Dear Mum and Dad,

You may have heard we were late to Hogwarts. DO NOT PANIC. We got there safe and sound! When we tried to go through the barrier, it turned to solid stone. Harry thinks Umbridge's house elf Dobby was responsible, since he doesn't want Harry to return to Hogwarts. I'm not so sure, since, well, we have returned to Hogwarts and if I was going to prevent us from returning to Hogwarts, I'd choose something more effective. But then again, Dobby isn't entirely sane. Or very good at the whole killing business.

Getting back on track, when we realized we were stuck, we called the Grangers. We certainly did not have any other ideas like taking the flying car to Hogwarts and anyone who says we did needs their heads examined. They called in a favor from a friend and we actually traveled there by helicopter, which is a Muggle flying machine kind of like a plane but much smaller and with these spinning propellers. Well, actually, we traveled to a field outside the nearest Muggle town and walked there. Harry wanted to have the pilot fly helicopter directly to the castle, but there's the whole Statute of Secrecy thing, you know. Someone has to stand up for it since Harry doesn't care. Anyway, since the pilot didn't have a protective medallion like the ones the Grangers wear to Hermione's Quidditch games, he probably would have blacked out and crashed.

But we made it just about an hour after the train arrived. They were searching all over the place for us. We got a stern talking to from McGonagall. I think she's in a pretty bad mood this year since they made Lockhart headmaster instead of her. Then again, she's always in a bad mood. I think she doesn't like us very much because she had hoped we'd be in Gryffindor. But Lockhart showed up and canceled the point loss, since the circumstances were out of our control.

Look, I know Harry thinks Lockhart is the knee's bees (whatever that means) but something about that guy gives me the creeps. I can't put my finger on it, though. As far as I can tell, he hasn't actually done anything bad or inappropriate. But I still don't like him one bit. He's fake, through and through. Harry thinks the fake part is a role he's playing to sell more books, but I think something more sinister is behind it. I'm going to keep a close eye on him. Harry probably will too, though for wildly different reasons.

We sat down at the Slytherin table and the sorting ceremony started soon after. Everyone was glaring at us because we'd delayed the ceremony – as if it was our fault! I mean, what else should we have done? Stolen your flying car and landed it on the roof? Uh, just as a hypothetical example. We contacted the closest adults we could think of and followed their instructions! How more responsible could we have been? Well, Harry may have been used to stares, but I wasn't. I felt embarrassed and ashamed, even though I had no reason to be.

Of course, Harry was ignoring everyone's stares for a very different reason than usual: he only had eyes for Hermione. Hermione asked Harry to be her boyfriend just before the wall closed up on us. He said yes, of course. But ever since we rescued her, things have seemed…off with Hermione. My gut doesn't like any of this. Harry thinks I'm jealous and he may not be entirely wrong. They make a cute couple and, yeah, I'd like some girl to look at me like that. Maybe not the way Hermione does with Harry, like he's some enormous prize to be won. But I think it'd be pretty cool to have a girlfriend. So, yeah, maybe I'm jealous. I get jealous a lot. Not of Harry, anymore, not since I saw how much chaos and danger is drawn to him, but still, it's a flaw I have. I'm trying to work through it.

But I'm not so sure it's simple jealousy. Hermione's been a lot easier to set off and she doesn't seem very interested in hanging out with me anymore. I like Hermione and even though it's not in the same way Harry likes her, I don't want to lose our friendship. But with her hanging on him like she's a limpet (see, Dad, I did read that Muggle encyclopedia you got me) there doesn't seem to be any room for me anymore.

You probably remember this well from your school days, but the sorting ceremony is a lot different when you're not in it. I don't have to worry about what house I'll be in, if I'll be in the same house as Harry, if being in Slytherin might be a problem. I can just watch the first years get sorted with no problem. Of course, this year's sorting is a big deal because Ginny gets sorted this year! While I'd love to have my sister in Slytherin with me (don't tell her I said that; she'll get a big head), there was absolutely no doubt in my mind she'd be a Gryffindor. Ginny's gotten pretty scary over the last few months. Bloodthirsty, I think is the word I'd use for her. She's gotten it into her head that she'd face down all sorts of monsters, become a great hero, that sort of thing. I wouldn't want her to face down those monsters – they could be an important part of the ecosystem! Someone needs to stick up for monsters now that Hagrid isn't here to do it!

