Chapter 5
Dear Mama and Papa:
I am so terribly sorry I haven’t written a more detailed letter about Hogwarts sooner! Everytime I try, something seems to happen and I forget all about it! (I’m not trying to make excuses, a lot of people seem to have forgotten! None of the books I’ve read seem to have anything useful regarding this situation.)
Hogwarts is so much more magical than Hogwarts: A History said! The Castle is magnificent and every meal time food just magically appears on the table! The Professors are nice, and the library here is simply… Well, Magical!! There are so many interesting books about magic of all kinds - Transfiguration, Charms, Potions… Oh I could go on and on about the library, but I will save it for when I come home for the holidays.
You know the boy I read about in the books I got for background reading - Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century, turns out that The Boy Who Lived is not a boy but a girl! It was shocking when Professor McGonagal called out ‘Harrison Potter’ rather than ‘Harry Potter’, I thought that it was just her official name until she started walking towards the Sorting Hat. Everyone was in a state of shock! I even heard one of the kids swear rather colorfully - it was absolutely appalling to hear but I suppose they couldn’t help it seeing as apparently the whole of Magical Britain thought Harrison Potter was a Boy!
It is quite odd that no-one knew that Potter was a girl, but I suppose they hid it to redirect the dark lord during the war?
She ended up being sorted into Slytherin (the house of the cunning and ambitious, also quite famous for producing Dark Witches and wizards - most famous of them all was ‘The One Who Shall Not Be Named’ - supposedly there is a curse placed on his name that anyone who speaks it would be found by him or his followers), I don’t quite understand why she seemed so calm about it - her parents were killed by He Who Shall Not Be Named and it’s filled with children of the followers of the wizard with the ridiculous name.
Ronald Weasly - the boy who tried to turn his rat yellow on the express but failed (I still highly doubt that it was an actual spell), turned a startling color of red and proceeded to throw a right fit. Not that he was alone, mind you, the entirety of Hogwarts seemed to have a riot after they got their bearings.
Anyway, We had a wonderful feast and went to our common rooms, Ronald complained the entire way. Not that he has stopped. Every lesson we have with the Slytherins, he’s complaining about how Harrison ‘shouldn’t be with the slimy snakes’ and how ‘she was supposed to be a boy!’
Honestly, it’s absolutely ridiculous! He has absolutely no manners, and I feel pity for his brother Percy (Our prefect) for having to watch him like a hawk all day long.
Speaking of ridiculous, I never thought I would ever say this about a professor - let alone the Headmaster, but Headmaster Dumbledore is abysmal in his choice of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professors! Our current professor, Professor P (he insists that we call him Mister P, but he is a Professor at Hogwarts.) is very vocal about how he is ‘not suited to teach DADA’ and how he ‘applied for the assistant healer position but got DADA instead’. Honestly, I don’t really see a problem with his teaching - he is teaching us quite well, but supposedlyeveryone else is just as annoyed as Professor P is.
Harrison Potter likes to help out students around Hogwarts - whether it’s with their studies or non-school related stuff. Quite odd for someone who never answers any of the questions in class or gets any house points for her house. I, of course, never needed the help. She has a very calming aura surrounding her, and although she’s around the same age as I am, she feels and acts like she's older than our entire year! She would suddenly go and talk to people in our year or give them something to eat/drink. The slytherins seem to have dubbed her as their angle - I heard several of them refer to her as ‘Angle’ in various languages.
Well, I suppose I’ve written quite a lot about Harrison. I’m eating very well at Hogwarts, and I most definitely have kept up my teeth brushing schedule. I am at the top of my class, and I’ve earned a large sum of house points for Griffyndore! I share a room with two other girls - both are more focused on their appearance and boys than their grades! Honestly, it’s like they don't care if they manage to pass their final exams or not!
Anyhow, I miss you both dearly and I can’t wait to come home for Christmas and see you both again!
Love you both,
Hermione x