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Harry opened the letter he removed from Hedwig's outstretched leg. It had been addressed to him, the handwriting unfamiliar, but he allowed himself to hope. That hope was quickly crushed when he noticed it wasn’t from either of his best friends.
He did recognize the name, well the latter half of it. MacMillan. Ernie MacMillan from Hufflepuff and friends with Justin Finch-Fletchley who had apologized to Harry for assuming that he had petrified Justin.
If it’s someone related to Ernie then he won't be that wary, unless they were blaming Harry for Cedric’s death. He was doing well enough at that himself.
Except that when he opened it and began reading he felt a surge of relief course through him.
Whoever Euphemia was, she believed him.
Sincere Regards to Heir Potter,
First of all, disregarding etiquette, I would like to say that I believe you when you say that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named-Or-Written-For-A-Ridiculous-Matter-Until-Now is back. I’m not sure if you’ve read any of the papers, but due to the ministry sticking their heads in the sand, most of the population believes that you are lying. I wanted to let you know that I do not believe the ministry because there have been signs for years.
Now, to introduce myself. Heiress MacMillian, Euphemia, pleasure to make your acquaintance. It is possible you recognize my name, my cousin Ernest is in your year, Hufflepuff. I do not, however, expect you to recognize me. I am a Ravenclaw, year above you, and having just finished my OWL’s I was hoping to make things less stressful for you by handing over study guides this summer, to keep yourself distracted and to prepare.
Preparation is the reason I am writing to you, due to the current political climate, it seems very unlikely we’ll have a teacher that isn’t a ministry plant to keep control over you. Thus I figured preparing yourself while you are waiting for school to start back up couldn’t hurt you, and neither could my offering of assistance.
I also feel the need to inform you, that you and your friends are not very discreet at all, and having overheard some interesting conversations and found information myself to verify, you need a way to make your conversations unheard, especially now. Thus, I have attached a package, not only full of notes, but the one on top should be practiced so no-one else is overhearing things, let me reiterate, especially this year.
Due to our families long term alliance, I wanted to inform you of my taking up my Ladyship of House MacMillan by November and thus you will have my families support this war.
Awaiting your response,
Heiress Euphemia MacMillan
(Now Harry knew there was a lot of Wizarding culture he had missed during his time surviving each year at Hogwarts and not having access during Summers, but usually Hermione and Ron informed him of things he needed to know.
Except, his friends currently weren’t talking to him, Dumbledore’s orders Harry, you have to understand , and well, he was mad at them and Dumbledore and grieving so, so much–)
How long has he been an Heir? He knows, logically, what an heir is. Peerage of the Realm and such things, and well Pureblood Nobility is apparently a thing. This must mean his father had been wizarding peerage.
And what was Harry supposed to do with that?
Except there was something he could do, he didn’t need Hermione or Ron or Dumbledore.
Euphemia mentioned an alliance, which means that she will most likely help him, and information is something he needs, so he should write her back.
And he does, he asks lots of questions. So many that he writes more to her than he’d ever written to anyone else.
And he feels a bit of hope, the same hope that died upon realizing his friends still weren’t contacting him because they were more loyal to Dumbledore than Harry.
(And he should have expected this, even as loyal to each other as they are-life or death situations do that to you-Hermione has always believed in authority figures, and Dumbledore has been mentioned by her since the train, when she mentioned him being smart but in Gryffindor. And Ron has been finicky in the past, just this last year, he thought Harry put his name in the cup and had been ready to stop being friends with him. Back in third year, Hermione got his broom taken away. And- he loves them, but he’s finding it hard to trust them. He keeps forgiving them and he knows they care for him, and Dumbledore had probably convinced them its for his safety. But it hurts and here is someone willing. Someone who seems to trust him even without speaking to him, Not because he’s Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, but because he’s Harry Potter, Son of James Potter and apparently Heir Potter. It’s… nice.)
He studies what she sent him while he waits for Hedwig to return with what is hopefully the information he needs.
And the information she has already given him is amazing. She did mention being a Ravenclaw, but the immense amount of information here makes him think that there’s stuff Hermione wouldn’t know.
