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alt_severusTo those who took the Dark Lord's mark long ago; to those who have recently taken the Dark Lord's mark, to those who have been told they are in contention for the Dark Lord's mark; to Sarah Yaxley, Jason Montague, Lana Sandoval-Pennifold, Ned Pennifold, Ptolemy Baddock, Hydra Lestrange, Seamus Finnigan, Padma Patil; to those who have dreamed of being elevated in the Dark Lord's estimation or wished for the honour of receiving the Dark Lord's mark: look around you. Look closely. It is not too late. It is never too late.
The Dark Lord tells you, when you are marked, that you are his. That you have been chosen. That once you are sworn to him, there is no other choice, and you must do as he says or your life is forfeit. I write to you as living proof that is not the case.
Lily and James Potter died because of a prophecy that someone overheard and brought to the Dark Lord's attention: that as long as Harry Potter lived, the Dark Lord could not be defeated. In service to that prophecy, the Dark Lord killed Lily and James Potter, adopted Harry Potter, named him Harry Marvolo, and raised him as his heir. The prophecy the Dark Lord's actions were based on was a mishearing. I know that, because I too heard the prophecy as it was being delivered. I heard the full version, however, while the one who brought it to the Dark Lord's attention only heard a portion.
I will not tell you the true prophecy; prophecy is a slippery thing, and is best kept among those who have a need to know. I will tell you that the prophecy states that Harry Potter is fated to be the one to defeat the Dark Lord. You have heard Harry vow that he will do so; prophecy agrees that he is able — fated — to succeed.
When I heard the prophecy — when the Dark Lord's mishearing of the prophecy caused him to murder someone who had once been a very dear friend, someone my choices had driven me away from but for whom I had never stopped caring — I realised my mistake in swearing to the Dark Lord's service, and I went to Albus Dumbledore and pledged my life and my honour in service to the Order of the Phoenix. For a year, I served as Dumbledore's spy in the Dark Lord's ranks, working to undermine his efforts at every opportunity, while he worked to perfect his control over the magical community and over Britain itself, while he worked to eliminate all traces of the prophecy he was allowing to guide his actions. A year later, I misspoke in the Dark Lord's presence and caused him to realise I, too, had heard the prophecy; he sent me to Azkaban to buy my silence and keep me from spreading the truth of what prophecy states will come to be.
To this day, the Dark Lord believes I went into Azkaban as his faithful servant, and only turned away from that service due to the indignity of being imprisoned for twelve years. That is as far from the truth as it is possible to be. I realised the truth of the Dark Lord's failures years and years ago, and ever since, I have followed the dictates of my conscience — belated though they might be, and that is a failure for which I continue to atone — in seeking to bring about his downfall.
Those of you who follow him now have undoubtedly had a moment like that moment I had, a moment where you looked at what you were being ordered to do and thought: this is not right. You will undoubtedly have another, and another, and another, as the Dark Lord grows more desperate and tightens his control over the few people who have not seen his irrationality for what it truly is, the last gasp of a madman whom Fate Itself says must be defeated.
Listen to those thoughts. Listen to your conscience. Even if yours is as stunted and warped as mine once was, it is not too late to do the right thing. Listen to the part of you that notices the divide between the rhetoric and the reality. Listen to the part of you that shows you the rotten wood underneath the gilt of the Dark Lord's glorious rhetoric. Listen.
Listen, and make the right choices.
The Dark Lord tells you, when you are marked, that you are his. That you have been chosen. That once you are sworn to him, there is no other choice, and you must do as he says or your life is forfeit. I write to you as living proof that is not the case.
Lily and James Potter died because of a prophecy that someone overheard and brought to the Dark Lord's attention: that as long as Harry Potter lived, the Dark Lord could not be defeated. In service to that prophecy, the Dark Lord killed Lily and James Potter, adopted Harry Potter, named him Harry Marvolo, and raised him as his heir. The prophecy the Dark Lord's actions were based on was a mishearing. I know that, because I too heard the prophecy as it was being delivered. I heard the full version, however, while the one who brought it to the Dark Lord's attention only heard a portion.
