A.N. This story starts in chapter 6 of Philosopher's Stone, where Harry starts to panic about finding platform 9 ¾. Quotes from Philosopher's Stone in bold.

Chapter 1. Rescued by Remus

In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time-wasters. As Harry looked around once more, his gaze was met by a dishevelled looking man. Instead of looking away, the man approached him. Harry didn't like it, but he knew that being weighed down with his trolley, he couldn't hope to get away.

"Are you Harry Potter?" the man asked.

'Ah, a wizard,' thought Harry with a sinking feeling, 'probably wants to shake my hand and make insensitive comments about my parents' deaths', but he put a brave face on and said, "yes. Can you please tell me where the platform is?"

"Of course," the man smiled. "Harry, I am Remus Lupin, I was a close friend of your parents. I'm sorry that I haven't seen you these past 10 years. There are reasons for that, but the train is going to leave in 10 minutes, so there's not really enough time to explain. I was hoping you'd be willing to write with me?"

"You can tell me about my parents?" Harry asked.

"Yes, we were in the same year in Gryffindor together," Remus agreed.

"OK," Harry agreed.

"The thing is, I've tried to send you an owl before, and it couldn't find you. You've been told that your parents had enemies?" When Harry nodded, Remus continue , "so I'm guessing for security reasons there's a ward that stops owls. But I don't think it would be able to stop your own owl. So please tell the owl to go to Remus Lupin and wait for my letter, ok?" Harry nodded once more. "Great. You can write me about yourself as well if you want to, I'd really like to know about you, but if you find it difficult to write the first letter you can just send the owl with an empty envelope. Here, I've written my name on an envelope for you. Alright?" Harry nodded again. Remus was slightly worried that he didn't get more of a reaction, but unfortunately there was no time left, so he said, "see that barrier? It's an illusion. So, we'll just walk straight at it to get to the platform, ok?" Harry looked at him as if he was trying to make up his mind whether Remus was trying to pull one over on him, but then apparently decided to go with it and hesitantly nodded. So, Remus tried for his most reassuring smile and said, "we can go through together," and when Harry did not object, he took hold of one end of Harry's trolley and helped him walk through the barrier. In the back of Remus' mind the questions were piling up. Why was Harry here alone? Why did he look so utterly astounded at seeing magic? But his careful preparation for the different possibilities here managed to keep him on track to his main goals: make sure that Harry was still alive, ask Harry to get to know him, and under no circumstances whatsoever do anything that could be misconstrued as aggression. So, he spoke to Harry again, "Harry, other people will be coming through after us, so we should keep moving, ok?" Harry nodded once more, and together they moved along the train until the press of people getting on had thinned enough to give Remus a chance to help Harry on board with his trunk and owl without having to rub shoulders with too many others. "Is this carriage alright?" Remus asked. The hesitation before Harry nodded clearly said 'not really'. "Would you prefer to go further along where it's more quiet?" This time there was no hesitation before Harry nodded. "Come along then." Remus let Harry push his own cart, and Harry kept going until he was at the last carriage, where Remus helped him get his things on board and into an empty compartment. "I'm really glad I found you, Harry, and I hope we can get to know each other again. Have a great term."

"Thank you," Harry said, "thank you for your help, Mr. Lupin."

"Call me Remus, Harry," Remus said as he left to go stand on the platform, and a few minutes later he waved at Harry as the train left.

Dear Remus,

Thank you again for helping me at the station. Hagrid had forgotten to tell me how to get onto the platform, and none of the guards could tell me a thing, so I have no idea what I would have done without you.

The first week of class has been good. Except for potions, where the professor dislikes anybody who is not a Slytherin, and he has a particular dislike for me, though I have no idea why. History of magic is really boring, was that taught by a ghost when you went to Hogwarts as well? My favourite class is charms. Transfiguration is also good, but it's both really difficult, and I wonder whether I'm not smart enough to understand it completely. Our professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts has a terrible stutter, so he's really difficult to understand, and his classroom stinks of rotting garlic, which gives me a headache.

Best wishes,

Harry

Dear Harry,

Thank you for your letter. I'm glad your first week has been good. Could you tell me who your professors are? It would be good to know who of the professors we were taught by are still there. I know that Dumbledore is still the headmaster, he became headmaster in the 50s. Sorry to hear about your potions professor. It sounds like he might be a pureblood bigot, and dislikes you for your role in defeating You-Know-Who. He can't be a Death Eater (that's what the underlings of You-Know-Who were called), because Dumbledore would never have hired him if he were, but there are less extreme people with similar ideas.

