In this chapter Dora turns fourteen and Remus (STILL unbeknownst to Dora!) turns twenty-seven. This girl really needs to ask Remus when his birthday is, doesn't she? But then, he is very good at dodging her questions ...
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November 12, 1987
Dear Remus,
I've settled into third-year now and it's not quite so terror-inducing as it has been. I'm getting used to juggling the work for nine subjects instead of seven, though I'm not worried about whether I'll be good enough for Auror training any more as I can't see past next week's Potions class.
Hogsmeade is such a beautiful little village. Phoebe, Charlie and I have been going down every chance we can, but that might stop toward exam time.
Yours,
Dora
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December 25, 1987
Dear Remus,
There is such a lot of snow this year! I hope your well hasn't frozen solid, but I'm sure you know a thawing charm to fix it right up if you do. Where do the ponies go, I wonder, when the winters are hard?
Here is a box of my very favourite sweets from Honeydukes. Do these bring back memories? Nougat, coconut ice, toffees, sherbet balls, stringmints, ice mice, peppermint creams and sugar-spun quills. There are no joke sweets, I promise! Nothing will explode in your mouth or make you blow bubbles for days.
Merry Christmas!
Yours,
Dora
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December 25, 1987
Dear Dora,
As the weather is so bitter I have been inventing tea blends. They're made from the stock of dried herbs I laid away this summer and these are my best three. The first is called Toe-tea-l Tingle and will warm up frozen toes and fingers – best consumed after a visit to Hogsmeade. The second is called Recollectea and will be an excellent aid for exam revision. And the last, Unobscuritea, helps the drinker to see in the dark.
Merry Christmas,
Remus
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December 27, 1987
Remus, you are funny! How long did it take you to think up those names? I hope it was a very, very long time as I like to picture you sitting seriously over something so silly. I tried the Unobscuritea right away and I can tell you that it gives you better night vision than a cat. I know because I have been practising becoming a cat and it's my very first successful full morph. Just sometimes I revert and I still have whiskers and the urge to walk on all fours. Mum's been asking me to clean my room and I turn into a cat and swish my tail at her in a way that says, 'Sorry, I can't, I'm a cat.'
Yours,
Dora
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January 17, 1988
Dear Remus,
Potions! Potions class in that freezing dungeon, could there ever be anything more miserable and cold? Phoebe and I have big mugfuls of Toe-tea-l Tingle back in our common room after and it warms up right up.
Everyone's been handing round copies of To Love a Muggle, the romance novel by Benedictia Hearthsworn. Doesn't that name sound made up? I bet it's a quill-name. Here's a passage for you as I doubt such towering works of literary genius have made it into your reading pile:
Their eyes met across the mundane boxes of thin paper and jars of food sauce, but his eyes were anything but mundane. They were like twin stars burning in a winter sky, and as they scoured her face she felt herself lit as if by a cauldron flame. The pure blood beat fast in her veins – she wanted him.
We've discussed it in Muggle Studies, at length. I think Professor Burbage is a secret romance novel addict and it's easy to prod her into talking about it. Apparently most of the muggle references are incorrect (food sauce?) but Remus, it's toooooo good! I find myself laughing at it and unable to put it down at the same time. The hero is called Smith Johnson, which is apparently a very muggle name.
I read in the Prophet that Lucius Malfoy has tried to have it banned, but that's only made it even more popular!
Yours,
Dora
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February 8, 1987
Dear Remus,
Did you see that fawning piece by Rita Skeeter about the Malfoys in the Prophet? 'Sitting in his gracious living room, the ethereal beauty Lucius Malfoy frowns, his features becoming stern. "I worry, Rita, about the safety of our kind in times such as these. Muggles should be treated with distant respect, not frivolity. Tawdry novels like To Love a Muggle are more damaging than people realise." Narcissa Malfoy nods in agreement and takes her husband's hand. The affection between them is touching, and deep understanding passes between them that can only exist, they tell me, in a pure-blood match. Little Draco, eight years old, looks up from the rug, smiling adoringly at them.'
I want to stab myself in the eye with my wand. They way they talk you would think that muggles are a different species. Here's a copy of the full article so you can rage over it as much as I have. What is the Prophet thinking?
Yours,
Dora
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February 20, 1987
Dear Dora,
Molly Weasley lent me her copy of To Love A Muggle last week and I spent a very entertaining evening reading it, though I'm a little troubled at the thought of certain chapters being passed around at a school.
The Prophet likes to be controversial. It sells more copies that way. If people are feeling more tolerant of muggles they will print a piece expounding the opposite view. During the war when some people were wondering of the Death Eaters had the right idea they dug through the family trees of proclaimed pure-bloods in search of secret muggles and half-bloods.
Yours,
Remus
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March 5, 1987
Dear Remus,
Did they really? I want to say I hope they found some, but I also want to believe that it's irresponsible of the Prophet to act like they are now, whipping up anti-muggle sentiment and blathering on about understandings that can only pass between two people who are in a pure-blood match. So stupid.
Oh, those chapters, Remus. Well, how else are we supposed to learn? It was very edifying.
Yours,
Dora
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May 3, 1987
Dear Dora,
My mother was a great reader and my earliest memories are sitting with her while she read aloud to me from her favourite books. The book section in Flourish & Blotts was her favourite place in the world. She couldn't see the entrance to Diagon Alley through the Leaky Cauldron because she was a muggle, but I could, so she would hold my hand as I led her in. She was quite brave about walking into a solid wall as long as she had her eyes closed, though it made her laugh every time. The other witches and wizards didn't mind a muggle shopping in Diagon Alley and even looked out for her, to make sure we didn't accidentally wander into Knockturn Alley.
Our world fascinated her and after she married my father almost all the books she read were by magical authors. She wanted to know everything there was to know about witches and wizards. This is her copy of her favourite book, Raoul de Veritas, about the life of a medieval Animagus. It's an adventure story and a love story, and one of my favourites too.
Happy birthday.
Yours,
Remus
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May 4, 1987
Dear Remus,
I can't believe you gave me your mother's own copy of her favourite book. Isn't this too precious to give away? I will keep it safe always and if ever you want to look at it or just hold it you can ask. Thank you so much, I will start reading it right away!
Yours,
Dora
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May 14, 1987
Nymphadora,
We have never met but I am your Aunt Narcissa. Narcissa Malfoy. Perhaps your mother has spoken of me. Or perhaps not, as we never speak of her. Either way I am sure you know who I am.
Some very worrying news has reached me from your school. It seems you are in correspondence with a wizard called Remus Lupin. He even sends you little presents. What can you mother be thinking by allowing this? He is much older than you and greatly beneath you in blood and status – yes, even taking into account your father's family – but worse is the fact of what he is. Someone like you should not be associating with something like him.
As you are so young I can't imagine this acquaintance you have with Lupin is anything unseemly, but even so, I am alarmed. You are a Black, Nymphadora. I would ask you not to drag the family name even lower.
Regards,
N. Malfoy
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It amuses me NO END to think about a tawdy romance written about a pure-blood witch and a muggle man, and women like Molly Weasley getting flustered reading it while Lucius Malfoy tries to have it banned!
