Sirius Black

Hullo, cousin.

How are you doing?

Listen, loads of people are going spare over Evelyn and Sinistra and who knows who else keeping ties. Maybe you're still angry, too, and you've a right to be.

I just thought, perhaps, in all the fuss and to-do, there haven't been enough people thanking you. For what you did out there. For what it must have taken to overcome him.

Well done. There was quite a queue for that particular kill, but I don't know if any of us could have done it alone.

Hey, kiddo,

How's it going, with you and Hydra? I know I've been a bit more focused on Justin at present but don't forget I'm here for you, too. No matter what the circumstances it's not easy, breaking up, and just because you're not in this competition, it doesn't mean you're not feeling the pressure as well.

Don't think I didn't notice you were pretty quiet at the meeting. And before it. And after.

If you ever want to talk, you've only to say.

Charlie, take extreme caution when you go speak to the centaurs again. As you may have gleaned from other journals at Hogwarts, one of the young women in Voldemort's ridiculous competition went and ran afoul of them over the weekend.

Pansy, Draco, Hydra, Ron and I went into the forest shortly after the Quidditch match (as soon as Draco and Ron were ready, that is). We found Hagrid without too much incident. (Allie, he says he's willing to take on jobs for us, if we want him. He can leave the forest without being noticed and I trust his ability to travel overland undiscovered, as well. I'm just not certain what you might want him to do.)

Hagrid knew of a spider that had recently met with an accident and took us to the spot. Luckily, the rest of the creature's clan hadn't finished devouring him, so there were pieces left for us to harvest. We'd just finished there and were collecting some less impressive findings for Ron and Pansy when two 7th-year Slytherins came crashing through the trees. They seemed to be in the middle of an urgent discussion. I changed back to Padfoot as soon as we heard them, so they never saw me as anything but a dog - but beyond that, they were far too preoccupied to worry much about proper introductions. As soon as they saw Hydra, they begged her to help find where their friend had gone. Between Draco and Hagrid, they were able to get the young wizard to start at the beginning and tell them what had happened: They were looking for creatures and found the centaurs. Three of them - two girls, one boy - but this is the couple who are expecting. The young witch's pregnancy is starting to show a bit. The centaurs must have seen that, as well, or smelled it. They let her alone and abducted the other young woman. It seems they spared the bloke because of his bravery in protecting the pregnant girl - Lizzie Stevens, I think that is.

Anyway, they escaped with only minor harm done but their friend was in the hands of the centaurs. They asked Hydra to find her 'by tracking her thoughts' - as if that's possible, but that's neither here nor there. Hagrid said he knew where they'd likely have taken her and led us in that direction. When we got there, he told everyone else to stay well out of the way and went in alone. He even left Fang behind, leaving me to stay close to the big girls' blouse. (He took a lot of convincing to stay put and protect the others but I got him to understand eventually.)

Well. We waited for probably twenty minutes. It was getting quite dark. Then Hagrid came out of the grove, crossbow on his back and Miss Montgomery in his arms, in quite bad shape. He carried her to the edge of the forest and then Vaisey and Ron took her from there, though she was well nervous of males, but she bore up in order to get to Poppy.

In the hospital wing, Poppy removed the memory of Hagrid, Fang and the other black dog who was with them, so all they'll remember is that they ran into Pansy, Draco, Hydra and Ron, and together they convinced the centaurs to get her back.

I don't know how long she was in their possession but she was clearly the worse for it. I can't imagine your negotiations will be any easier as a result. Hagrid did tell me that it's better to go sooner rather than late, however, since the longer we wait to tender our regrets over the incident, the more the centaurs will misinterpret our silence. You know how they get.

And I highly recommend that you take Hagrid with you when you do go. He has better luck with them than anyone I've known and he'll be able to straighten out any selective memory they might have over this encounter.

To be honest, it's not MLE and the Council that worry me.

It's all those members of the Jr Aux who were at the Burrow.

Did you hear them all greet Pomona, Kingsley? Sounded like a primary school class.

I smelled Justin soon as he arrived; tried to get out of sight in a hurry but I can't be sure whether or not he saw me. The problem was that every time I moved away from him, I came near to being spotted by Pansy Parkinson.

