This should cover the second half of the Chamber of Secrets. I have decided to split the chapters into Spring and Fall terms to allow for GG to have more interactions with the students of Hogwarts and their families.
1993 Spring term
1st February 1993
Dear GG
I am a werewolf and due to recent changes to legislation, I am soon to be out of work! I am living paw to mouth as it is, having exhausted the small trust fund left to me by my late parents and Prongs' generous bequest. My current job at Blotts and Flourish was the best one I had in quite a while, but Mister Blotts has given me until the end of April to leave. It was hard enough for a wizard infected with lycanthropy to find work in the Wizarding World. I do not have any qualifications in the Muggle world that will allow a job other than flipping burgers at a minimum hourly wage. I know other werewolves who have been forced into engaging in illegal and possibly dangerous activities just to keep themselves and their children fed. Do you have any idea how much the monthly Wolfsbane cost just so we will not turn into ravenous monsters at the full moon? There is this smuggling racket a fellow wizard approached me with. Should I go for it? It's the Kiss for us if we get caught breaking any laws.
At the end of my rope
Moony
Spring 1993
Dear Pup
It has been a while since we last corresponded. I feared you had not survived the events of the British Wizarding War. Good to know you are still breathing. One must do what must be done to keep the pups fed. Have you exhausted all your favours already? I understand that for a price, you can have the Muggle equivalent of a NEWTS or Mastery certification forged by some discreet contacts. Do you have any existing skills like healing or potioneering? Perhaps your old mentors might have some suggestions.
Have you considered moving abroad? I understand werewolf legislation is a lot laxer in North America due to the prevalence of hereditary animagi and shifters favouring a wolf-form. If you do run out of Wolfsbane, please find a secure cellar or deserted isle to wait out the transformation. You do not sound like a killer-type werewolf, so let us keep it that way.
I have a secure dungeon downstairs with Unbreakable cells you can use. I do hope the Aurors removed the skeletons there when they redid the place for my prison. I would love to host you and your furry friends if the ICW allows. It is a sad waste of space really. There is even a potions lab on the ground floor we can reopen to research on a more cost-effective way of producing the Wolfbane Potion if anyone is keen. Of course, we will need some brave volunteers…
GG
14th February 1993
Dear Gellie
I miss your letters. Have you run out of ink and parchment? I did request Dumbledore to equipment you with a self-replenishing desk so you will not run out of parchment, quills, or ink. All's well in Godric's Hollow – apart from the tourists who keep coming by to gawk at the old Potter place. Nasty murders happened there, move on already. Morbid business. Those are just the regular folks on pilgrimage. We have a few sneaking about after dark intent on some dark magic related rituals. Thank goodness I have Volodymyr help me set up the perimeter wards to deter any trespassers intent on using the Potter cottage for dark rituals. I just go out about once a week to vanish any pools of blood or ashes left behind along the fence.
XXXX
Your Auntie Bathilda
Spring 1993
Dear Auntie
I have ink and parchment, I just think you will be bored listening to me gripe about the weather, food and other stuff related to a long stay in prison – like that sore on my bottom caused by sitting about in a cold cell. I wish the self-replenishing desk also came with a drawer of books, a thermos of coffee and a cookie jar. Are you sure you are not a dark witch? Those perimeter wards sound like some heavy-duty magic. Please tell me your Veela friend also helped set up your house wards. I am dead serious about this.
Your loving nephew
Gellert
P.S. Do not invite any reporters for tea or whatever. Be careful when you are outside. I have a very bad feeling about this. Seriously. Just leave Britain and move to my old place in Budapest already.
14th February 1993
Dear GG
I detest Valentine's Day. It is so embarrassing. I have been ambushed by a singing telegram courtesy of a secret admirer. I picked up an old diary from the toilet that seems in rather good shape. Like my Aunt Petty always said, waste not, want not. I feel sort of drawn to it… Has it been doused in love potions? I is there any way I can test for such stuff? As the Chosen One, I seem to be attracting all the wrong type of attention. Killer Dark Lords are one thing, but a horde of giggling girls (and maybe some boys)? Gimme a break already! Can't a twelve-year-old have a decent breakfast in Hogwarts' Great Hall without being mobbed by some singing dwarf?
I Don't Wanna be Chosen
Spring 1993
Dear Chosen
You mean to say that you have not mastered any detection spells by now? What was your magical guardian thinking? Burn that diary pronto and get yourself to the infirmary for a thorough check. If that book fails to burn, we have a major problem. Do not trust strange books, you hear?
GG
15th March 1993
Dear GG
My son is a moron. Sadly, he is also my Heir without a spare and I cannot afford to lose him. He keeps shooting his mouth off in light of what is happening at Hogwarts and drawing loads of unwanted attention on himself. Methinks we should have been more selective in his playdates as Crabbe and Goyle are two splinters short of a broomstick. Perhaps we would have had less of his nonsense if he had smarter friends. Received alarming reports from his Head of House about his recent antics. Half-tempted to haul him out of school and ship him to Durmstrang, but my wife doubts he would survive the journey there with his fragile health. Have written a letter to tell him to shut his mouth about things he has no business meddling in. Knowing the little fool, I doubt that will last more than a fortnight.
