Private Message to Professor Dolohov

[alt_pansy]

Dear Antonin Nikolaevich;

I hope that you've been enjoying your time away from Hogwarts, and have found it to be restful and well-spent. I must admit that after this past term, I was very much looking forward to a change of scenery, and I suspect I'm not alone in that particular sentiment. Now that I've had some time to catch my breath, I'm very much looking forward to beginning my NEWT level work next term, and continuing my education in the Noble Arts as a part of that of course! 

I've been giving a great deal of thought to what you said to me when we discussed the plans for the memorial garden at Hogwarts -- that once the term was finished, I might have the opportunity to learn more about your way of honoring the dead, and to join you in offering remembrances to my father. I know that professors often take on research projects or other matters of personal importance during our time away from Hogwarts, and that your time is valuable, so I understand completely if you're otherwise engaged, but I would like to learn more, and would welcome the opportunity.

It's important to me that the people I care about who have died are remembered, and that they continue to be a part of my life. I feel very deeply about this, and have tried in my own small way to honour their memories, but what you said that day -- about how you believe that no one's soul is lost as long as his name is remembered -- was something I found comforting during a trying time, and I wanted to thank you for that.

With deepest respect,

Pansy Parkinson

Comments

[alt_antonin]

Miss Parkinson,

It is excellent to hear from you. My summer has, alas, been full of the sort of tedious and time-consuming minutiae that has prevented me from doing as much as I would have liked, but that's always the way of time off from one's primary obligations, is it not? We plan our time assuming the best possible outcome, and then are disappointed in ourselves when time never quite bends to our will.

As it happens, your timing is fortuitous -- part of that time compression did lead me to miss my usual devotions at new moon, and I was planning to make them up this weekend. I would certainly welcome your company. If you'd like to call on me late tomorrow afternoon, I would be happy to host you for a light supper and discussion beforehand, or if you'd care to arrive a little later, I am flexible in my timing so long as we begin after sunset. (Which is, to save you the trouble of looking it up, at a few moments after 8:30 tomorrow.) Sunday would also suffice, if that is more convenient for you: my honoured ancestors are, alas, by now used to their last and latest of the line and his horribly chancy relationship with the calendar, and have come to expect irregular timing from me throughout the years.

And you're quite welcome, and of course as a teacher I'm glad to have been able to assist. We often find solace -- and instruction -- in strange places, do we not?

In service,
Antonin

[alt_pansy]

Thank you, sir. I would certainly be available tomorrow afternoon and evening, and it would be wonderful to have the chance to talk about your process beforehand.

Should I bring anything with me? Is there anything I should or shouldn't wear?

[alt_antonin]

Dress to please yourself, and do not worry: think of this more along the lines of a comfortable chat with a series of old friends one has not seen in quite some time, rather than a rite with defined magical goals and outcome. The funereal rites for the newly-dead are more precise, and have additional requirements, but these bimonthly observations are more in the way of reminding the honoured ancestors that they yet live while their names are still spoken. (And, I must confess, my own version of the rites is entirely influenced by the Christian observations my father taught my brother, and my brother passed on to me; both ends of the matter would consider me entirely heterodox, but I find the blending to be pleasing, and the honoured ancestors have never made their displeasure known.)

Shall we say half five or so? And should you feel more comfortable bringing one of your friends with you -- it can be awkward to encounter one's professors outside the familiar Hogwarts environment -- you are of course welcome to do so.

In service,
Antonin

[alt_pansy]

That sounds lovely.

I just had a rather fond memory of your formal robes at our dinner, and it made me smile.

I'll be by at 5:30.

[alt_antonin]

The look on dear Madam Umbridge's face was quite satisfying, wasn't it? (I must confess, I took rather more delight in that than I should have; as a professor I suppose I should not have given into the impulse to twist her tail quite so blatantly. You were all quite cooperative in not calling her attention to the fact I was mocking her.)

I will see you tomorrow, my dear.

In service, Antonin