Dear Calla,
Hi! This is Ginny, from the train station. I'm really happy to write you! I've never had a pen-pal before. I'm sending this on yellow parchment to match the flower I gave you. I'm at the burrow with my mum and da. I hope you visit someday. This year is my last year before Hogwarts so I'm practicing extra hard. Every day I go for a jog around the nearby woods, and then I use a stick I found and whittled down to practice my sword-fighting! My brother Charlie takes care of dragons on a reserve, so I'd never hurt one for real unless I had to, but I like to pretend I'm slaying a dragon like y a hero from a storybook. Mum makes me practice knitting with her as well, and I used to not like it at all but now I think it's alright. I'm knitting you a scarf soon, so tell me what house you're in so I can do the right colors.
Your friend,
Ginny

Dear Ginny,
Hello. I've never written a letter before. I'm bad at quills so sorry for the handwriting. I got sorted into Slytherin and your brother said not to write you. If you don't want to be friends anymore I'll understand.
I'm Sorry,
Calla Lily Potter

Dear Calla,
I don't care! My brother is an idiot. I'm knitting you a green and grey scarf because we don't have silver yarn. I'm making it extra long for you to stay warm or strangle my brother. I won't mind. Today mum made me de-gnome the garden. I made it fun by using it to practice my aim and throwing. Now, I'll be able to aim my spells better and throw rocks at people better. Fred and George said they were going to send me a toilet seat but they haven't so I don't have any souvenirs from Hogwarts. You should pick a flower and press it and send it! I'm sending on some dandelions I found in the garden that I pressed in an old cook book. Now you'll have a souvenir from the Burrow. I hope you like them! What are your classes like? How is it being in Slytherin? Are you having fun? How is your owl and what is hi he their name? I like owls a lot but I don't think I'll ever get a pet until I'm grown up. Your owl is super pretty.
Your friend,
Ginny

Dear Ginny,
Hedwig is a girl owl and she's very pretty. She says thank you for the compliment. I found a daisy like the ones on the dress you were wearing and I put it between the pages of my history textbook. I sent it in the envelope with this letter. I love learning magic more than anything. I didn't know about magic until a few weeks ago, so I'm not very good. Right now my favorite class is charms because we're making things float. Slytherin is okay I guess. My dorm mates mostly leave me alone. I like my bed. Exploring the castle is very fun. I can walk around by myself for hours, and the portraits and suits of armor keep changing. This is the most beautiful place I've every been. It's also really nice having a friend even if you're not here. When you come you can visit Hedwig as much as you want. What are you doing at home? Are your mum and dad nice? Is it very beautiful? What's it like to live in a magical house? Also what do you like to do for fun? I like reading and exploring and, now, pressing flowers. Thank you for getting me to try it.
Your friend,
Calla

Dear Calla,
I'm super happy today! Mum made my favorite for breakfast. Waffles with strawberries! I'm not a good cook and she likes me to help her cook so we usually don't make waffles. Also, I finished your scarf. I really hope you like it! It took me forever to get it perfect. Da said he'd never seen me make something so nice. Mum and Da are really busy, having so many kids and all, but they're pretty great. I'm sorry about yours. Is your family nice? I don't know who you live with. Are they muggles? I can't really imagine living in a house without magic. I guess there's a lot of things I take for granted. In my house we use magic for lots of things, like doing the dishes and knitting and cleaning and talking from far away and traveling. Everything we do uses a little bit of magic. To be honest, I think that everything is a little magic because we're magic, and so if we're there then we make it magical. It's like pressing flowers makes them last longer, but then when we do it they have a little of our magic pressed into them. I guess that sounds a bit silly. I just really like the daisy you sent me. I can almost smell it still. I'm looking forward to Halloween in a few weeks. It's my job to rake leaves so then I can jump into the piles. Then I have to clean them up all over again, but it's worth it. I've been reading about Slytherin and ambition and cunning and I think it sounds pretty great. Merlin was in Slytherin, you know. Also cunning means being really clever really fast especially with people and ambitious means wanting to be the best you can be. You must be both of those things, which makes a lot of sense because you're really cool. Don't tell anyone no matter what, but I think being in Slytherin would be pretty cool. Then we'd be able to spend lots of time together. This year I'm working extra hard to be the best I can be, and also to be clever about how I talk to mum and da. I'm planning to try and be cunning when I ask them about what chores I need to do. Then, with less chores, I'll have more time to practice with my sword-stick and read about spells. I can't wait to show you everything I can do. Only ten more months to go! Maybe less if we can visit over the summer. I could show you the woods around my house. There's lots of leaves and squirrels and hills. There's a stream nearby that me and my brothers like to play in during the summer. Lots of dandelions grow around it. Please let me know if you like the scarf and what's happening in your life. My brothers told me first year can be hard, but I'm your friend and I'm here to help. I hope you're okay.
Your very best friend,
Ginny

