Chapter Seven; The Letter

Warning; This is the very sad chapter that I was mentioning before a few chapters back. Get your Kleenex boxes ready and remember that everything works out in the end. Sorry guys, don't hate me for this.

Ron started to eat and shove food into his mouth while Hermione simply watched him with disgust. "Oh Ronald, that's completely revolting!" she cried but Ron simply ignored her and turned over to Harry.

"Do you hear something Harry? Because I didn't realize that my mother followed me onto the train." He said but Harry just stared down at his food before turning over to glance back up at his father. "Hey mate what's up with you? Are you alright?" Ron questioned him while he fed a bit of chicken to Cowboy who was leaping up into the air and standing upon his hind legs pawing at his lap.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Harry said not being able to remove his gaze from his father's face who gazed back at him. He just secretly hoped and prayed that he wasn't disappointed in him for not wanting to be in his house. After the feast was over, Percy led them back to the Gryffindor common room. Harry couldn't wait to see Hedwig again and was very pleased when he realized that she had been brought up to his dormitory.

He quickly got into his pajamas and scribbled a note for his mother that he was alright and he was now in Gryffindor house before letting his owl out of her cage and slipping his letter into and envelope and licking it shut before sticking it under her beak. "Give this to Mum." He instructed her as she tightly grasped the letter with her mouth while Harry cracked the window open for her and watched her spread her wings before flying away into the night.

Then Harry climbed into bed and pulled up the covers over him before Cowboy leapt up on top of his bed and circled around a few times before they drifted off to sleep together. The next morning Harry made sure that Cowboy was well fed (Hedwig still hadn't arrived back yet) and took him outside to use the bathroom before he went down for breakfast in the great hall with Ron.

They discussed their schedules together and saw that their very first class just happened to be the one that Harry's father taught. "Boy, I thought I was nervous." Ron began. "But I didn't even stop to think how much pressure that you must be under Harry." He told him. After breakfast Harry and Ron walked to their potions class together. Harry had remembered that he had been in this room before when he had just been a little kid, but somehow it looked very different to him now.

The two boys found a seat together while Hermione sat down behind them. That's when all of a sudden Snape entered the room. Harry tried to focus on him instead of listening to Malfoy who was busily making fun of the fact that he was a teacher's kid. "Good morning," Snape began eerily fixing his eyes upon Harry. "Welcome to potions class. I am Professor Snape your potions master."

"I must warn you that I am very impatient and easily hot-tempered, so unless you want to find yourself in detention, you will do well to do what I ask of you. In this class there will be very little foolish wand waving. However, you will find that I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and even put a stopper in death. Now, who can tell me the proper use for the amnesio remedy?" he questioned when suddenly Hermione's hand shot up in the air.

Snape simply ignored her with a roll of his eyes while she started waving it around impatiently. "What about you Mr. Weasley?" he questioned him as Ron seemed to be in a daydream like state.

"I don't know." Ron replied with a shrug.

"Ah, I see." Snape began before glancing back over at Harry. "What about you?" he questioned him as Hermione was now standing upright and practically jumping down in the air but Snape continued to ignore her. "I think I seem to recall you doing some early studying before you came here. Can you tell the class what the amnesio remedy is for?" he asked him.

"Uh,.. I think it is the antidote for the forgetfulness potion." Harry replied quietly as Snape grinned at him.

"Well done, five points to Gryffindor." He told him as Hermione quickly put her hand back down and reluctantly sat down in her seat.

"That's a first," Ron began in a whisper while Snape turned around to face the blackboard. "I've never heard about Snape actually giving away points to Gryffindor." He whispered. Even though they were only five points, that was considered being generous for Snape.

"You better watch out Weasley, I could yank those points away at any point." Snape told him while he started writing the forgetfulness potion on the board in bright walk chalk and different page numbers. "Anyway, I want you to read chapters ten through thirteen in your magical drafts and potions book and then copy down its functions and the functions to the antidote since there will be a quiz at the end of the week. Then for homework you are to find the ingredients for the forgetfulness potion and write a two scroll page about it." He explained.

"You may begin. You have till the end of the class to read and write down those notes, and whatever you don't finish will be considered homework as well." He said as he finally finished writing and placed his bit of chalk down in the tray before sitting down at his desk to work. Harry and Ron opened their books and started to read when all of a sudden Professor McGonagall burst through the door holding an envelope inside her hands.

Snape suddenly glanced up at her over his quill with an irritable expression on his face. "Severus I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'm afraid that I have some rather bad news for you." She told him solemnly.

"Can't it wait? I am in the middle of teaching my class." He told her before she took a deep breath and shook her head.

"I'm afraid not. This letter came from your son's owl but considering it's from your wife, you probably should read it." She told him when all of a sudden Harry glanced up at her from his book and a worried expression grew onto Snape's face before he leapt up from his desk unaware of the fact that everybody was now watching him. Snape quickly snatched the letter from her hands and tore it open and that's when he felt his heart begin to shatter.

Dear Harry,

I am very pleased to hear that you have made the Gryffindor house. It doesn't take away from the fact of the traumatic experience that I just had to go through, but I must admit that it brought a smile to my face. You see, after you and your father left I went into labor and your baby sister Gianna was born. However once the healers took her out of me, there was something wrong with her lungs and I'm sorry to say that she couldn't breathe. Although she didn't make it here on earth, I know that Jesus is now holding her up in Heaven so you needn't worry about her anymore.

Also don't worry about your little brother and sister. I've explained what happened to her to them in words that they can understand, and even though they were pretty upset about it at first, they completely understand what happened to her. Please don't worry your father with this information for I know that he is way too busy to have to worry about something like that. I wish you could have seen her Harry, she looked just like Eve. I'm doing a private burial for her whenever I have the chance so that she can sleep forever in peace.

Ps. I hope that your father isn't being too hard on you and good luck at school.

All my love, your mother Lily