XI.

[alt_lana]

The gala was lovely, truly lovely: Orion and his crew helped with decorating the entries and reception halls and the ballrooms of the Tate, and they made a simply marvellous job of it. I've no idea where Johns and Kirke found so many fairies to light the steps and the walk from the waterside, but the view from our boat as we approached on the river was utterly breathtaking. And the way they massed to flank the Lord Protector when he arrived so that he appeared to be infused with fairy light as he made his entry? That was a stroke of genius.

The New London Philharmonic were in top form, and I've never heard them have a fuller sound than in the Tate's new hall. I have to agree with Mr Rosier's opinion that Melliflua Pym, the architect for the remodeling, is a true sorceress of the acoustic arts. I enjoyed strolling the galleries and antechambers where they'd situated small ensembles to complement the works on display. My favourites were Los Lobos D'Oro in the Travellers exhibit and the Wilton Consort who were tucked in amongst the sixteenth-century portraits, but then I've had a special fondness for that group ever since Mama hired them for our Midsummer's celebration the year I was thirteen.

I regret that I missed most of Celestina Warbeck's set, but that couldn't be helped. (Honestly, Higgs, if I'd known you would be such an infant about the fact that I was needed to assist Mrs Lestrange throughout the evening, I would never have allowed you to escort me. I've never seen anyone mope so conspicuously. I'd have thought you'd have cleared your cauldron telling me off over lunch today, but what you've written in your journal is unforgivable. Consider this my last word to you on this or any subject.)

I'm very pleased that I could be of use to the Aurors last evening. It was an honour to conduct those with whom the chief interrogator wished to confer. I was deeply impressed at the professionalism of all involved: they maintained order and decorum to such a degree that I believe few people were aware of the departures. The festive spirit of the evening never flagged, and I know Mama has every hope that when the final figures are tallied, they will have raised a substantial sum to further St Mungo's crucial work in Our Lord's realm.

Comments

[alt_lana]

Professor Lockhart does wear his robes to fine effect.

I did see the Malfoys' cloak clasps, but I didn't realise their son had made them. That's quite extraordinary, really. Do you mean that he drew the designs and commissioned the clasps or that he did the metalwork himself? Now you mention it, I guess I did know he's something of an artist, but I thought pen and ink was his forte.

And I agree, Mrs Malfoy manages true elegance to a degree few women ever attain. It is not simply a matter of the quality of her robes and accessories, but of the way she carries herself: she never courts attention, and yet heads turn whenever she enters a room. Beauty is as beauty does, Mama says, and I've always found Mrs Malfoy to be as gracious as she is lovely.

[alt_draco]

I made the designs and then sent them to a shop in Daigon Alley that does jewellery making. Uncle Rodolphus told me about that one. I don't know a thing about making items out of metal.

Thank you for your compliments about my Mother.

[alt_lana]

I wish I could say that I've ever succeeded in giving as thoughtful, beautiful, or personal a gift as that to either of my parents.