Prisoners of Azkaban, Probationary Diaries August 2009, Prisoners #19-09-1979 and #09-01-1960
oooOooo
August 9, 2009
Thanks to Hannah Abbott and the Patil twins, we now know much about the wizarding world of 2009. (The Muggle world must wait.)
The Patils seem to be part of (or at least in contact with) [ink splodge]. Or what remains of it today. But they won't give any details. You and I, we have become symbols—as such we must be protected (or die martyrs). But we are also a liability. On probation, under suspicion. Throughout the afternoon, both Patils watched us closely. That is reasonable; eleven years in Azkaban have our sanity hanging by a thread. You and I both know it.
(I wonder if they know what [ink splodge] happened in the Shrieking Shack.)
At least they could tell us why there were no Dementors in Azkaban. The Dementors have become guards of the wizarding world, "protecting" us against Muggles and Mudbloods.
They can't get in. And we…we can't get out.
When you realised what this meant, you started counting floorboards. But there are too many, some of them obscured by furniture, and they are not square. That confused you, and you clung to me, shaking.
Parvati Patil is an Auror now. I wonder how deeply the Ministry and Hogwarts are infiltrated by [ink splodge]. They knew about the Portkey (though not about the conditions of our probation) and went looking for us at its destination, Muggle London. (So they must have connections to the DMT at least, if not to the DMLE.)
Still, I think it was good I threw the Portkey away; Draco's lighthouse was already overwhelming after Azkaban, even homely Hogsmeade is still a challenge for both of us. In Muggle London we wouldn't have lasted a day.
Padma Patil teaches Arithmancy; she's also Head of Ravenclaw. Professor Sinistra has been made Headmistress. Alecto is Deputy and Head of Slytherin, Amycus head of the Department for Magical Education. Attendance for pure-bloods is compulsory. Formal magical education is not available for half-bloods and Mudbloods.
You snorted at Padma's explanation of the Blood Laws: Only direct offspring of Muggle/magical liaisons are defined "half-blood". Finer percentages of mixed heritage are ignored—for the sake of economy.
Gryffindor House has been abolished.
You didn't cry over that. But you stopped counting. You just rocked back and forth, keening.
This news should taste of sweet satisfaction—to see the House of my childhood tormentors destroyed. But now that nothing is left of them in this world, there is no glee, just bitterness.
I want to leave now; the herb-garden of our small white house beckons with its peaceful scents and humming bees. Yet I must stay if I want to hold you. And I still have questions—while you remain silent.
But the Patils refuse to say why we must stay away from Madam Agan. She is dangerous; that is all we need to know.
They've promised to do all in their power to help us fulfil the conditions of our probation, though. Starting with the address of a house that will be sold to us.
oooOooo
A/N: Many thanks to Ayerf for looking this over.
Further notes: Unless I say explicitly that someone is alive, you may assume they are dead.
DMT—Department of Magical Transportation
DMLE—Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Just like the slips of Hermione's quill and the subsequent counting fits of letters, Severus' splodges of Veritaserum-ink(!) are still not random.