Second half of the Prisoner of Azkaban. Quidditch woes and someone smells a rat.
1994 Spring term
31st January 1994
Dear GG
Our Quidditch captain is driving us nuts. I mean, the guy lives and breathes Quidditch. It's his last year in Hogwarts and he wants to win the Quidditch cup to go off with a bang. However, we do not appreciate being dragged out at dawn for training in a bloody snowstorm, five training sessions a week (bye-bye Hogsmeade weekends) or late-night powwows on strategy, which he will always change once we hit the pitch. Come on, we have homework, OWLs, and NEWTs to prepare for. Thanks to those pesky dementors hanging about the grounds, we now need anti-dementor contingency plans. Hello, do you have any idea how hard it is to manage a Patronus charm? Most grown-ups cannot even get that incorporeal stage. It is not like we have a Patronus specialist on hand.
Mutiny in the works
6th February 1994
Dear Grindelwald
I am writing in for some advice about a broom gifted to a young man in my House. The sender did not leave a name, and we suspect there may be nefarious reasons for this. My colleagues and I have gone over the Firebolt with every detection spell we can think of, but zilch. We have considered the possibility of a surprise present, but his family's Muggle and would not buy him an expensive broom. His friends also cannot afford such a purchase even if they pooled all their pocket money together. Moreover, knowing the lads in question, they would not keep it anonymous.
Gravely concerned
Minerva McGonagall
Spring 1994
Dear Mutineer
Wow, your captain is Quidditch crazy. Most matches are called off in the event of bad weather, so no point training in a snowstorm. Unless the entire team is looking into a Quidditch career, you better get your priorities straight. Nail those OWLs and NEWTs. Do you lot have a convenient Bludger or two to send his way? Tell him it is for practice. Hm, this is one of the few times I have heard of dementors invading the pitch. Shouldn't the match be called off in this case? About the Patronus charm… I regret that I never got the hang of it – for fear of, you know, maggots.
GG
Spring 1994
Dear Minerva
Might you be excessively paranoid? Maybe the lad has a secret admirer with too much gold on hand. Or some weird rich uncle hiding somewhere up the family tree. The sort that refuses to be anywhere near a child but would not bat an eyelid sending him a pet albino Peruvian Vipertooth for his first birthday. Since you and your colleagues have already checked the broom out. I think the lad should have a whirl at it under your watchful eye lest he falls off and breaks his neck.
Grindelwald
P.S. How is the Albus doing? Has his pet werewolf bitten him yet for being a total ass?
13th March 1994
Dear GG
My ex-good friend has been accusing my cat of going after his rat since the start of the school year. Now the pesky rodent has disappeared. He now thinks my cat ate it. He is no longer speaking to me. I can understand that he is close to his pet, it has been in his family for twelve years… Though I question the veracity of this. Most normal rats live only three years tops. Is this a magic thing again, or has Mr and Mrs W been secretly changing out the rat just like my elementary schoolteacher did with Fluffy the Class Hamster?
Muggleborn Miss
15th March 1994
Dear Gellert
There has been a second attack in the castle by Sirius Black tonight. This time he got into the Gryffindor boys' dorms and slashed the youngest Weasley lad's bed curtains. Everyone is terrified. We have searched the castle again to no avail. Seems a student accidentally left a list of the passwords to his dorm lying about. Knowing the Black family has a long history of dabbling in the Dark Arts and hereditary madness, might you be able to point me in the direction as to how a mad dark wizard is bypassing all our security measures and attempts to catch him?
Albus Dumbledore
15th March 1994
Dear GG
Our kid brother almost got killed by a madman. That is so cool! Just like those slasher movies we sneak out to watch behind our parents' back in the Muggle world with Lee. Well, Mom will kill us if her little Ronnikins got killed on our watch. We have a boy in our dorm who is three hairs short of a Kneazle. Little fool left the passwords lying about after he wrote them down. The prefects are not giving him the passwords now, so he must wait outside until someone lets him in. However, we feel Nevvie should be given a little more than this slap on the wrist. Will giving him a nosebleed or turning him into a canary be kosher? He is a total pushover, but his Gran is scary. No one messes with Madam Longbottom. We hear from Dad Nev's boggart before he started Hogwarts was his Granny. Now it is Snape.
Yours sincerely
F and G Weasley
Spring 1994
Dear Miss Muggleborn
You are a sharp witch. Most rats live up to three years. Five tops if magically enhanced. The exception is when the rat is not a rat but an animagus, which begs the question as to which sane wizard would spend a dozen years as a rodent in a house full of young boys. Methinks your cat might have done your friend a favour. Hope katzchen does not have a tummyache.
You remind of another Muggleborn witch who is sadly no longer with us. Take care and beware of grandfatherly old wizards with lemon drops.
