Nothing belongs to me except the stuff that does

Nothing belongs to me except the stuff that does.

Chapter 9: The Mysterious Letter

Harry once again entered Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore was speaking to two first years that had bewitched their class's books to fall off their desks every ten minutes. He finished by telling them not to let it happen again. The two boys walked out of the office looking terrified. Harry approached Dumbledore's desk.

"Back again?" said Dumbledore. He smiled, but Harry couldn't help noticing that he looked worried.

"Yeah, I need to discuss something about Cho and Leslie's deaths," said Harry.

"What seems to be the trouble?" asked Dumbledore patiently.

"Yesterday at the feast, I noticed that Cho and Leslie received a letter. When they got it, they looked excited. Just a few minutes ago I overheard three girls from Ravenclaw talking. They said that Cho and Leslie went into the forest because of a letter they got yesterday. Then one of the girls said she heard that I wrote it!"

Dumbledore looked at him sympathetically. "Harry, I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding. People are jealous of you. They are jealous of all the attention you get from being 'Harry Potter, the boy who lived'. Some people are so jealous that they'd love to see you get in trouble and make everyone turn against you. You're a strong kid though. You know you didn't write that letter and if you just keep telling yourself that, nothing they say will make you feel any less. Now, about this letter, You don't know anymore details on it?"

"No."

"I wonder if we could find it," said Dumbledore thoughtfully. "Later, I'll search the girls' dorms and even check in the forest to see if I can find it." Just that moment, Ron came racing through the door.

"Malfoy," he said. "He's the one that's telling everyone you wrote the letter. I overheard him telling a group of Hufflepuffs." Harry groaned. He should have known it would have been Draco. He glanced at Dumbledore.

"I will have a word with Mr. Malfoy later, and we'll clear up this whole rumor soon," said Dumbledore. He glanced at his watch. "We'd better be off. You two have Defense Against The Dark Arts next and I'm your teacher!"

They walked to class with Dumbledore. When they got there, most of the class had already arrived. Ron and Harry took the two empty seats next to Hermione.

"Welcome, class," said Dumbledore. "It's been years since I've taught a class here at Hogwarts, but I'm glad to be doing it again."

Instantly people's hands shot into the air. They had all kinds of questions for Dumbledore, anything from the murder, to Voldemort, to what kinds of powers Dumbledore had. Harry guessed that it wasn't often that you got to be able to speak to such a powerful wizard. Dumbledore kindly addressed all of their questions, which took the entire class period. When class ended everyone got up to leave, but Dumbledore held Harry, Ron and Hermione back.

"I am going to look for that letter now," he said. "It won't take long. If you would like, you may go wait in my office. I will be back there as soon as I find anything." Harry, Ron and Hermione nodded and headed for the office. They no sooner arrived and sat down when Dumbledore returned with a piece of paper in his hand.

"I believe I found it," he told them.

"Well," said Harry. "What does it say?" The paper appeared blank. Dumbledore placed his wand against it and words began to appear.

You are not the intended recipient of this letter. Go away now or you will be cursed forever.

Harry looked at Dumbledore, who made a face.

"Cursed forever, huh?" he laughed. "I think I can get this letter to reveal itself. Just hold on a minute." He went into another room for a few seconds and emerged with the letter. "There we go," he said. Words began appearing on the letter once again.

Cho Chang and Leslie Guthrie,

Someone would like to see you in the forbidden forest this evening at ten o' clock. Please report there by no later than nine fifty. You will be quite surprised.

Sincerely,

Professor Dumbledore

Their faces fell as the letter finished writing. Someone had tricked them into thinking that Dumbledore wanted them to go there. Dumbledore finally spoke.

"I can't believe it," he said. "I just can't believe it. They thought I wanted them to go there."

"Someone signed your name to the letter! Who would do something so—" Hermione began.

"Voldemort," said Harry, Ron and Dumbledore with exasperation.

"I'll take care of this," said Dumbledore. "You three run along and enjoy your free period and lunch. Looks like I'll have to speak to the students again." He sighed. Harry, Ron, and Hermione left.

"I feel bad for Dumbledore," said Hermione, as they headed back to the common room.

"Yeah," agreed Harry. "Things are getting really bad around here, huh?"

"They could get a lot worse," said Ron. "My dad has seen a lot of really bad things happening lately."

"Too bad they banned the Daily Prophet from Hogwarts after last year," said Hermione. "Now we can't find out what's going on."

"Well at least now we don't have to put up with Rita Skeeter," said Harry, remembering the interviews and the horrible stories she'd written about everyone. There was hardly anyone in the common room when they arrived. Most people had classes. They noticed Neville Longbottom sitting in the far corner of the room.

"Hi Neville," said Hermione. Neville jumped and quickly stuffed something into his robes.

"Oh, hi Hermione," he said. "I was just –uh—sitting here admiring the fireplace," he said motioning towards it. "It's lovely, huh?" Ron and Harry exchanged glances.

"Yeah, great Neville," said Hermione also looking at Ron and Harry. "We're going to go over here now. See you." They went to the far side of the room.

"He was definitely hiding something," said Ron, quietly.

"Yeah," agreed Harry. "I wonder what it was?"

"It's Neville," said Hermione. "It could have been anything. Probably just some baby toy his grandmother sent him that he was embarrassed of."

"You're probably right," agreed Harry. Neville's grandmother was always treating him like he was a little kid, and honestly he needed to be treated that way. He was the most accident-prone kid that Harry had ever seen. He'd even lost that finger over the summer.

They headed off for lunch. Everyone was seated and Harry noticed that Neville hadn't come. He wondered where he would have went. Dumbledore spoke again. It was getting to be very common now. He told them about the letter and that if they received any letters signed from Dumbledore, they should take them to him immediately and never follow any directions the letters say. He also made very clear that Harry had not written the letter and anyone continuing such rumors would be expelled. Draco Malfoy's face turned slightly red.

The rest of the day went by like normal. Harry and Ron even slept through Divinations after Professor Trelawney went through her usual ritual of telling Harry that he was going to die. Dinner was the first meal that Dumbledore didn't have to speak about the dangers in school. After dinner they went to bed. Harry lay awake thinking. For the first time since Cho had died, he felt tears falling down his cheeks. He would never see her again. He hadn't really had time to think about that before then, but now he realized the truth. Finally, he fell asleep.