Chapter 10—Mrs. Coley's Letter

"Finn, you're brilliant," said Fi, when they made it to the Great Hall for breakfast. "D'you know, I completely forgot it was Halloween!" Finn grinned his goofy grin and tugged on one of her flashing curls, watching it bounce back.

"Lucky I didn't! I'm a walking calendar, you know."

"That can be arranged," hissed Penelope as she walked by, fingering her wand. Finn paled visibly.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters, Finn?" asked Ben, who cast a look at a sleepy Cho before loading his plate with kippers and eggs. Finn shook his head, causing his long blonde hair to swish into his eyes.

"Nope, not me." Ryan, Ben, and Fi both sighed audibly.

"Lucky," they said at the same time.

"You know," said Ryan, deciding a change of subject was in order, "you'd think that, since Flitwick is our Head of House, he'd be a little nicer to us. Me. Look at Snape, he loves the Slytherins! Did you hear that one of the second-years there tried to curse a second-year Gryffindor, and Snape didn't do a thing? Or maybe it was the other way around, I can't remember…"

"You'd think," said Ben sympathetically, in between bites of a rough sandwich he had created of toast and eggs.

"Well, I don't think he's that bad," protested Fi. Ben rolled his eyes over his breakfast.

"Lemme guess, Snape is Father Christmas?" he snapped, his mouth half-full. Finn choked on bites of his own breakfast. Ryan pounded his back.

"I didn't say that!" she objected, but Ben had already turned away. Finn swallowed, took a sip of juice, and tried to smooth things over.

"I'm sure Ben didn't mean that," he said, clapping a hand over Ben's mouth, "and yes, Flitwick is just fine," he added, clapping his other hand over Ryan's mouth. The post came, then, giving them all an excuse to drop the argument. Horatio dropped in front of Ben and Finn's owl, letterless but hungry, dropped in as well. Horatio, relieved of his letter, snatched Fi's toast and took off for the owlery. Ben turned the letter over, frowning. Then he turned to Ryan and extended his arm out.

"Ryan…it's for you…It's my mother's handwriting, but it's addressed to you." Ryan frowned as well and took it. Sure enough, the words "Ryan Lapitske, Ravenclaw table, Great Hall" were written on the front in a straight, strictly-formed hand. She broke open the seal, unfolded the letter and proceeded to read in between bites of porridge:

Miss Lapitske,

My name is Aloys Coley. My son Benjamin has written to me at length about yourself and this other boy, your fellow Ravenclaw (it seemed to her that there was a slight tear in the page, as though Mrs. Coley had pressed rather hard), Finnian McKey. I understand yourself to be of Muggle descent, and Mr. McKey to be of half-blood.

Benjamin is by most accounts a good boy, though not quite up to the family standards. However, I must question if it is healthy for a girl your age to socialize only with young men. It may be that you fancy one of these boys. Be that as it may, I highly recommend association with other girls, if only for your social well-being. I am acquainted, for example, with a Mrs. Duffy, and her daughter Elise is in Ravenclaw as well. Perhaps you already know her. I believe she would make a more suitable companion for you instead of my son and Mr. McKey.

In closing, only let me say that my son may not be a choice friend for you. I urge you greatly to leave him to his sister's loving care and expand your horizons.

Cordially,

Aloys Coley

Ryan laughed and tossed it at Ben. What a silly-sounding letter.

"Your mum is concerned for my horizons," she said lightly. Ben read it and had the opposite reaction. He touched his wand to it then and there, setting it alight, much to the dismay of those sitting around him. He paid their complaints no mind.

"I can't believe it…my own mother…she would do this to me…" Ryan wasn't sure why he was so upset.

"So she's afraid I'm anti-social, what's new?" Ben shook his head violently.

"No, no, no, it's more than that! She's politely telling you to get lost. She doesn't want you to be friends with me anymore!" Ryan frowned. She certainly hadn't gotten that out of the letter.

"How do you figure?" she asked, finishing off the porridge and picking up her books, preparing to go to class.

"You honestly couldn't see it? She was doing everything in her power to make you hit the road! I'm 'not up to the family standard' because I'm not in Slytherin!" She thought about the letter again, though she couldn't read it now that Ben had burned it. Well…maybe…

"I guess I see it now…but…how did you know that?"

"I live with the woman, remember?" he said wearily. "In my family, you're bloody raised on double-talk like that. I know what she means." Ryan shrugged and began to walk off. Ben followed, leaving Finn and Fi still at the table.

"Well, how's this sound: during break, help me write a letter back to her that's just as vague, but it sounds like I'm leaving you for a better option. Would that make you feel better?" Interestingly enough, he actually seemed to perk up.

"Yeah, I could do that. During break, you say? I'd love to do that." At least he was happy now. Ben was boring when he was all moody.

Herbology was extra-hectic. Finn and Fi caught up with them, and Colin would not be satisfied until he had taken more pictures of Ryan and Fi's hair together with his ever-present camera. But, as luck would have it, the plants they were studying that day were sensitive to light, and when his camera flashed, they went ballistic and tried to strangle everyone. Everyone evacuated the greenhouse until the plants calmed down, and Colin received a detention and a tongue-lashing from Professor Sprout.

"Flashing a camera around! How foolish could you be?" Colin murmured something. Sprout was not appeased in the least. "Son of a milkman or son of the Minister of Magic himself, do not use light around Devil's Snare!" Ginny Weasely spoke up hesitantly on Colin's behalf.

"P—Professor? Do you really think he deserves detention? He—he did find out how to combat the Snare…"

"Correction, he nearly strangled half the first years!" she snarled. Then, "Five points to Gryffindor, Creevey, but you still serve that detention! Now, thank Miss Weasely and put that camera away." Colin did so.

By the end of class, though, the Snare still hadn't calmed down enough to work with, so they reviewed puffapods instead, though Professor Sprout refused to let them touch anything. Ryan thought that was a shame; they were very pretty and shimmery.

"You don't actually work with puffapods until your second year," she explained, "but it's the safest thing we have to study, under the circumstances." She glared at Colin, who shuffled guiltily.