Chapter 2: Letters

September 2nd 2016

Lucy was always a rather pensive child, she was always thinking about something and had a very active mind that seemed to many times focus singularly on the negative. The bed was different than the one at home, she had two roommates, and one of these roommates (she was not sure which one) snored. Loudly. She sighed and reached for the small table next to her bed. She felt the wand beneath her palm and clutched it tightly in her hand. If she had found her wand then the start of her letters could not be far away… Ah ha! Lucy brought the pieces of parchment to her and the necessary materials for writing a letter home. "Lumos," Lucy muttered as the tip of her wand lit.

It was still a marvel to Lucy, the way that it worked for her. Gramps said that wands were like an extension and physical form of one's power. He was a researcher into the origin of magical power, he could have been right about that and it seemed rather accurate to Lucy. She dipped her quill into her inkwell and continued her letter; maybe she could find the owlery later on.

Dear Mum and Dad,

Molly's letters did not do the castle justice; "beautiful" and "awe inspiring" are just not the words to use. You probably know what I mean, you were both here too. I have two roommates, one of them snores, and I'm not sure which one. Adelaide Armistead and Amita Adani are their names, they seem pleasant from what I've seen.

Oh, and Dad? I think Gramps will be by to collect his winnings when you get this. He was right, I got Gryffindor.

Love,

Lucy.

It was a little shorter then she would have liked, but she figured she had better give her dad a heads up about the sorting. He had ten galleons on her being a Ravenclaw like Molly and mum. Her father disliked surprises.

She took a deep breath as she looked over the letter again. She wanted to go home. Lucy sealed the letter in an envelope, addressed it and set it on her bedside table. The second letter was much like the first; only it was to Gramps and was shorter than the one to her parents. There really was not too much going on to tack anything else to either letter unless Lucy wanted to talk about her feelings. Lucy did not want to talk about her feelings.

Dear Gramps,

Congratulations! You just won ten galleons.

Love,

Lucy.

Lucy then placed this letter in the envelope as well, and placed it on her bedside table. Her eyes were heavy and sleep was coming quickly.


"Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts everyone, I am sure you are all very excited to be here!" The professor said loudly from the front of the room catching the attention of everyone in the classroom. He smiled; Lucy pegged him as a very happy fellow. "My name is Professor Sullivan, and it's obvious what I teach." He chuckled at his own joke and some of the kids smiled. "Yes, well, Defense is one the most involved classes you will have while you are at school. It will also be the one most likely to save your life." The class was silent as Sullivan continued to speak. "Anyone here can ask their parents about war, ask any of the professors here and they will tell you about the war and that you are attending school on an old battlefield. Lives were lost to dark magic, but with the right training, if you are ever involved in a life or death situation you chance of survival increases dramatically."

That speech sounded familiar to Lucy, parts of it anyway, like something Gramps would say. Though he would have added something about power and knowledge being nothing compared to cool heads and quicker wits. While power was helpful, it was not everything.

"Now, this week we are going to read the introduction chapter to the A Beginners Guide to Practical Defense Spell Work, and next week we'll do something practical." Sullivan smiled widened as the Gryffindors and the Slytherins reached for their books seeming to already be planning the ways they could kill each other in the following weeks.

Lucy raised her hand; she heard James and Fred whispering in the back of the class. Sadly, all three of them were in the same house. They would have the same lessons. Be in the same classrooms. Every. Day. It was already day one and Lucy was already thinking of ways to throw them off the Astronomy tower without anyone noticing. Well, someone would notice if the first-born sons of two famous wizards went missing. Lucy reasoned that she might want to find a place to hide out where they could not find her.

"Yes, Miss…"

"Lucy sir, what if we've already read though this year's material?"

The class was so silent Lucy could have heard a quill drop. Instead someone burst through the door loudly, causing the class to erupt in giggles.

"Sorry I'm late sir!" A boy said as he closed the door behind him. Ollie rushed over to the empty seat next to Lucy babbling about vindictive staircases, mean portraits, and a poltergeist. Lucy looked at him out of the corner of her pale gray blue eyes, Ollie Wood from what she had seen so far, was determined, happy, and quite possibly a nutcase. Lucy had seen him standing in front of the message board in the common room that morning searching in vain for an announcement about Quidditch tryouts. When he had grown tired of that, he had somehow made it down to breakfast to inhale what Lucy believed to be four eggs, seven pieces of bacon, and two pieces of toast.

