for ami because i wouldn't have written these characters without you :p it's not quite them dating, but i hope you enjoy it, anyway
thanks to lumi and ck for betaing!
prompts at the bottom
2184 words by google docs
Dear Daphne Greengrass,
I think this diary belongs to you. It has your name on it, at least. I found it after Transfiguration class; you left in on your desk. Yes, it might be a little strange to be writing you a whole letter and send it back by owl but we're in different houses and I don't know how Slytherin feels about Hufflepuffs coming over.
Well, here you go.
Sincerely,
Susan Bones, Hufflepuff House
…
Susan—
Thank you for returning my diary. Most of my friends with would've kept it to blackmail me. It was refreshing to see that not everyone is awful, really.
Honestly, I've been sitting in my room for a good ten minutes thinking about how to write this letter to you. I think I've started it over at least five times. Not even exaggerating.
I'm going to ask you a question, and I really need you to be honest with me. If the answer if yes, I don't know what I'll do, really.
Okay. Here's the question: did you read my diary when you found it?
Thank you, though, once again.
—Daphne
…
Dear Daphne,
If your friends would blackmail you with your diary, are they even your friends? All of my friends would return it straight away. Maybe I can introduce you to my friends; it seems like you may need some new ones.
Also, no, I did not read your diary. Why would I? I swear, if this is another thing your supposed 'friends' would do, I'm going to march over the the Slytherin table during the next meal and drag you over to my friends. Nobody deserves to have that bad of friends.
Sincerely,
Susan
…
Susan—
I got the answer I wanted, so I don't even know why I'm writing back to you right now.
I guess it's to put two things straight. Number one: yes, my friends would keep it and read it because that's what Slytherins do. We use others weaknesses against them. Second: I don't want your friends. I am not going to be friends with a group of Hufflepuffs. I am a Slytherin. Snakes eat badgers for breakfast.
Please don't come to the Slytherin table; I think my friends would tease me for months on end.
—Daphne
…
Dear Daphne,
There were so many things wrong with your letter.
First of all, have you ever heard of a honey badger? Because honey badgers eat snakes. Venomous snakes, actually. So you're wrong about who eats who.
Secondly—your friends are not real friends! What type of friend would blackmail you? What type of friend would read your personal thoughts? What type of friend would tease you for being friends with someone else? I'm shaking my head while writing this, so please imagine me doing that, even though I'm not sure you even know exactly who I am. I know who you are. That's not supposed to sound stalkerish, I swear. I'm going to stop writing this paragraph now.
Thirdly, I'm not going to lie—I'm slightly interested about what's in your diary now, and why you want to keep it such a secret. I know that it's none of my business, but you can tell me if you want to. Hufflepuffs are loyal. I'm not going to spread your secrets around. I know I'm overstepping here, and I'm sort of hoping that you won't even read this letter and I can stop embarrassing myself even further. I am here if you need someone to write to.
Fourthly, and lastly, you can sign your letters with 'sincerely'. I might be a badger and you might be a snake, but I promise that I won't bite if you're sincere with me. You can also start your letters with 'dear'. It's fine, I promise. You feel very formal, and I don't like that.
Sincerely,
Susan
…
Dear Susan,
Are you happy? Look, I started my letter with 'dear'! Amazing. Be proud of me.
I'm sorry, I don't really spend a lot of time reading about wild animals, so I never knew that badgers eat snakes. That's really disturbing to think about—a Hufflepuff eating a Slytherin?—but I'm wondering how you knew. Do Hufflepuffs spend time talking about how you guys could eat us?
I have written my thoughts in my diary, to say the very least. I write everything in there. If someone that wasn't a Hufflepuff got ahold of it, I could be killed. Literally. I shouldn't be writing this right now, even, but the Dark Lord would have a reason to kill my entire family, or at least hurt us badly.
I have to be honest here—I have spent the last few days looking over at the Hufflepuff table and trying to figure out who you are, but I don't know. I guess I don't pay much attention to the other houses, which sounds really bad of me. We have Transfiguration together, right? Where do you sit there? It's not like I really care, of course, but it'd be nice to visualise you.
Sincerely,
Daphne
…
Dear Daphne,
Yes, I am proud of you! Good job; you're learning.
I'm wondering about something you probably won't answer, but I'll ask anyway: do you actually dislike You-Know-Who? Are you actually thinking for yourself? I know that I'm a Hufflepuff and Hufflepuff aren't supposed to believe stereotypes, but I honestly thought that you were like the rest of them—following your parents blindly. I guess you're different.
Of course, you could just be talking about your crush in there. I don't know, and I'm pretty sure you won't tell me.
In Transfiguration, I sit right at the front—I'm the ginger next to Hannah Abbott, who has blond hair. I think I'm the only ginger in that class, so I should be easy to spot. Give me a wave!
Sincerely,
Susan
…
Dear Daphne,
So, I'm assuming that I'm right. I mean, you haven't written me in three weeks. It's actually sort of depressing. I thought we were friends.
I'm assuming that I'm right about my gut feeling about your diary, because of another gut feeling: you're the kind of person who shuts down when confronted with something. That's okay. I don't care if you do want to think for yourself—that's great! Honestly, I'm proud of you. Why are so many of us only thinking what our families want us to think? We should be able to think for ourselves.
If you want to fight against You-Know-Who, I'm not going to be upset at that. In fact, I'll be proud of you.
