Chérie, parchments and quills

Chapter Two - False names

Saturday morning found Harry in his kitchen of number twelve Grimmauld Place, making coffee in his grey short sleeved pyjamas. It had been a week since he had been to Le'Amortentia, and he hadn't heard anything back yet. Perhaps the blond man had declined his request.

Harry sat at the kitchen table and continued to mark the student's essays for his defense against the dark arts class. Sipping his coffee, he finished another essay and was just about to start on the next one when an owl swooped in through the opened window. It landed on the table, preening its pretty brown speckled feathers.

"Hello." Harry greeted it with smile, rubbing its feathers before taking the shrunken package.

Harry waved his hand and a bag of owl treats came flying into the kitchen. He handed the owl a few, watching it eat them happily before flying away. As soon as it had left, he un-shrunk the package with his wand and instantly noticed it was from Le'Amortentia.

Opening it, he couldn't help but wonder - with a surprising spark of excited anticipation, if the blond man had accepted his request after all. The letter on top was from Malaise Vixen, saying that his mystery man had indeed accepted his request, that he had enclosed his own letter, and that he was rather surprised someone had chosen him out of the surely better prospects.

Harry chuckled. He hadn't gotten anywhere yet, but this mystery blond man already had him highly interested. Why wouldn't he expect someone to choose him? Not only had he signed up to a dating service, but he sounded sincere and nice enough - even if he had made terrible mistakes in the past.

Malaise had run a back ground check on Harry before he had left Le'Amortentia, and she had informed him that certain crimes such as murder, child abuse, rape, and pedophiles for example, had to be listed on the profiles. Harry knew then, that his secret chérie was no murderer, or it would have said as much.

Harry opened the second letter, eager to read what the mystery blond had to say, and the very first line had him chuckling.

Letter from Harry's secret Chérie:

To the peculiar black-haired man that chose my Le'Amortentia profile,
You did read it all didn't you?

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised that you chose me to be your secret chérie, you're the first to respond to me actually. I am assuming my dark past hasn't put you off, that's a start at least, but I was being serious. I do not wish to go down this road just to be judged for it later on - I need you to be sure you can handle it.

I have read your profile, rather brief I must say, and who uses 'Always' as a quote? I understand the appeal of stability, but I don't think you quite understanding the meaning of a quote. Oh well, let's hope you're not always this peculiar shall we, you did say you were a boring man but I will hope for better in the future. That is assuming we continue correspondence – why would a boring man want to exchange words with someone with a dark past? You're not hiding some nefarious secrets yourself, are you? It's the boring, quiet ones that you have to watch out for.

I will await your reply on the charmed parchment. If I don't hear from you, I will assume you have come to your senses. Should you decided to ignore my advice of finding a different, more boring and suitable chérie for yourself to correspond with, you shall address me under the false name of 'Tau'. I would suggest you come up with your own false name, or I shall be forced to always call you 'The peculiar man'.

Tau.

End of letter-