(no subject)

[no_martyr]

Sirius,

This nonsense where we don’t actually talk has gone on long enough.

Put down your wand; nothing in this letter is going to hex you, so there’s no sense in taking out some sort of misplaced rage on it. Nor is there any sense in burning it before you hear me out, which I know you won’t do in person. I’d rather not be hexed and left to suffer just because you won’t talk to me.

Yes, it really is that simple. There’s a reason I didn’t send this from home – while we’re here, Kreacher has no access to my post and Mother can’t find out what I’m up to. What she doesn’t know won’t kill me.

I think it worth noting that you’re the one who stopped talking to me. Yes, I exacerbated it in the name of not getting hexed every time I turned around, but all you did was save Mother the trouble of ordering me not to talk to you.

Why? What did I ever do to you? Is it because you can’t bear to think you’re the only rebel in the family, but all rebellion has to be just as obvious as yours? If that’s the case, may I point out Andromeda was in Slytherin? Does it really pain you that much to think that some of us find it easier to change the game by following its rules rather than throwing the pieces across the room?

The Sorting Hat wanted me in Ravenclaw, but after your stellar example of what happened to anyone who dared break with family tradition, I was sure I’d be dead by Christmas hols if I took the option. I didn’t think I could take the chance, so I didn’t. Perhaps I should have done it anyway, but it’s a bit late for that now.

We’re not going to agree about Dumbledore, unless he somehow manages to truly get on your bad side (I think he’s done one good thing in his life, and that’s not likely to change any time soon). However, I think we can agree that anything Bella thinks is great fun is bad for one’s long-term health. I haven’t yet worked out how I’m going to put her off for good, but honestly, someone needs to live through this mess if there’s to be any hope of actually fixing what’s wrong with the Ministry.

Don’t make that face. You know it’s broken as well as I do. The one thing I’ll grant Bella’s fearless leader is that he’s right in calling attention to what the Ministry’s doing wrong; how he’s chosen to go about it isn’t going to do very well in the long run, either, but then, he thinks highly of Bella’s disposition.

I’m not expecting miracles here, unless you deign to read your post. (Incidentally, I think Father’s going to send you a Christmas present, if he hasn’t tried to write to you already. You might consider opening that one as well; Mother was the only one who actually wanted you gone, which you’d know if you hadn’t stormed off in a huff.) And I know you’re unlikely to change your mind solely on my say-so.

But I can’t let this go unsaid. Family isn’t as malleable as Mother and Aunt Druella would have it be. We were allies, once, before you got it in your head that there’s only one way to not do what Mother wants. I’d like to think that time isn’t completely behind us.

The ball is in your court, as the Muggles say.

(In the end, he signs it 'your brother.' Because he is, whatever else Mother thinks of the situation.)