SUMMER HOLIDAYS SIXTH YEAR

Hi everyone,

Sorry if this is a bit smudgy. I'm not great at doing the duplication spell for this many letters – will practice a bit for next time! Sirius and I have been looking through my parents' library and found a few more spells we thought might be useful for us. Some attack, but mostly defence. I thought if we each pick one to practice over summer, when we get back we can each have a turn to teach their spell to the rest of us. Let me know by reply which one you want to do. Hope you are all okay.

Have you heard they're not letting us go to Rebecca's funeral? Apparently the Ministry are saying that big gatherings of people will 'create a target' for Voldemort, so it's family only. I'm so sorry. Particularly to Lily and Alice. She was you best friend and that's as good as family. This whole thing sucks balls.

James

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To my favourite Moony,

I hope things are going okay. Are you still in Rome? How is the work on the wolfsbane potion going? I really miss you here. James is driving me crazy. He's basically living in the Potters' library and has gone completely manic with finding and learning as many new spells as possible. I tried to tell him that maybe we need to think about the bigger picture and how we can actually use them against people who are much more battle-experienced than us, but you know how he gets.

Truth be told, Moony, I'm really having a tough time keeping my mind on anything except the battle. I keep going over it in my head and trying to think how we could have done it differently. How we could have reacted more quickly. How I should have been watching out better for other members of our little group. I know that if I had been better – thought quicker, moved quicker, was more creative – I could have got to Rebecca and helped her when she needed it. I'm a Black. I'm meant to be good at this sort of thing. I come from a line of champion duellers. How did I drop the ball so badly? I was so STUPID trying to duel, rather than reacting like a proper Marauder.

Sometimes, I can't stop imagining what I would have done if it had been you under that coach rather than her. In another world – one where Sirius Black wasn't madly in love with Remus Lupin – he might have still been going out with her. He might have fallen in love with her. He would have walked through that battlefield and found his reason for living crushed under that coach and his heart bleeding out into the grass. It nearly broke me and she was just a friend. Although we all know there is no 'just' about friends. What if that had been you Moony? What if, what if whatifwhatifwhatif…I think I might be going mad.

I miss you so much. Wish you were here. I know I've already said that. Can you come and visit once you get back from Rome? Or maybe we can meet in our little house? Mr and Mrs Potter don't fancy us being there unsupervised, but I have assured them that you are eminently sensible, and will more than make up for me and my ways.

Love you always,

Padfoot

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My darling James,

I hope your summer is going better than mine. I don't think I've stopped crying for more than two hours over the last couple of weeks. I just can't stop thinking about her. Rebecca and Alice have been my best friends since we started school and I feel like one of my arms has been torn off. Even though I am not allowed to attend, her mum has asked me to help plan her funeral, which I really appreciate. She's asked me what she would have liked and I don't know because we never talked about that. We talked about weddings and careers and even babies over the years. Why did we never talk about funerals? All those wonderful, glowing plans she had for her future, reduced into a little box to be buried underground. I can hardly take thinking about it.

I have been practicing some of those ward spells you sent me and I think I'm getting better at them. I want to have a few layers of different spells around our house before I come back in September. I'm worried about how often Petunia goes out with her friends unprotected. You know how she feels about magic, so she won't let me give her any protective amulets or anything to carry with her. I'm trying to think of ways to secretly spell her handbag or something before I go without her realising.

How are you doing? I hope you're getting some rest in between learning spells. When can we meet up? Give my love to your mum and dad (and Sirius!).

Your Lily xxx

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Hi lads,

Cant think of a way to tell my family about everything that went on. They are muggles and don't understand things like this. I wish I was like lily and could put good charms and wards on my house but I don't understand all the stuff she sent me and I was thinking maybe one of you might come and help me please? Everyone is all happy its summer here and i have to keep smiling and smiling, but inside its all black and I think I might never smile inside again. Please right back soon before I go mad.

Wormtail

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Alright everyone?

Don't know if you already know, but I heard from my dad that the Ministry are planning on recommending that kids under 17 years don't go to Diagon Alley this summer. Parents should go instead and pick up school things. It's a real bummer because we all know it's one of the highlights of everyone's year, and Merlin knows we need some highlights right now. I have got a good grip on that deflection ward I've been practising and wondered if there were any other spells anyone would like me to work on to share in the new term?

Hope you're all keeping safe!

Frank

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Padfoot,

I hope you are surviving manic-Prongs. I know he can be a handful. Remember to offer to help out Mr and Mrs Potter with chores and things. Having the two of you trapped in there with them must be a bit of a trial!

I know you are dwelling on the battle, and that's perfectly normal. But you mustn't blame yourself for anything that happened, Padfoot! You fought like a warrior. I saw you! You used initiative and sneakiness and were everything a Marauder should be. We were all taken by surprise. None of us knew what to do at first. Rebecca wouldn't want you blaming yourself for her death. Don't dwell on what ifs, love. Just think to the future and make plans to give Voldemort hell for what he did.

