Chapter 12 - Letter Exchange
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I have made some effort to have Ginny use English spelling and expressions whenever possible, in the letters she writes. Please excuse any errors in that regard. Also, occasional misspellings and errors do occur in Ron and Ginny's letters: most of these are deliberate. I am, after all, trying to recreate the sort of letters a young teen-ager would write. Hermione's letter, of course, is grammatically perfect.
Dear Mum and Dad,
I’m in the middle of my first day of classes, but let me tell you what’s gone on so far. We made it through the Nexi well enough. If you ever fly through them close your eyes. I was nearly sick when we went. And when we arrived, the school looked like a dusty old ruin. But once I went in the right way, it looked like a school. It’s not as grand a place as Hogwarts, but it’s not as bad as you’ve probably heard.
First, they have a Sorting Hat just like Hogwarts, and four houses, but they call them halls here. The hat put me in the Hall of the Bear. I room with two other girls. One is a fourth-year named Ashley who’s been looking after me. Esmerelda, our prefect, likes to assign first-years to older students. Ashley’s really nice, but the other students have been really hard on her, because her mum’s a muggle. And Irma, the other one, is the first muggle-born student to reach her second year. All of the others quit in their first. She’s nice too, but she has a hard time trusting people.
The work is very easy. I’m still in first-year (they’re calling it seventh grade) so they can find out how much I know. Our potions teacher doesn’t teach in a dungeon. And, he is a Squib. But he says he’s invented over 1,200 different potions, don’t know if it’s true. And the headmisstress also teaches transfiguration, but they call it Transformation here. I already knew both their lessons from Hogwarts.
So I hope I’ll get to move up. But I haven’t had Defence or History yet, and those will most likely be my weakest subjects. And I can’t move up in just some classes, because I’d have to be in two places at once.
In answer to your question, Daddy, flying in that aeroplane was a little like flying on a broom, except it was faster and less windy. And it was noisier, too. Professor Grayson says it’s because the engine is powered by ordnary fuel, not magic.
Your loving daughter,
Ginny Weasley
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Dear Ginny,
We’re glad to hear that things seem to be going your way at last. We were worried that they never would.
I did some checking on the school’s staff. The Potions teacher you spoke of is a Native American named Red Cloud. And what he says is true. He may be a Squib, but he is the greatest potion maker in the world. He has, at last count, a total of 1,208 potions to his credit, more than four times more than any other wizard in history has invented. Also, he knows more different mixtures than any two wizards living today. The old Order of the Phoenix enlisted his aid some years ago, before the fall of You-Know-Who.
On a darker note, I made the mistake of telling your mother about the conflict over bloodlines that’s going on at the school. She’s very concerned, and is planning to send an owl to Dumbledore tonight. And she should be worried. Hogwarts has always been open-admission, but I did some checking on other schools that started admitting Muggle-borns. The newcomers have been regarded with fear and suspicion, and violence has almost always erupted. Of the three schools in the States, one has always admitted everyone, one (yours) just changed its policies, and the third still rejects any student without two witch/wizard parents.
I hope you won’t be swept up in this conflict, but I suppose that’s an unrealistic hope, knowing you. And I won’t tell you not to stand up for what you know to be right, but please, honey, be careful. We don’t want anything to happen to you.
Love you so much,
Dad
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To Fred, George, and Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter
Dear Brothers & Friends,
I’ve been back in school for 4 days now. It’s very different here, especially without all of you. But here’s what’s happened so far:
[The ensuing part of the MS more or less duplicates the first three paragraphs of Ginny’s letter to her parents. It has therefore been omitted]
I’m also way ahead in Charms, Herbology, and Astronomy. All of the teachers there have me working on eighth-grade stuff. And Prof. Chance is doing the same. Red Cloud doesn’t seem to notice, he just keeps giving me E’s, which is full marks over here.
We have a ghost teaching us History too, but unlike Binns, he’s GREAT! I’m learning a lot from him. And our Defence teacher’s showing us how to duel, and teaching us some good hexes. Have you read “Magical Combat for Beginners? It’s by this witch (they call them wizardesses over here, don’t ask me why) named Honor Gray. If you can find it, it’s a delightful book.
The bad news is that it doesn’t look like I’ll get to move up. I’m high in five of seven basic subjects but I’m right on in the other two. And I can’t move up in just those five without having to take two classes in the same time period. And no, they won’t let me have a Time-turner. They were banned here centuries ago.
