Disclaimer: Only the plot, which isn't that great, belongs to me. The rest belongs to J. K. Rowling. She created it, and I'm just messing around with her toys.
Correspondence
Summary: Harry isn't getting his letters, so he decided to see if Voldemort is intercepting them. A surprising thing happens- Harry starts to make a friendship where he shouldn't. After all, he does have to kill the guy. Right? Mostly told in the form of letters.
Chapter Four- We're Going To Be Pranksters!
Last Time
Tom-
Ginny seems to be fine, although she is working very hard at Occulmency. She said that Professor Snape was looking at her funny. DO you think that he could have been trying to get into her head? She also mentioned that she felt a slight brush against her 'fence', so could he have been trying to get in?
Thank you for adding to the wards at Ginny's and mine houses. I'm grateful for it. Have you ever talked to my mum? She might want to get to know her brother. She finally wrote back. She said something about not being sure how my father would take the news of being a witch. She didn't want children for fear that they'd be magical, but she had me, and now my dad knows about her. HE seems to be taking it well.
This is strange. That last time I wrote to a Tom he ended up possessing me. Could you not do that? I think that I can understand parseltongue because of that. Harry and Hermione were talking in it, and I could understand bits of it. Ron overheard them, and now he's trying to get Hermione to tell him why she knows it. I think he thinks Harry taught it to her.
-Harry, Hermione and Ginny
Harry-
I wouldn't put it past Severus to try and get into her head. It sounds as if it would be the type of thing that he would do. I appear to be running out of those muggle sweets, do you think that you could get me some more? Don't forget, you three have to keep Draco from going to his dorm tonight. Trap him in the room of requirement. Or something.
-Tom
Hermione-
You're welcome for the wards. What's an uncle to do when his followers might be trying to kill his sister? I left her a note, and I'll see how she responds. She might owl me, or something else. Maybe I should visit her. How do you think she would react to a visit from am mostly evil Dark Lord?
-Tom
Ginny-
I won't try and possess you. It's not what friends do. Try and help Harry and Hermione keep Draco from going down to his dorms. They are quite angry with him because he declared his preference for the light. I knew he felt that way, and am rather grateful that Lucius didn't force him to join. I hate having someone I know join who already won't be loyal to me. Work harder on your Occulmency, and don't make eye contact with Severus.
-Tom
Tom-
We did fine and rescued Draco. We sort of trapped him in the room of requirement and then told him that we had heard that the Slytherins were planning to attack him. He didn't believe us at first, but after Harry told him that we wouldn't let an ally get hurt, he finally believed him.
IT took him forever to believe me! Not to mention he seemed to be starting at Hermione's breasts. Again. He was doing that at dinner, but I noticed because I was watching the Slytherins. Ginny might have noticed too, but she didn't say anything.
I did notice, Hermione's the only on who didn't. Actually, Ron didn't either, but he's not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. Draco is sleeping and he has decided to try to sleep up here most of the time. We decided that it would be safer. Harry just left to sneak down to the Slytherin dorms to try and get his stuff. I hope that he doesn't get hurt.
I got Draco's things, and he situated himself in the room of requirement, and now we're talking about finding somewhere Draco can sleep more permanently. After all, he can't always sleep in he room of requirement.
-Hermione, Harry, and Ginny
Hermione-
Thank you for saving Draco. I was a bit worried about him, as I certainly don't want him being killed for which side he has chosen in this war. A heads up, Wormtail has left, and when I could last sense him, he was heading towards Hogwarts. Perhaps Harry should have a dream? I'll tell him, but you should tell him too.
-Tom
Harry-
Glad you go him to believe you. Maybe Draco and Hermione could get together if she and Ron break up? On a different note, Wormtail left, and last that I sensed him, he was heading towards Hogwarts. Be on the lookout, perhaps you could at least get Sirius' name cleared, and my informant in the Department of Mysteries says they are closer to finding out how to people out of the veil.
-Tom
Ginny-
Its a good thing Hermione didn't notice. Harry successfully got Draco's things? There's a room off of the Chamber of Secrets, and it has a staircase that ends up behind a portrait near the North Tower. Draco could stay there. He would have to get in through the bathroom first, and then set the password from behind the portrait. Someone should cast a few notice-me-not charms on the area too. Hermione should be able to do all of this. Brightest bulb on the Christmas tree?
