(no subject)
Sep. 27th, 2010 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alt_narcissa posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
alternityGood evening, students of Hogwarts. Permit me to take up a few moments of your time. First I must express my thanks to Headmistress McGonagall for allowing me to address you all in this way and to Professor Sinistra for her cooperation and assistance.
Many of you may already be familiar with two organisations whose goals are to celebrate blood purity and bring together the daughters or sons of long-standing family lines in order to glorify and honour the traditions of the Protectorate. Inclusion in these orders is competitive and, needless to say, far from assured simply due to a pure lineage. The Daughters of the Protectorate, for example, requires its young inductees to prove their heritage stretching back at least four generations by means of tapestry, magical bonds on their families’ matrimonial contracts or other unimpeachable source. The Brothers of Purity function much the same.
For several years, these august orders have discussed ways in which to recognise those of you who are just as loyal, just as hard-working and just as devoted to the ideals of Our Lord Protector’s magnificent realm, but who had not the fortune of birth into one of our most illustrious families. The challenges which non-pure students face on entering our society are more difficult and more impressive as a result of their perseverance, yet they have far fewer avenues for conviviality with their fellows once they have departed Hogwarts.
That is why in the last year, our members have devised two new programmes which will be opened to a select number of students who have been classified ‘half-blood’ according to the Department of Purity Control. Master Glaucus Gibbon and I are honoured to have been asked to act as advisors to the pilot. The Sons of Wizardry and the Sisters in Witchcraft will begin meeting next month and convene several times over the next year. These junior groups fall under the general supervision of the YPL but should in no way interfere with participation in that primary and highly successful organisation.
The second- and third-year students who have been recommended to participate have already learned of their good fortune from their parents or guardians, who accepted on their behalf. Please do not be discouraged if you were not one of the selected pupils; we only had room for a limited number of you at this point. We have several activities planned which we expect will be of great value to you as you consider your options for your futures. But the programme is more than just learning a few fundamentals such as cookery or scourgification spells – easy enough to learn from a book or an afternoon’s seminar. This programme aims to capture certain intangible qualities and impart them to a segment of young citizens who might otherwise never gain access to them.
That is where the remaining body of Hogwarts plays an important role. While Master Gibbon and I both have experience and ideas regarding topics and exercises to cover and we have been speaking with colleagues in several industries, we are both interested in what you would recommend. As young citizens with the closest observation of your classmates, I encourage you all to provide your suggestions: What do you think is important when it comes to the qualities you would expect your compatriots to exhibit? Imagine yourself in the near future, giving them an interview for a position, for example, or considering who to invite for an evening’s supper or salon. What do you prize?
Please feel free to make your recommendations here in this entry or by owl or private message to myself and Master Gibbon, should you wish for more privacy. I assure you we shall read them all, though we may not respond right away. We welcome comments from all students, regardless of year or bloodline.
Once again, thank you for your kind attention. We both look forward to getting to know several of you more directly over the coming months.
-Mrs Narcissa C. B. Malfoy
Many of you may already be familiar with two organisations whose goals are to celebrate blood purity and bring together the daughters or sons of long-standing family lines in order to glorify and honour the traditions of the Protectorate. Inclusion in these orders is competitive and, needless to say, far from assured simply due to a pure lineage. The Daughters of the Protectorate, for example, requires its young inductees to prove their heritage stretching back at least four generations by means of tapestry, magical bonds on their families’ matrimonial contracts or other unimpeachable source. The Brothers of Purity function much the same.
For several years, these august orders have discussed ways in which to recognise those of you who are just as loyal, just as hard-working and just as devoted to the ideals of Our Lord Protector’s magnificent realm, but who had not the fortune of birth into one of our most illustrious families. The challenges which non-pure students face on entering our society are more difficult and more impressive as a result of their perseverance, yet they have far fewer avenues for conviviality with their fellows once they have departed Hogwarts.
That is why in the last year, our members have devised two new programmes which will be opened to a select number of students who have been classified ‘half-blood’ according to the Department of Purity Control. Master Glaucus Gibbon and I are honoured to have been asked to act as advisors to the pilot. The Sons of Wizardry and the Sisters in Witchcraft will begin meeting next month and convene several times over the next year. These junior groups fall under the general supervision of the YPL but should in no way interfere with participation in that primary and highly successful organisation.
