Remus Lupin shows up at King's Cross on 1 September 1991

by PardotKynes

Follows canon in first year and starts to diverge as Remus disabuses Harry of the conditioning that he received from the Dursleys to disregard his own wellbeing, until, in November 1994, Harry, Remus and Sirius move to the USA. After graduation from Ilvermorny and obtaining masteries, Harry and Hermione return to the UK to start a secret school for muggleborns. 1 chapter/year.

2. Chapter 2 The Dreadful Diary

Chapter 2. Harry Potter and the Dreadful Diary

Remus Lupin sat in stunned silence, wondering whether to shout at Harry, at Dumbledore, or to complain to the Ministry. After some thought he decided to try the latter, because Albus Dumbledore was more difficult to talk around to a different point of view than Lily, and it wasn't right to shout at an 11-year-old, however irresponsibly he had acted. By then his prolonged silence had made Harry start fidgeting, though, so he would first have to try and talk some sense into him.

"Harry, I can't deny that if You-Know-Who had ended up with the Philosopher's Stone, that would have been a major disaster, … Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure, in fact I think that Nicolas Flamel would not have sent his Stone to Albus Dumbledore, so it was probably a fake. And I think that Dumbledore may have known this, because you said your impression was that he was testing you, and because the protections were weak enough for three first year students to get through. So, in future, I'd like to ask you to be less of a Gryffindor and not jump into danger so readily."

Harry nodded, but Remus was starting to learn to read the difference between a convinced Harry and a Harry that had been taught to say yes even if he meant no, and he thought in this case he got the latter, so he continued, "the most important thing is that you survived. If You-Know-Who is trying to come back, then I think it might be a good idea for me to teach you some practical defence over the next three weeks." This time he thought the nod that Harry gave him actually signalled agreement, "but please don't think that even with a few weeks of additional training you'll be ready to take on a dark wizard who 11 years ago was on the verge of taking over the whole of magical Britain, and not jump into danger so readily. The first choice should always be to survive, even if that is only to survive to fight another day. I'll be writing some letters to try and find out why it was left to you three to stop You-Know-Who."

Harry defended himself, "we went to Professor McGonagall, but she wouldn't listen. She said the Stone was perfectly well protected. But it wasn't."

Remus nodded, "I'd better write to Professor McGonagall as well to find out what her reasoning was."

Dear Madam Bones,

While I am well aware that Hogwarts is independent of the ministry, I wonder at what point the DMLE has reason and jurisdiction to take an interest in the threats to the safety of the underage citizens of magical Britain. Over the last school year, a troll got into Hogwarts (on Halloween), a Cerberus was being kept behind a door that could be opened with a simple Alohomora, and Nicolas Flamel's Philosopher's Stone was being kept in a school full of children while a dark wizard was known to be trying to steal it (as evidenced by the break-in at Gringott's on 31 July last year). It turns out that the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Quirinus Quirrell, was being possessed by You-Know-Who, and was killed when he triggered the protections that Lily Potter placed on Harry Potter, during a confrontation when Quirrell tried to steal the Stone last week. I am loath to take this to the Hogwarts Board of Governors, as their chairman is Lucius Malfoy, and I have never accepted his claim that he was imperiused by You-Know-Who rather than a loyal Death Eater.

With kind regards,

Remus Lupin

Remus had started a letter to Professor McGonagall, but found he needed more information, so next morning over breakfast he asked, "Harry, what is Professor McGonagall like as the Head of Gryffindor."

"Well, she's fair and all," to Harry that was a major point in his favour, he wasn't used to anyone treating him fairly, "but we hardly ever see her outside of class." Remus nodded, but didn't say anything, until Harry continued, "I've never seen her in the Gryffindor common room. … And although she is fair, Snape is not, so if there's a disagreement between a Slytherin and a Gryffindor, the Gryffindor will still come out worse."