GG
Spring 1994
Dear Albus
Not sure if I should be pleased or offended that you are seeking my advice in discerning the actions of a mad dark wizard. Is he really dark or just plain loony? Is there any reason for him target the Weasley kid apart from 'Oops, wrong bed?'? Has the boy been hosting sleepovers with his friends? As for your security fail – which inbred dummkopf leaves a list of passwords about? You do not even need to wave a wand with that. Have you even tried the cocoa and comfy chair I suggested at Christmas? My impression now is that you are dealing a cornered pup who has been beaten and ill-used. He is all skittish, and liable to snap if startled. Kindness and patience might work more than brute force. If you can handle that werewolf, what's stopping you from dealing with this Black? Start by calling off the dementors to reduce the level of crazy.
Miffed
Gellert
Spring 1994
Dear Weasleys
By any chance are you related to F and G Prewett? As for your little scheme of vengeance, I would suggest writing to Madam Longbottom about your kid brother's near-death – a Howler for the offender might do wonders for your thirst for revenge. In the meanwhile, might I suggest dumping him outside the dorm at odd hours so he can spend the night in the hallway and reflect on his mistakes? This is a little House discipline practiced at Drumstrang – having the offender stripped naked and dumped out into the snow, wandless. It forced me to learn how to conjure up clothes and cast a Warming Charm very quickly sans wand or risk freezing to death. I suppose if you start dumping your house-mates naked into the corridors of Hogwarts, it might give your headmaster a fit. Just so you know your limits there.
GG
30th March 1994
Dear GG
It's not fair! Buckbeak is going to be executed because of that Malfoy git. It was only a scratch and his fault for being so insufferably rude to the hippogriff. They brought forward the hearing without telling us, so we were not in London to testify for Buckbeak. We are thinking of filing an appeal, but it is unlikely to go well, since Draco's old man holds a Lordship in the Wizengamot. Plus, he hates my guts after last year when I freed his house elf. My friends are as mad as I am. Hagrid is inconsolable. Buckbeak is not dangerous. He is a sweet hippogriff who likes being hand-fed dead ferrets. Is there is some way we can have Buckbeak taken to somewhere safe? We have no idea how to care for hippogriff since all lessons on that were cancelled after Draco's accident.
It is bad enough I have a Divination tutor who has been predicting my death (along with assorted mishaps for everyone else in class). And that I have been seeing this large black dog about since summer. They say it is a Grim and I am doomed to die. My Muggleborn friend claims it is nothing but hogwash and superstition, and I would like to believe her. Seeing that dog about when no one else seems to is giving me the shivers.
Save the Hippogriff
Pottering Mad
Spring 1994
Dear Potter
Have you read the textbook on Fantastic Beasts by Newt Scamander yet? Try writing in to Mister Scamander. I am sure he will be able to advise you on the care of your hippogriff, find a reserve for him to live out his days, and maybe help Hagrid file that appeal. If all else fails, there is a little Switching spell we wixen used back in the day in Salem.
I guess it will be old axe for Buckbeak, right? How about we switch out the hippogriff for his accuser at that critical juncture when the axe comes down? Bear in mind this is a high-level spell that will take weeks of practice. Please start with pumpkins or turnips first. You do not want to add any credence to those Grim superstitions and knockoff death omens, more so if your Divinations tutor is Sybill Trelawney. The woman's a blight on the reputations of all Seers.
About that Grim you have been seeing… Perhaps one should confront one's fears head-on. I have a little theory that might help depending on how brave you are. The next time you see the dog, you walk right up to it and introduce yourself. If I am right, you'd find yourself with a loyal friend to the death - or mauled to pieces by a rabid canine.
All the best
GG
7th June 1994
Dear GG
I messed up and almost savaged three students. My teaching career at Hogwarts is over. I am going back to the Muggle world to flip burgers or empty trash bins. At least I escaped the curse alive. As a sign of goodwill, the headmaster has granted me a fund I can draw on to buy my Wolfbane Potion for the next two years if I am careful with my spending. I will miss my students. Harry has so much promise. I will not be able to live with myself if something did happen to him or his friends last night. The boy can cast a Patronus at his age. I have also reconnected with another friend. The other chap we reconnected with is no longer our friend. Padfoot has him down as kill on sight for being a backstabbing traitor. It is a crying shame he had been absent from his godson's life thanks to being framed. As it stands, Wormtail escaped. We have no evidence on which to reopen Padfoot's case. He is still a fugitive with a Kiss-on-Sight order over him.
Moony
Summer 1994
Dear Moony
Take the severance pay and head to Russia, Asia or the Americas with your pal already. The world is large enough. He can bring along his godson for the ride if the lad is keen. Three wizards on the run from the law… There is something almost theatrical about it. Maybe you can consider helping me break out of my little prison in the Alps along the way. This old wizard won't weigh you down, just wish to head over and catch up with a very old friend in Britain and maybe have a nice long chat with him.
You were always a good pup. I guess it is time this old wizard is honest about who you have been writing to all these years.
Gellert Grindelwald (same dark wizard Dumbledore duelled in 1945)
P.S. I still consider the outcome to be disputed.
Author's Notes:
Katzchen – kitten (German)
Poor Neville does not inspire confidence in his House mates in his third year. Gellert is channelling his dark wizard tendencies. After Grindelwald outs himself before Moony, Remus is not writing to him for further advice. So the Tonks and son thing will be on Harry to talk sense into Lupin.