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—» 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬, 𝐤'𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 »

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He couldn't believe it. He caught the snitch. Nearly swallowed it too, but it didn't change the fact that he did catch it — much to Slytherin's disappointment. One hundred and seventy to sixty. They won the match. He won the match. Not 'The Boy Who Lived', not Harry Potter. Just Harry. The Harry he had been over the summer.

He lay awake on his bed. So much happened in the past twelve hours. He won his first Quidditch match, had tea with Hagrid, found out that the massive three-headed dog on the third floor was Hagrid's pet and was named Fluffy of all things, that there was a connection between whatever Fluffy was guarding and someone named Nicholas Flamel, and he got a letter from Yasi —

He got a letter from Yasi.

Shooting up from his bed, he scrambled to his discarded school uniform that he wore that morning, rifling through the pockets until he came up with the bedazzled letter with its curly k's and swooping h's. He hurried over to the desk beside the window where he had tried writing a letter to her that same morning, sweeping away the book Hermione borrowed to search for Nicholas Flamel. He tore the seal open — a pastel green foam sticker of an apple — and pulled out the folded sheet of paper inside. It felt weird in his hands after almost three months of using parchment paper.

His fingers slid underneath the folded half, and he hesitated. Should he rush opening the letter like this? What if she was writing to him to say that she didn't want to be friends anymore? He shook his head, squeezed his eyes shut, and he opened the letter. The longer he delayed looking at it, the more time had to prepare himself for what she had to say.

When his curiosity won over his nerves, he cracked open his eyes a smidge, enough so that he could peep at the letter behind his lashes.

Harry Potter,

Tito Rico and Tito Alan have always told me that manners maketh man (whatever that means), so this is me trying to use proper manners. Hello, how are you? Is the weather alright in Scotland? I've heard from Tito Rico that it's always cold and damp there, and it's always raining. Even more than London, can you believe that? I suppose you can since you are living there for the rest of the school year.

It was cold, and it was damp. Even more than London. She would have loved it at Hogwarts, especially with all the fog and the grand castle. He bit his lip and carried on reading.

Now that I have been polite, I can say what I want to say — Harry was sure that wasn't how people wrote letters, but it made him laugh. — and that means you better not stop reading until I finish or I won't speak to you for another year.

What is up with you not writing letters? You said you would, and then you didn't. The first week in Stonewall was hell without you, and I would have liked if you were there so that I could copy your answers.

He frowned, thinking about the grey high school he almost went to, remembering the little plays that he ran in his head of another reality where he was just a normal kid and going to Stonewall with Yasi. Although, in his mind, he always thought he would be the one copying answers from her.

Also, she said hell now? Did she pick that up in school? Should he start saying hell?

I met a new friend, I met her in homeroom. Her name is Mei. She says it's supposed to be spelt like that. Our homeroom teacher always writes it as May, but I don't care how our teacher writes it. She always says my name wrong too. It's Hy-YA-cinth, not Hy-yuh-cinth. She also doesn't like my pronunciations of words when it's my turn to read in class. We're reading Merchant in Venice, and I apparently butchered everything when I read it out loud. I thought I sounded fine, it was how I always read it. All my other teachers are really nice though, it's just my homeroom teacher.

His mind went to a certain greasy-haired, bat-robed, dungeon-dwelling professor, and he shuddered. If there was one teacher he hated, it would be Hogwart's Potions master. And it was a mutual relationship.

Mei says that you aren't replying to me because you made a lot of new cool friends and that you're probably really, but I think she's just saying that because her friends from her old school in Norwich haven't gotten back to her yet either. Help me prove her wrong?

Tito Rico said that boys weren't worth it and they are idiots, but Tito Rico says that a lot when I talk about you. He also said — the rest of the line and the next one over was unintelligible, scrawled out of comprehension — a bunch of stuff that Tito Alan said I shouldn't use. He also said I shouldn't write hell and that it was blasphemy. So, I won't be saying hell anymore. He says I should tell you not to say hell too and that we wouldn't get into heaven if we said hell.

He laughed. She said it like that on purpose so that she could say 'hell'. But do wizards have a hell? Ron said it all the time, but he didn't know if that was because he believed in it, or if it was because he wanted to swear.

Tito Alan said that you were just busy with school and that you probably couldn't find a way to get a letter from there to here, so I thought of writing a letter to you first. You know, since you probably couldn't tell that so much time has passed. Remind me that I need to get you a watch. Probably a map of your school too, no doubt you've already lost your way at least twice in that fancy boarding school of yours.

Is it a castle? Mei said that all the old fancy colleges and schools were always castles or big manors. She should know because her father is a college professor who works in Norwich. Mei and her mom moved to Little Whinging over the summer with her mom's new husband. She said that she doesn't like her new stepdad either, and I told her I lived with my two uncles. She asked if they were brothers or if they were related, and I said they weren't. She then asked why they were living together, and I said it was because they were partners. She frowned at it, but she didn't ask any more questions, only saying that it was "weird". Do you think it's weird?

I've gone off track. This was supposed to be me getting mad at you. I am super mad at YOU. You said you were going to write a letter, but you DIDN'T. I hope this letter gives you a big smack on the head and you better give me a reply, ok? If I have to wait until the snow melts to get your reply, I'm going to stow away on the next flight to Scotland and track you down. And I WILL DO IT.

Anyways, how is that boarding school of yours? Is it boring like Stonewall? Or is it super interesting? Do you have nice teachers? I bet you have a really mean teacher. Serves you right for going so far away just to go to school.

I have to go now, I have a lot of math homework to do. Write back to me, OR ELSE!!

Your friend stuck in Little Whinging,

H.A.D.

Harry didn't realise it was the end of the letter when he got to it. H.A.D.? The H and D stood for Hyacinth Dimalanta, which he knew, but he didn't know what the A stood for. Angela? Alex? Anna? Amelia? That was all the girl names he knew started with A, and all of them didn't fit with her name. He couldn't imagine her full name being Hyacinth Amelia Dimalanta, it just didn't make sense.

The moon rose over the murky forest, shining a soft light across his face, and he grinned at the letter, taking up a quill over on the other end of the table and a sheet of parchment. Words started to flow as he wrote his reply. He wouldn't want to make her even madder.

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⇢ ˗ˏˋ KATH SPEAKS ! ࿐ྂ - Hi, this is my first author's note since starting this book, and I wanted to say hi to everyone!

Before you start reading the author's note, please fill in this checklist!!!

have you...
☐ drank water in the past thirty minutes
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If you haven't, I recommend you do that now! take care of yourselves, mwah <3

Now back to our regular, scheduled programming.

Sorry for the inconsistent updates, school life has been hectic. Although, I did get over 90% on my AP science exam, so that's awesome. I have an in-class English analytical essay assessment tomorrow, wish me luck.

This is actually the last of my pre-written chapters, so I'll try and write some more this week. How do you like the new cover by the way?

Speaking of this week, my birthday is this Saturday! Super excited, and it's also the official start of the term break, so that's double the fun.

QOTW: What's your favourite time of the day?

How are you finding the book? Please leave your thoughts in the comments, even a simple keyboard smash will do hehe. Vote, share, and add this book to your libraries, please. Also, feel free to drop a message on my profile or in my DMs if you want to have a chat about the book or life in general.

Have a great day people :)))))