I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_ron]

Well. That was odd.

Maybe I'm really still asleep? I mean, Dad's odd all the time, but he doesn't usually sound quite so mental.

So I came down earlier than usual. Um, yeah. Loads earlier. Cause I woke up thinking about all this stuff about the lock and, y'know, everybody being hacked off at everybody else. And Pansy, y'know. And Hermione and these other people she talks to. And it's just all not on.

But anywiz, I couldn't sleep, so I got up to see what there is to eat, and Dad's in the kitchen by himself, and when he sees me he gets this funny look on his face and he takes me outside behind the chicken house, and I thought maybe I'd left it unlatched and fox'd got in and I was in trouble.

But he just wants to tell me something. He says, 'I'm going to tell you something that I know perfectly well will sound rather mad, but it's important. Extremely important. I want you to pay attention and absolutely obey me on this. Will you do that?'

And, y'know, I still figured I was in trouble, so I guess it took me a while to answer him.

He says, 'Ron, I need you to tell me you'll do what I'm asking. Will you?' So I said sure. I mean, what am I going to say? 'No, I don't think I do want to hear whatever mad thing you're thinking of telling me. Thanks, but no thanks!'?

So then he says, 'The day may come when you may get instructions from either a weasel, a squirrel, a hawk, a cat or a Newfoundland dog. I want you to promise me that you'll do whatever the message says if it comes from one of these. Promise me.'

So, yeah, I promised. But, I mean, really. He's fallen off his broom, hasn't he? And he made me tell him the animals--weasel, squirrel, hawk, cat, or doNewfoundland dog--a bunch of times.

And then he just turns around and goes back in the kitchen to eat his porridge. And when Mum and Percy came in, he didn't say anything about what he'd said to me.

Mad, innit?

Comments

[alt_sally_anne]

A squirrel?

A Newfoundland dog?

That sounds utterly mad and your dad's never seemed mad.

I'm surprised he didn't tell you not to tell a soul. You'd better not tell anyone who isn't us. And if the dog says 'it's time to go tell Bellatrix LeStrange everything you know!' um, I wouldn't listen.

[alt_ron]

Yeah, I guess he figured not telling anyone about it kinda goes without saying.

I mean, he doesn't know about you lot, but I sure wouldn't go telling anyone else.

I just saw him asking the twins outside to help him degnome the orchard side of the hedge. Which is odd, 'cause we never worry about the orchard side unless we're expecting company. So he's probably telling them the same thing.

But I don't think he said anything to Percy before he left.

[alt_sally_anne]

Maybe these are animagus forms.

[alt_sally_anne]

Except, can you talk when you're a transformed animagus?

I think there's a spell that you can use to make an animal talk, but you can put it on whatever animal you want. It's not JUST a weasel or a cat or a PARTICULAR breed of dog. Do you know anyone with a Newfoundland dog? Those are the really big ones, right?

[alt_neville]

Maybe it's just a code. Like you'd get the instruction in a note and then someone signs it by drawing a little hawk so you know you're supposed to pay attention to it. But you don't know who sent it.

So he's saying, if you ever get this note from someone you don't know, you're supposed to trust it anyway, and do what it asks.

[alt_lee]

I hope they're good at drawing then. If I tried drawing a Newfoundland dog nobody would be able to tell it from a German shepherd.

[alt_ron]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

[alt_ron]

Yeah, I don't know. I've never met an animagus, I don't think. But it'd seem odd if they could talk. I thought it made you really totally into an animal.

[alt_gredforge]

Yeah, Dad had that little chat with us, as you thought, Ron. He didn't say not to tell anyone else, exactly, but he just nodded when he was done and said, 'We'll say no more about it, then.'

Guess we owe you an apology, Perks. We thought you were nutters when you suggested our mum might be in this secret group.

But now we're thinking maybe Dad's in on it.

[alt_neville]

Is it the sort of thing your Dad would do without your Mum knowing, do you think?

[alt_gredforge]

Good point. They're sort of a team, we think.

So, yeah. Both of them. Probably.

Wicked.

[alt_sally_anne]

I don't know. I've been thinking all day about how sometimes people act dead strange when they're under the Imperius curse. Only I can't think why anyone would imperius your father into telling you to obey instructions from a cat or weasel or squirrel instead of -- well, anyway, it's just really odd.