A Letter to Australia
1 July 1998
Dear Mum and Dad
Thank you for your letter. Your love means a lot to us. No matter what words were ever said, no matter what differences of opinion, we know that love and concern were behind it all.
It's only been two weeks since the ceremony and we're still settling in. I am enclosing a lot of photographs of that day.
Living in Harry's very-large house is nice. We have our own suite of rooms and share the common rooms like the sitting room and kitchen. His housekeeper fixes all our meals, so I don't have to threaten Ron or myself with food poisoning. Having my childhood mementoes around helps me think of our new place as home. Since Harry wants no rent paid, staying here will help us save money to eventually get our own place. Until then, we are very comfortable.
We have spent a few afternoons over at the house, tidying and sorting. Good news, Grandfather's desk is fully repairable. I have it with me to keep it safe. Just let me know how you want it shipped to you. Not much else has survived unscathed. I've enclosed an inventory of what has been found so far.
I have contacted the estate agent and she'll come and assess the house early next week. I'll let you know what she says. On the phone, she sounded quite positive of getting a good price. She said she deals with ex-pats all the time, so she knows what must be done.
Your business partner has said he wants to buy your car for his daughter, Debby. He'll fax you his proposal along with his offer on the practice. I didn't want to get into those details with him. Until you say otherwise, I'll keep paying the garage for the storage fee.
I did find the little safe that you had hidden in your bedroom. I am sending you those things. I kept things like my own birth certificate, medical records and such. I took all the family photographs to a shop and had them replicated so I could have copies also. Ron is enjoying looking through them and hearing the stories of me growing up. I don't see it, but he said I look very much like great-grandmother Rose. I had forgotten she had red hair.
School starts in just two months. It's going to be interesting to be a married woman, and still be at school. The Head Mistress has just told us that there have been some changes made. For one, they will be having open-weekends for the Last-years (which is what the 7th years and those of us returning are now being called). Starting in October, every other weekend from Friday after classes until Sunday evening we can go home, providing we pass that traveling test we had talked about. Those of us who have been married this summer will have our own dorm rooms within our houses. Amazingly, there are 10 of us women and seven men. Three couples will only be around until the end of first term, taking their final exams then. I want to take as many classes as I can so I'm staying the whole year.
I have made another decision about school. I was offered Head Girl. I am, of course, honored. But I've declined. I have so much to do this year to catch up on. It just doesn't feel as important anymore. I'd rather spend that time on my studies.
Ron has decided not to return. He has been offered a great position with the law enforcement agency. It's a very exclusive program but he has earned it. He enters the academy the day after I board the train for school. He will have a year of training while earning a very respectable pay rate. I'm quite proud of him.
I too have been offered several positions, contingent on my test scores. I could go with law enforcement like Ron, but I am leaning more towards a different portion of the law. I don't want to jinx it by saying the department. It'll have a two-year apprenticeship and some more on-the-job certifications. We'll see how that pans out.
So, we have our plans, and pathways to achieve them. Even though we married quite young, we have decided to not rush. We feel the need to establish our future and become financially secure before we bring another generation into the picture. We know that this was one of your deepest concerns.
Morning comes early and I wish to get this in the post.
Love you and miss you
Hermione and Ron