My · Life · and · Times

My dear sir,

I have no intention of prying, but I would suggest, for the good and the purity of your family, you might wish to take a glance at the sports section of the Daily Prophet, if you have not yet done so.

Regards,
L.

I believe that congratulations are in order, Mr. Morsus. But also, caution. Just who--or, rather, what--are you allowing to play for you? As some friendly advice, I would suggest that you limit your players only to real people.

I shall look forward to league developments with anticipation.

~L.

[Private to self] I have had more time to think about this new Ministry proposal, and every time I do, I like it all the less. There's nothing to say that I will be put on the highest level of security--I worked bloody hard to get myself exonerated--but I cannot help but suspect the worst. I have a few days, only a few days, until I will transform from the man living next door to an obnoxious, yippy, kickable dog into, for all intents and purposes, the wife of a jealous man: checked on, looked after, patrolled for infidelity. And all through a little band that I, at least, have the sheer pleasure of choosing where to place.

To just sit there and take it like I haven't the balls to fight is more than an embarrassment. It's emasculation! And it flies in the face of everything that I was brought up to believe in and to fight for. If my father were alive--but thank Merlin that he's still rotting peacefully away from me But...to make a direct, deliberate stand against the Ministry is to risk ruining all that I've been building up over the past years and months since His downfall, for who's to say that he's actually dead this time?.

Of course, to openly fight the Ministry is to court the very public that I am hoping to impress with my 'innocence.' Taking a stand, especially on the opposite side as that Muggles-take-him Arthur Weasley, would proclaim my derision for the foul Registry and hold me up as a champion of the wrongly accused and downtrodden. It would also draw attention to the fact that my dear Narcissa and I are still on the damn thing. And that is a little fact that I would much prefer stay buried in the annals of the Public Record, where the lazy average citizen would not bother to research it.

...bother to research it...Brilliant! Finally, that niggling idea takes shape. Yes! I can't go to read up on who else might be on the Registry for several days while that Prophet article is still at the forefront of everyone's minds. But in a few days, and before I take on that wretched homing fetter, I could go and determind who else is on the Registry list. Of course, I could send someone for me, but then they would know that I wanted to know...I could send Narcissa, but that would be the same as sending myself. So, it is decided. By myself I will go.

Once I know who is on the list, then I can make a little list or two of my own. Undoubtedly, some of those on the Registry will actually be innocent sheep that could be led around by the nose. Knowing the Ministry, that could actually prove to be a fair portion. From all the fuss the Ministry has made, some will be werewolves. It might not say who, but, surely, I could figure out who the things were by process of elimination. Or I could just wait for the Prophet to tell me more... [That seems to be written a little more deeply--perhaps 'smugly' could be the word--than the rest.]

Some will have to be fellow believers in the Cause, or the children of them. Once I know who they are, I can determine how best to (re)gain contact. And then...We have allowed ourselves to be scattered by far too much. We need to regain some of the ground that we lost through our momentary defeat by that, that Potter fiend. It was merely a set-back, not the end of all--even if He was (not permanently?) lost.

I know that I have allowed myself to be pushed and prodded by the winners of the war for far too long. Let this new disgrace be a rallying point! Where whomever that poor sod was (note to self: I must determine who that was) who flew the Dark Mark stopped and did no more, I will find my fellow Death Eaters again, regain contact, and restart the Movement. We have become too conciliatory. THAT MUST END. [/Private to self]

( Private to self )

( Private to friends* and family )

*deliberately vague

Well, this is quite a Great Leap Forward, is it not?

... catch-up, that is.

BACKDATED:

November 17th, 19:00

( Private to Narcissa )

BACKDATED (just squeaking by on the two-weeks rule. Sorry!):

November 8th, 17:00

( Private to Mr. Montague Morsus )

Just after the evening addition came out

[Public]My friends and fellow wizards, as I am sure we all know, we live in trying times. First, an attack on our lives when the Dark Mark was flown, then an attack on a poor woman's livelihood when Mademoiselle Aurelius's store was ransacked, and now the beginnings of a defamation campaign against the citizens of our city. They were trying times during the War, as I am sure I need not delve into. People were forced to comport in ways that would both protect their families and aid the arrival of the end of the War. Even though it is now all finally over, the final ending was quite abrupt. It is possible that some people, like the poor, misguided unfortunate who hijacked young Ms. Parkinson's birthday party, still feel that the War continues.

I am well aware that fear inspires the need for a scapegoat. But let us break that cycle. I know that the Malfoys, for one, have done nothing of which they are ashamed. That is why I would be happy to grant an interview to discuss the matter and dispell some of the myths surrounding my own comportment during the War.

In closing, let us all take the opportunity to make this event not the debacle that it appeared but the chance for reconciliation and healing that it could be. We should all join together in realizing that the War has, in fact, ended, and the nightmare is finally over. Do not let this backward-looking defamer rend the fragile peace we have finally attained after all those grueling years of war and strife. Let us all look forward to the future, which, every day, looks increasingly bright.

Lucius Malfoy

[/Public]

( Private to Narcissa )

Better late than never...

When Severus opens the book he had signed, he'll find the inscription that Lucius wrote for him. In the exact center of the flyleaf, written in an effortless, flowing cursive are these words:

From one Spy to another:

May your judgements be sound,
May your actions be swift, and
May your Calling be true.

You'll always have a place with us.

Lucius

Backdated to September 26th, midnight

( Private to Self )

[PLACEHOLDER: to Draco, how was questioning?; to current known 'former' Death Eaters, what's going on?; to next-gen 'interesting kids': know anything?]