The next morning at breakfast an awl flew over Maryjo and dropped a much anticipated letter from none other than Jack. In seeing whom it was from Marlene got excited and pressured Mary to read it, but she decided to wait for a more peaceful time; the Great Hall was bustling with students excited for the weekend.
"When are you meeting Samson today?" Maryjo asked as they were walking back to the Gryffindor common room.
"We agreed 12 would be fine, so I got an hour and a half to waste. Are you gonna read that letter?" she asked as they stepped into the common room.
"Of course," Maryjo responded, "But I think I'll wait until I'm bored, why waste time I could be hanging out with you?" Maryjo smiled, then they both giggled.
"Oh shucks, well call me flattered." Marlene joked.
-abc123-
They spent the next hour playing cards and talking about nothing in particular, then they went upstairs so Marlene could primp.
"You know, I'm not really like this. I usually care less about boys, or at least I didn't before I came here." Marlene confessed as she was putting on blush.
"What caused the change?" Maryjo asked interestedly.
Marlene stopped and looked in the mirror to ponder the question. "I think it had to do with the idea I had, or have, – it may sound kind of stupid, so don't laugh with I tell you." Marlene looked at Maryjo.
"I won't." she smiled.
"Well, I had a theory or dream or whatever, that when I came here I could start fresh and everything could be different, is that crazy?" she asked Maryjo.
"No." Mary replied seriously, then looked at her hands, "My hope was that this could be a dream come true . . . a place where anything is possible, and –" she hesitated, "a place where I could forget about all the bad things and get past all of it . . . "
They sat in silence.
-abc123-
At 12 Marlene met Samson in the Entrance Hall and they had lunch out on the grounds together.
Maryjo went down with Marlene, grabbed some lunch, then found a serene place under a tree and read Jack's letter.
It wasn't much, or so one would think, but it meant a lot to Maryjo to hear from him. He wrote telling her that he was doing as good as he could be under the circumstances. He was keeping up the house for the most part, and he told her that he missed her company. She laughed at that, well, more of the idea that he missed her nagging him and such. He said the idea of owl delivery was genius, but odd all the same. He ended the letter asking if she was coming home for Christmas or Thanksgiving, then signed Love, Jack.
Then at the bottom she made out a p.s.: remember your promise!
She read it over and couldn't help but smiling. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a coin, then lay back in the grass and closed her eyes, rubbing the coin between her thumb and first finger . . . How could she ever break a promise to him?
-abc123-
"Good morning Jojo," Jack greeted Maryjo as she walked into the kitchen rubbing her eyes; she had stayed in their guestroom, a.k.a.: Maryjo's bedroom since she was the only one who used it, "and happy birthday!" It was the morning of her 11th birthday, August 22.
She smiled at him, then saw what he was doing and frowned a bit, "and what're you doing, Mr. Sparrow?"
Jack laughed, then said in a pretend-hurt voice, "What, you don't think I know how to cook?" They both laughed, "Sit down, what would you like to drink?"
"Well, what is it that you're cooking?" Maryjo enquired.
Jack grinned mischievously, "Now that, dear, is a surprise."
"Well, then what do you think I should drink?"
Jack laughed, "What do you think I would say?"
Maryjo didn't hesitate, "Hah, of course water, you seem to just love it – well, not to drink . . . everyone knows your preferred drink."
"Hell yeah they do." Jack said, then got out a plate and put whatever he was cooking on it, "Bon appetite."
Maryjo stared at it. She wasn't sure what she should do, laugh or cry – or both.
It was a spectacular thing, a big pancake shaped like a boat, with eggs, hashbrowns, waffle, and other random things to decorate it with. For a while she had been confiding to Jack that she would love to go away one day to explore the world and just never come back. To have no worries and just be free. She didn't really ever think how she would do this, but it seemed Jack had.
Her breakfast treat was one of a kind and she hated to eat it, but Jack persuaded her and she ate it all mercilessly.
Later that afternoon she went home to check the mail, she had a feeling that there was something important to get, and she was right. Perched on top of her mailbox was an owl, and in its claws he held two envelopes, both addressed to a Miss Mary Burl. The first one was the one that invited her to Hogwarts, the second a personal letter from a man named Dumbledore, who she found was the headmaster of Hogwarts. In the letter he said he was hoping to meet her and invite her himself, but that something came up and he couldn't. He went on to say that he'd send someone down on the last day of August to help her get to Diagon Alley and to get her things, then to board the Hogwarts Express, and that sometime after she arrived he'd talk to her. He ended it by telling her to send a letter back telling him if all of it would fit.
She did right then, using the back of his letter, then sent the owl off.
After gathering herself she went back to Jacks and decided to tell him about her new reality. When she finished trying to explain it to him, she noticed he didn't really seem convinced, but he believed her when she said she'd prove it one day.
"Very well, you promising me now?" Jack asked, holding the letter at his side and looking at her.
Maryjo smiled, "Of course."
There was a silence as they just stared at each other, then Jack started, "Oh! I have something for you." He turned and walked to his room.
"Oh, you shouldn't have, you already did a lot." But there was no arguing, she knew.
When he came back, he was holding one of those small little boxes, this one was an ugly brown, but it was what was inside that mattered.
He walked back to Maryjo who held out her hand and took the little box and looked at it.
"Open it," he told her.
She looked up at him, "I know to do that much." she replied shortly, then smiled as she took the cover off of the box and reached inside to pull out a medium-sized coin.
She looked at him, and he gave her the look of, 'well, look at it before you ask me what it is'
Maryjo raised the coin closer to her face and turned around so her shadow wouldn't impede the light to shine on it.
On the coin she saw there was a boat with big sails with huge waves crashing at its sides, and in the background there was a sun rising or setting.
Around the curved top it read, 'One day we'll sail the ocean sea.'
"Turn it over." she heard Jack whisper.
On the back there were two bird flying away into the open sky. One bird looked like a crow or sparrow, probably a sparrow, the other was unmistakably a hawk.
Around the bottom left it read, ' . . . I promise.' Toward the bottom right, 'Love you forever, Jack.'
Maryjo just stared at the coin. She thought it was the most beautiful thing she had ever gotten. She didn't know what to say. Jack was patient.
Finally she looked up and smiled, then gave him a kiss on the cheek and a hug that lasted a few minutes. "Thank you, this is beautiful." she whispered.
"Oh, well – you know . . . " Jack responded shyly, a smile of happiness and sadness spread across his face.
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A/N: uh, I'm trying to get better at this.
so... just review )