A Letter 2 Years Late

Chapter 27 - Let's Go On a World Tour!

"Told you so," Rose said proudly, grabbing the three torn pages from the box on my lap.

"What do they say?" I asked, sliding beside Rose to read over her shoulder. The first page seemed to be a record of towns. The second was a faded map with several x's. Lastly, there was a letter. I quickly grabbed that page from Rose's hand and began to read out loud:

Dear children,

Hopefully when you read this you two would already have found each other. I'm sorry it had to be that way. As I'm writing this, your father and I are packing to leave for Canada. But when you read it we will be long gone. Heck, you'll probably heard so much bad stuff about us that you hate us. The map on the last page of the journal is our secret places, if you ever decide that you really want to see us. If things go worse then they already are, then one of those spots is where we're headed. No one knows about those places so please don't say anything about it. One of them is bound to be safe enough. The other page is just me recording places we've visited while on the run. Most likely we won't go to the same place twice but who knows right? I hope you two are well.

Mom

There was complete silence after I finished reading, as all four of us tried to process what I just recited. I also re-read the entire letter and frowned.

"I'm confused. Didn't your mum write a letter saying not to go looking for them?" Karen asked with a tilt of her head. I grabbed the journal and took out that letter and nodded as I scanned it again. Rose took the journal and two letters from my hand and cleared a spot on the floor.

"Okay, so, seeing as neither letter was dated, we're gonna have to figure this out on our own. I think she wrote this letter," Rose waved the recently found letter in my face, "Then later wrote the other,"

She placed the newest letter on the left and the other letter on the right. Then she placed the journal in between. There was a moment of silence before Rose switched the journal and the new letter.

"So she wrote the journal, talked about her life, blah, blah, blah. She gets to end of the journal and decides to confide in you and your brother of where you might find them in the future. So when and why did she decide that she didn't want you to know?"

"Did she even rip those pages?" Kaitlin asked.

"Probably," Rose replied with a shrug. But I shook my head.

"If she tore them, why would she put them in the box? Why not completely destroy the evidence. The box could have landed in anyone's hand, even the ministry, that would be too risky,"

"Then what are you suggesting?" Karen questioned curiously.

"Someone else tore the pages out and placed them in the box. Someone who had the journal after my mom but before me and I highly doubt Professor McGonagall was the one who did it. She doesn't even know about the box,"

"Mr Filch is the only one that knows about the box and is connected to your parents somehow but the journal... when did he even see it?" Rose replied.

I sighed in frustration. Looking back the box, I wondered if maybe there was more clues. I picked it up and checked the new little compartment we found. There seemed to be something wedged at the back of it. I turned it sideways on Rose's bed and gave the box a few taps. Out slipped another piece of parchment.

"Forget the ministry, we could work for muggle detective forces," Karen joked, flipping her hair dramatically. I rolled my eyes and unfolded the piece of paper.

Darren Filch,

Please rip out the last three pages of my journal before giving it to Minerva. I have changed my mind about it. Also, add the letter I have sent with this one into the journal. Hide, rip, destroy, do what you please but get ride of the three pages. I cannot allow my children to see it.