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I do not own Harry Potter. I have nothing to do with Scholastic, Warner Bros or Bloomsbury. I'm not JKR and I am certainly not making any profit out of this.

Friday 25th September

Lunch Room

Weasley's Wizard Wheezers

Sweet Circe, 'Mione, I was reading your letter during my tea break and had to go to the loo for a quick wank.

AS IF I'd forget that shop, or what went on after ... or the sounds you made. Right, that's enough of that, or I'll never get this finished and I'm writing it over lunch hour so I can send it on the way to Andromeda's and you can have it tomorrow. What was that thing you said people get with their joints when they use the same ones too much? SRI or something? Whatever it's called, I'm going to get it in my wrist pretty soon. At least Harry has Percy's old room now.

Thinking about Harry is an instant de-boner.

Everything that you said, about Dumbledore, I've thought it too. But it kind of makes sense, if you look at it like a giant game of chess. He had to put Harry somewhere safe, so he went to the Dursley's because of that blood protection thing from Harry's Mum. Voldemort might not have come back, but Dumbledore thought that he probably would (and was right), so he didn't have much choice about that.

Dumbledore seemed to know everything that went on, so I really doubt that he didn't know what the Dursley's were like – he even knew when we borrowed Dad's car and rescued Harry that time just before second year, because Harry's Hogwarts letter came with ours not long after we got in.

That's where it gets muddy. Did Dumbledore trust the Dursley's to just get over themselves and do the right thing (like with Snape, although it ends up he was doing the right thing too, even if he was an arse – but that's another story), or did he know that they'd treat Harry like shit? I suppose he really had no reason to think they'd treat him like shit.

Look at the Malfoy's. They're bloody awful people, but I doubt they locked Draco in the cupboard under the stairs and fed him table scraps or whatever. Maybe that's not a good example though, because the Dursley's basically did with Dudley what the Malfoy's did with Draco ... and I'm not sure how the Malfoy's would deal with a muggle kid if they were forced to look after one. Who do we know that's snobby but not bigoted? I was going to say Zach Smith, but I don't know him well enough to say he's not bigoted. Maybe it's something that goes hand in hand?

Aunt Muriel! She doesn't care what someone's blood status is, or how much money they have, or anything like that, she's rude to everyone! There's a thought. Maybe Dumbledore should have left Harry with her – she could have just bitched Voldemort into submission ... and Mum says that Muriel was a Hit Wizard before she retired at 70. What a thought. Pity she was before Voldemort's time, she and Mrs Longbottom would have sorted him. Mrs Longbottom's one who strikes me as a bit snobby, but she's not bigoted at all (and she's a bit nicer than Aunt Muriel).

What was my point?

Dumbledore and Harry. Yeah, I don't know. It DOES kind of make sense to me, looking at the bigger picture – but I can't exactly explain why (clearly haha), at least not on paper. That doesn't mean that I like it all that much, but if it had to be done what else was he going to do?

I've got an idea about Winky, and I'm sure you won't like it.

Find out from her (or Kreacher, whatever), if it's because she's still really missing Crouch, or if it's because she really ashamed of being free. DON'T act like you feel sorry for her, even though you do (so do I actually, it's rotten what happened to her). If it's mostly because of Crouch, then there's not much that can be done, but if it's mostly because she's ashamed of herself (and it will be a bit of both, so good luck working it out, I doubt I'd be able to) then that's not so bad.

Here's the bit you're not going to like. Offer her a position at Grimmauld Place. Tell her that Grimmauld Place already has an elf, but Kreacher is Harry's elf. It would probably be useful to say that you think Kreacher will need the help, but make it like a secret and tell her not to tell him you said so (and don't let him hear either, but it might be a good idea to talk to him first and tell him that you're going to ask her) and tell her that she'd have to give up her clothes. DO NOT MENTION PAYING HER. Of course we WILL pay her, but we don't have to call it pay. It can be "house keeping" or something like that ... and I'm pretty sure we can come up with some kind of house-elf get-up that is so close to clothes that they might as well be. If she agrees, you can tell her you expect her to start looking after herself properly.

I'll expect your howler by tomorrow lunch (in it, tell me how dinner went with Hagrid).

But just think it over, OK? It would be less work for Kreacher, and it might help Winky.

Back to Harry. We were talking about HER. There's no way she's staying up in the hall, Harry says, even if he has to knock the whole house down and start again (I think he was exaggerating?). BUT he agrees that Kreacher might take it badly. There's also the thing about all the dead-elf heads on display (who would think that's a good idea?), they're his family so they can't really be got rid of either.

Harry's decided that he's going to wall off and add a door to that part of the room that the stupid family tree is in. That can be Kreacher's new room, and if he wants HER she can go in there with the elf heads. It's going to make the room smaller, but it's big anyway, so that won't make much difference – and I think he mentioned something about taking out another wall and extending something else, I don't know.

For all of that, he said he's got no intention of actually moving in there until he's finished with auror training. He's going to ask Ginny to marry him when she's finished with Hogwarts this year (FORGET I SAID THAT!!!), and if she says yes (hahaha, 'cause she'd say no?) they'll have a long engagement when he's training and she's trying out for the Harpies and then playing Quiddich if she gets in (I reckon she might be in with a chance, too), and then they'll get married and move into Grimmauld Place. With us, if we go ... which it seems like we are, aren't we?

Anyway, apparently she's all for all of that, including living at The Burrow for a few more years (they're MENTAL!), but she doesn't know about the engaged and married bit – he said they've talked about it in general, and agreed about it, but nothing official.

There's more Grimmauld Place stuff, but I've run out of lunch hour and Harry's almost ready for us to go visit Teddy and Andromeda, so I'll tell you in my next letter (remind me). Please try not to be too pissed off about the Winky thing, it's just a suggestion.

Always yours, I love you.

Ron