The next morning, more or less at the same time, Dolores received another owl from Lonely Soul.
Dear Sweetheart,
I'm glad you don't seem to be angry with me for not wanting to meet you personally just yet. Don't worry too much about that. It's not that I'm so ugly that I'm afraid you will run from me when you see me, but I think that this world in which we live gives too much meaning to physical appearance. I'm not looking for a top model, I want someone with a personality akin to mine. Someone I can love now and in hundred years from now.
Thus said, let me tell you some more about myself: I must admit classical music is not my favourite, although I can tolerate it and I even go to a concert now and then. What I really love, though, is rock, not necessarily hard rock, although I like Maddock the Mad quite a lot. I've gone to a couple of his concerts and they were an ecstatic experience, specially when he started levitating us all with the sound of his electric guitar and then let us fall when we were 7 feet above the ground. It's true that some people died when they hit their heads or were squashed by other people falling on top of them, but that wasn't really Maddock the Mad's fault. The organisation should have transfigured the stone ground into pillows, but they forgot. And I don't think he was really laughing at all the blood on the floor, you know? I think he was laughing at all of us trying to stand and taking out each other's eyes in the process. I hope he is released from St. Mungo's soon. His records are not the same since he's been under treatment.
I enjoy reading too, although I prefer biographies and economical or political books to novels.
And what kind of food do you like? I love Chinese food. I'm not bad at using the chopsticks. I prefer salty food in general, sweets are not meant for me.
Oh, dear, this message is turning out to be quite longer than I expected. I hope you don't mind and will right back today.
Yours,
Lonely Soul
Dolores sat back in her comfortable werewolf's leather chair and reread the letter with a sad face. Maddock the Mad? That crazy wizard who had killed 73 people in a concert just because he felt like it? What kind of sensible person could still like his music and even excuse his crime? The only thing that Lonely Soul and herself had in common thus far was that they both liked Chinese food. 'Well, at least it's something,' Dolores thought.
She waved her wand in the air and immediately an elf appeared in front of her, her head bowed. Dolores asked for a cup of tea, with three sugar lumps and lemon. A few moments later, with the steaming cup in her hands, she made up her mind and decided that it was too soon yet to discard Lonely Soul as a possible partner. And it wasn't as if she had a lot of options...
Letting the tea on her table, Dolores took some parchment and started her letter:
Dear Lonely Soul,
I'm glad you like Chinese food. It's my favourite too. It's a pity that I'm such a bad cooker. If I were reach enough to have my own house-elf, I would surely ask for a Chinese one. I can never get tired of those delicious noodles, or the famous hippogriff wings with soja sauce.
I like sweets very much. I must admit I'm almost addicted to sugar quills and chocolate fire balls -those that explode in your mouth and leave your teeth black for a month afterwards, you've probably tasted them some time.
What else can I tell you about me? Oh, yes! Well, I like travelling a lot, but only by floo. I was never too good with broomsticks or apparition.
Last year I was in Egypt on holidays. I've also visited the North of Italy and Austria. What about you?
Excuse me if I ask too much, but I was wondering if you could tell me more or less where do you live. I live in London, because I work here, but I was born in Liverpool. I still have my parent's house there, but I have rented it, because it was a pity to have the house empty the whole year.
I must leave you now, because I have a meeting in a few minutes. I hope to hear from you again tomorrow.
Yours,
Sweetheart
Dolores inspected her letter and thought it was satisfactory enough. It was long as well, but she had avoided mentioning their differences. They should probably concentrate in their common interests, that would make them feel closer to each other.
She tied the parchment to the waiting owl's leg and saw it fly away with her fingers crossed.