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Letter to No One
By RowanRhys and Dancingkatz
March 1996
Easter break is finally over--I had wished that I had been able to stay at school for the two weeks instead of going home; but, as usual, that wasn't an option. I kept my mouth shut, played piano when I was sure not to disturb my parents and wrote notes to Cordelia which Aldona delivered. It took over a week for her to be released from the Hospital Wing after being hexed by Pansy before the Valentine's party, and then we had exams, so I only got to see her a couple of times in the kitchen and only once in the Seekers' practice before we left for the Easter hols.
Unlike Christmas break, I only had to deal with Zabini, Crabbe and Goyle for just a few hours on the third day of the hols in Diagon Alley when Mother dragged me down to be re-measured for dress robes. I told her it wasn't necessary, but she didn't listen. Walking into Madam Malkin's to find Blaise, Greg and Vincent there, also being kitted out, was a rather unpleasant shock. I thought I'd manage to avoid any of their discipline techniques since we were in a public place, but after I was finished with the new dress robes, Mother told me to take the other boys to Fortesque's for ice cream while she and Mrs. Zabini, Mrs. Goyle and Mrs. Crabbe got new outfits for themselves.
I tried to ditch them by ducking into Quality Quidditch Supplies to get a practice snitch for Cordelia for her birthday present, but that didn't work for more than a few minutes. I did manage to pay for it and get it stashed away in my pocket before they were breathing down my neck again. While I suppose most people wouldn't have noticed, I could tell they were furious with me. By the time we got to Fortesque's Zabini had managed to nudge me into a side alleyway long enough for Vince and Greg to reawaken the remains of the bruises from right before we got on the Express to come home. The only positive thing about it is that they didn't mark my face or hands. Father would have killed me if I'd gotten an Underage Misuse of Magic warning from the Ministry because I had to cast a Glamourie on myself outside of school. They certainly seemed to enjoy the fire sundaes I ended up paying for--I still am not sure how I managed to eat enough of mine to keep up the facade of normalcy. When I finally got home it took two doses of potion to make the bruises and pain fade enough to get to sleep.
I'm really glad that Mother did not host a house party this year--although Father did preside over a formal dinner for a dozen of his--associates--the night before I was to return to school, and ordered me to attend it. Which explains Mother's insistence on the new robes.
I'm still not sure why he wanted me to be there. I was the youngest person present by at least two decades. It was a stag dinner--no women at all. I concentrated on minding my manners and keeping up the facade necessary to keep from raising Father's ire. It was unnerving, though, the way the other men present kept looking at me, with sidewise, evaluating glances. I'm fairly certain that it wasn't the way I looked in my new black and green dress robes that was drawing their attention. I hate feeling like I'm the only person in a group who doesn't know what is going on. I was really glad to escape to my room when they adjourned to Father's study for after dinner drinks and conversation. I thought for a moment that Father would insist that I join them, but he only gave me a surprisingly approving gaze then closed the study door between us.
Part of me would have liked to have known what they were talking about after I left. Most of me was relieved to have made it through unscathed.
We leave for the station in an hour. I hope I get to see Cordy on the train so I can give her the practice Snitch. Otherwise, I hope she'll be down in the kitchen after curfew.