As I said in the station, your parents and I were all Gryffindors, starting Hogwarts in 1971. We were four boys sharing a room, and we became known as the Marauders. We loved to prank. Your father, James, became convinced that Lily, your mother, was the girl for him quite early on, but for years your mother rebuffed him. Your father could be a bit irresponsible and full of himself. Traits which Lily detested. Only once your father had calmed down (some), and had changed his tune from vilifying Slytherins on principle to limiting his ire for actual supporters of You-Know-Who and other pureblood bigots, did your mother agree to date him. That was towards the end of 6th year. I don't know how much you've been told about your parents' deaths, and whether you want to talk about it. I realise it might be a painful topic that you'd rather not discuss.

If you don't have time to write me next weekend, could you please send me an empty envelope, so that I know you got my letter? I don't know what kept owls from reaching you before.

Best wishes,

Remus

Dear Remus,

Yes, I got your letter. Our professors are McGonagall for Transfiguration (she's our head of house), Flitwick for Charms, Sprout for Herbology, Snape for Potions, Quirrell for Defence, Sinistra for Astronomy and Binns for History.

If you don't mind, I'd really appreciate it if you could tell me everything you know about my parents, even their deaths. My aunt and uncle have always refused to tell me about them, or lied to me, and I'd prefer to know. If it's not too painful for you.

Why does everybody call Voldemort You-Know-Who? Nobody has been willing to explain this to me properly. To someone who grew up in the Muggle world it's really strange. Forgive me if in my ignorance I say something offensive.

I'm in Gryffindor as well. We are five boys. I met Ron Weasley on the train and so far we've done a lot of things together.

I'm the Gryffindor seeker! This happened in an unusual way. We had flying lesson on Thursday, and right at the start one of my roommates, Neville Longbottom, lost control of his broom and broke his wrist. The flying instructor, Madam Hooch, told everybody to stay on the ground while she took him to the hospital wing. Then Draco Malfoy found a Remembrall that had fallen out of Neville's pocket. Instead of giving it to us Gryffindors he was his usual git self (he's also a Slytherin pureblood bigot), and decided to ignore Madam Hooch's warning and flew off with it, threatening to hide it up in a tree. I didn't want to let him get away with that, so I flew after him and tried to take it off him, but Malfoy threw it away. I managed to catch it before it hit the ground. Professor McGonagall saw this and she gave me the choice between being punished for flying when Madam Hooch had told us not to or joining the Quidditch team. Professor McGonagall told me my father played Quidditch.

Best wishes,

Harry

Dear Harry,

Congratulations on making the Quidditch team! That's very unusual for a first year. Yes, James was a chaser in 4th and 5th year, and then was the seeker for the last two years when the previous seeker graduated. It was actually sort of a point of contention between your parents. Sort of, because your mother had nothing against James playing Quidditch, but as I already mentioned, James was a bit conceited, and Quidditch players tend to be really popular, so the combination didn't do him any favours in his efforts of getting Lily to go out with him.

We also had McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, Sinistra, and the ghost of Binns as well. Snape as in Severus Snape? He was in our year in Slytherin. He was a friend of Lily, at least during the first several years, but he was also friends with students who later became Death Eaters and your mother was very much against You-Know-Who, and she broke off her friendship with him because of that. James, Sirius Black and Severus were also enemies pretty much from the first day at Hogwarts, and you look very much like James, except you have your mother's eyes.

From your mention of your aunt and growing up in the Muggle world should I conclude that you're living with your mother's sister? If so, then I'm surprised that Professor Dumbledore managed to convince them to take you in. From Lily I got the impression that her sister detested magic, and that she had very little contact with her sister because of that.

Yes, it's rather painful for me to talk about your parents' deaths, especially with what happened, but please don't hesitate to ask me about it, because you deserve the truth. The truth is that your parents were betrayed by James' 'best friend', Sirius Black. After school, your parents joined the fight against You-Know-Who, and encountered and managed to hold him off several times. A feat that almost nobody managed. So You-Know-Who was trying to find them. After your birth they went into hiding, eventually using the Fidelius charm, which hides the location of where somebody is living in the soul of one person, who is then known as the Secret Keeper, because the hidden location can only be found if the Secret Keeper tells them where it is. Sirius Black was the Secret Keeper of your parents and he was caught a few days after your parents were murdered by You-Know-Who and thrown into Azkaban.

