I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_sally_anne]

Hermione, what you said about Harry, does he REALLY act like he think muggleborns aren't any less than purebloods or is it just that he isn't completely beastly to you the way some people are?

Do you think he's afraid of his father? I think Hydra's afraid of her mother. Everyone thinks Harry is special and protected but maybe he isn't, really, as much as everyone assumes. He said once that his father had always said that if Harry ever did something really terrible he'd give Draco to Carrow. Now if his father wanted to punish him but not quite that much he's got all kinds of friends to choose from, including you lots of people at school.

Well anyway.

I hope they don't do anything dreadful to Dennis. Even though I don't much like him.

Comments

[alt_neville]

Oh, no, I just saw that, Professor Carrow asking Malfoy to give Dennis to him. Poor little bloke. I'll bet Professor Carrow's getting twitchy, what with Terry being taken away from him and then petrified, cause he hasn't had anyone to torture for far too long now.

Harry Marvolo really doesn't seem like a bad sort. I mean, if there aren't a lot of other people around. I keep thinking about how he was sorted into Gryffindor. By all rights, he should have been one of our dormmates.

[alt_sally_anne]

I don't know what it is Carrow does when he visits the camps but I expect it's horrifying.

I forget that Harry was sorted into Gryffindor. It's really odd though, because I expect he would've told the hat he wanted to be in Slytherin with Draco. I don't remember how long it took to sort you Nev, but the hat talked to me when I put it on, and when I told it I didn't want to be in Ravenclaw and wanted to be in Slytherin it thought about it and decided that was alright.

So the hat must really think Harry had no business being in Slytherin.

[alt_ron]

Maybe he was tired of always being stuck with Malfoy all the time. I mean, who wouldn't be?

Anyway, it doesn't matter now. It didn't happen. And he's turned out a dirty great Slytherin after all.

[alt_sally_anne]

And it would be SO STRANGE Draco being best mates with a GRYFFINDOR. I wonder if they'd have stopped talking to each other?

[alt_hermione]

I don't know. I mean, he isn't really beastly to anyone, not even Dennis, no matter what he said - he doesn't like hurting people, not like some people, so he doesn't do it if he can help it. But I don't know if he thinks that all mudbloods are people or if it's just me. Or maybe if it's just mudbloods he knows. Because sometimes he says awful things about mudbloods, but he's never been awful personally. I can't decide if that's worse or better than people who are just mean about it all the time. It's like if a person was always saying, 'oh, I hate Slytherins, but I like you.' Do you really think they can actually be your friend?? Only, isn't it better for them to like you than to hate you?? I don't know.

I'm quite certain Harry's afraid of his father sometimes, but not always. I mean sometimes he forgets that his father can be beastly. Because, almost, he doesn't think of being beastly, so he doesn't think other people would either, not just for fun or because someone did something they didn't like. But then something happens to remind him, you see?

If I were Hydra I'd be afraid of her mother, I mean, I am afraid of her, and I'm not even Hydra!

[alt_sally_anne]

Well when someone says 'I hate Slytherins but I like you' sometimes it's just a matter of time before they realise Slytherins must not be as bad as they thought.

But you know

on one hand you've got Padma saying she has nothing against halfbloods because after all her good friend Finnigan is a halfblood! and on the other you've got Milli who says she hates halfbloods and is just wretched. At least with Milli I know where I stand, or I thought I did. Actually that whole situation is weird. Maybe I shouldn't talk about it, I don't want to

[alt_ron]

Yeah, what IS up with Bulstrode? I mean, she was never anything but a nasty piece of work, but now? She's a terror!

[alt_sally_anne]

I'm not sure I should tell you.

I mean it's not that I don't trust you, it's that this is something I don't normally tell people when I know. I haven't even told Pansy.

It's just

Well it's REALLY strange and you'd think

Hermione do you know? about the letter? It's really strange being the ONLY one who knows this. Even the teachers

[alt_sally_anne]

And I keep waiting for it to come out.

I mean I really can't believe she kept it a secret as long as she did. The teachers must not know although surely the Headmistress does at least.

When I saw the letter

Look, I'll tell you but Ron you have to promise not to say anything and to act surprised when you find out, because surely it'll come out eventually.

[alt_ron]

What? She's really a Squib? And they thought she showed a little magic but really it was just indigestion?

Actually, I think Bulstrode's a goblin. That'd explain a lot.

[alt_sally_anne]

She's not a squib.

[alt_sally_anne]

Or a goblin. She doesn't look anything like a goblin!

[alt_ron]

She totally looks like a goblin.

I mean, it's not like you can really stand looking at her very long, but it doesn't take more than a glance.

She's got gobliny eyes. All beady and mean. And she's the snub-nose kind not one of the long, beaky ones, but the snub-nosed ones are worst anyway.

[alt_sally_anne]

She does have mean eyes but her fingers look totally normal and she's much too tall to be a goblin.

[alt_ron]

Okay, so her dad's a goblin and her mum's a witch, and they kept it dead secret all this time. Only she just got a letter

didn't you say there's a letter?

from the Head of Gringotts telling her that her dad got lost in the deep vaults and was eaten by a dragon.