And Kingsley, was it me or was Mac staring at the young woman who came with Justin, the one carrying the hamper? Poor girl looked like she hadn't an idea how best to make herself useful. I think she wound up in the kitchen most of the afternoon. Maybe we ought to ask what was so fascinating? Don't know if he'll take that as teasing about his tastes or what.

Alice, you and Frank had gone but you ought to know that Neville and Evelyn both came by Floo, mid-afternoon or so. Then all of them - Pansy, Justin, Hydra, Ron, Sally-Anne, your two - went up to Fred and George's room. Can't be good, whatever that means (though the twins were seen going up and down the stairs from time to time. Nicked a platter of sandwiches on their way back up, too).

Mordred, it's nearly time to go. Look, I know we said we'd let things alone and they can figure it out in their own time but .... I just think that time is coming much sooner than any of us planned.

Well, Dora, I suppose I may have to admit that I may be misjudging your cousin Hydra. Or else she's far more insidious than we thought.

I've had an owl from my old student, Justin Finch-Fletchley. He says he's been carefully asking people's opinions about whether I'm really alive or if my post after the Quidditch World Cup was written by an impostor. When he found out that even Hydra Lestrange thinks, possibly, it was real and not a fake, he figured he could chance sending me an owl.

Merlin, he's been saving up a lot to say.

First, I was right: The French government have taken an interest in his mother. Laura's under watch. They still believe our story, that she's a Squib, so no one is expecting her to perform magic. But they made it clear to Justin that his conduct will directly determine whether she's allowed to continue living in their home or whether they're going to seize her property. So he's more than a little worried about that and trying his best to keep up the charade that he was simply born into a family that thought he wouldn't have any magic, rather than one that didn't know magic existed.

Second, he's having some trouble, because of his status, with some of the older boys. Well, we knew that might happen. I warned him he could be in for some hazing. There are two in particular who seem to delight in bullying him. He makes it all sound like it's nothing but he did ask for a few more defensive tips. I'll have to consider how to get those back to him without alerting anyone.

Third. Circe. This is the heart of it all.

He'd just gone on rather a date of sorts with none other than Hydra Lestrange. Dora, he's quite taken with her, I'll have you know. Kissed her. I think it's a first kiss for them both, from what he has to say (though how he'd know about her I couldn't tell you). He makes it all sound very innocent and honestly I can't imagine him behaving anything other than a gentleman, so I believe him about that. What I'm not sure of is that she's all that sweet as he makes her sound. Something about an animal-lover and her pet rabbit and not wanting to take Arithmancy. Well. That part was a little harder to follow. He says she was withdrawn at first but as they got to talking she told him all sorts of things about her mother, how she knows she's a disappointment and how she sometimes does things just because she knows it irritates Bella. Things like not eating meat. She asked him things about living in a country where the muggles are in charge and he told her about films and transportation and clothing and answered some of her questions about lies her mother's told her. She'd taught her that hugging a muggleborn would make her hair fall out!

Well. Anyway, the point is that he clearly fancies her rather a lot. But he's also well aware that he's lying to her about who he is and how much worse it would be for her to actually be dating a muggleborn. (Actually, he's quite pleased about 'defiling' her in Bella's eyes, in those terms, even if it has to be kept a secret. Sort of a vicarious revenge for making him think Bella had actually killed me.) But he does feel a little guilty that he has to deceive Hydra on any level.

Now, the other problem I have and I'm not sure how to tell him, is that he could be the one being deceived. What if Hydra's just drawing him out? I've been worried for him, you know, that he'll give himself away. And we all know what sort of idiots boys are when they're interested in a girl. He might well tell her things he can't cover up or keep consistent later. She could be trying to lull him into a sense of security so that she can report back to Mummy. I want to warn him about that.

But then there's something that worries me even more than his getting close to Hydra. He doesn't say it right out, but I think he's hoping he can learn something about Bella that will help us. I don't want him messing about with that at all. Not only does it put him in terrible danger but it'd put his mother in jeopardy. I don't think he'd do anything deliberately foolish but - he knows Bella's a Legilimens, too. Another reason to go careful.

I shouldn't answer, I know. It's for his own good if I don't send him anything potentially incriminating. But I don't want him running away with the notion that since he's in England, he can act as some sort of spy.

Especially if it's Hydra who's really the spy, and not Justin.