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!
( she scribbles it out, just barely catching herself.
for her, it's already entirely too late, of course – nothing short of an attempt on her life through riddle could have her reconsider her devotion, and even that she might be able to justify. that doesn't mean she's immune to the question: various ideologies and a drive for personal gain are all clashing here. alternative title: bella is a hypocrite, and she really, really doesn't want to know it. )
If you were to contribute as much to society as he does, you, too, could do as you please.
Unfortunately, you aren't indispensable.
( is that a death threat? it sounds an awful lot like a death threat. it also sounds like she's absolutely ignoring the other question. )
[Ron starts writing before she even finishes. You-Know-Who is the
reason his life has never been simple, the reason his best mate's life has
been one terrible thing barely resolving before the next terrible thing.
He's the reason the girl he kind maybe likes more than platonicly has to
put up with the kind of filth Bellatrix spits out so easily.
He sees the threat, but only because right now he's seeing threats
everywhere. If he closes his eyes and concentrates, he can feel the weight
of the locket, heavy on his chest, and it's that memory - and the physical
distance - that makes him freer with his words.]
And so are you. And you're both hypocrites.
[And because Ron is very, very much a Gryffindor, he lets off his
own threat before he can think better of it.]
Don't get too comfy in the ministry. It won't last long.
( she writes it before he even gets to his empty threat – as if the ministry is going to fall a decade into a perfectly legal, largely supported change in the system. no, she isn't worried at all about the ministry.
and here's the thing, there is a great number of things she knows would be generally... frowned upon. the question is, what does he know? )
[For a minute, almost a full sixty seconds, Ron just basks in the warm afterglow of unsettling Bellatrix Lestrange. Black. Whoever she is. It feels like a tiny revenge for Sirius. And the attack on the Burrow.
The basking lets him get his temper under control, though it also lets his arrogance strut on out.]
What could I possibly know? I'm just an ickle blood traitor.
It's true. If you can't recall what your own blood is worth, how could you know much else?
( it's a gamble, but if he already thinks her a monster... he has no more proof than his own word, and a message he can't save. )
Pity. Perhaps I ought to visit an old school 'friend' of mine. His memory might be a little better than yours, and he does have children... it tends to help.
( at least, she's about 75% sure he does, which will have to do right now. )
[If he was better at this, if he had Harry or Hermione to lean on, he'd try to turn her attention away. But they're not here, it's just him, and this is what he has spent so many months terrified of. Only there's no radio, here, no way to keep track while he's busy on a secret mission from a dead headmaster.
He has to get to the Burrow, has to tell his parents. He has to protect them, if he brought this monster to their doorstep.
He feels sick.]
Don't you dare even go near him
[He knows she has the upper hand: now it's just scrambling to keep his feet.]
( her threat is... almost entirely empty. that is, she knows that he knows significantly more about her true nature than what is common knowledge, but if she wants to keep it that way, she can't very well go ahead and prove him right. he doesn't appear to be at all surprised, which has her worried, because it implies that in some reality, she has utterly failed to keep matters under covers. )
[To be fairer than Ron will ever be inclined to be, Azkaban Does Things to people. Ron isn't thinking about what leverage he has: he's thinking about his dad, about how Ginny isn't even born yet here, about all the ways his mum has freaked out in the past year, terrified for the safety of her children. If he closes his eyes, he can still see the bogart at 12 Grimmauld Place that nearly got the best of her, and all the dead Weasley children it impersonated.
He's screwed up so badly.]
I'll kill you.
[He is not afraid at all of what that says about him. No one threatens his family and doesn't get the same back in return.]
( she isn't going to correct him. it wouldn't do much to help her image, at this point, and she doesn't need to turn her sister into a target. )
Of course you will. Have you fought a proper duel before?
Have you killed before?
It's one thing to threaten, threats do come easy. But to commit the act? And live with it? I couldn't.
( lies, all of it. not only is she living with it, she has drawn it out each and every time, and holds the memories to herself like something precious and endlessly desirable. if she didn't have a cause to go with it, the intensity of the feeling would scare her – but she does, so it's justified, and fine, and a sign of strength and pride and honour, not an unnamed insanity. )
[Things he will never forget: Harry's reaction to Sirius's death. Things he doesn't want to think about: he's not sure if she's right or not, about him. He was ready to do Dolohov in London, only didn't because of Hermione. Was it only because of her? Ron hasn't taken much time to think on it.]