Dear Professor McGonagall,

If you'll allow me to be blunt for the sake of speaking clearly, I fear that your positions of deputy headmistress and head of Gryffindor are in conflict with each other. As deputy headmistress you need to treat all students equally, but the Gryffindor students need an advocate. The tension between those two wouldn't be so bad if the head of Slytherin didn't have a grudge against everything Gryffindor. And we both know that Professor Dumbledore is too busy to facilitate a resolution of this ongoing conflict at Hogwarts. In addition to these general remarks, I have a particular instance where out of your two functions you chose to be the deputy headmistress when your students wanted to speak to the head of Gryffindor. The instance I speak of is when Mr Potter, Miss Granger and Mr Weasley came to you when they found out someone was trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone. I've spoken with Mr Potter and the clues they had uncovered were extensive and persuasive. But rather than hear them out you sent them off before they had a chance to finish speaking with the claim that the Stone was perfectly well protected. A claim that turned out to be a lie. This lie now means that Mr Potter no longer trusts his head of house to take his side. Since Voldemort is trying to come back, this lack of trust could have disastrous consequences in the near future. I think teaching Transfiguration, one of the core subjects with a lot of classes, and being deputy headmistress together take up all your time, and I would respectfully exhort you to find another teacher with fewer responsibilities to take up the role of head of Gryffindor.

Respectfully,

Remus Lupin

Dear Mr. Lupin,

Thank you for your letter. I had heard rumours from my niece, who is in the same year as Harry, but no official complaint of child endangerment has been made, therefore I cannot take any action. Are you in contact with Harry Potter? If yes, would you be able and willing to arrange for an interview between him and myself?

With kind regards,

Amelia Bones

Harry agreed to be interviewed by Madam Bones, during which he told her about the things that had happened at Hogwarts, but because Remus was not Harry's guardian, she was unable to start an official investigation. Madam Bones also invited Harry to come and visit Susan Bones for a day, where he also got to meet Hannah Abbott.

Dear Mr Lupin,

Thank you for your letter. Although I think some of your argument relies on the wisdom of hindsight, I find myself agreeing that having three separate functions might be too much and have convinced another professor to take on the role of Head of Gryffindor.

Thank you for your concern,

Minerva McGonagall

During the rest of his stay with Remus, Remus kept trying to apologise that life at his cottage was rather boring, but Harry repeatedly pointed out that learning Defence (Remus had managed to make his cottage unplottable on the grounds that Harry being able to defend himself was more important than the law against underage magic when he was there to make sure that they wouldn't break the Statute of Secrecy) and Potions, and reading quidditch magazines while lazing in the garden was much, much better than doing endless chores for the Dursleys.

Then he went to the Dursleys. It was quite as bad as he thought it would be. They locked away all his school stuff, locked Hedwig in her cage, and then complained that Hedwig screeched her displeasure, and he didn't hear anything from anyone, but he figured that Remus was busy with whatever had kept Harry from staying with him for longer, Hermione didn't have her own owl, and Ron was not much of a writer. He consoled himself that it would only be for two weeks. And then, on his last day, Dobby showed up and ruined the dinner party that the Dursleys were having with the Masons. His uncle and aunt were livid, and locked him in his room, and Harry was very glad that the next day the Grangers came to pick him up, so he could escape from the hateful glares.

Hermione convinced Harry to write to the Improper Use of Magic Office to protest his innocence, but they were completely disinclined to believe that a strange house-elf would just show up in his house and do some mischief to get him in trouble. Hermione was upset at the unfairness, while Harry was resigned and unsurprised. He had ample experience with his complaints being dismissed.

Where his stay with Remus had been enchanting and had also felt like a stay of executions from his life with the Dursleys, his stay with the Grangers was comfortable. He knew what to expect in a muggle household, and Hermione's parents were kind, but he also felt he understood them in a way that he would never understand those who had grown up in magic culture, however much Remus' tutoring was really helpful and the stories he had been told about his parents had helped to partially fill a void in Harry. Hermione's parents, for all that they had met the Dursleys only for minutes while they had come to pick up Harry, seemed to have understood that Harry was being abused, and though they didn't press Harry for details, they really listened when Harry let the occasional thing slip, and managed to impress on Harry that it was the Dursleys who were the freaks.

Life with the Weasleys was good in a different way. It was lively to the point of chaos. It was brilliant to be able to fly in the orchard, he could be carefree with Ron, and the twins were studying in their own twisted way, trying to come up with new pranks. And although Mrs. Weasley set them a few chores, as long as they didn't break any limbs they could do pretty much as they wanted. But it was quite strange to be in a magical household and not be allowed to do magic. And though Mrs. Weasley apparently had been told about the misadventure with Voldemort, she seemed determined to act as if nothing was wrong; she certainly was utterly unwilling for them to practise defence, so Harry had decided to spend time on fitness training, he read a book about duelling, and he spent hours on aerial acrobatics and chasing gnomes. He often felt himself observed, which he supposed must be Ginny, but she wouldn't even speak to him.

