"Well now that's a sight to behold!" Maya's father exclaimed as he laid eyes on the shiny red locomotive in front of him.
"Dear Lord..." her mother quietly said, looking back at the wall behind them. "So this really is it, huh..."
"I still had my doubts myself but now... Well, we just walked straight through a wall", her father added, his mustache quivering, before lowering his gaze to look at his daughter. "We're really proud of you, dear."
Maya smiled shyly, then looked away. She couldn't let her parents see the fear in her eyes, the absolute terror that she had been feeling ever since her letter arrived, a few months earlier, the way her insides were torn apart every time she though of the unknown that now filled her future. Maya would've given anything to be a normal middle schooler like anyone else, but that now was out of the question, and she had to live with it. Her parents had told her thousands of times...
She was special.
She couldn't let this pass.
She HAD to go to this terrifying school, far far away from home.
Chickening out now and making a scene wouldn't help. Quite the opposite in fact, it would only cause disappointment and embarrassment. That was out of the question.
Just as she had regained her compsure, something suddenly hit her in the back, pushing her against her suitcase. She toppled over it and fell on the ground, along with the thing – the person..? - who had seemingly pushed her.
"Are you okay? Oh dear, I'm so sorry!" a blonde girl, about Maya's age, said while getting back up on her feet, before holding out her hand and helping Maya do the same, still apologizing all along. The girl's nose seemed to be bleeding a bit.
"I'm fine, thank you", she smiled. Upon hearling that, the girl seemed a bit relieved.
"Are you out of your mind?! Can't you watch where you're going eh?", her father asked angrily, picking up the suitcase which had fallen along.
"I'm so so sorry!" the girl pleaded, distraught. "I was walking out of the wall and you were suddenly right in front of me which took me by surprise and I couldn't sto..."
"You'd better be careful next time, young girl. Most people would be way less amicable than we are given the fact that you just hurt our daughter" Maya's mother warned, her eyes cold. The young girl gulped before looking down.
"Yes m'aam. Thank you." She glanced at Maya and added quickly "I'm Leigh, nice to meet you. And sorry again about..."
She vaguely gestured toward the spot where she fell, her sentence in mid-air, before finally closing her mouth. And off she was, walking towards the train, her own suitcase trailing behind her.
"Are you sure you're okay, dear?"
"I'm fine, Mom. Really, I'm not even scratched"
Her mother heaved a sigh of relief, before adding:
"I swear those kids nowadays..."
"Yes, I swear I'll write to you every week! Don't worry I'll be careful! I... What? Yes, I swear!" Maya yelled, her head craned into the open window, trying to understand what her parents were telling her over the hissing noises. "Come on, there won't be any seats left, I have to go! Yes, bye!"
She waved, then pulled her arm back into the train car and closed the window. The warmth on the inside was a welcome contrast to the cold on the outside.
Maya looked around her, apprehensive. Everybody seemed joyful at least, so there was that. The school musn't be too bad, hopefully. She trailed along the car, trying to find an empty spot for her to sit down but as she feared, every compartment was full. She continued walking towards the back of the train.
After a few minutes, she finally distinguished free spots through the opaque glass of the sliding door. Only one person seemed to be inside. She knocked, then slowly slid the door open and peeked inside.
"Hi, can I sit he... Oh, hello again!"
"Hi!" Said the girl from earlier, who was padding her nose with a tissue. Her face shone as she recognized who was standing in front of her. "A friendly face! Well, not that we've known each other for long but..."
"We had kind of a rocky encounter, I couldn't have forgotten already", Maya smiled.
"Please, sit!"
"Thanks", she said as she did so. "How's your nose?"
"Nevermind my nose, I'm responsible for this. How are you, have I hurt you?"
"No, I'm fine, don't worry. And to be honest, we are responsible for this. We should've moved instead of staying in the way, you couldn't have known."
