Chapter Seventy-Six
Letters
Nothing's gonna hurt you the way that words do
When they settle 'neath your skin
Kept on the inside and no sunlight
Sometimes a shadow wins
(Brave - Sara Bareilles)January 17th, 1978Other than the constant stream of reports about attacks and murders by Death
Eaters coming in via the Daily Prophet, school was turning out to be relatively simple
compared to previous years. There were no evil professors, no Death Eaters in the
corridors—save perhaps for Snape and Regulus, who had been keeping quietly to
themselves since returning from Christmas hols. There were no vicious werewolf maulings,
no Wizards' duels on the pitch, and no cursed brooms above the Black Lake.
And, surprisingly, both Sirius and James had stopped hexing Snape in the corridors.
At least when Lily was looking.
Mia soon buckled down with her friends, and they all began revising for their
N.E.W.T.s with great devotion, each with a specific goal in mind. Lily, reminiscent of
Hermione Granger, acted as though she had something to prove to the Wizarding world
as a Muggle-born. Frank and Alice worked hard to show they were worthy of the jobs
awaiting them as Aurors upon graduation. Sirius admitted to being a bit desperate to show
off his intellect and talent so he could join their friends in the Department of Magical Law
Enforcement. Remus needed high N.E.W.T. scores in order to justify to anyone outside
of Hogwarts a reason to offer him any type of employment despite his condition. James
claimed to still not know what he wanted to do with his life post-Hogwarts, outside of
spending it with Lily, so he revised by her side to show her that what was important to her,
was important to him. Mary and Peter were the only ones who struggled with their revising,
and while Mary did her best to ask for help from her professors, Peter was incredibly put
out that none of his friends would sacrifice their own time to help him, and he outright
refused to admit to teachers that he even needed assistance.