I am missing you here. Things are okay here. There's been a bit of a breakthrough with the wolfsbane potion, which is the only good news anyone has had all summer. They have isolated the element in wolfsbane that will work to calm the wolf without poisoning the individual. They're now aiming to put it into a potion with an additional appetite suppresser and sleep potion of some kind. Problem is, if you magically isolate the calming element from wolfsbane it becomes really unstable and affects any other ingredients added to it. And at the moment even large amounts only work on the wolf for about an hour so they're wondering how to enhance its effectiveness. Maybe through a distillation process?

It's been good for keeping my mind off things being in Rome, but we're probably going to have to come back in a few days as the Ministry are talking about closing the borders to anyone coming into the UK. Apparently they have evidence that Voldemort has been building up a support network across Europe and they want to cut off access to that. We can't risk not being able to return.

I miss you, Pads. Every moment I am not with you, I am worrying that something awful is happening to you. I would love to meet in our little house, but I'm not sure it's safe enough yet. I want to layer it in wards until it's like an onion. We can't afford to risk ourselves again by being unprepared. I shall talk to Neil and Angela about coming to visit you at the Potters. Potter Mansion is probably one of the safest places in the country. They have been adding wards to it for centuries.

I love you so much!

Moony

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Dear Lily and Remus,

I have been talking to Rebecca's mum about her funeral. She understands how upset we are that we can't go. She said they're putting aside a bit of the ceremony for some words from her closest friends and I thought that you two might want to write something. If you do, owl it to me. I said I would collate it all for her and do the order of service. The poor woman is beside herself, and apparently Rebecca's dad has just fallen apart. As a Muggle, he is having a hard time explaining to friends and extended family on his side why they can't attend. They've had to tell everyone she was killed in a hit-and-run on the road.

I don't know how you two are coping, but I am finding life really hard to deal with right now. Because we're based in London, I would normally go out for a walk in Diagon Alley to clear my head, but the Ministry are recommending everyone stays inside except for essential trips. They're even talking about closing non-essential shops, although dad says that will have a bad effect on people's livelihoods and the economy. He says we're all going through enough right now.

I don't know if you're still keen on becoming a Healer, Lily, but I had subscribed you and Rebecca up for the Healers Weekly magazine as a surprise for over summer before this happened. I have obviously cancelled one, the other I had temporarily re-directed to my house in case you were still interested. Just say the word and I will redirect them to you if you like. As a warning, it makes grim reading. More and more people are being sent into hospitals like St Mungos suffering effects of dark curses. They've had more deaths in the last six months than they had in the last six years. Problem is, there is not always counter-curses or remedies for those affected with really dark magic. Apparently the number of people suffering from the effects of the Cruciatus Curse is particularly high. People who have been under it for extended period end up just having their minds snap. I can't think of anything more terrifying in my life. What is left of a person once their mind is gone?

I wish it was September already. I just want to be back at school trying to get back to normal.

Love to you both,

Alice xx

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DAILY PROPHET

Ministry Calls for Calm

The Minister of Magic called for calm in a statement today from the Ministry of Magic. Tensions have been running high following the recent attack on Hogwarts, and the Minister wishes to reassure people that the Aurors have the situation under control. Albert Jones, head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement stresses that damaging conspiracy theories cause more harm than good: "People have been owling us with questions about whether it is true that You Know Who has magically replicated himself to form an army. Or that all the teachers in Hogwarts are working for the dark side and secretly teaching our children forbidden curses. Or that Voldemort has found the secret to immortality. These rumours are all blatantly untrue and damaging to moral. We ask that you trust the news provided for you by a legitimate source like the Daily Prophet."

Stricter restrictions have been placed on the movement of witches and wizards around the country. People are being encouraged to stay inside at night, only leave the house for essential trips, and avoid taking their children into public places. The Minister ask that any protective amulets or talismans you use are either charmed by yourself or purchased from legitimate sources. There are many unreputable individuals out there who are taking advantage of people's fear to sell faulty or even dangerous items.

Parents are asked to remember that Hogwarts students are barred from Diagon Alley this year for their own protection, and that the Hogwarts express will be guarded by Dementors from Azkaban prison this September. It is recommended that all students bring chocolate with them onto the train as this will lessen the effect of the Dementors. Although this decision has been met with resistance around the country, the Minister believes it is the best way to keep our young people safe as they travel to school this year.

Following calls for Hogwarts to close, and parents to keep their children at home, Head Auror Jones asks that people consider where their children will be safer – at home with only domestic wards to protect them? Or at Hogwarts which has not been breached by an army since 1432? He encourages parents to remember that attack on students in July took place outside of the grounds and all precautions have been taken to ensure it cannot happen again.