Seamus Finnigan wrote to me. He was an eyewitness to Percy's death, and I think it disturbed him a lot. I think I better write down exactly what he told me, but I'll leave it up to you both what to tell the Weasleys. It's...it's pretty awful.
So Seamus told me that he went to Snowdonia to hunt, but he was cagey and asked if I knew what was hunted there. I played stupid and guessed Sphinxes or Hypogryffs. He said no, they were hunting muggles. This is what he said:
They arm the muggles with knives because otherwise there'd be no sport in it at all. I rather thought -- honestly there's very little sport in it even WITH knives, except for the tracking. The tracking's quite challenging, because Snowdonia's enormous.
We'd all met up for lunch. Lana Sandoval was there as well, and Ned Pennifold and a few others. After lunch we split up for a while and Percy, well, he found the muggle he'd been tracking and she was a ginger. Looked a bit like Ginny, actually, only older. And Percy just froze.
He crossed something out there; I can't quite make it out. Then he continued:
The muggle saw her chance and brought the knife down before I realised -- you know if I'd been a bit faster I could have got her. Maybe. The thing is, she was so close to Percy I could have hit him, instead. But also I thought, 'what's he waiting for?' -- his wand was in his hand, Nev! Even if he was too squeamish to kill her he could've petrified her or some such. I thought he was going to act, and then it was too late.
Then he crossed something else out. Maybe he started to describe exactly what it looked like but decided it was too gory.
I said it sounded weird, because Percy Weasley always had fast reflexes. He was a champion dueler at the school, y'know? He said that maybe he just hadn't been practising lately.
I asked if anyone else was there. He wrote:
A couple of others saw it happen from a distance, like I did, but no one was right there with him. Cadmus Mulciber was the one who killed the muggle. He was furious. Embarrassed. You don't want to invite someone on a hunt and then have them taken out by the creature you're hunting, you know?
So that's what I was able to get from him. I'll leave it up to you as to what to tell the Weasleys. Don't know if it would help Mrs Weasley or just hurt her more, and I reckon you know her better and are the best ones to decide.
I mean. The part about the woman who looked like Ginny...that was bloody cruel.
Private message to Mum and Remus
So Seamus told me that he went to Snowdonia to hunt, but he was cagey and asked if I knew what was hunted there. I played stupid and guessed Sphinxes or Hypogryffs. He said no, they were hunting muggles. This is what he said:
They arm the muggles with knives because otherwise there'd be no sport in it at all. I rather thought -- honestly there's very little sport in it even WITH knives, except for the tracking. The tracking's quite challenging, because Snowdonia's enormous.
We'd all met up for lunch. Lana Sandoval was there as well, and Ned Pennifold and a few others. After lunch we split up for a while and Percy, well, he found the muggle he'd been tracking and she was a ginger. Looked a bit like Ginny, actually, only older. And Percy just froze.
He crossed something out there; I can't quite make it out. Then he continued:
The muggle saw her chance and brought the knife down before I realised -- you know if I'd been a bit faster I could have got her. Maybe. The thing is, she was so close to Percy I could have hit him, instead. But also I thought, 'what's he waiting for?' -- his wand was in his hand, Nev! Even if he was too squeamish to kill her he could've petrified her or some such. I thought he was going to act, and then it was too late.
Then he crossed something else out. Maybe he started to describe exactly what it looked like but decided it was too gory.
I said it sounded weird, because Percy Weasley always had fast reflexes. He was a champion dueler at the school, y'know? He said that maybe he just hadn't been practising lately.
I asked if anyone else was there. He wrote:
A couple of others saw it happen from a distance, like I did, but no one was right there with him. Cadmus Mulciber was the one who killed the muggle. He was furious. Embarrassed. You don't want to invite someone on a hunt and then have them taken out by the creature you're hunting, you know?
So that's what I was able to get from him. I'll leave it up to you as to what to tell the Weasleys. Don't know if it would help Mrs Weasley or just hurt her more, and I reckon you know her better and are the best ones to decide.
I mean. The part about the woman who looked like Ginny...that was bloody cruel.