chapter 57

Luna is such a gentle soul, Professor; she could not find it in her heart to complain about her treatment," replied Harry. "I take it she told you it was something like Nargles or Wrackspurts responsible?"

"That she did, Mister Potter," said the Professor. "I have also come to understand she uses those... mythical creatures... to mask her pain."

"Yes, Sir," said Harry. "Those creatures are her way of bonding with her father since the passing of her mother. It's something she and her father can share, as if it's all some big secret. However, if she was properly tested, I believe you'll discover she naturally sees magical auras. That's why she often seems so spaced out. She's looking at things very few other people can see. And, even then, they can only see when they activate their mage sight.

"What she sees and calls Nargles, Wrackspurts and the like; I believe is something to do with her natural mage sight. Just saying, Sir."

The little Professor stared up at Harry with a slight frown on his face before he gave a small nod and said, "Thank you, Mister Potter. I believe that's also something I'll investigate further."

The three teens and the little Professor finally headed back to the Headmaster's office.

When they entered, the Headmaster said, "Welcome back. I was just about to send for you, Mister Potter. I take it we are all heading for the storeroom?"

"You take it correctly, Sir," replied Harry. Harry was surprised the old man didn't try and dismiss anyone again. It was a pleasant surprise.

The Headmaster led their little party up to the seventh floor and into a tower that Harry thought was currently unused. Just inside the Headmaster stepped to the left, drew an old key from his robes, and unlocked a heavy wooden door. The hinges squeaked as he swung the door, inwards.

After the old man stepped within, Harry followed. He was just in time to hear the Headmaster mutter in surprise, "Oh, dear."

Harry stepped right in to clear the doorway for the rest of their party to follow. Inside, the room was filled with shelving. Opposite the door was a window with a surmounting owl window.

The shelves were literally covered in mail. There were large and small envelopes; large and small packages.

"Bloody Hell!" muttered Harry, looking around. "That's a lot of mail."

The Headmaster moved over to the shelf on the far left and said, "If the charms I placed on the room worked properly... Ah, yes."

Turning back to Harry, he said, "The mail arrives via owl on that centre table with the owl perch on it." He pointed at the table. "From there, the owl is automatically relieved of its burden and allowed, even encouraged, to depart immediately afterwards."

Professor Flitwick moved to the table and began to make intricate gestures with his wand, frowning and grinning at odd times.

"Once the mail is released," the Headmaster continued. "The magic in the room, driven by runes, then sorts the mail according to quite simple commands.

"It is all sorted in chronological order, starting with this shelf over here." And indicated the first shelf he'd approached. "Letters, cards and the like go on the upper shelves; while packages go on the lower shelves." He pointed out each.

Turning back to Harry, he said, "When I first set up this room, I expected it to be about ten times more than I would ever need. However, now looking around, it appears I almost didn't plan for enough. There is, almost literally I'm afraid, about ten times more mail than I originally anticipated.

"I had expected that the 'fame' of the so-called Boy-Who-Lived would wane within a few years. However, that does not seem to be the case." He moved to the opposite side of the room and began to look at various items of mail. "If anything, it appears your fame has increased with time; especially, over the course of the last three plus years."

"It's a lot of mail," said Hermione, quite awed by what she was seeing.

"Indeed," said Professor Flitwick.

"Where do we even start?" asked Daphne, also awed by what she was seeing.

"One letter at a time, right from the beginning," said Harry. "The walk of a thousand miles begins with a simple, small step; and is merely repeated over and over again."

"Yes," said Professor Flitwick, pleased with what Harry said. "But I believe magic can help a lot with this massive task."

"And house elves," said Daphne.

"We need a plan to deal with this," said Hermione, clearly thinking furiously. "We need a system."

Harry grinned back at her, knowing this sort of thing was what she enjoyed doing. He prompted, "We'll need to create form letters. Then use dicta-quills to copy them over and over; for as many as needed. Different form letters based on the intended audience, the original; and on what it is they sent."

Hermione nodded and said, "Lots of parchment. Lots of parchment. And ink." She began to nibble on her bottom lip and continued, "We'll have to hire a lot of owls, too. The school owls are for all the students. And, it'll be unfair to deprive the rest of the students of them. Owl post would also be swamped and unable to handle the load, depending on how fast we worked through it all."

As she talked, Harry looked at Daphne and grinned. She smirked back.

"We'll need a bigger room," Hermione continued. "We'll need to move all this to something like a large unused classroom, shelves and all. Then, set aside part of the room as the work area. It'll also need to have a large owl window for outgoing flights and returning owls. Plenty of roost spaces, too; near the window."

"It can be a project for our house elves to handle in their spare time," said Daphne.

Hermione glared at her for a moment before her expression softened. "So long as they promise not to work too hard at it, I can live with that."

Seeing the odd expression on the Headmaster's face at what Hermione said, Harry told him, "Hermione is very concerned about the way house elves are treated, their health and welfare."

"An admirable quality," the Headmaster replied, giving a small bow to Hermione. He then handed the key to Harry and said, "I shall have the redirection ward removed within the next couple of days. And, don't worry, your aunt and uncle will never know I was there."

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