"Yeah, I... guess. I'm still glad that you're fine though. And as for my nose, it's not that bad, really. It happens often"
They stayed silent for a few moments.
"What's your name again? You told me earlier on the platform but I don't remember..."
"Leigh", the girl smiled behind her tissue. "Leigh Lowden. And you are?"
"Maya. Jaydown."
"Lowden and Jaydown, we're meant to be friends!" Leigh said, joyful. Maya relaxed a bit.
"I hope it won't stain your clothes..." she said, pointing at her tissue.
"Oh no, don't worry, I'm careful. And even if it did, it's nothing magic can't fix, I guess."
Another silence. After a few seconds, Leigh reported her attention from the landscape to Maya.
"Say... I really REALLY don't want to sound rude or anything, but..." she seemed to hesitate.
"Ask away", Maya said, intrigued.
"What... exactly are you wearing..? I mean it looks good, don't get me wrong, but it's a bit out of place... Isn't it?"
Maya looked down at her pink laced dress, wondering what seemed so strange about it. Upon seeing her quizzical look, Leigh added:
"It looks... really old, and unpractical..."
"It's what my parents want me to wear, so I'm wearing it." Maya simply answered.
"Yeah but... Do you like it?"
"Well as you said, it's not very practical and it itches a bit, but uh... Well, I don't really have a choice so I got used to it"
"You don't have a choice?"
"It's what girls must be wearing, right?"
"Well, you can wear it if you want, but nobody can force you to wear clothes that you don't like"
"Yeah but I don't have a choice!" she repeated.
"Is that something that your parents told you?
"Yes, amongst other things." Maya started counting on her fingers. "Girls must wear dresses, be feminine, have long hair, aren't allowed to touch boys before they're of age, shouldn't use anything made for boys – pants, for example... The basics, really. Right..?" Maya stopped listing when she saw the expression of surprise on Leigh's face, her fingers still raised.
"Not... Really. I don't want to criticize your parents or anything, I don't know them, but they seem a bit old fashioned, aren't they?
"What do you mean by that?" Maya asked, confused.
"That kind of thing would've been considered true one or two centuries ago, but nowadays we act however we want. Look, I'm not wearing a dress. I'm pretty sure most of the girls you saw earlier didn't too"
Now that she thought about it, it was true that she had been the only one dressed this way. Just at that moment, a group of students passed in front of the still-open door and snickered while looking at her. Leigh got up and closed it.
"Why were they laughing? You mean that girls don't wear dresses?"
"You can wear what you want. They were laughing because that one seems overly... girly"
"My parents chose it for me"
"Yeah, I'm starting to see the pattern" Leigh sighed as she sat down again. "You know what, wear whatever you want. If with time you start to realize that you don't agree with them, good. Until then, don't worry about it, ok? You have all the time in the world."
Just then, the door swung back open and a girl with shoulder lenght dark red hair pranced in.
"Hi, you two! Mind if I sit down?" she asked, sitting down next to Leigh, not waiting for an answer. "There's no place elsewhere."
Maya and Leigh stared at her, surprised. The girl looked back anf forth between them, before adding:
"I'm Nicola. Nice to meet you!"
Leigh stared at her for a few more seconds before opening her mouth:
"I'm Leigh"
"Delighted, Leigh!" Nicola exclaimed, taking her hand with both of hers and shaking it vigorously. "And you are..?" she added. Leigh was still staring at their joined hands.
"I'm Maya, hi."
"Maya... You have a weird outfit, Maya" Nicola exclaimed, focused on Maya's dress.
"Yeah, I've been told so..."
"Her parents don't want her to wear anything else" Leigh said, looking back up.
"What a load of bullshit" Nicola proclaimed proudly, crossing her arms and leaning back into the padded seat. Leigh stared at her in awe.
The hat stopped singing.
In the newfound silence, Maya, Leigh and Nicola, huddled together, looked tentatively at the other students as the stern witch, who had previously introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, pulled out a piece of parchment.
