Disclaimer: I don't own HP, I only own Evan and Iris. Also, Daisy and Ranby, who are the Potters' House-Elves.

Published 25-May-2023

Updated 10-2-2024

Entry 13:

31st July, 1992

Dear Aimee,

Happy birthday to us, I guess. I woke up to Mum crying in your room again. Daisy made pancakes with maple syrup and bacon for breakfast and then the family gave me my presents. I got a new Nimbus 2001 model for my broomstick model collection from Mum and Dad, and Iris gave me a set of no-drip, self-inking eagle quills.

My friends didn't send me anything.

I don't get it. Ron, Susan and Neville all said that they would write. Aludra did too, but I get why she hasn't. Her father hates me because of Dad and for putting her in danger last month. He's probably banned her from writing to me. But the others don't have any excuse.

Maybe I did something wrong? Or maybe they just don't want to be friends with me anymore. They did all nearly die because of me (except Neville, but that's only because he stayed behind to tell Auror Black and his team what was going on. If he'd come, he would've almost died too). Maybe they've realized that I'm not worth the stress of being friends with.

I wish Mum and Dad would let me Floo at least one of them to ask why they aren't writing to me, but they keep saying it's too dangerous to contact the Weasleys because they don't have family wards at their cottage the way we do. When I tried to ask about calling Neville or Susan they said that they can't just call up the Director of the DMLE out of the blue like that, and apparently, they don't get on with the Longbottoms either. Iris and I eavesdropped on the two of them, and apparently Neville's mother, Alice, was a close friend of Mum's when they were younger. But she sided with Lord Black when they argued, and they've had no contact since. Mum tried to reach out a few times, but Lady Longbottom didn't reply.

Maybe that's why Neville and Susan haven't answered my letters. Maybe Lord and Lady Longbottom refused to let their son be friends with me too, and Regent Bones took their and Lord Black's word that my family aren't fit companions for her niece. It doesn't explain why Ron hasn't written anything though. I know he doesn't like to write, but surely he could have at least sent a note saying happy birthday?

Anyway, hearing that conversation made Iris and I even more curious as to what the fight was about. It definitely sounds like Mum and Dad were the ones who screwed up, that's for sure. Mum kept talking about how stupid they were, and how she wished she could go back in time and stop herself before she ever "made that choice". Dad comforted her, but he sounded pretty sad and guilty too. He also said something about them making the right decision "for her", and that "she's better off this way". Mum said that she knew he was right, but that she missed "her" so much.

Who's "her"? I get the feeling the mysterious "her" is at the centre of this all, and if I could just figure out who she is, I would understand everything.

I miss you. I bet you'd be able to figure out what happened with Mum, Dad and their friends. You should be here with me, celebrating our twelfth birthday with Iris and Mum and Dad and all of OUR friends. I just-days like these are the worst. It should be a happy day, but I hate that I'm keep getting older when you never got the chance to.

Anyway, Mum's calling me for dinner, so I've got to go.

I wish you were here.

All my love,

Evan

Entry 14:

3rd August, 1992

Dear Aimee,

Well, this evening was pretty crazy, that's for sure. Okay, okay, I'll tell you what happened. So, Iris and I were hiding in an old guest bedroom so that I could show her some of the spells I learned during the year without Mum and Dad finding out. Mum is refusing to let me use magic. She says I shouldn't be allowed to if muggleborns can't, and that it's unfair to Iris for me to be "flaunting" my ability to use magic in her face. Mum thinks it'll upset her.

Mum should actually talk to Iris, because she really wants to see everything I can do. So, the two of us have been hiding and I've been demonstrating spells for her. But we had to finish up after a half-hour, because dinner was ready and Mum was looking for us. So we went downstairs and had dinner, and then I went to my room to try and send another letter to my friends. Only when I came in, there was this strange House-Elf, who was most definitely NOT Ranby or Daisy, sitting on my bed.

Naturally, I asked who the hell he was and what he was doing there. Turns out that his name is Dobby and he was there to warn me. He rambled about something dangerous happening at Hogwarts this year. He wouldn't tell me what the dangerous was or who's behind it, and he kept punishing himself when he tried to answer my questions, so I don't think he was lying. He truly believes I'm in grave danger and he was going against his master(s?) to warn me.

