alt_harry | Order Only: Private message to the Juniors

alt_harry

I'm sorry I ran. And left all of you in even more danger. I'm sorry what I did was so useless.

~~I wish~~

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

alt_justin

Harry,

I say, you only did what many of us would have done, if we'd had our wands. Don't trouble about having to run, old man. If you had stayed you would have likely joined Daphne and Crabbe.

We've got our journals back, now (they forbade writing while they were searching, what), and Ron and I have also been allowed our wands.

At least now you can post openly, which is a sight better than our situation.

-Justin

From:

alt_harry

Yeah.

How much trouble are the rest of you going to be in if I announce I'm a member of the Order of the Phoenix? Especially Hydra.

From:

alt_luna

It didn't even occur to me to think you were wrong for leaving, and I don't think what you're doing is useless. You've always been considered Voldemort's son, his representative, the sign of his authority in the new generation. And now you've publicly broken with him and denounced him for all the world to see. That's huge, Harry. And do you realise: you're probably the only person in the history of the Protectorate who struck at Voldemort and still managed to stay alive afterward. That's opened people's eyes to the idea that he's not invincible.

Don't you remember Mr Kingsley talking about tactical retreats, about remembering that sometimes you're stronger if you fall back to fight another day? It all happened so fast, and with all of those Enforcers around, you had so few options. I think you were brilliant to outsmart them and get away.

You don't have any idea how powerful your actions look from here. You don't have any idea how much that is making all the students question all sorts of things. And all the scurrying around that the teachers and Enforcers are doing, trying to scare us and clamp down on us--well, that's just proving to everyone that you were right.

You were right. You did the right thing.

From:

alt_luna

And anyway, you don't think that Draco or Hermione are useless because they were forced to leave Hogwarts, do you? Hermione's helped awaken the Sleepers, and they've found and destroyed Horcruxes. And all of those actions will make all the rest of us safe that much faster.

From:

alt_harry

I thought maybe the prophecy meant that if I ever did just straight out attack him, maybe I'd win. Somehow.

I guess not, though.

From:

alt_justin

The rest of us could probably weather it. Hydra's under some pressure, as you can imagine, to prove her legilimency is a bona fide asset. I'm not sure how it would reflect if she had no explanation for your affiliation to the Order.

-Justin

From:

alt_harry

What are they going to do to you, if I announce publicly that I'm in the Order?

You're a lot more useful to the Order at this point than I am.

Also, I don't want you to get hurt. Again. Worse.

From:

alt_justin

I was just reading what Luna wrote about the duel. He's not invincible, no, and Harry deserves a good deal of credit for surviving...but the thing is that duelling him didn't work. Did it, Harry? I say, something happened when you faced off against him. It looked like something odd was happening, what.

The Horcruxes may weaken him but we'll need to engage him more than one-to-one, when the time comes.

-Justin

From:

alt_harry

I know the Order will find something useful for me to do. Even if it's just dicing parsley for the Wakening potion.

But -- I tried to kill Voldemort, and not only did I not succeed, I accidentally killed Vince, instead, and then I had to run and now you're all trapped and don't have your wands. I made things about a thousand times worse for all of you.

From:

alt_harry

He just -- well, you saw what he did to Vince. He parried everything else I threw at him like it was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

And then he took over my mind. He ~~tried to~~ possessed me, for a few seconds, and I could feel him

He was going to use me to kill one of you.

So -- yeah. I don't know. If all of us attacked him at once, maybe. If we all had our wands. If Barty Crouch and Bellatrix Lestrange weren't there.

From:

alt_harry

The prophecy said I'm the one who can defeat him. That I have a power he knows not.

That's great but it might be more helpful if I knew what it was. As long as it's a power that both of us know not, I really don't know what to do.

From:

alt_justin

Oh, I say. How revolting for you, old chap. And how disturbing.

Possession. I thought only something like a horcrux could manage that, not a wizard fully anchored to his body. Perhaps since we've destroyed so many, his own grip on his current incarnation is slipping. Still, that's--extraordinary.

So it's paramount that Ron and I take the Mark if it's still on offer (and I think the fact that we're the only other people to have received our wands is a jolly good indication of that). Selwyn's success owed a great deal to his ability to gain proximity without all his guards.

Or we might be able to set a trap and ambush him. Perhaps another wedding, what, that would have a suitable irony, don't you think?