I will not tell you the true prophecy; prophecy is a slippery thing, and is best kept among those who have a need to know. I will tell you that the prophecy states that Harry Potter is fated to be the one to defeat the Dark Lord. You have heard Harry vow that he will do so; prophecy agrees that he is able — fated — to succeed.
When I heard the prophecy — when the Dark Lord's mishearing of the prophecy caused him to murder someone who had once been a very dear friend, someone my choices had driven me away from but for whom I had never stopped caring — I realised my mistake in swearing to the Dark Lord's service, and I went to Albus Dumbledore and pledged my life and my honour in service to the Order of the Phoenix. For a year, I served as Dumbledore's spy in the Dark Lord's ranks, working to undermine his efforts at every opportunity, while he worked to perfect his control over the magical community and over Britain itself, while he worked to eliminate all traces of the prophecy he was allowing to guide his actions. A year later, I misspoke in the Dark Lord's presence and caused him to realise I, too, had heard the prophecy; he sent me to Azkaban to buy my silence and keep me from spreading the truth of what prophecy states will come to be.
To this day, the Dark Lord believes I went into Azkaban as his faithful servant, and only turned away from that service due to the indignity of being imprisoned for twelve years. That is as far from the truth as it is possible to be. I realised the truth of the Dark Lord's failures years and years ago, and ever since, I have followed the dictates of my conscience — belated though they might be, and that is a failure for which I continue to atone — in seeking to bring about his downfall.
Those of you who follow him now have undoubtedly had a moment like that moment I had, a moment where you looked at what you were being ordered to do and thought: this is not right. You will undoubtedly have another, and another, and another, as the Dark Lord grows more desperate and tightens his control over the few people who have not seen his irrationality for what it truly is, the last gasp of a madman whom Fate Itself says must be defeated.
Listen to those thoughts. Listen to your conscience. Even if yours is as stunted and warped as mine once was, it is not too late to do the right thing. Listen to the part of you that notices the divide between the rhetoric and the reality. Listen to the part of you that shows you the rotten wood underneath the gilt of the Dark Lord's glorious rhetoric. Listen.
Listen, and make the right choices.
ORDER ONLY
Date: 2015-05-15 03:07 am (UTC)Re: ORDER ONLY
Date: 2015-05-15 03:15 am (UTC)I wish I could say for certain that your words might impact someone you've written to.
Re: ORDER ONLY
Date: 2015-05-15 03:19 am (UTC)My words may not do any good, but if there is the slightest hope they will cause some of your 'colleagues' to hesitate at a critical juncture, they will have been worth the writing of them.
Re: ORDER ONLY Private message to Mr Snape
Date: 2015-05-15 03:29 am (UTC)The other day I told Desai that Antonin Dolohov had helped traitors escape capture by MLE. Evelyn and Professor Sinistra, specifically.
My hope was to create a bigger target than myself, and perhaps fracture the relations between all of them.
I really don't know if it did any good. For all I know, Crouch, Dolohov, and my mother will both be after me, now.
What I didn't do, but seriously considered, was turning in one of the Order-sympathetic kids here at the castle; someone who doesn't know anything that would give us away, but has done traitorous things, just the same. But I didn't do that, I turned in Dolohov, instead.
And now I'm just waiting to see what happens.
Re: ORDER ONLY Private message to Mr Snape
Date: 2015-05-15 03:38 am (UTC)Wait and see what happens, yes, but do not endanger yourself further. If suspicion intensifies, prioritise your own safety. You are valuable to us for many reasons other than your position as double agent; do not risk your own safety to safeguard that position.
Re: ORDER ONLY Private message to Mr Snape
Date: 2015-05-15 03:42 am (UTC)Re: ORDER ONLY Private message to Mr Snape
Date: 2015-05-15 03:51 am (UTC)I am afraid that I cannot give you an exact rubric. It is better to be overcautious than undercautious, however. If you sense that those around you wish you harm, or that the suspicion mounted against you is beginning to turn the tide from suspicion to action, put yourself in a place from which you can easily escape. And above all else, make your conduct impeccable between now and the end of the year.
