Chapter 101

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To: Spencer Reid

From: Harry Potter

Friday 10/8/92 6:04pm (GMT)

Seamus and Dean were surprisingly cool with the idea of me talking to their parents about what I thought was going on at Hogwarts with Ron and Hermione and getting some advice from Seamus' mum. I don't know if it's going to last, we'll see what they have to say about it once they hear how their parents are going to react. In fact, they are furious on my behalf at the idea that my so called 'best friends' had been so possessive and obnoxious that they'd driven other people away and kept me from making other friends when they weren't even real friends themselves. I kind of knew they were doing it but I was more focussed on how they tried to stop me from learning as much as I could by distracting me from work or trying to do the research for me so I didn't read up on things myself. I didn't realise how much the way they were trying to isolate me annoyed Dean and Seamus and they said that they're not the only ones either, there were people at Hogwarts prepared to get to know me and be friends because they liked me the person, not the fame and the stupid made up character that people refuse to believe I'm not. The problem is now I have to find a way to convince Dean and Seamus to ignore the whole thing and let Ron and Hermione continue to think they're getting away with it, without hexing the traitorous pair silly or pushing in and proving that they're so much better friends than the bookworm know-it-all (There's nothing wrong with loving to read and learn and wanting to know as much as you can about everything that interests you, I do myself but sometimes I wonder if Hermione really does love it like we do. She uses books to hide from real people in and learning to show off how much she knows, even when she says she's trying to help with our homework there's this nasty 'I know more than you so I'm better than you' undercurrent in her help.) and the prat, so they don't make themselves even bigger targets of whoever is manipulating Ron and Hermione.

Hopefully Seamus' parents' reaction will help me to convince them to stay friends with me under the radar and to leave Ron and Hermione alone, or at least being careful to get revenge on them only in a way that can't be tied back to the three of us. That's going to be difficult though since I don't know who else might be watching me or how far they'd be prepared to go to make sure I remain manipulated, or that I seem to be successfully manipulated since they don't seem to notice that I can see through Ron and Hermione's behaviour and disloyalty. Seamus has asked me to teach them a spell that transfigures scraps of parchment or sweet wrappers into spiders, Ron is very afraid of spiders. Dean suggested a spell that makes someone unable to read for Hermione. Of course the way my magic works rubbish to spiders isn't that hard, the buttons to beetles spell did it with a little extra effort but I don't have a spell to teach the others. The reading one will be more difficult. There are translations spells I could cast on one particular book but then nobody would be able to read it. I need a spell I can cast on Hermione directly, and then the opportunity to cast it on her without anyone noticing. I'd don't really want to spend too much time looking for a spell like that just to get back at someone, I'd rather be researching spells to keep my real friends safe but I will ask around.

To: Harry Potter

From: Spencer Reid

Friday 8/10/92 10:08am (PST)

I'm glad that you trust Mr and Mrs Finnegan to help you with this and that Seamus and Dean were on board with you taking this problem to the adults. Hopefully Mrs Finnegan will know of something to protect your friendship. If not perhaps you could try asking one of the professors at school. The Irish school not Hogwarts of course. I would like to be able to help them get revenge on Ron and Hermione too. But the only thing I could do from here would be to attack Hermione's parents' electronically in some way and that wouldn't be fair because we know they're not involved with all this. Hermione herself doesn't have an email account, or at least not one that I can easily guess the name of. Perhaps you could suggest she sets one up next summer? Do you have her nonmagical address? I could send her something that will get her in trouble with her parents to arrive the week after she goes back to school, or better yet the week before she comes home so they don't have time to calm down since they can't send one of those howlers and embarrass the hell out of her in front of everyone at breakfast like Mrs Weasley does.

