More Important Than Any Broomstick [Harmione]

12. What's in the Box?

When Harry looked into the box his mother gave him, he noticed some pieces of jewelry on top of some papers. He gently placed the jewelry on his bed, decided to look through the papers first. The first piece of paper he found was a piece of muggle notebook paper that had been folded neatly in thirds. He unfolded it to see it was a letter written in green ink, and upon glancing at the bottom, he saw for the first time in his life, his mother's signature. Harry read his letter

My dearest Harry,

If you are reading this letter, then it means that both your father and I have died, but somehow you've survived. I left this box with your Aunt Petunia because I don't think Voldemort will attack her. I've instructed her to give this to you and Sirius immediately if we die. The first thing I want to say is that we both love you more than we ever thought possible, and that if our deaths have somehow allowed you to survive, then we haven't died in vain. You matter more to us than anything, and our only regret is that we weren't around to watch you grow into a man.

We went into hiding to try to protect you from Voldemort. He has targeted you because of a prophecy that was given to Professor Dumbledore. If you don't know about it yet, demand that he show you the memory in his pensieve immediately! His heart is in the right place, but he has a habit of withholding information when he believes it is 'for the greater good.' I can't risk writing it down here, but it is extremely important that you know about it as soon as possible so that you can prepare! We've told everyone that Sirius Black is our secret-keeper, but that's not true. In actuality, Peter Pettigrew is our secret-keeper, and if we are dead, it may be that he has betrayed us. If that happened, then everyone may think Sirius was the traitor. If they arrest him, the truth should come out in his trial when they question him under veritaserum, but if the truth hasn't come out, then tell the authorities about this immediately! Sirius Black is a good man, and shouldn't have to pay for another's crime.

We hope that Sirius Black has survived, stayed out of prison, and raised you. If he has, then I'm sure he's already told you about us. I just want to make sure you know what your father was like from my point of view. When I first met him, I thought he was an arrogant git that half the girls at Hogwarts wanted to date for reasons that I couldn't fathom. He always was handsome, and even as a baby, you appear to have inherited that trait. I eventually came to know him as a good-hearted man who simply enjoyed pulling pranks on the deserving, usually Slytherins. I used to try to defend his and his friends, "The Marauders," victims until one day he was picking on a Slytherin by the name of Snape. After I defended him, he had the nerve to call me a mudblood. I didn't admit it at the time, but at that moment, I realized that the bigot had it coming. Snape eventually became a Death Eater, although rumor has it, he's working for Professor Dumbledore now. I wonder what the Headmaster's playing at. Anyway, after that incident, I came to realize that the Marauders actually were bringing justice to people that society was unwilling to punish. When people at school get into a fight, both parties are punished, no matter what it was about. People like Snape who strut around full of themselves insulting others who are only trying to help them deserve to have someone demonstrate that they're not as great as they think. I'll never admit it to your father, but I hope you do the same thing to people like them. After I realized what they were doing, I was more open to his flirting with me, and eventually went out with him. We fell in love, got married, and along came you. James loves you and I more than anything, and he would duel Voldemort himself for either of us.

I, on the other hand, have been more or less a bookworm. More than once I've been called an insufferable know-it-all. I've been accused of memorizing the entire Hogwarts library, but it's not true. There were many books in the restricted section that I didn't have time to read. At least a dozen. What can I say, I think knowledge is very useful, and I love learning. I hope that you inherit that trait, at least partially. Your father says I'm pretty. There are photos of me, as well as your father and our friends at the bottom of this box, so you can decide for yourself whether I'm pretty.