"When I call your name, come here, put the hat on and sit on the stool to be sorted. Collins, Gareth!"
A young boy stepped up, walked to the stool, shove his head into the hat and sat. After a few seconds, the mouth-like rip opened again and...
"RAVENCLAW!" the voice echoed. Gareth stood up and walked towards the cheering table.
"So that's how the sorting works! I wonder if it really is sentient..." Nicola wondered, deep in thought.
"Garden, Alastair!"
"GRYFFINDOR!", the hat shouted this time.
"Harwick, Nicola!" Professor McGonagall called.
"Here!" Nicola perked up, trotting towards the stool. She smiled one last time at Maya and Leigh before the hat covered her face in shadow. After a few seconds...
"SLYTHERIN!"
Nicola lifted the hat and glanced at the table clammering for her. She stood back up and went to join them, looking visibly displeased.
"Oh, she's in Slytherin then..." Leigh sighed as Hill, Jacqueline was called.
"Why the long face?"
"Well, they don't have the best of reputations to be honest. And I have to admit, I kinda hoped that we'd be all three together in the same house..."
"We haven't been sorted yet. We could end up in Slytherin too"
"Yeah, I don't think so, I'm pretty sure I won't end up there. My family's always been sorted into Gryffindor, so I guess that's where I'll be going too"
"Are families always sorted in the same houses?" Maya asked, curious.
"Jaydown-Bridgers, Maya!" called Professor McGonagall.
"Good luck!" Said Leigh, softly pushing Maya in the back.
She walked up to the stool and almost tripped - she wasn't used to the liberty of movements allowed by the school robes. She sat, and saw Leigh looking at her, both thumbs raised, nodding confidently.
A small voice made its way into her ears as soon as the last lights disappeared.
"Oooh, well now there's not a lot of room for debate here, hm?"
"What do y..." Maya started, but was cut short by a loud:
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
One of the tables clapped warmly. She glanced at Leigh who seemed a bit disappointed but was still holding her thumbs up and smiling. Maya sat at the nearest available seat and watched the remaining students get sorted. Not before long, Leigh was called. The hat though, as soon as it touched her head, yelled a gargantuous:
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Seemingly stunned, Leigh stood still for a few seconds after taking the hat off, before grinning at Maya and nearly ran towards the Hufflepuff table. She sat next to her, shaking a bit.
"We're together! I was so scared I was going to end up with strangers but now there's no need to worry!"
"Congratulations!" Maya smiled, relieved herself. Of course, it's not like they had known each other for long, but she was still glad to have Leigh with her.
"I wasn't expecting that but that's totally fine by me! Actually in hindsight it makes a lot of sense, but I was so convinced that I was gonna end up in Gryffindor that I never thought of an alternative. You were right! Not about the Slytherin part of course, but when you said that we couln't know for sure before being sorted"
"What does it mean, being in Hufflepuff?" Maya asked, as McMillan, Pippa was called to the stool.
"Basically, Hufflepuff is the house of honest and kind people. We are just and loyal, and we are good finders."
"Good what..?"
"It's too bad for Nicola though..." Leigh sighed, turning towards the Slytherin table. Maya followed her gaze, and saw Nicola looking at them, seemingly upset, leaning on one side to keep herself far away from a slightly older boy with crooked teeths who was, judging from the way he was pointing at the hat, trying to explain to her how the sorting worked. She sent them a look of despair as the boy mimicked putting on a hat.
The sorting continued. Stride, Claire was sent to Slytherin, Tullius, Jane to Gryffindor, and so on.
"Warlane, Hazeline!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
The last student stepped down towards the Ravenclaw table, looking sadly towards the Gryffindors. Curious, Maya turned in their direction, and recognized one of the boys who had been sorted before her – Allister was it..? - looking equally down, forcing a smile towards Hazeline.
