Summer & OWL results

[alt_seamus]

The owl with my OWL results had to find me on a fishing trip with Mr Rosier. We went to Folkestone and went out sailing and fishing. I'd never been on boats much before, it was interesting. Anyway the owl did find me, even as far out as we were, and we were both reasonably pleased with my marks. Two O's, three E's, and the only exam I failed was Divination.

I didn't have my journal with me on the trip, but we're back! Padma you can come over anytime, if you'd like.

Comments

Private message to Professor Dolohov

[alt_seamus]

Sir,

The events of May have been weighing on me Mr Rosier quite a bit, and I am finding myself thinking about them as well.

I never would have believed that Mr Selwyn could turn out to be a traitor.

You're quite sure he was, though, aren't you? That he deserved what happened to him.

I heard some of the Councilwizards talking at the wedding, about how he died. About how long

How do you

He was a friend of yours, wasn't he? I mean before he was revealed to be a traitor. He pretended -- did you like him?

Re: Private message to Professor Dolohov

[alt_antonin]

Mr Finnigan,

You do not ask easy questions. And I will confess that I, too, have spent the last few weeks reviewing much the same questions, and sifting through the memories of conversation after conversation to see what I might have missed, and whether there was a moment something I could have said or done could have turned the tide and brought us to the shores of a different outcome.

Yes, Dominic was my friend and brother, and a good and solid man. And there is no doubt he tried to strike down Our Lord, for what seemed to him a very good reason whatever reason he thought necessary, and did not succeed. If I am having trouble reconciling those two facts, I am not surprised you are finding it difficult as well.

We have spoken, you and I, about necessity, and I am trying to remind myself of those incontrovertable and ineffable influences, and that no man can know another's necessities as his own. There are times when one's own actions and one's own experiences can lead one to beliefs that are wrong, or misguided -- or, yes, traitorous -- but are no less sincerely held for that misguidedness. And there are times when one arrives at such a conclusion, built of hundreds of tiny moments or one watershed realisation, and cannot take any action other than the action one's own honour dictates. Even when one knows the ends that action will bring one to.

Dominic knew, when he lifted wand against Our Lord, that if he failed -- when he failed -- he would find himself set against Our Lord's loyal, with his life and more forefeit for his actions, and yet he felt he could not do anything other than what he did. I do not know what led him to that conclusion, so obviously flawed. I do not know if we could have led him back to right thinking. I cannot help but be troubled that we did not have the chance to try.

It is natural, I suppose, to be troubled. When someone so above reproach suddenly behaves in such a way as to make you question your entire understanding of him, there are no easy answers. All each of us can do is act in such a way as to serve our own necessities, and to honour our own convictions, and to behave in the ways we know to be correct. As Dominic did

We'll be returning to this question in your classes over the next two years -- not this particular instance, but the larger question of how to choose the correct action in a given situation -- and while I will not have concrete answers for you, I hope I will be able to provide you with the tools to find answers for yourself. In the meantime, as you contemplate recent events, it may be valuable for you to consider, not what led Dominic to the choices he made -- for none of us can ever fully understand what leads another to such a drastic reversal of conviction -- but rather, what your own convictions and necessities are, and what you would and would not do to uphold them when they are tested. Such a framework to meditate upon may not set your mind at ease, but it may lead you to a fuller understanding of how one might find oneself called upon to do things one finds terrible but necessary, and understanding is the first step towards being at peace with the decisions one is sometimes called upon to make.

Yours,
Antonin

Re: Private message to Professor Dolohov

[alt_seamus]

What I would or wouldn't do -- what I could, or couldn't do -- is really what keeps me awake at night, sir.

Mr Selwyn was your friend and you were there, weren't you?

How do you

I mean with my mother it was very fast. She didn't suffer. But I heard people talking at the wedding and they said with Mr Selwyn it went on for a very long time before he died and you all had to

How? Do you understand what I'm asking? What if I'm called on to witness if someone I know, someone I like, even -- I mean I don't think anyone I know is a traitor but I didn't think Mr Selwyn was a traitor!

What if someday it's Mr Rosier

Re: Private message to Professor Dolohov

[alt_antonin]

Mr Finnigan,

Yes, I was there. And yes, I was called upon to question Dominic, before Our Lord pronounced His justice. It was not the first time I have been called upon to do such things, and I do not doubt it will not be the last.

It is not easy.

But just as none of us can know another's necessities, neither can we be false to our own. I have sworn to obey Our Lord's will and to make manifest His desires, and it is the most solemn oath I have ever taken. Obeying that oath is often difficult. As it should be: we do not value that which comes easily, nor do we properly appreciate that for which we do not sacrifice.

When If you are called upon to witness the consequences of someone else's decisions, all you can do is to be true to yourself -- to your loyalties, to your beliefs, to your convictions. All we can do in a situation like that is to obey our own necessities, while at the same time paying honour to the necessities of those to whom we are connected. I do not agree with the choice Dominic made, to turn traitor to Our Lord's oath, but I honour the years in which he was my friend and brother, and I will do everything I can to remember that friendship and brotherhood while simultaneously condemning the actions he took.

All we can do is be true to our own selves -- to our oaths, to our convictions -- and to bear witness to the actions of those around us. It is, all too often, a poor set of choices indeed. But it is not for us to judge, only to act in accordance with our own selves and our own honour, as best as we are imperfectly capable.

Yours,
Antonin