As Black as Black
Chapter One, Letter from Dr. Blackthorn
It was an unusually cold night for the summer. Harry felt that the dark storm clouds looming over the horizon mirrored his mood perfectly. Just as they threatened to rain down upon the countryside, Harry's feelings threatened to pour out of him as if from a large goblet. He tried not to think about it though.
It had been only two weeks since returning from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Harry had already finished all of his over-the- summer work, which was quite different then the situation that he had faced at school, where homework threatened to strangle the poor boy.
This left Harry, above all else, extremely bored. He had nothing to do at all but to sit there and wait, now that all of his work had finished. Harry wasn't sure where exactly this spell of boredom would take him. If it had been strong enough to force him into finishing all of his work early, then what other strange things could it call about in his behavior?
As Harry sat there in his boredom, his thoughts had returned to reviewing his work in his mind yet again. It seemed to be the only thing that Harry could do to keep himself busy, and it scared him how many times he went over his various essays inside his head, worrying if he had done them right, or if any of his facts were incorrect. Hermione had assured him that everything was correct when he sent them all to her by owl for revision, but Harry was still feeling on edge about it all. Harry worried about what his boredom would drive his thoughts to if he could not keep himself busy. He dreaded the thought of thinking again about his.loss. So he again went over the papers, rereading them several times within his head.
It began to rain slowly outside as he was about half way through his Charms essay. Trying again to avoid thinking about his year before, Harry only gave the rain the slightest thought as he continued to go over his essay.
Harry's essay in Charms was about transportation charms. Charms similar to apparation and summoning spells. Harry found the information only slightly interesting, however. He had always liked the idea of flying much more then the idea of 'poofing' somewhere instantly. He wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was the feel of the wind in your hair as you flew about? Or perhaps it was more about the actual feeling of flying? Harry just wasn't sure.
The second essay he went over was his rather annoying potions essay. He had been asked by Professor Snape to go over the effect of 'dellis' root on the human mind, and as Harry researched it, he found that it was a root used to help Vampires control their need to feed on blood, or at least that was it's only real purpose. Harry had noted in his essay that it could also be used to create a minor elixir that could help enchant the minds of wild creatures, though it was not commonly used because there were more potent spells that had the same effects.
Harry did not like writing that essay one little bit. In fact, if it served any use to him at all, it was merely to keep his mind off.things. As more rain began to pour outside, and thunder began to crash in the distance however, Harry was jarred from his thoughts about his essays, and his attention turned to the cool night outside his window.
As Harry slowly lifted himself off his bed, and walked over to the window, a fierce clap of thunder set off in the distance. Harry suspected that the storm had been the product of opposing fronts off in the north. He had heard about the fronts only hours before on the mid day news. Harry remembered that the weathercasters on the television had said that these powerful fronts were strange because they had come up almost out of nowhere. Harry was glad however, for this thunderstorm would keep him awake for a bit longer and he could avoid reliving many of his past hardships in his dreams. Harry wondered how long this storm would last because it was only eight in the evening, and Harry had yet even to be called down for dinner.
Harry scoffed at the thought as he leaned his head out a bit of the window. He was sure that his aunt would not supply him with much good food to eat anyway, as they themselves; the Dursleys would eat most of the food and leave him mere scraps. Harry thought it was a mere wonder that he didn't look like an anorexic over the summer.
Knowing why he had to return to this wretched home year after year helped Harry a lot in dealing with it. Knowing that here and only here he was safe from Voldemort and his minions had it a lot more possible for Harry to come to terms with the fact that at least he was miserable for a reason. There were worse things, correct? He could have been left in Umbridge's care for the duration of the summer holiday!
Harry shuddered at the thought, and then laughed at how stupid it sounded. Harry smiled to himself, recalling an article he had read in the Daily Prophet only a week before. In this article, he had learned that news of what Umbridge had broken out to the wizarding world. This meaning they all knew that she was the one that had send the dementors against Harry and forced him to break so many sacred wizard laws. The people were so furious with the ministry for being unable to control the dementors, that the minister, Fudge, had been forced to send her to the now wizard guarded Azkaban for six years. Too bad she would never have to face the effects of dementors full force, Harry thought.
