Dear Nym,
Have you done the homework I sent you yet? Oh, and I hope you are well, of course. You're probably going to say how I should have said that first, instead of asking about your homework, but priorities are important. I'm sorry I haven't written since you came out here for spring break, but of course you set the entire faculty in an uproar, and we've only just got it all sorted out. Doctor Richtus wanted to bring you out again over the summer, but we figured your uncle probably wouldn't allow it. We still aren't completely sure what happened to that feather the cockatrice put on you, but it seems as though it intereacted somehow with your morphic field, which, what with you being a metamorphamagi and all, is highly unstable as it is. It doesn't seem to have affected your ability to change, but try to avoid having anyone transfigure you into anything. Too many changes in morphic fields can be dangerous, and there's no telling if we'd be able to reverse whatever happened to you. If, admittedly, anything did. The thing about the cockatrice feather, at least in the wolfsbane potion, is that it seems to act as an inhibiting agent, which is why it's so surprising that it doesn't stop or at least slow your changes. Doctor Richtus thinks it might act as a sort of shield against transfiguring spells aimed at you, and he wanted you here to test it out. We'll certainly find time later to check, don't you worry.
I really can't understand what you were blathering on about last time we talked. The fact of the matter is that Bianca has agreed to go out with Julius Santos. How you ever thought I had a chance, I'll never know. On a happier note, the wolfsbane potion is perfected, and ready to be brewed by other people. Only a potion master would dare try it, I think, because it's still an amazingly complex piece of work, but it will certainly help a number of werewolves. We're working on a cure now, but it will probably be many years before we make an progress what so ever. Still, we must keep hoping.
All the best, and do your homework,
Remus
Nym,
I don't know what got into me, deciding I wanted to be an auror. We never sleep, we never eat, it's work all day long, and after twelve hours in the class room, its time for ten of practical application and simulations. I'm on one of my two five-minute bathroom breaks right now, so this is short. Miss you, don't you dare become an auror.
Sirius
Hey Nym,
I saw Paddy send you an owl the other day. I hope he hasn't be whining too much. We're worked hard, of course, but not nearly so hard as he seems to think. He's just upset that most of his free time for socializing has been taken away, and that there's not enough girls here for his liking. Myself, I would have liked summers off, but the college seems to be afraid we'll get ourselves blown up if we're left to our own devices for even a few minutes. Still, Frank says second year is considerably better. I hope this is true, because six hours of sleep is really not enough. I could sleep more, I suppose, and Lily is always telling me to, but there's so much to be done, there just doesn't seem to be time enough for it all. Still, I wouldn't trade this for the world. Do you think you could graduate from Hogwarts at the end of your third year, so that you'll be here with us for our last year of college? Can't hurt to ask.
Yours, very tired
James
Nym,
Sorry about my mum. She's a bit, well, you know, sometimes. Hope you and Morwen are well.
Jimmy
Dear Nym,
I suppose I should have warned you. I wanted to, but Jimmy wouldn't hear of it. Thought his family might reflect on what you thought of him, but I know he shouldn't have worried. I mean, look at some of your relatives. In any event, here's the thing about the Ravens: they're more than a little weird. And I say that, even from my vantage point, and I have Sybil. Jimmy's dad used to play quidditch for the Isle of Mann. He was caught tampering with the other team's brooms, but the match stood, and Sicily lost the Independent States Cup. That was about ten years ago, but they're still plenty sore about it, Dad says. So the Ravens are a bit, well, more like a lot, worried about kidnappings and so on by Sicily. That, and they were always a little weird to being with. Don't worry about being embarrassed, Jimmy was probably ten times more so than you were.
Do you think your uncle would let me come and use the quidditch pitch? I know I'm not much of a player, but I've always wanted to try playing on a world-class field.
Rick
Dearest Nym,
What am I going to do? Stuck the whole summer with just my beastly brother for company. And get this, summer school! That's right, as though I don't do enough school work at Hogwarts. But Mum thinks they don't teach proper, necessary things at Hogwarts, like mathematics and spelling, and when I said, yes, they teach us all sorts of arithmancy and charms, she said that was exactly why I was going to the village comprehensive, and no mistake. I'm sure it's going to be simply beastly. And Zack doesn't have to go, because Dad says he needs him here to help build the boathouse, and besides, Zack's gone past the point where he could just drop into the school and pick up all he's missed. More like he's too stupid, but Mom and Dad are too nice to say so. Just because he's their son. I don't think he is, you know. I bet they hatched him out of a snake egg.
Your ever suffering,
Mandy
Zack didn't write.