IT'S BLOODY HOT IN HERE (no, really. it's seriously hot.)
it's the summer holidays! a perfect time to travel, relax, spend time with loved ones and bask in the sun. the wizarding world is lively with energy at this time of year. everyone seems to want to make the most of their break before september comes around the corner and life returns to its normal, mundane pace. it has been especially exciting with the sporadic and strange appearances of old and new faces. some claim to be from a different world while others claim to be from a different time. then, there are the ones who have simply found themselves waking up to be remarkably younger or older. just remember to keep to your curfews, half-bloods and muggle-borns! those eerie disappearances are still happening in an increasingly alarming rate...
MINISTRY OF MAGIC
for the ones who don't have the good fortune of going on holiday, you won't have to worry about having nothing to do, especially if you're part of the ministry of magic! with all the anomalies happening, you're going to have your hands full registering, documenting, interviewing and/or helping with a multitude of busywork relating to the newcomers. or maybe your job doesn't have anything to do with that. maybe you're on the opposite end and you've been brought in. or maybe you're just a tourist and you want to see if you can catch a glimpse of the minister for magic. whatever your reason is, welcome and stay out of people's way!
DIAGON ALLEY
everyone loves to go shopping and what better place to do it than diagon alley? you'll find mills of people looking at all the different items on sale or on display in store windows. maybe you're here to purchase materials for the upcoming school year or you're out on a date with your significant other. or maybe you actually own or work at one of the many shops here. whatever your reason is, you better be ready for the crowd and the heat.
KNOCKTURN ALLEY
oh no! what are you doing here? turn back right now! knockturn alley is no place for you to be. well, at least it isn't if you aren't a dark arts practitioner or you're not part of some nefarious secret group. just turn around and go back to diagon alley. it's much nicer there, friendlier and safer. have you not heard about all the disappearances going on? you're only asking for trouble stepping into a place like this, even if it's remarkably cool here.
M.I.A.V.I.
not in the mood to go out? or maybe you're stuck in the waiting room at st. mungo's trying to figure out why you're suddenly 10 years older and you need a distraction. disregarding the reason, it's sure a good thing you've conveniently brought along your m.i.a.v.i. so feel free to browse the public network, create your own post, or private message someone!
OTHER
not interested in any of the options above? feel free to make up your own! the wizarding world is huge, so get creative with it. the setting is the summer of 1980. have fun testing out and shaping your characters, mingle with others, and start getting those crs down!
[He's so baffled at first and oh god, he didn't realize some crazy racists would make that connotation when he picked that user name, how does he change it.]
I'm not Arthur I'm
[He stops writing and crosses the last bit out because one, 'I'm his son' could lead to at least five other people of ridiculously varying ages right now, and two.............well okay he hasn't gone much farther than 'it's weird everything is weird this is so weird.']
And it's got nothing to do with my blood! You sound obsessed.
( this? this has her hesitating. how do you know about the fantasy, mysterious weasel king? )
It seems to me like you have a rather... curious idea of the inner workings of the Ministry.
( or a very solid, if unflattering one of her darker, death eater-y side. )
Perhaps this can be amended. I could show you around?
( let's be friends. let aunty bella show you all the nice things the ministry has to offer, because it's aaaaall for the good of everyone, especially those of a less fortunate blood status. )
[He hesitates once he's written it, hovers is quill over the words like he might strike them out. He doesn't regret saying it by any means, but is he missing an opportunity here? What would Harry and Hermione do?
Merlin he is going to get himself killed in this decade.]
Have you started taking muggleborns' wands away yet? [Oh no what if they take that as a suggestion????]
( definitely displaced, then. and apparently from a much more preferable reality. )
My apologies, Mr. Weasley, but I do have to question why you are so eager to see such a policy in place. How could this possibly be beneficial to the safety of our muggleborn citizens?
( y'know this could almost be believable if the entire exchange hadn't been started by her essentially posting the magic equivalent of a trumpian tweet. )
[See this is where goading gets him, mad and sticking his foot in
things.]
I wasn't suggesting it!
[Obviously he should have drawn an angry frowny face to accompany.