Their visit to Diagon Alley, once their Hogwarts letters had arrived, reminded Harry about the tensions bubbling under the surface, with Mr. Malfoy trying to get rid of incriminating possessions at Borgin and Burkes, Harry's confrontation with Draco, and the fight between Misters Weasley and Malfoy. And Gilderoy Lockhart hadn't made Harry feel that they would learn more defence from him than they had from Quirrell.

On 1 September, the barrier to platform 9¾ was closed, and Ron and Harry flew in the Weasley's car to crash into the Whomping Willow at Hogwarts and get chewed out over it, first in a hot temper by Snape and then in mild disapproval by professor Burbage, who turned out to be their new head of house, and finally in quiet remonstration by professor Dumbledore, which somehow was the worst even though it was the most understated, but everything the headmaster did had a singleness of purpose behind it that made even a quiet look of disappointment make Harry and Ron feel about 1 foot tall.

Dear Remus,

At King's Cross station something really strange happened: most of the Weasley family could go through the barrier to the Hogwarts express without problem, but when Ron and I tried right after the rest of the family it had become unpassable. Then Ron suggested we should take the Weasley's flying car and I somehow convinced myself this was a good idea. I'm very sorry. This is probably not the kind of thing you were thinking of when you told me I shouldn't jump into danger, but still, with hindsight, I have to admit that I should have known better. The professors were disapproving, but while Snape would have liked to expel us, we were rather relieved when Professor Burbage only gave us a detention. Professor Lockhart somehow managed to make this all about himself, even though it had absolutely nothing to do with him. I had already had the displeasure of meeting him when he did a book signing in Diagon Alley. I have never met such a vain and self-centred man. Most of Gryffindor thought it was a great stunt, though Hermione did a watered-down version of Professor Dumbledore's disapproval.

And then Professor Lockhart made it worse by starting the first lesson with a quiz, every question of which was about himself, and none would tell him how much defence we'd learned last year. All the other classes are like last year.

My stay with the Granger's was relaxed and easy. The Weasley household is great, but chaotic and loud, and it was strange to be in a magical household but not be allowed to do magic. It was great to be able to fly, though.

We have a new head of house. Professor Burbage is almost the polar opposite of Professor McGonagall; she's bubbly and engaged. It's a bit much, actually, but it does have the advantage that she came to the common room right after the opening feast to introduce herself, and explain where her office is, and post her class schedule on the notice board, telling us we could come and see her whenever she's not teaching.

How was the rest of your summer?

Best wishes,

Harry

Dear Harry,

At least you realised after the fact that this is what I was talking about when I asked you not to jump into trouble. Now please practise thinking of that before you get into danger or break the Statute of Secrecy.

The rest of my summer was fine, though not as enjoyable as when you were here. I think it would be good for you to see how other classmates live, so you might want to consider arranging a visit or two. Although it's early days yet, I should be able to free the whole Christmas holidays if you would like to come and stay.

The books by Gilderoy Lockhart are really popular, but from what you say it sounds as if they are fictional, or maybe they are based on legends and rumours presented to sound as if he did those things himself.

Although it is early days for that as well, you might want to start thinking about which electives you want to take from third till fifth year. You will only need to decide 6 or 7 months from now, but the decision determines which jobs you can do after you finish Hogwarts, so it's a good idea to give it serious thought.

Best wishes,

Remus

Dear Remus,

Lockhart continues to be useless and annoying. Can you give me some tips for self-study, please? Based on what you said about You-Know-Who, I don't think I can afford to rely on the class to teach me enough. And then I had detention with him (because of the flying car) and we spent hours replying to his fan-mail. At the end of the detention, something weird happened: I heard a voice saying something about killing, but Lockhart said he couldn't hear it. I don't think he was pranking me.

Thanks for the invitation for the Christmas holidays. I would definitely like to come, though whether for the whole holidays or part of it, like last year, could we decide that later, based on who else would agree for me to visit?

Thank you for the advice about electives. Yes, since I know almost nothing about what kind of jobs are available in the wizarding world, I have no idea how to choose, and it would be good to take the time to learn about the options and what they would mean after graduation. I don't even know what electives are available and what the minimum and maximum numbers are that we should choose. If you're busy, I could go to Professor Burbage, but rumour has it that as a pureblood teaching Muggle Studies, she's more enthusiastic than knowledgeable.

