Daddy Dearest

Chapter 11 - Halloween

Tuesday, October 31, 1991

Things at Hogwarts soon fell into a comfortable rhythm, and before Harry realized it Halloween had arrived. First thing that morning the Gryffindor first years had History of Magic with the deadly boring ghost of Professor Binns, then Herbology with Professor Sprout in the Greenhouses. After lunch they had Charms with tiny Professor Flitwick. Flitwick was so excited to have Harry Potter in class that Harry was afraid that he might accidentally let slip who he was.

That afternoon they were studying levitation. If one had been practicing the wrist movement and paying attention in class, as Harry had been, then it was a simple enough spell--Wingardium Leviosa. His stepfather expected him to do very well in his classes, especially Charms, Transfiguration, and Potions, so there wasn't much to do but practice.

Professor Flitwick had divided them all into pairs. Harry had been paired with none other than Hermione Granger, the bookish girl who seemed determined to best Harry in every subject. She was pointedly ignoring Harry, intent on the tiny wizard that taught them. Finally, Professor Flitwick told them to begin. Harry glanced at Hermione, who had started glaring at him, then turned to the feather they were sharing.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry grinned as the feather promptly levitated and Professor Flitwick praised him on his mastery of the spell. Hermione glowered, levitating the feather as well. She had obviously been hoping that Harry wouldn't get it on his initial try so that she could get it first.

"That was wicked Harry, getting one up on her like that," Ron said as they flowed out of the classroom that afternoon.

"Glad I didn't get paired with her," Neville Longbottom piped. He was often with Harry and Ron, the quietest of the three.

"She's an absolute nightmare," Ron agreed. Hermione bumped them as she hurried past. "Come on, let's get up to the tower to dump our stuff. We've got the feast tonight!"

The three boys hurried up to the tower. To their surprise, when they got to their dorm Hedwig was perched on the windowsill. She fluttered over to Harry the moment she saw him, landing on his shoulder for him to take the letter.

"Who's it from?" Neville asked.

Harry opened the letter and checked the signature at the bottom. "It's from James. I wonder why it wasn't with the rest of the post."

"James?"

"One of my friends back home," Harry told Neville, starting to read the letter. At the top of the page in bold capital letters was a single sentence that explained why it had not been delivered that morning.

DON'T READ THIS ANYWHERE YOU WOULDN'T HAVE THE MAP OUT!

Harry quickly pocketed the letter--Ron and Neville were great, but he wasn't going to tell them about the Marauder's Map. Not yet, at least. "I'll read that later, it's probably just stuff about what's going on back home. I get most of that from Lenora, anyway." The other boys nodded and they put up their stuff and went down to the common room to await the feast.