Monday, 13th of July

„To someone who is as fed up and bored as I am" Harry read on the envelope of the letter a small brown barn owl had just delivered. He had spent the best first weeks of summer in his life. The Dursleys had left for a five-week holiday on Majorca, and he had to share the house only with the handymen who refurbished the kitchen and the living room as well as both bathrooms. His friends had written a few times, but now Hermione had left for France with her parents, and Ron was at Grimmauld, hunting doxies and mice.

So he opened the letter. On expensive parchment, in a flowing handwriting that betrayed a younger girl, he read:

"Dear unkown,

I must apologise for intruding on you just like that. I sent Sylaris, my owl, to find someone with who I could correspond during this summer. You are, of course, either a wizard or a witch, and you are either muggle born or half blood. I don't know if you are older or younger than I am, but as Sylaris is a smart owl, you are as bored as I am. I won't tell you my name right now, but let me introduce myself. I live with my aunt and uncle, and my two cousins A and D. My parents are dead, and I won't talk about this before I know you better. Anyway, my cousins and I showed some spectacularly bad judgment last school year, and we are all grounded for the summer. Everyone in different rooms, actually. Uncle Raginald was politically hurt by our actions, and so A and I are under a geas not to communicate with anyone who is a pureblood this summer, except for Uncle Raginald and Aunt Beatrice. D's punishment is even worse, but then she is older. All my friends are pureblood. Actually, I don't really know anyone who is not.

Most likely, you know not too much about the way we purebloods live, and I don't know anything about the way muggleborns or muggles live. Uncle Raginald forced A and me to take muggle studies, but even I understand that the subject is – to put it blunt – balderdash. So, if you want to learn about us, and are willing to tell me something about the way muggles live, please write back. I'm dying of boredom. If it's all the same to you, please do not ask me for my name, and I promise, I won't ask yours for now.

Best regards,

E."

Harry sat back in his lawn chair and smiled. This unknown girl's letter was more entertaining than anything he had seen in the past week. He couldn't really blame his friends, but still he hated it. She actually intrigued him. Why was she grounded? And what exactly was a geas? The barn owl was still sitting patiently and waited. "I'll get you an owl treat, and then I'll write to your mistress."

"Dear E,

Thank you for your letter. You have a very smart owl to find me. Anyway, for our letters, please call me J. I would be very interested to write to you and try to explain about the way muggles live. I myself am born to wizards, but like you, and like quite a lot of our age, I am an orphan. I live with my aunt, uncle and cousin, who are all muggles and hate magic. So yes, I know quite a lot about muggles, and very little about the way purebloods live. I have a pureblood friend, but I would guess that his family is not really typically for your kind. I know a little about the life of another pureblood family, and what I have learned is not really something that… Well, let's just say that I prefer even my relatives. So, to start off, I will ask some questions that have long intrigued me. If I break a million social rules, please forgive me.

How rich exactly are the purebloods? If you look at the Malfoys or others, you believe that they are all billionaires. How is your life like?

Why exactly are a lot of purebloods against muggle-borns? Why do you separate yourselves so much from the muggles?

What's life in Slytherin House like?

How do you learn to read and write? Are there primary schools for purebloods?

What's a geas?

Hope to hear from you soon,

J."

The owl picked up the letter and disappeared into the evening air of Surrey. Harry stretched and began to water the roses, splashing quite a lot of water into a special corner of the yard. For the seventh time in two weeks, he was rewarded by several loud curses from underneath an invisible cloak.

"Come on, Tonks. I thought you were taught to shadow people."

A very wet junior auror appeared between the hedges. "I have told you several times by now, wonderboy…"

Harry rolled his eyes. "It's the only thing I can amuse myself with. Anything new from the front?"

"No. You-know-who is still keeping mum. Snape has not visited him since that night. And we have not seen a hair of a Death Eater. Have you felt anything?"

"No. Except for Sirius, I sleep like a baby."

The young auror stepped up to Harry and placed her hand onto his shoulder. "Getting better?"

"Yes. You helped a lot. Maybe you should just quit and become a shrink, too." Tonks had only received a cursory healing education, but the aurors had some psychologists. Without the knowledge of Dumbledore, Tonks and a friend who had never lifted her cloak had visited Harry and talked him through the night he had lost his godfather.

She scrutinized him. "Maybe you vanquished him again. Fourth time, now."

"No, he's still out there. But I believe I have hurt him, yes."

"Keep on the good work, cadet. What do you want for dinner?" They had found their routine. When he discovered her, she would buy dinner.

"Chinese take-away? Or some curry?"

"Curry it is. Can I trust you for a second?"

"I won't run."

After a friendly dinner with Tonks, who had easily settled into the role of an older cousin for him, Harry went to bed. Would the mysterious E answer?