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Soul of an Activist
Life after the war was difficult to adjust to, but it would have been difficult no matter what. Barty had never experienced normalcy and hardly ever felt freedom. Now he was unattached to any cause, because his cause was dead. His cause was dead and so with his father, so was his Lord, so were the few people he had known that he felt kinship with.
But the world was also changing. Finally there was movement in a system so ancient and constricting that it was creaking at the seams. Barty still believed that it had to be broken before it could be fixed, but he didn't yet know where to start that and sometimes he felt old. Barely 37 physically, but he felt as if he'd seen too much and he was tired.
Idealists were trying to bring about change through the slow ways of politics and bureaucracy. Barty didn't believe in it, but he didn't really believe in anything these days. However, he saw names he recognized, saw his old students doing politics. Mostly badly. But Hermione Granger, well, she stood out. It wasn't difficult to find out everything about her, given her role in the second war it was more difficult to avoid her.
She was smart, Barty knew that, even from his memories of her when she had still been a child. But there she was, a young woman, fighting for the rights of those oppressed and being smart about it. Barty couldn't help but keep an eye on her. They agree on surprisingly many points.
He never showed his face, but he started to send her letters. He never gave his name. The letters were unsigned. Unsigned and stubbornly addressed to Miss Granger, never mind her title or marital status. He gave her advice, he praised or criticised her and every now and then he would help to influence things in her favour. He had dirt on everyone who had been in the ministry long enough and he wasn't above playing dirty, not if the ends justified the means. And occasionally also just not because it was amusing to have grown men fear for their lives just because of a little note they got.
But the world was also changing. Finally there was movement in a system so ancient and constricting that it was creaking at the seams. Barty still believed that it had to be broken before it could be fixed, but he didn't yet know where to start that and sometimes he felt old. Barely 37 physically, but he felt as if he'd seen too much and he was tired.
Idealists were trying to bring about change through the slow ways of politics and bureaucracy. Barty didn't believe in it, but he didn't really believe in anything these days. However, he saw names he recognized, saw his old students doing politics. Mostly badly. But Hermione Granger, well, she stood out. It wasn't difficult to find out everything about her, given her role in the second war it was more difficult to avoid her.
She was smart, Barty knew that, even from his memories of her when she had still been a child. But there she was, a young woman, fighting for the rights of those oppressed and being smart about it. Barty couldn't help but keep an eye on her. They agree on surprisingly many points.
He never showed his face, but he started to send her letters. He never gave his name. The letters were unsigned. Unsigned and stubbornly addressed to Miss Granger, never mind her title or marital status. He gave her advice, he praised or criticised her and every now and then he would help to influence things in her favour. He had dirt on everyone who had been in the ministry long enough and he wasn't above playing dirty, not if the ends justified the means. And occasionally also just not because it was amusing to have grown men fear for their lives just because of a little note they got.