Then he admitted that he's been stealing my mail! My friends WERE writing to me! They haven't been ignoring me, but they probably think that I'VE been ignoring THEM! And just as I was trying to get my mail away from him, Iris came in and screamed. Then Mum and Dad came running in too. Dad sent this red spell at Dobby, but he disappeared and Mum called the Aurors.

Lord Black was the team leader. He was pretty intimidating, barking orders left and right and having the house searched and the wards examined, even though Iris and I told them Dobby was gone. Then he took Iris and me aside and started assuring us that we were safe now and asking us what happened. It was like he was a completely different man to the one I met in June. He reminded me of Dad. I finally understand why Aludra and the others are so relaxed around him.

I told him everything and he promised to find Dobby and get my letters back for me. Then he told me that Aludra, Susan and Neville have been worried about me, but that they thought maybe Mum and Dad had taken us back into hiding because of what happened in June, which isn't too far off the truth, to be honest. We haven't even gone to muggle world under Polyjuice like we used to before I went to Hogwarts, just in case it wears off or something (not that that ever happened. They're so overprotective, it drives me crazy, and makes me feel so guilty about Iris paying for my survival).

Anyway, Mr. Scrim-Scrimp-, gah, the Head Auror who looks like a lion (from here on out known as "Auror Lion"), showed up and decided it wasn't safe for Iris and I at home. Mum and Dad objected that they didn't want us in some safehouse with strangers, but they agreed when Auror Black offered to take us to his house. He said that his friend, Remus, would be able to look after us, and Aludra's there, obviously, so I was pleased about that, even if I was nervous at being forced on him. I don't want to make him hate me even more and ban Aludra from spending time with me. Especially because if Aludra stops hanging out with me, Neville and Susan will definitely stop too.

Lord Black dropped us back at his place where Aludra and her uncle were, apologized for yelling at me last June and rushed back to work. Aludra and Mr Lupin, sorry, Remus, fed us brownies they'd made (I had no idea Aludra could bake, let alone so well. I didn't think nobles did that. Even Mum doesn't cook, but that's mostly because she burns toast and Daisy cries whenever she goes into the kitchen.) and asked us what happened. Remus was very reassuring. He said finding out who Dobby belongs to should be easy, and that Lord Black will warn Professor Dumbledore about the threat. I have to say it was a relief to hear that.

Aludra is really relaxed here. I never realized how much effort she puts into portraying herself as the perfect Heiress at school until now. She was laughing and rambling and got some chocolate on her cheek and didn't even bother to wipe it off for ages! I've never seen her like this, but it was nice. It shows a new side to her. Makes her seem more normal. Iris already adores her, I can tell.

Remus left us alone for a bit so we could practice magic and show Iris some spells. Then he sent us to bed, and now I'm here writing to you. This place is kind of intimidating when Aludra and Remus aren't here. The family magic is STRONG and HEAVY. I can feel it judging me.

I feel like I'm failing to live up to its' requirements. I know family magic isn't very fun for a non-family member to feel, but it's different knowing that logically and actually feeling it.

Oh, I think I hear Iris. She probably wants to sleep with me.

I wish you were here.

All my love,

Evan

Entry 15:

5th August, 1992

Dear Aimee,

Ally is so lucky! (She said Iris and I could call her that). Anyway, Sirius and Remus are AMAZING! We're having SO MUCH fun! Sirius and Remus are helping us with our spellwork, especially duelling. I now know how to cast both a Stunning spell and a Shield (a Stunner is what Dad tried to do to Dobby the other day), as well as several prank spells. Sirius says that prank spells are very useful in duels if you want to just surprise or incapacitate your opponent, not hurt them.

Plus they're hilarious.

Apparently Sirius and Remus have an ongoing Prank War (capital letters required), and they break the Armistice (that's some sort of treaty where you agree not to fight) whenever Sirius has a free day. Ally, Neville and Susan swap teams each time. Yesterday it was Ally and I with Sirius against Remus, Iris, Neville and Susan. We had so much fun using muggle and magical prank products and spells to catch the others, and Sirius says it's a good way to expand your critical thinking and strategy spells, because everyone except Iris and I are experienced at detecting traps and dodging attacks, so we had to think up different ways to catch the others off-guard. We spent hours at it! I still think our team won, because we turned the others' skin neon green with hot pink stars and made them dance the can-can. But Iris says that her team won because they transfigured all our clothes into tutus and made us sing Celestina Warbeck's 'Cauldron Full of Love' in opera form. I gotta tip my hat to them for that. It was a pretty wicked idea of Iris to come up with.