-Tom
Tom-
We've got Draco situated down there. We cleaned it up a bit, and Harry and Draco had a bit of fun flying their brooms around in it. It's not one room, it an apartment. There are four rooms down there, but we only fixed up one of them. Draco invited us to live down there with him, but we declined for now. Although Harry said he might go down there a few times a week, to keep Draco company. Did you know that there is nearly nine thousand steps in that staircase? Ginny says that it's a muggle phrase, something a musician she listens to came up with.
Harry, Hermione, and Ginny
Harry, Hermione, and Ginny-
Yes, I knew that. There are eight thousand, seven hundred, eighty-eight steps. I should know. I counted them nearly every time I went up them. There actually two more apartments, but I think one of the caved in, and then one of them is on the other side of an underground river. It connects to the harbor that you used in your first year.
-Tom
Tom-
You've managed to surprise Hermione. You shall be commended. We found the river, and crossed it, and we found the second set of apartments. Hermione said that there were once warming spell on the rock, but they had almost worn off. Exploring them, we found a library, with a very old copy of Hogwarts, a history that mentioned the rooms we were in. Actually, we're still here. Apparently the Chamber of Secrets is not covered in the schools wards, so it is possible to apparate and disparate into them, but Salazar placed wards in them. You could only get in if you had honest intent. That cheered Hermione up a little. The house elves can get down here, because we summoned Dobby, and he brought us some food and blankets. I think, I might ask Dumbledore if we could live down here after Hogwarts.
-Harry, Hermione, and Ginny
Harry, Hermione, and Ginny-
You were right, I apparated in there to see if I could, and I could, but than I thought about killing Dumbledore, and the wards chucked me back out. I went back in, and I fixed a few things up for you. There's a box of cookies, the house-elf is getting used to making normal ones again, thank Merlin. And a few pallets, they are fine for one nights rest, but not recommended for a few. They tend to get uncomfortable after a while. I hope that you didn't get into too much trouble for being out of bounds? Remember, if you tell Dumbledore, you'll have to tell him how you found them, and Harry, you're the only person who's been down there since I last opened it.
-Tom
Tom-
We didn't get caught. We're down here again, setting it up so we could live here. Draco flooed back home and got books on apparating and other interesting things. Harry's decided to stay down here for the summer, along with Draco. They're trying to set up an illegal floo connection. In Gryffindor tower, we found and empty dorm that had six beds in it. Consequentially, one of them is now missing.
In the set that Harry's decided for his rooms, there is one room that appears to be an old potions lab, and one that looks like might have been a kitchen. Dobby the house elf took one look at it and decided to fix it up. There is a room that will work for a sitting room, and has some repaired furniture from various common rooms in it, and it's actually turned out quite nice. Hedwig and a few owls from the owlery have taken up residence here, so Harry should be able to write back and forth, because, after all, Hedwig is a noticeable owl.
Draco also has a room at Harry's and Harry has a room at Draco's, because apparently, the pathways are dark at night. We've all become very proficient at warming charms. Ron got very angry one night when we all came back just before curfew. He's noticed that Draco is missing and thinks that Hermione is meeting him, and Harry and I are together, but not telling anyone. If only he knew the truth.
Do you want to let Draco in on the secret, or no?
-Harry, Hermione, and Ginny
Harry, Hermione, and Ginny-
I'd rather if you didn't let Draco in on the secret. I popped over to the rooms and you three have been doing a very nice job at fixing them up. I came across a miniature pair of dragons, and they seem to like people. They accompanied me, and they wouldn't leave your rooms. I think they remind them of the caves they were from. I also left a few hangings to help keep the room warm in the winter. They're old ones that my father had, so they are rather muggle orientated, but I repaired most of the damage. I am sorry about Ron, why don't you show him the rooms that you have been working on? Of course he might meet up with Draco, I nearly did. But, If Ron thinks of injuring Draco, the wards will send him out. Which would be most interesting. I wonder where he would reappear.
-Tom
Tom-
Thank you for the hangings, Hermione did something to them, and now they move. Ginny is looking at an owl order catalogue for more things to go on the walls. Halloween is in a week or so, are you planning anything for then, or have you decided to quit killing? Or just to cut down on killing?
