Written Mystery

The First Letter

Harry opened the sparkly red envelope with his name on it and found a poem. He read it out loud,

" Every night, the stars leave a trail of luminous light,

The sparkles and shine brightens your exquisite face,

Find me before the sixth day of the night,

Before your loved ones go out of trace."

He stopped reading and turned to face his friends. His face bore an expression of amazement and fear.

"Who sent me this? Is this person serious?"

Hermione and Ron just stood there with heavy frowns on their faces.

"Harry, if we had known who wrote you that letter, we wouldn't be this worried. Now with Voldemort out and the Triwizard incident, you have to take this seriously. You must report to Dumbledore quick." Hermione said seriously.

But Ron intervened, " Dumbledore? Oh come on 'Mione, this letter could have been written by one of Harry's fans. I mean, didn't he just get like, three dozens of fan letters delivered to him last week? But then again, the last line bothers me a lot. "Before your loved ones go out of trace?" Is this another Triwizard task?"

Hermione glared.

"Oh you dimwit. The Triwizard Championship ended a long time ago. By the way, all of Harry's fan letters are delivered by Hedwig. This particular one was found in his bag!"

"Well yeah..but.."

Hermione and Ron started to bicker loudly.

Harry sighed. Why do his friends always have to squabble at times like this? He started walking away.

Ron and Hermione stopped their fight and looked at Harry.

"Harry! Are you going to Dumbledore's office?"

Harry shrugged.

"Maybe later. I'm off to the Gryffindor's common room to rest."

Hermione let out a frustrated snort. Ron grinned widely and ran to catch up with Harry.

Harry's room was illuminated with a silvery white radiance. A bright figure stood beside Harry's bed and the white light woke him up. He quickly put on his spectacles and squinted.

"Who...who...are you?"

The white figure smiled. A small hand stroked his face and as Harry squinted harder, he could make out a very beautiful face, framed by long, straight, silvery hair.

Oh, Harry thought, it's a she. He felt faint and was intoxicated by the sight of the beautiful girl. The girl looked familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Harry, I love you...Please don't tell anyone about that letter. I wrote it. I love you Harry, Harry, promise me please. Don't tell anyone."

The girl bent down and kissed Harry on his cheek.

Harry was just going to repeat his last question when he woke up with a start.

Ron was looking at him with a big grin on his face.

"Now, now. With that silly smile on your face, someone had a great dream last night. Care to tell me about it?"

Harry grinned back. He told Ron about the dream. Ron goggled.

"Wow. I wish I had a dream like that. I mean, just imagine if Fleur Delacour...." Ron wasn't able to finish his sentence because Neville interrupted him.

"Hey Harry, Ron. Why aren't you guys dressed yet? Are you guys planning to skip Snape's class?"

Both of them looked at the watch at Harry's bedside. Ten minutes before their Potions class. Ron and Harry jumped up and ran to the bathroom.

They were just in time to Snape's class. Hermione was waiting for them in front of the dungeon.

"You were late. Thank God Snape isn't here yet. If he was, he would have deducted more marks from Gryffindor."

Ron answered back but Harry was already walking to his seat and was too far to hear his retort. The girl in his dream was still in his mind and he was trying quite hard to recall her familiar face. Who does she remind him of? As he absentmindedly walked to his desk, he bumped into Draco Malfoy, who dropped his wand.

"Why Potter, isn't four eyes good enough for you to see me? Need another four?"

His remark was greeted by much laughter from the Slytherin crowd. Draco bent down to pick up his dropped wand.

"Sorry to ruin your fantasy, Malfoy, but I'd rather be blind than see your face anytime."

Ron and Hermione plus a number of other Gryffindors laughed. Draco's face turned red and he glared at Harry. He brushed past Harry and got to his seat beside Crabbe and Doyle.

They were still chuckling as they walked to their seats.

"Weird, where's Snape? He's never been late before." Hermione pondered.

"Well, I hope he's dead or was cursed in his bed. Wait, maybe he has fled to You-Know-Who."

Harry shook his head.

