Dear Wizarding Britain
Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, I probably wouldn't be playing around on fanfiction.
A/N: If you are receiving an update notification, it is only because I noticed a typo while refreshing my mind on what I last wrote about before I start on the next chapter. I'm sorry if you are disappointed that this is not a proper update.
A/N2: I'm just fixing the spelling of Blaise's last name, as a reviewer pointed out to me, I had it as Zambini and it should be Zabini.
When Winky arrived at the Lovegood House as per her instructions from Harry, Mr. Lovegood was alone, but twitching on the floor from the aftermath of being held under the cruciatus curse. He could be heard calling out softly, "Luna, not my Luna."
Winky carefully revealed herself to Mr. Lovegood, so as to not startle him as he continued to mumble Luna's name to himself. "Mr. Lovesgood, sir," Winky said in a soft, squeaky voice. "Winky has a letter from your Luny."
Mr. Lovegood grew quiet and tried to focus his attention on the timid little house elf that had just spoken to him. "You have a letter for me from my Luna?" He asked in a raspy voice.
"Winky does, sir," Winky said, as she stretched out her hand and gave the letter to Mr. Lovegood.
Mr. Lovegood reached out with a shaky hand, as he struggled to sit up in an upward position. After a few seconds of struggle, he managed to grasp the letter in his hand and managed to scoot himself up to lean against the wall for support. He looked up at Winky and said in a grateful whisper, "Thank you, Winky."
Winky gave a startled squeak, because she still had not gotten used to being thanked by anyone other than Master Harry and his friends who lived together on the island, and then responded with a quick, "You is welcome," before popping herself back home.
After the little house elf's sudden departure, Mr. Lovegood carefully opened the letter with his shaky hands.
Hello Daddy,
I'm writing to tell you that I had a brief run-in with the Blibbering Humdingers who were being infected by the Wrackspurts, but I was rescued and was brought to a magical sanctuary by one of the noble elves so that I could recover from my ordeal in peace.
Sadly, I've been advised that I should not return to school due to the ongoing infestation of the Wrackspurt infected Blibbering Humdingers. You should consider leaving for your upcoming expedition early, as the infestation is expected to spread throughout the region, that way you don't put yourself at risk of contracting it yourself.
As for myself, I have been invited to stay here at the sanctuary for as long as I wish to, so I believe that I'll stay here for a while. I love you, Daddy, and I'll speak with you soon.
Love always,
Luna
Mr. Lovegood reread the letter a few more times before nodding to himself and carefully folding it back up and placing it inside his robes pocket.
Standing shakely, he slowly made his way over to his potions cabinet for a pain reliever that would at least relieve some of his lingering symptoms from the cruciatus curse. Then he went about shrinking and packing things as needed in order to leave the home he had shared with his daughter for so many years, and his late wife years before that. He was hopeful that he would be able to return one day, but he knew that it would be impossible while You-Know-Who was still in power.
Daphne Greengrass found herself in a conundrum. It was mandatory for her to return to Hogwarts the next day, but she was considered of age in the wizarding world and shouldn't have been required to return to that Merlin-be-damned place if she didn't choose to. She was informed by her father over the holidays that the only way the current regime would excuse her from returning to Hogwarts to finish out her seventh year was to accept a betrothal contract with her pick of the unmarried Death Eaters, whether they be as young as 12 or as old as 70.
Ordinarily, Daphne wouldn't have even been contemplating leaving the school before completing all seven years, but she truly dreaded going back where all they were being forced to learn were the dark arts and torture. The environment at Hogwarts was even worse now than it was when Umbitch was High Inquisitor.
It seemed to have come as quite a shock to everyone else, but she and Blaise had been able to see it a mile away. The summer after sixth year, the students left with Professor McGonagall thought to be established as the Headmistress, with Professor Flitwick being the Deputy Headmaster. However, on September 1st of her seventh year, all of the staff members had been replaced by Death Eaters, with the dim-witted perverted Death Eater, Amycus Carrow, position of Headmaster, and his twin sister, Alecto, in the position of the Deputy Headmistress.
It had been rumored that the previous professors had all been either murdered or being held in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor. Neither Blaise nor Daphne had been able to confirm which was true, but they both fervently hoped that their former professors had been able to escape Britain and that the rumors were just rumors to keep the students in line.
The Houses were not allowed to interact with each other outside of classes. There was no quidditch for the students to enjoy. All trips to Hogsmeade were canceled. Half-Bloods Blood Traitors were bullied without repercussions, if they had not conformed to the "right" way of thinking, or at least made it appear as such.