Our headmistress, Professor Chance, is a good teacher, but she can be nasty if you get on her bad side. She turned a girl into a dog for making trouble on the way to school. And I heard she turned a boy into a raccoon yesterday for passing notes. The other kids say she does this all the time. Don’t tell Mum or Dad, they’d probably make me come home if they knew.
So many things are different here. We have halls instead of houses, and we can wear robes in three different colours. And we don’t have to wear ties, which is a relief. And instead of a train, students arrive on something called a hovercraft. It may look huge and slow, but they say it can go over 100 mph, faster than many of the older racing brooms. Oh, and they even have church services on Sundays. They don’t at Hogwarts, do they?
Oh, and they have something called a Quidditch league here. Instead of playing other halls, we travel to other schools and play them. There’s six other schools in the league. And the league rules allow what’s called in-game subsitution. That means if someone gets hurt, they can leave the game and be replaced by a reserve player. I wasn’t quite good enough to make the main team, but they’ve offered me a post as subsitute Seeker. They carry eight extra players, that’s one reserve for each position except Seeker; they need two because the Seeker is the primary target for the enemy Beaters. We all have nicknames. Mine is Red. They call Ashley “Pudge”, but she doesn’t mind.
Harry, you’re the best Seeker there ever was. Do you have any advice on how I can work on my game?
Love to you all,
Ginny
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Dear Ginny,
We’re glad things are going so well for you. Not much happening here. The Triwizard Tournament will be starting in about a month and a half. I’ve heard Durmstrang is one of the schools involved. It’s supposed to be a dodgy place; they teach students to use the dark arts instead of merely defending against them. Other school’s called Beauxbatons. Sounds like it’s French.
Professor Moody’s been teaching us about the Unforgiveable Curses. Have you learned about them over there? There’s Imperius, you know about that one. Then there’s Cruciatus, which causes pain, and then there’s the Death Curse, which is what gave Harry his scar. It’s really fasinating stuff.
I read your story about that girl. Professor McGonagall says they never use transfiguration as a punishment here. But Hagrid did threaten Malfoy once, he said he’d take a leaf from Moody’s book. Anyway I’ll let Hermione tell you about that.
Harry sends his love. No, not really. But he did send you a book he got from Hermione on playing Seeker. He said it taught him some good moves. It’s in the care package that comes with this letter. Oh, and Harry did tell me to say he misses you and he looks forward to seeing you. And Fred and George have some more WWW stuff for you. It’s in the care package, too. Not a word about it to Mum or Dad, all right?
Your loving brother,
Ron
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Dear Ginny,
I spent some time in the library, reading up on American wizarding traditions. According to my research, American society is far less secularized than European society. This is true both among our kind and among the Muggles. The Roman Catholic church regards the term “witch” as synonymous with “devil worshiper”. Female wizards generally don’t like being described as such. Also, “Transfiguration” is a term with sacred meaning to them, so wizardkind opted to modify it.
Also, according to Fred and George (who have been pretty much everywhere), there is a chapel located in one of the towers: pews, stained glass windows, the lot. I spoke to the Fat Friar, who spends considerable time there. It seems that he presides over informal services there on Sundays. Most Christian students tend to be sorted into Hufflepuff, so it works out well. As for the few Muslim students we get, they receive weekly portkey passage to a mosque in Hogsmeade.
Good luck and study hard,
Hermione
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Dear Miss Weasley,
My correspondance with Professor Chance states that you are doing extremely well. I am glad to hear that. Despite my sorrow at not being able to preside over your education as I did with your parents and brothers, I think that you and Silver Grove will be good for one another.
Your mother wrote me recently, expressing concern about the conflicts occurring among your fellow students. I have done my utmost to reassure her, but I do think she is going to take some action on your behalf. I don’t know what that will be.
You were right, by the way, not to mention the fact that Ms. Chance uses transfiguration as punishment. While it was a commonplace practice for wizarding schools a century ago, it is rare today. I helped convince Headmaster Dippet to abolish it here back in 1919. However, you need not worry about the spells being permanent. It’s quite safe when done by an expert, which Professor Chance most assuredly is.
I hope you are studying hard in potions. You have the rare privilege of being instructed by a man whose knowledge in the field dwarfs even my own. His knowledge was invaluable to us in the first war against Voldemort and his supporters. Should war erupt again, we will attempt to enlist him again.
Finally, I have been informed that you are friends and roommates with two students whose bloodline makes them a target for trouble. It pleases me to see that you are continuing Gryffindor’s fine tradition of choosing what is right over what is easy.
Kind regards,
A. P. W. B. Dumbledore
Headmaster, Hogwarts School