Chapter90
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To: Spencer Reid email
From: Harry Potter email
Friday 10/7/92 6:04pm (GMT)
McGonagall wrote to me again today, explaining that I needed my magical guardian to sign the transfer request. Apparently Petunia did send her the letter but it isn't good enough because she's only my aunt and muggle guardian. She sounded quite apologetic, but then again, it's easy to portray false sentiment in a letter, you have all the time in the world to think about and plan what you want to say and how you want to say it. I sent back a furious letter asking her how I would find out who my magical guardian is because I don't have a bloody clue and how unfair it was that someone who has never spoken to me or done a damn thing for me should have the power to stop me from going to a school that was safe. I exaggerated the dangers that I'd experienced at Hogwarts last year, but only a little. I'm an eleven year old kid and three times in a single year is far too many to be in life threatening danger. I also threatened to put an ad in 'The Daily Prophet' requesting that my magical guardian agree transfer me to another school explaining exactly why I felt attending Hogwarts was too dangerous and why I had to use the newspaper to ask my guardian for a simple request because they have never done their duty as guardian, never contacted me and I don't know who they are. I think with my fame they would make front page news over an advertisement request like that. Of course, I already know from the goblins that Dumbledore is or was my magical guardian but he's never said or done anything to intimate that he's more than the headmaster of the school to me, but McGonagall doesn't need to know that. I'd need to talk to the goblins and explain why I was pretending not to know before I contacted the newspaper. Goblins don't like dishonesty and I wouldn't want to lose their trust or for them to think that I didn't believe what they told me. I will go back to the bank and find out if they've appointed an alternative magical guardian for me or what they've done but I don't really want to tell McGonagall that Dumbledore's been removed from being my magical guardian, I'm sure she'd go straight to him and tell him. I am afraid of what he will do if he finds out before I can get away.
Problem is that I virtually promised Petunia that if she wrote the letter for me to go to an international school, I wouldn't come back to Privet Drive again so they're going to be really pissed off if I have to go back there. Not that I want to go back, but if I can't get away from Hogwarts then I can't guarantee I'll find a new place to stay and I can't depend on my classmates to house me for the whole summer.
I also sent an application for the school in Mexico to start as a first year. I know I will struggle with the language unless there is a magical way to learn it but I figured repeating first year where I'm mostly going to be learning things I've already learnt in English would be an excellent way to get up to speed in Spanish and the local native language as well. Not to mention that as a first year I don't need any school transcripts from Hogwarts. I have asked Petunia to collect my school transcripts from Little Whinging primary to send them when they ask and claim to have taken a year off formal schooling to travel.
I'm glad you and your mum got to have a great day out. Hopefully it is a sign that the new medication is working and she'll start to have more good days more often. It sounds like a lovely way to spend the day. I love second had bookshops and reading in the sun.
To: Harry Potter email
From: Spencer Reid email
Friday 7/10/92 10:20pm (PST)
Your application to the Mexican school sounds like a great idea to get around the need for transcripts from last year and to take the pressure off while you learn not one but two new languages. It would be good if you can get some taped lessons on Spanish to get started on the language then at least you'd know the basics of one of them, I don't think you'll be able to find anything to help you learn the other one until you get there. Like Italian, Spanish is also a Latin-based language so already being able to speak both of those should make it relatively easy to learn.
The other wonderful thing about the Mexican school is even though it is in another country it is easily the closest school to Caltech and you should hopefully be able to visit me fairly easily. I don't know if you would need a visa to visit America using magic but given that you aren't actually Mexican it shouldn't be too hard to get one if you need it. There are a lot of Mexican immigrants in California, some legal and some not so there are also lots of illegal ways to get into the country but I don't think that many of them would be safe for a twelve year old on their own and there are a lot of unscrupulous people making money off helping' Mexican's sneak across the border. I would hate to see you get mixed up with any of those. If you can't visit me then I will come and spend the weekend with you. It wouldn't be any further to travel than going home to spend time with Mom.
I know that it hurts to think that the Dursleys refuse to take you back Harry but it might be a good thing if you're no longer welcome in your Aunt and Uncle's home. Dumbledore cannot send you back there if they won't agree so someone will have to find you a new home. I think that you should ask the goblins or find out if the ministry of magic has a child protection department or orphanage. A magical orphanage might be just the thing, you can still go to school during the year and spend the summers there. Of course, that means staying at Hogwarts which isn't a good thing. But if they're overcrowded then maybe they'd be happy to transfer you to an international school.
Have you thought about going back to Gringotts and asking what has happened with your magical guardian. Did they only remove Dumbledore's access to your money or did they manage to your account manager appointed as your financial guardian? And if they did is he also your guardian for non financial matters or is that still Dumbledore? I suppose that still wouldn't be enough for Professor McGonagall because though the goblins might be magical she might say you need a witch or a wizard as a magical guardian.
To: Spencer Reid email
From: Harry Potter email
Friday 10/7/92 6:07pm (GMT
We're going to Seamus' place tomorrow. We're to catch the train to Liverpool, the bus to Heysham and then the ferry to Dublin and Seamus' Dad will pick us up from there. Mrs Thomas wanted to catch the train with us and put us on the ferry herself but Mr Thomas has convinced her that we are old enough to travel alone together. We leave here at six am and will be travelling most of the day so don't worry if you don't hear from me. Seamus said that I should be able to email you from the public library down the road if he can't set me up with access to the computer at his place. I'm looking forward to seeing a bit of Liverpool and Ireland, not that we will see much from the train. I'm not looking forward to the ferry ride though, the last time I was on a boat on the ocean I felt sick the whole time. His parents live in the south and Seamus said that it's safe from the troubles in Northern Ireland.
