Year 6 Chapter 1, Asking Questions

Rose’s eyes went wide as Hermione brought out the next journal and bundle of letters. There were at least five times as many letters as had been in the previous year’s batch. Hermione answered her question before she could even ask it.

“Yes, we wrote to each other quite a lot that year. You’ll see why in a little bit. I don’t think we’ll be reading every one though. Many of them say pretty much the same thing.”

“Mushy stuff like I love you and I miss you?” the young girl teased. Hermione smiled and nodded.

The mother and daughter settled down on the sofa together and opened the notebook entitled, ‘The Journal of Hermione Granger – Book 6’, and the first letter.

-oooOOOooo-

Dear Hermione,

I knew you’d be worried about me so I thought I’d write as soon as we got back. The Dursleys have been OK – well, as OK as they can be, I guess. I was worried about what they’d do after the way things ended up last summer with the dementors and all. But the lecture Moody and the others gave them helped. I suspect they got another letter from Dumbledore too. Anyway, they’re giving me the silent treatment, which is fine with me.

Being here by myself probably isn’t a good thing, because now all I can do is think about what happened, and feel like it’s all my fault. I mean, I know it isn’t all my fault, and if you were here next to me you’d be explaining why it isn’t, but that’s a big part of the problem. You aren’t here. I can’t believe how much I miss you already, and it’s only the first day. All I can do is write to you, and I know you’ll write back too. I think Hedwig’s going to be my lifeline this summer.

I wish I didn’t have to stay here, but at least I know now why I do. I’m not sure how long it has to be though. Do you think you can visit like you did last year?

I miss you.

Love,

Harry

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – July 1

Harry wrote already, and his letter made me cry. I’ve been sitting here thinking about how similar this is to the beginning of last summer, and how different. Both started out with me worrying about Harry, and how he was coping with someone’s death – Cedric last year and Sirius this year. But Sirius was much closer to Harry, so he’s hurting even more this time. And of course our relationship is so much different now. Last year I was wondering if we might have something together, and now I know we do. That part’s better, at least.

My parents were very interested in how things were going with Harry, and are happy that I have such a great boyfriend. That topic and how I thought I did on the OWLs took up most of the conversation on the drive home, which was a good thing. I need to figure out how to tell them about our trip to the Ministry and that Harry’s godfather Sirius was killed. If they had any idea of how dangerous it was for us or that I nearly died, I’m not sure what they’d do. And I certainly can’t tell them about Harry being possessed by Voldemort, or about the prophecy.

My mind is bubbling over with thoughts and questions, so I’m trying to organize some of them.

Harry and the Dursleys

How does this protection work? What is the extent of it? Is he protected while he’s living with them, no matter what he does, or is it only in the house itself, or in the neighborhood? He wasn’t confined to the house last summer, even though Voldemort was back and thought to be after him. They did tell him it was a bad idea for us to go out shopping that day, but they hadn’t given him such a restriction beforehand. Then they left him here at my house for 4 days, but then took him to Headquarters and didn’t even let him out to go to Diagon Alley. It’s maddeningly inconsistent.

How long does he have to stay there this year? And where will he go after? What happens to Headquarters now that Sirius is dead? If he’s not going to go there, could he come here? My house would certainly be more difficult for Death Eaters to find than, say, the Burrow, but on the other hand the Burrow may be better protected. As far as that goes, though, if no one knew where he was that would seem to me to be the best protection. And does whatever ‘protection’ he gets from living at his Aunt’s house last for the rest of the summer? It certainly doesn’t work while he’s at Hogwarts, what with all the things that have happened to him there. And it didn’t stop the dementors last summer even while he was living there. Also, how does the blood protection work now that Voldemort used Harry’s blood to restore his body? After all, Harry’s touch killed Quirrell, but Voldemort could touch him after that ritual with no ill affects.

Harry and the Prophecy

What do we do now? How can a school boy possibly defeat one of the most powerful wizards on earth? We have to train as hard as we can, but even if we do, how can he become strong enough to beat him when even Dumbledore could only battle him to a standstill? What is ‘the power he knows not’? That must be the key. Is it some trick that will enable Harry to beat him, even if he’s overwhelmingly more powerful otherwise? Maybe it’s something muggle. Could Harry just use a gun and shoot him? But Voldemort was raised as a muggle, so he would know about guns. And if it were that easy I’d think someone would have tried it already.

