Dear Andromeda,
Did you not tell me that wandless magic doesn't set off the Trace so that I would be less likely to do something terribly unsubtle?
Why can the Trace detect wanded magic but not wandless? Is it a limitation, or a prioritization?
Deliberately curious rather than cross,
Hermione
.:.
Dear Hermione,
I deliberately neglected to inform you that the Trace can only detect wandless magic above a certain threshold so that you would not provoke Ministry scrutiny by immediately attempting to find that threshold. Stick to lighting candles and summoning books, and you'll be fine.
I am, unfortunately, no expert on the magics employed by the Trace— I'm not even entirely sure what those magics are (other than 'wards of some kind'). I can tell you that purebloods generally believe that the detection of wand-magic is intentionally prioritized. Spells more likely to threaten the Secrecy (read: flashy & dramatic) are held to be extremely difficult to perform wandlessly, & only a handful of mages have ever been capable of casting the spells commonly used to enforce it wandlesly.
Ever appreciative of curiosity,
Andromeda
.:.
Dear Andromeda,
I'll have you know that I've been extremely cautious ever since meeting Professor McGonagall. I don't even carry my wand at home, and even if I were naive about potential muggle reactions to my talents, my parents made me memorize basic fire safety rules when I was eight!
But, more importantly: why did you not tell us that mages can read minds?
Please tell me there's some way of protecting against mind magic. With no offense to Ted, I'm not entirely sure you realize how existentially terrifying this may be to someone who wasn't raised knowing about this. From my point of view the mind and the soul are the same thing.
Anxiously grateful,
Hermione
.:.
Dear Hermione,
I have learned not to underestimate the volatility or passion of children. Take it up with Dora.
Forgive me for not anticipating the path of your research; had I, I would have told you that there are very few capable legilimens even amongst the obliviators, and natural legilimens are vanishingly rare.
I assure you, however, that I did not need Ted to teach me how unpleasant mind-magic can be. One can only truly learn to defend their mind via practice, you see.
The teaching of both legilimency and occlumency, its opposite, are proscribed by the Ministry. I suspect you can imagine how equally those laws are enforced.
That said, though I have no great skill for mind magic, I can teach you the fundamentals— and am willing to do so only with informed permission from your parents, after the beginning of your third year (for the same reason elective courses are first made available then).
Sincerely,
Andromeda Tonks
.:.
Dear Andromeda,
If I do take it up with Dora, I shall begin by informing her you said that.
Regarding defense from mind-magic: thank you.
Is it illegal to possess books on the subject(s)? If not, are you willing to recommend/share any? I would like to be as well-informed as possible before we begin.
Your student,
Hermione
.:.
Dear Hermione,
I'm afraid Auror training leaves Dora with very little time, energy, or inclination to engage in petty squabbles with her wise, beloved mother.
You're quite welcome. I was going to offer to teach you when your third year rolled around, but I should have expected that you'd broach the topic sooner.
We can discuss books when you next visit.
Your sagely mentor,
Andromeda
.:.
Dear Mr. Tonks,
Merry Christmas— and thank you again for the study supplies! The reading glass in particular is both ingenious and helpful.
I've recently been researching magical tools and artifacts, but have hit a bit of a snag due to the odd lack of legal texts in the school library, and have been unable to find out anything about how inheritance law applies in cases of regulated items such as bludgers or invisibility cloaks. Do the heirs of such items need to re-register them upon inheritance, or are they registered to the family? Is misuse of inherited items legally distinct from misuse of purchased items— and if so, how?
How do magical merchants even go about performing background checks on prospective buyers?
Sincerely,
Hermione Ijeoma Granger
.:.
Dear Ms. Granger,
I'm glad you're getting some use out of them, though it was really no trouble; I did have the ulterior motive of showing you muggleborn innovations.
As for you extracurricular study, I'm afraid that legal literature, much like texts on more potent (and hazardous) magics, trade-specific knowledge, and so on, is largely kept in private collections. The intersection of inheritance law and Artifacts of Potentially Nefarious Utility (APNU) is rather complex, and unfortunately a bit outside my expertise. I do know, however, that Harry will have no legal trouble so long as he doesn't use that damnable thing to steal from anyone with wizarding relatives.
Most time-sensitive communication between the Ministry and outside institutions such as businesses, schools, etc is done via the protean charm (research hint: while 'charm' is not technically a misnomer, you'll be much more likely to find it filed under 'enchantments').
Sincerely,
Theodore Tonks
"Harry," said Hermione, "you're coming to Shabbos with me."
"What does that have to do with someone going after the Stone?"
"Dumbledore comes every Friday. I've been listening to him talk all year. He's a certified genius- I'm sure whatever protections he set up for the stone are more than adequate."
Harry looked at her then much the same way he looked at transfiguration texts.
"What?" She asked.
"Hermione. I opened the door with an unlocking charm. Me. A first-year."
"…I suppose telling someone couldn't hurt."
Judging by the frown, that wasn't what Harry wanted to hear.
"Finally!" Said Ron. "C'mon! I bet McGonagall's in her office!"
Hermione hesitated. So did Harry, which was comforting.
"What now?"
"Nothing," she said. "You get McGonagall— I'll get Babbling."
"Who?"
"I know I've told you about—" Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose. "Just go!"
Professor Babbling tried to get her to sit down and have some tea. Hermione tried to convince Professor Babbling of the urgency of the situation.
The Professor listened patiently, then waved her wand— conjuring a nebula of silvery-white mist that coalesced into the shape of a ram.
"Raido öffnung ex-twenty-fourteen," she told it.
The ram ran into her fireplace, and disappeared.
"Hermione," she said. "Have you considered why the Headmaster might have left that door unlockable via a first-year charm?"
…oh.
"That's embarrassingly obvious in hindsight," said Hermione.
"Is it?"
"Yes. And I'm a first-year. So wouldn't it be even more obvious to a fully-grown mage?"
"Probably."
"Then why…?"
"There are all sorts of things that can draw people into obvious traps. Desperation, for example. Greed. Arrogance."
Hermione sat down and had some tea. Professor McGonagall, she assumed, would explain the trap to Harry and Ron.
She and Professor Babbling were discussing the use of Hebrew letters as thaumaglyphs when a ball of fire burst in and out of being above the tea table, dropping a small role of parchment. The Professor scowled as she read it.
"Misters Potter and Weasley are unconscious but uninjured in the hospital wing," she said— and, after a pause: "I'm going to put detoxifying arrays on all Minerva's scotch."
.
.:.
"What on earth were you thinking?"
Ron glared back at her. "Didn't know it was a bloody trap, did we?"
Professor McGonagall had, apparently, underestimated the recklessness of boys.
"Still!" She hissed, mindful of Madame Pomfrey. "Do you really have that little faith in Headmaster Dumbledore!"
Ron turned red. "Of course not!"
Harry didn't turn red. He didn't say anything. Just shrugged.
Later, Hermione would wish she'd been a bit more paranoid just then.
Later, she would see Dumbledore awarding the boys points for their courage in a very different light.
She would question a lot of things, later. But not then, riding the train home with her first real friends, confident that her Hogwarts experience would be nothing like Ted's grim stories.
Happiness, the Dragoness of Southwark would later write, can act much like a set of blinders.