14th July, 1888
Dear Ophelia,
I shouldn’t have said a word! You know better than to listen to me, I have too much fondness for horror to be of any help to you.
And if impersonation is not illegal, it certainly ought to be... though I don’t expect anyone could do a single thing about it without proof - and we have none of that, since the idea was purely plucked from my imagination to amuse! Please don’t be paranoid. The Hog’s Head rumour was only a case of mistaken identity and nothing more, because real life always has a horrifying predisposition for the mundane explanation, and I, on the other, do not. (In any case, I should not think Yente Ventus has the wherewithal for such a complex scheme. It would be a wonder if she had any grains of intellect to spare.)
Don’t stew over it a moment more, I implore you, O, or you’ll make me feel guilty for putting ideas in your head, and I hate to reproach myself for anything. Besides, if anything of the sort were to happen, you could nevertheless rest easy in the knowledge that it was not, after all, you to blame, and the truth would out. Indeed, even if the Ministry and solicitors should fail you - since we are so prematurely prepared for any wild eventuality - I would find proof of it myself!
Otherwise, I have always wanted an excuse to visit Azkaban for myself -
On another matter: I find parents - and parents-in-law by extension, I presume - are best endured in small doses, so I hope for your sake that the fog clears up soon. Most are tediously predictable in their parental wants and hopes, though, and if they are slow to see you as a conduit to their precious son’s happiness (they seem the sort to be over-fond of Mr. Devine, rather than perpetually disappointed - these are the two most common parental avenues, by my thinking - but you would know their sort better than by my first impressions), then I find most people are always flattered to be needed just as they need to be flattered, and near all of them like offering their youngers a fount of (unwanted) advice that one might pretend very well to treasure.
Unless either of them are like my father - in which case, you might try sailing.
Porphyria
a sublime set by Lady! <3