"Dumbledore trusted him, Ron. So should we. No matter how slimy that old bat was, he would never go back to Voldemort. Anyway Ron, I forgot to mention this, but that girl in my dream looked kind of familiar. Like I've seen her before."

Hermione looked interested.

"What girl in your dream?"

"Harry had this dream last night where this beautiful girl confessed to him that she was the writer of the mysterious letter." Ron explained. "Oh, and she kissed him too.." He continued with a wink.

Hermione frowned.

"But that couldn't be possible...I mean..."

She stopped short when Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw prefect [and Harry's crush] entered their class. Harry sat up straight and gave a wide smile at Cho. She smiled back.

"I've brought bad news. Professor Snape isn't able to come to class as he has an important mission with Professor Dumbledore at Hogsmeade." She stopped when the students cheered. She gave a little laugh. "But that's not all. He gave you some work to do while he's not here. Do open your Potions book to page 36 and prepare the recipe to the Forgetful potion. You will have to submit it next week."

Groans were heard in the room.

Cho shrugged. "Sorry for that. Well, good luck to all of you." She walked out and on the way, winked at Harry, who turned red.

Hermione was busy writing on her parchment.

"Forgetful potion. I've read on that last month. Aah, that's easy. Abyssinian shrivelfig, essence of belladonna, black beetle eyes, scarab beetles and fluxweed. Great. Can't wait to do it."

Ron was rolling his eyes and rummaging in his bag. He got up and was waiting for Harry to pick up his bag when the room went dark.

"Hey, who put out the fire?" someone shouted.

Harry could feel warm breath on his neck.

"Ron?" he whispered. The person or thing behind him had disappeared.

Just then Hermione shouted:

"Lumos Solarum!" and the room became bright again. Students were scattered everywhere. Harry caught Draco's eye and the blond boy sneered.

"Scared Potter?"

"You wish, Malfoy." Draco arrogantly strode out of the room accompanied by several Slytherins.

Murmurs were heard as students pondered over the incident.

Just then, Ben Renwick, a Hufflepuff prefect, appeared in front of the class.

"Calm down now. A lightning spell backfired in one of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes and caused all the fires to go out." He looked around and continued. "The problem has been fixed and everything's fine now. No need to panic. Well, got a class to catch, see you all later." He grinned and then vanished in a blink.

Ron shrugged and went out of the room. Harry and Hermione followed him. They were walking quietly to the dining hall when a soft voice greeted their backs.

"Eez that 'Arry Potter I see 'ere?"

It was Fleur Delacour. Being a couple of inches taller and looking as beautiful as ever, she smiled warmly at the three friends. Ron who had a big crush on Fleur before, looked awestruck. Hermione just frowned. Harry looked a little surprised himself.

"Fleur! What are you doing here at Hogwarts?"

Fleur gave a little laugh, which sounded like tiny bells ringing.

"Do you remember zee last time I told you that I want to work at 'ogwarts to improve my Eenglish? Well I am 'ere now. As Professor Trelawny's assistant." She beamed.

Ron widened his eyes.

"That's great! O,er..." He blushed. "What I mean is, good for you."

Harry nodded.

"Yeah, good for you Fleur. But why Divination?"

"Ooh..I find reading zee future very interesting. I seem to find you interesting too, 'Arry..."

Hearing this, both Ron and Hermione scowled.

Fleur was busy flirting with Harry when she looked up and stopped short. Her eyes widened.

"Who eez zat handsome boy? He looks like he's half veela like me."

All eyes turned to the boy that Fleur was goggling at. It was Malfoy. Before any of them could answer, Fleur had turned away and was walking briskly towards Draco.

"Oh gag me with a spoon, Ron. Malfoy? Handsome?" Harry pretended to puke. Hermione, who had been quiet all the time, suddenly burst out:

"Well I guess that's the only one thing that me and Fleur have in common."

Harry choked. Ron looked dark.

"C'mon Mione, why has your taste in men sunk so low?"

Hermione turned sharply to Harry.

"At least I would never sink so low as to ignore my friends whenever a cute guy talked to me." She snapped. Then she stepped away from Harry and Ron and disappeared into the dining hall. Ron sighed.

