Private message to Antonin Dolohov

[alt_sally_anne]

What are Bellatrix and the rest of you doing to Ginny Weasley?

She was one of your students. She's not even of age, you know.

Comments

[alt_antonin]

Miss Weasley is currently enjoying a bath, a meal, and the opportunity for a good night's rest, in fact. I'm certain you'll understand that we cannot allow her to write to you, but she has suffered no lasting harm.

В чужо́м глазу́ сори́нку заме́тно, а в своём, бревна́ не вида́ть, anyway; your lot does not precisely have the moral high ground. Is Mr Finch-Fletchley operating under orders, or is he simply freelancing?

[alt_sally_anne]

Yeah, funny thing but when we took Maebh Drumgoole prisoner we didn't torture her for what little she knew and then go on torturing her for days after she spilled everything. Also, I'm pretty sure whichever side DOESN'T have Bellatrix Lestrange on it wins the moral high ground by default. Not to mention the side that didn't spend almost twenty years propping up a vicious, insane tyrant.

[alt_antonin]

Keeping one prominent person unharmed does not virtue make when that captivity exists solely to distract from what one is doing in the dark, you know. I know that I have taught you about the halo effect and how seductive a cognitive bias it can be; take a very good look at what is being done in your name and by those with whom you've chosen to ally.

I've asked Miss Weasley if there's anything she'd like to pass along to you to assure you that she is alive and well; she said to tell you that while accomodations are not ideal, they are better than the floor of the Great Hall, whether in her own body or her brother's.

[alt_sally_anne]

Are you seriously trying to make me feel guilty about the fact that we're fighting a war against you?

You spent years -- decades! -- serving Voldemort. You watched him torture and kill Dominic Selwyn, you helped him make Seamus Finnigan kill his own mother, you stood by when he took my entire year at Hogwarts hostage, when he killed Sophie Fleet and her younger siblings, when he ordered thousands of muggles murdered in Ireland, or maybe you helped with that one, I can't remember.

But I'm the one who ought to take a good look at what's being done in my name, by my allies?

Are you giving me the good advice you wish you'd taken fifteen years ago?

[alt_antonin]

My dear girl, my own regrets are not the topic of discussion here. (And if I thought any of you lot would take the good advice I wish I'd taken a decade and more ago, I would deliver it, but as I judge the chance of that happening somewhat lower than the chance of Bella deciding to renounce all worldly concern in favor of religious vows, I'll save us both the lecture.)

And no, I am not attempting to play on your guilt. Simply reminding you that the world is not so black and white as your side might hold it to be. Have you ever wondered why each of us found he-whose-name-shall-never-again-be-written to be worthy of following? Or have you simply decided that we are all, each of us, the monsters who live under the bed?

Do sleep well, and be thankful for the clear conscience that allows it.