I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_sally_anne]

I've ruined everything.

Pansy knows about the lock. Or -- not the lock, but she knows that I have a way to talk to Ron that she doesn't know about, and she's pretty sure it has something to do with the journals, and she's pretty sure that Neville is in on it too and she's furious and hurt because we've been keeping it a secret from her. And it's a HUGE secret.

She doesn't know who else is involved, and she doesn't know how it works. But she caught me writing today something that didn't appear in her journal, and she burst in on me like that because she was TRYING to catch me, because she suspected, and she suspected because of today, because of the distraction that I asked for and Ron made.

And it didn't even matter, or if it DID matter it made things worse, I was starting to say that I heard a rumour the MLE didn't find Snape or Macnair but they did find a muggleborn servant who'd run off. If we hadn't tried to help her maybe she'd have made it out alright, but --

But I thought a distraction would help, and that meant Pansy guessed, and it turns out she's suspected for MONTHS, I feel so stupid that I thought I was getting away with it.

She wanted me to tell her what was going on and I told her that I couldn't. Or at least I said that I couldn't tell her now, but I would tell her later. So that I could talk to you, and tell you what happened.

Either you have to let me tell Pansy, or Fred and George have to obliviate her. Because right now she knows I'm keeping a secret but she doesn't REALLY know how much trouble I'd be in if she told, even though I tried to give her some idea of that much. And if you obliviate Pansy I think you should obliviate me, too, because I'm the one who got her into this by not being more careful. Got all of us into this.

I hate that I'm putting all of you in this position.

Pansy would never tell. She wouldn't.

At least, she would never tell if she knew what was at stake. If we leave her hanging, if she doesn't KNOW what's going on or how many people or how much trouble -- I don't know what she'll do if she knows half of it but not all of it. What I know is that she would never betray ME, not to Lucius, not to anybody. She knows that I've exchanged messages with my mum, and she kept that secret, and she knows the truth about what I think about things and she's kept that secret too.

Please let me tell her. Please.

Comments

[alt_lee]

Suffering Merlin. Are you mental? Do you realise what they'll do to us all? You could be on your way to a camp tonight! Never mind Terry and Hermione, they could be killed!

Bugger all.

[alt_neville]

Oh, no.

[alt_lee]

Gred and Forge could you, I dunno...obliviate her?

[alt_neville]

I don't see how, even if they knew how. She's in London, in the middle of a bunch of other students. And with Aurors swarming all around, I'll bet. What are Fred and George supposed to do, just pop in and say, 'right, would you hold still for a moment here, there's a spell we want to try out?'

[alt_gredforge]

That would be tough to pull off, we admit.

[alt_neville]

Can you do the spell?

[alt_gredforge]

We've practised it a time or two, on Percy. It works if you're right there and perform it right away. Not if you're trying to erase a memory that goes back months. And if she's been suspicious for months, that wouldn't do any good. Might make things worse, in fact.

[alt_sally_anne]

That's why I say she would NEVER tell on us.

She can't tell on Hermione and Terry without telling on me and Ron.

And she would NEVER do that.

[alt_sally_anne]

Not that I think she'd tell on Hermione or Terry either.

But I KNOW she wouldn't tell on me.

[alt_terry]

No. She wouldn't tell on you.

[alt_neville]

How do you know that? How can you be sure? Bloody hell, Terry, we can't be wrong on this.

[alt_gredforge]

No kidding.

[alt_terry]

It's--

I--

I don't know. I just know it. My magic tells me that. At least about Sally-Anne. She won't do anything that would hurt her. And I think Ron's all right from her, too.

But about Hermione and me, I--

Oh, bloody hell.

Is there anything she can give you? A secret to tell us, to keep her safe on the lock, too?

I can't believe I'm even thinking this.

[alt_terry]

And she said, she told me once--

It was after she arranged with Sally-Anne to get word to Hermione, about what Master was planning, to get Hermione in trouble. She grabbed my arm after class, when no one else was around and she said to me, real low, I'd do it again, you know.