"What now Harry? Why is it always you who gets all the attention? All the girls are attracted to you like moths to fire. Now Hermione has fallen under your spell too." He sighed. "Why can't I be like you?

Harry was aghast.

"RON!" He shouted. "I would willingly trade places with you anytime. At least I'll then have a normal life. And no more worries of Voldermort chasing me down and killing me. Plus I will actually have a loving family with parents who are alive and siblings to play with. By the way, Hermione thinks Malfoy is handsome, not me."

Ron looked embarrassed. He looked down at his shoes and quietly apologised to his best friend.

"Sorry Harry. I was just...No..forget about it. Fighting with you about Fleur is not worth it. She's not worth it." Ron put his arm around Harry.

"One thing, Harry. Hermione does like you. She told me that when she came to my house last summer. I daren't tell Ginny. She would be so disappointed to have Hermione as a new rival."

Harry breathed in deeply.

"That cannot be true." He whispered.

Ron grinned.

"Unfortunately or fortunately, depends on the situation, it is true. You are now officially Hogwarts' number one idol."

Harry looked around at the students piling into the dining hall. He saw Fleur who was tagging behind Draco and his Slytherin entourage. Pansy Parkinson was glaring at Fleur like she was toad's liver. Harry saw Hermione sitting with Lavender and Parvatil at the Gryffindor table. She glanced up and caught Harry's eye. She looked away. Harry went out of the hall. Ron followed him and put his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Don't you want to eat breakfast Harry?" Ron asked.

"No, that's okay. Why don't you go and eat, I'll be in my room if you want to find me."

"Okay. I'll sneak you a toast and some sausages. You'll be fine, won't you?"

Harry nodded. Then he walked slowly back to his room, his mind filled with problems, problems that he had never encountered before: girl problems. Hermione, how can that be? He had never thought that one of his best friends had a crush on him. He admitted that he liked Hermione, but not in that sense, well, probably not yet anyway. For now, he had fallen for the girl in his dreams. Who is she? Is she for real or just a figment of his imagination? A delusion created by his raging hormones.

Harry made his way up to the entrance to Gryffindor Tower and was greeted by the portrait of the fat lady.

"Hello Harry dear. My, my, don't you look awful. Having loads of problems? "

Harry shrugged.

"Sort of. Anyway, the password is Winklewinks."

The fat lady smiled and swung forward.

"You take care of yourself, okay?"

Harry thanked her and climbed in. Once inside he went up to his room and landed on the bed. His stomach grumbled as he had not eaten his breakfast yet. As he closed his eyes he heard a loud crash outside his room. Ron appeared, gasping for breath.

"Phew, it's pretty hard to climb up to the seventh floor when your stomach is full. Anyway, I've brought you some toast and sausages like I promised."

Harry grinned and gobbled the meal up. The food tasted great eventhough the toast was a little soggy. He thanked Ron profusely with his mouth still full.

Ron gave a broad smile and sat on Harry's bed.

"This girl, Emma Watty and a couple of other girls at the Gryffindor table kept asking me about your whereabouts."

He mimicked Emma's shrill voice.

"Where's Harry? Why isn't he here? Is he alright? Is he sick? What happened to him? Poor Harry..."

Both of them laughed. Harry suddenly became quiet.

"How was Hermione? Is she still mad at me?

"Well, she wasn't speaking to me so I assumed that she's still mad at both of us. She didn't ask about your whereabouts too. But don't worry. I am very sure that she still cares about you."

Harry sighed and stood up. He put on his robe and began to prepare for his next class, Charms with Professor Flitwick. Ron did the same and both of them walked out of their room.

Both of them walked slowly to class when a tiny voice called Harry.

It was Ginny Weasley.

"I think this is yours. It was dropped from your bag." She handed Harry a shiny red envelope.

Harry and Ron were surprised.

"Uh, thanks Ginny." He took the letter from Ginny, who trembled when her hand touched Harry's.

"Well, got to go. I'm going to be late for my Muggle studies class. See you later big brother, bye Harry."
Harry and Ron said their goodbyes as Harry opened the second letter. In it was another poem.