Summer Secrets

Harry tossed the letter aside. He still wasn't happy with his headmaster, but he knew he needed his help. He was pleased to see that the headmaster had no issues with either of his requests and even seemed willing to go out of his way to help out. Being given an official capacity to lead the DA would help him get much more work done especially with any new members.

Before he got too carried away with anything else, Harry decided he would write a letter to Ron.

Dear Ron,

I'm doing okay now. The Dursley's have ignored me for the most part, which is a remarkable improvement.

I heard that you've been giving Ginny a hard time about my letter to her a couple days back. I really wish you wouldn't. I wrote to Ginny because I wanted to and had something to say to her at the time. If you've got a problem with me, please don't take it out on Ginny or anybody else. Just talk to me about it. You also might want to think about leaving her alone about Dean. It's her business who she dates, not yours. I think she's quite capable of taking care of herself.

What have you been up to this summer? I've actually been studying lately for lack of anything else to do. I wish I could practice with a wand over the summer. I don't want my dueling skills to get rusty. Seems kind of foolish for the ministry to be worrying about underage magic with Voldemort running around. But at least they're finally admitting he's actually back.

I'm sorry I didn't write to you sooner, but for several days I wasn't even reading any mail, let alone writing any. Then when I finally came around there were a couple that I wanted to take care of before this one. Don't take it the wrong way. It doesn't mean anything.

Take care,

Harry

As he was signing his name, a strange owl appeared in the window holding a package. Harry cautiously took the package and looked it over. It was from the apothecary in Diagon Alley. Figuring this must be the ingredients he had asked for, Harry tore it open to make sure he had everything he needed. 'That was certainly quick,' he thought to himself as he confirmed that it indeed had everything he needed. He decided that since Hedwig was making a trip to the burrow anyway, he'd write a letter to Ginny to thank her and Mrs. Weasley.

He whipped out a piece of parchment and set to work writing the letter. When he finished, he signed his name and rolled both letters up to give to Hedwig. "You're certainly getting some exercise this summer, aren't you girl?" Harry asked his owl as he gave her both letters and told her which one went to each person.

After sending Hedwig off, Harry closed his curtains to prevent anyone from seeing into his room and began his training for the day.

.....

The afternoon found Ron and Ginny Weasley in the garden: Ron hurling gnomes out of the garden while Ginny picked berries. It was a hot summer day with the sun beating down on the two fair skinned red heads as they worked.

As Ron flung another gnome over the hedge, he noticed a white speck in the sky coming towards him. He waited as the snowy white owl flew to him and held out her leg with a letter attached. "Looks like Harry sent me a letter," Ron proclaimed loudly to his sister with a smug smile on his face.

After being relieved of her first letter, Hedwig flew over to Ginny and held out her other leg upon which was attached a second letter. "Looks like he wrote to me too," Ginny commented off-handedly. She missed the glare from her brother as she strolled over the shade of a nearby tree to sit and read her letter. Ron, meanwhile, stalked off into the house. Comfortably resting against the trunk of the tree, Ginny delved into Harry's letter.

Dear Ginny,

Thank you so much. I got the supplies from the apothecary today; it came much sooner than I had expected. Make sure you thank your mum for me as well. You're right about this not having anything to do with Snape's class, and I promise I'll tell you what I'm up to (so long as you promise to keep it a secret), but I can't say it in a letter. All I can say is that this summer I am preparing myself for what's to come, and these supplies should help me out a lot.

Hermione mentioned that my last letter to you may have caused some problems between you and Ron. If that's true I want you to know that I'm sorry. I didn't mean for Ron to get mad at you. If he was upset with anyone it should have been me, and he shouldn't have taken any of that out on you. I told him as much in the letter I sent to him, so hopefully he'll get the message and get off your case.

I also told him that your love life is none of his business. I'm not sure he'll listen to me, but I let him know that you are more than capable of taking care of yourself. How are things going with Dean anyway? To be honest I feel kind of bad because I had completely forgotten you had said you were seeing him now. But I hope all is well with you two. Dean's a decent enough bloke. He should treat you right, and if not he'll have more than an angry brother to answer to.

Thank you for what you said about the correlation to our situations in being tricked by Voldemort. I hadn't thought of it from a different perspective like that. I still can't shake the feeling that I could have avoided the whole mess had I only thought things through, but it has helped make things more bearable. I know that I am not entirely to blame in what happened, but I still feel some responsibility for it.

Believe it or not I actually have been training and studying quite a bit this summer, even a little in potions. But not all of what I'm doing is for classes. I've begun thinking about what I'm going to be doing with the DA next year. Yes, that's right, the DA will continue. I already made it official by asking for Dumbledore's permission, which he gave without hesitation. We might be changing the name though. It will be an official club, open to students 4th year and up. There will be some sort of qualification for membership, a magical contract of some sort to discourage certain unfavorables from joining up. I haven't mentioned any of this to anyone else yet, so I'd appreciate it if you kept your lips sealed on the subject for the time being. I'd like to keep a few tricks up my sleeve.

Well, I hope your summer is going well. Keep busy, stay safe, and write again soon.

Take care,

Harry

Ginny folded up the letter and tucked it into the pocket of her shorts. 'What did he mean he hasn't told anyone else yet? Surely he told Ron and Hermione about the DA, right? Maybe he just didn't want me telling Dean or any other friends of mine to keep it from spreading to everyone at Hogwarts,' Ginny thought to herself as she strolled into the house. She noticed Hedwig perched in the kitchen and asked "Hedwig, do you mind waiting a bit to take a reply back to Harry?"

....

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