Private message to Justin Finch-Fletchley

[alt_sally_anne]

Do they use cruciatus to punish people at Beauxbatons?

I guess I'm wondering if you've ever seen it done.

Comments

[alt_justin]

Oh, hullo, Sally-Anne. How are you?

And no, I

They don't use Les Sortilèges Impardonnables there. Certainly not on students.

Hydra's told me it happens here loads, though.

You've

There are some who support it, at home back in France. I suppose they'll have something to think about after Thursday.

And what dashed terrible timing, what? Just when everyone's going to be most excited about the Ball, we'll have to witness something horrid like that.

I don't half mind saying it's awful.

But what does pink parchment have to do with it? Hydra's favourite colour is pink, so I hope they're not Cruciating this Miss Calderwood over a choice of stationery. That would be rather unthinkably harsh, what?

-Justin

[alt_sally_anne]

Does that mean 'unpardonable curses'? Cruciatus, Imperius, and Avada Kedavra used to be called 'The Unforgiveables' here, but now they're 'the Cardinal curses.'

I don't think it happens OFTEN but it is allowed, for professors and the Head Boy and Head Girl are also allowed to do it (you know, I don't know if they'd be allowed to do it on you lot or not, though. Probably not! I imagine the teachers would be allowed to though.)

Regarding the pink parchment -- Cassandra was leaving notes for Professor Sinistra on pink parchment, and they had a curse cast on them that could have hurt her. So the problem wasn't the colour, definitely. (A lot of girls in Slytherin have some pink parchment -- Hydra gave it out as a present one year, since she loves pink parchment and thought everyone ought to have some. So Cassie's Cassandra's might have come from Hydra, but no one blames her, certainly.)

[alt_justin]

Yes, they're a major offence there. Sometimes life imprisonment and sometimes one's wand gets snapped. There have been a few cases where someone's proven a 'justifiable cause' but not bloody well often, what? Pepin told us it was perhaps twice in the last century that an exception was made for someone, and usually that was the Imperius (that's what you call the one that makes one do one's bidding, right?). I think there was one time when someone used the Cruciatus to gain intelligence about someone who'd collaborated with the Nazis and was hiding in France. But that was a truly remarkable case and not likely to be repeated, what?

That's good news about the 'pink parchment' mystery. The way your Professor McGonagall said it I thought surely everyone knew what it meant. Only Hydra didn't either, do you see, although she had heard that it was Miss Calderwood and she guessed it had to do with attacking a Professor.

Now, Sinistra. She's your Dark Arts teacher, then? The rather heavy-set one with chin whiskers? I can well understand the temptation, if so. But plotting to harm a teacher is still rather dire, what, no matter the provocation!

[alt_sally_anne]

No!! Sinistra is our Astronomy Professor and she's one of the nicest teachers at the school.

Alecto Carrow is the Dark Arts professor and she's the one who will be performing the cruciatus curse on Cassandra.

[alt_sally_anne]

Anyway. If you have any questions about it, I've had it done to me, I've seen it done to others, and I've studied in class (I'm in Dark Arts). And you can ask me whatever you want, if you want.

It would be really strange, I think, to have grown up somewhere it was totally illegal and could get you sent to prison (unless you were doing it on a Nazi, maybe) and to go somewhere that it's used as punishment at school.