[alt_lee]

Do what again?

[alt_terry]

I took her to mean, she's stick out her neck again. To keep someone like Hermione safe.

[alt_neville]

Well, that's something, at least.

[alt_gredforge]

All right, let's break this down. Don't think we can obliviate her.

Bugger all. That means you would have to tell her.

You don't think she'll be satisfied if you just say, yeah, I've got a way to send private messages. Without explaining how?

We need to hear from Hermione on this.

[alt_neville]

Oh, no. Did you see Lucius Malfoy's entry?

She's gone crying to Lucius Malfoy.

[alt_terry]

She won't tell him the whole story, though.

[alt_neville]

Well, you'd better be right about that.

Hermione...can you slip away, if you have to? Blimey, I don't know how you could escape from Buckingham, if you had to do a bunk in a hurry. But maybe the people the people who helped with the wands could help.

And what about Terry?

[alt_sally_anne]

She can't.

She wouldn't.

[alt_sally_anne]

Pansy doesn't know anything about Terry or Hermione right now. The ONLY person she can tell Lucius about is me. And maybe Ron but she doesn't know for sure about him, just me.

If MLE comes for me --

Maybe I should make an unbreakable vow. Not to tell anything about the lock. Or not to tell them some OTHER thing so that I can tell them that and then I'll die, right there, and I can't tell them anything else.

[alt_neville]

Sally-Anne! You can't!

[alt_gredforge]

Well, she could. But we think, we hope she doesn't need to.

Look, even if we tell and she goes and tells Lucius Malfoy, Malfoy can't read it. Nobody in the MLE can read it. They're all too old. Even if she reads it all aloud to somebody, there's no proof, and there would be all of us saying she's gone mental.

[alt_ron]

No. Of course, she doesn't need to make an unbreakable vow and then break it. Don't be daft.

And Pansy can't even read it, either, so nobody's going to read the MLE what we've written. And anywiz, she wouldn't ever. Pansy wouldn't.

She just totally wouldn't do that to us.

And she's not mental. Nor Sally Anne, neither. So you can just stop with that bit.

[alt_lee]

So Perks could tell Parkinson she's made the Unbreakable Vow, only not do it. But tell her she has.

[alt_gredforge]

Right, brilliant. Which means if we let Parkinson in on the lock, she'll read all this anyway and know we're trying to pull one on her.

(Hi, Parkinson. If you're reading this someday.)

[alt_lee]

You are SO not helping.

So what do YOU think we should do?

[alt_gredforge]

Neville's right, we need to hear from Hermione. It's her and the Professor's necks on the line more than anybody else's. Other than that, well, guess Perks knows her best, and the Professor thinks it'll be all right. Hope you're right about that, Professor.

We do think the protections on the lock would help to keep her from passing on whatever she might learn here.

Don't like it a bit, though. It would help a lot if she could give us a secret of her own.

[alt_ron]

Woah! Hang on!

What's all this now? Crikey, I go off and play chess for a bit and now you're getting arrested and making unbreakable vows?


And Pansy's found out and gone off to Malfoy? That's not good.

[alt_sally_anne]

I think she just told him we had a row.

I hope that's all she told him.

No MLE yet. And I don't think he'd waste any time, if she told him.

[alt_ron]

Where are you?

Right now.

[alt_sally_anne]

I'm in the parlour with the piano. The one everyone thought smelled a little funny.

[alt_ron]

Okay. Stay there. I'm going to come talk to you.

Actually, maybe we should go walk out in the gardens or out past them by the river. D'you think they'll let us out there yet? I know we're supposedly having supper out there and music and all.

Or do you think Pansy will look for you where you are? We could stay there.

Anywiz. Stay there for now.

Till I get there.

[alt_neville]

We still need to hear from Hermione on this.

[alt_sally_anne]

Well, she's fretting over on the entry where I asked her to tell her friends about the runaway muggleborn.

Because HER friends want to know about us, too, now.

Although at least there I don't think we have to worry AT ALL about them going to MLE.

