I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good Private Message to Harry

[alt_ron]

Say, are you all right?

Only, that was a lot to think through. What Malfoy had to say about what Dolohov said.

It sure made everyone else go quiet, yeah? Which was maybe not a completely bad thing since we couldn't agree on anything tonight. I mean, I don't even- I guess we're all just still a bit gobsmacked by what happened with Fawcett and then what she did to Fred and George. No surprise everyone's got sixty-four ideas what to do and none of them sane.

Anywiz. I just thought maybe that was a lot harder to take from where you were sitting. And then to find out about Him.

So I guess I just wanted to say I hope you're all right.

Yeah.

Comments

[alt_ron]

Um.

Okay. Here's how I see it. At the start of term, you couldn't know any of it. Not what Umbridge would do, and not what He was planning. So there was nothing to make you even think of stopping her then. And if you'd killed her dead on the spot on the first day of term... you'd have been completely mad.

And... yeah. Terrible stuff has happened. It has. Sophie Fleet died. But, y'know what? That wasn't because you don't have guts. It was because You Know Who is completely, completely out of his mind mad, and he likes killing people, and he likes winding other people up so they'll kill people. Like Umbridge. Or Auror Crouch.

And, Harry? This isn't the first year that kids have died here because of him. Dennis died because of the basilisk. And who let the basilisk loose on us? Him. And then Hannah Abbott died because of Amycus Carrow. And Sally Anne nearly did, because of Alecto Carrow. And who set the Carrows on us? Him. And the epidemic? Why did that happen? Him, again. Wanting to control muggles and not caring if other people got hurt. And last year, when Mark Towler died and Warrington's dad? That wasn't you that did that. It was HIM. He picked up his wand and cast those curses. Not because of what you did, but because he's a lunatic and he likes killing people. Even if you'd done exactly what he wanted, he still might have got hacked off at somebody else and done the same thing. It's not you, at all.

And. Yeah. I don't even think you can stop him by thinking about it that way. Because it really doesn't matter what you do to please him. Or don't do. He is what he is, and we are probably going to have to fight to stop him. I know that.

But, see. The way I look at it, it's up to us to say that we're not going to live in a world like this where they kill people for no reason. And make slaves of witches like Hermione. Or tell brilliant witches like Sally Anne and Mrs Ponds they can't do anything but wash floors at the Ministry because they don't have the right parents.

We're going to stop it. We're going to stop him. And, yeah, we're going to stop Umbridge, too. But we can't do it by just killing people, because then we won't change anything at all. We'll just become like them. We might replace them, but we wouldn't be any different from them by the time we do it.

So, I'll do whatever you need if you want me to help stop Umbridge. I mean it. I'm with you, and I'm not afraid of her at all. But we're not going to kill her. She's not worth that. Save killing for the ones we can't get round any other way.

[alt_harry]

Okay.

I mean, yeah. We're going to stop him. We have to.





and thanks. for saying that.

[alt_harry]

When I first found out about what I had to do it was like it was this enormous thing. And I’d never have a chance. Not in a million years. And it still feels like that sometimes.

But Hermione kept saying I didn’t have to do it alone.

And I don’t.

So thanks for that too.

[alt_ron]

Hermione's right.

(That happens a lot, doesn't it?)

[alt_harry]

Yeah. It does.

Keeps me from getting a big head.

[alt_ron]

Ha.

[alt_ron]

You know. I thought about this all night, and there's something else I want to tell you. The thing that makes people want to take risks and do the things you say when something happens like it did with Fawcett--it's because you're a person who thinks about helping people. It's because you're the bloke who could have won that task in the lake, but you cared more about whether someone else would be safe.

And the fact that the first thing you think about isn't just that we ought to kill Umbridge. That's what I mean.