-J

From:

alt_harry

I'm pretty sure that if there's some weird horrifying thing you might have read about in a book once, it's probably a good idea to assume that even if no one else knows how to do it, Voldemort does.

At this point, I would not be shocked to find out his heart is in a box somewhere, covered in hair. (Ron's probably read that one. Don't know about the rest of you.)

Anyway, he doesn't usually even show up for weddings, let along officiate them. He went to Siz and Raz's but that was to make sure everyone knew he was alive. And possibly to see if anyone commented on his lack of a nose, so he could kill them on the spot.

From:

alt_justin

A power he knows not. That's dashed broad, isn't it. There are too many possibilities, what.

Love?

True Friends?

Selflessness?

Cooperation?

Kindness?

Common sense?

Humour?

Sanity?

-Justin

From:

alt_hermione

Yes, Harry's going to destroy Voldemort with a cracking joke. Or by brandishing one of the Weasley twins' fake wands.

Justin has a point, there are loads of qualities you have that he hasn't got. But you're right, it's a question of which one--and how to use it.

From:

alt_harry

I am not sure how I am supposed to defeat him with love, true friends, selflessness, cooperation, kindness, common sense, humour, or sanity, but I'll keep thinking.

Mind you, those are all excellent things to have in life.

From:

alt_hydra

I honestly don't know.

Right now I look like the world's worst legilimens. Before they could have attributed my oversights to inexperience, but at this point my mother's accusations have weight. Desai is taking them seriously, I'm sure. I don't know about Dolohov and Crouch, though.

From:

alt_harry

They know Mr Snape was at the school for years. Do they know he's a legilimens who could have taught us all occlumency?

You're not the only 'terrible' legilimens, there's also Penderyn. Not to mention Voldemort, who I lived with during holidays for years and he never noticed I was a traitor who was plotting to kill him.

From:

alt_hydra

Yes, they do know that.

Penderyn and Voldemort and my mother have all captured or killed loads of traitors, though, despite what other over-sights they might have committed. I haven't brought in a single one.

From:

alt_harry

Yeah.

Even if you could convince them that Finnigan or Patil was a traitor, though...

Yeah.

From:

alt_pansy

There's nothing to be sorry for, Harry.

From:

alt_evelyn

First off, Harry, I'm glad you're alive, and I think you were incredibly brave to stand up to Voldemort the way you did.

Second... Do you lot think I ought to add my name to the list on the galleon, or would it overcomplicate things?

From:

alt_sally_anne

If all the runaways are with the Order, eventually the non-Order galleoneers are going to wonder which of the people still at school are, too.

But I think that's okay. Surely they suspect anyway. You know?

From:

alt_evelyn

Yes. And I think our all working together like that is something worth hearing about.

From:

alt_ron

It was worth trying. It could have worked, and if it had, this would all be over.

You have to take risks or we'll never get anywhere.

From:

alt_susan

It was a dead sensible thing to do, and no one's cross with you. Live to fight another day, yeah?

From:

alt_luna

I think this must be hurting you particularly because you are a Gryffindor, Harry. That's what led you to step forward and protest Daphne's death and to challenge Voldemort, isn't it? Perhaps that's why you may be a little bit stuck on the idea that one must stand and fight to protect everyone until the very end instead of 'running.' Maybe because I'm a Ravenclaw, I'm thinking of it a littler more strategically. You couldn't have stayed and stayed alive, and you could help the Order the most by changing the pieces on the chessboard, if you will.

A Hufflepuff and a Slytherin might evaluate the decision--and remember, it was a split-second decision--in other different ways. But you'd have to ask Justin and Draco about that.

You needn't keep chiding yourself over this, please. For my part, I haven't heard a word of blame or complaint from anyone over what you did.

Well, except for Padma Patil, but if she's hacked off at you, that must mean you're doing something right, don't you think?

From:

alt_luna

I have read over what I have just written, and I realise that I seem to be cold-bloodedly saying that we, your friends left behind, are mere chess pieces. That is not what I meant at all, but I seem to be clumsy at expressing myself. Of course you are worried for us and will miss seeing us every day. And we will all worry for you and miss seeing you, too.

But we are all on the same side, Harry. And as I said, there isn't blame here from any of us. All of us can only do the best that we can do. I am sure you have always done that for us.