Order Only: the Diadem

[alt_justin]

Hello, everyone,

I say, we're one closer to our goal. Today, Ron, Harry and I destroyed Ravenclaw's diadem. (I say, sorry, Luna. Oh, and Charlie, I do apologise if it makes negotiations more difficult with the goblins. It did look goblin-made, what, but since it was decidedly another horcrux, perhaps they won't mind.)

I don't want anyone to panic, but we used Fiendfyre. It went better than I rather expected, what, though it was still--well, I say. We did it, anyway, and the secret room helped us keep the fire from spreading.

Ron sustained a few burns and Sally-Anne thought it best to take me to the Hospital Wing for mine. I'm back in my dormitory now. I've got a salve for the shoulder but it jolly well hurts, even with that. The hand.... Well, I can write, as you can see, though not as steadily as one might wish. But Healer Patil says I ought to see marked improvement by morning and if I continue with the ointment, it will be fully healed by next week. It seems I'll have a jolly handsome scar, which he was quick to assure me will make me quite fascinating. He was equally quick to tell us not to try this sort of spellwork again without proper supervision, however.

At any rate, no lasting harm was done and the diadem is well and truly gone now.

-Justin

Comments

Private Message to Hydra

[alt_justin]

Dux,

You won't mind if I have to beat away the witches, all trying to get a look at my scar, what?

Only I do think it might be necessary, apparently.

Salve or no, this really does hurt. Holding the quill's no jolly holiday, either. But it's worth it to have done something good for once.

-J

Re: Private Message to Hydra

[alt_hydra]

Congratulations. You've survived a first hand encounter with a little piece of Tom Riddle's soul.

Quite the chap, isn't he?

And the scar will be very virile, I'm sure.

Re: Private Message to Hydra

[alt_justin]

Ha, another thing we have in common, now.

It's funny, love. The horcrux was trying to offer us...well, what it thought we wanted, I suppose. Power, success--a life freed from having to feel guilt or shame over our actions past and future. Ron's just said that it wasn't its words that were dangerous, what, and that's bally well true. One felt...absolved, in a way. As if one were completely within one's rights to dark arts and malice and vengeance.

And once I realised that's what it was doing, I.... I knew it was utterly untrue. I've been worried, well, you know, as we've said before--that I was becoming the monster Dolohov has been training me to be. That I was losing myself in the darkness. But I do feel remorse for the things I've done with him, what, and I think I do maintain motives that are more for good than for ill. What's more, I didn't want to feel the euphoria it was bringing on. I wanted to feel the guilt but decide on my own to set it to the side.

After that, it was simply a matter of doing what needed to be done before any of us lost our nerve.

I'm sorry, that's likely more than you needed to hear, what!

-J

Re: Private Message to Hydra

[alt_hydra]

See, that's not really at all what the diary was like. I didn't really feel attracted to it, not at first. It was much more like getting to know a real person, and I felt understood and listened to, and he kept telling me good things about myself.

The diary was more subtle, I think, but I'm not sure why. I'm glad you were able to look past what the thing was saying to you, though.

I don't know if we should use fiendfyre again. It doesn't sound very safe at all.

Re: Private Message to Hydra

[alt_justin]

Harry's just said that perhaps they know when they can take their time, the diary and the diadem and so on. That you weren't about to destroy the diary, you were too interested in it, and the same with Ginny when she found the diadem.

But it did know just what sorts of things to say, even if it wasn't particularly subtle. It was dashed perceptive, in fact. It offered me vengeance upon Auror Crouch straight away. And--it went on to talk about how what I'd done to Minister Fudge meant I was truly a dark wizard, that I couldn't be as good at dark arts if my soul weren't black and twisted.

If I'd been in another mood, what, or another sort of person, perhaps, I can see how it would have been dashed tempting to keep it and hold it to its promises.

And no, fiendfyre is decidedly not safe, even with all the precautions we could think to put in place. I shouldn't want to use it again even with 'proper' supervision. Nasty stuff, what.

-J