Then there’s Dumbledore’s comment about love being the key. Yes, it enabled Harry to drive Voldemort out of his mind, but there’s a big difference between that and actually destroying him. Could Harry somehow send intense thoughts of love into Voldemort’s head and drive him insane? (OK, I just had an absurd notion here, that I’m not going to even write down in case someone reads this in the future, but it has to do with how I could help Harry generate intense feelings of love. If we did it while Voldemort was breaking into Harry’s mind … oh never mind.)

It was a good thing that no one was there to see her just now, Hermione thought, or they’d wonder why she was blushing so hard. She and Harry were much too young to think about doing that. Well, she amended, she supposed they weren’t too young to think about it, but they were too young to actually do it. At least she felt that she was, and Harry was almost a year younger than her. Honestly, he wasn’t even 16 yet. While she was getting off track there, she had to admit that these thoughts of Harry were certainly more pleasant than thinking about that awful prophecy.
 

Anyway, I’m going to have to research harder than ever, trying to find something Harry can do, some obscure spell or ritual or something. That means finding old books, probably ones that are considered dark magic. The library at Headquarters might have been a possibility. Now I wish I’d looked at it more when I had the chance at Christmas time.

I just remembered about Harry and Voldemort’s wands locking up when they dueled each other last year. I wonder if that’s the key. I’ll have to read up on that too. Perhaps he can get their wands to lock up again and then pull out a gun and shoot him. Unfortunately, Voldemort’s probably thought about the locking up problem too, and will have come up with some sort of counter.

Dumbledore’s Actions

I’m not sure I trust Dumbledore any longer. I mean, I trust him to do what he thinks is best, but I no longer trust that what he thinks is best is necessarily the best thing for Harry. His goal is to defeat Voldemort, and I’m afraid that if he thinks it’s necessary to sacrifice Harry in order to accomplish that, he’ll do it. Just thinking about that possibility makes my stomach hurt.

Why hasn’t he done more to prepare Harry? Is he going to start giving Harry special training now? Will he let me join in?

I’m starting to become suspicious of all the things that have happened to Harry in the past. Did Dumbledore know about how horrible Harry’s home life was with the Dursleys and just leave him there anyway? Was it to toughen him up or something? That’s reprehensible if it’s true.

Then what about all the unusual things while we’ve been at Hogwarts? Were some of those events manipulated by Dumbledore? Those traps we got by first year to get to the Stone make me wonder. Flying a broom to catch the keys was a cinch for Harry, and Ron was perfectly suited for the chess match, while I as a muggleborn had no problem with the logic puzzle. And it’s also suspicious that Dumbledore found Harry looking at the mirror and explained how it worked before he moved it to the chamber with the Stone. On the other hand, those other traps were set up at the beginning of the year, before Harry, Ron, and I even became friends, so how would Dumbledore have known?

How much did he know about the basilisk second year? I can’t imagine that he’d let Ginny be possessed, or risk the lives of all the students if he’d known what was happening, but it seems if I as a second year student could figure out that it was a basilisk someone like him certainly ought to have been able to. On the other hand, he didn’t know Harry was a parselmouth and had heard snake voices did he? And he wasn’t even in the castle when Ginny was taken down into the chamber and Harry went down after her.

Thinking about third year, surely he didn’t know all along that Sirius was innocent and Pettigrew was the secret keeper, did he? It would have been monstrous to have let Sirius suffer in Azkaban all those years if he knew better. And why would he have done it? So that Harry had to keep living with the Dursleys?

My goodness, I’m becoming as paranoid as Moody! But thinking of Moody, how could Dumbledore not have figured out that Barty Crouch was impersonating him? For a whole year! And he made no effort at all to figure out a way to get Harry out of having to compete in that tournament. And he certainly could have put some sort of detection spell on the Goblet that would have alerted him that someone had tampered with it. So the question is, did Dumbledore want Harry to compete? Was that yet another test for him?

