Summer
July 10

Professor Severus Snape
Hogwarts
(The Three Broomsticks, Hogsmeade, if it's Friday night.)

Dear Professor Snape,

The grown-ups here are still idiots. I miss you so much.

I wanted to thank you for that impressive last charm. Who knew a person could have so much fun with an invisible stick?

Are you having a nice summer? It can't end soon enough for me.

Yours truly,
Violet Guilford
July 13

Miss Violet Guilford
St. Charles Orphanage
London

Dear Miss Guilford,

"Hogwarts" will suffice, thank you.

I trust you and your invisible stick are behaving in a manner that can only be described as exemplary, lest I be forced to use said stick to make a very different impression upon your return.

A word of advice. Try to accomplish something of value with your summer. Summers are precious and should not be wasted.

Fondest regards,
Severus Snape
July 16

Professor Severus Snape
Hogwarts

Dear Professor Snape,

I have taken your advice to heart and am now writing a book about what it's like to be a Slytherin. I have mentioned this to several housemates and suddenly I'm inundated with letters reminding me of things to include.

Every letter mentions Christmas Eve.

Some twice.

Yours truly,
Violet Guilford
July 17

Draco Malfoy
4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey

Dear Malfoy,

Bloody hell. How dare you torture us with stories of all your "experiments" while Crabbe and I are stuck on this run-down, middle-of-nowhere manor with the most senile old Slytherin you can imagine.

Well, at least we get enough to eat.

I hear Snape put Millicent and Tracy Davis in a convent.

What's a convent?

Yours truly,
Goyle
July 19

Professor Severus Snape
Hogwarts

Dear Professor Snape,

"Still film" indeed. This frozen image of a traumatized Dudley Dursley hardly does justice to the ingenuity of Slytherin and Gryffindor.

These people are unspeakably horrid, sir. My admiration for Harry Potter grows daily.

Did you hear? Violet's writing a book about being a Slytherin. I suggest we all sign the first copy and send it to her father.

I understand you placed Tracy Davis and Millicent Bulstrode in a convent for the holidays. Good one, sir.

Are you having a nice summer?

Yours truly,
Draco Malfoy
July 20

Draco Malfoy
4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey

Dear Malfoy,

You know how, at Hogwarts, there are dozens of Slytherins and only one Snape?

Imagine a world where there are only two Slytherins and DOZENS OF SNAPES!!!!!!

They even dress in black and teach kids during the school year!

I am going to curse him over and over and over.

Yours truly,
Millicent
July 20

Professor Severus Snape
Hogwarts

Dear Professor Snape,

You have never seen a Gryffindor work harder than I am going to in Potions class for the next two years.

Thank you for persuading Professor Dumbledore to send Malfoy to the Dursleys' with me.

I hope you're having a nice summer.

Sincerely,
Harry Potter
July 21

Professor Severus Snape
Hogwarts

Dear Professor Snape,

I was wondering if you could help me with my book. I'm having a hard time imagining how you felt last March when so many of us got [text obscured by blotchy smudges.]

Do you know the first thing Malfoy told me about you?

        "Don't lie to Professor Snape."

You'll find this hard to believe, but there's a little girl here, Katie, she's even smaller than I am.

She's very sick.

She's going to die eventually, but she's not afraid as long as I'm in the room with her. The thing is. . .

I find myself wishing she'd hurry up and get it over with because I can't stand this.

I'm so ashamed. I'll never be like you.

Violet
July 22

Miss Violet Guilford
St. Charles Orphanage
London

I checked your file. Child, you haven't even turned 12 yet. Do you know what Malfoy was like at your age? He'd have already begun pilfering her toys.

I suppose you don't have toys there.

Do you remember last January, when you asked to be allowed to spend the summer at Hogwarts? If you had a choice now, where would you spend the remainder of your holidays?

I have no doubt your answer to that question would make me proud.

Fondest regards,
Severus Snape
July 27

Masters Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle
Clements Manor
Ely

Gentlemen,

One more incident involving missing abrasive chemicals and you will spend the remainder of the summer inflicting pedicures upon house elves.

I'm sure Malfoy and Potter need no assistance from the likes of you.

Fondest regards,
Severus Snape
July 28

Draco Malfoy
4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey

Dear Malfoy,

OMYGOSH OMYGOSH OMYGOSH OMYGOSH OMYGOSH OMYGOSH!!!!!!!!!

I know something you don't know, I know something you don't know!

I know how Snape knew about this place.

Care to guess?

Yours truly,
Millicent
July 29

Professor Severus Snape
Hogwarts

Dear Professor Snape,

LOVE the sisters, LOVE you for sending me here!

They have a magic all their own, don't they, sir? And they teach almost as well as you do!

And my, don't they have a lot of stories to tell about a handsome, dark-eyed, iron-willed little boy who spent a year with them when he was young. I see myself in front of the fire, telling tales out of school to a captivated set of Slytherins for many evenings to come.