Please don't worry about offending me, I'm willing to tell you anything I know.

It's possible to taboo a word, like You-Know-Who's name, so people got into the habit of not using the name, though I don't know if he actually did taboo his name. It may give some idea about how bad things were when You-Know-Who was trying to take over, because 10 years later people are still uncomfortable with using his name.

The father of Draco, Lucius Malfoy, was one of the people who were suspected of being Death Eaters, but claimed after You-Know-Who was defeated that they had been under the Imperius curse, which makes people fall under the mental control of the person who casts the curse. Personally, I'm convinced Lucius was in fact a Death Eater and was not prosecuted after a lot of money changed hands. You have to be a bit careful how you talk about this, especially with pureblood bigots, because in theory someone could challenge you to an honour duel, claiming they were falsely accused.

Best wishes,

Remus

Dear Remus,

Sorry for the delay. Now that Quidditch practice has started I don't think I can manage to write to you every week.

Yes, Severus Snape is the head of Slytherin and the git who refuses to teach us potions. He just puts the recipe on the board, tells us to get on with it, and then insults us when we don't get it right.

Thank you very much for telling me about my parents. I'd love to know more. You previously mentioned pranking. I think pranking can easily turn into bullying, and I wonder whether that was a factor in my mother's initial dislike of my father?

Yes, I live with my aunt Petunia Dursley, my mother's sister. Yes, she and uncle Vernon do detest magic, and whenever I did accidental magic I was punished, although they never even explained that I'm a wizard or that magic is real, and they destroyed my Hogwarts letters so Hagrid had to come in person to hand me my letter, despite the fact that my uncle was trying to hide us in the middle of nowhere. They always complain that I was left with them without being asked, but they refuse to answer questions about how I ended up with them. Or about anything else for that matter.

Is an honour duel the same as a wizard's duel? After the flying lesson and McGonagall took me away to talk to Oliver Wood, the Quidditch captain, Malfoy tried to taunt me, and when that didn't work, he challenged me to a wizard's duel at midnight. He didn't show up, though, but told Filch, the caretaker, where we would be. The coward.

Classes are still mostly good. I was relieved to find that having grown up in the Muggle world is not a real handicap. Quidditch is nice. It doesn't make much sense to me. Doesn't the team with the best seeker always win? Irrespective of the quidditch rules, I really love flying. My teammates are nice too.

Best wishes,

Harry

Dear Harry,

Please don't worry if you're too busy. I'm very glad to hear from you, and am especially pleased to hear you're doing well, but don't feel pressured to write back as soon as I do, both because I have more freedom to set my own schedule and because I prefer to use your owl. Does the owl have a name?

I'm afraid to say that yes, James, and even more so Sirius, were more liable to come up with pranks that verged towards bullying. I tried to argue against those kinds of pranks, but wasn't as successful in that as I would have liked. And yes, your mother disliked them for it. James and Sirius both came from pureblood families and would sometimes act rather arrogantly because of that. The Potters have been a light family for generations now, but the Black family is really dark with many followers and sympathisers of You-Know-Who, who mostly went to Slytherin. Before your parents' death I thought that the fact that Sirius had been sorted into Gryffindor and got into serious trouble with his parents over it was evidence that he had really broken away from that mindset, but with the benefit of hindsight I do wonder whether little things like Sirius' greater willingness to go for the bullying types of pranks was an early indication that something of the family legacy was still left.

Have you spoken with Professor McGonagall about the teaching of Professor Snape? You do need to understand that Potions can be quite dangerous when done wrong, so please consider whether in his haste to prevent accidents he might seem overly critical of mistakes, but if he does not explain about these risks after they have been prevented and he's had a chance to calm down, then you have enough reason to calmly speak to your head of house if he's really disrespectful.

I'm really sorry to hear that your aunt and uncle have been treating you poorly. Right after You-Know-Who was gone things were still very much unsettled, and the Death Eaters were still wreaking havoc, so the need to keep you safe from them must have trumped making sure that your family was treating you well.