She curiously eyed her sitting down with the Ravenclaws, before noticing that the background chatter had gone mute.
A very old man had stepped up from the High Table with a wide smile.
"Welcome, welcome all of you to Hogwarts. I am going to guess and say that most of us are currenly starving – me included – so I won't take long! I only have a few very special words that I wish to share with all of you..."
Maya closed her book with a loud 'thud', getting her a murderous look from Madam Pince.
"What is wrong with you?! you scared me to death!" Nicola semi-whispered, trying to keep her voice low.
"I just can't get it to stick in, I'm trying I swear but I keep confusing dates and places and... Uuuuh!"
"You should take a break, you clearly won't be able to learn anything new as long as you're like this" Leigh added, a look of concern on her face. "Try studying something else for now, you'll get back to it later!"
"Leigh, the exams are in two weeks and I still have to go through the entire program of History of Magic... I can more or less manage in the other subjects, but this is the one I sould be working on."
"But she's right though", Nicola noted. "You might as well stop working altogether, at least you'll be having fun. But in your current state, nothing related to History of Magic will stick."
Leigh smiled at her in approval before reporting her attention to Maya.
"Try Transfiguration, you still have a lot to learn there if I'm not mistaken!"
"She's not the only one, huh?" grinned Nicola with a smug look.
"Oh, you shush! I'm not that bad!" Leigh grumbled.
"Yeah", Maya let out with a sigh, their banter making her smile nonetheless. "I guess you're right". She put the book on top of the dangerously high pile next to her and looked at the spines to find the one she was looking for.
"Aha!"
The Transfiguration book was at the very bottom of the pile. As she was about to unload the ones on top, Nicola interrupted her.
"Let me help you. Wingardium Leviosa!"
She flicked her wand, and the pile slowly rose through the air.
"See? Way easier that way" she smirked.
"Nicola", Leigh started, sounding worried, "You really shouldn't..."
"What do you think you're doing, young girl?!"
"Uh-oh."
Distracted by the fuming Madam Pince dashing towards them, Nicola lowered her wand slightly. The books stayed still in mid-air for a fraction of a second, before crashing back on the table, some of them falling to the ground, wide open against the cold stone floor.
The Library fell perfectly sildent, the sratching noises in the background now gone, everyone around having raised their heads from whatever they were working on. They knew what was coming, and it didn't take a genius to guess that Madam Pince, who had stopped dead in her tracks, wasn't there to give them a hug. She was staring at them, eyes wide, at loss for words – which must not happen often. Nicola squirmed under her gaze, trying to hide behind the closest book she had been able to get a hold of. Leigh grabbed her by the sleeve and whispered:
"Uh, I think we should go..."
"You..." Madam Pince mustered, pointing a long finger at Nicola. "YOU! OUT! AND NEVER COME BACK HERE! DON'T YOU DARE APPEAR BEFORE ME EVER AGAIN, MONSTEROUS CHILD! OUT! OUT!"
Her voice echoed in the hallways as the three girls scurried away.
"Our stuff is still in there!" Maya panted as they passed a suit of armor who lifted its visor and leaned in, curious. Leigh slightly slowed down
"Shoot, you're right!"
"You'll go back and get it later", Nicola answered, equally out of breath."You'll have to take mine too, I'm never getting near this old bat ever again!"
"I missed you two so much! How was your summer?"
Leigh couldn't sit straight, way too excited. She stared at Maya and Nicola in anticipation as the train left the platform. They were looking back at her, slightly amused.
"Well", Nicola started, "mine was pretty good! I went with my family to see Uncle Niels in Ireland, so I got to see some nice vews!"
"Nice! And you, Maya?"
"It was good, I guess. It was nice to see my parents again."
Silence.
"Wait that's it?" Leigh asked, surprised.
"Well, we didn't do much. The usual, we mostly stayed home, sometimes went for a walk in the neighbouring woods."
Silence again.
