To whoever is reading this letter:
By the time you read this letter, I will have been dead, a casualty of the war against Lord Voldemort. Before I die, I want to write out my life story so that those who read it will know about the life of someone who had fought in the war instead of becoming a nameless, faceless lost soul that the world forgot.
My name is Masami Yamamura. I was born in London, England, on March 3, 1980. My parents were Japanese immigrants, a wizard and a witch by the names Ryuji and Sakura Yamamura. I also had two older brothers, Norisuke and Yoichi. We lived in a large, cozy brick house filled with Japanese possessions in the center of London. I always hated London. It was usually rainy and cold and I always dreamed of moving to a warmer place like California or Australia.
Daddy worked for the Department of Magical Sports and Games and was never at home. Mummy was a shufu, a housewife. Norisuke, Yoichi, and I had many friends in the neighborhood, and we would always go out with them. Beginning at the age of seven, my brother, Norisuke, began going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, followed by Yoichi two years later. This was the first and only school we attended. Before, we were taught at home by our mother. I can’t remember much of the home schooling, only that we learned how to count and read. Stuff like that.
During the summer of 1991, my life changed forever when I got my Hogwarts letter. It was the happiest moment in my life. I always dreamed of becoming a witch, like my brothers and my parents, and I had my wish granted. As a present, my parents gave me my pet kitty, a calico I named Miko-chan. Did you know that according to Japanese legend, calico cats are considered lucky? I just had to tell you that.
The house I got sorted into upon my arrival was Gryffindor. This was a shock because I wanted to be put in Ravenclaw with my brothers, since they were the only people I knew. Eventually, I got over the shock and made my first best friend in Gryffindor. Her name was Tyra Portman (well, thats not exactly her real name. Its actually Winifred, but she has this huge anger management problem so we started calling her "Tirade." It got shortened to "Tyra" over the years), and she was a Muggle-born who loved movies and acting. We roomed with three other girls, Lavender Brown (who let me use her stationary to write this autobiography), Parvati Patil, and Hermione Granger. I also remember there being a lot of boys in Gryffindor, but none as gorgeous as Tyra’s older brother, Jim Portman, who was a Ravenclaw second year when I came and a friend of Yoichi. Jim was tall and handsome with thick, curly dark hair, large brown eyes, and the whitest teeth I have ever seen. He had the most beautiful red lips and I had the deepest longing to kiss them.
Fast forward to last year. That year, the Wizarding World found out that Voldemort came back. That year, a lot of people died. You couldn’t open up the Daily Prophet without seeing at least one article about some unlucky soul who vanished while shopping for potion ingredients. There were lots of obituaries about people found dead in their homes. The summer before I was to start my seventh year, my parents met me at Kings Cross Station and told me to go with Tyra and her family. I asked why, but they told me to “just go with the Portman’s.” I spent three fearful months wondering where my parents were and why they left me. During that time, I became addicted to Muggle TV, and soon, I spent several hours a day watching cartoons and soap operas. What ever good it did for me was that it kept my mind of things at home and what my parents might be going through.
In October, I was called out of Ancient Runes by the headmaster and was told then and there in the corridors what had happened. My parents were dead. My father was an avid supporter of this reconnaissance group called the Order of the Phoenix, which was intent on stopping Voldemort. Because of his opposition to Voldemort, my parents were found murdered in the home I grew up in. I never cried so much in my life. I loved my parents, but I never knew how much they meant to me till they were gone. I still had Norisuke and Yoichi, but it still didn’t feel like a family.
A week after my parent’s funerals, I went back to school and was chatting with Parvati Patil about a dress a famous musician wore to a benefit concert, when she mentioned something about a group called Dumbledore’s Army. It sounded interesting, and I listened intently as Parvati talked about it. That evening, I cornered one of the founders of the group, my roommate, Hermione Granger, about the DA, and she told me they were no longer meeting officially, though some people do practice in the Room of Requirement. Why I joined the DA was based purely on revenge. I wanted to murder the criminals who ended the lives of my parents and the lives of many others. Nothing mattered to me anymore. Kissing Jim Portman, completing school, moving to California. Those dreams didn’t matter to me anymore. All I wanted to see was vengeance. The silly little girl I had once been was gone. In her place was a hard, cold, revenge bent machine with only one mission to complete. Revenge.
I spent a year and two months practicing defense magic. I learned more spells than I would ever learn in my seven years at Hogwarts. I wanted revenge and I wanted to kill the assholes who killed my mum and dad. Soon, Tyra, Norisuke, and Yoichi soon joined the reasons why I wanted to get revenge.
Tyra Portman, Norisuke and Yoichi Yamamura were slaughtered in the April during a raid in Hogsmeade. There were Death Eaters everywhere in the village, burning buildings and killing innocent people. I can still hear the screaming to this day. I could still feel the tears on my face when I found Yoichi dead, under the rubble of what had been Honeydukes sweet shop. Norisuke and Tyra were also found dead in the streets. My fellow Gryffindor who told me about the DA, Parvati Patil, was also killed.
I shed tears enough to make me a sea. Mum, Dad, Norisuke, Yoichi, Tyra, Parvati. They were dead and gone. The monster inside me was enraged. The monster in me wanted to brutally hurt the Death Eaters who killed the only people I cared about the most. Its like that Japanese legend my mother told me about as a child. It was about the forty-seven ronin, master-less samurai, whose lord was brutally murdered and who sought justice for the lord’s death. I see myself as one of the ronin, always looking to avenge the deaths of my friends and family.
Now Judgment Day looms near. I already made my last arrangements. Lavender will get my jewelry and my clothes, since she is closest to me in size. Hermione can have my books and my fancy pen and ink set, since she could use it more than I did. As for my cat, Miko-chan, I asked Professor McGonagall if she can take care of her if the worst was to happen. Many years ago, my ancestors had once been samurai, noble, courageous, chivalrous. They fought and died valiantly on the battlefield. I just hope I shall die like them, honorably and bravely. I will not go down as a coward. I will fight like a samurai and I will seek the justice that the fallen deserved.
Good bye.
Masami Yamamura.
June 16, 1997.
*Note: Masami Yamamura died at the age of seventeen during the Last Battle. She was killed by Augustus Rookwood, who also murdered Ryuji and Sakura Yamamura as well as their son Yoichi Yamamura in the raid on Hogsmeade. Masami did kill two unknown Death Eaters before falling. Jim Portman, Tyra’s brother, survived the battle and now resides in Los Angeles, California. He is married and has two daughters, one named Tyra and the other, Masami, in remembrance of his sister and her best friend. This letter was found fifteen years after the Last Battle by Alexis Finnegan, the daughter of Seamus Finnegan and Lavender Brown.