edgedaway's Journal

9:35pm: Private messages
( Hexed private to Hermione Granger )

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( Hexed private to Adrian Pucey )

12:53pm: Hexed Ultra-private to Ginny Weasley
Ginny,

First of all, you and your family have my deepest and sincerest sympathies over what has happened. It's a tragic loss, and it's partially due to the dull-minded complacency of the Ministry I serve.

I wish to express to you, your parents and siblings how deeply sorry I am about what I will appear in public saying and the steps that the Ministry will and won't take in this matter over the coming weeks. Please understand that they in no way reflect my true feelings in the matter, and that if it were entirely my choice -- or, indeed, at all my choice -- things would be done differently. Please also let your parents and siblings know this: what will be done and what will I will say is not of my own free will.

Always with my regards,

-- M

8:31pm: It's been some time...
( Hexed Private )

10:25pm: Notes. Rough Notes.
( hexed private, with as many curses as Marietta could think of to punish those who try to read it )

8:17pm: Dear Cho
The following letter is sealed and cursed to flash a brilliant white to dazzle anyone who tries to read it, before it instantly burns up. Anyone except Cho Chang, that is.
( Sealed With A Kiss )

4:57pm: Dreaming...
As Marietta lay asleep that night, she dreamed...

It was late evening, some time in late summer, when Marietta appeared inside the lift of her apartment building. She rode it up to her floor, to the apartment she shared with Cho Chang. It had been a very long day, and she was glad to be home to the woman she loved -- even if that woman didn't know it. She longed to release her hair from its tight confines and relax for a while.

The apartment was softly lit by candlelight, which brought a slight smile to Marietta's lips. Cho met her just inside the door, took her bag and gestured her towards the table. Marietta took her seat and inhaled the scents of Cho's cooking, which was always so much better than her own.

There was a thread of something else, in the scent floating out of the food; a strange smell that swiftly took over. Rancid and horrible, it made Marietta gag. Cho walked around from behind her and whipped the cover off one of the dishes. Steam rose, momentarily blinding Marietta. When it cleared, the dish was a rotted steak, crawling with maggots.

Marietta recoiled in horror. Her chair tipped backwards and she tumbled onto the floor. Cho dropped on top of her, straddling her abdomen. Marietta gasped, for Cho's beautiful face was ruined, caked with dirt and half-rotted.

"I laid in that grave for years. You never tried to find me. And you claim to care. My friend. Pah! Worthless. You should have listened to me. I'll just bet you wish you had now. I left here three years ago, and you haven't since tried to find me. Now, I'm dead, and it is your fault, Marietta Edgecombe."

Cho leaned in close, forcing Marietta to look into her empty eye-socket, before she spat in Marietta's face and vanished. Marietta turned her head as the spittle hit her and the pressure on her chest disappeared. Beside her was a woman. All Marietta could see were a pair of thick legs leading to feet squeezed into pink high-heels.

Minister Umbridge knelt down beside Marietta, tutting softly as she stroked her erstwhile assistant's hair, "oh yes, you should have listened to her, Marietta." She gripped Marietta's hair and yanked her head up, "because now you're mine. You will never get away from me."

Marietta screamed as she came suddenly awake. Her flight instinct took over, and she tried to get out of bed. The bedsheets were tangled around her legs, and she fell, crashing to the floor.

1:37am: Journal Entry - Hexed Ultra Private, with a conflagration curse
( Private. Read this, and burn )