"Buuut..?" This time, Nicola was the one asking.
"BUT, they weren't as happy to see me as I was to see them at first." Seeing her friend's shocked expressions, she clarified. "What I mean is that, according to them, I lost a lot of my manners during this last year. I'm not as 'delicate' as before, to quote them"
"Excuse me?! You're one of the most polite person I've ever known!" Nicola exclaimed, shocked.
"Not enough, visibly" sighed Maya. "They think that the school has a bad influence on me." She hesitated, before adding, "They... probably think that you have a bad influence on me"
"Say, Maya, as time goes on, it's becoming more and more difficult for me not to hate your parents", Leigh fumed. "When I told my Mom and Dad about you two, they were simply happy for me that I had friends and wasn't alone. That's a normal reaction, one that every decent parent should have. Right, Nicola?"
Not expecting to see the conversation suddenly directed towards her, Nicola stared at them both for a few seconds before answering.
"Oh yeah, hum, totally, yup."
"You don't seem so sure..?" Leigh remarked, surprised.
"No, I am! My parents would totally love you if I tol..." She suddenly stopped, realizing that she had said too much.
"If you what?" Maya was frowning.
"If... I told them about you. M-maybe." Nicola let out, staring at the wooden floor.
"You... Haven't told them about us..?" Maya couldn't believe what she had just heard.
"I'm so sorry! I know I should have but my parents, you see, they... They wouldn't take well the fact that I'm friends with Hufflepuffs and not Slytherins."
"What... do you mean?" asked Leigh, seemingly hurt.
"I swear you're not the problem here, you're wonderful and I'm proud to be your friend. I'll never be ashamed of you. They, on the other hand, have some outdated views when it comes to what I should be doing with my life, and who I should be doing it with."
"Seems familiar", Leigh muttered, glancing at Maya.
"They've always been in Slytherin – it seems I didn't break the rule -, and according to them, the other houses don't matter and are destined to, hum, 'pick up our trash'. They're my family and I love them, but I sure as hell don't agree with them when it comes to all of this!"
Nicola breathed heavily, still staring at their feet. She seemingly had been thinking about this for a while, and had probably been waiting for the occasion to open the valves. She cautiously rose her gaze to meet her friend's.
"I'm so sorry. Please don't hate me for this..."
They stayed silent for a few seconds, before Maya opened her mouth.
"You should've told us. Of course we don't hate you. Well, I don't, and..?" She glanced at Leigh, who nodded firmly.
"WE don't hate you. I swear. Okay?"
"Okay." Nicola quietly sighed in relief.
"But I agree with Maya, you should have told us instead of stressing about it on your own."
"I know. Sorry."
She smiled at them tentatively.
They stayed silent for a little while, enjoying the quiet atmosphere. The only noises were the rattling of the train on the tracks, and the rain splattering on the window. The landscape was almost invisible, hidden behind the thick water curtain.
After a few minutes, someone knocked on the door. Not hearing any protestation, the person on the other side slowly slid it open and peeked inside. It was a girl wearing a blue sweater.
"Hi! Mind if we sit here?" She asked, moving a tiny bit out of the way to reveal a young boy standing behind her. They were both around their age."There's no other free compartment..."
"Hey, that's how I met the both of you!" exclaimed Nicola. "That's... How a lot of people meet actually when I think about it, right? Hm... A-anyway, yes, sure, have a seat!"
"Thank you" the girl and the boy said in unison as they sat. The rack already supporting Maya, Nicola and Leigh's suitcases, they put theirs on the only free seat left.
"I've seen you two around if I'm not mistaken, right?" Maya wondered, faces were not completely unfamiliar to her.
"I think we've shared some classes in the past, yeah! You're in Hufflepuff right? I'm Hay. In Ravenclaw."
"Maya. Hufflepuff indeed, along with Leigh here." She put her arm around Leigh's shoulders.
"Hi! I'm Leigh, delighted!"