More than fifteen people named Harry got sorted, much to Harry Potter's displeasure. Turns out a lot of people named their kids after him. I couldn't stop laughing each time at the expression on his face. You may think that seems mean but you didn't see his face. You wouldn't have been able to help yourself. Even better, much to my delight, some Muggleborns got sorted into Slytherin! I mean, only two this year…but that's still one more than last year! It's progress!

Finally, after a lot of waiting (being at the end of the alphabet can be inconvenient sometimes), McGonagall called Ginny up to the hat. Fred and George over at the Gryffindor table competed with me and Percy to see who could cheer her loudest. Yeah, you heard that right. Percy. Turns out ever since he's joined the house he was meant to be in, he's been a lot more relaxed and not as much of a self-righteous prat. I mean, he's still a little bit self-righteous, but he actually smiles now.

The instant McGonagall put the Sorting Hat on Ginny's head there was a clanging of metal and the same sword Dumbledore dueled Harry with dropped out of the hat and fell into Ginny's waiting hand. Seriously, she actually had her hand outstretched like she was expecting it. Now exactly how it did this without chopping her head in half was a mystery. Magic, I suppose. Ginny let out a loud roar and held the sword aloft to the cheers of the crowd. McGonagall looked like she was about to have a heart attack.

"How is this possible?" she whispered.

"Don't know, don't care," Ginny said. "I'm the rightful owner of the Sword of Gryffindor now!"

McGonagall's eyes looked like they were going to bulge out of her sockets. "You most certainly are not!"

"As a matter of fact, deputy headmistress, while Miss Weasley is not the owner of the sword, I have deemed she is to be its wielder until she graduates or a worthier candidate appears," the Sorting Hat announced. "If the headmaster is a Gryffindor, as they have been for a century, then they are the first in line. But Headmaster Lockhart is a Ravenclaw and as such, a worthy student was chosen. A worthy student like Miss Weasley, who is a true GRYFFINDOR!"

McGonagall tried to protest further, but she was drowned out by the thunderous cheers from the rest of the hall. I'm pretty sure I was the loudest among them. Ginny was going to be a leader in Gryffindor just as I was one of the leaders of Slytherin. That meant basically half the school would eventually be under the leadership of the Weasley family. Chew on that, Draco! (We may be on first name terms now and he's not as much of a bigot anymore, but we're still rivals and we always will be. That's the way it is.)

After a few more people got sorted, Lockhart got up to give his speech. Harry was so into it that he ignored Hermione repeatedly trying to get his attention. In a weird role reversal, I was the one who kept zoning out during Lockhart's speech. It was very long. That guy really likes the sound of his own voice. Eventually, it was getting so boring and everyone was ready to eat. Hestia – sorry, Professor Jones; it's gonna be hard to get used to that – had to nudge him and whisper something in his ear to get him to stop.

"Ah, Professor Jones is quite right. Brevity is the soul of wit. But before we start, I have a few words of wisdom I want to impart on you. The reward for work well done –"

"FOUR WILL DIE THIS YEAR!"

Everyone let out a gasp as smoke starting pouring out of the mouth of Professor Trelawney, the divination teacher, and her eyes started glowing and she rose into the air. "One will die by fire, as it has been and always will be. One will find their soul released into the air. One will die by water, a murder more just than it seems. And one will die when they meet the fruits of the earth."

Then, as if nothing had happened at all, Trelawney fell back into her seat and returned to normal. She then seemed to notice everyone staring at her. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"I…I think you just made a prophecy, Sybill," McGonagall said, sounding like she could barely believe the words she was saying.

"You need not mock me, Minerva! I think I would remember saying something like that!" Trelawney let out a loud huff and returned to her food.