Or maybe it's her mum that's a goblin.

[alt_sally_anne]

Sure, you guessed it, she's half goblin and her dad got eaten by a dragon.

[alt_neville]

Hold on. She's a half...

That's it. She's a half-blood. Isn't she? That's her secret? You said it yourself: she hates half-bloods, so how'd she feel if she found out she is one? Or if she's trying to keep it secret from everyone else? I suppose it all came out because of the epidemic, maybe?

Blimey. I almost feel sorry for her. I mean, I wouldn't tell anyone, cause it's not my secret to tell. (Ron, you'd better not tell anybody, either. Anyway, if I'm right, it's under the lock now, so you can't.) I don't care what anybody's blood status is, but she really does. It just must be killing her, right?

[alt_sally_anne]

You're cleverer than your professors give you credit for, Neville.

A few weeks ago all the halfbloods got a letter from the Ministry a few weeks ago with all the new rules about floo and so on.

Milli got it. No one else noticed but I always notice that sort of thing. The teachers don't know because Carrow and Acton aren't separating her.

I think she's always suspected but didn't know for sure until now because she's been ten times as horrid since she got that letter.

[alt_sally_anne]

And it's driven me a little mad. I mean I knew about a LOT of the halfbloods who were keeping it a secret just because I notice all the little things like who never seems to get mail and who talks about their dad all the time but never their mum and things like that. Anyway I NEVER tell, at least I never have.

But Michael Corner was just quiet about it, he didn't say anything horrid about halfbloods the way Milli does.

I don't think it's right to act like it's something dreadful and if I went and told everyone it would be saying that it was something dreadful. But Milli ALREADY acts like it's something dreadful.

Maybe 'mad' isn't quite right but it makes me CROSS.

[alt_ron]

Hold on a bloody second, mate.

What's all this about me telling people's secrets? What are you saying exactly?

Don't tell Ron anything. He's too stupid to keep his mouth shut?

[alt_neville]

Not saying you're stupid at all, Ron. I know you're not. I'm thinking more about the famous Weasley temper, yeah? Like what you might say fast without thinking first if Bulstrode started in on Terry or Hermione in front of you. That's all.

Blimey, I want to be able to tell you things. That's why we've got this lock, ain't it? We just all have to be careful about what we say outside of it. And that means all of us.

[alt_ron]

 
...
 

[alt_sally_anne]

I should've said I get someone saying 'I hate Slytherins but you're not too bad!' all the time, but Ron had mostly stopped for a while and I was thinking maybe he wouldn't start again!

[alt_ron]

What? I like you and Pansy. And Hydra's rather nice. A bit shy, actually, is all.

[alt_sally_anne]

I suppose it's more 'I hate Slytherin House but you're not so bad.' I mean he likes Pansy too.

[alt_ron]

Yeah, what I said. Sort of. I mean it's not your House, it's the way Slytherins act.

It's

you're all

slippery

You say one thing and do another as long as you won't get caught. And that's

I mean talk about not knowing where you really stand with someone

and sometimes even with you I wonder if I really know you or you're just having us on and you're all always 'it's so dangerous, he can't let anyone know what he really thinks' but, y'know, actually

if you can't do what you say you mean or what you say you think, then

it doesn't count

and you don't mean it, or you'd do it, y'know?

That's what I mean by Slytherin, anyway. And he totally is one.

[alt_sally_anne]

You wonder if you really KNOW me?

You lot know me better than anyone but Pansy!

[alt_ron]

You know what I mean.

Don't you?

It's just. You say stuff here, and it seems like you mean it. Like it's the stuff you really think and just couldn't ever say. But then, everybody else thinks they know you, too. You tell them stuff and they believe it, too.

It's just

See, I'm not really confused about you, it's just that once one of you turns out to be a total fake, then

you start wondering, y'know

I mean, it seems like the thing Slytherins are really good at is lying, and that makes it hard to trust a Slytherin

except, I dunno, you do seem different and Pansy mostly does, except

I can't explain it

If you trust someone and you think you know them and that you've done stuff together that means you can count on them but then it turns out they're just good at telling people stuff that'll get you to do stuff for them and when they decide it might look bad to stand up for you then they're not your mate anymore, then that really reeks.

[alt_sally_anne]

And of course it's too dangerous to say what you think when what you think is that the Lord Protector is a git!

I wish you

I never feel bad about saying one thing and doing another because if I told people what I was really thinking all the time like you Gryffindors sometimes feel compelled to, I'd wind up in the camps with my wand snapped!

[alt_ron]

That's not what I mean.

And you're doing something about it that's really pretty brave.

Yeah, there are things that are really big, like thinking what the Ministry does is wrong. And then there's whether Padma Patil thinks your nift or a git. Or Zach Smith or Seamus Bloody Finnigan. And who cares?

It's about what you do, y'know? And you're doing a lot to show what you really think or maybe what you hope we can all work out someday to make it change. I mean, that's sort of what we're doing, right?

But then there are people who

Oh, it doesn't matter anyway.

I don't know why I care.

[alt_neville]

I'd like to think we're working toward making things so that what we think and say matches up with what we do.

[alt_ron]

Yeah, exactly.