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Luna-
I’m so glad to hear that you’re doing well. Getting out of London must be nice-I would love to travel the world with Neville and look for rare plants and beasts. But I promised Harry that I wouldn’t leave him, so here we are.
I know you said in your last letter you don’t really understand living in a flat. Ron and Ginny are also confused-I suppose in the wizarding world you’re meant to live with your parents until you get married into a respectable family, and then move into a mansion in the countryside. But Harry and I weren’t raised like that. In the Muggle world, after you graduate you move into a dingy flat with some roommates, get a job at a coffee shop, and try to figure out what you’re supposed to do with your life. And after all that happened, we have a lot of figuring out to do.
It’s an odd thing, to grow up not thinking we would live past the war, and now suddenly have a future. We’re both trying to decide between the wizarding and muggle worlds, in a sense. Harry in particular is drawn to the idea of anonymity. Do you know that people still start cheering when he walks into the Leaky Cauldron? After a year, you would think the world would move on. But I suppose it’s hard to move on when we still have so many reminders of the war. I just couldn’t imagine Harry as a Muggle banker, or architect. I think this flat is a sort of in between space for him-less than a kilometer away from Diagon Alley, but still in the Muggle world. He’s been talking about starting Auror training, but we’re still moving in and getting adjusted. I would guess he’ll take a while yet to decide what he wants to do. As for myself, I have set up a sort of homeschooling situation to study for my N.E.W.T.’s. I just couldn’t bear not finishing my Hogwarts education-imagine trying to get a job with only O.W.L. qualifications! If I want to have any kind of future in the Wizarding world, I at least need to finish school. But I just couldn’t return to Hogwarts. I know, I know-Ron and Ginny have already teased me profusely so you don’t need to start. Hermione Granger, not wanting to go to school? It just seems like I’m moving backwards, not forwards. So Professor McGonagal and I have been in communication. I already took a year off, but the teachers of Hogwarts are willing to send me materials to study for my N.E.W.T.s, which I will sit in the spring. This arrangement is unheard of, but being a war hero has its benefits. After that, I’ll probably pursue some Ministry job. Kingsley has offered me an internship position in his office, which would be a good starting place.
You also asked about Ronald-he’s been staying in the flat above the joke shop. He’s there for George when he needs him, and can work in the shop all the time. He comes over often to see Harry, and take him back to the Burrow to play Quidditch. He and I aren’t exactly seeing each other. He’s still in mourning, and it would just be so complicated. Harry and Ginny are in a similar situation, although they seem to have an understanding that once Ginny is more steady, they’ll try again. I don’t know if the same is true for Ron and I.
It’s nice, living in this flat. The flat itself is terrible, of course-I’ve been hearing noises in the walls that I suspect are rats, and the rooms are so drafty at night. But I like having Harry here. At Hogwarts, it felt like he was constantly leaving me. He always had some evil plot to foil, or grand adventure. I like knowing where he is, knowing he’ll come back here at night. We mostly just study and read. I've been decorating the place, which we never really got to do at Hogwarts. We got a dingy couch from an antique store, and these floral drapes. Harry says it looks like a grandmother's flat, but I think it's cozy. Harry’s been learning household spells that I suppose most wizarding children learn, such as how to boil water and make a bed. We’ve also been doing a lot of cooking. I never really learned much cooking, as all our meals were made for us at Hogwarts. Harry apparently used to cook for the Dursleys often, so he’s been teaching me. After that year on the run, cooking with real food seems a luxury. It’s all very domestic. Harry used to be so jittery when we first moved in, as if he needed another enemy to fight, another task to solve. But this is what we fought for-peaceful mornings drinking tea and walking to the Muggle bookshop.
I hope you and Neville do find the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. I suggest looking near Erumpent roaming areas.
Lots of love, Hermione