Chapter 15: A Letter from the Past

"What the Hell?" I muttered as an old letter fluttered out of a pair of dirty robes I had just pulled from under my bed. We had decided that it was time for a little cleaning, the House Elves really did a nice job, but no living creature dared to venture underneath my bed.

"What's that?" Celeste inquired, "It looks ancient."

"I have no idea," I replied, "I was de-junkifying the underside of my bed and it fell out of a pair of robes."

"Eww, gross," Celeste poked my robes with her wand, "I don't want to know how long those have been there."

"I agree," Lauran called from across the room where she was perched, ready to hit the vicious dust bunnies that had ventured into the daylight.

"Hmm, I suppose I'll look at it later," I said, slipping it into my pocket and charming the dirty robes so that they would float into the dirty laundry hamper.

"NO!" Celeste, Lauran, and Julia, our other roommate, exclaimed.

"What we mean is," Celeste added quickly, "you should probably have a look at it now, otherwise you'll forget and it'll just end up under the bed again."

"Fine," I agreed reluctantly turning from my properly de-junkified bed and sitting in the window overlooking the lake.

I pulled out the letter and, glancing at the signature, remembered where I had gotten it. I opened it carefully, but eagerly.

"That thing has got to be a hundred years old!" Julia commented, "It's so… old smelling, you know what I mean?"

"It's as old as the Marauder's Map," I muttered to myself.

On the day that Spencer Wood and I broke up (chapter 6, for those of you wondering) I found an old file with my grandfather's Quidditch records in it. I had placed the records back in the filing cabinet and pocketed the letter. Apparently I forgot about the letter and it was left in my robes which were thrown under the bed and forgotten. The letter itself had been written by my grandfather, James Potter, decades earlier.

I eagerly read the following:

To whatever future Quidditch Captain reads this,

I sincerely hope that your Quidditch season is at least as joyful as my past several have been. We almost won the Quidditch Cup for the third time since I joined the team but were defeated by Slytherin in our final match yet again. I have finally figured out the cause for this, but I don't suppose it matters to you. If it does then please, continue reading and, if you are a troublemaker, then go right on reading on the back of the parchment.

I followed Higgins, the current Slytherin Captain, last night. I discovered, through my own secret means, that he was sneaking off every night and, as you may guess, was eager to find out why. It turns out that he was researching how a former Slytherin Captain had gotten frustrated that Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup year after year and jinxed it so that only when the greatest wizard of all time came to Hogwarts and played Quidditch could Gryffindor win again. Most believe this to be a legend but, unfortunately for us Gryffindors, it was not.

Everyone knows that the greatest wizard of all time is Professor Dumbledore, he is, after all, the only wizard You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. I knew I had to find out if he had played Quidditch, in other words I asked him. I was thinking that, if he had played Quidditch, Gryffindor it would just turn out that Gryffindor sucks at Quidditch. Thankfully, I think, he didn't ever play Quidditch. He did, however, tell me a very interesting story about his first broom ride and why his nose is so crooked. So, knowing this I decided to write a letter of consolidation to the future Quidditch Captains letting them know not to despair, that even though they may lose the Cup year after year, it is not their fault or the fault of their team. It is the fault of a very old curse and a stupid prat who placed it there.

Oh, and also for the enjoyment of any future Quidditch Captain who may read this I have included, on the back, a list of the proper steps to follow in order to get into the basements of the Quidditch Pitch. My best friend, Sirius Black, and I find the basements to be the best place to plan all of our pranks. You may even find some of our old things down there, you never know.

That is all, dearest future Quidditch Captain, I sincerely hope that you are as Quidditch obsessed as I am. Although I do think it's not entirely because of my Quidditch Season that I'm happy at the end of my 7th and final year at Hogwarts. I say final year because although Hogwarts is much better than most places and all of my friends are here, I do not, in fact, plan to fail and have to repeat my 7th year. I don't think my girlfriend, Lily Evans, who finally admitted that she liked me and we finally started dating, would appreciate it if I failed. And to all those egotistical Quidditch Captains out there, if you're having girl or guy trouble, I suppose, you should try deflating your ego and becoming a tad more realistic, it seems to have worked for me. So with no further ado, I give you the steps to entering the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch Basements.

Yours Truly and Forever,

James Potter

"Bloody Hell!" I exclaimed as I flipped over the letter and scanned it eagerly, "I didn't know that the Pitch even had basements! Someone, hand me a quill, ink and parchment!"

"Show us the letter first," Celeste protested, but I was already rummaging through my school bag and pulling out the essential items.

"Aha!" I yelled triumphantly as I sat down and quickly copied the instructions, "Have they ever rebuilt or remodeled the Pitch?"

"I don't think so," Lauran replied, thoroughly confused, "Why?"

"That's bloody brilliant!" I exclaimed, denying them the satisfaction of knowing why I was so cheerful. "Who else is ready to finish cleaning quickly?"

"What was in that letter?" Celeste demanded, tackling me and pinning me to the ground.

"Geez, you could have asked nicely," I muttered as I threw her off of me and rubbed my shoulder, "I think you've gone and dislocated my shoulder, I've got Quidditch practice tonight!"

"The letter! Riley Elizabeth Potter, what was in that bloody letter?" Celeste growled threateningly.

"Oh, right," I muttered, "The letter was written by some James Potter character, sketchy kind of chap I think, he was babbling about some sort of basement under the Pitch and claiming that Sirius Black was his best friend. Oh, and something about Lily Evans and a curse on the school's Quidditch Cup."

"Give me that letter!" Celeste exclaimed, sticking out her hand, "I want to read it for myself!"

"Here you go," I handed the letter to my friend, "Please be careful, it's rather old and I would like to show it to my dad. You know, it's a family relic and all that."

Celeste read the letter and just managed to splutter. She handed it wordlessly to Julia who scanned it quickly and handed it to Lauran.

"You know what this means, right?" I asked my friends excitedly.

"We're going to the Quidditch Pitch Basements!" They shouted in unison.

"No, we've got to clean and then Julia, Lauran and I have practice, but then we can go to the basements of the Quidditch Pitch!" I corrected.

They all groaned in disappointment.

"Well, one of us has got to be practical, and I thought it was my turn," I commented, "Besides, tomorrow is Sunday, so we've got all night to go and explore the basements."


AN/ Sorry guys that it's been so long! I really didn't mean to wait so long to update, but the computer wouldn't upload it and then I kinda sorta forgot that it wouldn't work! Okay, so next chapter is them visiting the basements and then, well, we'll just see what happens, although it WILL involve something that Professor Longbottom mentioned at the begining of the year, like maybe at the feast or something... (HINT, HINT)

Oh, and I decided that this WILL be my last Riley Potter book. I've been working on the seriesfor close to three years now, and they're really not as interesting for me to work onas they once were. And now I've got Katie:English Bell, which is LOADS better(it's almost done)and soon I'll have Lily's List. So, it's not like I'm going to stop writing or anything, cause I'd have to be dead to do that! LOL

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Love From,

MotherCrumpet