How does anyone have a proper conversation like this? (Just wait till you
get around to fellcones cellphones, Ron.)]
YOU'RE the one going on about how great this bloody curfew is!
How's that supposed to be keeping them safe?
It is a surprisingly simple principle: if you don't wander when you shouldn't, whatever goes bump in the night doesn't get you. And, of course, with the trace in place, it is much, much easier for the Ministry to deploy aid when needed.
( the day the miavi comes with emoji is the day when they can truly express themselves. )
[He could say at least two or three things that would be logical and
maybe even dig deep at Bellatrix, but those all get thrown in a ditch
somewhere by how horrified he is:]
( she knows that isn't what he means, but while she has begun to suspect that he must be fairly young still, she can't even make an educated guess as to who he is. she knows arthur weasley was with the prewett girl – moira? molly? mona? –– and that there may be children at this point, but she hardly kept track. and besides, lucius was currently occupying one of the guest rooms of lestrange manor because he has been faced with his own father, a daughter-in-law, and a grandson, meaning that this guy she is talking to could be from quite literally any point in time. )
Don't you have anyone you would keep safe at all costs?
[It feels a bit like a threat - it's a good job he's come in before
spending any time at Malfoy Manor, otherwise he'd probably lose his mind.
As it is, he's not making great decisions, so, you know....good it's
not worse....]
Course I do, I'm a Weasley aren't I? We don't chuck out our own
when we disagree with them.
[Lets not talk about Percy, it worked out okay in the end...]
I dunno, you could try actually talking and being a family, do any of you know how to do that???
[Much as he complains about hand-me-downs, much as he has hated being poor in a big family, Ron is here to defend the way he grew up with his dying breath.]
You know, the best part about this is you haven't even got a clue about how wrong you are.
[That is a lie, the best part would be shouting her down and telling her how wrong he is but pointing fingers at Harry or Hermione feels like an absolutely terrible idea.]
[This is where a smarter person would probably start wetting their
pants...]
The actual difference, maybe? Or how not to stab family in the
back? At least I know that blood doesn't make a difference in who's a great
witch or wizard!
[He's talking entirely about Hermione and Harry, here. It's not even
his lack of self-confidence rearing it's ugly head (as it's prone to do),
he just believes in them so much and...really hates himself for leaving
them, right now. He can at least defend them in this sense, right?]
I believe I am perfectly justified in turning my back on people who abandon their family.
( and she isn't walburga – if sirius or andromeda were to come to their senses, she would hardly keep them from returning. doubt and distrust forever, yes, but not stop. she wouldn't admit it, but she even misses andromeda, under some layers of bitterness and resentment. it's ted tonks who she would love to see dead.
no, she doesn't see that flaw in that logic. )
All this talk. Would you be half so daring if we came face to face?
[NOPE is the immediate thought in his head. Nope nope nope.
Unfortunately the other immediate thought is basically Marty McFly in
action. Okay he doesn't have twelve kinds of hang ups about being called a
coward, but Ron also has a temper and not much patience for gems like
Bellatrix Lestrange. Black. That will be very odd to get used to.
His hand is sweaty around his quill and he is very very glad that doesn't
translate. It doesn't, right? Hell.]
I'm not going to bow and scrape if that's what you
mean. [Abort Ron, abort abort abort]
( part of her – the ever increasing sadistic part that would be endlessly into some bloodshed – really wants to fight him, just for the joy of it.
... the rest of her does remember that this is a public conversation, and while goading and mocking and arguing are just kind of how she communicates with pretty much everyone, she is head of a ministry department. she runs the tips of her fingers over the dark mark on her arm and sighs.
pity. )
This isn't a schoolyard, darling. The Protection Act has been the law for nearly a decade at this point, this is not up for debate.
[Ron will, at some point, be moderately ashamed that he was not the
adult in a conversation with Bellatrix. Maybe it's a good thing Hermione
isn't here??? No one look at his shame.]
I'm not your darling. And this law is barking mad, how can the
ministry be this blind?