[alt_sally_anne]

Oh, there's no way.

She's gotten in SO MUCH TROUBLE, you know, over things she's said in the journals. And we can never talk freely during holidays or even in Slytherin House, when the weather's terrible and we can slip out. She would give anything to be able to have private conversations, like we do. She's not going to just leave it, if I tell her we can do it and don't tell her how.

[alt_neville]

Yeah, well, what do you suppose she's chatting with Lucius Malfoy about?

I guess it's a good thing that you haven't been arrested yet.

[alt_hermione]

I've been trying to think it through.

I think we have to let her in on it. I don't like it. But I think we might have to.

[alt_sally_anne]

Well the dinner's still going but I said I felt a little ill and they let me come back to my room. Pansy's still down at the feast and I think she's going to the music party after.

Pansy's barely talking to me but I'm pretty certain all she told Mr Malfoy is that we had an argument. MLE hasn't arrested me and I think Mr Malfoy went off to Sandoval's party with Mrs Malfoy.

Ron, I think even if Hermione tells them it's the journals and it's something that only kids (who know the spell) can see, they might suspect it's the twins but they won't KNOW. They're clever but they're not the only clever students at Hogwarts.

[alt_hermione]

I -

Sally-Anne, you can tell Pansy but I have to be able to tell them a little more, all right, I can tell my friends that it's the age lock and that they can't see it, I can't say anything more about them, but I can tell them that and they won't ever get under there, they might suspect but they won't know. All right?? Only please please don't ask me more about them. PLEASE. I think I'm saying too much already, and I can't - I mean, I'm not allowed to say.

You can tell Pansy. I mean I think you have to. And if worse came to worst maybe I could find a way to fix it, but that shouldn't ever happen, because - it would just be horrid.

[alt_neville]

You could find a way to fix it?

Blimey, I hadn't thought of it, but...I bet the people you're talking about know all about how to do memory charms. Don't they? I mean, if worst comes to worst, with Parkinson. They'd have to, I'll bet.

Hope it doesn't come to that, but it would be good to keep that as a possibility. In our back pocket, like.

[alt_neville]

Not that we'd want to ask you to ask them for help, believe me! Because I imagine if we had to ask them to step in to do it, it would make a bit of a mess for both of our groups. And the less we know about each other, the better, I reckon.

But, maybe it means things are a little less drastic if Terry and Sally-Anne turn out to be wrong about trusting Parkinson.

[alt_sally_anne]

Neville, are you alright with me telling Pansy since Hermione is alright with it?

[alt_neville]

Blimey. It makes me sweaty just thinking about it. But I replied below, and--yeah. If you take it in stages, like I suggested.

Tell us how it goes. Oh, hell, what am I saying? None of us will even be able to sleep, I'll bet, until we hear back from you on how the conversation goes.

[alt_lee]

I won't I'm sure. Get back to us as soon as you can to let us know what she says.

Yeah I guess that means I'm for telling her too. I mean I don't like it. At all. But I don't see any way around it.

And I'll be watching her like a Seeker and I'll hex her into the ground if she buggers things up for us. Especially for Terry or Hermione.

[alt_sally_anne]

I think it's alright, what you want to tell them, and I definitely won't ask you any more about them. The less we know the better, really.

So. I went back and looked. Hermione says I can tell Pansy. Terry says I can tell Pansy. Fred and George think it's really the only option. Ron thinks it's fine. And Neville said -- well, I think he was saying it was up to Hermione.

I think that means I can tell her?

I hope that means I can tell her.

[alt_neville]

Better make absolutely sure you're both ALONE when you sit down to talk this through.

And once you tell her that there IS a lock, you'd better make it clear to her that there are several people's lives hanging in the balance if you tell her any more. And see what she says to that before you tell her the rest.

Also, I've been thinking...Ron, you and me better put our heads together about how to keep our roommates from figuring out about the lock. Maybe it wouldn't be dangerous to let Dean know about it. But if Seamus figures it out, the way Parkinson did, that could really be a disaster.