As Harry turned back into his room, the rain began to fall even harder outside. Soon, he sat back down on his bed and began to look over other things. His thoughts quickly turned to his O.W.L results that he had received only recently. Harry began to beam with pride at himself in the mirror. Thought it didn't say by how much, in Harry results letter had mentioned that out of all of the Defense Against the Dark Arts tests that year, Harry had scored the highest. He had also done very well in Charms, which had also surprised him greatly. After all he had managed four OWLs total, which was rather well for him. After mentioning this to Hermione and Ron, they had both been very happy for him, and Mrs. Weasley herself had sent Harry a letter congratulating him on his results, and his full marks in DADA.
A particularly loud clap of thunder nearby however soon shattered Harry's moment of pride, and was followed by a flash of intense lightning. Harry had been caught off guard by the sound and jumped to his feet in momentary fright.
Realizing that it was only thunder and lightning, Harry soon gave a sigh of relief, and scolded himself mentally for being so edgy. However, the momentary silence that fallowed after the thunder was soon broken was there was another loud noise. Someone was coming up the steps outside. Harry scurried to put his wizarding things back into his trunk so that he would not be found using them and scolded for it. Lucky for him, he had managed to put most of it away before the door to his room opened and his Uncle Vernon walked in. As he walked in Harry pretended to be asleep as to not be yelled at if Vernon had come in annoyed, but at heart he knew this would do little for him if his uncle had really wanted to yell at him.
"I know you're awake, boy," His uncle said walking into the center of his room. When he got there, he took one of Harry's laying-about garments and threw it at him.
"Come downstairs boy, it is time for the evening meal." Vernon said with a sound of disgust to his voice as he walked about out of Harry's room leaving the door open. Harry, after a moment or two, got up to follow. He tried to make himself look groggy as he walked down stairs, but sadly he could do little to make it look believable.
As he immerged in the dinning room only moments later he instantly noticed that they were all whispering to themselves, and as soon as he walked in, they all stopped. As Harry sat down he noticed that Dudley snickered for a moment to himself, as he looked back at his plate. Giving off an annoyed growl in Dudley's direction, Harry looked down at his plate. He saw there a small piece of stale bread, some melted butter, and a small pile of peas. As he looked over at the other's plates he saw that they bore chicken, beats, and a hearty portion of mixed vegetables.
"This is it?" Harry asked, sounding very annoyed, but in no way shocked.
"Well you understand of course," his Aunt, Petunia said, "It was a rather small chicken, and I didn't want to have to spend the money for a full grown one."
"Yes, of course," His uncle Vernon chimed in, "You don't see us as rich do you?"
Harry sighed a bit in defeat as he began to eat his scraps. Even if he had the energy to argue with his uncle and aunt, Harry knew he wouldn't win. He thought it best just to go along and eat what he had gotten. After all, how much could a soon to be sixteen year old need to eat?
As Harry ate, he noticed that the whispering continued, and it had been just soft enough that he was unable to hear what was being said. As Harry looked from his plate across the table, he noticed his aunt and uncle arguing almost silently. Harry wondered what it could be this time but his thoughts were interrupted when Vernon noticed his staring.
"What are you looking at boy?" He asked, scornfully.
"Nothing Sir." Harry said through gritted teeth, as he looked back down at his plate. Harry noticed that as he tried to force his anger out of his head, only more whispering came, and soon it was followed by a very light snicker from the three Dursleys on the other side of the table.
"What's so funny?" Harry asked, being very close to losing his cool.
His Uncle looked at him for a moment with a look of contempt in his eyes. The large man's round face twisted in thought, as he seemed to be considering taking a risk. He seemed to finally decide in moments.
