The Lightning Letters

THE LIGHTNING LETTERS 3.

"Irie! Why didn't you tell me that you were all famous?" cried Will the next morning, bursting into her room brandishing a copy of the morning paper.

"Mmph," said Iris, pulling a pillow over her head.

"Get up darling, and look! You're on the front page! They obviously don't have enough to write about at the moment..."

Will's words finally filtered through to Iris and she quickly sat up, grabbing the paper. She took in the headline:

"RARE PHOTOGRAPH OF HARRY POTTER DISCOVERED!"

Sure enough, littered through the story was a picture of her, one of Royal Deayton and the actual picture in question. Iris read on:

'An important new historical artefact was discovered yesterday in the Hogarth Museum archives. Royal Deayton, a Department of Ancient Artefacts employee, made the find.

The photograph has been confirmed as showing several famous individuals from the Dark Age. Ron and Hermione Weasley, as well as two other Phoenix Members William and Charles Weasley can clearly be seen. But perhaps what is the most significant of all is the discovery that Harry Potter is also present in the photograph.

This fact was not realised until Iris Henderson, famous historian and writer, spotted Potter, who seems

unusually reluctant to appear in the photograph. Miss Henderson happened to be at work in the archive when the discovery was made.

Michael Thomas, Head of the Department of Ancient Artefacts said yesterday: "This is a very important discovery. This photograph shows a very young Harry Potter, when he was no more than 18 years old. It is the oldest photograph of Harry Potter ever to be discovered."

The author wonders what other priceless gems of history are waiting to be discovered in the archives, and how many have been mislaid through carelessness and neglect.'

*

"Oh no," said poor Iris, putting down the paper. "The goblins won't like that last line at all. AND my name's in it. They'll hate me forever now..."

"Oh, you just happened to be there?" said Will. "How very lucky. Who's this Royal bloke? Absolutely appalling name, but rather nice to look at- Iris! I do believe you're blushing! Methinks that lickle Iris has a boyfriend!"

"He's not my bloody boyfriend!" Iris growled. "He's too... bouncy. I just had some tea with him, alright?"

"TEA? You took an hour's time out of your oh-so-busy schedule for tea with Royal Deayton? It must be lurve! When's the wedding?"

"Shut up, Will! At least I haven't got a crush on a bloke who's been dead for centuries!"

"Never mind that!" Will said, quickly changing the subject. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to be in the paper?"

"Because I didn't know," said Iris ruefully. "And I did tell you about the photograph last night. You were just drunk and so you don't remember!"

"I was NOT!"

***

After Will had (finally) forgiven her over the whole 'drunk' accusation, Iris was able to tell him her latest clues in the quest to solve the Lightning Letters mystery.

"So I thoroughly examined the parchment," she said. "I also ran a few magical tests when the goblins weren't looking. It turns out the parchment is very thick, of a high quality, and extremely expensive-"

"And just what exactly does that tell us?" interrupted Will.

"That the writer of the letters was obviously very rich!" Iris snapped. "If she was able to afford such costly writing paper in a war, it's pretty certain that she had private funds. Funds that didn't just come from a job, or from the Order. She was independently wealthy."

"That rules out Hermione Granger and Virginia Weasley," said Will, looking interested.

"Precisely," Iris said triumphantly. "I also ran some tests on the actual ink. Although it's faded now, we know that it was bright green- emerald green. The author even says so. She wrote that it matched Harry's eyes."

"Blurgh! I think I'm going to be sick," said Will, pulling a face.

"It's very romantic!" Iris answered hotly. "Anyway, the ink also contained minute traces of Floo powder."

"What- that old stuff they used to use to get around?"

"Yes. It was in the ink on letter 32. And since the letter mentions that the author is at home at that time-"

"-It's almost certain that the author came from a magical, not a Muggle background," finished Will.

"See! I knew you would make a great detective if only you tried!"

