Chapter - 59 : Glitterent

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Dear Anonymous 'Pretentious Twit' Samaritan,

Merlin, what a mouthful.

Yes, I do have a nickname. That is, I have many, but there is one that I actually like. A few months after meeting my best friends I dubbed them the 'Brawn' and 'Brains' of our trio. Sticking with the letter B it took them seconds to come up with one for me. Feel free to call me Boss as well. I don't mind, I promise.

About Dobby, I have to say I'm happy he's standing up for himself. Don't ever let him name anything, though. Currently he is calling me 'Great Miss Iris 'Boss' Potter, ma'am.' I'm trying to change his mind but I'm not having much luck.

Which brings me to your secrets. I'm sorry but I can't promise to keep them. We're at war and though I'm not much for responsibility, I like to think I'm not foolish either. Dumbledore keeping secrets from me resulted in bad things happening. I don't want to explore if the same holds in reverse.

Your letters and help really haven't been about the war though. Somehow you, a complete stranger, are the only one to treat me like a person, regardless of my past and future titles. I really appreciate that. Can we keep writing but just not mention anything sensitive? I want to know more about you. Maybe get a chance to do something back.

Not completely unrelated, I am bored out of my skull. After eagerly anticipating being released from this hellhole it came as a rather large disappointment that my escape was postponed. The great Chief mucketymuck himself came to visit and I was all ready to celebrate but he just needed me for some stupid errand and dumped me back in prison once again. I still don't know how long my sentence is for this summer. Have you got any advice on things for me to do?

Cheers,

Iris

Harry read the letter with mixed feelings. In truth, it was not everything he had hoped for. His pseudo-sister had not chosen to trust him out of the blue, to take a leap of faith and allow him to confide in her. On the other hand, he had no doubt he'd made a friend.

It made him smile, because despite having nearly identical pasts they were clearly different people. Her decision to not keep secrets from Dumbledore was one he didn't think he would have made at her age. He had, in fact, counted on her not doing so. And yet, her argument was a sound one and that she could see past the Headmaster's mistakes, directly to the heart of the matter and learn such a lesson from it despite how much it had cost her was very impressive.

He sat back and nodded decisively. Their correspondence meant a lot to both of them. He wasn't willing to jeopardise that by pushing for more trust than she was willing to extend right now.

No, he would write her and tell her about himself, in a roundabout way. Be honest yet anonymous. He could push boundaries when they met face to face come September.

"I didn't think it was possible to fail so badly at this," Cassandra said in surprise.

Harry shot a flat look at the woman who was peering down at him from under raised eyebrows from her portrait in his living room.

"I mean it. Tarot reading is an imprecise art, but that draw was supposed to represent your past which cannot change. There is only one single card impossible to draw in a personal reading and you manage to do so. Well done."

She mock clapped and Harry rolled his eyes as he looked down at his desk and the single turned over tarot card from which a hooded figure stared at him, giant scythe in hand.

Death.

A most perplexing representation of anyone's personal past. Truly, it should have been impossible to draw. And it would have been if he weren't Harry Potter and hadn't been playing loose with Death's rules literally since he was a baby.

With a sigh he ignored Cassandra's cackling and drew a second card, this one representing the present.

A devious looking man was pictured picking up swords in an arena with a dark smile. The Five of Swords.

"You'll be glad to know that one isn't impossible," Cassandra remarked with a smug smile. "Do you know what it means?"

"Selfishness," Harry said absently, deep in thought as to why he'd drawn that one. He'd been called many things in his life, but selfish was definitely never one of them. It was a little insulting, actually.

"It's not that surprising, I'd say," Cassandra remarked. "Didn't you take the job without having a clue about what to teach?"

"First of all, I hardly had a choice. And since then I've been studying like never before to be a good teacher. My selfishness – if it was that – was in the past, not the present."

The more he thought on it the more perplexed he was. Weren't hundreds of lives saved through his actions? Hadn't he tried to do the right thing at every turn? Iris may have given him a demeaning nickname, but she agreed to call him Samaritan nonetheless. That hardly fitted with what he was seeing right now.

"Well, with Death as your past I'm not surprised your present draw is strange as well." She blinked. "Speaking of strange, how come you knew what the Five of Swords symbolised? I thought you didn't know anything about Divining?"

Harry shrugged. "There was only one way I was ever going to pass the OWL so I studied theory like a crazy person. It was boring to learn all those symbols but at least I passed."

She shook her head and muttered something about wasted talent and wasted descendants but Harry ignored her as he drew his final card.

Bewildered he stared at a naked man and woman being blessed by an angel. The Lovers.

"Ah. The teenage boy's favourite," Cassandra said dryly. "Strange how in every deck of cards the one with naked people is always obviously handled more often than the others."

"I... But," Harry spluttered and jerked his eyes away from the card, cheeks flushing. "How can I draw this? I don't even know anyone here!"

Cassandra arched an eyebrow even as her eyes glittered in amusement. "Well clearly you're getting to know someone. Intimately."

"Right," Harry choked out. Merlin, he hadn't been this embarrassed since Amanda had set her sights on him and tried to make his brain explode with all the images she conjured.

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If you're eager to delve deeper into the story, consider joining my Patreon for exclusive content and early access to new chapters

50+Advanced Chapters there.

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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