Witches had to travel in groups in order to discourage would-be sexual predators, as traveling alone was now interpreted as an open invitation to the Death Eaton spawn. And if they were caught in the act, the victim was told that they must have wanted it, because they didn't take the necessary precautions. The only witches who were safe were the ones who were betrothed to one of the Death Eaters or one of their spawn.
Daphne refused to accept that the only way she could walk safely in the halls of Hogwarts was to sell herself off to some nasty old man, and she disliked most of the boys her age except for Blaise Zabini, who she had more familial-type feelings for, and she definitely wasn't going to sell herself to anyone in the years below her. Blaise was doing his best to remain neutral in what was left of the war and had even offered to marry her in order to save her, but she refused to settle for a marriage of convenience, because there was no divorce in the wizarding world and she refused to have an affair, she didn't want to ruin both of their lives for mere safety. Additionally, there was no way she could imagine allowing herself to become physically involved with him, it turned her a little green just thinking about it, they had too much of a sibling type of bond for her to even contemplate it for long.
Additionally, Blaise had overheard and warned her that Amycus had set his sights on her and was looking into forcing her to become his bride whether she wanted to be or not, which meant that not only would she have to fend of the sexual predators that were students, she also had to fend off the attentions of the Headmaster, who could order away any students that she was grouped up with, in order to get her alone.
Blaise had risked a lot to pass that information along with her, and even offered to run away with her and try to flee the country. The problem was that she was constantly monitored and unable to communicate with him to make preparations. She had plenty of money that she had saved up from her allowances over the years that she had sewed into the hem of all of her robes. She had a specialized truck that would shrink and unshrink with a touch.
What she did not have was a way to store large amounts of food or to contact Blaise, as her owl post was being monitored and using one of her family's house elves to send messages back and forth was not feasible, because they were under orders to report everything to her father. Even though her father was not a cruel man and did not wish for her to become a bride of a Death Eater, if she managed to escape, she wanted her father to be as ignorant of her escape as possible, even though it would likely not prevent the wrath of the Dark Lord, he would at least be less likely to be killed for it.
Daphne was jarred out of her thoughts and worries when an unfamiliar house elf appeared, causing Daphne to draw her wand in alarm.
The house elf squeaked in fright and said, "Please, Missy Daffy, I is Lopsy and I has a message from Master Blazey."
Daphne quickly threw a locking and silencing spell at the door and said quietly, but enthusiastically, "Oh, thank Merlin! I was beginning to think it would be impossible to work out a plan to escape! Do you have a verbal message?"
The house elf responded, "The message is if you cans gather yous things quickly, and make it to the boundary of the wards by midnight tonight, Lopsy can pop you to Master Blazey's hideaway where he has made plans to get you both to safety."
"Oh, thank you, Lopsy! How are you able to help pass messages without getting caught?" Daphne asked in concern.
"Lopsy is under orders as Master Blazey's personal elf, so Lopsy only answers to Master Blazey," replied the house elf named Lopsy.
"Oh, I didn't realize Blaise had a personal elf," Daphne breathed in relief. "I have all of my belongings packed and ready to go already, I just didn't have a way to get enough food to bring with me without our house elves reporting it to my father, but I'll do whatever I have to in order to meet you outside the wards at midnight. But you'll need to be ready to pop us away immediately, because my father will be alerted the moment I leave the wards."
"Lopsy will be with Master Blazey and Missy Daffy, Missy Daffy needs not worries for food. And Lopsy will pop Missy Daffy away a soon as Missy Daffy crosses the wards." Lopsy replied.
"Thank you, Lopsy." Daphne said in gratitude.
Lopsy said, "You is welcome," before popping away.
Daphne sagged in relief and quickly removed the locking and silencing charms on the door. Checking the time, she noticed it was nearing dinner time and she would be required to join the family in the dining hall very soon. She quickly changed her robes to the appropriate attire, and returned her prior robes to her trunk, in order to keep the bit of money stashed in the hem safe, then she quickly used a freshening charm on herself before she left her room to go down to dinner with her family one last time. She just wished there was something she could do to save her sister, Astoria, too, but she knew she would barely be able to escape with just herself, to include her sister would make it impossible.
A/N: I sincerely apologize for my lapse in updates. I've been working a lot of overtime the past several weeks, and by the time I get downtime, I'd rather sit and read, instead of sitting down to work on my stories.
For those wondering, I'm toying with the idea of a Harry/Daphne pairing and a Hermione/Blaise pairing. I just don't have the plot for that thoroughly thought out.
Also, I intend to address the status of Neville's health/recovery and Daphne's escape in the next chapter that I work on.