Order Only: Little Hangleton
Sep. 18th, 2014 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Draco and I went to Little Hangleton on Tuesday. We're only just reporting about it now because--well, we didn't find much.
We went to the village first, and tested our identities. No one gave us a second glance. But then again, there weren't many people there. What was that odd wizard's name, Draco? I couldn't quite catch whether he said 'Bernard' or 'Herman' and I really didn't want to ask him to say it again. He was so strange. But anyway, he told us that there weren't any important magical artefacts anywhere in the region, so he thought we'd be wasting our time, but he mentioned that there used to be a big house up on the hill, but it wasn't there anymore.
That sounded like someone had set up a Fidelius, so we went to look. We saw the graveyard from your memory, Harry, but right next to it there was a large crater. Like someone had set off a humongous explosion. Which must be why the house isn't there anymore.
And then not too far away there was this shack. It was sort of off in the woods, but not in a clearing the way you'd expect, it was all tangled up in the trees. Someone had been there and torn up the floorboards, so if there had been anything valuable there, it's gone.
It was all filthy and simply covered in grimy dust. Whoever lived there must have been really poor. It looked like no one had cooked a proper meal in years even before they all left or died or whatever. There were three beds, though, so we looked under and around them just to be sure that the robbers hadn't missed anything. On one of them there was a handkerchief embroidered with the initials T.R., and then someone had added (in much, much worse embroidery), M.R. Does anyone know who M.R. was? We think T.R. must have been Tom Riddle but why anyone would have added M.R. above Voldemort's initials is a mystery.
Oh, and we did find a letter, it's really hard to read now, all faded and the parchment's falling apart, but it was pinned inside a cupboard. It looked like no one had ever moved it because the pin was all rusty and nothing in the cupboard had been disturbed in decades.
Anyway, we've been deciphering the letter for a while, all of us here at Grimmauld. Only not tonight because they're celebrating Tonks's birthday, so it's just me and Draco working on it right now, and we realised we hadn't actually reported to everyone else yet.
We went to the village first, and tested our identities. No one gave us a second glance. But then again, there weren't many people there. What was that odd wizard's name, Draco? I couldn't quite catch whether he said 'Bernard' or 'Herman' and I really didn't want to ask him to say it again. He was so strange. But anyway, he told us that there weren't any important magical artefacts anywhere in the region, so he thought we'd be wasting our time, but he mentioned that there used to be a big house up on the hill, but it wasn't there anymore.
That sounded like someone had set up a Fidelius, so we went to look. We saw the graveyard from your memory, Harry, but right next to it there was a large crater. Like someone had set off a humongous explosion. Which must be why the house isn't there anymore.
And then not too far away there was this shack. It was sort of off in the woods, but not in a clearing the way you'd expect, it was all tangled up in the trees. Someone had been there and torn up the floorboards, so if there had been anything valuable there, it's gone.
It was all filthy and simply covered in grimy dust. Whoever lived there must have been really poor. It looked like no one had cooked a proper meal in years even before they all left or died or whatever. There were three beds, though, so we looked under and around them just to be sure that the robbers hadn't missed anything. On one of them there was a handkerchief embroidered with the initials T.R., and then someone had added (in much, much worse embroidery), M.R. Does anyone know who M.R. was? We think T.R. must have been Tom Riddle but why anyone would have added M.R. above Voldemort's initials is a mystery.
Oh, and we did find a letter, it's really hard to read now, all faded and the parchment's falling apart, but it was pinned inside a cupboard. It looked like no one had ever moved it because the pin was all rusty and nothing in the cupboard had been disturbed in decades.
Anyway, we've been deciphering the letter for a while, all of us here at Grimmauld. Only not tonight because they're celebrating Tonks's birthday, so it's just me and Draco working on it right now, and we realised we hadn't actually reported to everyone else yet.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-19 04:10 am (UTC)Funny, but if there was actually something of value in the shack no one bothered to cast any spells or wards to protect it. Maybe the person who tore up the floor was just hoping for a stash of galleons but didn't find anything other than spiders.