A wizard's duel is a duel where no physical contact between the opponents is allowed, only magic cast by a wand. Unless otherwise stated, a duel would be expected to be a wizard's duel. Mr. Malfoy probably stated it explicitly knowing that you grew up in a muggle household, and thus might conceivably know muggle ways of fighting. An honour duel is called when one party makes allegations about the other party that impugn their reputation. The insulted party would first ask the person to retract their words, but when refused, and if the allegations are serious enough, could demand a duel. There are many rules about the types of duels, what satisfaction the losing party would pay to the winning party, etc. To not show up is the height of dishonour, and would automatically make that party the losing one. Minors cannot enter duels, so though it's still dishonourable that Mr. Malfoy didn't show up, I don't think you have any options for demanding compensation.

I would be interested to know how you order the classes by how much you like them and what scores you get.

Best wishes,

Remus

Dear Remus,

My owl is called Hedwig. Hagrid gave her to me as a birthday present. Isn't she the greatest owl?

After I got your letter I went to speak to Professor McGonagall about Snape's teaching, but she seemed both entirely too unsurprised about the things he's been doing, and unwilling to do anything about it. Everyone outside Slytherin agrees that Snape is terrible, so obviously he's been getting away with his behaviour for years.

Could I come and visit you? Maybe over the Christmas holidays? I don't want to go back to the Dursleys.

My classes with my favourites first are Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Astronomy, Quirrell, Binns and Snape. I list the last three by the teachers rather than the subject, because with better teachers things would be different. I think Defence is at a minimum very important, and possibly even interesting. I think that I would prefer History at least over Astronomy and possibly Herbology as well, and Potions sounds very useful and potentially interesting and even enjoyable. My scores are around E in Charms, A to E in most subjects, and quite variable in Potions, depending on the mood of Snape.

A troll got into the castle on Halloween. Hermione, a girl in our class, was hiding in the toilet when professor Quirrell came into the Great Hall shouting about the troll. When I realised that she wasn't at the feast, Ron and I went to look for her and found her just as the troll also found her. Ron managed to knock it out with its own club while I distracted it. At least it has convinced Hermione that we're not so bad after all, when initially she was quite critical of the tendency of Ron and I to find playing wizarding games just as important as doing homework, and after we left the common room after curfew for a duel that never happened, and despite the fact that she was hiding in the toilet because Ron had insulted her over her (possibly slightly aggressive) attempt to help Ron during Charms class.

Best wishes,

Harry

Dear Harry,

Unfortunately, I can't have you over for the start of the Christmas holidays, but I'd love for you to come in the second half. The earliest I could manage would be 24 December. Although most students go home, the school does stay open, so you would be able to stay there if you want, and if you'd then like to stay for Christmas day that would be fine. I could come and collect you outside the gates of Hogwarts. Or if you find that you could manage at your aunt's for half the holidays, that would work for me as well. Please realise that I live in a fairly remote area in a cottage that is in rather a poor state, and I won't be offended if that doesn't appeal to you. If you don't want to come and stay it should be possible for the two of us to go and visit Hogsmeade during daylight hours.

Yes, your owl is very beautiful indeed. Hagrid has excellent taste.

After your previous letter about your potions class, I spoke to a healer and an apothecary and they recommended the enclosed book to learn more about potions. I cast a shrinking spell on it, so that Hedwig could take it to you. Please put your wand on the book (you should probably do this in Gryffindor tower rather than the Great Hall) and say 'Finite' or 'Finite incantatem'. Since you're a first year you might also need to consciously push magic through your wand as you say the incantation. If that doesn't work you could ask professor Flitwick to teach you the Engorgio charm. When we were in school professor Flitwick was always happy to teach spells that haven't been covered in class yet, although I have to confess that I don't remember what year the engorgio charm is, so it may be too difficult for you.

I'm sorry to hear that speaking to professor McGonagall didn't help. You have to understand that there are only a few thousand witches and wizards in Britain, so there might not be another person who is both capable and willing to teach Potions.

It's rather disturbing that a troll got into Hogwarts. The wards should have kept it out. The fact that three first years managed to knock out a troll is really astounding. I'm finding it hard to reconcile the fact that Ron needed help from Hermione in Charms class with the fact that he was the one who knocked out the troll. Is Ron magically really powerful, but lazy because he doesn't need to apply himself? There is definitely a time for both studying and playing, but if I'm right and Ron is a bit lazy, then it might be a good idea to cultivate your friendship with Hermione, who sounds more studious. If you can then convince Hermione in turn that a relaxed brain is much better at taking in information, so much the better.