A little before dinner Neville and Susan had to go home, so we made another Armistice, and then Mum called on the Floo. She said the wards were getting updated in the morning so we could come home afterwards, but Sirius helped Iris and I convince her to let us stay a bit longer. I'm so glad we did, because this is the most fun we've both had in ages!

Today Susan and Neville came over again (I finally understand why the three of them are so close. They spend most of the time at each others' houses, and Sirius and Remus treat the others like their own. Neville's mum is Aludra's godmother, and Susan's Aunt is cousin to his father, plus Regent Bones, Lady Longbottom and Sirius all work together), and Susan brought a Quadpot Quaffle with her. Apparently she visited relatives of her mother in the States earlier in the summer and they gave it to her as a present. We played a few rounds of Quadpot (even Neville gave it a go, and he hates flying), but Sirius made us stop when Neville fell off his broom and broke his arm after the Quaffle exploded. He healed it and showed us a few basic healing spells though, so it turned out alright.

Aludra's cousin, Tonks, came over for dinner. They're genderfluid and a Metamorphmagus, the only one I've met, and they're hilarious. They kept changing their face into other people's and making fun of them, like the Minister or Barty Crouch or this woman who works for the Minister and looks like a toad. I snorted my drink, I laughed so much. Iris started crying she was laughing so hard.

And I think I've adjusted to feeling of the Black family magic. It's still pretty heavy, but I think I'll get away with staying in my own room tonight instead of Iris and I crawling in with Aludra like last night and the night before. (Oh, I forgot to mention that. Aludra heard Iris and I whispering in the hallway our first night here, and let us sleep with her. I don't think Sirius was PLEASED, but he wasn't angry about it either. He just repeated that Ally and I can't be alone in a bedroom together, but she's not allowed to be alone in a bedroom with Neville or Cedric Diggory either. Ally said once she turned Hogwarts age she was considered too old for it to be appropriate. It's the same for Susan.)

Anyway, it's lights out now. Sirius said he'd show us more duelling techniques tomorrow, and Neville said he'd referee if the girls and I want to play two-on-two quidditch, so I want to get a good night's sleep.

I just wish you were here to join us.

All my love,

Evan

Entry 16:

7th August, 1992

Dear Aimee,

Well, today was a disaster.

I feel really guilty. Iris and I just wanted to spend a little longer with the others, but we ended up making the whole trip uncomfortable for everyone. So, Sirius Flooed us over to the Leaky Cauldron this morning and we met up with Mum and Dad. Sirius asked them some questions to prove they weren't using Polyjuice then left us with them and went over to where Neville was with his gran and Susan (her aunt and his parents couldn't make it today). Aludra and Remus went straight there because we'd said goodbye at Black Manor.

Anyway, Iris and I asked if we could go shopping with them, and Dad and Mum said we could if they agreed. So Dad asked and Sirius said yes but you could tell just speaking to Dad upset him. Remus looked tense too, and Dad and Mum couldn't meet their eyes. I can tell they're very sorry for whatever happened, but Sirius said something about having a "permanent reminder" of it, and that he couldn't forgive and forget.

I just really wish I knew what they did to make everyone so angry at them. Even Dowager Lady Longbottom was glaring at them.

Anyway, we got our books, and Remus recommended some extras he said would help us with DADA. I'm not looking forward to it this year, based on everything Sirius and Remus said about Lockhart (plus Ally's reaction, she looked like someone had just told her that Hedwig was dead!). And it only got worse when I actually MET him. He was having a book signing when we were at F&B. I've never seen a guy look so-so-girly! Not that there's anything wrong with girls, two of my best friends are girls and they're awesome, but he looked like the only spells he knew were hair care ones! Plus he dragged me up for a photo when he saw me, though he was quick to let me go when Dad pulled his wand and threatened to call the Aurors for assault.

I wonder if you'd be like those women and girls who were sighing over him, or if you'd be more practical like Susan and Ally? No, you'd definitely be too smart for that stuff.

I wish you were here.

All my love,

Evan

Entry 17:

26th August, 1992

Dear Aimee,

I'm at the Weasleys' house now. They call it the Burrow, and it's pretty cool looking. Very much a magical house. It looks like it used to be a large stone pigpen, but they added a bunch of extra rooms until it was a bunch of stories high and more crooked than a Ministry politician. I reckon it's completely held up by magic, otherwise it'd just fall over. It has about four or five chimneys and there's a lopsided sign stuck in the ground near the entrance that says "THE BURROW". It's pretty messy and cramped, to be honest, but the aura is very friendly. Still, I'd never manage to stay here longer than a few days, especially what with how many people are here. It makes me feel a bit claustrophobic.