Speculation aside, it’s certainly true that he botched things horribly this past year. It would have been so easy for him to alert Harry to his suspicion that Voldemort was sending him those visions intentionally. And the way he stood back and let Umbridge run roughshod over the entire school. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Harry had to step up and become a leader as a result of her actions.

The bottom line is that I don’t trust Dumbledore. From now on, whenever anything happens we have to be suspicious of his true motives.

-ooo-

Dear Harry,

Of course I’m worried about you! That’s my job, right? But I’m glad that I can remove one item from the worry list since things are going OK with the Dursleys. I’m sure you’ll agree that ‘OK’ is the most we can hope for there.

I feel so bad about you being there by yourself. I wish I could hug you through this letter. I know it’s hard, and I can’t conceive of how you’re feeling, but try to remember how much Sirius cared for you, and think about how he’d want you to react. Grieve for him but don’t stop living. And he’d want you to become the best wizard you can be and fight back against Voldemort and the Death Eaters. They’re responsible for his death, not you.

Speaking of Voldemort, how has your scar been? Now that I’m not with you every day you have to tell me anything that happens, all right? I won’t nag you any more in these letters if you promise to keep me informed. I will nag you to do your homework, of course. (smile)

I’ve been thinking about things, and have come up with a long list of questions to research, which I’m copying from my journal and sending with this letter. Tell me what you think, particularly the ones about Dumbledore. I’m going to send some of the other ones at the top of the list about the Dursleys and Voldemort to him. I want to get you out of there as soon as possible.

With regard to visiting, I think we can manage a few. Mum’s willing to drive me over for a day outing the weekend after next, like the one we had last year. And perhaps we can come over and take you out for your birthday. No Dursleys this time though. After what happened last year my parents don’t want to have anything to do with them. Needless to say, your uncle didn’t get accepted into my dad’s club.

My parents are planning a trip to France later in the summer, and expect me to go along. It would be great if you could come too! I’m not certain how magical people go about getting passports and the like, but I know they travel a lot. Luna’s going to Sweden this summer, for example. I suppose we could ask her, but … well, she’s Luna and I never know what kind of answer I’m going to get from her. The Weasleys should know, since they visited Bill in Egypt and Charlie lives in Romania. I hope it works out, and they don’t try to keep you locked up this summer like they did last year.

Take care Harry. We just have to hope that things will turn out all right.

I miss you.

All my love,

Hermione

-ooo-

Dear Hermione,

It was so great to hear from you. To answer the questions that are probably most on your mind – I’m doing better in dealing with Sirius being gone, and my scar isn’t bothering me at all. Not a twinge. Yes, I’ll tell you right away if anything happens.

Those were great questions you came up with. I’m starting to wonder the same things about everything that’s happened to me. I do know now that Dumbledore has had a plan for me all along – I just don’t know what it is. I’m going to try to persuade him to share more information with me from now on. Now that I know what I have to do I think I deserve to have more say in what’s going on. I’m not going to just sit back and accept everything any more.

I think a good first step is to make my own decisions about this summer. I’ve accepted that I have to stay here for the first month, but that’s all. The key is that I have to consider this place my home until I’m 17. OK, but that shouldn’t prevent me from going on holiday with you in August, right? For security’s sake, we should keep it as quiet as possible – no pictures in the Daily Prophet or anything like that. I wouldn’t want to put your parents in danger, so aside from the Order and the rest of the Weasleys no one else needs to know where we go.

I have another question to add to your list. How does the Ministry track underage magic? I don’t want to waste another summer not learning anything, and I need to be able to practice the spells. I’ve come up with three possibilities. 1) There’s a tracking charm on our wands. 2) There’s some sort of tracking charm on us personally. 3) They can detect when and where spells are cast, and check to see if an underage wizard is in the area.

From my experience, it would seem to be #3. When Dobby cast that hover charm on the bowl of pudding, I got an owl from the Ministry listing the time and location where the charm was used, and they assumed that it was me. And last year we got the owl saying basically the same thing about the patronus charm. But it only mentioned me, not you. I reckon that’s because they didn’t know you were there, so they assumed I was the only one who cast it.

