December 21st, 1998
The postcard was dog-eared and seemed to have travelled for some time. It showed a breathtaking Patagonian mountain view. The address was of Hermione's childhood home, therefore it was decidedly odd that the card had reached her at Grimmauld Place number twelve. Written on it in block letters was "Missing you", with a scrawled "not" added in another hand. Hermione Granger was thankful that there was no one else in the kitchen at the moment. After applying a shield around her person she begun to check the missive for spells. There were loads of them on the innocent looking postcard – spells, wards, jinxes. Intrigued the young woman Levitated the thing upstairs into the library. Most of her books and notes were there and usually no one bothered her there as well.
After the so-called `Battle of Hogwarts´ Hermione had not said anything about what had happened in the Shrieking Shack. She had waited and waited. And then there was the moment when it was too late to say anything. Harry had made sure that Severus Snape was exonerated and was now hailed as a hero of the war, second only to Harry himself. This was a point of dissention between the three friends, as Ron was still ranting about the late Potions master. Hermione could understand well enough, after loosing a brother and watching another one loosing himself, the youngest Weasley tried to make sense of what had happened and was desperately looking for someone to blame. In the same way Ronald put Snape down for his abrasive personality Harry put him on a pedestal for his friendship with Lily Evans. The Potions master's body had not been found in the Shrieking Shack, as somebody had blasted the whole building sometime after the Light's victory, but traces of tissue and blood had been matched with Poppy's files of the staff. Dolohov had been listed dead as Lucius Malfoy and Minerva McGonagall both had testified that they had seen his lifeless body in a giant's hand before said giant had bitten off head and shoulders. Molly Weasley had opened a bottle of elf-made wine upon hearing that.
Three hours later Hermione's hair had escaped her chignon, her cheeks were flushed and her breath coming in short puffs. The spells and wards on the innocent looking postcard were a thing of beauty. The young witch was captivated by it. The first ward she unravelled was a personalized postal ward, which was also the explanation why the missive had reached her. The usual spells for privacy and tampering were layered in an intellectually challenging and very elegant way. There was a big ward still active. Hermione was able to say it might be pass-word activated. After trying the obvious ones – Nagini, Voldemort (she thought it possible that the two would find it funny using Tom Riddle's moniker for this), Dumbledore, several potions ingridients like asphodel, flobberworm, aconite – she was getting a bit desperate. Taking a break for a cup of tea and being inordinately glad that she still encountered no other inhabitants of the old Black house she sat down and made lists. A separate list for Snape, Dolohov and herself, more lists of words possibly having a special meaning. Nothing worked. As a last ressort she wrote down everything she remembered of her encounter with Dolohov at the Battle of Hogwarts. Circling all nouns and names of spells it suddenly became obvious. With a triumphant cackle Hermione pointed her wand at the postcard and shouted "Nurejew!"
The card grew in size and unfolded itself into a long letter, written in two hands. Bold block capitals started.
Dear Ms Granger,
Thank you for your help some time ago and for your discretion. My friend did not deserve the fate his two merciless masters had in store for him and without you I could not have saved him. I am not prepared to enter into a discussion whether I deserve to be free but I want to assure you that you have not helped a sociopathic monster to escaped. During the first war I have done my share of bad deeds in a conflict I had no wish to be entangled with. I have spent nearly twenty years in prison for it. The Prewett twins were killed in a wizarding duel between the Lestrange brothers and them. Alastar Moody and I were seconds then, but I heard he told the story differently later on.
I truly regret using that curse on you in the Department of Mysteries. My colleague has read about your possible romantic entanglement with a Weasley. As he has helped treating you he urged me to write to you as the curse can cause problems with conceiving. Please forgive me if we are overstepping personal bounds here. A regime of specialised potions for preparation and the counterspell `yaswa leetsheat´ sung three times in an ascending minor key should do the trick. Be sure to practise it on cuts caused by my friend's signature cutting spell.
I wish you a good life.
A.J.D.
Granger,
If you are indeed set on throwing your considerable mind away for popping out a redheaded Quidditch team you need to treat yourself with the following potions. If you haven't slackened too much in your potions work you should be well able to brew them yourself but be sure to use only the best ingredients. Go to Culpepper's Apothecary on the corner of Knockturne Alley and ask for Guild-quality items. For the plants only trust Longbottom. (You may cackle at this point of this ridiculous letter. Buy him a pint for offing darling Nagini.)
Do what you have to do.
S.T.S.
By now Hermione was openly crying. Snape was really alive and obviously his usual cranky self. Well aware that the short paragraph of spiky hand offered her two huge compliments she read through the recipes following. They were a challenge but certainly doable. Wherever the two wizards were their information, the Daily Prophet, was woefully out of date. Her romance with Ron following their kiss after the battle had been shortlived. The youngest Weasley son had not understood her need to stay in Australia with her parents. Mr and Mrs Granger had been very angry with their daughter. At the moment they were yet undecided whether to return to Britain or stay in Australia. Living at Grimmauld Place with Harry and Ginny was convenient for Hermione but since Ronald was a frequent guest things were fraught with tension. On some level he did understand that they were not truly compatible as a couple but too often for the young witch's comfort did he lash out at her, accusing her of not supporting him and his family after Fred's death. Harry got caught in the middle while Ginny was openly siding with her brother. Hermione still had a week to decide whether to start training at the ministry of magic's law department or go to the Sorbonne's wizarding university for studying magical theory. The latter was looking better and better and may well be the only way to salvage some kind of friendship with Ron.
