Alexandra stared around at the large room that she would be sleeping in. It was three times the size of her room at her own home, but despite this, she would've much preferred to be in her old room, curled up in her familiar bed than here.

The room was windowless, and the only light source was the candles that were scattered amongst the room. The walls were painted a sickening gray color that did nothing to bring up her spirits as she sat on the four poster bed, lost in her own thoughts.

Alexandra wanted to go home; being here made her feel uneasy. Yet she knew Claridina would hear of no such thing. She missed her father, and cursed herself for having willingly told him to arrange this. Alexandra stood up. Her father! She had promised him that she would contact him the second she had arrived. She had been at this house for hours now, and she knew that by this point, her father was probably a nervous wreck, and was pacing back in forth in front of the telephone, trying to keep his nerves at bay as he listened anxiously for the phone to ring.

Was there even a phone here? Alexandra wondered. She hadn't seen any object at this old house that showed any relation to the outside world, and the way Claridina had talked about muggles earlier, Alexandra highly doubted there was one plugged into any of the walls.

Maybe if she asked, Claridina might let her use an owl to send a letter to her father. Thinking back to how her father must be worried out of his mind, Alexandra decided to risk this, and she slowly walked across the room and opened her door and stepped into the hallway.

"I was starting to wonder if you were actually here," said a voice behind her. Alexandra turned around and saw the smirking face of Claridina's son, Rolwat Wretermoust.

It had never occurred to Alexandra that he would be here, though now that she thought about it, it seemed quite obvious that he would of course be living in the same home as his mother.

"You've met mum, then?" he said simply, stepping closer to her.

"I-I talked to your mother, yes," Alexandra nodded.

"Our mother," he corrected her.

Alexandra didn't respond to this. "Have you got an owl around here?"

"What for?"

"I-I wanted to write a letter," she said softly. "To my dad. He wanted me to call him as soon as I arrived, but you don't have a phone. He's probably worried sick by now, and I just want to let him know that I made it here alright."

Wretermoust studied her, and after a moment, he sighed. "Fine. Follow me."

He led Alexandra down the corridor up a narrow flight of stairs to a round, straw-covered room that much resembled the Hogwarts Owlrey. There were five sophisticated dark owls perched on the many landings of the room. Wretermoust held out his arm, and at once the biggest owl came fluttering down and landed on it.

"There's parchment and quills and ink in that drawer by the window," he told Alexandra. "Write your damn letter, but make it quick."

Alexandra nodded, and grabbed the writing supplies from the drawer and began her short letter.

Dad,

I'm sorry for keeping you waiting; there are no phone lines here, so I had to track down this owl so I could contact you. I arrived safely, and things are a bit odd here, but I hope that I will get used to them. I talked to mum today. It was strange, I won't deny that, but it was almost a relief to finally get my questions answered. I miss you a lot, though, and can't wait to come back home once the week is over.

Love,

Alexandra

Alexandra rolled up her letter. "Er, shall I tie it on his-"

"No," Wretermoust snapped, grabbing the letter from her hand. "He'll bite anyone besides me who tries to get near him."

He secured the letter onto the leg of the owl and the walked over to the window. Giving a loud hoot, the owl took off into the now dark sky.

"Thank you," Alexandra said.

"Why did you decide to come on your own?" Wretermoust frowned. "You would've been forced to come one way or the other; mum had those muggle lawyers in the palm of her hand, but why did you just agree to see her on your own terms?"

"I wanted my questions answered once and for all," Alexandra replied. "I did have quite a few after just finding out that my mother is one of the Darkest witches of the age."

"And now that they've been answered," Wretermoust said. "You want to go, don't you?"

"Now that you mention it, yes, I do."

"You know that you can't. It's not part of the plan."

"Plan?" she frowned. "What plan?"

"You know things have been happening, don't you?" Wretermoust asked. "Unless you've been living under a rock, that is. The attack on the Ministry, the deaths of those Aurrors that were supposed to be guarding my mum's house…It's all been part of a very elaborate plan that mums been crafting for years; ever since she was released from Azkaban. And you happen to play a very large role in it."