Chapter 133

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Friday 3/12/92

Dear Spencer

I'm that sure you're an amazing teacher's Assistant. I've told you before that the way you explain stuff to me is great, please believe I'm being absolutely honest here. You always make sure I can understand what you're talking about without ever making me feel stupid or that I'm not worth your time because you're so much older and smarter than me. As for the class try not to think about that night. The students in your classes are not like those jerks, they're more like you. Remember that not one of the bullies there that night came anywhere near getting into Caltech. A lot of the students in your class were probably bullied themselves and they're certainly not going to want to bully the TA. They're going to be grateful for your help. And remember what you told me about the Caltech honour code, and being careful that pranks are never cruel. I think it would be cruel to prank a TA the first time he had to fill in for a professor and was nervous about it. I'm sure your fellow students will feel the same, after all the more ambitious of them will see themselves being in your place in a few years.

They're starting a duelling club. Everyone's really excited about it, I don't know why they didn't already have one since Defence Against the Dark Arts is such joke and Professor Flitwick is a world champion dueller. Though since he teaches one of the four core subjects that everyone in all seven years does I'm wouldn't be surprised if he didn't have the time, or wanted to limit the club to senior students. The notice on the board didn't give any details other than it will be in the great hall after dinner. The thing is that everyone I've heard talk about it is planning to go, even the seventh years so I don't know how we're going to learn much with so many people there.

The fact that there's never been a duelling club before makes me hesitate to go. The only new professor this year is the idiot and he has a reputation for trying to change things up. I'm almost tempted to go and watch under my own notice-me-not charm so he can't make more trouble for me by dragging him up to duel him. None of his spells work right, I don't know what he could do if he was trying to attack me. Spells that have gone wrong are a lot more difficult to reverse or remove than properly cast spells, I'm worried he could cause someone permanent damage, and if he did, it's not egotistical to believe it would probably be me.

You're right about it being suspicious that Hermione could get the ingredients out of the Professor's private store room which she'd never been in before so quickly and without being caught. She shouldn't have even been able to get into the professor's personal potions lab. I would have thought that the door would be warded to prevent students from entering, or at least kept locked with a spell a second year couldn't get through, but the thing that makes me sure that she must have had permission is that she managed to steal the right amount of the three ingredients she needed. It's beyond reasonable coincidence that Snape had exactly the right amount in storage and she wouldn't have had time to measure out the ingredients put what she wanted into another container and put the rest away as well as find the specific ingredients she needed out of hundreds on his shelves when she'd never been in there before without risking making a mistake. I think he got them out for her, so all she had to do was collect them from the table and stash them in her pockets. Having permission to 'steal' the ingredients also explains why she was prepared to start making the potion before she had all the ingredients too, she knew in advance she would have the opportunity to 'steal' them before she needed them. But there's one good thing about the fact Hermione probably had permission to take the ingredients. If Snape knows what ingredients she was taking then he knows what she is brewing, I bet that he has been ordered to either keep an eye on it or start brewing his own batch ready to substitute for hers if she makes a dangerous mistake. If he can be trusted, Ron and Hermione won't be risking poisoning themselves and if Snape knows what they plan to do with it then he will also make sure they get out of the dungeons without serious harm if they get caught. I think that he could be trusted with that if I'm not part of it, there is the possibility that he would deliberately poison the Polyjuice potion either on Dumbledore's orders or just out of malice if he knew that I'd be the one taking it.

As far as I know, Neville knew nothing about the need for a distraction in Snape's class but looking at the potion we were brewing and watching Snape stalk around the class room I could predict when he was going to make a mistake so I

M not surprised that Ron and Hermione were ready to take advantage of it. I blame Snape for coming up behind him, not Ron or Hermione. Of course, that doesn't mean Snape didn't set him up to try to create the distraction for Hermione to slip into his potions storeroom. At least with Snape trying to deliberately frighten Neville into blowing up his potion he could predict what it was going to do and that it wouldn't harm anyone, but I honestly think that Snape didn't have anything to do with that part, he just enjoys scaring Neville out of his wits.

I'm not going to tell professor idiot about the notice-me-not charms but I won't cast it on him again myself and I'll stop pranking him and encourage Dean and Seamus not to prank him either, while he's already being pranked so effectively by someone else without risk of us getting in trouble. I know it might be mean not to tell him but if I did, he would blame me, which I suppose it is kind of my fault since it was my charm the first time that gave whoever cast the rest of them the idea. You know it might not have even been the same person each time. I've actually seen him piss off just about every professor and staff member at Hogwarts and if he's done it where a second year can notice then chances are he's done it many times. Whoever is doing it is letting it wear off for classes. I've seen the staff frowning at him at breakfast and lunch every day but he's always very hard to see or hear at dinner. Different degrees of hard to see, one night I couldn't see him at all I couldn't even tell if he'd been there other than that there was a dirty plate where he normally sits, other nights he's fairly easy to see if you concentrate on looking for him but you don't notice him unless you're looking for him. The thing is I'm not sure how but I can tell that Dumbledore can always see and hear him even if he isn't talking to him when he's been spelled either. If I can see him then chances are that a lot of the other professors can see or hear him some of the time too, I think they're all taking advantage of the fact they don't have to pay attention to him. I wonder if they planned it together. I also wonder if he has any idea how many people here dislike him, or if he'd really care as long as his fans still buy his books and stroke his ego.

Seamus thinks that the notice-me-not charms are hilarious. He wanted to cast one on Hermione when she's insisting on trying to answer every question in class but I pointed out that the other professors definitely must know what's happening to Professor Idiot and while they might be enjoying the results and prepared to let the perpetrators go unknown with him, they wouldn't be likely to if it interrupted their class. The only class you'd likely get away with it in would be potions and Hermione acting like that appears to irritate Snape and draws some of his attention away from the rest of us. I wouldn't want to prevent that or do either of them any favours.

Your friend always

Harry

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Please stay safe everyone.