Chapter 154

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4/22/93
Dear Harry

Thank goodness you didn't go into the forest after that spider. If the body of Hagrid's pet was twice as big as a man's head 50 years ago, I cannot imagine how huge it would be now if it were still alive and if Hagrid found him a mate there could be tens of thousands of them, and why on earth would he think that a spider could tell you anything? You can't speak to spiders, and I doubt Ron can either if he's so afraid of them. Hagrid was very irresponsible to suggest it to you, particularly when he wouldn't be there to take you and to protect you from the consequences of his foolishness. Perhaps he's just lacking in insight that what's not dangerous for an eight or nine foot mountain of a man who probably knows the forest and every creature in it like the back of his hand isn't necessarily safe for a pair of twelve year olds who've only been in the forest once before and nearly died in there last time even though he was there to supposedly protect them. Or perhaps he believes that the forest is safe merely because he believes Dumbledore would've done something about it if it wasn't. Who the hell would put a school next to a forest that dangerous, or would plant a forest and let so many dangerous creatures make their homes so close to a school? Isn't there some sort of ward or huge wall or something that would stop students being able to go in there at all, and a ward to keep the dangerous spiders and other creatures from coming out of the forest towards the school? A forest so dangerous that they have to warn you about it should at least be fenced off or the magical equivalent of fences off, not that that a normal fence would stop everyone either but do the other students know about the man size spiders or do they just think that the warning about the forest is an exaggeration.

You said Hagrid was arrested, not just taken in for questioning, but that the minister mentioned sending him directly to prison without telling him what he was being arrested for. Did they read him his Miranda rights? It's a gross violation of international human rights to put someone in prison just to see if a series of attacks stops without them there, or to improve your own political image. There needs to be evidence and reasonable suspicion to even take someone in for questioning and then proof of wrongdoing to charge someone with a crime and a trial before they can be sentenced. I don't like that all of those things can be ignored like that! Magic should give even more ways to prove the truth, since you've already told me there are lots of ways to fake evidence and eyewitness accounts as well. Even the most damning evidence could be planted by someone using Polyjuice. A trial is even more necessary in the magical world and whether the minister likes to accept it or not you still live in Britain, your society should have to follow British laws. I really don't like this Harry, you could be in a lot of trouble if you make the wrong enemies. You need to keep your head down and make sure you obey the law until you can get out of there. Dumbledore as an enemy is bad enough.

The statement that the minister of magic made about being seen to be doing something is ridiculous, for it to be seen that way it would've been better for Hagrid to have a very public trial or at least to be arrested during dinner in front of all the students than to be spirited away to prison during the night. Of course, the minister could publicly announce that Hagrid has been arrested, which might be the best thing for Hagrid because the prosecutors and judges would then be expecting to have a trial date set or to hear of Hagrid being released from custody and Hagrid has probably befriended generations of students hopefully people will protest his incarceration without charges being laid and a good defence lawyer will read the news story and come forward to help him. I would have thought that announcing that Hagrid had been arrested and thrown in jail without a trial would be bad for the minister's image and popularity, after all if he could do it to Hagrid how to his constituents know he wouldn't do it to them if it became convenient?

Dumbledore's statement was so ambiguous that it could have meant anything or nothing at all. It strikes me that unless he's speaking in an established code or reminder phrase, which seems unlikely, then he just enjoys being thought of as mysterious and encouraging the image that he is larger than life, and that his influence on the school is more than it is. The school is made of stone and mortar, no matter how many spells and wards have been used to make it seem more than just a building doesn't change the fact that it does not possess a brain. It cannot think for itself or have an agenda. The staff however showed last year that they can be controlled by someone else. Without a thorough knowledge of how their minds and free will were affected we can't even begin to speculate whether Dumbledore leaving the castle will have an effect on that control even if Dumbledore was behind it. Alternatively Dumbledore's presence may have been protecting the teachers and students by limiting what the person controlling them thought he could get away with. The problem could have been solved when you killed Quirrell and made whatever was possessing him flee or it could be someone else altogether. Though that seems unlikely, how many enemies can one kid have? Even one who's as famous as you seem to be in that world.

Are murder victims more likely to become ghosts than people who die a natural death or from illness? How does it work? Were we stupid not to have suspected that Myrtle could have been one of the victims? It feels like we should have known or at least thought to ask her, she was likely to have been around then and if she's dead then maybe she won't have grown into that annoying habit of thinking children and teenagers need to be protected from discussions about bad things. A girl that age was unlikely to have died of natural causes in the toilet especially with the advanced health care in the magical world and a suicide victim would be unlikely to want to stay and become a ghost, so if she didn't commit suicide it makes sense that she was killed by someone or something. I can't believe that neither of us questioned the possibility, you could have asked her months ago and avoided so much of the danger and the arguments about the Polyjuice potion. For that matter Dumbledore was there in the school as a professor when the chamber was opened last time. He would know if she was the victim of the chamber of secrets last time and questioned her, back then and again when this started happening if it was relevant.

You know I could probably make most of the alterations that Superman had on his car but they wouldn't be legal to drive on the road and would be ridiculously expensive, some of the weaponry would probably be illegal to even keep outside of a gunsafe depending on what state I lived in. It would be a waste of time unless I was an extreme fan and then I'd have to worry constantly about it being stolen.

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.