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To: Spencer Reid
From: Harry Potter
Tuesday 15/7/92 7:02pm (GMT)
Thankfully I was right that most of the other students, including Seamus' former friends have been more friendly since they saw him doing magic, almost apologetic. So far Seamus has been ignoring them. He is still angry with them for the way they treated him for the last ten days. It took two days for Mrs Finnegan to let us bring our wands which of course was fifteen days after starting school. In the end Dean told her what they were saying about Seamus lying about going to Hogwarts to hide the fact that he was a squib. She got really angry and told us to use as much magic as we liked as long as we didn't get caught. Seamus has been using every spell he knows he can do reliably as much as he can. I think that so much magical use will possibly strengthen his magic because we never use that much magic at Hogwarts. Dean is more practical and is happy to do things the nonmagical way as long as it's easier or more effective than using a spell, which a lot of things are for him. Some of that will change as he learns more magic but I'm finding that there are a lot more things like that milking spell, which are easier if you've got enough magic for them but not as effective as doing it the nonmagical way and no doubt by the time we're adults, most of the spells will use less energy than physically doing things but at the moment Seamus and Dean get a lot more tired using magic than just doing things the normal way.
Seamus is still really upset with the other boys, particularly the ones he used to be friends with in primary school. I can't blame him for not forgiving them for turning on him like that over something I think of as so trivial as not having magic. But evidently it is a much bigger deal to other people than it seems to me. I remember Ron saying that he thinks he has a cousin who's a squib or one of his parents do but he said they never see or talk to him.
I'm trying to be polite with everybody at school. You're right that the two girls who are only doing non-wand subjects don't have magic, they were upset when they saw us using our wands and have avoided us even more since then. I'm trying to be nice and show them it doesn't matter to me but they've recognised me as the-boy-who-lived. So has everyone else now they're not thinking that I'm a squib. I think I would prefer that they were continuing to ignore me. Dean and Seamus find it amusing, we were all too overwhelmed with starting at Hogwarts to notice the starstruck behaviour of the other students most of the time at the start of the year but seeing it now I recognise that it did happen then too. It's irritating that they all want to be friends with me now because of what happened the night my parents died when they were so keen to exclude us a few days ago. Seamus is encouraging me to snub them all in retaliation for the way they treated us but with time compression it's going to be a very long month if we don't get past the fan worship and learn to get along.
We are studying the history of Ireland. It's not exactly magical history or non magical history but a combination of the two. There are two teachers and sometimes they teach us the same things. One from a wizarding point of view and the other teaches us the muggle myths that have been created from where the magical occurrences weren't hidden properly or in some cases weren't hidden at all but were misunderstood by nonmagical witnesses. And sometimes they teach nonmagical history and then tell us how the wizarding world misinterpreted what had happened and vice versa how magical events have been partly revealed to the nonmagical world, what the intended cover story was and how they have actually been interpreted. It is really interesting but I don't know how relevant it's going to be for my GCSEs if I ever take them. It's my favourite class, I don't like the books we're studying in English and while I still love reading about math and science we haven't done anything I don't already know a lot about from the reading I did in the Little Whinging library last summer or the year before.