Today Dumbledore pulled Ginny up into his office to try and find out where we had been disappearing to, but she's become very good at occulmency. We're considering staying down here for the holidays. Harry has spent a few nights down here, and he says I is very nice, the sound of the river in the distance is quite comforting. Do you know any spells to re-enforce the ceiling? I haven't been able to find any in the library.
Draco had been coming 'round a lot, and is wondering where the hangings came from. I'm wondering if you know of any portraits of the Potters? I want to surprise Harry for Christmas.
Harry, Hermione, and Ginny
Harry and Hermione-
I don't think I'll be doing anything this Halloween. I like to see the order squirm. I'm not sure if I want to stay the Dark Lord. It's an awful lot of work, and I have a family. And well, I mainly set out to kill all muggles because of my dad. But looking at it from his point of view, if I was a muggle, and I had found out that my beloved was something I viewed as evil, I might leave them too. What do you think. I've been doing this for years and I haven't won. Perhaps I should just quit? I want to watch my niece grow up and have children of her own.
By that way, my informant says that the project with the veil is going well.
-Tom
Ginny-
There was one at Godric's Hollow, but I'm not sure if it was destroyed, would you like me to go and check?
-Tom
Tom-
So, are you thinking of quitting? I find that strangely reassuring. I'm sure that the world will miss you, but you could always come and restore the third set of rooms. Draco, you and I should be able to get along capitally. I'll let you ponder it. I would like to say, though, if you did go with your former plans of kill all muggles, mudbloods, and muggle-borns, you'd have to commit suicide after you won. Just a little thought.
Yeah, I'd like it if you could go and do that for me. It would be nice.
What are you going to do for Ginny? Please don't be mad at Hermione for saying what she said. But it would be nice to quit, for some strange reason, I like writing to you, and I would hate it if you got yourself killed. But that's just the lousy opinion of the boy who lived.
Harry, Ginny, and Hermione
Harry, Hermione, and Ginny
I'm not quitting, I'm just going to be pursuing a more realistic goal. Complete domination over the United Kingdom. Do you think I'd make a photogenic king? Actually, I'm kidding, I was thinking, maybe become more of a prankster. I don't think I could quit completely, I like having all of those articles written about me. Do you have any ideas? Lucius won't be pleased though. Hopefully he won't be too vocal about his displeasure. I wonder how long it will take for them to catch on that we've quit killing. On Halloween there will be a raid, but it will be pranks. Harmless things, like turning muggles into the animal the best fits their personality.
Hermione, before you start complaining, we can't go completely good all at once. And, Ginny? I found it, and you should get it November second. Are you going to go to the Halloween Ball? I heard that it will be good.
-Tom
Tom-
We're not going, we're using the opportunity to look for a spell to re-enforce the ceiling. For some reason, we don't want a cave-in. Especially since we're going to have a slumber party down there this weekend. Ron will be there, and Draco's going to 'find' us. Wish us luck!
-Harry, Hermione, and Ginny
Harry, Hermione, and Ginny-
I meant to send this earlier, but it slipped my mind. I hope that it will help with the walls. Good luck with Ron. Remember the wards? He will be kicked out and not be able to find the place again. I had to re-read the letter to find it. Any news on Wormtail? Walk around the castle accio'ing him. You should be able to get him if he is in his rat form. It normally works for me. Remus is teaching DADA, so you might want to hurry, he has that hand, so he might want to get rid of him.
-Tom
Tom-
Thank you for reminding us of Wormtail. We're all going to go and look for him after we finish eating down here. Ron is quite angry that I've been spending so much time down here. I think that I might have to break up with him. I truly hate to do it, but he's really possessive. I'll have to owl mum about it, as you haven't had any experience with boyfriends.
Well, looks like Hermione and Ron are having problems. He's worse with me though. He thinks that no boy should be allowed to touch me. HE obviously hasn't realized that I can take care of myself. Perhaps it was the incident in my first year that did it. I don't ever remember him being this protective before.
I don't think that the pranking thing would work. It would be best to fake your death. Only because you wouldn't be accepted into society because of your former mistakes. Eek! I sound like Hermione. Well, we've got to get back to the Common room before Ron freaks out, and Snape was lurking around Gryffindor Tower, I think he wants to get us in trouble, although he has been asking if we know where Draco is.