"We were just talking about that mark on your forehead." He said, plainly. Harry looked at him in a rage. What right did they have to talk about his scar?
"What exactly about it?" Harry asked, desperately trying to keep in control of himself.
"We find it very strange," His aunt chimed in.
Harry couldn't see straight. Why had they taken a sudden interest in his past, his scar, and his parents? What about them interested them now and not before?
"We think it makes you look rather stupid." Vernon said.
"Yes, kind of like a circus foke, or maybe even a leper?" Petunia asked.
Harry was about to snap when it occurred to him. Their insults seemed rather weak and lame. They came out almost as if they were afraid to even say so, as they did. Harry smiled to himself mentally. Knowing that they were afraid of him was joy enough for Harry. He ignored them from that point on, eating his scraps silently.
The rest of their meal was passed in attempts to annoy Harry; however all they managed to do was amuse him. Harry didn't have the energy to argue with them, and the way they talked, trying to sound all smart, only made him laugh at them mentally.
As Harry walked up the stairs to his room after the evening meal, he heard the screech of an owl from inside his room. Upon hearing this Harry rushed up the stairs to find out what it was. Upon entry to his room he found two separate owls waiting for him. One was his own owl, Hedwig. As Harry looked at the owl more closely he noticed that she bore a letter for him. Harry became excited for a moment, as he ran over to his owl. He had had little word from his friends all year and it would be wonderful to finally hear from them.
As Harry took the note from the owl's leg and patted her on the head, he noticed that the letter was from not Ron or Hermione, but rather it was from someone whose name he didn't really recognize. The naming on the letter read that it was from a 'Dr. Robert Blackthorn, First Office, Stanford Collage of Magic, California' Harry was very curious as to who the person was, and was hesitant to open the letter in the first place, but curiosity finally prodded him enough.
Dear Harry Potter,
I'm sorry to intercept your owl like this. Mine had died due to age only recently and I have not yet been able to bring myself to buy another. When your owl crossed my summer home, I thought that it would be best I sent the letter along with it. The letter from your friend is on the other leg.
Harry had not seen it before, but as he looked at the other leg, he noticed that there was another message there as the letter from Dr. Blackthorn had said. As Harry took a moment to read the heading of the letter he saw that it was from both Ron and Hermione, who as it seemed were in the same place. After taking a moment to look at the letter heading, Harry turned back to the letter he had in hand.
I am writing for two reasons. The first one being is that as you may or may not already know, I have been offered, (and accepted) the opportunity to teach the Defense Against Dark Arts lessons at your school. In the letter that offered me the job, Professor Dumbledore told me that you had hosted lessons on the subject last year when you all realized that (all meaning the students that attended) that you were receiving inadequate lessons at the time. Seeing as you are currently the only one with information on what the students do or do not know, I was wondering if you could come by my office your first day and detail me on what the students in general already know, and what it was that you covered with them during your D.A (Dumbledore's Army) sessions in your fifth year. Knowing these things would make it much easier for me to plan the most effective and most informing lessons for you all this year.
As Harry read the first portion of the letter he was a bit surprised to see that this 'Dr. Blackthorn' already knew so much about his activities of the last year. It had also surprised him the Dumbledore knew so much about them. Harry himself had not actually told Dumbledore much about the D.A, or any of the other actions he had taken the year before. Then again, there was hiding nothing from Dumbledore if he knew what to look for. Harry knew that Dumbledore had been aware of the D.A, and had guessed that he had eventually found out all he could about it as soon as term had ended and he had come back out of hiding. Noticing that his attention had strayed from the letter, Harry turned back to it and began to read the next paragraph.
The second issue is more of a personal matter. You don't have to do it if you don't want to, though it would help me out greatly if you did. As I have come to learn, between you, Ms. Hermione Granger, and Mr. Ronald Weasley there has developed a bond of friendship and loyalty unlike any other in the school. You see, I have someone who would benefit extremely from being exposed touch a bond.