Lockhart appeared at a loss for words for a few moments. "Uh, yes, well spoken, Sybill. I hope that excellent and entirely metaphorical speech was worth disrupting our meal for. Let's all tuck in! No need to dwell on Sybill's very allegorical speech, right?"

Of course, the more Lockhart told people not to speculate on Trelawney's prophecy, the more people did. Four people would die. Would I be one of them? Most people would think they had a very good chance of avoiding such a fate. After all, there were hundreds of students. But I knew better. I was Harry Potter's best friend. He already had a house elf out for his blood and who knows what dangers we'd face this year on top of that. Danger followed him. Well, actually, he followed it, if you want to get technical. But still…while it was rewarding and fun to be Harry's friend, it was also very, very dangerous. Maybe there was a good reason why a Weasley got awarded the sword of Gryffindor.

"I hope some mudbloods will die," some fifth year I didn't know said from down the table. Most of the table glared at him. More than would have after last year. Draco…well, he didn't look angry so much as embarrassed. Probably realized how awful he sounded when he was saying things like that.

Hermione got up from her seat and practically glided over to where that boy was sitting. She muttered a spell under her breath. The boy let out a high pitched, girlish scream and then ran out of the hall like he was on fire. Which he might have been judging from the sudden smell of smoke. I looked over at Professor Sinistra to see if she'd do anything about Hermione. I know she'd seen it, because she sees everything. But she was pretending to be deep in conversation with Madam Pomfrey. I had a hunch Professor Sinistra was more than willing to overlook terrible things if they happened to kids who used the word mudblood.

Well, it's nearly time for bed, so I'm going to end this letter. I hope you two are doing okay. I love you both.

Love,

Ron

VAMPIRES ANNOUNCE DEPARTURE FROM BRITAIN

By Robert Edwin Porter, International Magical News

Dracula, Voivode of the Vampires, announced at a press conference yesterday evening that the entirety of the vampiric population is leaving the United Kingdom and not returning for at least a century. While Dracula's first attempt at conquering Britain, well documented in the eponymous book by Bran Stoker, was an abject failure and his second attempt in 1953, involving the creation of a mind controlled child army under the alias of Hogwarts Defense Professor Alucard, was thwarted by some meddling kids, the voivodate has nonetheless made inroads throughout Britain over the past seven decades. It is unclear why they wish to undo all their hard work.

"Britain seems like an ideal place for you if you're a vampire," Professor Camilla Archer Rilla, expert on vampiric culture, of the magical section of Cambridge University mused. "It rains so much here and it's overcast all the time and it rains so much here and everyone here feels like there's something missing from their life which makes them ideal targets for feeding and it rains so much here. Did I mention it rains so much here?"

During the Grindelwald War, the vampires largely chose to stand with Grindelwald in order to create a world where they no longer had to hide. Standing on the losing side made them wary of taking an official stance during the war against Voldemort and the vampires remained neutral. However, it has been alleged that many of them gave aid to the British Ministry of Magic and this covert friendship has allowed them to make inroads into British society. It remains unclear why they wish to undo all their hard work, but one thing is clear from the tone at Dracula's press conference: they are not coming back anytime soon.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish," a British Ministry official who reluctantly chose to remain anonymous but who allowed me to describe her wardrobe as exceedingly pink announced. "They're subhuman trash. The only bloodsuckers that should be allowed on this pristine isle are lawyers, and even then, if we didn't need them, I would probably have them all deported."

At the press conference, observers noted that Dracula's behavior seemed stilted and one witness, who subsequently denied the account, mentioned he saw a house elf hiding behind the curtains, clutching onto a stake menacingly. Some have suggested that the presence of one of the fae at the press conference portends a stronger alliance between vampires and fae and even that the vampiric withdrawal could have been the price paid for such an alliance. Professor Rilla cautions that this is all speculation and it may be entire generations, if ever, before we even have the slightest hint about what brought about this move.

An intern sent to interview Dracula regarding this move returned to our offices partially exsanguinated and with an announcement that Dracula has no comment. In unrelated news, the IMN is looking for a new intern.