Best wishes,

Remus

Dear Remus,

Thank you very much for the potions book. It took a few tries, but eventually I found an empty classroom, and by loudly yelling Finite incantatem I got it to enlarge. Are spells more powerful if you yell the incantation?

Thanks for the offer to come and stay. I don't care about the state of your cottage. I've asked the older brothers of Ron and they said that we can sign up to stay over the Christmas holidays in the beginning of December. Is that soon enough to ask whether I can stay in Hogwarts until the 24th?

Yes, I do suppose that Ron isn't very studious, and Hermione is. It's possible that Ron is quite powerful, though professor McGonagall called it luck, but without asking how we'd managed to knock it out. Yes, Hermione has gotten us to study more, and we sometimes manage to convince Hermione that she could let up on the studying after she's finished her homework.

We managed to win our first Quidditch match against Slytherin yesterday! Despite the fact that professor Snape was trying to hex my broom. Hagrid wouldn't believe us that it was Snape, but Hermione managed to stop him by sneaking up on him underneath the stands and setting his robes on fire. And on Halloween Snape had been wounded, and the only thing that makes sense is that Hagrid's three-headed dog did it, who is guarding something that someone tried to steal from Gringott's on the day that Hagrid and I were there to remove it from a vault. It's all rather worrying, but we haven't been able to figure out what's really going on yet.

Best wishes,

Harry

Dear Harry,

Please be careful. Yes, a troll and a Cerberus in Hogwarts are rather worrying, so it's good to pay attention to what else might happen, but your first impulse should be not to get involved. First year students cannot be expected to solve mysteries. And please bear in mind that magic is not only a powerful tool for both acting maliciously and for defending oneself against malice, but also for misdirecting attention or falsifying what you can observe. So, all may not be as it appears. Professor Dumbledore has 99 years more experience with magic than you do, so despite appearances I think you should trust that he has things under control.

Congratulations on winning your first Quidditch game. That is really impressive after only 2½ months back in the wizarding world.

Not exactly. Yelling does not by itself increase the power of a spell, but intent is very important, and, as a beginning wizard, by yelling you would increase the intent you invest in the spell. It is possible to cast a spell with the wand movement and only thinking the incantation without speaking at all, but you won't be learning to do that until 6th year.

It's good to hear that Ron, Hermione and you are moving towards some golden mean of studying.

Yes, it's absolutely fine to wait for Professor McGonagall to ask who is staying for the Christmas holidays before you give me a definitive answer, but I'm very pleased you are interested in principle to come and visit. Once you know just let me know how late you'd like me to pick you up outside the Hogwarts gates and I'll be there.

Best wishes,

Remus

Dear Remus,

Professor McGonagall asked who would be coming to pick me up, and then had to think about it for a day, but then she said it's fine for you to collect me on the 24th. I'll be at the gates at 10 am. I'm very much looking forward to it.

Thank you very much for the potions book. It's a great help that it explained how to prepare ingredients properly, and how differences that we've never been told are important influence how well the potion works. My only previous experience had been with cooking food, and I had assumed that potions are similar to that, but I've now learned that it isn't.

I guess that you didn't know my mother as well as my father? But you could tell me while I'm visiting.

See you soon,

Harry

Dear Harry,

Great, I'm very much looking forward to your visit as well. I'll see you on the 24th at 10am.

If you like, we could brew some potions over the holidays. It might keep Professor Snape from complaining if you already know how to make some of the potions. If you think that might be a good idea, please bring your potions book. I have a cauldron and if we need ingredients I don't have we can make a visit to Diagon Alley.

Actually, I was a prefect together with your mother for two years, so although it's true that I knew your father better than your mother, I can tell you about her as well.

See you on the 24th,

Remus

On the first day of the Christmas holidays, Harry found a package on his bed in the morning. The note that came with it only said:

Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well.

There was no signature. With the cloak, Harry made an unsuccessful attempt in the Restricted Section of the library to find out who Nicolas Flamel was, and then discovered the Mirror of Erised.

Harry and Remus both enjoyed Christmas very much. Harry actually found that the somewhat run-down appearance added to the charm, because it was such a sharp contrast with his aunt Petunia's obsessive cleanliness, and he was used to the drafty castle by now.

