Professor T. Trishna
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Astronomy Tower

Francis Pepper,
Department of Mysteries,
Ministry for Magic
London

March 5th,

Dear Tapendra,

A very happy birthday to you, Sir! I hope your day has been opportune and your lessons trouble free. I enclose a token of celebration to your birthday, a tie pin of the Taurus constellation, which I worked from some of the timeturner silver.  I do hope it withstands good use, though if it ever fails you, do not hesitate to send it back to me for repair.

Did you see the most discouraging piece in the Daily Prophet on the 3rd of March, regarding Muggle parents of Hogwarts students? The thought that shop keepers in the Alley are purposely fleecing Muggle-born families is truly disgusting, and the argument that these families should be accompanied and supervised throughout their visits is petty, and shows how naive the author is to consider Muggles unable to understand our financial system or society. I am penning a response, though I thought I might consult your thoughts on the article (copy also enclosed) to ensure I am not vastly overreacting.

Timothy wrote to me not long ago and expressed how much he is enjoying your Astronomy lessons. I am pleased he is captivated, there is hope he will follow the family trade yet, though his aspirations to be a healer are equally admirable. Just do let me know if Ambrose causes any damage, though he wrote similarly to explain Astronomy is one of his favoured classes - mostly for not having to raise his wand within it.

A colleague here has decided to undertake an experiment with computers and magic, he is convinced spells and microchips can exist peacefully together. (He undertakes this outside his unspeakable work, so I can talk freely of it here.) I spent last Sunday watching him attempt it in an outbuilding of his house, and I was almost completely ready to confirm that these machines dislike direct spellcasting until he turned to me to attempt it. Having worked himself into a sweat throwing charms this way and that, he had become rather heavy handed. For the briefest of moments, I did manage to perform a velocity charm, but according to my colleague, the circuits burnt out soon after.

Alas, his experimentation has been indefinitely ceased by the powers here at the Department, for contravening the laws on enchanting Muggle objects. Shame, I am sure you might have been able to shed a lot more light on the situation, given your first hand experience of using these machines.

I look forward to hearing from you, and hope you enjoy your birthday,

Kind regards,

Francis

Francis Pepper,
Department of Mysteries,
Ministry for Magic
London

Professor T. Trishna
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Astronomy Tower

Francis,

Thank you very much for your gift - it was much appreciated! My birthday was fine, though you can tell Ambrose the 'emergency' that Professor Storm burst into the room over was in fact a drinking party. If you'll forgive me being silly, I feel too young to be this old. It's like when I turned 30; I always thought I'd feel more mature at this age. Ah well.

I'm afraid I did see the article in question, though I appreciate you including it with your letter. It is indeed depressing to see people attempting to take advantage of muggles in such a manner - though it makes me concerned for one of our students, who you've no doubt heard of - Sasha Schlagenweit. His sister, a muggle, works in DiagonAlley, as I've no doubt you've heard. I can only hope she's been treated  civilly, but seeing as her boss was recently hospitalized...

Timothy does well in his classes and I really do appreciate his enthusiasm - thankfully there are several students of like mind in his year so I have no doubt he will make friends. (And with the..not so enthusiastic children, it's refreshing to know I'm not teaching a completely apathetic room..) Ambrose has no been an issue damage-wise, though I have to admit I think a tutor may be in his best interest - the dear boy tries, but I think many of the more complex theories are a bit beyond him. I have considered approaching him on the subject, but perhaps you could? He may feel more encouraged if it comes from you.

As far as computers and magic goes - I'm sure we'll find a solution to that problem someday. As you know my house is full of muggle technology and we are able to use limited magic without too much issue, though in the case of my personal computer I excersize extreme caution. If only there was a way to create a 'shield' against magic - perhaps your department might know of something like that?

If you or your colleauge need more eletronics to test, please let me know - I keep my outdated models and would be happy to donate them to the cause.

Regards & Thank you again for the kind wishes,

Professor T. Trishna
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Astronomy Tower

Francis Pepper,
Department of Mysteries,
Ministry for Magic
London

Thursday March 12th,

Dear Tapendra,

I write hoping all is well at Hogwarts after yesterday's events. The Prophet is full of these attacks, and it is topic of conversation for everyone here. I wish I could speak further on it, but I only hope you, your colleagues and students are all unhurt. I always believed Hogwarts to be fairly impenetrable, and are there not aurors patrolling too?

Parents here are in a frenzy - some are talking of pulling their children out like in the Voldemort years - given the murder and now this. Have you found many following through with this consideration? I heard the Headmistress is not even at Hogwarts presently, is there any truth in that claim?

As for your "drinking emergency", no I wouldn't tell Ambrose that now, he might get the wrong idea in future about any genuine emergencies! I am very glad your birthday went well. Enjoy your thirties, they come but once but are usually the best decade. I miss mine.

I'm glad Tim is still enjoying your lessons. The boy wants to be a healer, but I'm hoping he might reconsider eventually and follow me. He's got the right mind for it. Family tradition dictates its passed from father to son, you see. I will try and tackle Ambrose at Easter, and you can tell me if you see any difference when he returns for summer term and his end of year exams?

I couldn't comment about your shield against magic -  I cannot confirm or disprove my colleagues research anything at all, as that is in any form, giving information. Silly as it sounds. Much as we would love to continue, we have been told on Monday that there should be no more of it. Neither my colleague or I can risk our jobs at this time, Tapendra, but many thanks for your offer of equipment.

Kind regards,

Francis

Francis Pepper,
Department of Mysteries,
Ministry for Magic
London

Professor T. Trishna
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Astronomy Tower

Francis,

Apologies for the delay in returning your letter. The 1o1th and the days following have not been kind to me, I'm afraid. Thankfully, I have friends at hand - though perhaps fewer than I had assumed.

The students are all - thank Merlin - relatively uninjured. Professor Kirchlehner received a bad scratch across his chest and one of the students was scratched as well, but both have fully recovered. The wolf technically never made it to the grounds proper; it came from the Forbidden Forest when some children were serving detention and attacked them. Ignan Professors Storm and Kirchlehner drove it off.

I haven't seen any students being withdrawn, at present, though many have said their parents are considering it. I wish I could say such things are foolish, but as a parent myself I can't help but think it'd be safer at home. Cyhirae seems to enjoy Hogwarts, but... I know the girl might be willing to snap her wand and never attend, but I'd rather see her make an informed choice and not simply choose because of my panic over a few werewolves. People got horribly injured when we were in school and no one batted an eye! I suppose times are different, now.

Forgive my rambling. The Headmistress as returned. I can't say I envy you having her as a boss, and I fear I may not have her as one for long. Thankfully for my resume, this'll be the first time I've been fired - maybe I'll get lucky and she'll get canned before I do. Hogwarts' staff seems oddly divided - I'm thankful to have the tower, now. No one bothers me up here, it's too much of a hike up the stairway.

(Not that Hogwarts would appear on any resume I'd submit to the jobs I actually want. I'm sure the DoM would laugh me out the door if I ever broached the idea.)

Understood. That's a pity; perhaps they'll let you continue some other time. Still, such changes are far more likely to be made in some 7th year's back shed than at the Ministry - seems to be the tradition, for lack of a better term. One can always hope.

Best wishes. Let me know how that mess outside the Ministry cleans up, we could use some better different news.

Your friend,