I'm finally back at Hogwarts! Huge shoutout to Curryer6 for having a great idea of calling the Grangers to get us to Hogwarts. With the help of one of their friends who owns a helicopter and used to be in the Russian – I'm sorry, Royal Air Force – we managed to get to the school in time for the sorting ceremony. Two important things happened there. Ginny was sorted into Gryffindor and got awarded the Sword of Gryffindor (the sword Dumbledore used to fight me). And more importantly, the Divination teacher, Professor Trelawney, made a prophecy. Apparently, four people are going to die, one by each of the classical elements.

Now I'm not the type of person to believe in prophecy. Even if I was, history is filled with examples of people who got screwed over by vague prophecies. The Oracle of Delphi once told Croesus a great empire would fall if he attacked the Persians – little knowing the empire in question would be his own. Nero got told he should beware of the 73rd year. Instead of dying when he was 73, he was killed by a 73 year old man. And let's not forget the story of the wizard Uther Norman Fortunate who in 1911, fearing he would have an unremarkable demise, got assured by an oracle his demise would be titanic. Guess which ship he boarded the next year.

But Trelawney sure looked impressive when giving that prophecy, so I'm not ready to dismiss it just yet. I wasn't sure what I could do about the prophecy. Maybe learn CPR, which isn't a bad idea in general, especially with how much danger I'd been put in recently. Now who can teach me CPR? I doubt Madam Pomfrey knows about Muggle medicine. Maybe the Muggle Studies professor? Ah, listen to me. I'm getting all worked out about something that'll probably be hogwash. For all I know, the ones prophesized to die will be earthworms or something.

After the sorting was over, we all made our way to the dungeons. The moving stairs, however, were particularly devious this year. I don't think they like the renovations Lockhart is making. He's hiring people to transfigure parts of the castle into a much more modern building. I don't know if I approve or not. On the one hand, I think we shouldn't learn magic in a building that hasn't been updated since medieval times. On the other hand, the new sections look ugly as heck. But back to what I was saying. Me and three first years, including one of the new Muggleborns, got separated from the group and ended up heading towards the very top floor. I was used to the moving stairs, but the new Muggleborn, Isabel Natalie Genue, looked scared out of her wits. She was probably scared of heights.

"Hey, it's okay," I promised her. "I'm not going to let anyone fall. I mean, I don't like to brag, but I like to think of myself as a hero. Even if I'm pretty chaotic good about it."

"Mr. Potter, where are we going?" Isabel asked.

I took a deep breath. I'd been practicing this speech. "When you got told about Slytherin, you were probably told everyone there is evil. That wasn't true. Slytherin is a house dedicated to cunning and, more importantly, ambition. But what is ambition? Ambition is a dedication to betterment. For some people, it's the betterment of society. For other people, it's the betterment of oneself. Neither of those approaches is invalid – and they're not mutually exclusive either.

"Take me for example. You may not know this, but my deepest ambition isn't to save the world or become Minister for Magic or anything big. It's to run a fish and chip shop. Potter's Platters, I'm going to call it." I paused to remember that wonderful image I saw in the mirror of Erised last year. "That's a small ambition in the grand scheme of things, but it's what I want. Maybe you want to eradicate diseases. Maybe you want to own a food truck. Maybe you want to become the most powerful mage in the world. Slytherin will help you get there, whatever it is, but at the end of the day, Slytherin gives you the tools and you have to make your dreams happen.

"Wanting things isn't a bad thing. It's not. The other houses have great values. Hard work, loyalty, and persistence. Daring, nerve, and determination. Knowledge, wisdom, and quick thinking. Society needs all those things. But without ambition, they're all meaningless. A society not built on ambition stagnates. Our society has forsaken Slytherin values, labeling everyone there as evil, and as a result, it's stagnating. Innovation is stifled and reviled. I don't agree with Lockhart's design choices, per se, and I'm going to have words with the man about him going after Binns, but he's right about one thing. We can't be perpetually stuck in the present. We have to move forward, to the future.