-Harry, Hermione, and Ginny
Harry, Hermione, and Ginny-
Just tell Severus that you have no idea of where Draco is. You never said how Ron took meeting Draco? Or did you all chicken out? I suppose that you did. Gryffindor courage? What Gryffindor courage? Ginny, it should be arriving today. Hermione, I have most certainly not had any experience with boyfriends at all. If you like, I'm sure that Bella might have some good advice for you.
-Tom
Tom-
It came! Harry is bothering me about seeing it. I told him no. But, thank you very much for getting it. I had it in my dorm, and unwrapped it, and had a talk with them. They are very happy to be indoors again. I'm not sure that I can wait until Christmas.
Tom! What did you send Ginny? She won't let me see it. It's driving me insane! Please tell me. Please? And, Ron was the one who chickened out. HE saw that we were heading for the chamber, and he turned tail and ran. We still had the slumber party though, it was just as fun without him. We went down to the lake, and had a bonfire, and we went swimming, but we nearly froze to death. Ginny and I have gotten together.
Well, as you can see, we didn't chicken out, Ron did. The fact that we knew warming charms came in handy because after swimming in the harbor-lake thingy, we nearly froze. We had lots of fun though. I felt sort of left out though. I wish that Ron had come. Oh well, maybe next time. Draco was rather kind though. I'm quite glad that you've never had any experience with boyfriends, but if you choose that lifestyle, I'll be supporting of you. I think I will do just fine without Bellatrix's advice, thank you very much.
-Harry, Hermione, and Ginny
Harry, Hermione, and Ginny-
I'm glad that you all had fun at your party. You never found out how to make the water warm? It's a pointless charm though. It wears off in about fifteen minutes, so it's better to apply the charm to yourself.
Harry. You will have to wait until Ginny is ready to show you what she got. It's worth the wait, I can tell you that. I am sorry that Ron chickened out. There's always next time.
Hermione, I don't think that I will choose.. Never you mind, let's just pretend that our conversation never went that way. Just a tad bit uncomfortable. Watch the head table, Dumbledore's getting a letter from yours truly.
-Tom
Tom-
There won't be a next time for Ron and I. He broke up with me. Apparently I'm spending too much time away from him. I asked if he wanted to come, but he didn't want to. I don't think I can stay in the Gryffindor dormitories anymore. I've asked Harry and he said that I could stay in my room down below. That's what we're calling it now, down below. He's dating Lavender Brown now. Apparently she's been after him for a while.
Dating him was a mistake. I should have broken it off with him a while ago. Draco heard me come down because when I started throwing curses at the picture of Ron, he stopped me. He said that I shouldn't be doing that because I could bring then entire school down on top of us. I had a good cry, and Draco was helping me look up a curse to put on Ron. Nothing harmless, just something that will embarrass him. I found one. It's a curse to put on his wand so it will turn into a spider when he picks it up. It will do this only three times though.
Draco fell asleep in the library. I'll move him to somewhere more comfortable after I post this. The letter to Dumbledore was good. I think the laughing Dark Mark was a nice touch, it scared half of the students.
-Hermione
Hermione-
I'm very sorry about Ron. I never liked him. It's good that Draco stopped you. You are a very powerful witch and he was right, you could bring the entire school down on top of you. The spells on the walls and ceiling might need to be done again. Just to be safe.
-Tom
Tom-
I'm sure that you've heard of Hermione and Ron's break up by now. Hermione's living down below with Draco, although she is in Harry's rooms, and Draco should be staying in his. At least that's what Harry thinks. I went down there this morning, and Draco and Hermione had fallen asleep on the couch in the sitting room. Maybe they'll get together. They would make a nice couple.
Ginny! What if Hermione saw that? She would murder you. I'm not talking to Ron. He could have broke up with Hermione nicer than he did. First, I had come back to the common room to get a book from my trunk, and Ron and Lavender were making out in a corner, and Ron stopped as I went by, and asked if I had seen Hermione, as he had 'something to tell her.' Hermione had followed me because she had forgotten to tell me to get something else, so while I was talking to Ron, she had come in and saw Lavender sitting in his lap.