Best wishes,

Harry

Dear Harry,

A voice talking about killing that Professor Lockhart couldn't hear? Given what happened last year, I think you should be very careful. I assume this happened at night? I think you should stay in the common room as much as possible, especially after dark. Carry your invisibility cloak with you at all times. Don't go anywhere alone. Borrow books and read them in Gryffindor tower rather than in the library in the evening. Stay with your team-mates when you have quidditch practice. I know this kind of constriction on your freedom is annoying, maybe even very annoying, but as you've unfortunately already had cause to find out, magic is not limited to improved healing and time-saving charms.

There are 5 electives, and the minimum number is 2. It's possible to take OWL exams in all five, but then classes overlap, which normally means you would need to do 2 by self-study. I don't know Professor Burbage, but it's part of her duties as head of house to advise you on which electives to take. Therefore, by all means, ask her and other professors' opinions, including the professors teaching the electives. Personally, I found divination to be useless. It's not something you can learn, so unless you have a talent for it that you've not told me about, I would advise against it. As a muggle raised student, you are unlikely to learn anything much in Muggle Studies. It's mostly needed for wizard-raised students who want to work in muggle-facing parts of the ministry (which is quite a bit of it). If you want to have an easy time, you could choose this. With my responsible adult hat on I can't recommend it, but with my devil's advocate hat on I can admit that not everything is about academics. And if you want to keep your career options open but decide not to go the minimum effort route, you could not attend the classes, but take the OWL through self-study. Care of Magical Creatures is a personal favourite of mine. My mastery in Defence had a large component of defence against dangerous creatures. In addition to defence, it's useful for potioneers, wand-makers and there's a department in the ministry that deals with magical creatures. That leaves the two most useful and also academically most challenging topics. Runes is especially important for warding, but is also used in enchanting, wand-making, the floo and portkey networks, and detection of underage magic. Arithmancy is pretty much a requirement for unspeakables, and is used in combination with development and analysis of all other fields of magic, so it's a good subject to learn about how magic works. Although not part of the Arithmancy curriculum, the numeracy that you will pick up there is very useful if you go into business, and the statistical analysis can be useful in politics. As you may have guessed from my description I did the last three subjects, and then, because they were also the three most demanding electives, I did as little as I could get away with in Astronomy and History. The former is only useful for rituals and harvesting of potions ingredients. Most people go a lifetime without ever doing any rituals, which are also strictly regulated by the ministry. And what astronomy you need for potions is easily looked up. History is particularly useful if you want to go into politics, but because it is so poorly taught by Binns, you can always self-study only what interests you; something you can still do equally well after graduating.

I attach a list of defensive spells that as far as I know can't go too horribly wrong. You will still need to have at least one person present who stand(s) well away from anyone practising, and who can get madam Pomfrey if something goes wrong, so I'd recommend forming a study group for that (and remember about not walking the hallways alone to go there and back again). You might also wish to consider a pay-it-forward scheme where you get student(s) two years older than you to teach your year, and to teach students two years younger in turn (given the practice we got through this summer, I think you have enough experience yourself to teach first-years).

Yes, it's no problem to decide dates to visit over Christmas later.

Best wishes,

Remus

Dear Remus,

I heard the voice again. I was with Ron and Hermione, and they couldn't hear it either. Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat was petrified. On the wall above the cat someone had written, "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware." Do you know anything about a Chamber of Secrets? Or which heir it means?

Thanks very much for your detailed advice on the electives. I agree that divination sounds useless, and the idea to do as little as possible for astronomy and history in order to have time to keep up with more useful subjects is also very helpful. I'll ask some other people as well.

You did a mastery in defence? Is that like a muggle master's degree? Do many people do a mastery? Are there other options for higher education?

Thanks for the suggestion about starting a defence study group. Susan Bones thought it would be a good idea, so we're trying to put something together. (Ron isn't one for doing extra work, and Hermione currently spends even more time than is usual for her in the library.)

Things are funny at Hogwarts. Nobody liked Mrs Norris much, so nobody is acting like anything particularly bad happened, but the uncertainty makes people act suspicious, including towards me, simply because I was the first one there to find Mrs Norris.

I am being careful.

Best wishes,

Harry

Dear Harry,

No, I've never heard of a Chamber of Secrets. We, the Marauders, searched the castle quite thoroughly over the years in our efforts to find the secret passages; amongst others so that we could clear off without getting caught after our latest prank. And I have no idea which heir the message is referring to. Obviously every ancient and/or noble house in wizarding Britain has an heir to the head of house, but this sounds like it's something else. I'm not aware that Hogwarts has an heir to anything because none of the positions are heritable, nor ever have been.