There's one other class here that I think that Hogwarts is really missing. It's an ethics class and like History some of it is about nonmagical issues and some about magical stuff like harming others and light and dark magic. Even if Hogwarts only taught the magical side of things it would be an improvement. Sometimes I think that because a witch or wizard can heal injuries and repair damage so easily and can make people forget things had ever happened there's less opportunity for magical children to learn that actions have consequences, or that things like loyalty and trust need to be earned and returned. They also don't seem to understand that sometimes just because you can do something it doesn't mean that you should. Animal to non-living transfiguration is one of the things I want to ask someone here about. We learn it and everyone acts like it's just another spell but surely it cannot be good for a beetle to be turned into a button. There is no way of telling if the beetle was hurt by the transfiguration or if it would starve if it's not reversed for it to eat and the beetle certainly cannot consent to it. Even if a successful transfiguration wouldn't hurt it what about all the times a student only managed to partially transfigure the button, or gets it totally wrong? The older classes use larger animals, mice and rabbits and turtles people keep those animals for pets, aren't they also being traumatised at the idea of a bunny like their beloved pet being turned into a pillow or a hat? Not to mention Seamus' Dad has started to teach us how to shoot a rifle, we're learning with wooden targets but the first thing he taught us was that you should absolutely never point a gun at anyone or anything that you don't intend to shoot, even if you think that the gun is not loaded with bullets. But people point wands at each other all the time, sometimes casually without meaning anything and other times to threaten during an argument, and even as first years we learnt spells that could hurt if they were cast at a person. I mean the cutting charm we learned was intended to cut parchment to length but parchment is dried skin, right? So a spell that cuts parchment would probably cut skin and if you pointed it at someone's face, you might be able to cut their eye and blind them, even if the spell isn't very strong. Not to mention that there's people like me who can use spells in ways they weren't intended to be used because I don't use a wand I have to picture what I want a spell to do and if I picture it differently it comes out how I pictured it even when the textbook says that what I pictured is impossible. It's actually a real nuisance, it means I have to be careful to do all the required reading so I know what the limits of a spell should be, and it's also why if I'm at all unsure I need to see someone else cast it first. Most of the time that's the professor. Flitwick and McGonagall are good at making sure they demonstrate both the wand movements, incantation and the complete spell every time but Quirrell often didn't bother to cast the spell, that or he was stuttering to badly for it to work properly for him. Funny thing was even when he stuffed up the incantation completely, the spell often worked, when the book says it shouldn't have. But nobody else seems to have noticed that, not even Hermione who is so quick to correct us all if we get the wand movement or the incantation incorrect. I wondered if he was like me and can make magic do whatever he wants it to and whether he really needed to use a wand. Then I found out that he'd been possessed by Voldemort who is said to be one of the most powerful dark wizards in history so I guess he doesn't but he was doing a fairly poor job of seeming average if I can do it better than him. I don't know how the other professors didn't notice. They knew him before he was possessed too. Surely he couldn't have them all compelled to ignore the changes for the whole year?
To: Harry Potter
From: Spencer Reid
Tuesday 7/15/92 11:16am (PST)
The more I hear about what evil wizards can do with magic the more glad I am that nobody in my family had it, though I kind of wish I did so I could protect you better. Still perhaps it's for the best because I don't think I have what it takes to outwit a powerful supervillain like Voldemort or Dumbledore. I didn't think I was that naïve but I never envisaged the things that have been done to you being possible. That someone could do so much damage to your life without you even being sure who they are or if you've ever actually met them. Or you probably have met them but they just didn't let you keep the memory of it. That's what scares me most of all that magic can make people forget things, or make them believe stuff they don't believe and act in ways they would hate if they recognised it. I wonder if those people under control are still inside them hating what they're doing and not being able to do anything about it or if their whole personalities have been changed so they don't even recognise that they wouldn't have acted like that before?
Are you doing too much magic to tire yourself out? I remember you telling me that you were trying to use a fake wand most of the time. Are you still doing that all the time? Has learning new spells with the fake wand got easier?
Is there a healer at your summer school? For that matter, does the school have a name? I hadn't realised until I wanted to write it that you hadn't told me what it was. If there's not a healer there do you think that Mrs Finnegan could arrange to take you to a healer, I suppose they probably don't work Sundays except for emergencies so it might be difficult, especially as missing a day of school means missing a whole week of classes.
I know you think that moving to another country would help people see you as a normal person but that really depends whether Voldemort was seen as a threat outside of Great Britain. From what you've said about the other students in Hogwarts, Ireland still considers itself part of magical Britain so the fact that you're still famous there doesn't mean you will be here or elsewhere in the world.
I wouldn't worry about the History syllabus if I were you. It's good that it's well taught and you're enjoying it. At the year level you're learning, history classes are designed not only to increase your knowledge of the world (something that could be easily caught up on) but more importantly to learn to see how bias (victors bias, cultural bias, authors opinions) can color the way information is presented and by giving you opposing points of view to teach you to make judgements and think for yourself. It sounds like your teachers are doing an amazing job of that, even if you're not learning the traditional history you'd learn in England. Perhaps if you're worried you could ask Mrs Thomas to enrol you in a history class by correspondence, but I don't think it's actually necessary. Or you could go into a bookstore when you get back to England and ask to buy some history text books for the classes you would have done and just read the information they cover without having to do the work. Just remember to read the text critically or to get several different texts about the same events.
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 and keep in contact with family and friends on line, take care of your mental and emotional well being and seek help if you need it. Keep remembering that this will eventually end and life will go back to somewhat normal, we will get through this.