Hay turned towards Nicola.
"What about you?"
"I'm Nicola! Nice to meet you two." She glanced curiously towards the boy.
"Oh, shoot, sorry." the boy exclaimed. "I'm Alastair, hi!"
"Gryffindor, if I'm not mistaken?"
"Y-yeah, I am. How do you know that?"
Nicola pointed at his suitcase.
"There's a lion doodled there."
"Oh, right, that", he simply said, scratching the back of his head.
"So where are you from?" Leigh wondered, sending them curious looks. "Have you knwn each other for a while?"
"Actually, yeah, you could say that" answered Alastair.
"Did your parents know each other?"
"Well..." he hesitated.
"We're from the same orphanage" Hay finished, a bit abruptly.
"Oh" Nicola mustered. After a few seconds, she added "Sorry."
"It's okay", she smiled sadly. Then her joyful smile surfaced again. "I wouldn't have met Alastair otherwise"
Upon hearing his name, Alastair added:
"She's been there for me for my entire life"
"I was the lucky one. Those two were the best friends a kid could have hoped for"
"Those two?" Nicola frowned. Hay whitened a bit and was about to say something, before Alastair cut her off, evading the question.
"Can you imagine the odds though? That we both turned out to be wizards, out of dozens of kids in this orphanage, out of dozens, probably hundreds of orphanages in the country?"
Nicola eyed them suspiciously but let it go. Leigh scratched her nose, thoughtful.
"That's... some reaaaally slim odds that I'm not gonna calculate right now 'cause I'm way too bad at math", she let out in one breath.
"We had hoped to be in the same house, but the sorting hat had decided otherwise. Unfortunately."
"We still have some classes in common though", Hay added." And even though it's forbidden to enter another house's common room, at least we can sit freely in the Great Hall. So it could be worse."
"I'm used to that", mumbled Nicola."I never sit with the Slytherins, those two are way better company"
"Why would you sit with the Slytherins..?" Alastair asked, confused. Nicola eyed him suspiciously for a few seconds, before widening her eyes in surprise.
"Oh Merlin's pants, did I not tell you that?"
"Tell us what..?"
"That I'm in Slytherin."
"You're... what..?" Now Alastair was the one eyeing her, weary. Nicola seemed hurt by his reaction.
"I'm not a racist if that's what you're thinking!"
"I'm not..."
"I know the reputation Slytherins have, and while I agree that some of them - if not most of them – are actual arses, there are still a few good people in there"
"I was not trying to..."
"I know you didn't mean anything bad, but I've heard that a lot this past year and I don't see why it would stop anytime soon. What's more, it's almost as if we lived in the sewers, it's cold, humid and the company isn't much better. It's already bad enough as is, so please don't make it worse."
"O-ok, sorry. Guess I didn't think about it from that angle. Must be... rough"
Nicola looked down.
"Yeah. It is."
She stayed silent for a little while, before adding:
"Sorry for lashing at you, you didn't deserve that"
"That's okay. Sorry for not thinking this through beforehand" he smiled at her. She smiled back, weakly.
"Well, looks like you had a lot on your plate today", Maya joked, trying to lighten the atmosphere as Leigh timidly put her arm around Nicola and stroked her shoulder "Want me to treat you to a few pumpkin pasties later?"
Nicola's eyes lit up as she looked up gratefully at her friends.
"Hey, free food, I'm not gonna say no to that." Then, more seriously, "Thanks, Maya."
She rose her hand to Leigh's and squeezed it slightly, keeping it in place. Thanking her as well.
"No problem. We're here for you."
"See, Alastair? I nailed it. Again." Nicola grinned as she landed on the grass of the cloister.
"Stop showing off, would you? I'm trying my best."
"Here, let me show you", she added more gently. "Get on your broom"
"I've been stuggling with this since the first lesson, it's not like anything you say could help after three years", Alastair mumbled.