If that’s true, it might be best if I go to the Weasleys after I leave here. The Ministry wouldn’t be able to tell if I cast spells there because they won’t know it was me. You’ll probably argue that Mrs. Weasley wouldn’t let her kids do magic at her house, but don’t you think they do anyway? How else did Ginny get so good at that bat bogey hex? And Ron’s said they always stayed clear of the twins’ room because they were experimenting with stuff.

That might also be an argument for going to France with you. The British Ministry wouldn’t detect spells done in France, right? And if it’s a tracking charm, the French wouldn’t be tracking us. What do you think?

I’m really looking forward to spending the day with you next Saturday. To be on the safe side, pick me up at the park. I’ll be under the cloak. We agreed that I get to pick the movie this time, right?

I’ve been working on my homework just like you told me. I’ve even been reviewing our charms and defense books from past years to make sure I have all those spells down solid. I plan to have everything done by my birthday. Aren’t you proud of me? (Do I get an extra hug?)

Do you have any more books to recommend for recreational reading this summer? I really enjoyed the Lord of the Rings books you sent me last year.

Thank you again for everything you’ve done and are doing for me. I miss you.

Love,

Harry

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger –July 15

What a wonderful day! I think it was just about perfect. We really needed a nice peaceful pleasant time together like this after what we’d been through last year.

We found the park without much trouble, and I opened the back door of the car and waited.

Suddenly the back seat moved and Hermione felt Harry’s hand give hers a squeeze, and she broke out in a big smile.

“Hi Hermione! Good morning Mrs. Granger,” came Harry’s voice. Then the car door shut and Hermione saw her mum give her a smile in the rear view mirror as she pulled out into the street. “Thanks for bringing Hermione over to visit me again.”

“My pleasure, Harry,” Emma replied. “Where do you want to go today?”

“The same place we went last year would be fine with me,” Harry answered as he pulled off the invisibility cloak. He looked to Hermione for her input and she nodded her agreement. Then she wrapped him up in a big hug as her mother pretended not to watch them.

“Did everything go all right at your aunt and uncle’s?” Hermione inquired.

“Yeah,” Harry responded. “I told Aunt Petunia I’d be out all day and she just sniffed and turned away. I’m pretty sure I made out the words ‘good riddance’. Then I put on the cloak and just walked down to the park.” He shrugged it off but Hermione caught a flash of annoyance from her mother. “One odd thing though,” Harry continued. “There don’t seem to be any members of the Order watching me this summer.” Hermione agreed that was curious and then explained to her mother about the guards that had been keeping an eye on Harry the previous year.

When they arrived at the mall, Harry admitted sheepishly that he’d outgrown many of the things he’d bought last summer, and Emma commented that she’d noticed he was quite a bit taller. Having been through the drill once, things went more smoothly, and Harry didn’t object to the colored underwear this time. He still declined Hermione’s teasing offer to help her pick out underwear for herself.

The truth of the matter was that Hermione had outgrown some of her clothing as well, although it wasn’t because she was taller. She’d moved up a size in her tops, and had needed to replace all of her bras, which she’d done as soon as she returned home from Hogwarts. (She’d kept the red one she bought the previous summer though, for sentimental reasons.) Her hips had developed more as well. She wondered if Harry had noticed. She thought he had been checking her out when she was in the hospital wing after being injured at the Ministry, but she wasn’t sure. They’d both had a lot on their minds at the time. Just for fun, she’d worn one of her old tops, which now fit very snugly, today to see if she could get a reaction from him. From the glances he kept shooting at her all day, she decided the experiment was a success.

Apparently her mother was thinking along the same lines, because once Harry had finished his shopping, Emma turned to Hermione. “You need a new swimsuit if we’re going to France this year. I’m sure that the one you wore three years ago won’t fit you anymore.”

Emma chuckled at the grin that broke out on Harry’s face and the rosy blush that blossomed on Hermione’s. The swimwear that was worn on the beaches in France was considerably more revealing than the one piece suits she and Hermione wore at the neighborhood pool. During their last holiday her thirteen year old daughter had practically lived in a string bikini with a very small triangle top. If she tried on something similar today she’d be giving her boyfriend quite a show.

