Letter 2
My dear boy,
Your concern for my wellbeing is touching, but entirely unnecessary I assure you. My star may no longer be in the ascendant, but it is by no means eclipsed and may yet rise again. Azkaban is not pleasant, but the absence of the Dementors does mean that it is not the fearful place it once was.
I do understand your lack of enthusiasm for Muggle studies – why, you ask, should you concern yourself with the habits of an inferior race. The answer is simple: know your enemy.
Besides, even the lowliest animal is capable of providing a moral lesson. The eagle soars high and sees things with a dispassionate eye. (The eagle also mates on the wing. If you attempt the experiment remember both warming and cushioning charms for the broomstick, and for heaven’s sake do not lose concentration. It is embarrassing enough being taken to the Infirmary after crashing your broomstick without having to explain why the bristles are located where they are. I am sure I need not remind you of contraceptive charms; your mother assures me she is too young to be a grandmother. I believe her; it would be politic not to prove her wrong.)
The snake is cunning and cautious, with poison on his tongue. The badger is loyal and hardworking, all qualities that are admirable in others. The lion teaches the value of looking at things as they really are and not as others suppose them to be. It is lionesses that hunt, not lions, and they who should be the symbol of Gryffindor house. It is typical of that House that they should take as their mascot something that is essentially a counterfeit. They are all bluster and foolhardiness, which is useful to exploit but tedious to endure.
What then can we learn from Muggles?
My father always considered that the Roman Empire was instructive. The usual commonplace observations point to the Republic and its stern morals. Duty and honour were paramount – though if we examine history carefully we find that that is no more than a faint patina of respectability over the usual manoeuvring for power.
No, it is to the Empire that we must look for our education. It is the Empire that provides the exemplar for cruelty, greed, pride and lust, and shows us how those are all weaknesses that can and are exploited.
All men can be bought, Draco, and all women too. It is just a matter of determining their price. With some it will be a straightforward monetary transaction, with others it will be power and position. Those are the most common and the most reliable to deal with. Whilst you have money to give and power to share, they will be yours. Unless someone else offers them a higher price.
It is those that are driven by cruelty that are the most hazardous to deal with, for they will turn on you at the slightest fancied injury. It is no matter to them whether it is you or your enemies coughing out their last at their feet. They have no loyalty to anything other than their appetites and this makes them unpredictable, and being unpredictable makes them dangerous.
If you must deal with such people, do not rely on them, and do not trust them. I am sure that I need not remind you to trust no one lightly, but it is a lesson worth repeating until it is second nature, and in this case there is double cause for caution.
Nero may not have actually fiddled whilst Rome burned – not least because fiddles were not extant in that period – but he stood by and allowed his people to come to harm. He could afford to do this whilst he held on to the loyalty of his more powerful subjects, but once he had also turned on them to satisfy his vicious appetites then there was no chance that he would be allowed to survive.
But neither am I saying that you should trust no one, merely that you should be cautious. If you can do someone a favour at little cost to yourself, then it should be done. Later, they may return the favour, in which case you have gained an ally. If they do not return the favour then you have discovered something whose value exceeds the cost of learning it – they are not to be trusted. It is better to learn this over a trifle, than when your life or your liberty is at stake.
When it comes to favours, you should think like a goblin and keep your accounts current. Too much owing from someone is almost as bad as too much owed to another. In the former, you will not have their gratitude but their bitterness, as no man values generosity but rather envies your better fortune that makes that generosity possible. In the latter, you will be at the mercy of another.
Both situations are dangerous.
And yet, if you choose wisely, you will bind people to you with ties of loyalty – and even affection – that will withstand any reversal of fortune.
My boy, you will be surrounded by people who will revel in your disappointments, and those who are waiting to see whether they are temporary, and those who are truly your friend.
The trick is to tell them apart.
Your present situation makes this a simple matter – do not forget those who stand by you, and equally do not forget those that turn against you.
Both must be repaid, according to their deserts.
Your father,
Lucius.
Letter three
Severus,
Narcissa has told me what she has done.
I cannot bring myself to regret it, though I have no doubts that you do.
All that I have is yours if you can keep him safe.
Lucius.