Remus taught Harry some Potions, which they both enjoyed, and Harry said that Remus should become the Potions Professor, but Remus demurred that teaching a first year was not the same as teaching NEWT students.

Remus also told him many stories about his parents, and gave him some photos of his parents, including one of his parents with Harry. Remus refused to tell Harry who Nicolas Flamel was, though.

All too soon the holidays were over and Remus apparated Harry back to Hogwarts on the afternoon before the train with the other students came back.

Dear Remus,

Thanks a lot for a wonderful Christmas. Can I please come live with you for the summer holidays?

It was really great to hear about my parents, and even the unhappy stories about the war helped me understand a bit better why there is such a divide in the school between Slytherin and the other houses. Thinking back to what you said, though, I belatedly wondered how my parents even ended up together? They sounded so different.

Our first Potions class wasn't really any better than before the holidays, but I'm trying to keep in mind what you said about separating the annoying way that it is taught from the usefulness of the topic, so I promise I'll make an effort to study, even if Snape doesn't appreciate my efforts. I was also heartened that you said OWL and NEWT exams are taken by independent assessors from the ministry.

Best wishes,

Harry

Dear Harry,

Thank you very much as well for coming to stay with me. It was the best holiday I've had since your parents died. I'd be happy for you to come and visit me for several weeks, but I'm afraid you can't come and live me for the whole duration. Why don't you ask your friends whether you can come and visit them? If you manage to break up the holidays with some visits, even if they are short, the holidays might feel more manageable. And don't forget to ask your aunt and uncle for permission in good time. They may be making their own plans, and they are your guardians even if you don't get along well.

Please remember that there are many people who are or were Slytherins but who fought against You-Know-Who during the civil war. There were even pureblood bigots who agreed with his ideas, but refused to fight on his side because they disagreed with his violent approach. Many pureblood wizards died and quite a few were actually murdered by You-Know-Who or his followers. The reverse is also true, too many of the people who were students in the other houses were supporters of Who-Know-Who, even some from what are traditionally considered to be Light families. So please consider each individual by themselves. You might try to make friends with people from other houses, even if it's just to do homework with them.

Yes, your parents were fairly different. I don't think it's so much that opposites attract, but more that they agreed on a few key issues. The biggest one of those was that they both fought against the rise of You-Know-Who. Too many people who disagreed with him, and even were in danger of being killed, stood by and did nothing out of fear. The Death Eaters were experts at creating fear, and winning against large numbers of bystanders by using terror tactics and especially by targeting those who resisted. It was a classic trade-off between short-term survival against the long-term takeover of evil. I still miss your parents every day, but they died so that we might have these years of peace. Even if, unfortunately, the underlying division between a rich and powerful pureblood minority and better qualified but underpaid and underappreciated muggleborns still remains.

Keep up the good (Potions-)work,

Remus

Dear Remus,

We won the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff! Snape saw fit to act as referee, which had all of us very worried, but then fortunately Professor Dumbledore came to watch the match, so he could only be biased in his refereeing, but not attempt to throw me off my broom. (I haven't forgotten about your warning that with magic things are not necessarily what they look like, but during the Slytherin match Hermione saw Snape look fixedly at me and muttering a spell under his breath, and then, as soon as his robes were on fire, I got my broom back under control.)

I'm a bit disappointed that I'll have to go back to the Dursleys, but you are right, if I can reduce the time I have to spend with them that would already be a big improvement.

Thank you for your idea of doing homework with the different houses. I like the idea.

I've noticed that the pureblood students are much more formal. It comes across as old-fashioned to us muggle-raised, especially since many other things are very conservative as well: the acceptance that things are done a certain way, even if they are counter-productive, simply because they have always been done this way, the money that is made of precious metals, the robes that are made to amble rather than play hide-and-seek, and, yes, the xenophobia as well.

Best wishes,

Harry

Dear Harry,

Congratulations on winning your second Quidditch match as well. I'm impressed.