Re: ORDER ONLY Private message to Mr Snape
Date: 2015-05-15 03:54 am (UTC)I don't have a very good metre for danger, for a number of reasons. Meaning it's something I've been aware of my whole life. But yes, I'll try.
no subject
Date: 2015-05-15 03:13 am (UTC)More or less.
ORDER ONLY Private message to Alice
Date: 2015-05-15 03:33 am (UTC)I've replied in the affirmative, but obviously we cannot trust that the message is genuine enough to appear. Still: we cannot discount the lead entirely. (Particularly since his response to my asking for age and blood status of the patients does contain mention of someone likely to be Neville.) Keep it in mind for a future investigatory mission. While I have no desire to walk into a trap, I likewise do not wish to discount the intelligence completely.
Re: ORDER ONLY Private message to Alice
Date: 2015-05-15 03:41 am (UTC)Thank you.
I may have to lean on you rather heavily to provide a dose of caution here, Severus.
Re: ORDER ONLY Private message to Alice
Date: 2015-05-15 03:49 am (UTC)We cannot take it at face value. We cannot. On the one hand, it is easy to believe that Rookwood is ill and confused and cannot remember that I am no longer one of the Dark Lord's faithful, but remember: they have the ability to read all private messages, and do you really believe that those whose job it is to do so would not have noticed when Rookwood wrote to me and seen it as an opportunity to disseminate misinformation?
We cannot discount the lead entirely — it is entirely possible that they have been too busy to notice — but likewise we cannot count on it to be the truth, and keeping that appointment, no matter whether alone or with force, would be foolish. The best thing to do is to wait.
The first time Rookwood wrote to me, you yourself urged caution. Do not allow your emotion to override that common sense, no matter how personal the stakes are.
Re: ORDER ONLY Private message to Alice
Date: 2015-05-15 03:55 am (UTC)We shall simply have to wait.
Re: ORDER ONLY Private message to Alice
Date: 2015-05-15 03:47 am (UTC)Re: ORDER ONLY Private message to Alice
Date: 2015-05-15 03:52 am (UTC)I can only hope it will do some good.
Order Only: Private Message to Snape
Date: 2015-05-15 04:01 am (UTC)Re: Order Only: Private Message to Snape
Date: 2015-05-15 04:04 am (UTC)I shall take the thought in the spirit in which it was offered.
Keep an eye on Alice; we have received what may be a lead on Neville's location, and may be an attempt at entrapment. I have convinced her we must treat it as the latter even if it is the former, but likewise we cannot discount it entirely.
Re: Order Only: Private Message to Snape
Date: 2015-05-15 04:11 am (UTC)She told us about it, the other day. When Rookwood wrote to you. She was already utterly convinced he was talking about Neville. You know how she - well, I didn't want to break her heart, of course.
But of course it's got to be a trap. It must be.
She was even talking about going just to measure out 'mercy.' Merlin, anyone can sympathise but - well, I think we may have to start finding a way to tell her that her son's dead.
Circe, I don't want to dash her hopes like that. But if it means saving her from MLE ....
I told Remus she seemed to be hanging on by a broom twig.
Bugger.
Have you put her off immediate action, at least?
Re: Order Only: Private Message to Snape
Date: 2015-05-15 04:16 am (UTC)I have. Or rather, I have done my best to do so. Intellectually she knows that this has a high potential to be a trap; emotionally, she is devastated by what she perceives as her failure, despite my having told her that Neville himself would rather die than place the Order at risk.
From additional information Rookwood gave me, I am confident he does have Neville. I doubt Neville is where he says he is, but I am confident he does have Neville.
Perhaps you and Lupin might convince her to recuse herself and leave any decisions in the matter up to Lupin. I will certainly attempt to talk her out of precipitous action, but I do not know that she will necessarily listen.
Re: Order Only: Private Message to Snape
Date: 2015-05-15 04:18 am (UTC)