“I don’t know … do you think we have the time?” Hermione demurred, trying to stall while she decided if she was ready to reveal that much of her body to Harry.

“Well, you don’t have to buy something today, but it wouldn’t hurt to look a little to get some ideas,” her mother replied, giving her an out. Hermione would be able to decide which suits she was comfortable trying on in front of Harry. “We still have some time before lunch.”
 

At first I wanted to kill Mum for that suggestion, but at the end of the day I thanked her. I started out with some relatively conservative suits but gradually got bolder. I finished with a bikini that had a halter top with a low cut scooped neckline. I think Harry almost passed out. I hadn’t realized how curvy I’d gotten until I looked at myself in the mirror in those suits.

The movie Harry picked out was Mission Impossible, which just opened here in the UK last week. We both agreed that the title was ironically appropriate for what’s facing us. He put his arm around me during the scary parts, and held my hand during the rest. I told him he was like Tom Cruise – short, messy black hair, boyishly handsome. He was very embarrassed, of course. Even more so when Mum agreed with me.

We didn’t have much time to ourselves to talk about what’s going on in the wizarding world. We did discuss what we thought Rufus Scrimgeour, the new Minister of Magic, would be like. Harry didn’t think he could possibly be worse than Fudge. Since he used to be the head of the Aurors, I suggested that we write to Susan and ask her what her aunt thinks of him.

At the end of the day when Mum dropped him back at his relatives’ house we made use of his invisibility cloak to have a very passionate good-bye kiss. It was a great way to end the date, if I do say so myself.

-ooo-

Dear Hermione,

You won’t believe everything that’s happened since I saw you yesterday! Right now I’m at the Burrow! Dumbledore brought me here last night.

I’ll start from the beginning. When I got home there was a message waiting for me from Dumbledore that said he would come at 11:00 that night to pick me up. I hurried to pack up all my stuff and he showed up right on time. He stopped for a bit to ‘visit’ with my aunt and uncle, and took them to task for the way they’ve treated me all these years. That was good to see, but I wish he or someone else had done it long ago when it might have done me some good!

He also told me that Sirius had left me everything he owned, including Grimmauld Place. That answers one of your questions. Actually, Dumbledore wasn’t sure if it was really true, or if some Black family enchantment would prevent it, but we confirmed it by having me call Kreacher. He came, being his usual nasty self, but he had to obey my commands, so that meant that I really do own Grimmauld Place now. I sent him off to Hogwarts to keep him out of trouble. What I really wanted to do was throttle him, but I didn’t think Dumbledore would let me. (I also didn’t think you’d appreciate that either.)

After telling the Dursleys I’d be back one more summer and then be out of their lives for good, we left. This next bit should interest you. We had to walk all the way to the end of Privet Drive before we could apparate. That’s how far the wards extend from the house. He mentioned that most wizard dwellings have wards that prevent apparation directly into the house. Most people wouldn’t do it anyway, as it’s extremely rude to just pop in on someone, but that’s also good to know in terms of being attacked.

We talked a bit as we walked down the street. I noticed that somehow he’d injured his wand hand, because it was all black, but he brushed it off and said he’d tell me later. He asked me about my scar, and I told him it hadn’t bothered me a bit all summer. Surprisingly, he said that was what he expected. After what happened in the Ministry, he thinks Voldemort realized it was dangerous for me to have access to his thoughts, and was blocking me out. Then I asked him why he couldn’t have told me that sooner, that it would have been useful for me to know that instead of just wondering about it. He stopped then and apologized. He’d told me in his office that night that he’d try to do better at keeping me informed about things that concerned me.

Next Dumbledore side-along apparated me to a muggle village to meet another wizard. Yes, you read that correctly. This wizard is named Horace Slughorn, and is a former professor at Hogwarts, and has this habit of ‘borrowing’ muggle houses while their owners are on holiday. Well, he wasn’t exactly thrilled to see us. In fact, he hid for a while and tried to make it look like the place had been attacked by Death Eaters. Dumbledore found him right away, though.