Not so much like a master's degree, a mastery is much closer to how guilds used to be managed. You obtain a mastery by studying under a master. It's not terribly common, but I don't know a percentage. Because of the low numbers the process is overseen by the ICW, since there are not enough candidates in each country to make a national scheme feasible. I did one instead of going through auror training, which is what James, your father, did (and Sirius as well). Because I didn't have an inheritance and needed to work at the same time, I took 6 years to get my mastery. Lily was also in the process of obtaining a mastery, in charms. The Potters had enough money to not have to worry about having to work, but Lily was also learning to manage the Potter estates with your grandfather, so she was also doing her mastery part-time. And then you were born, so that became another reason why her mastery was part-time, after which your grandparents fell ill with dragon-pox and died, and then your parents were killed. That was shortly after James graduated from trainee auror to auror. That was obviously in the middle of a civil war, so the distinction between a trainee auror and an auror wasn't as clear-cut as it normally is. Lily was learning to manage the Potter estate because James was more interested in working as an auror and fighting death eaters.

No, there are no other forms of higher education, although I think there are some masters who together take on candidates for masteries in combined fields, but I don't know any details about that. Although it's not higher education that awards you a diploma, there is quite a lot of vocational training, organised by (prospective) employers. Because of the pureblood bigotry it can be quite difficult for gifted muggleborns to make the career progression they want and deserve, so some of them do accelerated A-level studies followed by muggle university, and then typically stay in muggle society.

Best wishes,

Remus

Dear Remus,

We won the quidditch match against Slytherin, despite the fact that Malfoy bought his way onto their team as seeker when his father bought them 7 Nimbus 2001s. Dobby (remember the house-elf that stole my mail while I was at the Dursleys?) had cursed a bludger to keep chasing after me, no matter how much the Weasley twins kept beating it away, and I broke my arm just before I caught the snitch. And then Lockhart disappeared all the bones in my right arm. Madam Pomfrey was most upset with him. The man interferes with everyone, pretending he knows more herbology than professor Sprout etc., but he managed to turn his first class into pandemonium be letting loose about 30 Cornish pixies without offering any instruction on what we should do about them. I asked Hermione to teach the defence study group the immobilus charm she used.

Dobby said he was trying to get me injured enough to get sent home. Never mind that stealing my mail and closing the barrier to platform 9¾ didn't work, which he also confessed to doing. He let slip that he was worried about the Chamber of Secrets, but wouldn't tell me anything more. Professor Binns (of all people) explained to us that the Chamber of Secrets was supposedly built by Salazar Slytherin, containing a monster that would get rid of the muggleborn students. Binns denied its existence, but someone obviously wants us to believe it exists. Is it known who the heir of Slytherin is?

And then Colin Creevey, a first-year muggleborn student, was petrified and the inside of his camera was all molten, and Dumbledore said it means the Chamber has been opened again. Do you know when it was opened before? Colin was petrified last night, but already the whole castle is buzzing with rumours of course.

We're doing an extra study project, so I'd like to stay in the castle at the start of the holidays, but I'd love to visit after Christmas. Can you come and collect me on Sunday 27 December at 10, then I can return on the train on 3 January?

Sorry for the disquieting news,

Harry

Dear Harry,

Disquieting indeed. No, I don't know who the heir of Slytherin would be. The Slytherin family name has died out, but it's possible that someone would be descended from a female Slytherin and tries to lay claim to the title based on that. Although supposedly the anti-muggleborn attitude already started with Slytherin, those were very different times, before the Statute of Secrecy, so I've never been convinced that Slytherin would have approved of the pureblood bigotry of today, but historical sources are so few that I don't think we'll ever know for sure.

House-elves have their own kind of magic, so I think it would be best to ask the Hogwarts house-elves about Dobby. I doubt he would be a Hogwarts elf, but the other elves might know something. The house-elves are most easily found in the kitchen, which is one floor below the Great Hall. There is a still-life painting, and if you tickle the pear it will turn into a door-handle (magic is weird; I know).

It was good to hear in your letter before last that you've agreed on a defence study group with Susan Bones, and that Hermione taught you the freezing charm. It's good if you can all learn from each other. How is potions? And the other subjects?

Yes, 27 December at 10 is fine.