Yes, things change much more slowly in wizarding society. I've been wizard-raised, so it seems normal to me, but I've mostly worked in muggle society, and I've also seen the negative sides of the progressive muggle culture, where people recognise the downsides of the rat-race, built-in obsolescence, the fashion statement that makes people discard clothes, furniture and gadgets that are still working fine simply because they are 'outmoded'. And that attitude goes hand in hand with the third-world sweat-shops to produce cheap consumer goods for the privileged. Not that I'm denying the accuracy of your observations of our magical society, more to ask you not to be too strident in your criticism; which in your letter you were not, I'm not complaining. Your parents talked about this a lot as well, and they agreed that change was necessary, but that some accommodation with those in power would be needed. We sorely miss them; not only your parents, but they were part of a larger group who saw that the same problems gave rise to the war with Grindelwald. And the tensions that gave rise to that war were similar to those that were used to justify the rise of You-Know-Who, and they were similarly left unresolved once the war was over, leaving the path open to another violent struggle, as indeed happened. This leaves me very worried for the future. People were too anxious for things to go back to 'normal', so that it was too easy for the guilty to bribe their way out of prison, and even today the talents of too many disenfranchised are wasted.

Best wishes,

Remus

Dear Remus,

Hagrid managed to win a dragon egg in a game of cards with some stranger in a pub. And he hatched his in his wooden hut! We had the devil of a time to convince him that he couldn't keep it, and we only managed when it became obvious even to Hagrid that it was growing very fast, and was only going to keep growing. Friends of Ron's brother Charlie, who works in a dragon reserve in Romania, came to take it there. We managed to send off the dragon, but then were caught and lost 150 points, so now the whole of Gryffindor is incensed with us.

I followed your advice, and we are now doing Transfiguration homework with the Hufflepuffs, and Herbology with the Ravenclaws, because we have those classes together. Hermione and I have even convinced the two Slytherins, who are the most studious and uninterested in picking fights with the Gryffindors or the muggleborns, to study potions with us. It turns out that Snape tells only the Slytherins to study the book that you sent me. Some teacher, eh? But no-one is willing to listen to us that he's up to no good.

Meanwhile, our efforts to get Hermione to relax seem to have been for nought. Exams are still weeks away, but Hermione is in full-blown panic. Don't get me wrong, Ron and I are studying hard, but I still have Quidditch practice, while Hermione can't be argued with, worrying incessantly, despite the fact that she's the best student in our year.

The Grangers are going abroad at the start of the summer holidays, and the Weasleys have invited me for the last three weeks of the holidays, from 11 August, so I could go to the Grangers from 1 till 11 August, from 18 till 26 July, or from 25 July till 2 August. So can I come to you at the start of the holidays? The Dursleys are happy for me to be there as little as I can manage.

Best wishes,

Harry

Dear Harry,

Yes, I'm happy to pick you up from the Hogwarts Express and take you to the Dursleys on 12 July. You can then go to the Grangers when you want. If you need me to take you from the Dursleys to the Grangers and/or back, that would be fine, though taking both you and Hermione to the Weasleys on the 11th might be too much.

A dragon? Magic is pretty crazy, isn't it? Well done on resolving the situation without having to go to the hospital wing. As a Marauder who got into way too much trouble getting caught doing pranks (though we got away with more than half of what we did) I'm afraid that the loss of house points does not particularly bother me. I'm a terrible role model. I do think that in general the rules are there for good reasons, and Professor McGonagall couldn't very well apply different rules just for you, but both Hagrid and the dragon are better off this way, so I suggest you take your lumps concerning the punishment.

I'm heartened that you organised doing homework with all the other houses. Such small beginnings can grow to build friendships or a coalition in future.

It's difficult for me to judge just based on your letter, but from what you said earlier in the year about the study habits of Ron and you and your grades, I do wonder whether a bit of exam stress might be better than achieving less than you are able to. A very subjective judgment to be sure.

I'd love to hear from you again, but if not I'll see you on platform 9¾,

Remus

"Thanks for the fudge and jumper, Mrs. Weasley."

"Oh, it was nothing, dear."

"Have you met Remus Lupin?"

"No, nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, Mrs. Weasley."

"Are you here to pick up Harry?"

"Yes, indeed," answering her unasked question, he continued, "I was a friend of James and Lily Potter. We were in the same year in Gryffindor."

"I see. Ron mentioned that Harry was going elsewhere when he asked us to fix dates for Harry to come and visit, but he hadn't explained about your connection to Harry. I'm glad to hear that you'll be able to tell Harry about his parents, we hardly knew them."

"Yes, we've been writing letters all year, and spent Christmas together."

"How nice. Well, Harry dear, we'll come to collect you at the Granger's house on 11 August. Have a lovely summer until then."

"Thank you, it's going to be great," Harry answered with conviction.