"My short term ambition is doing everything I can to make sure Slytherin becomes reintegrated into society. We're going to undo the damage to our reputation Snape caused. We're going to show the world that greatness, in the end, is the result of ambition! The American Muggle president John F. Kennedy vowed America would go to the moon by the time the decade was out, not because it was easy, but because it was hard. And though he didn't live to see it, they did. We follow in that spirit. We don't do things by half measures. We're Slytherins and we're going to save this world from itself."

The three first years clapped. I beamed from ear to ear. I practiced that speech in the mirror several times before coming to Hogwarts and I was particularly proud of it. "Wow," Isabel said. "That was cool. But, uh, I kind of meant that more literally. Like, where are the dorms?"

"Oh, they're in the dungeons," I said sheepishly. "You'll see. I know that sounds scary, but they're really cool."

We ran into a few more rogue staircases on the journey to the dungeons, but I eventually found the Bloody Baron and convinced him to give the stairs a good talking to, and we finally made our way to the dungeons. I suspect Dobby was responsible for our little detour but didn't want to strike when he could hurt innocent bystanders. I'm going to have a lot of fun this year, matching wits with one of the fae. Is this one of these things that could backfire horribly on me? Nah!

The first day of classes was…interesting. I'm not going to give you the nitty gritty details about classes you already know about. No, you want the juicy details about the new teachers: the Potions professor Andromeda Tonks and, of course, Hestia. (Hestia can insist I call her Professor Jones now all she likes. She'll always be Hestia to me.)

Well, let's get Tonks out of the way first. I did not have very high expectations for her. Hogwarts hasn't had very good luck with Potions professors in recent years. I never had the displeasure of meeting Snape, but I blame him fully for the degeneration of Slytherin in recent years. And as you well recall, O'Neill turned out to be a Muggle in disguise and I had to get him fired. But I let him keep his memories of the magical world and how did he repay me? By becoming a government agent! No doubt he's using his knowledge of magic to help MI6 conduct all sorts of twisted experiments. I've seen Stranger Things. I know how these things go down.

Tonks, on the other hand, is not a toxic misanthrope or a betraying con artist. She's a professional and very skilled teacher. Is she as fun to be around in the classroom as Binns? No, she's not. But she does a great job of explaining why different ingredients interact with each other, about the magical properties of various reagents, and how precisely the various potions we're brewing work. O'Neill, in retrospect, didn't know a lot of this stuff. We just thought he was smart and knowledgeable because, well, next to us, he was. So Tonks gets my seal of approval, even if I can't say I look forward to potions class.

Hestia's class, on the other hand…well, it certainly had its ups and downs.

"Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hestia said as soon as we'd all crowded into the classroom. Her voice was quiet but forceful. It had the unmistakable air of authority she must have cultivated through her many years as an Auror. "What are the dark arts?" We were all silent for a while. "That was not a rhetorical question," she added.

Daphne was the first person to raise her hand. I was shocked. Usually Hermione is the first person to raise her hand, but she seemed to be laser focused on Hestia, keeping an unnerving focus on her eyes. "Magic used for evil, professor."

"And what is evil?" Hestia shot back. "For thousands of years, mages – and Muggles for that matter – have had different answers to that question. If I used a Banishing Charm to shove you off the railing, does that make the spell evil? Or just me? What if I used it to shove you away from debris?"

Blaise raised his hand next. "But there are some spells that are pure evil. Like the Killing Curse."

"Indeed," Hestia said with the slight bow of her head in acknowledgment. "The Killing Curse. Kills instantly without any pain whatsoever. Truly the most evil spell in a dark mage's arsenal."

"I think," I said tightly, "you should get to your point, Professor Jones." I didn't like being reminded of the way my parents died.

Hestia looked startled, as if she'd forgotten I was even there in the first place. "The point I am trying to make is that what makes a spell dark is not its inherent nature but its usage. We have power that others don't and thus we have the obligation to make sure it is not used for evil."

