NOTE:So, er, due to bad strategical skills by the author, read what is under chapter 22... and then this. That's the real chapter 16...
Okay, definitely...
Day Thirteen. Still. Of course.
Anyway, Diary...
It was Dumbledore- he'd been looking for me, of course. It was old Albus that opened that door, and me that walked out of it in surprise and curiosity a mere three minutes later. Why? Well, you see... To put it in my own perspective... Okay, picture this. The door starts to open. Here's me over in the big guy chair with the hammering heart and the breaking sweat all over his forehead... and then Dumbledore walks in. I sigh in relief, but then he hands me something. A letter? From whom? And it's addressed...
"To My Darling Grandson, Theo"
"I didn't know you had a grandmother," Dumbledore said, reading over my shoulder.
"Maybe it's a grandfather!" I muttered irritably, turning the thing over and over in my hands.
He ignored me. "Is she beautiful?"
I considered, trying to remember what the fuck my dad's mom even looked like. That was about when I remembered her... and what I'd promised her before heading off to school this year...
"Oh, shit," I said, slamming the palm of my hand against my forehead. "Shit, shit, shit-" I recalled that I was standing next to the school's headmaster. "Shit," I repeated, weakly.
"I don't mind," he said, however. Brightly, even. "Swearing is cool!"
"Right..."
"I really should swear more often. It would help me connect with the students better, don't you think, Theo?"
"Er..." Dammit. What had I just done?
"Theo, get the fuck out of my office and go read your shittin' letter! And then have some damn dinner!"
"Er..."
He was smiling at me. Fucking smiling.
Do I sound that moronic when I swear, too? Dammit... No wonder my parents always tell me not to. I must sound like some delusional old man, like... like Dumbledore! Merlin! I've got to change my ways... Sometime. Just as soon as I leave school. Or turn thirty.
Just as long as I'm not swearing at age one-hundred-and-fifty. Shudder.
"Okay," I said finally. "I'll just be going, then..." I made my way back to the door.
"Theo- why were you here, anyway?" Dumbledore asked as I placed my hand on the doorknob. I paused, I guess. And remembered.
"Oh, I'm just in some pretty deep shit, I suppose." I chuckled a bit, and sounded quite scary, actually. A very Death Eater type of laugh. "But I'm going to deal with it," I added.
"What are you going to do?"
I thought for a moment, then turned the knob. "I have absolutely no idea. But I know where I'm going to start."
"Wh-"
"The letter, of course!" I said, and shut the door behind me. I sat down right on the steps there and pulled out my grandmother's letter.
I promised the summer before school began that I would owl my dad's mother a letter at least once a month... and it's already November. My grandmother isn't the type of woman to just forgive people for things... she's more of a punishment type of gal, you know? She reminds me nearly every time she comes to our house that she beat my father once for every lie he told her... and she's not afraid to do the same to me. Broken promises are worse than lies in her book... so I'm pretty much dead by now.
I stared at my name on the letter's envelope and wondered what secrets were held inside... Okay, it wasn't nearly dramatic. To be completely honest- or something close to it, anyway- the letter's arrival had scared the hell out of me, and I didn't want to open it. So... I didn't. I stuffed it in my bookbag and walked away, deciding to read it later.
It's not later yet.
Maybe in five minutes, or something... Okay, I need to do this now. I'll read it, then not write anything more until tomorrow. I need some time to think, and this paper isn't helping me today. I need to go somewhere and think, and not write while walking, because it's dangerous...
Shit, I just passed Dumbledore and McGonagall. He's swearing. She looks bewildered.
Okay, that tree over there. I'll sit there for a moment, and just...
Okay. Now.
Okay.
-Theodority!