"It's okay, just relax." Ollie smiled and took his book out of his bag and shot Lucy a wide grin. Lucy could not understand why he was being so nice unless James and Fred were looking for an inside man. It was fine if he was, Lucy did not have to trust him with her darkest secrets.

Sullivan turned his attention back to Lucy, "Just read along with everyone else for now, Miss Lucy, and I'll have an answer for your precocious reading next class."

Lucy liked being called Miss; it made her feel grown up. She had never been called Miss Lucy before, she liked that even better. She smiled for the first time all day and opened her book. She decided she liked Professor Sullivan.


Professor Waldrope's Transfiguration class was something very different. Where Sullivan actually had a promise of his class becoming more interesting, Waldrope had no such promises. The class sat in their seats the entire period and listened to him drone. It was like listening to Lucy's father while he was off about some paperwork about imports, which even Lucy found mildly interesting depending on how bad the rant was. This was something on an entirely new level that left Lucy wishing for one of her dad's unanimated complaints about the current state of cauldron bottoms. Well, maybe Lucy did not want to sink that low. She would have to find another option. Play sick maybe? Would not be too hard, she was sitting next to Fred. Father said motivation was very important if one wanted something, along with hard work, perseverance, and a few other things that Lucy could not remember right now.

She propped her head on her hand and continued taking notes while he rambled on and on about the syllabus for the next seven years of their schooling. He was interrupted by a firecracker that James had thrown under his chair causing the class to scream and the class to be evacuated. They missed the rest of class and were told to go ahead and get lunch.

Ollie walked with Lucy with a large grin on his face the entire time. Lucy watched him wearily out of the corner of her eye. He held the door to the Great Hall open for her and the smells of the food made her stomach rumble loudly. Homemade food…

She saw Victorie and Teddy talking over soup oblivious to James trying to get in on the conversation and steal Teddy's attention from his girlfriend. Dominique sitting at the other end of the table with some of her friends, Lucy could see Molly with the other Ravenclaws talking and laughing about something.

"Soup?" Ollie asked as he held the bowl out for Lucy. "How about this pasta, eh? You know, I think I'll try everything." Lucy raised an eyebrow as he reached for each platter that was within reach to put its contents onto his plate. When his plate was loaded with food, Lucy was fully confident that she would not lose a hand if she tried to load her plate with the pasta sitting next to her. She took small bites wanting to make the meal last, she still had to return the coat to Professor Hagrid, it was in her dorm and she had to go up to get it along with the letters she wanted to send to her family. She began eating faster so she could have time to do it before her afternoon study hall. "What are we doing after lunch again?"

"Study hall, but I need to run some errands."

Ollie perked up with interest, "What kind of errands? Can I come?"

"I just need to find the owlery and send a couple of letters and return the coat from last night. I just need to find out where the owlery is."

"Oh, I know where it is! I'll go with you."

"Really?" Lucy blinked. "We've been here less than two days and you know where everything is?"

"Not everything, I have a good sense of direction." Ollie smiled.

They soon finished their meal and walked up to the dorm to retrieve the items. The common room was full of people and Lucy managed to slip to the girls dorm unnoticed. Nobody really saw her creeping out with a large fur coat either. Lucy was not noticeable by any stretch of the imagination. It was a ten-minute walk down to the Great Hall where Ollie took over and led Lucy out onto the grounds.

There was a tower standing close to the castle with a path leading to it. Lucy looked up and noticed some owls flying around it. This was probably how Ollie knew where it was. He lead her up the stairs looking back occasionally with an 'I-told-you-so' smile. If it were James or Fred, Lucy would have been annoyed. With Ollie it did not have that cruel element, it was playful. The hoots and screeches grew louder, Lucy clutched her parcels tighter. Ollie opened the door and stepped inside. Lucy followed him, her jaw dropping at the sheer number of owls housed in this tower, Snowy, Barn, Grey, Screech, and Great horned owls. Lucy walked over to a barn owl and looked at it closely. She always thought they were pretty.

Lucy looked at the barn owl's leg to check for a school tag. No tag. She patted the owl softly before moving on to a great grey to look for the leg tag. She found one and tied the letter to her parents to his leg; she found one of the school's screech owls to take the other letter to Gramps.

