Chapter 167

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To: Spencer Reid

From: Harry Potter

Dear Spencer,

I arrived at Dean's today, as you know the Thomas' have invited me to stay until Dean and I go to Ireland the weekend before we start summer school. Seamus is only staying with us for just over a week before he goes home to spend some time with his family. His grandparents are having a big anniversary party and his mother wanted all the family to go. He's looking forward to it, though he complained that it wasn't fair that Dean and I couldn't go with him.

I don't know if Dean's disappointed not to be going, but I must admit that I'm not. Seamus is trying hard to make up for his suspicions last year but I think it will still be nice to have a break from him being around. I'm looking forward to Dean and I being able to relax a bit while it's just the two of us. Still hopefully Seamus will be better away from the rest of the school and be able to relax a bit without Ron constantly butting in trying to prove to them that he's my "best mate".

I must admit it's been getting more and more difficult not to yell at Ron that he wouldn't know what a real mate was if it bit him in the backside and to go away and leave me alone, and tell him that I didn't miss him at all when he was being an idiot.

The Thomas's welcomed us home but it's clear that they've missed Dean a lot and would like to spend some time with him as a family so I'm here writing to you and Seamus has made an early night of it reading Dean's comic books. Dean's a huge Spiderman fan, which is something I didn't know about him til we came here last summer because he doesn't bring his comics to Hogwarts with him, and he doesn't draw comics when he's at school either though he has a book full of comic drawings here. He even made me and the other Gryffindors in our year into comic book characters, they're really funny, and surprisingly insightful. In his comic Ron's the superhero, the one with the fancy cape attracting attention. I'm Mr Invisible, who works behind the scenes to get things done. Neville is the loyal sidekick everyone loves, Seamus is the joker, Lavender's the girl hero in the skimpy costume, Parvati wears a mask, so she's almost unrecognisable and is the sneaky one, and Hermione is the lawyer, trying to keep us all out of trouble.

The Dursleys came to King's Cross to pick me up, even though I sent them a letter last night not to come, and I was forced to leave with them because the Weasleys bailed them up while Mrs Weasley told them off about the way they treat me and made some idle threats about what would happen if I was injured in their care or turned up half starved at the end of the summer. I doubt that they meant to make things worse though anyone with any common sense could've seen that it would've. I originally thought that Mrs Weasley might have wanted Vernon to refuse to have me at all this summer but I don't think that she would defy Dumbledore's wishes like that. Even if she was just stupid and thoughtless the Weasleys certainly would've made this summer hell after working Vernon into a temper like that if I hadn't been able to get away. Maybe she wanted to make sure I'd be super grateful to get invited to stay with Ron by the end of the summer.

I have however ensured that I will never be welcome in that house again unless Vernon's memories of me today are removed, which nobody knows to do. I threatened to kill his son, if I get sent back there now, I'm going to have to use near lethal force to defend myself or Vernon and Petunia will kill me.

I will admit to you that it felt good to threaten Vernon, not Dudley, he was spelled asleep so he didn't even know anything about it and I didn't feel anything holding my knife to his throat until I saw Vernon's reaction. But I could see in his eyes that Vernon believed me, believed I would slit Dudley's throat before Vernon could do anything to stop me if he didn't do what I wanted. I feel guilty, not guilty that I made the threat, it was necessary, especially after Mrs Weasley made him so angry at me for no good reason. But it worries me that I could justify it to myself so easily.

I feel guilty that I enjoyed it, that at the moment I honestly wouldn't have minded being sent back there if I could guarantee that I would have the ability to defend myself effectively. I wouldn't have killed Dudley like that in his sleep but I knew I wouldn't have any problems defending myself with lethal force if they attacked me again. I suppose that makes me a bad person but as I told Vernon, I am the person he raised me to be. I am loyal to those who are loyal to me and I will protect them with all I have but I refuse to care for people who are responsible for my shitty life and I refuse to feel bad about using all the power available to me to protect myself from them.

I did still warn him that Dumbledore says there are wards on the house protect him from Voldemort's followers and that they will fail because I haven't spent enough time there, so I did give them a chance to get away from whoever comes looking for me, though I don't believe he will take my warning seriously. He won't let himself be driven out of his home in fear of magic no matter how afraid he is. Still, what happens because he ignores me is not my responsibility and I refuse to let anyone make me feel guilty about the wards failing. If they're really tied to me and require me to be there at all.