Unfortunately, I can't do anything about Ron at all, you don't even have an address for him much less phone number and email. I admit owl post is far superior to anything we have in the way it can find people even if it isn't as quick as the internet or telephone. I think cellular phones are going to change this in the next ten years or so but that will still depend on people buying them and carrying them and like anything really new it will take time to become common. I would suggest an anonymous letter to his parents telling them about his behaviour this year but it would be dangerous, if they're in on the manipulation all it would do was make them all try harder to be subtle enough for them to manipulate you without you noticing, and it might encourage them to try to manipulate the other boys in your dorm so you don't have alternative friends to turn to.

Good luck with the Finnegans tonight, remember that all of this isn't your fault and even if they're angry a lot of that anger wont actually be towards you. Unfortunately, you'll be the one in front of them when they hear about it and you have no clear answers for them. So they're going to be worried and worry can sound an awful lot like anger when it comes on all of a sudden like that. You're not even sure how it's being done let alone who's doing it. I guess for them the best case scenario is that Ron and Hermione are being paid to act as your friends for some reason, even though it's probably the most hurtful for you. But at least Dean and Seamus wouldn't be in danger if the worst that could happen is someone offering to pay them to treat you in a certain way and they'd be able to tell you who made the offer and how the person wanted Dean and Seamus to act. I'm sure at least one of them would tell you the truth if they were approached.

To: Spencer Reid

From: Harry Potter

Friday 10/8/92 7:56pm (GMT)

The Finnegans weren't happy about what I had to say. Well actually that's a bit of an understatement, they were furious. I offered to stay at the school for the rest of the month if they wanted me to leave, but Seamus objected and they told me he'd invited me to stay and I could continue to stay with them this summer. I don't think that I'm ever going to be invited back here though, so it's lucky I don't need a place to stay to come back to summer school.

Mrs Finnegan didn't know of anything that could protect Seamus. I mentioned occlumency to her and she hadn't heard of it but asked me to start teaching it to them all. Now Seamus is upset with me too for making him do even more homework over the summer and probably regrets encouraging his mum to let me stay. I tried to tell him that it will help his memory as a side effect and make schoolwork quicker and easier next term but he just growled at me. Dean is pretty pissed off too so they're out in the barn while I asked to stay inside and send you a letter to give them some time to vent their anger and hopefully cool down enough not to want to smother me in my sleep.

I do have Hermione's address but it wouldn't be fair to get her in trouble with her parents like that unless we know for sure she's being paid or bribed into being my friend and not cursed to do it against her will pr had her personality influenced by potions or something.

To: Harry Potter

From: Spencer Reid

Friday 8/10/92 11:59am (PST)

I'm sorry that your friends are all upset with you. Learning occlumency will help them but I can understand why they don't want to learn it on top of going to summer school. Not everyone is like the two of us who love to learn. Be patient with them, they seem like good people and I'm sure they'll get over their annoyance. I'm sure they won't attack you in your sleep over it no matter how upset they are and once they start to see the benefits for themselves they'll be grateful to you for suggesting they learn it.

I'm sorry that Mr and Mrs Finnegan took things so badly but they're probably more angry about the whole situation than they are mad at you. Particularly when there is a school of magic within walking distance that they could have sent Seamus to instead of Hogwarts. It wouldn't have been easy for them to send him to school so far away and t pay the extra fees to board, and to find out that he's in danger of being used and manipulated because of it. I hope for yours and Dean's sake they don't decide to pull him out of Hogwarts and send him to Scoil Draiocht next year. For Seamus' sake too since from what you've written, he hasn't really reconnected with the friends he had before Hogwarts that go there.

You're right about Hermione but the same goes for Ron and the spiders, perhaps even more so, I know his claims of being your best mate annoys you more than Hermione does and it sounds like a fairly harmless prank because you think his fear of spiders is silly. But if he's truly afraid of them then he's not just making a fuss it's not silly to him, it would be pretty mean and if he has been cursed and didn't deserve it then it would be bullying to take advantage of his phobia like that. I don't want you to stoop to that level, I know you wouldn't want to.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

Stay safe everyone.