Lavender Brown

I keep thinking about you tonight.

I'm here with Haruman and it feels so strange that you aren't here.

I suppose I'd heard that he was spending some time here at Hogwarts, but this is the first time I've actually seen him. Probably because I HATE the Hospital Wing and usually never come here unless I must. But there is a lot happening right now and I would feel rather foolish if I sat around doing nothing. So I've been charming bandages for Haruman and his crew, stirring what they tell me to stir, and generally trying to be helpful and not a nuisance.

Anyhow, seeing Haruman feels a bit like old times except also completely different. And I miss those times sometimes. I miss us--the old Lavender and Padma from before things started to change. Sometimes I even miss the old Protectorate before the Lord Protector went completely insane. Although it sounds like he was always a lot worse than what we knew.

Haruman is reading over my shoulder (everyone’s taking a short rest before starting up a new round of brewing) and looking disapproving. (I’m sorry I’m not a very good citizen of Albion all right! It’s just how I feel sometimes.)

But then I start thinking about how his closest followers were people like Auror Crouch and I find myself glad those times are ending. Even if these new times scare me

I was supposed to tell you before, Padma--I told Linus I would, but it was hard to find the words. The whole Moon family (except Linus obviously, and Karo) was killed by Crouch. He lost his mind and went into a murderous rage when Prof Dolohov was killed in a raid (only he wasn’t really, but that’s a long story and I don’t really know the details). I still can’t believe he killed children.

Linus would have written himself, but he’s having a really difficult time--made more difficult by his and Karo’s estrangement.

And I want to help him--I want to so much--but right before he got the news we sort of broke up, which makes everything terribly awkward. If you were to send him a condolence note, I think it would mean a lot.