29th of September

Zoya,

Yeah, don't call him names. He's a proud bird. That's why I picked him. He pecked at all the other witches and wizards that called him Goliath/Fluffy/Big Guy or anything else. He had been there for a while, I guess. I got him for only 2 galleons! (Normally owls are 10 or more.) I named him Perseus (not because of the Percy Jackson series, but because I like that Greek myth and felt the name suited him.) He loves the name, when I called him by Perseus the first time, he sat straighter and preened his feathers.

No, we do not have electrical sockets here at Hogwarts, you silly muggle. This castle is old. Behind technologically by centuries. The whole wizarding community is. I groaned and complained to my dorm mates who all looked at me insane when I talked about the internet and video games. You'd think I'd told them I wanted to eat live spiders or something. I will definitely need batteries.

It would be really awesome to have a kind of shared common room, maybe I'll talk to the headmistress about it. I'm glad it isn't as segregated too, let me just tell you the Ravenclaws are really handy to have around when you just can't figure out the answer to a Transfiguration homework problem.

I'm glad gym is a bit more bearable for you now. Hopefully it will stay that way. However, why you enjoy that much physical activity will always be a mystery to me. Sweat? No thanks.

Flying is absolutely amazing! I'm getting much better, I asked the captain of the Slytherin quidditch team to help me practice. She says I'm on track to maybe be a keeper!

Quidditch is the biggest sport in the wizarding world. Kinda like soccer or American football. Only we play on broomsticks and there are three different balls and four positions to play. There is the quaffle which is like a soccer ball. Three chasers per team try to get the quaffle through the goal hoops on either end of the pitch. The goal hoops are protected by the keeper. You have a bludger which is a heavy, enchanted ball. It makes noise and acts like a kind of heat seeking missile, attempting to knock players off their brooms. Two players per team, called beaters, use little bats to knock the bludger towards the other team's members. Then you have the golden snitch. It is a tiny metal ball with wings. It flies around the pitch hiding from the seekers. The seekers' entire job is to find and catch the snitch. Once that is done, the game is over. So fun!

Albus is adorable with his messy black hair and green eyes. He's got an older brother in Gryffindor named James. James teased him pretty bad for the first few days, until his parents sent him a howler (an enchanted letter that actually yells at the recipient.) It's been fine since then, and hasn't received any other teasing since. Our other friend, Scorpius, is nice too. He's a bit distant at times, and sorta judgmental at others. He can't help it, though, and he's slowly getting better!

I'll tell you about the battle and my classes in my next letter. I lost track of time, I've been sitting in the library writing to you, but I'm nearly late for History of Magic (not that the professor would really notice, since he's a ghost, but still.)

~Morgan