"With great power comes great responsibility," Tracey quoted. She's one of the few open half-bloods in Slytherin and must have recalled the phrase from her time in the Muggle world.

"One point to Slytherin for an excellent summation of my point," Hestia said with an easygoing grin. "Don't worry. You will be taught spells this year. This is not a philosophy class. But one of my goals is to not only teach you the hows of magic, but also the whys. I want to make sure you become responsible citizens who use your magic for good. Because let me tell you, the life of an Auror sounds glamorous in the radio dramas, but it's, like, 65% paperwork." Everyone laughs. "God, I wish that was a joke."

Draco raised his hand. "Are you sure we're not going to fall behind if we're spending so much time learning ethics?"

Hestia's head rocketed in his direction, a fearsome look on her face. She stalked over to him like she was a bird of prey. "I think some of us, Mr. Malfoy, can stand to have some remedial lessons in ethics." She said Malfoy like it was a swear word.

"Do you have a problem with me?" Draco asked lazily.

Hestia brought her hand up and for a terrifying second, I thought she was going to strike Draco. I still fear that could have been her intention. But regardless, she only ended up fixing her hair. "Let me tell you a little story, Mr. Malfoy. I was an Auror during the war. One day, we stumbled upon a Muggle household above which someone had cast the Dark Mark." By the tone of her voice, I had no doubt that the someone in question had been Draco's father.

Ron raised his hand. "What's the Dark Mark?"

"Good question," Hestia said with a nod. "It is the mark of Voldemort and his Death Eaters." Everyone but Hermione and I shuddered at the name Voldemort. Some of them even let out some muffled screams. Hermione looked incredibly amused at everyone's reaction, even seeming to take relish in their discomfort. "These Muggles had all been savagely murdered by a single Death Eater. Excuse me, 'a victim of the Imperius curse,'" she "corrected" herself mockingly.

Draco started squirming in his seat. "Now as it turned out these Muggles were under the Imperius curse. I mean, also under it, of course. Some Muggles can resist the Imperius curse, but it is very rare. It's not a moral failing. We'll be covering it in more detail in a subsequent lesson, but for those of you who are unaware, the Imperius curse is essentially a mind control curse. Unlike Muggle hypnotism, the Imperius curse can make you do things utterly against your nature. In this case, it made…it made parents turn against their children. A child younger than all of you was beaten to death by her own parents. They were then made to kill each other when they were done."

Hestia looked lost in terrible memories for a while. "The perpetrator thought he'd covered his tracks. But he did not know that a Muggle surveillance camera caught him leaving the house. And do you know who this Death Eater was, Draco?"

"Yes," Draco whispered. All the blood had rushed away from his face. I realized this may have been the first time he'd ever heard of his father's crimes.

"Now, of course, Lucius Malfoy was under the Imperius. Of course. That is what a jury of his peers declared. Not guilty of all charges. No matter how heinous they were…no matter how closely he's hewn to Death Eater rhetoric since 'being freed'…not guilty. It would be an act of slander for me to say otherwise. And I do not break the law. This anecdote is obviously just example of why it is important to defend yourself against dark arts like the Imperius Curse. And, Draco, you cannot prove it was anything else."

There was dead silence in the classroom for a solid minute. "Now let's talk about the basics of the disarming spell!" Hestia said in a chipper tone.

The rest of the lesson was a normal one, but I was left lost in thought through most of it. I still don't like Draco very much and I despise his Death Eater father, but it didn't seem right to me for Hestia to single out Draco like that. It wasn't his fault his father did terrible things.

I cornered Draco in the hallway on our way out of the classroom. He looked like he may burst into tears at any moment. "Draco, is there anything I can do to help you?" I asked very quietly. I knew his pride wouldn't allow him to ask for help if people knew about it.

"You can help me by leaving me alone, Harry," Draco said gruffly and walked away. Fair enough, I supposed. Sometimes, you just need to be alone. Other times you need your friends. But it wasn't my place to tell Draco which was which.

