I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good
Apr. 14th, 2012 10:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alt_justinHullo again,
I say, it's been quite a long couple of weeks, what, with Terry's and Sally-Anne's difficulties.
There's something I've been wanting to tell you all but we've all been preoccupied with their more pressing problems. But now that they're both able to monitor their journals again--well, I mean to say, I had best get this in before something else happens, what!
So, I'm not sure whether any of you who were there realised it but at that camp in Newcastle, while the rest of you went to see the herb garden, a camp official called my name and told me to come with him. I didn't see much choice and it certainly wasn't worth a panic, not to mention that had I looked guilty or tried to signal any of you or done anything else well odd, I'm sure he might have thought something was amiss and chosen to scrutinise me further. Hydra says she saw that I was well frightened but that it looked more or less the way anyone would do when one can't imagine why one's in trouble--sort of like the look people got in Cambridge when the Proctors told them they weren't meant to walk on the grass, what?
Well, anyway, as I said, this bloke asked me if I were Justin Finch-Fletchley and of course I bally well said that I was, and then he said that I was to come with him, so I did. And he led me into the large house they told us were their administrative offices. I was getting more and more nervous, I can tell you! But when I managed to ask him whatever could be the matter he just said, 'Don't know, do I? Someone wants to meet you,' and then grumbled a bit about being put off the schedule for the morning. He took me to a rather nice little study overlooking the lawn. Mr Rosier was there--Finnigan's guardian, what--and he invited me to sit down and then he asked had I given any thought to staying in England at the end of the year.
I say, of course I have done, what! But I tried to stay calm and listened to what he had to say about it. It was difficult to tell if he knew anything; I don't think he did, really, because at one point he tried to make it sound as if I could escape Toubon and the others by declaring right away and getting Sorted so that I'd no longer be considered a Beauxbatons student. I suppose he didn't consider that one would still have to see them in the corridors or that they are sharing Ravenclaw Tower to be much of an impediment, what?
But he didn't say anything that even remotely sounded like a threat. And he did offer tea but I said no, thank you, I was quite content, so that I wouldn't become tempted to tell him things I might not have done otherwise. I don't think it was his own idea to talk to me, though: I think that someone else at the Ministry believes it would be a coup for them to gain a defector out of the Beauxbatons delegation. They asked Mr Rosier to come because of Seamus and in his new job I suppose it's rather under his jurisdiction.
I didn't ask just then about my mother. I didn't wish to give them any reason to look into her any more than the French have done. Besides, he mentioned going into fostering so I doubt they'd want her to come to England--which jolly well suits me since I'd want her to leave France altogether, what? And go to Canada or America or somewhere it'll be much harder for them to decide they do want her hostage against my good behaviour.
Because that's the pill among the sugar, isn't it? The reason they want me to stay is to show everyone how brilliant life is here and declare myself a bally old convert to the Protectorate's way of life. So if I were to stay, I expect I'd have some responsibilities to uphold and of course, while Mr Rosier didn't say anything of the kind, it stands to reason that if I displeased the Ministry, there could be repercussions, what?
But if no one's thought already of holding her then perhaps I could say that as a condition of my remaining, I want to make sure no one in France can retaliate against her, and that I want confirmation she's been able to go somewhere else to live. I think she has an aunt in America; perhaps she can go and live with her and then she'll be safe. That would give them something they want while making sure I've got something I want without necessarily making them realise their mistake.
He said that there were a number of details we'd have to work out, such as where I'd be fostered (but he implied that it'd be with a well-to-do family, what) and I don't know about the YPL or anything, I didn't ask. He also didn't say I had to give an answer straightaway, that I should take all the time I needed, but of course, it should be decided before the end of the term.
So. I thought we should all have a think about what else I might want to ask for by way of assurances, before I give an answer. Or what else there is to think about. I've a list and it's growing longer but I know you lot will jolly well have questions I can't think of and wouldn't necessarily know to ask.
What's Hufflepuff like? I mean to say, I've barely spent any time with Smith, MacMillan, Hopkins and Stebbins. (Isn't there another one in the 4th? Oh, Summers.) I say, we'd be rather cramped, what?