Lord M
Spring 1993
Dear Lord M
As a Durmstrang alumni, I can attest to my alma mater's stringent discipline. Just what you need to get troublesome heirs back in line. Perhaps you and your lady wife might wish to work on the spare while your eldest is struggling to wrap his mind about the concept of self-preservation? Just in case.
GG
8th May 1993
Dear Grindelwald
I have been removed from my post at Hogwarts. Someone has re-opened the Chamber of Secrets and unleashed whatever it is within on our students. The last time that happened, poor Hagrid got expelled. Now they are blaming the boy again and packed him off to Azkaban. Hagrid might not be the brightest pupil in school, but he is harmless. He will never let any creature go about harming my students. He is definitely no heir of Slytherin. He was in Gryffindor when he was in school. Plus, he is part-giant. The petrified students (and a cat) have us thrown for a loop. At least we did not encounter any deaths yet, though I fear this might change. Otherwise, I fear some pureblood loudmouth in Slytherin might get lynched out of hand in my absence.
Albus Dumbledore
Spring 1993
Dear Dumbledore
About time someone did something about you. While I have a healthy respect for the toughness of a giant, they have a very fluid understanding of what constitutes 'safe'. I do wonder if you heard about Hagrid's pet last year… No? Let's keep it that way. I do hope the petrified cat is not Minnie, though her absence will go towards explaining your recent spate of idiocy. Without her reining in your excesses, the entire castle might just collapse on you. Or perhaps she is busy stopping that lynching party as we speak.
After considering data from my anonymous sources, I have reached the conclusion that you have a Basilisk problem. Have everyone in the castle carry about a rooster. I will greatly appreciate more details about the students and cat petrified so we can work on a possible protection against the Basilisk's deadly stare. Just like old times, eh? We were working on the theoretical uses of dragon's blood that summer. You took my theories and developed them into a full paper with old Flamel. Understand I never got credit for that one. Do remember to include me this round.
Gellert Grindelwald
15th June 1993
Dear Gellert
Little Harry seems to be collecting enemies like some boys collect Chocolate Frog cards. Boy managed to trick our ex-governor Malfoy into freeing his house-elf. I always thought Malfoy was a bit of a snake (not just because he is a Slytherin alumnus). There was that business at the end of the First War where he bribed his way out of trouble. I fear he might go out of his way to make trouble for Harry, assuming he manages to wriggle free of the business with Riddle's old diary. Yes, someone gave Riddle's possessed diary to a student who almost died. I expect Malfoy to put up a defence of distributing old stationery to less-privileged wixen and the rest of the Wizengamot running with it even if he should know to scan all donations for unsavoury curses etc especially if they originated in his family's attic. Malfoy is not the forgiving type and I fear Potter has made a fast enemy.
You were right about the Basilisk. It is dead now – killed by Harry using the Sword of Gryffindor. Boy owes his life to Fawkes' tears. The diary had a shadow of the younger Tom Riddle who freed that Basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets again. It is pure luck that no one stared directly into the Basilisk's eyes this round. The petrified students met its glare through a camera lens, a mirror and through a ghost. Had a little chat with Myrtle who confirmed what killed her in the 1940s.
That aside, Hogwarts now has a free house-elf walking about and the other elves are scandalised. I cannot allow him to go home with Harry to his Muggle family as part was the deal with his aunt was minimal magic. As a free elf, I cannot order him to do things. I do not think Harry is fully aware of the rights and responsibilities of a house-elf master, so we are not recommending a formal contract between Harry and the elf. An unemployed house-elf is prone to getting into trouble and stirring up mischief. So far, he has only shown an obsession with gaudy clothes. Any suggestions?
Albus Dumbledore
Summer 1993
Dear Albus
I suppose there is a reason why the lad is in Gryffindor, right? I do hope your lot manages to keep the boy alive until his majority. Have you thought of getting a soul magic expert from Russia or Eastern Europe where such darker arts are still practised to look at the boy's magical core? This shadow in an object thing suggests we are dealing with something that might adversely affect your lad in the event of Riddle's return to power. About the King of Serpents, I told you so.
The problem with the house-elf is more easily resolved. Has the poor critter been raiding your closet? Offer him a paying job in Hogwarts. I am sure the school can afford it. You can use a standard employment contract with working hours, weekly pay, and benefits. Though I do not see why he cannot go off with Master Potter to unleash his mischief on the Muggles. You take in a magical kid, you accept the magic. In fact, elf-magic will make the chores a breeze.
Gellert
P.S. May I request an actual Basilisk fang? I promise not to use it to hurt the guards, or myself.
30th June 1993
Dear Gellert
N.O. No. We are not sending you dangerous contraband with your history of being a hazard not only to your guards but yourself.
Yours sincerely
Albus
P.S. Are you expecting visitors?
Author's Notes:
Moony is reconnecting with GG, and perhaps GG might have scared poor Moony off. Sometimes, I like portraying Grindelwald as being a little tone-deaf and amoral. Notice Gellert has left some loopholes in his promises to Albus, which Albus catches onto.