[Well...If Tom Riddle is minister......scuse him a mo', he's going
to be sick]
( she doesn't quite trust the privating feature – there have been incidents – but at the rate that this is going, she has to give in. besides, curiosity won: clearly, there is something in that reality he is from that diverges a great deal from hers. and since it seems to concern the minister, well... )
His what?
The ministry stands behind the minister, that has just been the way of things since its conception. If that is what you mean.
[This feels dangerous. What he wants to do - tell her exactly what he means, call her a Death Eater, that Voldemort won't win here or in any bloody universe - seems suddenly like the wrong answer.
Harry and Hermione wouldn't tip their hand like that. He ought to know. So he grits his teeth, holds his quill hard enough he wonders at it not snapping. He has to be more careful than this, because - and this is the worst part - she's right. He's treating this like a schoolyard, and he has no business doing it.]
Yeah. Exactly. That's just what I meant. [Saying it incredibly sarcastically in his head helps, just a little.]
Who runs the ministry then? Who heads the departments?
( she sees no harm in telling him – he hasn't shown much inclination to trust her in any way, and she doubts this will sway him, but this is public information... and he might react in some tell-tale way or other.
now, she names him first names as well, but we're unfortunately not yet privy to that information, but here's the list:
mysteries – mulciber, a last name that shows up among the death eaters ron has encountered himself. games and sports – parkinson. sacred twenty-eight, so rarely a good sign. magical transportations – runcorn, not too distant a memory. international magical cooperation – dolohov, because nothing says cooperative like over a decade in prison. magical creatures – macnair, buckbeak may recall –– and of course, last but not least: )
–– Rodolphus Lestrange is the head of the DMLE, his brother took over the auror department recently. And I am the head of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, as of last year.
[It's a bloody laundry list of Death Eaters, isn't it? People he's hexed, people he's watched his best mate turn into - this whole thing is one long bloody nightmare, and he would very much like to wake up now, please.
Please.
There is a small, distant part of him that thinks getting out of the UK would be a brilliant idea. But running away - because that's what it be, no two ways about it - running away and leaving this mess for someone else to sort out? No. There's no way he could ever live with himself for even thinking about it seriously.
(He can barely live with himself for leaving Harry and Hermione.)
And the idea of the Lestranges ruining the things he knows his own dad built - Ron very nearly tears up his parchment and breaks his quill in two. Very nearly.]
Not much for diversity in the workplace, are you
[He does not feel up to joking about this, though.]
What about the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office? [It does not matter that he used to think this was the dullest, least important job in the world, outside of friends and family it's necessary gdi.]
Or did you just skive off on anything involving Muggles?
( ah yes, the privacy filter, where you get to be more openly racist than usual: )
There are job restrictions placed on mudbloods and half-bloods. Someone as family-oriented as you should be delighted to hear that the Minister has opted to divide the departments among certain families, for the greater good and all.
( well, they do check for aptitude and abilities, but the general idea here is a very pureblooded one: it all stays in the family. )
Since the Statute of Secrecy is still very much in place, Muggle Liaison and everything tied to it – including Misuse of Muggle Artefacts – continue to be necessary. We wouldn't want anything to happen to the most defenceless ones, do we?
[He starts writing before he even finishes reading her messages, because mudblood makes him see red and taste slugs. It's an unpleasant combination.]
There's a word for that you know, what your minister is doing. 'Nepotism' is escaping him for the moment, but he'll remember eventually...]
Who do you think you're fooling? Using that word and still talking like any of this is for the good of anyone except purebloods. Anyone else can't even work where they like?
He's turned everything into his own personal playground, hasn't he, and all you've done is help him along the way!
[okay well this is a very bad job of keeping those Death Eater accusations quiet, ron.]
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n'aw shucks
I'm not Arthur
I'm[He stops writing and crosses the last bit out because one, 'I'm his son' could lead to at least five other people of ridiculously varying ages right now, and two.............well okay he hasn't gone much farther than 'it's weird everything is weird this is so weird.']
And it's got nothing to do with my blood! You sound obsessed.
no subject
I am a very busy woman, I cannot be bothered to learn all your names.
Besides, I am not the one styling myself royalty.
