December 18, 2022

"Still nothing on those damn Circle members," Lucy said, crushing that morning's Prophet into a large ball and throwing it into the fire. Louis glanced over at her, and she sighed. "What?"

"You don't usually care about current events," said Hugo absentmindedly. He had a book open on the arm of his chair - no doubt something about the First or Second Wizarding War - but his attention seemed divided between the book and his cousins. Louis was surprised that Hugo was actually talking to people when there was a book in front of him. He read more voraciously than some of the Ravenclaws.

"This isn't just current events," Lucy said. "There's practically a war on."

Louis didn't really want a reminder of that. All of these things that had recently happened with the Circle - especially the attack on Hogwarts - only served to worry Louis. He wasn't like Lily or James, who would happily join the Aurors and fight. He was scared of what might happen - to his family, to his friends, to him. He had spent his childhood believing that his generation was safe - that the only Dark wizards and witches they would have to worry about were the random occasional criminals that popped up from time to time, never posing too much of a threat. He wished that he could still believe in that naive view; he wished he still had that sort of innocence.

A part of him - a part that was bigger than he wanted to admit to anyone - worried about Michelle. So far, Muggles seemed to be safe from the Circle's attacks; after all, the Circle's attacks all seemed to revolve around gaining information about the secret inner workings of Wizarding Britain, and Muggles wouldn't have any sort of information. Rationally, Louis knew that Michelle should be safe - what would the Circle want with a barely-sixteen-year-old Muggle? Still, Louis couldn't help but be worried. Michelle would be completely defenseless if the Circle broke into her house; she wasn't even physically fit enough to make a good run for it, even though Louis hated to think that way. And if they used her as bait...

Louis shook his head to clear it. He was being ridiculous. Michelle was completely safe. There was absolutely no reason why the Circle would go after her - after all, the only person they could use her as bait for would be Louis, and there was no reason why the Circle would want to go after him, either. Even still, he couldn't help but worry about her, more so than any of his relatives. At least they were all magical; they could defend themselves against an intruder.

There was a lull in the conversation, and he pulled her letter out to reread it. She had sent it just this morning; since classes had ended barely a half hour ago, he hadn't gotten a chance to respond. He had glanced at the letter quickly at breakfast, but he hadn't had too much time then, either; for some reason, the owl had dropped off the letter when there was barely any time left for breakfast, when everybody was getting ready to leave.

Dear Louis,

You'll be coming home soon for Christmas holidays, I'm guessing - I know Hogwarts does follow a relatively normal schedule. We have to get together sometime during the holidays. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are bad, and so is Boxing Day. We always have family over. But maybe later in the week - my cousins and aunts and uncles never stay past the twenty-sixth, so I'll be free for the rest of the week. You could come over my place, if you still haven't told your parents about me. Kind of funny, me sneaking around - or, well, encouraging you to sneak around. Never would have expected that from myself.

I still want you to meet Eric. I think you'll get along great with him! He's a great bloke. And, the nice thing is, I won't have to worry about being bored while you two talk about football, since I know for a fact you don't pay attention to Muggle sports. Seems like any time Eric is around another bloke, they talk football, but I guess you'll be the exception.

You better have stories about Hogwarts when you come to see me. I'm eagerly waiting to hear them all! I want to know more about your life - everything seems so interesting. I'll see you soon!

-Michelle

Louis felt torn. On one hand, he adored Michelle's enthusiasm in the last paragraph, and how - earlier in the letter - she was asking him to come over so that they could see each other over the holidays. On the other hand...Eric. Stupid Muggle Eric. If Louis heard - or, well, saw - the name 'Eric' one more time, he was going to punch something.

He couldn't stand how jealous he was feeling. There was absolutely no way that he could fancy Michelle. She was supposed to be a close friend, a pen pal that he saw occasionally and wrote constantly. That was supposed to be it. How on earth could he fancy someone who he hadn't seen in months?

Yet somehow, it seemed, he did.

It was interesting, also. Michelle wasn't like any of the other girls he had dated. Louis had never dated anybody seriously before - for one thing, he was only a fifth year, and he hadn't been able to even find anybody that he thought was interesting enough to have a long-term relationship with. All of the girls he had dated were conventionally beautiful, popular, and not extremely smart. Michelle, on the other hand, was a bit of a loner at school; she had complained about the people at her school often enough for Louis to assume she didn't get along with any of them. She was definitely intelligent, with a curious, inquisitive mind. She wasn't conventionally pretty, either - short and plump, the opposite of any of Louis's exes.

He stared at the letter again, hating the realization that he fancied her. He really wished that he could decide who he fell in love with - it would be so convenient if that were the case. If he never had to get jealous over someone's boyfriend, or wonder if they fancied him back...it would be a much more pleasant world.

Lucy and Hugo struck up a conversation about writing; he could hear them discussing chapters and points of view and keeping to one tense and all of these other things that Louis didn't give a damn about. Al wandered off, also uninterested, which gave Louis a perfect time to compose a reply to Michelle, since everyone else was otherwise occupied. He found a quill, ink, and spare parchment, and settled down at one of the tables to write her back.

It took some time to come up with a response. Writing back seemed harder now; he felt like he had to second-guess every word and phrase to ensure that he wasn't coming across as too eager to see her, or jealous of Eric. More than once he abandoned a half-finished draft and crumpled it into a ball to throw in the fire later, like Lucy's Prophet, but after some time he composed a response that he was at least partially satisfied with.

Michelle,

Yeah, I'll be coming home in a few days, thankfully. Always nice to have a break from school, of course. Yeah, sure, getting together sounds great! Your place probably would be better. I haven't explained to my parents - or any of my aunts and uncles - that you know about, well, us. I really don't know how to tell them yet. I don't think they'd be furious with me, but it might be a bit of a fuss that I broke the Statute of Secrecy for someone I haven't known a very long time. What date is best for you? I don't really have a lot going on after Christmas Day, so whenever you're free should be fine.

You're right - I don't know a thing about football. Well, I know the very basics of how to play, I suppose, but I don't have a clue what teams there are or who's actually talented or anything like that. I guess that won't be a topic of conversation.

Don't worry - there's always stories from Hogwarts, it seems. Never a boring year - there's always something to talk about. I'll see you soon!

Feeling particularly bold, he had added 'Looking forward to it!' before signing his name. He threw the abandoned drafts in the fire; it sparked up, and he headed off to the Owlery to send the letter. He hadn't been lying; he really was looking forward to seeing Michelle again. He only hoped that the same was true for her.