July 1986

Tonks,

What the hell happened on the train?! No one will tell me a fucking thing. Eni, Charlie, Jonathan, and Maddison won't respond to my letters. I just want to make sure they are alright. Are you alright? The Prophet is shite at reporting and I can't leave this fucking castle.

Aaron


Hiya Aaron,

The Daily Prophet is fucking shite. Did I use those words right together? Sorry the others won't respond and you're left with me. I know we don't talk as much. The others were really bad off after the attack. I was, too. I think I was in shock for a few days.

The Prophet was right about the mud. It was so heavy and it just kept hitting the train. It COVERED everything. It came at us like a downpour. I wasn't worried until the windows broke. Then the mud flooded our compartment. Jonathan and Peter were inside with me. I was closest to the door. The mud hit fast. It pushed Jonathan and me into each other. I tried to open the door. I kept pulling, but there was already too much mud. I closed my mouth to keep it from going down my throat, but I gasped for air and sucked a bunch in anyway. Peter was under the seat. I think he was trying to get his wand out of his bag. I don't know if he ever found it. I lost sight of him when I was buried. If Charlie and Maddison didn't pull Jonathan and me out, we would have died with Peter.

I had a lot of mud go down my throat, but I got it all coughed out alright. Eni was unconscious when I last saw her. Maddison and a Sixth Year student carried her off the train. Maddison was all cut up and crying from seeing Peter. Jonathan had a lot of mud in his throat and had problems breathing. The healers held him back for awhile. Charlie was bad, Aaron. He wasn't hurt much, but he was the one who kept digging and trying to find Peter. We helped him pull out most of Peter's body, but he didn't stop, even after Jonathan and I realized Peter was dead. Charlie just kept digging. His hands were all torn up from it. Bill had to pull him away from Peter's body.

I don't think I am alright. When my mum got me back home, I stood under the water in the shower for hours. She had to pull me out. The mud was long gone. I just kept crying. It really messed me up, you know?

Write back. Writing this all down seems to help.

Tonks


Tonks,

What you wrote was so much worse than anything I've heard from the people here or read in The Prophet. I'm glad you weren't killed in that compartment. I would have been in shock, too. I imagine it will take a while before you feel like anything will be alright again. Write me as much as you need to.

It's not fucking fair. Peter was starting to feel like one of us. He was finally hanging out with us outside of classes and giving us shite. He even told Rhodus off a few weeks ago. It was great. I can't believe he's dead.

Thanks for responding. I'm glad you're alive. We should talk more.

Aaron

P.S. Your muggle swearing is FUCKING excellent.


Charlie,

You don't have to respond. Tonks told me what happened on the train. I'm really fucking sorry.

Aaron


Aaron,

Sorry it took me so long to respond. I have felt really awful since the train. Maddison's family has been taking us out to the movies and shops, trying to show us a good time, but neither of us are enjoying it. I keep thinking, what's the point? Why the fuck did Peter have to die on the train? Who the hell wanted us all dead so bad? Should we even go back to school? Is it safe?

Maddison says hi. She says she'll try to write before the summer is over. I wouldn't hold your breath. She's trying not to think about Hogwarts or magic or anything until we have to go back in September.

I have to tell you something that happened on the train. Charlie, Maddison, and I were pinned down in one of the aisles during the attack. We were going to die, Aaron. There was so much mud and we couldn't breathe. So, I reached out, thought PROTEGO, and projected a shield WITHOUT A WAND. It must have been the fear or the stress. I was able to keep the shield up long enough to get us back to the compartment where the others were trapped. It took so much out of me. I collapsed. I never even saw Peter's body. Maybe that was for the best.

I wish you were here. I can't always talk to Maddison. It makes me feel lonely.

Eni


Eni,

YOU USED NON-VERBAL HAND MAGIC?! That's brilliant! They say that's really hard to do. Few witches and wizards can even manage it. Even if it was the fear and the stress, that's amazing!

If you don't feel like you can enjoy anything, I feel like that is normal after something like this. I haven't felt right after I heard about what happened to all of you and saw that Peter was killed. I keep thinking the same things. Who would have done this? What the fuck kind of people kill kids on a train?

I haven't been through what the rest of you went through, but I feel so angry about all of it. No one is around to talk to here, either. Filch put me to work cleaning the classrooms and organizing the storage closets. It distracts me, so I work late to keep my mind off the train.

I wish I was there, too. You're not the only one who's lonely.

Aaron


Hiya Aaron,

Have you heard from Charlie? He still won't write me back. I know he's blaming himself for what happened with Peter, but there's nothing he could have done. I told him as much in my last letter.

I'm still not alright myself. I keep having dreams where I feel like I can't breathe and there's mud in my throat. I try to reach for Peter across the compartment and wake up grasping at the air. I feel so terrible about all of it. My dad wants to take me to see a therapist and my mum keeps slipping Draught of Peace into my tea. Nothing helps.

I'm glad you like my fucking muggle swearing! Teach me more when we are back in school, alright?

Tonks


Aaron,

I'm sorry, too.

Charlie