And maybe some of it is. Maybe there are libraries in her home that have information Madam Pince would never allow Hermione or other students. Maybe it's not a personal library but Harry had heard rumors of Ravenclaw tower having its own library.
There are all the classes he’s taking, notes from 1st through 5th year, all in her handwriting. As if she had transcribed everything and put it together just for him at the beginning of summer. There is also Muggle Studies, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes along with the classes he took, CoMC and Divination. Had she been using a time turner like Hermione, successfully, or had she just self-studied?
So Harry begins practice. He goes to the nearby park and picks out a stick similar enough to his wand so he can work on wand movements. He goes back to his room to practice, because there are already enough rumors of him in Little Whining without adding ‘needs to be in mental asylum, waving dead branches around’ to them.
He works through all the spells he learned in previous years, and perfects his wand movements into the more efficient ways she noted, pronouncing things more accurately and the such. He is perfecting these spells as well as he can.
Expelliarmus worked in the graveyard, but Tom was in school during the late 30’s and early 40’s and Grindelwald hadn’t been defeated until 1945, so Tom grew up during war time. (See, those History notes are already helping, he owes Euphemia so much thanks.) This means Tom has 40 years of experience and also knows a lot of things that have probably been removed from the curriculum for being ‘too dangerous’.
As soon as he catches up he realizes he missed a lot of information, whether it simply hasn’t been taught in classes or maybe he really hadn’t been paying attention while trying to survive, it doesn’t matter, he has to learn so much.
It’s as he’s learning the spell she mentioned in the letter, ‘Muffliato’ (that she mentioned had been taught to her by Professor Flitwick in Charms but that Professor Snape had created it while still at school, and that is pretty impressive, even if he’s a bad teacher.) that the owl that first sent him the letter returns.
(Hedwig had returned previously with a note attached saying to give her a few days to compile information for her next letter.)
And so he has another letter to read.
Heir Potter,
Concerning your questions on your inheritance, I have included a package with Paracelsus, who is named after the Alchemist to answer your questions. Both of your inheritance and my Owls name.
Regarding your question of what I overheard will be what I am addressing in this letter. Back during your first year, you and you friends were not discreet while speaking with Hagrid and I just so happened to be one of the students close enough to over hear and the only one that decided it was relevant information. My fellows in the area dismissed it, but I’ve always been curious and had also been worried about you, because you hadn’t followed protocol and spoken with me. I now know that you simply had no clue, but had been rather worried during those first few years, not only did you not address any alliances but you also kept getting in trouble.
I had found Quirrell rather suspicious when I noticed him get up and follow very quickly in the direction of the 3rd floor rather than to the dungeons where he reported the troll. And when there were rumors of your defeat of Voldemort, even if no one believed he was back… I remembered that Garlic was a very strong scent that easily hid possession.
During my third year and your second, I had been adjusting to a new schedule and making sure that I was properly set before paying any attention to rumors of you, and thus didn’t get a chance to deal with the situation until Ernest himself apologized to you with Miss Grangers Petrification. I deemed it sufficient and moved on, except you mentioned a Tom Riddle who when I looked up, just so happened to attend school during the same time the Chambers had been opened and came to my own conclusions.
I had also written to my Grandfather who attended at the time and he gave me some more information on Riddle, which I can compile for you in another letter if you would like.
Moving on to your third year, I had been suspicious of Black’s breakout and was researching things, I believe you now know this, but Black is your Godfather, and he swore an oath to your parents and magic to protect you, meaning either Azkaban really broke his mind leaving him to forget he made an oath, or he wasn’t there to kill you. It also led me to look into his trial, in which I found none.
As of last year I was working on a way to get him a trial and my own OWL’s. But I heard plenty of rumors and I also witnessed one of the fights between the youngest male Weasley and yourself. I was rather distracted but also felt I should contact you this summer, and well after what happened and the rumors involving your ‘lies’ I felt the need to reassure you that I do believe you before handing over any notes.
Wondering if you wanted that Information on Tom Riddle,
Euphemia MacMillan
Well, he probably should work on Muffliato some more. But he should write back first. After all, he really wants that information on Tom.