Slughorn was an odd one. He’s short and fat, and seems to really enjoy living the comfortable life. He was also going on and on about all the famous people he knew. I fact, I soon figured out that was why Dumbledore brought me with him on the visit. He wanted to persuade him to come out of retirement and teach again – DADA, I suppose – and I was the ‘lure’. The man likes to ‘collect’ celebrities and who’s a bigger celebrity in the wizarding world than me, right?

Well, it worked. After Slughorn refused outright, Dumbledore left me alone with him for a while and it was like Dudley being in a room with a piece of candy. He just couldn’t resist me. It was almost disgusting, actually. He went on and on about how my mum was one of his favorites, and also mentioned Sirius and his brother Regulas. Said he’d had Regulus in his house and wished Sirius had been so that he could have had the set of them. Really, he actually used those words. As you’ve probably guessed by now he used to be Head of Slytherin house.

By the time Dumbledore returned he was almost begging him for a job. I wonder about that though. Somehow he doesn’t seem the type to be a defense teacher. He claimed to Dumbledore that he was old and weak and couldn’t move around very well. But by that time I had other things on my mind.

Dumbledore chuckled as they exited the isolated muggle dwelling and walked down the garden path toward the main road. “Well done, Harry.”

Temporarily keeping his annoyance at having been used without his consent in check, Harry asked rather abruptly, “So, now where are you taking me?”

His tone of voice brought Dumbledore up short. “Why, to the Burrow of course.”

“Why ‘of course’?” Harry countered. “You say that like it was obvious. I can think of several other places we might be going, or perhaps you might be dragging me off to visit some other old friend, for some other as yet unexplained purpose.”

“I assumed that you would enjoy staying with the Weasleys for the rest of the summer,” the headmaster answered calmly.

“Why would you need to assume anything?” Harry persisted. “Why not ask me? Maybe I have some ideas of my own about where I would like to go.” Dumbledore gazed at him without responding, and Harry continued.

“You promised three weeks ago to keep me better informed, and yet I haven’t heard a word from you until a few hours ago when I suddenly find out I’m leaving Privet Drive tonight. What if I had plans for tomorrow? Hermione just came over to visit me today. It could just as well have been scheduled for tomorrow. We’d also made plans for her and her parents to take me out for my birthday, which we’re evidently going to have to change now.”

“She wrote and asked you two weeks ago how long I’d have to stay with my aunt and uncle this year, but you never responded. You explained why I had to stay with them, and I agreed to do that, but I think I should have some say about where I spend the rest of the summer. Sure, I enjoy visiting the Weasleys, but I also enjoyed staying at the Grangers last summer, and would like to spend some time with them too.”

“Harry, I apologize for being presumptuous,” Dumbedore replied. “I thought this would be for the best. The Burrow is much safer than the Grangers’ residence. It has been given the highest security possible.”

“And you need your weapon protected, is that it?”

“Harry …”

“You’ve been pushing me around like a pawn on a chessboard. Am I just a tool for a job that needs to be done? Or am I an active participant? I’m sure you have reasons for how you’re handling my life, but it’s my life. Explain your reasons and help me make an informed decision. If I don’t have a part in making the decisions then I feel like I’m just being used.”

Dumbledore removed his glasses and wiped them, a concerned look on his face. “Again, I apologize. I promised you that you would play a more active role, and I fully intend that to be the case. I realize that I still have some way to go in that regard, and need to break some habits. But I assure you that I do not consider you to be merely a tool.”

“What did we just do?” Harry challenged.

“What do you mean?” Dumbledore responded in puzzlement.

“You just used me to persuade Horace Slughorn to come to Hogwarts. You knew he would be unable to resist me. Did you ask me if I would be willing to help you recruit a professor, or was I an unwitting tool?”

Dumbledore’s expression changed from concerned to stricken. “You are of course correct. I can only say again that I am sorry for treating you that way, and promise to stop.” He paused a moment, then went on more tentatively. “As for our destination at this time, Molly is expecting you and would be quite distressed if you do not arrive soon. Will you consent to going to the Burrow with me?”

“Thank you,” Harry responded graciously. “Yes, I will. But would it be possible for me to at least visit Hermione sometime?”

Dumbledore paused to consider. “There is still the matter of safety to take into account, but I believe that could be arranged. May I suggest that two Order members accompany you whenever you leave the grounds of the Burrow?” Harry agreed to this stipulation, then pressed on.

