I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_sally_anne]

Terry, I want you to know we haven't forgotten you. I finally had a chance to get hold of Milli's diary this week and I couldn't read the locked posts from there, even though I COULD read a private message from Milli's mum. But, I wasn't going to write a whole long entry or anything, I just wanted to see if I could read. I had another idea, though, which is that Fred and George EACH got a diary from the Ministry (right?) and they only use one, so perhaps they could send their extra to Terry? Because since Fred and George can both see the locked entries AND Terry can see them, I would think that it would likely show them to Terry (but this would be really easy to test, they could just give it to Ron or Neville and have him see).

We'll still have to work out a way to get you the diary Terry but we will. And if Carrow is letting you read but not write maybe you'll see this.

And you're still a Hogwarts student and you're still a Ravenclaw, like Professor Vector and Linus Moon and my mum and dad (and Padma Patil. Sorry about that. But I share a House with Gregory Goyle so you know it could be worse.)

Anyway I was thinking about Dark Arts and how I'm the only person on the lock who's studying them. So, now that exams are over, I was thinking perhaps I'd write some essays, you know, for the lock. For Terry. Because if there's one person in the world who deserves to have any of the Cardinal Curses used on him, it's Amycus Carrow.

Um, before I do that, though, I think I want to make sure it's all right with everyone else. You won't think less of me, that I'm learning how to do these things. Neville, especially, because I know you don't like the killing curse, ever. (And it's not that you're wrong. I want to write about that, too.)

I sort of got the idea from Goyle -- I mean, from whoever it is that's using Greg Goyle's diary. Although it sounds like he gets some of it wrong, and I probably will, too, so maybe I shouldn't do this as I don't want to forget anything really important like 'wash off the potion that's burning you before you put the burdock poultice on.'

I'm staying on at Hogwarts for extra days because of the YPL testing. I don't know how much spare time I'll have, they haven't really told us much about what we'll be doing. But I should have time this summer, if I don't have time this week.

Comments

[alt_gredforge]

We were literally just opening up our journal ourselves to write a post that said, "Terry, where are you, c'mon, mate, write us back," when we saw this.

Perks, you are ruddy brilliant. No lie, we deeply appreciate that Slytherin sneakiness of yours. We DO have an extra journal. It's George's--we've been using Fred's.

Unfortunately, it's not here; it's home at the Burrow. But we'll be there next week anyway. We think we know where it is, stuffed in an old trunk up in the attic. But we'll be able to check then.

So yeah, Terry, it's yours now. If you've lost your own, that is. As soon as we can figure out how to get it to you safely, and we have a way for you to hide it. Perks, do you have any more of those beads you weave into those what d'ye call 'em macrame bracelets? If you can scrounge up about four or five of them and hand them over to us at dinner, we'll charm them for you so they can be used as hiding contraband. Then we'll give them back to you to weave into a new bracelet.

The curses now, though....

[alt_gredforge]

Hang on....

[alt_gredforge]

The two of us are arguing about it.

That doesn't happen very often.

[alt_lee]

Which of you is on which side?

[alt_gredforge]

Doesn't matter, really.

The thing is, we've talked to Percy. About what happened in Carrow's classroom. He's been pretty wrecked about the whole thing, so he hasn't been so much nose-in-the-air as he usually is with us and, dunno, guess we caught him at a weak moment late at night the other night after practically everyone else had gone to bed. And so he opened up about it more than he usually does with us.

Ron, did you ever know what really happened, the summer before last when Dad caught him doing something, and he disappeared for a night, and Mum and Dad wouldn't let on at all what happened?

Well, he finally told us. Dad caught him trying to crucio a garden gnome and just about went spare over it.

When Percy got back the next day, he and Dad hashed all out, and it ended up with Dad making Percy swear he'd never try doing crucio again. That's why he's never done it this year, even though he's got the right to do it, as Head Boy. We were wondering why, and that's it: he promised Dad.

But seems that Percy never made any promise about 'Imperio.' Not that we're exactly fussing that he did. Guess he had to.

Percy said that Dad told him, that using those curses--crucio, imperio and avada kedrava--they change you. Don't know what that means, exactly, except Percy said Dad was right. But he wouldn't explain any further than that.

So we don't know. Guess Terry's got the right to decide for himself, if he's willing to do whatever-it-takes to get rid of that bastard. Even if it means doing one of those curses.

The thing is, we just don't know what it'll mean for him having to live with it afterwards. Live with himself.

Whatever Percy's learned about it, he's keeping it to himself. But from the looks of it, it's pretty bad. He looks like he's on the verge of spewing at the mere thought of it, and it's as if he's aged about ten years. And not in a good way.

[alt_sally_anne]

It does change you.

That's part of what I want to warn him about.

But I think eventually Carrow's going to kill him. Even if it's hard to live with yourself after you use the killing curse on a person, at least you get to live.

[alt_neville]

Well, maybe he could avoid the whole thing if he masters that animagus spell, and he can use it to get away from him.

[alt_sally_anne]

True.

The killing curse is easier than an animagus transformation, though.

Also, there were people who wanted to help him get away before Carrow took him. And Terry went with Carrow because he was afraid for Hermione's safety. If he runs away, Carrow will know he's run away. If he kills Carrow and makes it look like an accident, that might be safer for Hermione.

[alt_lee]

Ugh. No really good options.

Afraid you're right about Carrow. I mean you'd think he wouldn't because he likes having someone to order around and bully. But maybe he figures one mudblood--sorry, Terry, Hermione--is as good as another. And if he kills one, he can just go get another one.

[alt_neville]

Double ugh.

[alt_gredforge]

Yeah.