-Justin
I say, it's been quite a long couple of weeks, what, with Terry's and Sally-Anne's difficulties.
There's something I've been wanting to tell you all but we've all been preoccupied with their more pressing problems. But now that they're both able to monitor their journals again--well, I mean to say, I had best get this in before something else happens, what!
So, I'm not sure whether any of you who were there realised it but at that camp in Newcastle, while the rest of you went to see the herb garden, a camp official called my name and told me to come with him. I didn't see much choice and it certainly wasn't worth a panic, not to mention that had I looked guilty or tried to signal any of you or done anything else well odd, I'm sure he might have thought something was amiss and chosen to scrutinise me further. Hydra says she saw that I was well frightened but that it looked more or less the way anyone would do when one can't imagine why one's in trouble--sort of like the look people got in Cambridge when the Proctors told them they weren't meant to walk on the grass, what?
Well, anyway, as I said, this bloke asked me if I were Justin Finch-Fletchley and of course I bally well said that I was, and then he said that I was to come with him, so I did. And he led me into the large house they told us were their administrative offices. I was getting more and more nervous, I can tell you! But when I managed to ask him whatever could be the matter he just said, 'Don't know, do I? Someone wants to meet you,' and then grumbled a bit about being put off the schedule for the morning. He took me to a rather nice little study overlooking the lawn. Mr Rosier was there--Finnigan's guardian, what--and he invited me to sit down and then he asked had I given any thought to staying in England at the end of the year.
I say, of course I have done, what! But I tried to stay calm and listened to what he had to say about it. It was difficult to tell if he knew anything; I don't think he did, really, because at one point he tried to make it sound as if I could escape Toubon and the others by declaring right away and getting Sorted so that I'd no longer be considered a Beauxbatons student. I suppose he didn't consider that one would still have to see them in the corridors or that they are sharing Ravenclaw Tower to be much of an impediment, what?
But he didn't say anything that even remotely sounded like a threat. And he did offer tea but I said no, thank you, I was quite content, so that I wouldn't become tempted to tell him things I might not have done otherwise. I don't think it was his own idea to talk to me, though: I think that someone else at the Ministry believes it would be a coup for them to gain a defector out of the Beauxbatons delegation. They asked Mr Rosier to come because of Seamus and in his new job I suppose it's rather under his jurisdiction.
I didn't ask just then about my mother. I didn't wish to give them any reason to look into her any more than the French have done. Besides, he mentioned going into fostering so I doubt they'd want her to come to England--which jolly well suits me since I'd want her to leave France altogether, what? And go to Canada or America or somewhere it'll be much harder for them to decide they do want her hostage against my good behaviour.
Because that's the pill among the sugar, isn't it? The reason they want me to stay is to show everyone how brilliant life is here and declare myself a bally old convert to the Protectorate's way of life. So if I were to stay, I expect I'd have some responsibilities to uphold and of course, while Mr Rosier didn't say anything of the kind, it stands to reason that if I displeased the Ministry, there could be repercussions, what?
But if no one's thought already of holding her then perhaps I could say that as a condition of my remaining, I want to make sure no one in France can retaliate against her, and that I want confirmation she's been able to go somewhere else to live. I think she has an aunt in America; perhaps she can go and live with her and then she'll be safe. That would give them something they want while making sure I've got something I want without necessarily making them realise their mistake.
He said that there were a number of details we'd have to work out, such as where I'd be fostered (but he implied that it'd be with a well-to-do family, what) and I don't know about the YPL or anything, I didn't ask. He also didn't say I had to give an answer straightaway, that I should take all the time I needed, but of course, it should be decided before the end of the term.
So. I thought we should all have a think about what else I might want to ask for by way of assurances, before I give an answer. Or what else there is to think about. I've a list and it's growing longer but I know you lot will jolly well have questions I can't think of and wouldn't necessarily know to ask.
What's Hufflepuff like? I mean to say, I've barely spent any time with Smith, MacMillan, Hopkins and Stebbins. (Isn't there another one in the 4th? Oh, Summers.) I say, we'd be rather cramped, what?
-Justin
Private Message to Justin
Date: 2012-04-14 05:56 pm (UTC)You've already told her, haven't you? Hydra, I mean. About who you really are.