97 A Letter From Home

Harry's Room, Oct 3rd

Harry,

I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to reply, but Sirius, your mother, and I have been bouncing back and forth from home to the Ministry and Hogwarts ever since a Muggle called the police saying she spotted someone who looked just like Peter near Inverness. While the Minister still refuses to remove the Dementors, Albus has been open to our suggestions on how to close the secret passageways into the school. Now, I know you wanted Nathan to study some of the spells you left for him, but, at the moment, I think he's trying not to think about Peter and the threat he poses. I have spoken to your uncle Remus, and he said Nathan has expressed an interest in possibly learning the Patronus Charm to drive off Dementors. Your mother and I are hoping that once he starts practicing more advanced Charms, Nathan will begin to focus more on some protective magic.

Speaking of charms, I should mention that I bumped into Filius after leaving Dumbledore's office. He was standing outside the gargoyle with four girls who looked exceptionally nervous. Remus later filled me later that they had been caught picking on an eccentric second year in Ravenclaw and Filius was not pleased to discover that they had been doing so for most of the girl's time at Hogwarts.

It would seem that since you left Hogwarts, Flitwick has taken a rather stern approach towards his own house – he has apparently taken more points away from them than Snape this year. Minerva confided to your uncle that Filius was not pleased to discover the problems you had within Ravenclaw while you were at Hogwarts, and he has begun holding his students to much higher standards inside and outside the classroom.

Also, while I didn't get a chance to speak to Filius much, he did ask me to forward his congratulations. It seems that Filius was really impressed by the article in Transfiguration Today. Perhaps you should write to your old professor, Harry. I think he'd like to hear from you, and you never know, he might give you an idea for a future final project.

I hope everything is going well for you so far this year at Durmstrang. Have you had any ideas for your final projects yet?

Write if you need anything.

Love,

Dad

Putting the letter away, Harry couldn't help but be glad his uncle Remus had taken the position as Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts. When he had first heard about the Dementors around Hogwarts, he had been shocked. His mother had written and, after yelling at him for both leaving early and missing his uncle Remus' party for being named the new Hogwarts Defense Professor, explained just why they were there, but the entire situation made Harry nervous.

The news about Professor Flitwick was interesting as well. Harry hadn't thought much about his old Head of House since he had left Hogwarts. Glancing at his Charms notebook, Harry decided that maybe a letter to Flitwick would be a good idea.