You see, my son Azul will also be coming with me when I come to teach at your school. He will be attending, in the same class year as you. He is a wonderful boy really, but is in a rather constant dark mood. I am thinking that being exposed to your kind of friendship would do wonders for his attitude and outlook on life. I am not asking you or your friends to befriend him, but rather if you would just show him some compassion once and a while. He has never had very many friends and I think that that is not good for him. I am just asking you to say hello to him once and a while, of perhaps just show him a friendly smile. I am going to admit that I was never much of a father, and when his mother died he seemed to fall into misery. I want to finally do right by him and try and return him back to us. I don't know how other to do that however, other then try to insert some happiness into him. However, I fell he would respond to it better coming from someone his own age. So, again, If you want to, I wont force you, could you and your friends just try to show him that people can be happy again.
Well anyway, thank you for your time and patience Mr. Potter. I will see you the first day of term.
Best wishes,
Dr. Robert Blackthorn
Harry looked at the letter rather shocked. Never had anyone asked him something so straightforward. To further his shock, no one had ever asked him to do something quite like this. What could Mr. Blackthorn be thinking? How could he possibly ask Harry to 'smile' at someone he didn't know, someone who he could very well not like? It was a question that Harry could not really see himself answering.
Avoiding the topic inside his mind, Harry turned to the second letter, which had been from Ron. Harry remembered not hearing much from Ron over the summer, and even lest from Hermione, so he was overjoyed to read the letter. He was so happy that when he opened the letter and so little written he uttered a small pout without even knowing he did. However, upon reading the small paragraph, Harry was again overcome with momentary happiness.
Hello Harry! Hi, It Ron. I cant say much now, as I have to run, my I just wanted to tell you that we all managed to sway Dumbledore into allowing you to come over here to the Burrow For the remainder of the summer! We will be coming to pick you up in a Ministry car August 15, Tuesday. Sorry to run along, but I will see you then.
Goodbye Harry,
Ron
PS: Hermione sends her love!
Something troubled Harry about the letter for a moment however. If Dumbledore had been right enough to worry for Harry safety enough to force him to live with his horrid aunt and uncle all his life, then why now, of all the most dangerous times, had Dumbledore allowed him to leave the one place that Harry seemed to safe?
Still rather happy from the news that Harry had gotten from Ron, despite the strangeness about it, Harry hummed to himself as he opened Hedwig's cage. As the owl hopped inside Harry pet his pet on his head and fed her a small snack of owl treats that Harry had been smart enough to buy from Hogsmade on his last visit. Harry knew that his uncle would not let Hedwig out, even to hunt, so Harry had been prepared to feed her while he was at the Dursleys. Though she didn't take to kindly to the treats, she had accepted them as her only source of food over this summer. Sadly however these treats did little to quiet Hedwig and she still made a lot of the noise that got Harry in trouble. She was still incredible bored. Harry sighed, not being able to do much for the poor owl, as he turned his attention to the other owl that had arrived with a message for Harry.
As Harry looked at the owl more closely he saw that it was an owl from the Daily Prophet and it had his most recent issue. The owl looked at Harry and he seemed to be very annoyed that he had made him wait so long while Harry had read the other letters he had gotten. Harry quickly opened his trunk at the foot of the bed and found a few coins to pay the owl. As he did, the owl quickly dropped the wizarding paper from it's pouch and flew off. Harry had been about to open up the bundle and read the paper when a large knock came from the hallway.
"What is that screeching boy!?" Vernon yelled from outside the door to Harry's room. "You better get to bed now boy, because If I come in there and find you with any of the ruddy birds I will skin you alive!"
Upon hearing these words Harry threw the paper, still in the bundle into his trunk and rushed into his evening clothes. Moments later, Harry had turned the lights off in his room and he crawled under the covers. Harry had thought, mostly as a side note that August fifteenth was only in a three days. He fell asleep with the soothing thought that soon he would be in the burrow surrounded by friends that supported him yet again. Sadly, this did little to abate the nightmares that would soon hunt Harry in his slumber.
