lupercus: Just For the Sake of Anything That Works

Current mood:	busy
Current music:	'Scarborough Faire,' Simon & Garfunkel

Just For the Sake of Anything That Works
Well, I didn't need a cellar, anyway.

There's not much left of it. The retired furniture took quite a beating, at least three bookshelves' worth of books were shredded (I'm certainly going to hear about that) and I'm fairly certain the pile of mahogany and ivory in the far corner was once a piano. Charlie and Seamus want to help clear the mess, and I'm afraid they're going to have to. I can't bear to go down there and see all that. I'm not fond of being reminded of what I am capable of, even if this was an isolated incident in high-stress circumstances, as Seamus said. He's being fair, but I'm not much interested in fair at the moment. Hardly anything in this world is ever fair.

However, so that I do not sound like a complete sourpuss, both Harry and Sirius owled me this morning and that made the day considerably brighter. Harry's doing as well as can be expected, though he is quite a bit more loquacious than he was before, and I've got quite the reply to write tonight. I might even have to - gasp! - behave like a parent. Poor thing.

Sirius's owl, however, did not remain to take a reply, so I suspect he's already moved on from wherever he was. His note was short, but sweet, and I miss him terribly. He doesn't know when he's coming home, though he now knows what he's supposed to be doing and he's doing his best at it. As if he would anything but.

Oh, before I forget - Narcissa, your house-elf came barrelling out of the West Wing this evening, just after tea, wailing and sobbing as if she'd had a terrible fright. Once we got her sorted out she led me back to a corner of the house I'd not been to before, myself, and pointed out a portrait of a very severe-looking woman that, according to Dacey, was a painting she'd encountered before. Do you, perchance, know how your house-elf might know of my great-aunt Sigrid Wryde? She wasn't open to much questioning - didn't seem to have much of an opinion of me whatsoever, as she does not mingle with "mutants and curs." She's quite charming. And Dacey wouldn't tell me either, of course, who the woman is, so I'm hoping that you may know.

Finally, I am extremely relieved to see that Cho Chang has turned up. I suspected as much, an accidental mis-Apparation, and I'm glad that she is in very good hands. Charlie is relieved as well - and Cho, he's owled your mum, sp no worries on that front. She is merely happy that you are all right, and she wishes for you to owl her when you can. She also says that you do not have to come home straight away, and to enjoy your holidays.

Must go, for Dacey is still cowering in the study and I need to get in there to write Harry's owl, and to send out a few pieces of correspondence that I am behind on, such as Tonk's Howler that was more of a Whinger, about being left out of the "Surrey piss-up" last weekend, and that I now owe her a drink the next time I am in London. "Preferably," she writes, "one of those fancy drinks with the little umbrellas because they are good for poking people with."

I love my in-laws. Truly.

Come to think of it, I may as well nip down there this weekend and take what's left of those books from the cellar to SoHo, and perhaps placate Tonks with a pint or two. And, you know, perhaps go for a stroll in Surrey, take in the local colour and flavour. I'm nothing if not cultured, you know.

Cheers, all.

blondenarcissa @ 2003-07-17 06:58 am UTC

Remus,

Sigrid Wryde is your great-aunt? Why, I had no idea! She is my grandmother. Merlin rest her soul, she was my mother's mother and the wife of Etienne Dubois. We have her portrait in a reflection room on the second floor of the Manor. Many of the house elves stray away from the room. Lucius claims it is because that is where we keep paintings of the 'more disagreeable' relatives but I believe it is because house elves generally do not understand the power of self-reflection.

Grandmother was very staunch and rather rigid, having no time for those who were not up to her very high standards. She held a particular aversion to magical creatures and would never allow the house elves to come near her, prefering to have witches and wizards as her serving staff. Dacey once claimed that while cleaning up in the reflection room that Grandmother tried to hex her but I had to gently remind her that portraits could not hex anything as they are merely paint.

Rosie, by the way, is perfectly happy having a playmate. She and Echo are getting on quite well and are having many adventures. They seem to fancy running about the Japanese garden and trying to jump into the pond to chase the Koi.

Narcissa