Into The Light (Golden Trio Era) {2}

Percy's Letter

"Ron-" "I haven't got time to listen to a sermon, all right, Hermione, I'm up to my neck in it here" "No- look!" Hermione was pointing to the nearest window. Harry, Ron, and Mikayla looked over. A handsome screech owl was standing on the windowsill, gazing into the room at Ron. "Isn't that Hermes?" Mikayla asked, amazed. "Blimey, it is!" Ron said quietly, throwing down his quill and getting to his feet. "What's Percy writing to me for?" He crossed to the window and opened it; Hermes flew inside, landed upon Ron's essay, and held out a leg to which a letter was attached. Ron took it off and the owl departed at once, leaving inky footprints across Ron's drawing of the moon Io. "That's definitely Percy's handwriting," Ron said, sinking back into his chair and staring at the words on the outside of the scroll: To Ronald Weasley, Gryffindor House, Hogwarts. He looked up at Harry, Hermione, and Mikayla. "What d'you reckon?" "Open it!" Hermione said eagerly. Harry and Mikayla nodded in agreement. Ron unrolled the scroll and began to read. The farther down the parchment his eyes traveled, the more pronounced became his scowl. When he had finished reading, he looked disgusted. He thrust the letter at Harry, Hermione, and Mikayla; they leaned toward one another to read it together:

Dear Ron,
I have only just heard (from no less a person than the Minister of Magic himself, who has it from your new teacher, Professor Umbridge) that you have become a Hogwarts prefect.

I was most pleasantly surprised when I heard this news and must firstly offer my congratulations. I must admit that I have always been afraid that you would take what we might call the "Fred and George" route, rather than following in my footsteps, so you can imagine my feelings on hearing you have stopped flouting authority and have decided to shoulder some real responsibility.

But I want to give you more than congratulations, Ron, I want to give you some advice, which is why I am sending this at night rather than by the usual morning post. Hopefully you will be able to read this away from prying eyes and avoid awkward questions.

From something the Minister let slip when telling me you are now a prefect, I gather that you are still seeing a lot of Harry Potter and Mikayla Black. I must tell you, Ron, that nothing could put you in danger of losing your badge more than continued fraternisation with those two. Yes, I am sure you are surprised to hear this—no doubt you will say that Potter has always been Dumbledore's favourite—but I feel bound to tell you that Dumbledore may not be in charge at Hogwarts much longer and the people who count have a very different—and probably more accurate—view of both of their—mainly Potter's—behaviour. I shall say no more here, but if you look at the Daily Prophet tomorrow you will get a good idea of the way the wind is blowing— and see if you can spot yours truly!

Seriously, Ron, you do not want to be tarred with the same brush as Potter and Black, it could be very damaging to your future prospects, and I am talking here about life after school too. As you must be aware, given that our father escorted him to court, Potter had a disciplinary hearing this summer in front of the whole Wizengamot and he did not come out of it looking too good. He got off on a mere technicality if you ask me and many of the people I've spoken to remain convinced of his guilt.

It may be that you are afraid to sever ties with Potter—I know that he can be unbalanced and, for all I know, violent—but if you have any worries about this, or have spotted anything else in Potter's—or Black's—behaviour that is troubling you, I urge you to speak to Dolores Umbridge, a really delightful woman, who I know will be only too happy to advise you.

This leads me to my other bit of advice. As I have hinted above, Dumbledore's regime at Hogwarts may soon be over. Your loyalty, Ron, should be not to him, but to the school and the Ministry. I am very sorry to hear that so far Professor Umbridge is encountering very little cooperation from staff as she strives to make those necessary changes within Hogwarts that the Ministry so ardently desires (although she should find this easier from next week—again, see the Prophet tomorrow!). I shall say only this—a student who shows himself willing to help Professor Umbridge now may be very well placed for Head Boyship in a couple of years!

I am sorry that I was unable to see more of you over the summer. It pains me to criticise our parents, but I am afraid I can no longer live under their roof while they remain mixed up with the dangerous crowd around Dumbledore (if you are writing to Mother at any point, you might tell her that a certain Sturgis Podmore, who is a great friend of Dumbledore's, has recently been sent to Azkaban for trespass at the Ministry. Perhaps that will open their eyes to the kind of petty criminals with whom they are currently rubbing shoulders). I count myself very lucky to have escaped the stigma of association with such people—the Minister really could not be more gracious to me—and I do hope, Ron, that you will not allow family ties to blind you to the misguided nature of our parents' beliefs and actions either. I sincerely hope that, in time, they will realise how mistaken they were and I shall, of course, be ready to accept a full apology when that day comes.

Please think over what I have said most carefully, particularly the bit about Harry Potter and Mikayla Black, and congratulations again on becoming prefect.
Your brother, Percy

Mikayla scoffed, disgusted by Percy's words as Harry looked up at Ron. "Well," He said, his voice choked only a little bit, as though he was trying to make it a joke but was failing. "If you want to, er, what is it-" He checked Percy's letter. "Oh yeah, 'sever ties' with me, I swear I won't get violent." "Give it back." Ron held out his hand to the letter. "He is-" Ron said jerkily, tearing the letter in half. "The world's-" He tore it into quarters. "-biggest-" He tore it into eighths. "-git." He threw the pieces into the fire. Harry and Hermione looked at him in shock. "Come on, we've got to get this finished some time before dawn." He said briskly to Harry, pulling Professor Sinistra's essay back toward him. Hermione gave Ron an odd look. "Oh, give it here," she said abruptly. "What?" Ron asked. "Give yours to me, I'll look through it and correct it," she said. "Kayla, you do Harry's, it'll make it quicker." "Are you serious? Ah, Hermione, you're a lifesaver," Ron grinned, "what can I-" "What you can say is, 'We promise we'll never leave our homework this late again,'" she said, holding out both hands for Ron's essay, but she looked slightly amused all the same. Mikayla took Harry's essay from him and started to look through it. "Thanks, M." Harry said weakly as he sank into his chair and rubbed at his eyes.

It was now past midnight and the common room was deserted but for the four of them and Crookshanks. The only sound was that of Mikayla and Hermione's quills scratching out sentences here and there on Ron and Harry's essays and the ruffle of pages as they checked various facts in the reference books strewn across the table. As Mikayla looked through Harry's essay, an odd, sick feeling started in her stomach. It had nothing to do with the fact that she was dead tired and more to do with the letter that was now burning to ash in the fireplace. Mikayla knew that half the people inside Hogwarts thought that she and Harry were liars, but there was something in Percy's letter that made her sick. He was telling Ron -her best friend for years- to drop her and to tell Umbridge about her and Harry. How could he now think Mikayla was lying? And that Harry was unbalanced and possibly violent? With a surge of sympathy for her father, Mikayla thought that he was probably the only person- besides Harry- who really understood how she felt right now. Sirius was in the same situation, nearly everyone in the Wizarding world thought he was a dangerous murderer and a great Voldemort supports and he had to live with that knowledge for fourteen years... "Okay, write that down." Hermione said to Ron, pushing his essay and a sheet covered in her own writing back to him. "And then copy out this conclusion that I've written for you."  "Hermione, you are honestly the most wonderful person I've ever met." Ron said weakly. "And if I'm ever rude to you again-"  "-I'll know you're back to normal." Hermione finished.  Mikayla laughed softly and turned to Harry, who was staring at the fire intently. "Yours is okay except for this bit at the end." Mikayla told him. "I think you mixed up the words 'ice' and 'mice'." Harry didn't respond. "Harry?"