Chapter 123

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A/N: Spencer hasn't received the birthday letter in Chapter 122 yet, his birthday isn't until the 28th. He's replying to Chapter 121.

Monday 10/21/92

Dear Harry

You made a really good point about questioning how McGonagall got the money from your vault to pay for your broom. I think that you need to make an appointment to speak with your account manager to make sure nobody else is able to take money from your account otherwise you might not have enough to afford to keep paying two sets of school fees each year or for university after Hogwarts if you want to go.

You also have a point how your concerns were ignored by the professors last year, is it only your concerns? You came to the conclusion that the professors had been spelled to ignore any requests for help either from you specifically or about the philosopher's stone, surely they can't have been spelled to ignore all the student or there'd be outcry from the parents. That sort of thing in the nonmagical world would get the school shut down and all the teachers banned from teaching or working with children ever again. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws have put time and effort into making the petition, they must have some hope that their concerns will at least be listened to. Perhaps you could ask the older team members if they expect the petition to work and if they've known a professor who will step up and help a student in trouble. You might want to word it carefully though, if you give them the idea that your home situation is untenable, (which honestly it is) and they try to speak up on your behalf they may end up being spelled to ignore you themselves and you wouldn't want that. Especially Fred and George whose job it is to try to keep you safe from the bludgers during quidditch.

I'm glad that Seamus and Dean are there trying to be your friends even if it is only in secret. I know you tell me it's safer for them that way even if it reduces the time you spend together and the support they can provide, and I agree that having a source of assistance that your enemies don't know about is important. Talking things over with the two of them will be a good way of hearing how a normal person your age would honestly react to things that happen so you're more likely to notice when Ron and Hermione's reactions or the reactions of anyone else around you aren't normal. I'm afraid that neither of us has had enough of a normal childhood so other people's normal reactions to things might not make sense to us all the time and we might miss something we ought to be concerned about or become paranoid over what is normal behaviour for a twelve year old who has grown up in a secure home situation with competent and loving parents. I was almost twelve when we met and I'm sure you remember I wasn't anything like Dean or Seamus or your other friends.

I can't blame Dean for wanting to draw the people around him, or for being curious about girls and what they'd look like with less clothes on. Or you and Seamus from being curious too and looking at the pictures. But Harry it's wrong of him to draw and keep drawings of real people that would upset and embarrass the subject like that if they saw it. It's disrespectful in the same way as Colin taking your photo all the time without your permission, but worse as if he turned up in the bathroom and tried to photograph you in your underwear. I know it's less wrong to draw from his imagination than it would be if he were peeking at them without clothing to draw them but some of those girls would really be humiliated if they knew that other people had seen the pictures. I'm glad you spelled his sketchbook so it's more difficult for anyone to see the pictures and show them to everyone if he loses the book but you're still second year, you don't know whether any of the senior students would be able to remove your privacy charms. Maybe you could try to encourage him to draw girls from magazines or movie stars or even his friends at home who would never be able to get through the secrecy charms rather than your class mates like that and if he wants to practice drawing real likenesses just to draw their heads or people in their normal clothes. I would quite like a picture of you, to see you the way he sees you, (with all your clothes on of course). I can understand why he doesn't risk drawing you though. It's really good of him not to.

I'm really interested to hear how ghosts party. I don't know that I'd count on there being food at the party though unless he's invited a lot of living people because I doubt that ghosts can eat. Hopefully you can meet some really interesting ghosts, it would be the best way to learn about historical times from those who have lived them. I wonder how many of the wizarding history books are written or co-written by ghosts from the time period discussed. I don't suppose they'd have anything to add to muggle history unless they were muggleborn but it is disappointing.

Are you disappointed to be missing the feast? Or is Ron making a big fuss about nothing? What sort of food do they serve to make it special? From your descriptions the food at Hogwarts is pretty good and there's always a couple of choices and enough food for Ron to have multiple helpings of everything including the desserts.

Please be very careful if you do end up pranking Professor Idiot's classroom with unflattering pictures, I'm sure there are quite a few people who know about Dean's drawing talent. It might not be as hard for the idiot to find out who drew the pictures as you think. Especially as one of the girls crushing on him is likely to tell him if he asks them. I know it's tempting to try to embarrass him as he is embarrassing you but it isn't worth getting in trouble for. It also sounds like somehow getting him to leave, won't improve the quality of the class and may decrease the quality of some of your other classes if the other professors have to expand their duties to cover the missing professor instead of hiring someone competent to do the job.

My engineering class project is going really well, I've almost finished the research for my section though I haven't admitted that to the others yet as we're still mostly in the planning stages of how we're going to present the information. They're all friendly during our meetings but none of them other than the guys who live in my house have offered to hang out outside of working on the project. The two that live in the house walk back with me after class on Tuesdays when it's my last class of the day. We sometimes sit together in meals too.

My other classes are going well too. None of them have a group project to do this semester but the students are treating me decently and the TA's recognise that I'm one of them. We don't talk much but there's a sense of understanding how difficult it can be to be a student in some classes and a TA in others. Even my TA class hasn't gone terribly this week. Students are approaching me for help when they don't understand something and most of them seemed to understand better by the time I've re-explained things to them. Several of the students I helped the first week have come back to have different things explained to them so they must have got some value from my initial assistance.

Your friend always

Spencer

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

Please stay safe everyone.