( that can't be true. unless this is something from his time, which wouldn't matter here, would it? of course it would, if he can convince enough people. )
[The response is delayed because Ron can't tell if that's a haughty
'who do you think I am' or an actual question and it's tripping him up, not
least of all because there's a different surname at play here.
He doesn't like this universe, pls trade for another.]
A deranged lunatic who's somehow convinced people otherwise,
mostly.
You have made that opinion of yours abundantly clear, what I am trying to find out here is whether you are even raving at the right person.
( because she's not a lunatic.
or deranged.
according to herself, while ignoring the increasing built-up in evidence and leaning heavily on the fact that wizardkind is awfully behind on the mental illness front. )
[There's like three seconds where he honestly worries he's made a
terrible, terrible mistake, but he doesn't even have to review their
conversation to reassure himself.]
I'm not raving. And how many B.Blacks are there, do you think?
Doesn't matter where you're from, you're not any different here.
Well, you did seem to struggle on the surname front earlier.
( but she knows he was going for 'lestrange', which, considering the ten-year-and-counting engagement sham the two of them have cooked up, isn't all that off the mark.
... except under what kind of circumstances would they actually seal the deal? )
I do reckon there is a difference between this reality and wherever you came from. And whatever it is, it doesn't apply here.
[Ron doesn't know anything about that relationship, or
not-relationship, but really there is no situation in which he'd
want details. Ugh. Lestranges. Gross.]
( NOT IF SHE AGGRESSIVELY REFUSES TO MARRY THEY DON'T.
which actually turns out to be a fairly secondary problem when he mentions azkaban. she's been, once, for work reasons, and had been heartily glad to leave after what couldn't have been more than an hour. if what he says is true ––
which it absolutely can't be. clearly, he is just messing with her. )
I would need to be imprisoned first, for which I would have to commit a crime.
( and they didn't disable the entire justice system. )
Caught and convicted, yes. Considering how this would leave my position within the ministry up for the taking, there are any number of people who would happily turn me in, if there was anything to turn me in for.
( pureblood loyalty being what it is. )
So unless I am the greatest criminal mastermind of all time ( this is neither the time nor the format for sarcasm ) I daresay this would have happened a while ago.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Re: privated ––
He is( she scribbles it out, just barely catching herself.
for her, it's already entirely too late, of course – nothing short of an attempt on her life through riddle could have her reconsider her devotion, and even that she might be able to justify. that doesn't mean she's immune to the question: various ideologies and a drive for personal gain are all clashing here. alternative title: bella is a hypocrite, and she really, really doesn't want to know it. )
If you were to contribute as much to society as he does, you, too, could do as you please.
Unfortunately, you aren't indispensable.
( is that a death threat? it sounds an awful lot like a death threat. it also sounds like she's absolutely ignoring the other question. )
Re: privated ––
He's a monster.
[Ron starts writing before she even finishes. You-Know-Who is the reason his life has never been simple, the reason his best mate's life has been one terrible thing barely resolving before the next terrible thing. He's the reason the girl he kind maybe likes more than platonicly has to put up with the kind of filth Bellatrix spits out so easily.
He sees the threat, but only because right now he's seeing threats everywhere. If he closes his eyes and concentrates, he can feel the weight of the locket, heavy on his chest, and it's that memory - and the physical distance - that makes him freer with his words.]
And so are you. And you're both hypocrites.
[And because Ron is very, very much a Gryffindor, he lets off his own threat before he can think better of it.]
Don't get too comfy in the ministry. It won't last long.
Re: privated ––
( she writes it before he even gets to his empty threat – as if the ministry is going to fall a decade into a perfectly legal, largely supported change in the system. no, she isn't worried at all about the ministry.
and here's the thing, there is a great number of things she knows would be generally... frowned upon. the question is, what does he know? )
Re: privated ––
The basking lets him get his temper under control, though it also lets his arrogance strut on out.]
What could I possibly know? I'm just an ickle blood traitor.
Re: privated ––
( it's a gamble, but if he already thinks her a monster... he has no more proof than his own word, and a message he can't save. )
Pity. Perhaps I ought to visit an old school 'friend' of mine. His memory might be a little better than yours, and he does have children... it tends to help.
( at least, she's about 75% sure he does, which will have to do right now. )
I mistook you for him, earlier.
Re: privated ––
Don't you dare
[If he was better at this, if he had Harry or Hermione to lean on, he'd try to turn her attention away. But they're not here, it's just him, and this is what he has spent so many months terrified of. Only there's no radio, here, no way to keep track while he's busy on a secret mission from a dead headmaster.
