Letters Between Them

*Third week of September*

"Ron!

I'm so happy I finally get to write you! It's silly you only get letters starting your third week. I guess they didn't want you distracted. Well, you're going to get distracted now.

Guess What! I just met Newt Scamander! Yes, That Newt Scamander! The one who wrote Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I was so excited. He was with Hagrid for his first lesson. It was great! Since I had a free period after, I stayed and visited. It seemed they were good friends. I never knew. Mr. Scamander was helping Hagrid put together a real Care of Magical Creature syllabary. He has full lesson plans and all! Can you imagine? No blast ended skrewts at all.

Hagrid was so pleased with it all. He starts out with simple creatures and works himself up to the more 'interesting' ones, just like he should. He showed off Witherwings to us Last years. Buckbeak, er, Witherwings, came right up to me and bowed to me before I could bow to him. I was so pleased. But I did refuse to ride him. Once was enough.

On a side note, Mr. Scamander brought his grandson, Rolf Scamander as his assistant. Guess who couldn't take her eyes off him? Luna. You read that right. Right after class, while I was talking to Hagrid and Mr. Scamander, Luna and Rolf disappeared around the back of Hagrid's hut and were talking quite cozily when I had to find her. They look quite cute together. I wonder what might come from that?

Another piece of news! Argus Filch has officially been retired! Can we get enough Hurrahs for that? Yesterday, he was caught trying to tie up a first year for breaking curfew. Nope. 'Good 'Ol McGonagall wasn't gonna go for that all.' This was an actual chant in the halls today until she put a stop to that. He was offered a small stipend and a cottage in Wales. No one is sad to see him and Mrs. Norris go. We now have a nice witch, a widow from the war. She is strict, but fair.

We have several other new teachers, but I'll write about them another time. I wouldn't want you to think school is more important to me than what I am thinking of right now. But if you tap your wand in this space, you can get a pretty clear idea what I am….

0
0

0

Anywho….Um…Yeah. (Is it hot in here?) So, the first weekend Last Years get is next Friday night. I've already made plans so make sure you have that time off. I'll be home by 6 PM at the latest. Ginny said that she might beat me, but we'll see. We must make sure we get back by Sunday at 5 PM or we lose all privileges. I love how they changed things this year. Of course, even if there were no changes, I think I would still escape and see you every other weekend. Just make sure Grimmauld Place is tidied. Who knows what that place will look like with just two bachelors and an old elf living there.

Would you believe? We must sit through another sex-ed lecture with Madam Pomphrey before we are released that night. I guess they are expecting things will happen to all us hapless students. (they might be right.) Oh well. They already know of two girls preggers now, so I guess they have a reason for concerns. These girls will get a chance to take their Newts at Christmas Holidays. Don't worry, Ron, I won't be one of them. We may be betrothed but we're not ready for that just yet.

I took Ginny over to the hospital wing for a broken finger, (Quidditch try-outs) and Madam Pomphrey told me that the year after the first war, half the 7th years girls had to drop out by Easter because of pregnancy. To think, many parents didn't want her to pass out contraceptive charm pamphlets back then? Stupid. Now her lectures are required each year. Twice for us going home. Haha.

Everyone in the school is super excited about the new brooms that Harry donated. No, they don't know who did it, and I won't tell. But they are nice. I even had a go at one. I wasn't bucked off once. Not bad for me. But the Firebolt 1.5 that Ginny got this morning was the biggest thing. No one will stop talking about it. Not many are available because of the war last year, so she is now a legend. I think the whole school showed up for tryouts. She didn't break her finger flying, she broke it by holding onto the broom, so no one would take it.

Well, My Love, it's past midnight and I still have a length of parchment to write for potions. Sleep well.

Love, Hermione

P.S. Let me know what you're thinking, hint, hint…

OOooooooooo

Dear Hermione

Yikes! Give a man warning why don't ya. You nearly got me sacked, or at least laughed out of a job. I got your letter at work! I touched that spot and Oh Boy! I had to ask for a break! A long break! Wearing a cloak was really handy. Harry wouldn't stop laughing all day. If you do it again, make sure you send it to the house. But do it again, if ya catch my drift.

We get to go home most nights now. Staying at the dorms was mostly for the orientation. At home, we can have all the mail we want. Just not at the dorms.

By the way, don't teach that charm to Ginny, I couldn't stand the thought. I know those two are Betrothed, but oi, not what a brother wants to think about.

What a letter to get for the first letter allowed after training starts. Bloody Hell!

Glad to hear about Filch and that blasted cat. Good riddance.

Cool about Hagrid. Real lessons. That would have been a lot more interesting, though seeing Malfoy blasted by a skrewt was kind of fun.

Luna and a Scamander, I wonder what creatures they were coming up with?

Speaking of Malfoy. From what I hear, He's twiddling his thumbs in Malfoy Manor with no wands and not allowed outside at all. House arrest with his mother and only Muggle books and entertainment. I think Azkaban would have been easier for him. Lucius is in Azkaban, he might disagree. For a week, Harry was put on a committee to choose entertainment for the house arrest prisoners and he said something about 'Disney Overload'. I don't know what that means, but I'm not sure I want to. He was cackling a bit when he was saying it. Quite scary.