She got so mad it was scary. When she took a breath to yell at him some more, he said, 'Hermione, it's over. You don't pay enough attention to me.' and he went back to making out with Lavender. Hermione sent a bat bogey at them both and then got her things and left. Lavender was gloating about it when I came back down with the things we needed, and then I went back up and went to bed.
-Harry and Ginny
Harry and Ginny-
Are you sure I can't kill Ron?
-Tom
Tom-
No. Although he's got the emotional range of a teaspoon, we still love him. I'm not sure why, but for some strange reason we love you too.
-Harry and Ginny
Harry and Ginny-
Fine.
-Tom
Hermione-
How are you doing? I heard from someone that you hadn't been going to classes. Please go to classes. You can't get a good job if you quit going to school. Please could I kill Ron?
-Tom
Tom-
I started going to classes again. Ron's been glaring at me, and Professor McGonagall wants to know where I've been sleeping. I told her I've been sleeping on someone's couch and left. When I looked back, she seemed pretty shocked. I probably shouldn't have put it that way. But it's true. Last night, I was over at Draco's working on an essay for potions, and it got dark, and the bridge over the river isn't fun in the day, at night it's downright dangerous. So I ended up sleeping on Draco's couch.
Well, it looks like we're back to writing group letters again. Ron's not talking to me at all, so I think that I might leave too. I wonder why they're letting us sleep outside of our dorms. If I have to listen to Ron talk about Lavender one more time or wake up to find that Lavender has snuck into our dorm once again I will leave. I don't care if it's a really long walk to the great hall, I will stay down below.
I'm with Harry on that. If I have to hear Lavender sneak downstairs one more time, or talk about my brother in a way I don't want to know about him, I will move down below. Of course McGonagall might get a little suspicious.
-Harry, Hermione, and Ginny
Harry, Hermione, and Ginny
I am sorry. I would just go down below before it gets worse. They're letting you sleep out of you dormitories because they can't find you anywhere else. They'll be checking the private quarters of the professors tonight for Hermione. And the common rooms. You never said if I could murder Ron.
-Tom
Tom-
It got worse. Lavender mistook my bed for Ron's. So now I'm down below. After talking to Dobby, I've got him and a few of the other house elves fixing up a bathroom. Might as well have a shower down here too. At first we just had a toilet because we didn't think that we'd be living down here, but that's changed. One of the elves found another set of rooms, and Hermione is looking them over to see if she wants to fix them up for herself. Nothing fancy, just her own bathroom, library, and two bedrooms. That's what it is now. I think that it was guest quarters for my quarters.
Since all of the others are down here, I've decided to move down too. The guest quarters that the elves found look out onto the lake, since Hermione and I like the view, we've decided to stay in there. For now we're in Harry's quarters, because we have to fix things up. So all four of us are down here.
Well, Harry and Ginny have pretty much said everything. I wonder what it'll be like living down here. Well, we figured out where we are. We're living in the cliffs that the school is on. Or you could say that we're in the deepest dungeons. If we wanted, we could go out of the main doors, and down the tunnel that we first entered the school from, and if we go up the river, we should find the ancient dock by the bridge. Then we'd be able to get to our rooms. Quite interesting really.
-Harry, Hermione, and Ginny
Dear Readers and Reviewers-
I really hate to do this o you guys, but I have to. This is very important, so I sugesst that you read it. Last weekend, I got a headache, and I have a very bad history with headaches. They tend to stick around for a few months or so. Currently I have about three ibuprofen in my system, and I can barely type this. So what I'm saying, is that I won't be able to continue with the fic. I'm not stopping it, it's just not going to be updated very soon. if the headaches don't go away by November, I'm going to go to the doctors, so I should be back around mid-November. If i had some pre-written stuff, I would gladly post it, but, sadly I don't. Thiss is all I've got, and I hope you like it. As I still have to update Things are Looking up, and I want to be able to walk to mu room, I've got to go. Thank you for all of your reviews. here's the address for my xanga, i'll be posting in there when i can, and iif it looks like i can update, i'll be putting word of it there first.
www . xanga . com / home . aspx ? user emikae
Thanks for all the reviews, I love you guys so much!
-emikae