After a while, a steadily growing pile of letters was gathering on my desk. Hermione seemed pretty nice, even with the whole I Know Everything About Anything and I'm I Know Nothing About Everything.

Draco had taken to calling me Annie, and he seemed to like reliving stories from the Slytherin common room, which was the dungeons under the lake. Sounds pretty gloomy.

Aries, the black-breasted kite, wanted to stick around. The beautiful bird went out for food, but he came back every night and I used him to send a letter to Professor Dumbledore once about arrangements to go to London.

It was official- I would attend Hogwarts.

It was almost the end of the year, and my friends- Lea, Jack, Jamie and Chelcie- all thought I was going abroad for a while. The band was slowly falling apart beforehand, but that was the last straw before Chelcie burst and said she was leaving. We all drifted apart after that, but Lea was still a great friend of mine while Jack and Jamie were still in contact.

Dumbledore had organised tickets and everything for Leo and I to leave; with the help of some Muggle-obsessed wizards and a Squib or two. Leo had tried to explain to me what a Squib was in a few less words, but the concept still confused me.

I was slowly getting used to the idea of wizards and witches living in harmony- sometimes- with Muggles. Hermione, seeing as she had lived with Muggle parents until she got started Hogwarts, was great at explaining wizarding concepts to me. I refrained from mentioning Slytherin or Draco to her in letters as it seemed to put her in a slightly sour mood.

I hadn't heard a word from Vicky ever since I called her, but I'd heard Leo participate in quite a few heated phone calls. He refused to speak to me after them all so I stopped asking after a few attempts. I was causing troubld between the two.

Draco and I exchanged family problems quite often, but sometimes he was a little vague. I chose not to question it and he did the same for me. He frequently mentioned that he couldn't decide between wanting to go to Hogwarts as soon as possible to meet me and not going at all for different reasons, and some of those reason seemed to revolve around Harry Potter; I'd taken that question to Hermione.

She explained to me the existence of He Who Should Not Be Named- or the Dark Lord (that made me think of Darth Vader from Star Wars), You Know Who, or Lord Voldemort (he seems conceited)- and how Harry Potter became The Boy Who Lived, and was also, coincidentally, her best friend along with Ron Weasley. In the letter after that, she was complaining of Fred and George Weasley, Ron's older twin brothers. I felt like I'd get along with them easily, being a prankster myself. I didn't get many chances to cause troubled hilarity at my old school. Funny how things work out.

A letter to Professor Dumbledore lead to the conclusion of my very own music room being created, and even my electronics being allowed. He got someone to set up my own Wifi modem simply so I could have Internet access. I was very, very pleased about that, but I freaked out over the fact that I wouldn't have to neglect my music.

Draco had piqued my curiosity on a wizarding game called Quidditch - it was played on brooms!- and had ended up sending me the only Quidditch book he had so I could read it. He'd gotten a little defensive when I thanked him profusely in my reply and had told me to rack off to Hermione Granger or 'Harry bloody Potter' if I wanted more. It was quite funny, actually, and a letter arrived barely ten minutes after to apologize.

To my amazement, it turns out he had never had popping candy before and I freaked out, running down to the shops and buying a few packets to send to him with Elye, his eagle owl. He hadn't shut up about it in the next letter, and that's how I discovered his massive sweet-tooth. That's how he discovered it, too.

Dear Draco,
Question: Ae you a huggable person? Because, quite frankly, I don't want to make things awkward when I meet you because there will be no doubt about you getting a massive hug when we meet. I , for one, love hugs with a passion . They're so warm and cuddly and... huggy.

Yours Truly,
Aria
In inceptum es finis

Dear Aria
Should I be ashamed to say that I've never really hugged anyone apart from my mother? But even then, that's a once in a lifetime thing. If you must, I suppose. Feel free, as you would say.

Yours Sincerely
Draco
Horas non numero nisi serenas

The letters may be short, but the amount of them definitely made up for that. Turns out Draco likes Latin almost as much as I do, so we always put a Latin sentence at the end of our letters for each other to figure out and if we don't get it, we get a chaste explanation .

My letters grew more and more excitable and Hermione often had to cut me down a level in her reply with a short, sharp retort, and Draco often passed it off with a half-hearted insult. I couldn't make up my mind about the sort of person he was- sometimes he was unsure, vulnerable even, then he was a good-humoured and easygoing, but then he was bordering on rude and self-centered. Hermione often spoke of his rude, insulting side when she explained to me what a Mudblood was and I brought it up in my next letter to Malfoy Manor; he didn't even acknowledge it.

The year was rolling by on worn-down wheels, seeming to go slower and slower each day as I anticipated the next year more and more. Christmas was hardly two weeks away and it was on New Years Day that we would get our tickets to London, and go to the famed Diagon Alley that Leo and Hermione always spoke of. I had a feeling that Aries wouldn't be far behind.

A/N

If anyone wants to know what the Latin phrases are, just message me c:- if I get more than a couple, though, I'll probably post a mini guide elsewhere for you all~