14th June, 1894

Dearest and Most Skeptical Cousin,

You wound me. I abhor all mischief and especially trouble, and shall maintain that fact with my dying breath. I am, after all, a prefect,an eldest son, a beacon of respectability, a Flint Scholar (for the month of June, at least). For you to imply otherwise strikes a blow against the honour of our shared family.

If penminship is in practice for you, I expect my summer studies are proving far more engaging than your own. Fortunately, I do not find myself in need of any remedial studies, allowing me to focus upon getting a jump in alchemy for the fall and delving more deeply into magical theory. I do think that Hogwarts might do us a disservice in offering lessons in theory only in our first year: while I understand that such a foundation is desirable for first years to have, I wonder that they do not re-offer it again at the N.E.W.T. level like they do courses like Alchemy. Sure, it can be dry at times, but is it not the very underpinning of the thing that separates us from muggles?

I promise I am not getting tedious this summer; I have merely been spending an abundance of time with those who pose such questions. A few days with you and Sirius later in the summer will, I expect, cure me entirely.

Pendergast's, I hope, is not too tedious; no doubt you will be able to correct all my ettiquette-related blunders when I next see you.