Chapter One, Letter from Dr. Blackthorn
It was an unusually cold night for the summer. Harry felt that the dark storm clouds looming over the horizon mirrored his mood perfectly. Just as they threatened to rain down upon the countryside, Harry's feelings threatened to pour out of him as if from a large goblet. He tried not to think about it though.
It had been only two weeks since returning from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Harry had already finished all of his over-the- summer work, which was quite different then the situation that he had faced at school, where homework threatened to strangle the poor boy.
This left Harry, above all else, extremely bored. He had nothing to do at all but to sit there and wait, now that all of his work had finished. Harry wasn't sure where exactly this spell of boredom would take him. If it had been strong enough to force him into finishing all of his work early, then what other strange things could it call about in his behavior?
As Harry sat there in his boredom, his thoughts had returned to reviewing his work in his mind yet again. It seemed to be the only thing that Harry could do to keep himself busy, and it scared him how many times he went over his various essays inside his head, worrying if he had done them right, or if any of his facts were incorrect. Hermione had assured him that everything was correct when he sent them all to her by owl for revision, but Harry was still feeling on edge about it all. Harry worried about what his boredom would drive his thoughts to if he could not keep himself busy. He dreaded the thought of thinking again about his.loss. So he again went over the papers, rereading them several times within his head.
It began to rain slowly outside as he was about half way through his Charms essay. Trying again to avoid thinking about his year before, Harry only gave the rain the slightest thought as he continued to go over his essay.
Harry's essay in Charms was about transportation charms. Charms similar to apparation and summoning spells. Harry found the information only slightly interesting, however. He had always liked the idea of flying much more then the idea of 'poofing' somewhere instantly. He wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was the feel of the wind in your hair as you flew about? Or perhaps it was more about the actual feeling of flying? Harry just wasn't sure.
The second essay he went over was his rather annoying potions essay. He had been asked by Professor Snape to go over the effect of 'dellis' root on the human mind, and as Harry researched it, he found that it was a root used to help Vampires control their need to feed on blood, or at least that was it's only real purpose. Harry had noted in his essay that it could also be used to create a minor elixir that could help enchant the minds of wild creatures, though it was not commonly used because there were more potent spells that had the same effects.
Harry did not like writing that essay one little bit. In fact, if it served any use to him at all, it was merely to keep his mind off.things. As more rain began to pour outside, and thunder began to crash in the distance however, Harry was jarred from his thoughts about his essays, and his attention turned to the cool night outside his window.
As Harry slowly lifted himself off his bed, and walked over to the window, a fierce clap of thunder set off in the distance. Harry suspected that the storm had been the product of opposing fronts off in the north. He had heard about the fronts only hours before on the mid day news. Harry remembered that the weathercasters on the television had said that these powerful fronts were strange because they had come up almost out of nowhere. Harry was glad however, for this thunderstorm would keep him awake for a bit longer and he could avoid reliving many of his past hardships in his dreams. Harry wondered how long this storm would last because it was only eight in the evening, and Harry had yet even to be called down for dinner.
Harry scoffed at the thought as he leaned his head out a bit of the window. He was sure that his aunt would not supply him with much good food to eat anyway, as they themselves; the Dursleys would eat most of the food and leave him mere scraps. Harry thought it was a mere wonder that he didn't look like an anorexic over the summer.
Knowing why he had to return to this wretched home year after year helped Harry a lot in dealing with it. Knowing that here and only here he was safe from Voldemort and his minions had it a lot more possible for Harry to come to terms with the fact that at least he was miserable for a reason. There were worse things, correct? He could have been left in Umbridge's care for the duration of the summer holiday!
Harry shuddered at the thought, and then laughed at how stupid it sounded. Harry smiled to himself, recalling an article he had read in the Daily Prophet only a week before. In this article, he had learned that news of what Umbridge had broken out to the wizarding world. This meaning they all knew that she was the one that had send the dementors against Harry and forced him to break so many sacred wizard laws. The people were so furious with the ministry for being unable to control the dementors, that the minister, Fudge, had been forced to send her to the now wizard guarded Azkaban for six years. Too bad she would never have to face the effects of dementors full force, Harry thought.