I look forward to it,

Remus

Dear Remus,

Lockhart started a duelling club. It was useless. He had roped Snape into being his assistant and then Snape roped me into doing a demonstration duel against Malfoy. To prepare me Lockhart said he was going to show me the expelliarmus spell, but what he actually did was drop his wand and then he had the nerve to suggest I do what he did, so I was glad that you had already taught it to me. Then Snape taught Malfoy a spell to conjure a snake, Lockhart made the snake furious by throwing it ten feet into the air, after which it tried to attack Justin, one of the students watching the duel, and I told the snake to calm down. I thought I was speaking English to the snake, but apparently everybody else heard me hissing, so they didn't understand that I was telling to snake to stay away from the student. Although the snake did exactly what I told it, Justin, and everybody else as well, thought I was egging it on to attack. Magic rots the brain. Justin is a muggleborn, so I can't even blame this on magical society. Now most of the school thinks I'm the heir of Slytherin, simply because I'm a parselmouth.

And then the next day Justin and Nearly Headless Nick were petrified, making things 10 times worse. At least professor Dumbledore and Hagrid believed me that it wasn't me.

Most classes are fine, except that Snape is still his insufferable self, and apart from his 10 minutes of glory when he explained about the Chamber, Binns still manages to send everybody to sleep even if they had an undisturbed night with sweet dreams right before, which is becoming more rare.

See you soon,

Harry

Harry felt a bit guilty about leaving Hermione as a half-cat in the hospital wing, but he didn't want to stand up Remus either, so he left on the appointed time. He had a quiet week at the cottage of Remus, which, after the stress of the unexplained attacks, was a welcome interlude. Harry didn't think he could tell Remus about their adventure and the apparent innocence of Draco Malfoy without making it apparent that he had left out a lot that he didn't want to tell him, such as their theft from Snape's stores, their subterfuge to obtain a book from the restricted section of the library and their brewing of an advanced potion, and in any case, they hadn't found out what was actually going on, so he didn't mention it at all.

Harry arranged to stay with Remus during the last three weeks of July, but when he suggested he could try to stay with the Weasleys before that and with the Grangers after, Remus told him he needed to stay at least two weeks with the Dursleys.

Dear Harry,

Thank you for coming to stay with me over New Year's Eve. Sorry for repeating myself, but please do be careful and don't walk around on your own. As you've found out repeatedly by now, magic doesn't only make many day-to-day tasks easier, it also can make life more unpredictable and dangerous in other ways.

Although we've talked about the students accusing you of being the Heir of Slytherin, rereading your latest letter I ran across a remark you made on how they are ignoring the evidence against that conclusion. You said 'magic rots the brain'. Your mother made an observation about muggle society once that I think shows that this difference in critical thinking compared to magical society is relatively recent. She noted how it used to be only the privileged who could afford a university education, and that as a consequence the general public was much more inclined to believe in authority figures, take whatever the media reported as the truth, and in general had a tendency to make snap judgements based on appearances. Only when it became more common to get degrees for people with no vested interest in maintaining the status quo did it become more widespread for people to question things.

There was more to your mother's argument than that, but it's getting late, so I'll try to remember more of it before my next letter.

Best wishes,

Remus

The Weasleys were happy to let him stay from the start of the holidays until 9 July, and he would stay with the Grangers from 8 August until 1 September. Harry figured that 8 days and 9 nights with the Dursleys would at least feel like the two weeks stay that Remus had stipulated.

Dear Remus,

Did mum think the magical world needs a university to combat the lack of logic among witches and wizards? If you can remember what else she had to say on the subject I'd be very interested.

The Weasleys have invited me to the Burrow from the end of the school year until you come and collect me, and the Grangers have agreed to collect me from the Dursleys two weeks after you've taken me there, so the plan for the summer holidays is fixed.

We're busy learning the spells you suggested with our homework group. We're really grateful to you for coming up with it, because Lockhart continues to 'teach' a theatre class using scenes from his book to perform without any spells or other teaching. We also practise duelling, but our spell choice is a bit limited, because we don't know the counter to some of the hexes, and we don't want to have to go to madam Pomfrey for the potion cures. Since you said not to do any unsupervised brewing, do you know if there are counter-spells we could practise?

Best wishes,

Harry

Dear Harry

Yes, your mother thought that more widespread general (as opposed to vocational) advanced education would be a good idea, but she recognised there are not enough witches and wizards for Britain to have its own university, so she had some ideas for European-wide higher education.