The package with the coat in it was tied to the leg of another large Great Grey who looked quite pleased to have the job. He spread his wings wide, flapping excitedly.

And failed to get off the ground.

Ollie and Lucy watched the owl flap for a few moments as it tried to lift off without success.

"I think you might need another bird."

"I think so to."


Lucy was now on her way back from the owlery, Ollie had wandered off after smelling biscuits somewhere nearby. She looked at the staircases; tapping them nervously with her wand using a trick Gramps had shown her to reveal active magics before walking up. It seemed safe enough.

There was a kind of tittering laughter coming from behind her. She looked over her shoulder nervously, the owners of the laughter began to talk and Lucy began climbing the stairs faster. She turned and walked into the restroom, hiding in one of the stalls by climbing on top of the loo and pulling her knees to her chest just as the door opened. Lucy counted four different pairs of shoes in front of the restroom mirrors.

"Well, that was dull. What do you think Nerissa?"

"Ugh, I agree. Digging in the dirt for an hour was not my idea of a good time. It's all so boring."

A third voice spoke, "I don't know, Defense with the Gryffindors this morning was interesting. I can't believe that girl already read through that whole book, I didn't even understand the introduction chapter."

'Yeah, because you don't know how to read words longer than seven letters.' Lucy thought as she rolled her eyes. Dumb people had very little to offer her, Lucy liked to be stimulated.

"What a showoff," The first girl spoke again. "Makes the rest of us look like idiots on the first day, a teachers' pet for sure."

"And those eyes," the fourth girl said with and exaggerated shiver through her entire body. "She didn't look at any of you did she? No, well her eyes are so creepy. They're so pale, and she doesn't just glance at you either, she looks right at you for about thirty seconds. What a weirdo!"

Lucy bit her lower lip and clutched her knees a little tighter to her chest.

"What's her name again? I wasn't paying attention when Sullivan was calling roll." Nerissa asked idly as Lucy noticed her pulling a hairbrush out of her bag. "Lucia Wesley or something like that?"

"I don't know, all I know is that according to my dad, her father's some Ministry department head and her mother is some shop clerk who he can't find anything about. Not a name or a scrap a parchment." It was the first girl speaking again. "

"How do you know this stuff Imogen?"

"Mother likes to gossip, father likes to talk."

Lucy thought that that was one thing that one should never mention. Gramps always said that chatty people and gossips had brought many people to their deaths over the years. First thing he had really gotten angry with her about was talking about what went on in the shop with outsiders. He didn't yell, he just got stern and Lucy learned quickly that Septenary business was Septenary business only. Of course when she got older the secretive nature made more sense. Gramps was paranoid from his participation in three different wars, worried about Lucy's mum's safety, and his research falling into the hands of his rival, Cavan Toft. Lucy was not sure why he got so bent out of shape over her mum's safety though; mum never did anything risky, or anything that would be considered cool by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps the concern for her mum, Molly, and herself was some kind of protective instinct.

"Well, anyway," Imogen continued, "If we want to get good grades on any tests we might just have to copy off the resident know-it-all." She added this cruel little laugh at the end. "Come on, we have to go back to the dorm." Lucy heard the door close behind the girls loudly.

Lucy stayed in the stall and cried.

"I-I want to go," sniff, "h-home!"


Author's Note:

I think Lucy hit her breaking point a little early. But I don't imagine she's had too much contact with children who she has not grown up with. I think she's trying to learn how to make friends that she does not know through her parents or are relatives. I like her for the fact she is rather inept socially and everything goes back to the family with her, and she is a bit strange but doesn't really notice how strange she is. Ollie is the only person who is a complete stranger who completely latched onto her and may genuinely like Lucy for who she is. Lucy is confused by this behavior.

Bullying among girls is a more subtle style then when boys bully. Studies have shown that boys will beat up victims most of the time, while girls will talk about you behind your back. Starting rumors, rejection, and the like. The whole sticks and stones bit is a lie. Words do hurt; they hurt longer then a bruise from a fistfight. I think if I had the choice if I was going to bullied again, I'd rather get beaten up, just so I could have the whole self defense excuse when I fought back. Four years of martial arts, the other guy won't come out looking to pretty. But I am a girl and as such will and have been bullied verbally in such a way.

And yes, all children at some point think their parents are boring. How right the child is, is up for debate.

Heh, Lucy and Ollie ship name is Lollie.