Honestly, I'm not enjoying it as much as I did being at Black Manor. Mrs. Weasley doesn't let us practice magic (not that Ron wants to), and she's always yelling, usually at the twins. Ron's room has a ghoul living in the attic above it and it's hard to sleep because it's always banging around. I don't understand why they don't just get rid of it, because Ron and Mrs. Weasley are always complaining about the noise it makes.

And Ginny, Ron's little sister, is always staring at me. It's creepy. And whenever I try to speak to her, you know, show her I'm a normal boy, she squeaks and goes so red I'm worried her cheeks will burst. I sent a letter to Aludra and Susan, asking what to do and they said I would just have to put up with it and hope that she'll outgrow it sooner rather than later. Aludra also offered to speak to Lord Weasley and have him get her to stop, but I think that's a bit extreme. If it gets out of hand though, I'll ask her to.

It's all kind of boring. There's only so many times I can help de-gnome the garden and play two-on-two quidditch with Ron and the twins before even quidditch gets dull. At least at Black Manor Sirius and Remus were constantly switching things up, so even if we were doing the same activity, it HAPPENED differently. Know what I mean? And at home we can go out to the muggle world (usually, this summer being the exception) and have fun there.

Speaking of which, I let slip that we spent a lot of time in the muggle world growing up, and Mr. Weasley started interrogating me about EVERYTHING. He asked me what the function of a rubber duck was! How would I know that? I spent time in the muggle world, I'm not FROM it. He has a shed where he tinkers with muggle objects. Ron said he enchanted his car to fly! I'm pretty sure that's illegal, and that's the sort of thing the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office is supposed to STOP. I suppose as long as he isn't hurting anyone, it should be okay?

At least we're back to Hogwarts in a few days. I'm looking forward to it, especially seeing the others. I feel like we got really close while Iris and I were at Black Manor.

I wish you were here.

All my love,

Evan

Entry 18:

1st September, 1992

Dear Aimee,

I'm so dead when Mum finds out about this stunt. What was I thinking? Answer: I wasn't, I was panicking.

Okay, okay, I'm sure you're beyond curious by now. So, we were really late getting ready to leave this morning. Then in the car (which we WEREN'T flying-at the time) we were ten minutes in when Fred realized that he had forgotten his fireworks or something. So we had to turn around and go back. Then five minutes after we'd left for the second time, Ginny shouted that she had left her diary so we had to go back AGAIN!

We arrived literally five minutes before the train was due to leave, and everyone started rushing through the barrier. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley went through with Ginny, leaving Ron and I to go through last. That's where things went wrong, and honestly a part of me blames Ron's parents for what happened next. Seriously, why wouldn't they wait until all of us were through and go last instead? That's what Mum and Dad would do, and I bet Sirius and Remus would do that too.

Anyway, when we tried to go through, we crashed into the barrier! It was sealed! And only a few moments later it turned 11 and the train left. Ron and I were panicking, Gwenog (did I ever mention that I named my owl after Gwenog Jones? I MIGHT have a SLIGHT crush on her. Just a small one!) was squawking and a security guard came up to ask us if everything was alright. He looked a bit suspicious of us, like he thought we were up to something. We convinced him that we'd just lost control of the trolley and went back to the car to wait for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, but after five minutes they still hadn't arrived and we were afraid that maybe whatever closed the barrier had kept them on the platform.

We were afraid of what would happen if we were late to arrive, so, well, Ron got the idea to fly his dad's car to school. I was panicking and agreed. I'm currently writing from the front seat of said car, while Ron drives. We're following what we HOPE are the tracks for the Express.

I know, I know, it was stupid but I was panicking and Ron was panicking and it seemed like a good idea at the time, okay?

Here's to hoping they don't expel us the moment we arrive.

And that we don't crash and kill ourselves. On the other hand, maybe I'd be better off. I do NOT want to face Mum's reaction when she finds out about this. Or the girls' reactions, for that matter.

I bet if you were here you'd've been sensible enough to talk us out of this stupid idea.

Anyway, Ron's bored and wants me to entertain him, so I've got to go.

I wish you were here.

All my love,

Evan