Yours truly,
Millicent Bulstrode

P.S. Are you having a nice summer?
July 31

Miss Millicent Bulstrode
Sisters of Little Mercy Convent
Ely

Dear Miss Bulstrode,

So glad you're enjoying yourself. Allow me to paraphrase the Dark Lord from a memorable performance he gave last May: I can cane you and you can't cane me!

Feel free to share this letter with Miss Davis.

I confess I owe a great deal to Mother Superior.

Do NOT feel free to share this letter with her.

By now you may have noticed that your summer accommodations share a border with a rather decrepit country estate. Under no circumstances are you and Miss Davis to go exploring.

Fondest regards,
Severus Snape
August 2

Draco Malfoy
4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey

Dear Malfoy,

You and Millicent were never serious about each other, right?

Goyle
August 5

Gregory Goyle (and Millicent Bulstrode)
Clements Manor
Ely

Dear Goyle (and Millicent),

Greetings from 4 Privet Drive.

Hope that answers your question.

Yours truly,
Pansy Parkinson

P.S. Malfoy has made Dudley Dursley an honorary Slytherin. That is to say, he's turned him green. Used some sort of country fertilizer. . . .

I'm having the best summer! I must write Professor Snape. I do hope he's having a nice summer, too.
August 15

To Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Miss Bulstrode, Miss Davis, Miss Parkinson, Miss Guilford, etc. etc. etc.:

If one more Slytherin asks me if I'm having a nice summer, I will hunt you down and flog every one of you within a 12 hour span.

You too, Potter.

The house elves have been unable to eradicate the odor that has permeated the Slytherin common room since May. I am considering sterner methods of encouragement.

Each night the teachers toast the decreasing number of days until your return with increasingly larger glasses of wine.

Fondest regards,
Severus Snape
August 18

Professor Severus Snape
Hogwarts

Dear Professor Snape,

The summer before his third year, Potter spent some time on his own in Diagon Alley. Could I possibly do that instead of accompanying him to the Weasleys'?

Please don't make me go there, sir.

Yours truly,
Draco Malfoy
August 19

Master Draco Malfoy
4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey

Dear Malfoy,

You will go the Weasleys'. You will be unfailingly gracious and appreciative of their hospitality. You will NOT pick up any bad habits from the twins. You will make me very proud.

I trust I have been quite clear.

Fondest regards,
Severus Snape
August 20

Professor Severus Snape
Hogwarts
Dear Professor Snape,

Now I am 12!

The orphanage enjoyed a visit from the health inspector today. Apparently a month-long barage of owl sightings led neighbors to suspect some sort of rodent infestation. Snake infestation is more like it as I have been overwhelmed with cheery notes from Slytherins regaling me with the uproarious details of a summer filled with retaliation, rural rascalism and romance.

I can't imagine what put the notion in their heads.

You are the best housemaster in the world and I am not worthy to kiss the hem of your robes.

Sincerely.

Violet Guilford

P.S. Thanks for the thesaurus!
August 22

Professor Severus Snape
Hogwarts

Dear Professor Snape,

Greetings from the Burrow.

In my eagerness to be made quidditch captain I am obeying you to the letter and am thus causing great confusion in the House of Weasley. They, in turn, are showering me with all the blessings I've never had and must therefore be assumed to crave... crowding by siblings, provincial chores, and of course, motherly smothering.

Potter once told me he would give anything to be a Weasley. Perhaps you should reconsider your decision to allow him in your N.E.W.T. class.

The most bearable member of the household, apart from the ghoul, is little Ginny, who's turning out to be a right young hellion, bless her heart. We've spent some pleasant time together but I've been firm about keeping things in hand. I'd rather be quidditch captain, after all.

The most annoying aspect of my visit is the way they all fall silent when I walk into a room. It sounds as if they're working on battle plans; they seem to think that, because they're Gryffindors, they bear ultimate responsibility for the final destruction of the dark lord.

Have I mentioned recently how bloody grateful I am to be a Slytherin?

Potter, who was coming around so nicely at the Dursleys', has reverted to that gung-ho intensity the Gryffindors call courage and will, I suspect, eventually drive the staff to distraction with his eagerness to engage in decisive action.

I am more than content to leave such things in your capable hands for as long as possible.

Yours truly,

Draco Malfoy
August 25

Draco Malfoy
The Burrow
Ottery St. Catchpole

Dear Malfoy,

It will apparently come as no surprise that I have decided to appoint you captain of the quidditch team.

Allow me to share the advice that has been handed down from Slytherin Head of House to quidditch captain for centuries:



Fondest regards,
Severus Snape
August 26

Professor Severus Snape
Hogwarts

Six!

Violet
August 27

Professor Severus Snape
Hogwarts

Five!

Millicent
August 28

Professor Severus Snape
Hogwarts

Four!

Goyle
August 29

Professor Severus Snape
Hogwarts

Three!

Pansy
August 30

Professor Severus Snape
Hogwarts

Two!

Crabbe
August 31

Professor Severus Snape
Hogwarts

One!

Malfoy


An Obedient House