Chapter 137

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Wednesday 12/15/92

Dear Harry

Of course, I will keep your letters safe and send you copies of them if something goes wrong in your plan to leave Hogwarts for good. It does sound like your headmaster has far too much power and ability to meddle in your life and in the muggle processes to protect abused children there in England, but remember that we don't know that it was him that obliviated everyone and sent you back to the Dursleys last time. I agree that he seems to be the most likely suspect but we don't know who did it, or why? Perhaps it would be better not to try to alert the authorities but just to disappear. Go to the police in a town as far from Hogwarts and Little Whinging as you can get without the accent sounding too different and turn yourself into the foster care system and do not tell them your real name. Whatever you do you need to find somewhere warm to stay, it's too cold to try to live in a hideout even if you could find an adequate one.

I wish I could take custody of you but even though I have been emancipated so I don't need to live with a guardian I wouldn't be allowed to be your guardian. I can't even take guardianship of Mom and make decisions for her when she isn't capable of making them for herself until I turn eighteen, they'd never let me take responsibility for a twelve or thirteen year old and you couldn't enrol yourself in school here without a legal guardian and Mom's not well enough to even pretend to do it well enough to satisfy the authorities either, not that I would want to leave you living with my mother when she has a violent episode, while it might be good for her to have you there when she remembered who you are the risks to you when she didn't would be too great.

As for the rest of my relatives, they already seem to think I'm imposing too much in asking them to look after Mom, they wouldn't help. I'm sorry I don't have better news for you Harry but I wouldn't want to get your hopes up if I couldn't follow through. I even doubt trying to get into the California foster care system by presenting yourself as abandoned here would work. With your accent they'd probably try to send you back to England or do a search for relatives over there. If they put your photo in the newspapers then whoever is responsible for making sure you stay at the Dursleys would see it, which might be a problem wherever else you go too. Are there charms for changing your appearance? You'd be in the nonmagical world so they wouldn't be looking for them and I doubt they could be detected on a photograph.

Didn't you tell me that you're already enrolled in the Irish school again next summer so at least you could go there for the month even if your friends don't invite you to stay with them? Do they have a second group or some one subject intensives or something running in the month before you're due to go that you could enrol in as well? So even if you can't get out of the United Kingdom and do resort to this camping in a tent plan, at least you'll have a place to stay without hiding in the peak of the tourist season when hiding will be the most difficult and you can keep up with your nonmagical schooling.

I think that you need to be the one to tell Patrick and Ruby the truth about you being a parseltongue before you get to Scoil Draiocht this summer, especially if Seamus is still avoiding you and is going to summer school. You wouldn't want them to hear it from someone else. I understand that you don't want to tell them right away and that is fine if they're not in contact with anyone else at Hogwarts and if none of their close friends have penpals at Hogwarts but the longer you leave it, it not only becomes more likely they are to hear it from someone else but also the more difficult it will be to tell them, and to explain to them why you waited so long.

I wish I could do something to help you. I hope things get better for you soon.

I thought at least you'd have Seamus and Dean on your side this year but I guess the oath we took doesn't force them to be friends with you because you didn't want to take away their free will like that, and it was a bit one-sided, they vowed that they'd always tell you the truth and inform you of things they thought you needed to know in return for the protection amulets. I never thought it would be a problem that you never promised to tell them the truth. It doesn't matter to me because I know you wouldn't lie to me, you have no reason to. I believe you wouldn't lie to Seamus or Dean either, and they should know that too, but I guess long held superstitions like parselmouths all being evil which he may have been hearing since he learned to talk is stronger than their trust in someone that he's only known about 14 months.

Please don't let the way the students are treating you goad you into taking risks to find out who the heir of Slytherin really is, just to try and prove it's not you. It isn't worth it. Remember if nothing else this heir is a criminal, attacking students with a magic much more advanced than yours and the other students will continue to believe what they want to believe anyway. Please try to stay safe.

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.