Chapter 134

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A/N: Spencer hasn't received the letter in Chapter 133, Harry is just upset and in need of a confidant he can trust.

Sunday 5/12/92

Dear Spencer

I've discovered I'm not exactly normal even in the wizarding world. Apparently, I have a very rare gift that is considered a sign of being a dark wizard. You know how I can talk to snakes and they seemed to understand me and I could understand them and I've told you that I hadn't found a reason they listened to me and not to anyone else when they spoke English, or heard of anyone else who seemed to be able to do it. We were both surprised I wasn't able to find a book on talking to animals? Apparently, snakes don't just understand wizards, they can understand me because I'm not talking English but actually hissing in their language. Nobody else at school can do it, it's really rare. I wasn't even aware I was doing it, it sounds like English to me, I thought it was just magic making the snake understand me. The language is called parseltongue and those who can speak it are called parselmouths, and everyone in England believes that all Parselmouths are evil. Unfortunately, I found this out by speaking to a snake in front of the whole school to save another student. The problem is that the only other parselmouth in Britain in recent history is Voldemort and it's considered to be the sign of a dark wizard. Half the school have stopped speaking to me and are avoiding me in the hallways. Even Ron is really only friendly with me in the common room and dorms and tries to pretend we're not friends out in the rest of the school. I think he thinks I'm too stupid to notice he's doing it. The twins, Fred and George think it's hilarious and keep making jokes about it, both in the common room and out in the halls. Hermione says it's all rubbish and Dean couldn't care less but Seamus won't even look at me. Parvati told me that it's more common in India and nobody thinks it's a sign of evil but since we don't have anything in common and she and Lavender tend to avoid Hermione I don't spend much time with her outside of classes. Some of the muggleborns and half-bloods even make the sign of the cross to protect themselves if I catch their eyes since Voldemort mostly targeted muggleborn witches and wizards in his terror attacks. Justin, the boy I saved from being bitten is one of the worst, stupid Hufflepuff, I should have let the snake bite him. I can't even get away from it all with Quidditch practice, there's a huge blizzard and even Herbology was cancelled because we can't leave the castle.

It's worse than the neighbours in Little Whinging, and the worst thing is none of the teachers are doing anything to try to stop it. I dread to think what classes are going to be like tomorrow. I don't know how many of them believe that I'm evil and how many of them just don't care enough to get involved. I think this disproves your theory about Dumbledore wanting me to only have negative memories of the non-magical world and positive memories of the magical world, or maybe he knew something like this would happen and didn't want me to feel like the non-magical world would be better for me. He's not doing anything to stop the bullying in the hallways though, the only people who are doing anything are the twins and they're supporting me by making a joke of the whole thing. It's typical of them, but surprisingly effective. It embarrasses me a little which distracts me from other people's reactions making me feel better and it gets me through the crowds and out of view of the glares of everyone else quicker.

I know as you're not a wizard you won't have this prejudice. I swear on everything I have that I am not a dark wizard, that while I might be a reluctant hero sometimes but I have no desire to hurt or kill anyone, not even the Dursleys. I'm not evil, I just want a quiet life without all the stupid attention of being the boy who lived but this is even worse.

To make matters worse, I think whatever it was Dobby was trying to warn me about is happening. A second student and Nearly Headless Nick have been found petrified in the hallways just like Colin and the caretakers cat. As unbelievable as it sounds, I literally mean they've turned into stone statues of themselves not just gotten scared. It's really frightened a lot of people that Nick was affected, it's nearly impossible to cast spells on a ghost, they go right through them, so it must be something incredibly powerful, and nobody seems to have the least idea what it is.

Most of the school is blaming me for it and acting like I murdered Colin and Justin in cold blood. They're not dead, (well Nick is, but he's no more dead than he was before) the headmaster said they can be cured but the potion to cure them requires an ingredient we're growing in Herbology and it won't be ready to harvest until June. Though how you would get a statue and a ghost to drink a potion I have no idea, unless it just needs to be sprayed on them? Having just written that down, it strikes me how ridiculous it sounds to wait for the mandrakes in the greenhouses to grow old enough rather than buying the potion or ingredients, funny it seemed quite reasonable when Dumbledore said it in that 'trust me I know best' tone of voice. These are both muggleborn students, their parents can't even see Hogwarts Castle let alone visit and they have to wait until June for their children to be turned back into flesh and blood. It seems cruel, not to mention that the students will have missed almost a whole year of classes. Classes that they've paid top dollar for, Hermione says Hogwarts fees aren't cheap, it's expensive even for a boarding school. Surely, they could buy mature mandrakes for the potion before that. I wonder if the students will have to repeat the year, and if so will they have to pay for it or will they just be advanced the grade and expected to catch up in their own time. Hermione would be smart enough to catch up but I'm not sure about these two.

Your friend always

Harry

A/N2: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

Please stay safe everyone.