You don't reckon this M.R. was someone who was sweet on Tom Riddle, do you? Ugh. I've heard that the Lord Protector was a handsome youth, but someone would have to be mad to fancy him - just like my good old Auntie.
Private Message to Draco
Date: 2014-09-19 04:11 am (UTC)Re: Private Message to Draco
Date: 2014-09-19 04:13 am (UTC)I suppose M.R. might've been someone he manipulated, like Hydra.
Or have you a better theory? I'm all ears. Or eyes, as it were.
Re: Private Message to Draco
Date: 2014-09-19 04:14 am (UTC)But if he did have, then M.R. could have been--his wife.
Ew.
Re: Private Message to Draco
Date: 2014-09-19 04:26 am (UTC)Though, here's the thing: the handkerchief is high quality. Old, yes, but I can tell it was made of really fine linen, and someone poor enough to live in a shack is just going to use a bit of flannel rather than hand-embroidered linen.
And besides that, Voldemort really doesn't strike me as the marrying type.
Re: Private Message to Draco
Date: 2014-09-19 04:51 am (UTC)Well, anyway. I guess we can try again in the morning. I think there's an emulsion that might make the ink reappear but I'm too tired to test it tonight.
Re: Private Message to Draco
Date: 2014-09-19 05:02 am (UTC)And Happy Birthday.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-19 04:53 am (UTC)It doesn't just mean Mr T. R., does it? Don't know why anyone'd bother adding that, though.
Have you sorted out what the letter says, then?
no subject
Date: 2014-09-19 05:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-19 05:28 am (UTC)But if it's really something that belonged to the LP, then it's important enough to dig around a bit.
Did it look like the place was burgled a long time ago? The dust would've given you a clue if it'd been cleared away recently. I dunno. Maybe it wouldn't be clear if it happened a decade or two ago and that was a decade or three after the place was abandoned.
Yeah, I got nothing. Sorry.
Sounds more interesting than most of what we're doing here, though.
Where are you going next?
no subject
Date: 2014-09-19 05:41 am (UTC)It would have been helpful if we could have asked the villagers about the Riddle family, but that's not the sort of name one wants to go throwing around. Very few people know that was Voldemort's name, but even so - can you imagine what he'd do if he somehow got word that people were going around using the name "Riddle?"
Not sure where we'll be off to next. I'll leave that to Hermione since she's been doing the most research so far.
But it's been rather snitch, yeah. Bit like being that detective bloke, Sherlock Holmes. Have you read any of those books? They were written by a muggle, but I found some stashed away in 12G.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-19 06:29 am (UTC)I'd bet a knut the explosion and the robbery happened around the same time, too.
I'd also bet several galleons that anyone who would've known anything about the name Riddle has had their memories altered, except for the fact that whoever dug up the floorboards seems a little careless, as if he or she did not expect anyone else would bother coming along after.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-19 02:00 pm (UTC)Private message to Hermione Granger
Date: 2014-09-19 02:01 pm (UTC)Re: Private message to Hermione Granger
Date: 2014-09-19 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-19 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-20 01:21 am (UTC)I dunno; maybe Sirius would be better at this sort of thing than I would.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-19 06:58 am (UTC)Never put anyone under duress, either, for that matter.
Reckon that shows when they were written, doesn't it?
Anywiz. You liked the Sherlock Holmes ones? What's special about him?
no subject
Date: 2014-09-19 03:48 pm (UTC)I wasn't sure it'd be interesting to read about solving mysteries without magic, but it was. It seems loads harder, that's for sure, but Sherlock Holmes is a massive swot and knows everything about muggle subjects like chemistry (similar to potions) and botany (herbology). He also just notices everything and treats it as a potential clue, and then he "reasons backwards" to arrive at the correct solution to the mystery.
So yeah, it's just him and his brain. Mad, eh?
no subject
Date: 2014-09-19 01:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-19 04:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-19 06:12 pm (UTC)