In addition to that she thought there were two main other reasons for the lack of critical thinking. The first is economic inequality. She thought that the lack of a capital tax was a contributing factor, though she also admitted that she didn't know enough about economic theory to fully justify that, because magical society has (almost?) no inflation. But the reality is that the few pureblood families that have been around for centuries own almost all businesses, and everybody else basically has to accept whatever job is available. Compared to the muggle world, innovation is very slow, which means that people are used to doing things the way they have always been done.

The other factor she thought was the lack of universal suffrage. Seats on the Wizengamot are hereditary. When you turn 29 you will be able to take up the Potter seat. This means that people are not particularly involved in the decision-making process of the government, so they tend to complain but not have any opportunities to think of alternative options.

Maybe you could ask madam Pomfrey? It's a big difference whether you turn up already hexed, or you talk to her beforehand whether she knows any counter-spells, or maybe will agree to supervise you brewing healing potions?

Best wishes,

Remus,

Dear Remus,

That's very interesting, thank you. The homework group has discussed the three arguments you mentioned, and we've agreed to keep them in mind as we learn other things. Most of us agreed that we need major change, though opinions were sharply divided about what needed changing and why. Was the Daily Prophet more factual during the 70s? I'm rather appalled at what they will print as if it were the truth, and I think it might be another factor in the lack of critical thinking among witches and wizards, though admittedly I don't know whether it's a cause or an effect.

Last month we found the diary of a T. M. Riddle in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He got an award for special services to the school, another one for Magical Merit, and he was Head Boy. That was about fifty years ago, so no idea how it ended up in the bathroom. I didn't think much of it because the diary was blank. But then I decided to write in it. Whatever I wrote disappeared, and then Tom Riddle first wrote back and then showed me a memory of him catching Hagrid hiding some kind of monster in the dungeons. It looked a bit like a hairy spider, but it was bigger than a Labrador dog. Tom said it was how Hagrid got expelled.

Do you know what happened? I find it difficult to believe that Hagrid is the Heir of Slytherin. The monster was kept in what looked like a normal unused classroom, not what I'd expected the 'Chamber of Secrets' to look like at all. And why would Hagrid attack students now, when he's been at Hogwarts all this time? On the other hand, Hagrid does have an unfortunate liking for dangerous animals…

Best wishes,

Harry

The next morning, as Harry was having breakfast, he saw Remus walking into the Great Hall. Rather than come to him, Remus went up to Professor Dumbledore. After a brief conversation they both came over to Harry and Remus asked, "Harry, would you come with us, please?"

Once they had left the Great Hall, Remus asked, "where is this diary?"

"In my trunk," Harry said.

"Let's go and look at it."

"I have Charms in less than 10 minutes."

Professor Dumbledore said, "I will write you a note excusing your absence. We should make sure that the diary is not dangerous."

In Harry's dormitory, Professor Dumbledore cast several spells at the diary, asked Harry how it had come into his possession, and then convinced Harry to let him keep it. He also asked Harry whether anyone had exhibited any unusual behaviour. Harry mentioned the obnoxious things that Draco Malfoy had said, but Professor Dumbledore clarified that he was more looking for someone who had become secretive or possibly distracted, and Harry admitted he hadn't noticed anyone like that. Remus brought up the house-elf, which led to Harry explaining everything that he could remember of Dobby's visits. Professor Dumbledore asked Harry for the memories of the two visits so that he could see if there was anything he could learn from that and then sent Harry to his class.

Over the next few days Harry thought about what had happened, and eventually remembered how nervous Ginny had been when she had said she wanted to tell them something, only for her to be interrupted by Percy and losing her nerve. And then he remembered Lucius Malfoy handling her book in Flourish and Blotts. He didn't want to get her into trouble, so he waited until he saw her by herself and then asked her to talk to him where they couldn't be overheard.

"Ginny, I found this diary of Tom Riddle in Myrtle's bathroom. I've given the diary to the headmaster, and he thought it might have had something to do with the attacks. And indeed, since I found it, there have been no more attacks, so I hope we'll be ok now. I don't think you meant to harm anyone, …, and I won't tell anyone if you ask me not to, but I suspect that Lucius Malfoy foisted the diary on you when we were all in Diagon Alley. Am I right?"

Ginny stared at him with wide open eyes and a shocked expression, but then after a moment she nodded.

"Do you want to throw oil on the fire?"