“I’ve been invited to go to France with the Grangers in August.”

“I’m not sure that would be wise,” Dumbledore replied. Seeing the hard expression on Harry’s face he continued. “But if you can work something out with satisfactory security, we can consider it.”
 

Once we came to that understanding, he apparated me to the Burrow. There we stepped into the Weasley’s broom shed for a bit while we discussed a few more things. He wanted to know how I was coping with Sirius’s death, and my new fame in the press. I think I’m going to come to hate the title Chosen One just as much as The Boy Who Lived. Scrimgeour, the new Minister, wants to meet with me but Dumbledore’s been putting him off. So far Voldemort’s been lying low. Dumbledore thinks I really shook him up when I threw him out of my head, and maybe even hurt him. His only major initiative has been to recruit the dementors, which Dumbledore’s been warning about all year. They finally deserted Azkaban, and it’s been a nightmare for the Ministry.

The most exciting part was that he’s going to give me private lessons next year. Oh, and he also suggested I share the prophecy with you and Ron. He was surprised that I’d already told you.

He also emphasized once more the seriousness of the situation by telling me to keep my Invisibility Cloak with me at all times. I generally do that anyway, but I assured him that I always would in the future. Then he said something curious as he was leaving. He made me promise not to go running off no matter what happens. I have to have an Order guard. I wonder what that was all about?

Now on to the news from the Burrow. Of course, Mrs. Weasley was thrilled to see me, and started right in on feeding me. Tonks was there too, but left shortly after I arrived. She looks very depressed – I suppose it’s because of Sirius. More about that later. Mr. Weasley came home shortly after we arrived, which was already after midnight. He’s been promoted at the Ministry. I’m really happy for him – he deserved it. It keeps him busier though. They put me in Fred and George’s old room (they now live in a flat above their joke shop) instead of with Ron. It’s nice to have a real bed.

This morning I found out that Fleur is here also. She and Bill are getting married! Can you believe it? Apparently not everyone is happy about that. Ginny can’t stand her, and says her mum can’t either. There does seem to be some friction between the two of them. Ron, of course, goes into a daze whenever Fleur sweeps into the room. It’s pretty funny. And I do mean ‘sweeps’. It just a sort of presence she has when she moves. Ginny did an imitation of it. She also has a nickname for her that’s not too nice – she calls her Phlegm.

That bothers me a bit. Ron says it’s because Ginny’s used to being the center of attention as the only girl and now has Fleur competing with her. I think he may have a point. I’d not really noticed before, but Ginny has grown into a very attractive girl. And of course, Fleur is beautiful and well – she’s Fleur. I can see that Ginny might resent her. And Fleur’s attitude doesn’t help any. She has a way of making everyone feel inferior. She can’t seem to help making comments about things that come out sounding condescending.

Despite that, I actually like Fleur. I don’t think she can help being like that. As she hangs around the Weasleys more I think she’ll start to tone it down. And she’s so enthusiastic – she was very excited about seeing me again. I noticed both Ginny and Mrs. Weasley gritting their teeth when she kissed me – you know, on the cheek the way the French do. (I hope this isn’t worrying you. You know I’m completely yours and have no interest in any other girl. I’m not tempted by her or affected like Ron is.) I think we have sort of a bond from competing in the tournament together. I really respect her for that and I think she respects me as well.

Here’s the weird thing though. Ginny says Mrs. Weasley’s trying to break Bill and Fleur up, even though they’re already engaged. She thinks her mum wants him to be with Tonks instead – that’s supposedly why Tonks is hanging around here. I’m not sure that’s right though – I mean the part about Tonks. Ron doesn’t think Bill’d be interested in her either. It is true that Mrs. Weasley’s not happy about him and Fleur getting married though. She claims he’s too down to earth for her. But he is a curse breaker after all, and has been living in Egypt. I think that might be wishful thinking on her part.

Well, that brings you up to date, I reckon. I think this is the longest letter I’ve ever written to you. Are you impressed? Quite a bit of news though. We’ll see what we can do about getting together for my birthday, and your trip to France.

I miss you.

Love,

Harry

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