( though the black family does act like they believe they are. well, the ones she considers family do, at least. )
I love your pb choive by the way , A++
No, you just act like it don't you? Like you're some mad queen, except no one bows to you, do they
No one you don't order to, anyway
[free the house elves!!!]
thaaaank she's a delightful crazy-lookin lady
It seems to me like you have a rather... curious idea of the inner workings of the Ministry.
( or a very solid, if unflattering one of her darker, death eater-y side. )
Perhaps this can be amended. I could show you around?
( let's be friends. let aunty bella show you all the nice things the ministry has to offer, because it's aaaaall for the good of everyone, especially those of a less fortunate blood status. )
no subject
[He hesitates once he's written it, hovers is quill over the words like he might strike them out. He doesn't regret saying it by any means, but is he missing an opportunity here? What would Harry and Hermione do?
Merlin he is going to get himself killed in this decade.]
Have you started taking muggleborns' wands away yet? [Oh no what if they take that as a suggestion????]
no subject
My apologies, Mr. Weasley, but I do have to question why you are so eager to see such a policy in place. How could this possibly be beneficial to the safety of our muggleborn citizens?
( y'know this could almost be believable if the entire exchange hadn't been started by her essentially posting the magic equivalent of a trumpian tweet. )
no subject
[See this is where goading gets him, mad and sticking his foot in things.]
I wasn't suggesting it!
[Obviously he should have drawn an angry frowny face to accompany. How does anyone have a proper conversation like this? (Just wait till you get around to
fellconescellphones, Ron.)]YOU'RE the one going on about how great this bloody curfew is! How's that supposed to be keeping them safe?
no subject
( the day the miavi comes with emoji is the day when they can truly express themselves. )
no subject
[He could say at least two or three things that would be logical and maybe even dig deep at Bellatrix, but those all get thrown in a ditch somewhere by how horrified he is:]
YOU PUT THE BLOODY TRACE ON THEM? That's mental!
no subject
( she knows that isn't what he means, but while she has begun to suspect that he must be fairly young still, she can't even make an educated guess as to who he is. she knows arthur weasley was with the prewett girl – moira? molly? mona? –– and that there may be children at this point, but she hardly kept track. and besides, lucius was currently occupying one of the guest rooms of lestrange manor because he has been faced with his own father, a daughter-in-law, and a grandson, meaning that this guy she is talking to could be from quite literally any point in time. )
Don't you have anyone you would keep safe at all costs?
( that's not a threat. )
no subject
posti-icon: damn it chris columbus
[It feels a bit like a threat - it's a good job he's come in before spending any time at Malfoy Manor, otherwise he'd probably lose his mind. As it is, he's not making great decisions, so, you know....good it's not worse....]
Course I do, I'm a Weasley aren't I? We don't chuck out our own when we disagree with them.
[Lets not talk about Percy, it worked out okay in the end...]
no subject
( ... bellatrix, sit down, you would literally do that. )
Alas, if you only interact with those of your own blood, it will be harder to understand.
no subject
[Much as he complains about hand-me-downs, much as he has hated being poor in a big family, Ron is here to defend the way he grew up with his dying breath.]
You know, the best part about this is you haven't even got a clue about how wrong you are.
[That is a lie, the best part would be shouting her down and telling her how wrong he is but pointing fingers at Harry or Hermione feels like an absolutely terrible idea.]
no subject
What does a blood traitor like you know about right and wrong?
no subject
[This is where a smarter person would probably start wetting their pants...]
The actual difference, maybe? Or how not to stab family in the back? At least I know that blood doesn't make a difference in who's a great witch or wizard!
[He's talking entirely about Hermione and Harry, here. It's not even his lack of self-confidence rearing it's ugly head (as it's prone to do), he just believes in them so much and...really hates himself for leaving them, right now. He can at least defend them in this sense, right?]
no subject
( and she isn't walburga – if sirius or andromeda were to come to their senses, she would hardly keep them from returning. doubt and distrust forever, yes, but not stop. she wouldn't admit it, but she even misses andromeda, under some layers of bitterness and resentment. it's ted tonks who she would love to see dead.
no, she doesn't see that flaw in that logic. )
All this talk. Would you be half so daring if we came face to face?
no subject
[NOPE is the immediate thought in his head. Nope nope nope.