I know what you are saying about the 'education' they are pushing at the school. They're pushing it here too. As part of our orientation, we had to sit in on several lectures on precautions and consequences. If any of these lecturers knew my mum, they would know that this would all be redundant for me. I think before you left, Mom checked in with me at least every-other day to make sure we were careful. Harry was embarrassed, but I'm used to it by now. Bill said he has been hearing the talk since he was eleven.

Mum nearly swatted me when I said that she didn't need to keep saying anything unless there was something new in the whole sex process. But since there hasn't been in the past two hundred thousand years or so, then I guess she has drilled enough in our heads. In reality though, I'm glad. One of our trainers had to marry his girl during 7th year because they were not careful. They split before the vows and he never really got to know his little girl until she grew up. Sorry tale. Yeah, betrothal means we can do what we want legally, but let's not be stupid, right?

You tell Ginny to hold tight to that broom. Harry wouldn't even let me touch it.

Before you left, you said that Kreature was getting old. Well. Yeah. He confessed to Harry last night that he couldn't go on much longer. It scared the pants off us. He's already arranged his replacement and she'll be here in a few weeks' time. Her name is Mulsy. Kreature will be around long enough to train her. Harry said he will free her as soon as possible and make sure she is ok. If she wants to stay around, he'll pay her.

Well, I have Hand-to-hand combat in the morning and need some sleep before I get clobbered. I'll write when I regain my wits, hopefully before next Friday.

Love you lots, Ron

P.S. I tried, but I need you to teach me that spell. I can't get it to work right for me. I'll keep practicing what I'll think on though.

Oooooooo

My Love, Harry

A long letter. So make yourself comfortable at home to read it. Real comfortable.

Thanks so much for the broom. I'll show you how grateful I am in a little while.

In order to keep grubby hands off it, my finger got broke, but Madam Pomphrey got that fixed in a minute. While there, we heard some girls had got into some stupid trouble for not listening to Poppy's yearly lectures. Too late now, I guess. I mean, what's so hard about three words with the wand? I'm glad my Dad and the boys made sure you knew what the lectures were about though. Hehehehehe. You never did tell me what happened during that talk in the woods.

I'll be home next Friday night and I've sent a schedule of the other days off. Again, I have a few ideas of what we could do, I'll talk to you later about that.

There's been some great changes here. Filch is gone, No loss there.

Hagrid is actually teaching, with real lessons. He said 'Hi' and 'He'll talk to ya later'.

Minerva is going crazy. She's doing double time teaching transfiguration AND being headmistress. Hopefully, a new teacher or two or three can be found by next year.

It's kinda strange, here at school, I have to remember to call the teachers by their proper titles, not by the names we have gotten used to. Only until June though.

June. That's only a month away from July. 31st July. The day I get to change my name to Potter. Not soon enough. Are you sure we can't do our vows over Christmas? I know betrothal is just the same as married, only temporary, but… well, I want to be permanent with you. I want nothing to ever be in doubt, ever again with you. Well. I know why we need to wait. I can be patient but, Damn, I don't have to like it.

I want to show you exactly what I have been thinking of lately. I hope Ron's not around as I don't think he'd appreciate it much.

Touch your wand below and enjoy the show.

0

0

0

Love Ginny

Oooooo

Dearest Ginny

You red-headed tempting vixen. You sure know how to get a man when he's… whoa! At least you gave me warning!

Can I say, You're welcome? Can I say, Thanks!

For the first letter in nearly three weeks, I must say it was a …well…yeah!

I'm happy to hear all the news. In some ways I miss that pile of rocks, but I'm happy have moved on. I'm able to choose my own life now, and that's with you, where ever you are. But say Hi to everyone. I just don't have time to write much.

You know how tempted I am about Christmas. I am, but we both know I only get Christmas Eve and Christmas day off. That's not enough time to do the thing proper for the woman I love more than anything. We have to be patient. At least we know that on 31st July I can never forget our anniversary.

On a light note, last week, I was asked to spend a few days off training to be on a committee to set up entertainment for those on house arrest. Yes, those who were incarcerated in their own homes had the places cleared out. No magic books, wands, anything magic at all. Not even pictures on the walls. Nothing. Even cooking has to be muggle style. I got a lot of enjoyment out of choosing some fun things. Remember some of the movies I showed you? Disney and such? Well, can you imagine those being the only things you can enjoy for the next four years? I called it Disney overload. I wonder if Malfoy would want to join Daddy after a while? Really, they will have quite a wide range of things to chose from, just very limited on content. Draco will be encouraged to take educational courses. We'll see how that goes. It was strange to see him testify against his own father though.

Like many of the other Deatheaters, there will no release for Lucius. It will be life. The sentences were finalized a few days ago. I'm sure you saw that in the papers. I'm glad I was able to do all of my testifying last summer. I really did not want to go through it all again. At least then, I had you to hold me up. Now I just have the empty house and an ancient elf who wants to retire soon…oh, and your git of a brother. Not enough to sustain me. I was able to sit in on some of the interesting parts of the trials when I could fit it in with training.

Kreature is 'retiring', whatever that means with an elf. His replacement is called Mulsy and she will be here in a week or so. He will train her until he 'goes'. I don't know if this means he dies or not, but he is about 70 years old now. Could you ask Hermione to do some research on what the life cycle of elves are?

Well, combat training in the morning. I think this letter will get to you in the morning post, so I won't attempt your little trick, but know how much I love you.

Harry

P.S. Tonight close your eyes and remember the night of 31 August. That should be close enough to that charm.