Dear Ginny,
There was a troll in the castle! I didn't go to the feast because I don't like Halloween much and I was walking down a hallway in the dungeons and it just turned a corner and saw me. I knocked it out with a levitation charm on its club and then I threw up. Everyone has been whispering and pointing at me all the time and I hate it. I'm sorry to write all this to you but I can't sleep. It's two in the morning while I write this. I've had a nightmare every night and I can't stop shaking. I still love magic, but I think it can be either good or bad. Or neither. The troll was just really confused. I feel bad that someone brought it into the castle where it didn't want to be. Real bad magic would be like what happened to my parents.
I'm real sorry I'm just so tired. Your letters are the only thing I look forward to other than homework. Not that your letters are like homework! It's just you said I could tell you things. I haven't had somebody I could tell things before.
Your house sounds so amazing. Magic would have made my life so much better with my relatives. They're muggles, so we don't live near any forests or streams or anything beautiful. I can't really think of anything I like about the muggle world. I don't really like my relatives, even. That sounds pretty mean but they just really don't like magic so its hard to live with them.
Sword fighting sounds super cool. I couldn't ever do anything like that. You must be super strong and clever. And brave. Like your brothers in Gryffindor. I think you'd be really happy there. Slytherin isn't a place for good people. You should be somewhere better. People say I'm in Slytherin because I'm evil. I think they might be right. I killed the troll, Ginny. Murder is really really bad. Please don't try to be in Slytherin. If you still want to be friends with me after you go to Gryffindor then I'll be happier than I've ever been in my whole life.
Everything about your life sounds heavenly, Ginny. I wish I could be where you are. Then we could go play in the stream together.
Your best friend,
Calla

Dear Calla,
You are not evil! Stop being stupid. Slytherin cannot have just evil people, because that's not what ambition and cunning means. Also, you're in Slytherin and you're the goodest person I've ever known. I can tell because you've been a really good friend and you're so nice. You're better at knowing good and bad than I am. You're guilty about the troll but I'm glad you killed it because it means you're safe. I'm working extra hard at swords and spells now so that, next time, I can take on the troll for you! You shouldn't always have to be the hero. I'm going to be better, and then I can stand by your side as the best 'best friend' ever. That's my ambition.
Do me a favor. When I can't sleep, I always feel better after a chamomile tea with milk and gingersnaps. My older brothers Fred and George told me that there's a portrait near the Hufflepuff dorm of a bowl of fruit. If you tickle the pear you can get into the kitchen and the house elves will give you a snack any time of the night. I'm pretty sure the twins were telling the truth but if they were lying please be careful! Cunning means being suspicious of what people tell you, especially if they're pranksters like my brothers.
Mum let me buy a flower at the market and I bought a Calla Lily. Just like your name. I pressed it and put it in this envelope. It's so beautiful how they look like stained glass water pitchers. They're my new favorite flower.
Next week Mum, Da and I are going to Romania to visit my brother Charlie until after Christmas. You know Charlie, the one that works with dragons? He's super cool. I'm gonna get him to teach me all sorts of amazing magic and fighting. I'll send my present a little early so that you'll get it for sure. My mum also made you a gift but you don't need to get her anything. After I get home I'm going to send you tons of pictures.
Your loving bestie,
Ginny

Dear Ginny,
I hope you're having a good Christmas in Romania. Dragons sound really amazing. I bet you could fight a dragon like your brother, especially after all of your practice.
I loved your gift. I don't know how you got the flowers charmed to stay fresh but they're beautiful. I hope you like the gifts I sent. I wanted to get your mum and da something but I couldn't think of anything at all.
Your tip about the kitchens was right. I'd never had ginger snaps before but they're the best. They're a really pretty color and they're super warm and comforting. I'm okay at making cookies so I'm going to learn how to make them and then, next year, you can try them and tell me how they could be better until I have them just right. Then we can both sleep better.
It's been real nice here with everybody gone. The girls in my dorm aren't around to talk to me anymore. It makes it a lot easier to shower and brush my hair. I haven't cried since they left!
It's hard to believe the year is half over. School feels like it's barely happened at all, but I feel like I've known you forever. It's strange.
Strange things are happening here. There's a forbidden corridor with a three-headed dog. It's guarding a trap door of some kind. Hagrid, the grounds-keeper, let slip that it's the thing that he picked up from Gringotts the day he came to fetch me. He also let slip that the thing has something to do with Nicholas Flamel. I've been trying to find out what it could be. My scar, on my forehead, it hurts sometimes for no reason except it only seems to happen when I'm around certain people. Snape has a bite on his leg he got the same night someone let the troll into the castle and the bite is shaped like a massive dog's bite. Also I saw something horrible. Something I'll never forget.
I got detention for being out past curfew. Hagrid took me and three other students, one was Ron, into the forbidden forest. He sent me with his dog and a boy I don't know to look for a dead unicorn. Something's been hunting them. We found one. There was a man-thing on it sucking its blood. My scar burned worse than I've ever felt. It was the worst thing I've ever seen. The boy and dog ran but I couldn't move. A centaur came and rescued me. He told me that unicorns are pure, and killing one is one of the baddest things possible. He told me that drinking unicorn blood would save your life from almost anything, but that you'd be cursed to a half-life, a cursed life. I believe it. I love magic, Ginny, because there's so much beauty and happiness and I finally know something about my parents. Also, I have a friend who's the best ever because of magic. But I think the magical world is terrifying. Being alone was bad with the muggles, but being alone here makes me think that I'm going to die. If I die soon, Ginny, I want you to have everything of mine. You're the only person in the world who likes me and you're the best person I've ever known. You make me feel safe. I think your magic is the best magic.
Ever yours,
Calla