Chapter Thirty-four
Letters
Dear Kerry,
I thought I'd better leave it a week to give me enough to say in this letter. The staff certainly are a bit more relaxed. I think I've learnt more spells and things in this week than I have in a normal week in term time. Most of the time is spent down in the dungeons. The Weasley twins have made the job harder, do you believe they flooded the potions lab! Snape came into the staff room dripping after he found out. They didn't bewitch the water properly, so it got into all the books. Luckily not much seems to have been damaged, but he's planning to give them a right earful if he meets them again.
We're getting on much better now, although there's still a sense of distance between us, but I'm fine with it. He's still got to teach me for another year, so I don't blame him. Fudge arrived a couple of days ago and he tried to apologise for the incident where Pettigrew had used polyjuice to turn into him. I stopped him from apologising, explained it wasn't his fault. He met with Dumbledore and then left that day.
Slatero, sorry, Quirrell has been offered a job next year! He's been very secretive about it, and I'm wondering if Moody will be going on a sabbatical, because Severus seems to look annoyed each time I mention anything to do with Defence Against the Dark Arts. We all know he wants the job instead of potions, it's just that Quirrell isn't exactly the best teacher for potions! I'll do my best to get it out of him before the end of the second week.
Talking of the second week, Severus has said briefly about going to London for a while once we're finished here. I know he's got his part to play with Voldermort and Dumbledore, and he's already vanished for a day, arriving back late and very weary. I wonder if he's trying to bump into Fred and George, because he's not going to forgive them for what happened.
Anyway, I'll have to send this now so the owl is safely through the storm before it breaks. I'll write again soon, hope to hear from you soon too,
Dear Draco,
Missing you loads, more than the others that is! It's very quiet here. I'm still helping Snape with the boring tasks of inventories and cleaning up the mess George and Fred Weasley made by flooding the potion lab. I don't know what it is with the staff, but I've had several of them trying to teach me charms or spells. It started with McGonagall trying to teach me how to add milk and sugar to my tea without a wand, crazy or what?!
I might be in London in the next few weeks, if you're going around that time too, we'll have to see if we can meet up. I have to deal with Snape's unspecified timetable of plans this summer. I won't be on the train to Hogwarts from King's Cross either, because I'll already be here no doubt, unless you carry out your promise of kidnap. I'm enclosing something I made with the left over Midas Mixture I had to make to repair a box. I hope it will remind you of something I used to have.
Sorry this letter is so short, but I wrote most of the things that happened in my previous letter a couple of days ago,
Love you lots,
Elixa
Xxx
I folded the parchment and placed it in an envelope, and then placed a less detailed and gold version of the pendant that was on the necklace that I had given to Dumbledore. I leant on the window edge as I tied the letter to the leg of the owl. I could see the storm clouds approaching, and cast a waterproofing spell on the letter and the owl, just as I had done with the previous one. As I let it go, the door behind me opened. I looked round and saw it was Severus.
"I did knock, but there was no answer." He said. I hadn't heard him, preoccupied with the letters. Something grey darted beside the end of his black robes. It disappeared behind my bed and then leapt up onto it.
"I do believe she belongs to you." The cat settled on my bed, giving a meow as it saw me.
"Acerbus!" I exclaimed. The cat rubbed against my hand as I reached out.
"Why call a cat bitter, gloomy and dark?" Snape asked, crossing over to the bed where I'd just sat down to pet the cat.
"My mother told me she named it after you." I informed him, looking from the cat to my uncle with a crooked smile.