"So, to summarise, we're looking for an independently rich girl from a magical background who was afraid of being caught with Potter," finished Will.

"With her own estate," added Iris.

Will clapped a hand to his forehead. "Where did you get that idea from?" he groaned.

"From history!" said Iris. "Honestly Will, you don't know anything. Letter 32 was written in 2010, yes?"

"If you say so," said Will rather grumpily.

"And what happened in 2010? Come on, cast your mind back to Rosemount, Will."

Will scrunched up his face. It looked as if he was in pain. "There was...some sort of a fight?" he said eventually.

Iris rolled her eyes. "Not just a 'fight,' Will, and not just any battle! It was the Tottham Massacre!!"

"Er..."

"It was one of the Dark Side's greatest victories! They completely crippled the Light, they killed about a THOUSAND witches and wizards! Anyone who supported the Light Side had to leave their homes and move to safe houses! Unless, of course, you owned a magical estate with wards and charms on it that had been set for centuries. Then the Death Eaters wouldn't have been able to get in."

"But Irie- we don't know when in 2010 the letter was written, do we? It could have been before the Massacre."

"But in the letter the author talks about 'the tragedy that passed.' I'm sure that's referring to Tottham."

"There is another explanation, Iris," Will said rather slyly. "Are you sure that this girl was on the Light Side? Sure she wasn't a Death Eater?"

"Oh, don't be so bloody ridiculous, Will," Iris snapped. "Do you think that Harry Potter would be involved with a Death Eater?!"

"Fine, fine," Will grumbled. "So we're looking for a rich girl with her own estate from a magical background. Hey- sounds quite a catch, doesn't she? If she had her own estate, she was probably a 'pure-blood,' as they called them in those days..."

"See!" Iris said happily. "We're halfway there already. Just how hard can it be?"

***

The answer was: very hard indeed.

The records of the time were, as Royal had described them, patchy. Hardly any information on the Phoenix Order's members had been written down in case it fell into enemy hands. The Patil twins, whilst pure-bloods and quite wealthy, did not have their own estate. Neither did Susan Bones. There were several other possible candidates; but they all turned out to be red herrings. For several weeks, Iris was almost positive that the author was Magdalene Fairhurst, until she found her name listed as dead in a document of 2012. All the research had taken three, solid months, and she had no answers. Things seemed hopeless.

She was re-reading the seventh letter again. Looking for any more clues, anything that might get her out of the rut she was in. This was the letter that revealed that the green ink had been specifically chosen- the part that Will had found so sickening. She read the line; its curious, slanted and faintly aristocratic hand:

'It is both of us, love.'

What, thought Iris, did this mean? That they both had green eyes? That they both...they both what? They both had green? What could the author mean by that?

Her tired, itching eyes landed on 'The Boy-Who-Lived's Schooldays,' one of the many books strewn across the table. It was lying carelessly open on the first page: the one that showed the ancient Hogwarts crest. The shield. The bright green of a quarter of it.

Iris stared at the shield for several seconds. Then she froze, trying to remember something, in a far, distant part of her brain. Suddenly she scrabbled for her copy of the letters, turning the pages of the worn book to the twentieth letter. There she read:

'We always seem as if we are fighting, when I first glance at it. You are snarling, I am sticking out my tongue at you. But if look closer, you see that I am smiling, and you don't look so very fierce after all. In fact, you are leaving your original, designated place, and are coming ever closer, more over to me. It's all hidden in plain sight. Just like us, of course.'

Iris stared. She- everyone- had always assumed that the paragraph was talking about a now-destroyed photograph of the two together. But could it be- more than that? In plain sight- what was in plainer sight than the school crest of Hogwarts? Harry- Harry was the lion in this- a member of Gryffindor house, and perhaps even a relative of Gryffindor himself. And the author- sticking out her tongue- the snake, the symbol of Slytherin house. It was green. So were Harry's eyes. It was both of them, then...

So, a Slytherin? And, like the shield, hiding in plain sight?

***