"So what are we going to do about this prophecy?" Hermione asked as if nothing alarming had happened in class at all. Maybe she was right to not be concerned. Maybe I was making a mountain out of a molehill. But still, Hestia's actions had seemed perilously close to bullying.

Ron shrugged. "I mean, it's not like Trelawney gave any details. Death by fire, death by water, that could happen at any time. What are we going to do?"

"Hmm, if only we knew someone who'd cheated death," Hermione said with a mock contemplative look on her face.

I put up my hands. "Hey, don't look at me! My mum did that, not me!"

"Well, then, maybe we should try to figure out how she did it," Hermione suggested. That wasn't a terrible idea. Even though I doubted it'd be able to help us thwart that prophecy, learning more about my mum wouldn't exactly be a waste of my time. "Professor Jones was her best friend, right? She might know some answers."

It sounded like as good a plan as any and I wanted to confront Hestia about how she'd treated Draco in the classroom anyway. So after classes were over, we made our way to Hestia's office. I'd been in the Defense teacher office before back when Remus was the temporary teacher. He'd decorated the place with various knickknacks he'd acquired from his many years of wandering. By contrast, Hestia's approach to decoration appeared to be Spartan and completely utilitarian. Though I admit she may just not have had enough time to decorate.

"What can I do for you three?" Hestia asked as soon as we walked in, not looking surprised to see us. "I think I should let you know in advance, Harry, just so there's no ambiguity: you're not getting any special treatment just because I'm dating your guardian."

I was offended she would even think I had considered that. I never want special treatment. I want to succeed on my own merits. Sure, I wasn't amiss to taking shortcuts using my cunning, but there's nothing cunning about cheating. "We wanted to ask you about how you think I survived the Killing Curse."

"I'm going to be very frank with you: I haven't the slightest clue," Hestia said. I figured as much, but it was disappointing anyway. "Lily and I had severed our friendship around the time the war started. We've found no records of any notes she might have left behind or anything of the kind. As you might imagine, if what you experienced could be replicated, it could change our understanding of defensive magic entirely. Dumbledore always said it was love, which I found insulting – was he saying other parents who sacrificed themselves for their children didn't love them enough? But I have no better theory. What brought this on?"

"Trelawney's prophecy," I admitted.

Hestia did the last thing I expected. She burst out laughing. "Oh my God, I can't believe you actually bought that balderdash. Harry, Trelawney is a fraud. Trust me. I've seen 'seers' like her before. They're just out to make a quick buck. I know what I'm talking about. You haven't had the displeasure of having to be with her at staff meetings. She's a con artist. A couple of flashy spells and she has everyone eating out of her hand. I wouldn't give her another thought."

I felt relieved to hear that, but I wasn't quite ready to dismiss the possibility of Trelawney's prophecy being real either. Still, I felt like I no longer had a moral imperative to prevent it, since Hestia had given me an excellent out. "Hestia, did you have to target Draco like that?"

"I know my actions seemed cruel, but, yes, I actually did. Lucius Malfoy is a monster and Draco, from what I've heard, is careening along the same path. He doesn't understand the inherent monstrosity of the Death Eaters and he wasn't likely to learn about it until he felt he was in too deep to get out. Sometimes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It's better he suffers emotionally now than innocents suffering physically later."

I understood now where she was coming from. I can't say I like it, but I know for a fact I probably would have done the same thing in her shoes. "Well, that's it, I guess."

We all made our way to the exits. "Harry," Hestia called out. I turned around. "Don't become obsessed with prophecy. Lily made the same mistake. The Divination teacher before Trelawney, he prophesized that one of Evans blood would end the Statute of Secrecy. It's why she became so obsessed with destroying it. But she died with it intact."

The three of us walked into the hallway. "You know, Harry," Ron said slowly. "The Evans bloodline hasn't ended yet."

"Come on, Ron, I'm not going to shatter the Statute of Secrecy," I assured him. "Come on, let's go back to the dorms and study."

What a silly idea, me breaking the Statute. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sign off on this blog where I talk about the magical world in exacting detail mostly to Muggles I've never met before in my life.