We've really got to get him our other journal.

[alt_sally_anne]

And out of curiosity -- did he succeed in cruciating the garden gnome?

Because one of the things about these curses is that they are a LOT harder to use on strangers. It's easier to cruciate someone you like, actually, than a stranger. (I know, this seems really weird. But if you like someone a lot they've probably made you cross a few times and if you really want to, you can work yourself back up into enough of a fury to cast the spell. If you're the sort of person that can cast it. Some people just can't cast cruciatus, ever, on anyone.)

[alt_gredforge]

Don't think he did, actually. We sort of got the impression that part of the reason he was willing to make that promise to Dad was that deep down, he tbought he maybe couldn't do it anyway.

Blimey, wonder what Mum and Dad have been thinking, now that he's done imperius.

[alt_sally_anne]

I've got the beads. Why don't I leave them behind the statue of the man with the fox growing out of the top of his head?

[alt_gredforge]

Great. We'll look for them there.

[alt_gredforge]

Right. We've charmed the beads and put them back, so go ahead and use them to make a new bracelet. Let us know when you're finished with it.

[alt_sally_anne]

Okay.

When I made the bracelets before I did three charms on them -- anti-breakage, anti-attention, and anti-loss. I can do the first two no problem. The third, I would need blood or hair or something like that -- actually if we CAN find anything like that of Terry's that might even be a way to get it to him, your father wouldn't have to give it directly to Terry he'd just have to leave it behind in the camp. In theory it would get it to Terry from anywhere but it would take years, I think, if we didn't at least get it close.

I know it's a long shot but does anyone have anything like that? Hair, or something that Terry bled onto, or anything like that?

Where did he sleep, in the Headmistress's office? Because most people shed hairs occasionally when they sleep. Though the House Elves probably clean in there...

[alt_sally_anne]

Wait, I just thought of another possibility.

Those things he made for us. The beads on the bookmarks. They might work, especially if he ever cut himself while whittling. I might be able to work the charm using one of those.

There's this thing called an cruopticon that's a Dark device used to analyse blood that's been spilled. Miss Professor Carrow has one, I think Professor Lestrange has one too, and I think there's one in Professor Slughorn's office but I'm not sure it's working, he has it set off to the side with something broken. I could offer to try fixing it. He might let me, and if I could get it to work again I could look at the beads he left behind.

Other people who would definitely have one, let me think. Oh, you know, Harry might have one, a simple one, and Teddy might, too. If I could persuade Professor Slughorn to let me try to fix his I might be able to persuade Harry to let me borrow his.

Failing that a really good magnifying lens would be a start, if anyone has one....

[alt_ron]

Why a magnifying lens?

I mean, yeah, actually I've got one that was my grandfather's I think and I packed it in my trunk first year and haven't taken it out but once or twice, 'cause, y'know, there haven't been lots of times I wanted to look at things with it. Uh-

But what're you meaning to do with it?

Oh. And did you want me to give you the thing Terry carved for me?

[alt_sally_anne]

There are spells that make certain things more visible. But if there's only a tiny bit it's still hard to see.

And yes about the bead. Actually I think I'll write a new note about that, I want to make sure Nev and the rest don't miss it.

[alt_neville]

That's okay, I saw it. I'll give you mine, too.

[alt_gredforge]

Us, too. And we'll get Lee's and pass that on, too. Maybe we'll get lucky with one of 'em.

[alt_sally_anne]

Alright.

I should warn you, the cruopticon isn't working AT ALL right now. Professor Slughorn let me take it (plus two other things that need fixing) although I think he's on to me, a little, and knows I wanted one of them to use it, it wasn't just to suck up. Hopefully he won't ask. Anyway, I opened up the cruopticon and I think someone spilled a cup of tea with milk and sugar onto it, it's all gummed up. I'm going to clean it out and see if that fixes it.

If one of the beads has some of Terry's blood on it I'll probably weave that into the bracelet with the container beads. It'll sort of act as a note, too, I expect he'll recognise his own work so he'll know it's from us.

[alt_neville]

Well, you know, if we don't find any of his blood or hair on any of the stuff he gave us, if we could just get the bracelet to him, and if there was some way to exchange messages securely with him--I mean, if he could at least read a journal, maybe he could complete the spell, yeah? I mean, he's got a wand, and if you could just tell him the spell, he could use his own blood when he gets the bracelet. Couldn't he?

[alt_gredforge]

We do plan to ask Dad, next week, if he can find out what camp he's in. That would narrow things down at least. We bet that Dad probably could.

[alt_lee]

And you'd trust him, for something like this?

[alt_gredforge]

Yeah. Yeah, we would. Of course, we wouldn't tell him everything. But he knows we've been keeping an eye out for the Professor, and he'd at least be willing to tell us where he is, if he can find out. And we bet he could.

If there really isn't any other way, we think we could trust him if we gave him the bracelet, and asked him to get it to Terry without Carrow finding out about it. We wouldn't need to tell DAD what the bracelet does, of course--it'd be enough if we just say it's a keepsake we want Terry to have. Mum and Dad both hate Carrow, they've made that clear. Especially after what happened to Percy.

[alt_sally_anne]

The trouble is it's not just a spell, you have to do certain things as you knot the bracelet. I offered to show Terry how to do it last time and he said he'd rather I do it as he's all thumbs with that sort of thing. It's not hard to do the knotting but I'm not sure I could explain it without demonstrating.

There are ways that someone can set all the charms in place and then all Terry would have to do is bleed on it, but I'm not that clever at this.

[alt_sally_anne]

And Ron, the magnifying lens might help me fix the cruopticon, too.