Mentally thumping himself, Harry retrieved quill, ink, and parchment from his trunk and got to work as Hedwig returned to her nightly pursuits. Half an hour later he sat back to review what he'd done.
'To Whomever is in Charge of Old Family Accounts at Gringotts:' it started, with as much as he could remember of what his old teacher, Mrs. Trunchbull, had said about writing a proper business letter.
'It has recently come to my attention that virtually every old wizarding family engages your services in managing their money. I don't know if this is the case for me, but if it is, I would like to know who to refer my business dealings to. I have something that needs to be handled discreetly and could certainly make use of their services, should that person exist at all. If such a person does not already exist then I would like to see about setting something like that up.'
Looking at it again, Harry thought he had covered the basics. There wasn't too much he could say though until he knew who he was dealing with, or if he was dealing with anyone at all. He couldn't really spell everything out before he knew if there was anyone on the other end who was actually listening.
One thing still bothered him though. He had been thinking back to whenever Uncle Vernon had to deal with banks and they had always made him come to them in order to discuss anything. Harry hoped it was to insure confidentiality and not so they could sit there silently judging you before turning you away. He supposed he might be able to get to London if Ron made good on his plan to invite him to stay, but even at the earliest it'd still be days away.
Harry took up his quill again to add one last line.
'While I understand that visiting a bank in person for such things is common, I live with muggles and am not able to visit Diagon Alley very often and would prefer them not to know that I have any money. I truly appreciate your help with these concerns.
Sincerely,
Harry Potter'
Having finished her meal, Hedwig hopped down onto the desk, obviously ready for her first delivery in months. Harry folded up the letter and fastened it to her leg before a brainwave struck.
"Oh, hang on a minute. I've got something else for you too," Harry said.
Taking out a small bit of parchment, he quickly scratched out a blanket notice to his friends.
'Thanks so much for writing me and sorry for not responding sooner. Something odd happened which prevented me from getting your letters until just now. I'll tell you all about it when I respond to your actual letters here soon. I just wanted to let you know that I'm still alive and better now than I've been in weeks, so you can expect to see much more of Hedwig in the days to come.
Hope to see you again soon,
Harry'
He paused for a moment to consider. Just making the round trip to Ron and Hermione, with a quick stop at Gringotts, would probably take Hedwig until tomorrow afternoon to get back, which would mean he would be able to send her back out again tomorrow night or the next morning with replies to their actual letters. Adding a stop to Hogwarts just to let Hagrid know he was going to respond to his letter later would probably push that up to over two full days of flying.
As much as he liked Hagrid, Harry decided that he would have to wait. Once the lines of communication were open hopefully Ron would pull through with his plan and he'd be free from the Dursleys before he knew it. Staying with Ron would free Hedwig up for the longer trip to Hagrid.
With that in mind Harry addressed the note to Ron and Hermione and let Hedwig clasp it with her beak.
"The large one's for Gringotts," Harry yawned. "I'm not sure who's supposed to get it, or even if anyone's there at the moment, but I suppose there must be someone you can leave it with. The smaller one's for both Ron and Hermione. You might want to take it to Hermione first since Ron would probably bin it after reading it."
The owl simply stared at him a moment, as if he would be telling her the correct way to flap her wings next, before swooping silently into the night. Thinking that he might be more tired than he thought to do something so stupid, he decided to save his friends' letters until he was actually awake enough to recognize English as his native tongue.
Harry went to bed with five letters under his pillow and smiled as he drifted off to sleep. It hadn't turned out to be that bad a birthday after all.