The second- and third-year students who have been recommended to participate have already learned of their good fortune from their parents or guardians, who accepted on their behalf. Please do not be discouraged if you were not one of the selected pupils; we only had room for a limited number of you at this point. We have several activities planned which we expect will be of great value to you as you consider your options for your futures. But the programme is more than just learning a few fundamentals such as cookery or scourgification spells – easy enough to learn from a book or an afternoon’s seminar. This programme aims to capture certain intangible qualities and impart them to a segment of young citizens who might otherwise never gain access to them.
That is where the remaining body of Hogwarts plays an important role. While Master Gibbon and I both have experience and ideas regarding topics and exercises to cover and we have been speaking with colleagues in several industries, we are both interested in what you would recommend. As young citizens with the closest observation of your classmates, I encourage you all to provide your suggestions: What do you think is important when it comes to the qualities you would expect your compatriots to exhibit? Imagine yourself in the near future, giving them an interview for a position, for example, or considering who to invite for an evening’s supper or salon. What do you prize?
Please feel free to make your recommendations here in this entry or by owl or private message to myself and Master Gibbon, should you wish for more privacy. I assure you we shall read them all, though we may not respond right away. We welcome comments from all students, regardless of year or bloodline.
Once again, thank you for your kind attention. We both look forward to getting to know several of you more directly over the coming months.
-Mrs Narcissa C. B. Malfoy
Private Message to Narcissa Malfoy
Date: 2010-09-28 02:06 am (UTC)I know Sally-Anne got selected on her own merits to be a part of the programme, because she truly does deserve it. But I wanted to say thank you anyways, because I know how much it'll mean to her to be a part of it, and I'm so glad that she'll get the chance to work with you. She really is looking forward to it quite a lot.
And I do think it's a brilliant idea, and it'll be all the more brilliant because you're in charge.
That's all. I'll let you know if I think of anything interesting they can do.
Private message to Mrs Malfoy
Date: 2010-09-28 03:17 am (UTC)I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good
Date: 2010-09-28 04:03 pm (UTC)What qualities would I expect my compatriots to exhibit? I wish my compatriots would treat people well and not stab people in the back. But, oh! You mean the halfbloods. Well. I'd like them to be like everybody else, of course. Which, if they aren't, isn't down to them but to people like you, innit?
I'm kind of tempted to answer her question about what I'd ask somebody if I was wanting to hire them for work, but I guess I shouldn't stick my wand in.
Private Message to Mrs Malfoy
Date: 2010-09-28 09:41 pm (UTC)I'm not sure whether I've got any ideas that will be very helpful, but I've put down a few thoughts since you've asked us.
It seems to me that society is like a web of many circles. The tightest and most important of them are made up of family and close friends, those people most like oneself. That's what my mother says, at any rate, when she makes up lists for her soirees. She says it's fine to include one or two really interestingly different wizards or witches, who aren't part of the regular set if they're the type of people the regulars will find witty or intriguing--an author, say, or an inventor--but only if they won't insist on bringing someone dull or objectionable along as their plus-one. I've met some unique sorts at her gatherings, and some of those were halfbloods.
So I suppose your programmes might invite some of those exceptional types so that halfbloods like Perks or Abbott could see what they could make of themselves if they've got some talent and the right introductions.
We were talking last night in our Common Room, and we all agreed that it's another matter altogether about hiring them. I mean, I can't see hiring someone with such a suspect background to be a personal retainer, an amanuensis or something. That sort of flaw runs in the blood, doesn't it? So you certainly wouldn't want one keeping your accounts or managing your properties. Too much temptation and opportunity, I'd think. And then there's the issue of conversation, because, of course, one doesn't want to be surrounded by dull personalities, and all the ones I've met here seem to be awfully dull--if they aren't also dim.