Unfortunately the other immediate thought is basically Marty McFly in action. Okay he doesn't have twelve kinds of hang ups about being called a coward, but Ron also has a temper and not much patience for gems like Bellatrix Lestrange. Black. That will be very odd to get used to.
His hand is sweaty around his quill and he is very very glad that doesn't translate. It doesn't, right? Hell.]
I'm not going to bow and scrape if that's what you mean. [Abort Ron, abort abort abort]
no subject
... the rest of her does remember that this is a public conversation, and while goading and mocking and arguing are just kind of how she communicates with pretty much everyone, she is head of a ministry department. she runs the tips of her fingers over the dark mark on her arm and sighs.
pity. )
This isn't a schoolyard, darling. The Protection Act has been the law for nearly a decade at this point, this is not up for debate.
no subject
[Ron will, at some point, be moderately ashamed that he was not the adult in a conversation with Bellatrix. Maybe it's a good thing Hermione isn't here??? No one look at his shame.]
I'm not your darling. And this law is barking mad, how can the ministry be this blind?
[Well...If Tom Riddle is minister......scuse him a mo', he's going to be sick]
You're all his, aren't you? The whole lot
privated ––
His what?
The ministry stands behind the minister, that has just been the way of things since its conception. If that is what you mean.
privated ––
Harry and Hermione wouldn't tip their hand like that. He ought to know. So he grits his teeth, holds his quill hard enough he wonders at it not snapping. He has to be more careful than this, because - and this is the worst part - she's right. He's treating this like a schoolyard, and he has no business doing it.]
Yeah. Exactly. That's just what I meant. [Saying it incredibly sarcastically in his head helps, just a little.]
Who runs the ministry then? Who heads the departments?
privated ––
now, she names him first names as well, but we're unfortunately not yet privy to that information, but here's the list:
mysteries – mulciber, a last name that shows up among the death eaters ron has encountered himself.
games and sports – parkinson. sacred twenty-eight, so rarely a good sign.
magical transportations – runcorn, not too distant a memory.
international magical cooperation – dolohov, because nothing says cooperative like over a decade in prison.
magical creatures – macnair, buckbeak may recall –– and of course, last but not least: )
–– Rodolphus Lestrange is the head of the DMLE, his brother took over the auror department recently. And I am the head of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, as of last year.
privated ––
Please.
There is a small, distant part of him that thinks getting out of the UK would be a brilliant idea. But running away - because that's what it be, no two ways about it - running away and leaving this mess for someone else to sort out? No. There's no way he could ever live with himself for even thinking about it seriously.
(He can barely live with himself for leaving Harry and Hermione.)
And the idea of the Lestranges ruining the things he knows his own dad built - Ron very nearly tears up his parchment and breaks his quill in two. Very nearly.]
Not much for diversity in the workplace, are you
[He does not feel up to joking about this, though.]
What about the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office? [It does not matter that he used to think this was the dullest, least important job in the world, outside of friends and family it's necessary gdi.]
Or did you just skive off on anything involving Muggles?
privated ––
There are job restrictions placed on mudbloods and half-bloods. Someone as family-oriented as you should be delighted to hear that the Minister has opted to divide the departments among certain families, for the greater good and all.
( well, they do check for aptitude and abilities, but the general idea here is a very pureblooded one: it all stays in the family. )
Since the Statute of Secrecy is still very much in place, Muggle Liaison and everything tied to it – including Misuse of Muggle Artefacts – continue to be necessary. We wouldn't want anything to happen to the most defenceless ones, do we?
privated ––
[He starts writing before he even finishes reading her messages, because mudblood makes him see red and taste slugs. It's an unpleasant combination.]
There's a word for that you know, what your minister is doing. 'Nepotism' is escaping him for the moment, but he'll remember eventually...]
Who do you think you're fooling? Using that word and still talking like any of this is for the good of anyone except purebloods. Anyone else can't even work where they like?
He's turned everything into his own personal playground, hasn't he, and all you've done is help him along the way!
[okay well this is a very bad job of keeping those Death Eater accusations quiet, ron.]
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