He did as he was told though, and rose through the air. Nicola was soon by his side.
"So, when you take a sharp turn, you have to lean on the side. Not too much, not too little. You also need to slightly pull up on your broom in order to slow down, like so."
She dashed away from him, before suddenly taking a 90° turn on the right, and coming back to him in a perfect arc.
"That's what I've been doing!"
"No it's not! You'll end up falling off of your broom!"
"Oh yeah, what should I change then?"
"Try leaning a bit more. Not too much! Just a bit more than last time."
Alastair grumbled, before taking a deep breath and bolting forward. After about 20 meters, he pulled up a bit and leaned on the side, as Nicola did, but went too far and lost his balance. He ended up upside down, his legs gripped tightly around the broom.
"You okay up there, Garden?" Madam Hooch asked from the ground, on the ready.
"I'm okay! I think I can manage!" he called back as Nicola joined him
"Woah, I though for sure that you were gonna fall."
"For a little while, I thought so too", he chuckled in a slightly quivering voice. "I mean, I'd still have been fine, with the cushioning charms down there and all, but it's still pretty scary."
They stayed still for a bit, before Nicola asked:
"Soooo, you gonna get back on your broom someday or what?"
"Oh, yeah, right", he realized, still upside down.
It took him a few tries, but he finally managed to climb back up, breathing heavily.
"You know what, I'm not gonna poke fun at you this time. It was pretty impressive the way you managed to stay on your broom."
"Well, I didn't technically stay on my broom, but I appreciate the sentiment." He smiled at her.
"Okay, come back down everyone! We're gonna round everything up and you'll be free to go", Madam Hooch called. The sun was starting to set, its orange light piercing the sky over the castle.
"Mogan's beanie, I'm not used to those temperatures yet", Alastair shivered.
"Morgan's beanie'..?" Nicola chuckled as they lowered to the ground.
"Why not? We're always in need of some more idioms" he declared proudly.
"Whatever you say", she shook her head, amused.
October 17th, 1986
Hi dear!
We hope you're doing good!
Your father is now feeling better, he went back to work the other day; we're both currently doing pretty well to be true!
So, how is your fourth year like? You haven't been writing as much as you used to recently, so we need details! Are you still struggling with Transfiguration, or is that a thing of the past? Are you on the list to become prefect already? You'd really deserve it, Maya. Honestly.
On another note, how is your friend Alastair doing? Have you gotten closer to him? We'd be delighted to hear some good news regarding your relationships, and I'm sure all of your friends would be happy to see you with someone. If Nicole really is a close friend of yours, she'll be happy for you; I'm sure her and Alastair are probably only really good friends is all. Don't worry about it.
If – and only if – it really is impossible for you to push things further with him, we have been thinking of something. Do you remember the Grahams? We were at their house the other day and we learned that their son Raymond came back from York just recently. We could introduce you to him if you want! They'll be celebrating Christmas with us this year, so you'll get to meet him then. He's barely 16, so he's not that much older than you. He could be a good catch.
You really need to start thinking about putting your future in motion you know, you won't be at this school forever. And time flies faster than you think.
Oh before I forget, I wanted to ask you something. Do you think your father could use your room as his study while you're not there? We won't touch anything of course, and as soon as you're back we'll take everything out to leave you to your good old room. It's your call.
We can't wait for your next letter!
Love,
Mom and Dad
As soon as she was done reading, Maya grabbed a torn piece of parchment along with her quill and scribbled her answer angrily.
Hi Mom, hi Dad.
No, Alastair's not free and for the last time, I'm not interested in him.
Are you really thinking of setting me up with some boy I've never met? If that's the case, you can count me out for the holidays.
Bye
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
Uniform
New sets of robes are recommended
Set Books
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
- The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 5) by Miranda Goshawk
- Magical Defence – a Practical Guide by Wilmondo Henrick
Other Equipment
Renewal of basic Potions ingredients is strongly recommended