Love,
Susan
…
Dear Susan,
'Love'? When did that start happening? I wasn't even aware of the fact that we were friends. Now you 'love' me? You haven't even talked to me in real life, only in these letters.
Also, stop.
I am perfectly capable of thinking for myself. I don't know what type of people you talk to, but all of my friends and I can think for ourselves, thank you very much. We are brought up with these views of what an ideal wizarding world is, yes, but we can choose what we want to believe for ourselves. We don't have to think the same thing our parents think. We can believe whatever we want. We're not some brainwashed children that don't have our own opinions.
You got that?
That being said, yes, a lot of us do follow the Dark Lord. 'Why, if we can think for ourselves?' you might ask. Well, because have you ever considered this: maybe the Dark Lord has the right idea. He's not about killing all of the Muggles, but his ideal is a Wizarding World where wizards don't have to hide our magic. Honestly, it's frankly annoying that I can't clean the lint from my shirt in public with my wand because the random Muggle nearby might see me? And what will even happen if he sees me? He'll combust?
It sounds stupid, the whole Statue of Secrecy, right?
Once again, I contradict myself.
Because the truth is, Susan, I don't like that. I do understand why we have that—the Muggles will be flocking to us every moment and asking us to solve all of our problems. I'm not happy about it, but it's a good point. I wish things could change, but I know that the Dark Lord's way of dealing with it won't work.
And I hate that, even if I don't agree with my parents, I'll probably be forced to take the Dark Mark, anyway. I'm scared of that.
There's my huge secret. That's what I write about in my diary.
Happy?
This letter doesn't even make sense. Merlin.
—Daphne
…
Dear Daphne,
I don't get it. One second you're the coldest person in the world and the next you're pouring your heart out to me. I'm trying to understand you, I really am, but you really confuse me.
Yes, I said 'love'. I'm sorry if I offended you. I usually sign off my letters with 'love'. It was an instinct.
No, that's a lie. Sorry. I don't usually lie. The truth is that I tell my friends I love them. That's the type of person I am. I thought that we were becoming friends, but I guess I'm wrong.
Another thing I don't understand about you: why are you so scared to think for yourself? It's not bad to want to do the right thing. It's not even bad to not know what the right thing is. I might not know a lot of things, but that's one thing I do know. I'm sure of it. I'm not the only Hufflepuff in my family; most of my family was in Hufflepuff. It might be a really cliche Hufflepuff thing to say, but I believe that one thing. My family has instilled that in me.
Even if you do decide you want to follow You-Know-Who, fine. I'll still be your friend. That's what friends do.
I like writing to you, Daphne. I like being your friend. I hope that we can continue to be friends. I hope that you continue to be my friend, even if you think we'll never be friends.
I'm going to sign this letter with 'love'. You know why? Because I know that you don't know what to think about the war and what side you're on but I want you to know that I'm sitting here, writing this letter to you, and I'm thinking about you and I'm your friend and I don't understand you completely, but I care about you and I love you. That's that. We. Are. Friends.
Love,
Susan
…
Dear Susan,
You sound like a Gryffindor. I'm sorry, it's just a very Gryffindor thing to push your way into someone's life.
But thank you.
I guess that it's this: all my life I was there to fend for myself. Yes, I had my parents. Yes, I had my sister. Yes, I had my friends. For the most part, though, I only had myself. I was taught in this world that it's eat or be eaten, that it's every man for himself. I guess that I still believe that. You said that most of your family was in Hufflepuff? Well, most of my family was in Slytherin. They've instilled that in me. I don't have friends, really; friends will weaken you, strike down your defences. They'll distract you from your goal and then stab you in the back.
I guess if I'm being honest with myself, I don't know how to have friends, or at least the type you're talking about. Friends that will be your friends no matter what, even if you have different views than them.
That seems a little bit too good to be true.
At the same time, I've been thinking a lot about life, and how short it is, and how I want to morals. How can you be so good at them? You seem so nice, so pure. A Hufflepuff.
Katie Bell, a girl I don't even know, almost died a week ago, and here I am, sitting in my green robes and writing this letter to you and I don't know if that was because one of my friends. A friend of mine could've caused that. What side am I supposed to be on if my supposed friend almost murdered someone? My parents probably have murdered people. The blood probably taints their hands, too.
So I've been thinking about morals, but also about how short life is. Am I really going to live my life out without a true friend?
I want to be your friend, Susan. I really do.
Love,
Daphne
…
Dear Daphne,
Then why are we still writing letters?
I understand your fears. Believe it or not, I'm not all good morals. I get scared. I question myself. I want to be your friend. I want you to be mine.
Why is our friendship just writing letters, then? Meet me, after dinner, on the Astronomy tower.
Let's start something real.
Love,
Susan
…
Dear Susan,
Okay.
Love,
Daphne
for:
the houses competition [gryffindor, year 7, themed - [action] writing]
assignment 6 [history of magic, task 3 - write about someone who doesn't care about stereotypes]
writing club [days of the month - international women's day; lyric alley - i'll hold you close, i'll stay the course; liza's loves - write about a start]
st paddy's [the snakes of ireland]
jewelry [tourmaline - necklace]
cocktails [banana - no gryffindors]
caffeine awareness [bicerin]
40 days [only female characters]
c/p scavenger hunt [a gift to someone with no reason]