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Saturday 2/8/92
Dear Harry
Harry I'm worried that there's a problem with your friends' memories. In this last letter you wrote that after a few days Hermione had seemed to forget agreeing not to do your homework for her and when you told me about the duel you told me Ron was upset with you for a week or so before seeming to forget that you'd been fighting at all. Do you think they're really forgetting these things or just deciding to get over the fight, or ignore what you want to keep doing what she's always done? Could they have changed their behaviour themselves or did someone take away those memories. And if so, why would they? Who would have a motive for your friends forgetting those things? And if they did decide to pretend to forget it why? I can see Hermione being so desperate to have friends that she would force herself to get over a difference of opinion but in that case, she would have been careful not to upset you by doing the same thing again. And I can see Ron ignoring a fight the two of you have had so he doesn't need to apologise to get back to being friends once he's calmed down enough to value your friendship again. Either scenario is possible but the fact that it happened twice is a bit much of a coincidence, maybe you should keep an ear out for what else they might have forgotten or been forced/encouraged to ignore.
I will remind you again that a real friend would be happy that you've done so well in your exams, not angry with you for beating them. Ethan and I are very competitive with the subjects we share, but the only person I'm angry at if he beats me is myself for not working harder and doing better and likewise for him. If I beat him his congratulations are genuine, his help if I need it is always immediately and ungrudgingly offered but not forced upon me, and our friendship is only strengthened by our competition for the top spot in the class. Of course, Ethan and I are older than Hermione so it might just be immaturity causing her to act like a spoilt brat who had their favourite toy taken away.
I don't quite understand why the Hogwarts curriculum places so much importance on the use of wands and the particular wand movements if you don't need one. Is it that your magic is stronger than the other students because you learned to control it without a wand so many years ago and used it so often it built up the strength like a weightlifter builds up muscle or is it a way of controlling the general public, force them to believe they cannot do magic without a wand when really the wand is merely a method they use to track which person did what magic, and to give them the ability to threaten to take magic away from someone by taking their wand?
I'm glad that you're enjoying the books and that the essay questions helped you to read them more analytically. It doesn't sound like any of the subjects at Hogwarts teach that skill, even History which should if it were being taught properly. Something that I'm sure you will agree Professor Binns doesn't try to do. It's said that history is written by the victors and the wizards obviously think that they won the goblin wars but it doesn't make sense. Why on earth would you let a race of people that have gone to war against you so many times have exclusive control of all the money in your society? And surely there are other things that have happened in history that are more important that you learn about than every single battle with the goblins. The founding of your school, the founding of your government the beginning of the statute of secrecy, wars with other races if there are any. The historical discoveries of the first known magic users, just to name a few things I'd want to know just off the top of my head.
I'm kind of amused that flying on a broomstick is actually part of your curriculum. I guess the statute of secrecy isn't always perfectly kept for things like that to make it into nonmagical fiction, but the general fiction is that witchcraft and flying broomsticks are very much a feminine trait. I wonder why? Of course, it might have been that the majority of screen writers back then were men and probably pretty nerdy men who find it easier to write than talk to people they found women mysterious enough that it wasn't too much of a stretch to believe they had powers that men do not. From your descriptions of quidditch broom flying is very different from what you see of witches in movies who seem to be able to fly any old fashioned handmade broom.
I understand your frustration with learning spells that have no or very little practical application. Have you ever asked your professors why they bother to teach fruit to dance etcetera? I also have some moral objections to the idea of turning a living creature into a non-living object. Do you reverse these spells afterwards, and are the animals harmed or traumatised by the experience? I guess it's hard to tell what a beetle might be feeling but the older students probably use bigger animals.
I'm enjoying all my new subjects, they might be mostly follow on from last semester's subjects but half of the have a new lecturer and different tutorial groups. The new lecturers all seem very knowledgeable and patient with my questions in their office hours. My Chemistry lecturer has offered me a research project to do, I'm very interested in it at the moment and I hope it will hold my interest long term but you know me, my brain is always scattered in a dozen different directions wanting to learn anything and everything. If I succeed with the project it will count towards my honours in Chemistry and may lead to me being accepted to do Masters or even PhD research.
My new tutorial groups are a bit of a challenge. I find I get too enthusiastic talking about the subject and they ask me to stop talking and stick to the subject and the stuff that will be in the end of semester examinations. I must admit I do go off on tangents a lot of the time. It's just all so interesting and often the tangents are more interesting than the core material. Still I'm learning which tutorial groups will appreciate my insights and when I should just stick to helping my group understand the core material and prepare for their assignments and exams the way they want me to. I remind myself that they don't need to be my friends to study with me and to concentrate my energy on genuine friends like Ethan. He's in my Math tute group and he eggs me on to ramble, we sort of took over the whole thing and ended up bouncing theories off each other that are way beyond the scope of the current course subject.
Your friend always
Spencer
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