I didn't think to check in with Gringotts what happened regarding my magical guardian, and it's too late now, I can't get to London until I get back from Seamus' place a couple of weeks before we're due to go back to school. But I don't think that the Goblins have much power to do things outside their bank. I don't really understand how witches and wizards can trust Gringotts bank to look after all their money and stuff when they think so poorly of goblins in general and are so rude to them most of the time too. Of course, the goblins probably have their own culture, just like some things are rude in the wizarding world that aren't in the nonmagical world and vice versa, so maybe people aren't being rude to them but treating them like they would expect in their culture. I haven't seen enough goblins talking to each other to know if that is how they normally communicate.
There was a story on the news about massive storms in America. I only caught part of it and my American geography is a bit shaky at best. Are you and your mum okay? Are the storms anywhere near you? Or are they near Caltech and will make returning to school at the end of the summer difficult? How is your mum? Still having mostly good days I hope. Is she helping you learn to cook on your better days, there's really no better way to learn than to have someone to tell you where you went wrong.
To: Harry Potter email
From: Spencer Reid email
Friday 7/10/92 10:12pm (PST)
You're right to think that goblins probably do have a different culture and set of manners than wizards or nonmagical people but you might be making a mistake if that assumption led you to being rude to them. Even if issuing demands instead of making requests and not using greetings or please and thankyou is part of their culture, and there's no guarantee that it is, they work with wizards all day long so they would be well aware that the majority of wizards are ignorant of their culture and intending to be deliberately rude. Keep in mind also that only ten percent of any interaction is the words you use, your body language, facial expressions and tone of voice convey a great deal of information on how you're feeling about the person you're talking to and the things your talking about. As they say, actions speak louder than words so watch the goblins body language and actions, they may have some other way of showing respect to each other. I know you're adept at noticing that sort of thing from your study into deductions. So use that, deduce the goblins to work out what behaviours they appreciate or are annoyed by in their customers. Remember when you were hanging out in the restaurant kitchen that the staff were very different with each other than how they acted and spoke out in the restaurant with and in front of the customers.
I'd tell you to ask your friend Mr Blott for a book on goblin culture but to be honest you'd probably be better asking your account manager, at least he'd know which books were the most accurate. Especially since accuracy doesn't seem to be a requirement for nonfiction books in the wizarding world. If they can get things so wrong about you, I wouldn't trust their explanation of another culture, and you were complaining that your book about wizarding schools was highly biased too. There is always some bias in a book from the author's experiences and point of view but a truly great nonfiction author seeks to keep that bias to a minimum or at least attempts to present other points of view as well.
We were nowhere near the storm it was over 1,000 miles from Las Vegas, everything is fine. Yes Mom has been trying to help me learn to cook. Some days that's great and she shows me things and taught me some basic meals she used to make for us. I've written them down so I can make them again. Other days it worries me to have her that close to the knives and boiling saucepans. Even the days she's just a bit disorganised and not likely to become violent make me uneasy. I've had several nightmares remembering the night she threw boiling oil at me, in my dreams either you weren't there and they became huge and infected or I didn't manage to turn away and she got me in the face blinding me or making my throat swell which suffocated me and I lay there dying in the dark as she screamed out looking for the real me.
Where in Ireland does Seamus live, is it in a city or the country and is it anywhere near the coast? At least you will see the sea from the ferry even if you don't get to spend time on the beach, and a bit of the country travelling to the ferry and then to Seamus' house. You might not feel sick on the ferry, last time you were on a small boat immediately before and after a storm. The ferry will be huge, it won't be rocked by the waves so easily and you'll be able to walk around. You might find you like it, even if you don't it will be a very different experience than that small boat that Vernon should never have been allowed to take out into the storm the way he did.
To: Spencer Reid email
From: Harry Potter email
Friday 10/7/92 6:14pm (GMT)
I am so sorry! I never thought that encouraging you to learn to cook while you're at home would bring back so many bad memories and nightmares. I never would have suggested it or given you that cook book if I'd known you had so many bad memories of cooking or watching your mum cook in that kitchen.
I don't know how to help you other than to remind you that it didn't happen, you were able to get away and I managed to heal your burns. The whole thing ended up okay and your mum didn't mean to hurt you. And you've been telling me that she's better now, that she hasn't had an episode like that since she started on her new medication.
I guess I could send you some great salad recipes and things that don't use hot oil but you've got a lot of them, and there aren't really many ways you can make a healthy meal without using a knife or cooking.
If it helps any, I have had nightmares of that night too, though nothing as vivid as yours. I used to dream that I woke up realised that I'd only dreamed healing you. That either I'd failed to heal you and you'd had to go into the hospital and then into foster care and I'd never seen you again, or I had healed you and you'd freaked out about me using my power on you and kicked me out of the hideout and never spoken to me again. Those dreams broke my heart. I don't know what I would have done the past two and a half years without your friendship.
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.
I wish everyone the best in this time. Please stay safe and keep your distance, stay at home if you can.