He has to get to the Burrow, has to tell his parents. He has to protect them, if he brought this monster to their doorstep.
He feels sick.]
Don't you dare even go near him
[He knows she has the upper hand: now it's just scrambling to keep his feet.]
Re: privated ––
( her threat is... almost entirely empty. that is, she knows that he knows significantly more about her true nature than what is common knowledge, but if she wants to keep it that way, she can't very well go ahead and prove him right. he doesn't appear to be at all surprised, which has her worried, because it implies that in some reality, she has utterly failed to keep matters under covers. )
Re: privated ––
He's screwed up so badly.]
I'll kill you.
[He is not afraid at all of what that says about him. No one threatens his family and doesn't get the same back in return.]
Re: privated ––
Now, if this doesn't make you the monster...
( if anything, she is now less concerned than before. he can try her, she would invite him if she at all could. )
Re: privated ––
I know you've never cared about anyone in your life Black, but protecting people doesn't make you a monster.
[His hands are clammy and shaking, and writing in a straight line is a bloody challenge.]
If you even go near them, I'll hex you clear into my time.
Re: privated ––
Of course you will. Have you fought a proper duel before?
Have you killed before?
It's one thing to threaten, threats do come easy. But to commit the act? And live with it? I couldn't.
( lies, all of it. not only is she living with it, she has drawn it out each and every time, and holds the memories to herself like something precious and endlessly desirable. if she didn't have a cause to go with it, the intensity of the feeling would scare her – but she does, so it's justified, and fine, and a sign of strength and pride and honour, not an unnamed insanity. )
And neither could you.
Re: privated ––
[Things he will never forget: Harry's reaction to Sirius's death. Things he doesn't want to think about: he's not sure if she's right or not, about him. He was ready to do Dolohov in London, only didn't because of Hermione. Was it only because of her? Ron hasn't taken much time to think on it.]
Don't lie to me, Black, it won't work.
Re: privated ––
( that can't be true. unless this is something from his time, which wouldn't matter here, would it? of course it would, if he can convince enough people. )
Re: privated ––
Trouble reading now?
Re: privated ––
( she isn't going to use the word 'proof', she may have navigated herself into this mess, but she's not going to make it worse. )
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
( actually nervous now, that's who you are, bells. )
Re: privated ––
post icon: ah fuck it doesn't last does it
[The response is delayed because Ron can't tell if that's a haughty 'who do you think I am' or an actual question and it's tripping him up, not least of all because there's a different surname at play here.
He doesn't like this universe, pls trade for another.]
A deranged lunatic who's somehow convinced people otherwise, mostly.
Re: privated ––
( because she's not a lunatic.
or deranged.
according to herself, while ignoring the increasing built-up in evidence and leaning heavily on the fact that wizardkind is awfully behind on the mental illness front. )
Re: privated ––
[There's like three seconds where he honestly worries he's made a terrible, terrible mistake, but he doesn't even have to review their conversation to reassure himself.]
I'm not raving. And how many B.Blacks are there, do you think?
Doesn't matter where you're from, you're not any different here.
Re: privated ––
( but she knows he was going for 'lestrange', which, considering the ten-year-and-counting engagement sham the two of them have cooked up, isn't all that off the mark.
... except under what kind of circumstances would they actually seal the deal? )
I do reckon there is a difference between this reality and wherever you came from.
And whatever it is, it doesn't apply here.
Re: privated ––
Yeah, cause those never change, do they?
[Ron doesn't know anything about that relationship, or not-relationship, but really there is no situation in which he'd want details. Ugh. Lestranges. Gross.]
You know what? Maybe you're right.
Maybe here, you'll stay in Azkaban.
Re: privated ––
which actually turns out to be a fairly secondary problem when he mentions azkaban. she's been, once, for work reasons, and had been heartily glad to leave after what couldn't have been more than an hour. if what he says is true ––
which it absolutely can't be. clearly, he is just messing with her. )
I would need to be imprisoned first, for which I would have to commit a crime.
( and they didn't disable the entire justice system. )
Re: privated ––
Like you haven't done?
[one day he will regret every second of this so very much.]
You mean first you'd have to be caught.
Re: privated ––
( pureblood loyalty being what it is. )
So unless I am the greatest criminal mastermind of all time ( this is neither the time nor the format for sarcasm ) I daresay this would have happened a while ago.
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––
Re: privated ––