But if one were going to hire a halfblood, I'd think the first question would be about character. Are they honest? Reliable? Would they skive off 'sick' all the time? Would they blab your secrets to gossip writers? Would they work well with other staff or would they always be whingeing about compensation and duties? And would they always be grunching about how others are cruel to them? It seems as though most of the ones I know are always complaining about our teachers or the older students hurting their feelings in some way or asking too much of them, so I think most of them could use some serious work on their attitudes.
I hope this is the sort of thing you wanted to know. I guess I think it's a good idea, starting these societies, but I expect it'll take a lot of work to make much of them. I guess there's not much question they need the help, so I hope they're as grateful to you as they ought to be.
Private message to Mrs Malfoy
Date: 2010-09-28 10:53 pm (UTC)Private message to Mrs Malfoy
Date: 2010-09-28 11:08 pm (UTC)It's all the more admirable, really, given the difficulty of the assignment you've set yourself. What, after all, can really be done to overcome the disadvantages of a difference that is knit into the very fabric of one's being, into one's magical signature? Purity is purity, after all. The half-bloods may ape it, but although they may be drilled in posture or proper speech or better manners, or what have you, there will always be that telling something that sets us pure apart. I'm not expressing myself very clearly, perhaps, but that may be simply a sign of the difficulty of pinning the nature of that ineffable quality down into words.
Yes, it's quite a challenge that you've set for yourself, if I may be so bold to say so. But then, from everything I've heard about you from your many admirers, Mrs Malfoy, I believe you have never been one to back away from a challenge.
Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good
Date: 2010-09-28 11:10 pm (UTC)Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good
Date: 2010-09-29 03:33 am (UTC)Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good
Date: 2010-09-29 03:41 am (UTC)But he can't very well join the Sons of Wizardry, either.
(He'll just have to join the Order of the Brown Nose, instead. Actually, I think he's the founding member.)
Re: Private Message to Mrs Malfoy
Date: 2010-09-29 02:51 pm (UTC)Your mother is of course a very astute and shrewd judge of society; it should be no surprise that I agree with her on many of your points. Your suggestion regarding bringing in guests who have accomplished impressive goals despite their blood status is exactly the sort of activity we hope to achieve with this programme.
When it comes to hiring a halfblood, much depends on the sort of work being performed and as you say, the character of the individual. That is precisely why this programme aims to imbue its participants with a respectability that is as near as can be to that of a pureblood. It may well be the case that a hiring official has no choice but to hire a halfblood, often because the work is beneath any qualified pureblood or because there are simply no applicants. The question then becomes, which one? Since, as you say, there are halfbloods who have managed to rise higher than their station, it cannot be the case that one is just as good (or bad) as another (as one might say of muggles). I might also remind you that a pedigree is not necessarily the only indicator of trustworthiness, competence, probity, or even the tendency to complain! Our goal is of course to encourage these select halfbloods to make the most of themselves but, more importantly, to provide the community-at-large with a simple device to help them identify halfbloods who have been adjudged to be worthy, saving many a pureblood from needless worry and doubt when considering their merits.
Nothing can entirely erase the taint of non-magical blood, Mr Zabini, that is true. However, the Daughters and Brothers remain hopeful that with the proper conditioning, some few of your halfblood schoolmates may be redeemed of all but the one circumstance they cannot control: their births.
Re: Private message to Mrs Malfoy
Date: 2010-09-29 02:52 pm (UTC)Re: Private message to Mrs Malfoy
Date: 2010-09-29 02:57 pm (UTC)Re: Private message to Mrs Malfoy
Date: 2010-09-29 03:02 pm (UTC)Re: Private message to Mrs Malfoy
Date: 2010-09-29 03:30 pm (UTC)However, as I'm sure you observed while working for my husband, many jobs are considered beneath purebloods and yet the employers refuse to consider halfbloods on the basis that they are summarily unacceptable. Inevitably, this leads to several problems, not least of which is undoing all the good faith created by their experiences at Hogwarts, where by-and-large they are taught they can make something of themselves; it discourages them further from making the attempt and pushes them toward dishonesty and resentment toward Our beneficent Lord Protector, which cannot be tolerated.
Our goal is not only to drill them in proper manners, speech or carriage, though certainly that is an important part of our aim. It is our hope that by the time these and other students complete their participation, the community will be able to easily identify them as a cut above the common halfblood.