I hope you're not disgusted with me for doing this.

To: Harry Potter

From: Spencer Reid

Your friend always

Harry

Dear Harry

Of course I'm not disgusted, I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself and getting away from the Dursleys and even more proud that you didn't hurt Dudley, Petunia or Vernon while you could. I understand being tempted. I'm not sure what I would have done if I had one of my tormentors completely at my mercy like that. Especially just after the goal post incident, and Dudley has hurt you a lot more and more often than any of them ended up hurting me. I'm also very relieved that you managed to get away from the Dursleys before you entered the wards around Little Whinging, who knows if they've been altered again to harm you more than they did last time.

It worries me that Vernon believed you so easily, it's not a criticism of you, I'm sure you wouldn't have killed your cousin except in defence of your own life if there was absolutely no other way. But Vernon believed that you were a killer. Was that because he is capable of that level of violence himself? Would he kill you if he thought that he could get away with it? Please don't ever underestimate him again. You're not safe to go back there.

Give my thanks to Mrs Thomas again for me, receiving your letters each time and knowing that you're alright is such a relief and I know she goes out of her way to pass them on as soon as she can. Thank Hedwig for me too and give her a treat from me, since she's the one doing most of the work by carrying the letters to and from London for us. I hope Mrs Thomas doesn't regret helping us stay in touch once you disappear.

I agree with you that Hermione, Justin and Colin would probably all be better off attending Scoil Draiocht over the summer and a nonmagical school during the year. Not just because the two boys have months of magical education to try to catch up on this summer but all muggleborns would probably be better off receiving a non magical education as well so they have a choice which world they want to live and work in when they finish school, particularly if the bigotry and discrimination they face at school is not just a schoolyard issue, which from some of the things you've told me it doesn't seem like it will be. By only educating them in magic they're going to be trapped in low paying jobs in both worlds, the magical world because they don't have the family connections to get a decent job and in the nonmagical world they don't have enough education to even apprentice a trade.

Though I could understand families like Colin's refusing to pay a year's worth of school fees for what seems to them like a month at summer camp and it would be next to impossible for the school to explain the time compression to a family that's only just finding out that magic exists and be believed without a way for them to experience it. It would seem like a con or trick. Not to mention that if the fees at Scoil Draiocht are the same as Hogwarts it would actually cost them more because they would have to pay for his books and things at his regular school and feed and house him for the rest of the school year as well, and they'd have to find a way to explain to his regular school and all their friends where he disappeared to every summer and how he was growing up so much more quickly than his friends.

Do Colin, Hermione Justin also have a magical guardian like you or is the fact that their muggle guardians are their parents give them the rights to make decisions for him in the magical world as well. I can't imagine adults reacting well to finding out they don't have the right to pull their children out of Hogwarts and send them to Scoil Draiocht. Especially wealthy and socially/politically powerful adults like I suspect the Finch-Fletchleys are in the nonmagical world. They could create quite an uproar in the nonmagical world protesting if they knew the right people. Hermione's parents would too if they're anything like her, and dentists are highly respected as well. I wonder what would happen?

I also wonder if the muggleborn students would also have preferred to go to nonmagical schools during the year and Scoil Draiocht over the summer, when it means that they would essentially only be getting a quarter of the summer holiday between each year of schooling. Just because you and I would like that and it would be better for them doesn't mean that they will see it that way at eleven or twelve, when they don't have the maturity, knowledge or insight to care about the political implications of their new world. Particularly wealthy students like Justin, from what I've read that class of people have some pretty epic summer holidays so he'd be missing out on that each year, instead of a school year with his old friends. It would also be difficult for him to disappear for a month every summer and not be able to answer questions about where he'd been or what he'd been doing.

I hope you can figure out a place to stay that isn't Hogwarts, the Dursleys or living in a tent somewhere if you can't get to America. Have you asked Seamus or Dean if you can continue to stay with them after the term at Scoil Draiocht finishes, or perhaps written to Hermione and explained why you asked if you might visit? What about your other roommate, Neville isn't it, you don't talk about him often but do you get along well enough that he might appreciate having you as a guest for a week or two?

Superman was a genius and inventor, in fact there is actually a real college subject at the University of Victoria in Canada about all the science in Superman.

Your friend always

Spencer

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