As Harry turned back into his room, the rain began to fall even harder outside. Soon, he sat back down on his bed and began to look over other things. His thoughts quickly turned to his O.W.L results that he had received only recently. Harry began to beam with pride at himself in the mirror. Thought it didn't say by how much, in Harry results letter had mentioned that out of all of the Defense Against the Dark Arts tests that year, Harry had scored the highest. He had also done very well in Charms, which had also surprised him greatly. After all he had managed four OWLs total, which was rather well for him. After mentioning this to Hermione and Ron, they had both been very happy for him, and Mrs. Weasley herself had sent Harry a letter congratulating him on his results, and his full marks in DADA.
A particularly loud clap of thunder nearby however soon shattered Harry's moment of pride, and was followed by a flash of intense lightning. Harry had been caught off guard by the sound and jumped to his feet in momentary fright.
Realizing that it was only thunder and lightning, Harry soon gave a sigh of relief, and scolded himself mentally for being so edgy. However, the momentary silence that fallowed after the thunder was soon broken was there was another loud noise. Someone was coming up the steps outside. Harry scurried to put his wizarding things back into his trunk so that he would not be found using them and scolded for it. Lucky for him, he had managed to put most of it away before the door to his room opened and his Uncle Vernon walked in. As he walked in Harry pretended to be asleep as to not be yelled at if Vernon had come in annoyed, but at heart he knew this would do little for him if his uncle had really wanted to yell at him.
"I know you're awake, boy," His uncle said walking into the center of his room. When he got there, he took one of Harry's laying-about garments and threw it at him.
"Come downstairs boy, it is time for the evening meal." Vernon said with a sound of disgust to his voice as he walked about out of Harry's room leaving the door open. Harry, after a moment or two, got up to follow. He tried to make himself look groggy as he walked down stairs, but sadly he could do little to make it look believable.
As he immerged in the dinning room only moments later he instantly noticed that they were all whispering to themselves, and as soon as he walked in, they all stopped. As Harry sat down he noticed that Dudley snickered for a moment to himself, as he looked back at his plate. Giving off an annoyed growl in Dudley's direction, Harry looked down at his plate. He saw there a small piece of stale bread, some melted butter, and a small pile of peas. As he looked over at the other's plates he saw that they bore chicken, beats, and a hearty portion of mixed vegetables.
"This is it?" Harry asked, sounding very annoyed, but in no way shocked.
"Well you understand of course," his Aunt, Petunia said, "It was a rather small chicken, and I didn't want to have to spend the money for a full grown one."
"Yes, of course," His uncle Vernon chimed in, "You don't see us as rich do you?"
Harry sighed a bit in defeat as he began to eat his scraps. Even if he had the energy to argue with his uncle and aunt, Harry knew he wouldn't win. He thought it best just to go along and eat what he had gotten. After all, how much could a soon to be sixteen year old need to eat?
As Harry ate, he noticed that the whispering continued, and it had been just soft enough that he was unable to hear what was being said. As Harry looked from his plate across the table, he noticed his aunt and uncle arguing almost silently. Harry wondered what it could be this time but his thoughts were interrupted when Vernon noticed his staring.
"What are you looking at boy?" He asked, scornfully.
"Nothing Sir." Harry said through gritted teeth, as he looked back down at his plate. Harry noticed that as he tried to force his anger out of his head, only more whispering came, and soon it was followed by a very light snicker from the three Dursleys on the other side of the table.
"What's so funny?" Harry asked, being very close to losing his cool.
His Uncle looked at him for a moment with a look of contempt in his eyes. The large man's round face twisted in thought, as he seemed to be considering taking a risk. He seemed to finally decide in moments.
"We were just talking about that mark on your forehead." He said, plainly. Harry looked at him in a rage. What right did they have to talk about his scar?
