Private message to Jason Montague

[alt_seamus]

Look, I -- I'm sorry.

I don't want to make our friendship impossibly awkward. Friendship is fine. If you don't I promise I won't try to kiss you again. (I think it was me who kissed you, last night. I know I told you this morning you kissed me but once I'd had the hangover potion and slept again I was a lot less sure.)

I find you attractive. Not much point in lying about that. But I find a lot of people attractive, and a good portion of the time they're not interested in lads, and I manage. The fact that you fancy some lads doesn't mean you fancy me; I'll manage.

I hope you'll still train with me. Duelling, I mean.

Comments

[alt_jason]

Why are you apologising?

Do you think I'm hacked off?

[alt_seamus]

You might be?

[alt_jason]

Well I can see why you might think so, since you were just recently still at school, but no, I'm not hacked off.

There's always at least one mix-up at parties like those. We're just lucky we didn't have any of the potions, aren't we?

Then we'd really be in trouble.

[alt_seamus]

I suppose.

[alt_seamus]

By the way, who's Miss Minx?

Was she at last night's party?

[alt_jason]

No, she wasn't.

She's married, in fact.


And you know, you might have snogged me but I reckon I wasn't on my best behaviour, either.

I don't think we should worry about it.

[alt_seamus]

Okay.

So, do you want to duel this afternoon, or are you still hung over?

[alt_jason]

Can we make it after supper?

I should be better by then. I hope

[alt_seamus]

After supper works for me.

[alt_jason]

All right.

[alt_jason]

Your friend wrote to you.

I was thinking about what you said, about Bobolis wanting gossip from you. Is that what you and Padma Patil did, gossip?

Or are you a little information-hoarder, like I am?

[alt_seamus]

We did gossip. It's -- not exactly gossip now. I did tell her I went to the party, though.

She told me a few things. I can show you, if you want.

She also told me to turn myself in, that they'd go easy on me, like they did with her. Not sure if that was actually her writing or someone else.

[alt_jason]

Far as I'm concerned, what you say to her is between the two of you.

Why wouldn't they go easy on you? Oh, because of Longbottom, right.

How'd you manage to turn him in, anyway?

[alt_seamus]

Well, I'd suspected for a long time he was a traitor. Ron Weasley, too.

Last winter, when I went home for hols, this notebook of his wound up in my trunk. Only it was spelled shut, warded, which seemed really suspicious. I got some help from Padma spelling it open, and took a look. Honestly I wouldn't have thought anything of it, if it hadn't been warded shut in the first place, but inside he had all these notes on plants and some of them said 'ask S.S.,' and there were a few other things...anyway, I wasn't sure what to make of it. So I talked with Mr Rosier, and he called up Bellatrix Lestrange, and she brought in Neville to ask him some questions, and it turned out he could occlude.

Because of course he could. All the traitors learned how, I guess, and that's how they managed to not get caught.

They didn't learn anything from him. What I heard, later, is that Hydra was supposed to practise her interrogation skills and she mucked it up and broke him so badly, he couldn't talk anymore. But you know, she must have done that on purpose, since she was a traitor, as well. To keep him from talking.

With mates like that, who even needs enemies?

[alt_jason]

Seems your suspicions were dead on. Good instincts, there.

When you get information that could implicate someone, you have to take care how to use it. I can see why you told Rosier, but it was out of your hands as soon as you did that, from the sounds of it.

If it'd been your choice, would you have called up Lady Lestrange?

Or done something else?

By the way, if Patil says something that makes you think you're being baited, you should tell me.

Like I said this morning, I'm looking out for you.

[alt_seamus]

I would not have called in Bellatrix, she's never -- well, until recently she was never someone I dealt with if I could avoid it. She's different now than she used to be. But I didn't know who to go to other than Mr Rosier, and I didn't think it was something I could properly investigate on my own.

Anyway I guess I'm not sure what you mean by baited. She tried to talk me into turning myself into the Order, but I mentioned that. Said they hadn't hexed her or anything, she was just bored and lonely.

[alt_jason]

Yeah, I know what you're saying. I can see why you had limited options.

By baited I mean if she starts asking you a lot of questions about what we're up to over at Buckingham or elsewhere in New London. Or if she asks you to come meet her somewhere, that sort of thing.

You'll know it when you see it, yeah?

[alt_seamus]

Oh, yeah, that makes sense. She hasn't -- well, she did ask me about the party, because she saw Blaise Zabini's PM, but I didn't think there was any harm in telling her I'd been to a party.

I think someone's reading over everything she writes and crossing things out because the sentences come out all jumbled.

I was trying to get her to name a meeting place for a while, but so I could tell Auror Lestrange to go instead. I didn't even think of that, this time, though. I think she'd probably just tell me to turn myself in at Hogwarts.

[alt_jason]

Are you thinking about doing that?

Turning yourself in at Hogwarts?

[alt_seamus]

No, I'm not.

You'd know if I were, anyway. Wouldn't you?

[alt_jason]

Possibly.

Say, if you told me.

[alt_seamus]

Well, I'm not.

[alt_jason]

Good.

I don't think you should.