them.
Some of you reading this may feel outrage, and that outrage may be masking other feelings. You might feel shame, because you had a life of privilege and relative peace compared to others. You might feel guilt, because in the past you've either directly or indirectly contributed to the oppression of someone else. Those are uncomfortable feelings, and you might prefer to ignore rather than acknowledge them.
I can tell you that ignoring them is worse. I'm Draco Malfoy, and I grew up having everything most of you didn't. Every day I acknowledge that fact. I'm acknowledging it right now, by writing this. The fact that I'm privileged and most of you are not is just a random occurrence, something that was built into the design of the Protectorate, but my name will still resonate with some of you just the same. The fact that I was born with an exceptionally clever brain and a way with words is undeniable, too, but I've also had the freedom to use them, almost always. And that makes all the difference.
Imagine being born with cleverness but no way to express it, or having talents that you had no way to hone or refine. Imagine having magic, but being prohibited from using it. Imagine having parents that you weren't allowed to see, or being raised by people who treated you like something sub-human. If you are incapable of imagining these things, then you are literally the definition of an idiot and I feel sorry for you. You're lost for this world no matter what.
But the rest of you - you don't have to be.
Re: Order Only
Date: 2015-05-14 03:29 am (UTC)Re: Order Only
Date: 2015-05-14 04:00 am (UTC)But hey, probably just as well I had to bin Tapestry; too many memories, if you know what I mean.
Re: Order Only
Date: 2015-05-14 04:21 am (UTC)We'll have to have a massive Music Party this summer and see what the rest of the world has come up with in the last twenty years that's worth listening to.
Make new memories.
Re: Order Only
Date: 2015-05-14 04:28 am (UTC)I mean--probably everyone will want to get food sorted out first and maybe set up a new government or something.
But after that (or maybe even before--to get everyone in a good mood y'know!) there should be a party.