"What exactly about it?" Harry asked, desperately trying to keep in control of himself.
"We find it very strange," His aunt chimed in.
Harry couldn't see straight. Why had they taken a sudden interest in his past, his scar, and his parents? What about them interested them now and not before?
"We think it makes you look rather stupid." Vernon said.
"Yes, kind of like a circus foke, or maybe even a leper?" Petunia asked.
Harry was about to snap when it occurred to him. Their insults seemed rather weak and lame. They came out almost as if they were afraid to even say so, as they did. Harry smiled to himself mentally. Knowing that they were afraid of him was joy enough for Harry. He ignored them from that point on, eating his scraps silently.
The rest of their meal was passed in attempts to annoy Harry; however all they managed to do was amuse him. Harry didn't have the energy to argue with them, and the way they talked, trying to sound all smart, only made him laugh at them mentally.
As Harry walked up the stairs to his room after the evening meal, he heard the screech of an owl from inside his room. Upon hearing this Harry rushed up the stairs to find out what it was. Upon entry to his room he found two separate owls waiting for him. One was his own owl, Hedwig. As Harry looked at the owl more closely he noticed that she bore a letter for him. Harry became excited for a moment, as he ran over to his owl. He had had little word from his friends all year and it would be wonderful to finally hear from them.
As Harry took the note from the owl's leg and patted her on the head, he noticed that the letter was from not Ron or Hermione, but rather it was from someone whose name he didn't really recognize. The naming on the letter read that it was from a 'Dr. Robert Blackthorn, First Office, Stanford Collage of Magic, California' Harry was very curious as to who the person was, and was hesitant to open the letter in the first place, but curiosity finally prodded him enough.
Dear Harry Potter,
I'm sorry to intercept your owl like this. Mine had died due to age only recently and I have not yet been able to bring myself to buy another. When your owl crossed my summer home, I thought that it would be best I sent the letter along with it. The letter from your friend is on the other leg.
Harry had not seen it before, but as he looked at the other leg, he noticed that there was another message there as the letter from Dr. Blackthorn had said. As Harry took a moment to read the heading of the letter he saw that it was from both Ron and Hermione, who as it seemed were in the same place. After taking a moment to look at the letter heading, Harry turned back to the letter he had in hand.
I am writing for two reasons. The first one being is that as you may or may not already know, I have been offered, (and accepted) the opportunity to teach the Defense Against Dark Arts lessons at your school. In the letter that offered me the job, Professor Dumbledore told me that you had hosted lessons on the subject last year when you all realized that (all meaning the students that attended) that you were receiving inadequate lessons at the time. Seeing as you are currently the only one with information on what the students do or do not know, I was wondering if you could come by my office your first day and detail me on what the students in general already know, and what it was that you covered with them during your D.A (Dumbledore's Army) sessions in your fifth year. Knowing these things would make it much easier for me to plan the most effective and most informing lessons for you all this year.
As Harry read the first portion of the letter he was a bit surprised to see that this 'Dr. Blackthorn' already knew so much about his activities of the last year. It had also surprised him the Dumbledore knew so much about them. Harry himself had not actually told Dumbledore much about the D.A, or any of the other actions he had taken the year before. Then again, there was hiding nothing from Dumbledore if he knew what to look for. Harry knew that Dumbledore had been aware of the D.A, and had guessed that he had eventually found out all he could about it as soon as term had ended and he had come back out of hiding. Noticing that his attention had strayed from the letter, Harry turned back to it and began to read the next paragraph.
The second issue is more of a personal matter. You don't have to do it if you don't want to, though it would help me out greatly if you did. As I have come to learn, between you, Ms. Hermione Granger, and Mr. Ronald Weasley there has developed a bond of friendship and loyalty unlike any other in the school. You see, I have someone who would benefit extremely from being exposed touch a bond.