"What?"

"Let's trick Lucius Malfoy into setting his house-elf free."

"No, I meant, 'throw oil on the fire', is that a muggle expression?"

"Yes. It means that you already have a fire, because obviously Malfoy meant for the diary to get the muggleborn students petrified, and then we throw oil on top by trying to get one over on him."

"OK."

"Is that 'OK, I understand what throwing oil on the fire means', or 'OK, let's try to trick Malfoy'"

"Let's try to trick Malfoy."

"I had this idea where we transfigure a random book to look like the diary," …

The rest of the school year had gone by uneventfully. No more petrifications, and eventually the petrified students had been cured, until it was time to take the Hogwarts Express back to London.

The first condition for their plan to work was met: Lucius Malfoy was waiting on platform 9¾ to pick up Draco. Harry was one of the first to leave the train and walked up to him, addressing him with, "Lord Malfoy, I wish to complain about your house-elf Dobby. Over the last year he has caused me harm several times, stealing my mail, causing me to miss the Hogwarts Express on 1 September, causing me bodily harm during a quidditch match so that I ended up seriously wounded in the hospital wing. I demand satisfaction." While Harry didn't shout, he had spoken in a clear voice and bystanders were taking note of his speech.

"Mr Potter, I have no idea what you are talking about. I did not order Dobby to do any of those things, therefore you must be mistaken."

"I suggest you ask him yourself."

"Dobby."

"Master is asking for Dobby."

"Yes, Mr Potter claims that you caused him harm several times this year. Is that true?"

Harry didn't like how Dobby shrunk into himself, but hoped things would end up for the better. Dobby admitted in a small voice, "yes, master."

Harry exclaimed, "you see, you obviously don't treat your house-elf right. Look at his filthy tunic, look at his scars. I will continue to be in danger if the elf stays in your household. I suggest you give him to me, so that I may set him right."

Malfoy briefly sputtered, but then resumed his habitual supercilious manner and said, "certainly not."

"How do you propose to ensure that Dobby doesn't attack me again, then?"

"I will punish him for his actions."

"But your punishments have quite clearly caused the problem, how do you expect doubling down on your previous treatment that has led to this situation to now correct it? No, if you will not give him to me, then sell him to me."

"I will not."

This was the moment that Ginny had been waiting for, "Lord Malfoy, last summer in Flourish and Blotts you left me with a cursed item," she pressed the fake diary into his hands, "I ask you to be more careful with your possessions."

Harry jumped in with, "miss Weasley, kindly wait until I am finished talking to Lord Malfoy. Unless you wish to suggest that the house-elf Dobby has been influenced by this cursed item, I say solving one problem at a time is how to go about things."

Wanting to keep Malfoy on the wrong foot, Ginny started to argue with Harry, "how should I know whether the things are related, Lord Malfoy is careless about this diary, and he is careless about his house-elf, is that all there is to it, or is there more going on?"

As they had hoped, Mr and Mrs Weasley had shown up by now to see what problem Ginny was having, and Ginny had stepped back between Harry and her parents, making it more difficult for Malfoy to give back the diary to her. He clearly didn't want to hold it himself, so he handed it to Dobby. Harry spoke before Ginny's parents could try and extract Ginny and Harry from the confrontation, "I see that you are unwilling to make any effort to ensure my future safety from your house-elf, so I will have to take matters into my own hands. Dobby, please open the diary."

Dobby did so, and his demeanour slowly changed from downtrodden and afraid to happiness and wonder. He spoke almost reverently, "master has given Dobby a sock. Dobby is free."

Malfoy shouted in outrage, "what?"

For the plan that Harry and Ginny had come up with one more thing was needed while keeping Malfoy scrabbling to keep up, so he quickly spoke, "Dobby, will you promise not to try to hurt me or sabotage me for any reason whatsoever?"

A brief expression of guilt passed over Dobby's face, but then he stood up straight and said, "yes, Harry Potter, sir, Dobby promises."

"Lord Malfoy, this issue has been resolved to my satisfaction. Good day." With that Harry quickly left, trusting Ginny to bring her parents along. Fred and George stood on Harry's other side, and looked ready to burst into laughter. Harry felt like laughing, singing and dancing himself, but he kept his face in the same stern expression with which he had finished speaking to Lucius Malfoy, and he gave a small but emphatic shake of the head to the twins, who understood and schooled their features though their eyes shone, and fell into step as they left for the Burrow.