You see, my son Azul will also be coming with me when I come to teach at your school. He will be attending, in the same class year as you. He is a wonderful boy really, but is in a rather constant dark mood. I am thinking that being exposed to your kind of friendship would do wonders for his attitude and outlook on life. I am not asking you or your friends to befriend him, but rather if you would just show him some compassion once and a while. He has never had very many friends and I think that that is not good for him. I am just asking you to say hello to him once and a while, of perhaps just show him a friendly smile. I am going to admit that I was never much of a father, and when his mother died he seemed to fall into misery. I want to finally do right by him and try and return him back to us. I don't know how other to do that however, other then try to insert some happiness into him. However, I fell he would respond to it better coming from someone his own age. So, again, If you want to, I wont force you, could you and your friends just try to show him that people can be happy again.
Well anyway, thank you for your time and patience Mr. Potter. I will see you the first day of term.
Best wishes,
Dr. Robert Blackthorn
Harry looked at the letter rather shocked. Never had anyone asked him something so straightforward. To further his shock, no one had ever asked him to do something quite like this. What could Mr. Blackthorn be thinking? How could he possibly ask Harry to 'smile' at someone he didn't know, someone who he could very well not like? It was a question that Harry could not really see himself answering.
Avoiding the topic inside his mind, Harry turned to the second letter, which had been from Ron. Harry remembered not hearing much from Ron over the summer, and even lest from Hermione, so he was overjoyed to read the letter. He was so happy that when he opened the letter and so little written he uttered a small pout without even knowing he did. However, upon reading the small paragraph, Harry was again overcome with momentary happiness.
Hello Harry! Hi, It Ron. I cant say much now, as I have to run, my I just wanted to tell you that we all managed to sway Dumbledore into allowing you to come over here to the Burrow For the remainder of the summer! We will be coming to pick you up in a Ministry car August 15, Tuesday. Sorry to run along, but I will see you then.
Goodbye Harry,
Ron
PS: Hermione sends her love!
Something troubled Harry about the letter for a moment however. If Dumbledore had been right enough to worry for Harry safety enough to force him to live with his horrid aunt and uncle all his life, then why now, of all the most dangerous times, had Dumbledore allowed him to leave the one place that Harry seemed to safe?
Still rather happy from the news that Harry had gotten from Ron, despite the strangeness about it, Harry hummed to himself as he opened Hedwig's cage. As the owl hopped inside Harry pet his pet on his head and fed her a small snack of owl treats that Harry had been smart enough to buy from Hogsmade on his last visit. Harry knew that his uncle would not let Hedwig out, even to hunt, so Harry had been prepared to feed her while he was at the Dursleys. Though she didn't take to kindly to the treats, she had accepted them as her only source of food over this summer. Sadly however these treats did little to quiet Hedwig and she still made a lot of the noise that got Harry in trouble. She was still incredible bored. Harry sighed, not being able to do much for the poor owl, as he turned his attention to the other owl that had arrived with a message for Harry.
As Harry looked at the owl more closely he saw that it was an owl from the Daily Prophet and it had his most recent issue. The owl looked at Harry and he seemed to be very annoyed that he had made him wait so long while Harry had read the other letters he had gotten. Harry quickly opened his trunk at the foot of the bed and found a few coins to pay the owl. As he did, the owl quickly dropped the wizarding paper from it's pouch and flew off. Harry had been about to open up the bundle and read the paper when a large knock came from the hallway.
"What is that screeching boy!?" Vernon yelled from outside the door to Harry's room. "You better get to bed now boy, because If I come in there and find you with any of the ruddy birds I will skin you alive!"
Upon hearing these words Harry threw the paper, still in the bundle into his trunk and rushed into his evening clothes. Moments later, Harry had turned the lights off in his room and he crawled under the covers. Harry had thought, mostly as a side note that August fifteenth was only in a three days. He fell asleep with the soothing thought that soon he would be in the burrow surrounded by friends that supported him yet again. Sadly, this did little to abate the nightmares that would soon hunt Harry in his slumber.