Brothers' Grievance Chapter 34:

Dear Irina,

First, I want to thank you for your profound confidence in me. Second, I must admit that I was as thrilled by the letter as I was by the Sealing Charm your mother put on it; my brothers were besides themselves that they couldn't read it. Third, I've to congratulate you; for truly you must have been exceptional since they came to this conclusion so early. Fourth, I'd no idea the Transylvanian Ministry of Magic could make decisions that would affect a foreign school, that they were allowed that is. Fifth, I believe you are correct about Lukas, I think he might even be in love with him but doesn't want to admit it. Sixth, you don't have to use the word "very" before the expression "tooth-and-nail", it's enough to say so. Seventh, I'm sending you a Changeable Timetable the minute it's available.

Which colour would you prefer?

With kindest regards,

Arthur Kirkland

Arthur smiled as he sent the letter off. Perhaps this would teach his brothers to leave his private correspondence alone.

Honestly, why couldn't he have brothers who were more polite and have common courtesy?

In a different part of the Kirkland Mansion, Seamus Kirkland sat and sulked. All he wanted was to read Arthur's letter, and it was sealed. It wasn't out of curiosity that he wanted to read the letter; it was just that it was so weird that Arthur had friends.

And although his other brothers agreed with that, except perhaps for Rhys, it didn't feel right talking with them about it, somehow. Which is why he'd sent a letter to his girlfriend,

Ziva,

Artie's being a prick.

He got a letter with a Sealing Charm on it, the kind that only allows the person it's addressed to, to open it.

And when we tried to ask him who had sent him that letter, he refused to tell us!

He even hid in the basement so that we wouldn't see the name of the sender!

What should I do?

Love you, by the way.

Seamus Kirkland

And not even a day later, he got a reply,

Seamus,

You "love me, by the way"?

That is not a very nice thing to write to your girlfriend.

Nor is it very mature of you to try to read your brother's letter. That's his business, not yours!

Though I suppose I shouldn't expect too much from someone my junior.

What should you do?

Leave him be, and don't harass him just because I'm going to be so occupied with my NEWT's come January.

After all, you'll be occupied with OWL.

Or are you harassing him now, because you know you'll be occupied with OWL's, and I'll be occupied with my NEWT's come January?

No matter how smart you are, you should focus on studying.

Love,

Ziva

Seamus smiled. Ziva's non-comforting words was the most comforting he could think of. He guessed that's why their relationship worked so well.

And he knew that she was right, but since she wasn't here ... he was so going to find a way to read Artie's letter.

Maybe when Rhys took him out for Christmas shopping?

Author's notes:

I'd originally planned to just have a chapter with a bunch of letters. But then, I realized that having chapters with the different letters was a better idea.

This chapter is connected to Chapter 30.

In the next chapter:

'But isn't the Leaky Cauldron where you enter Diagon Alley from the Muggle world?', Peter, who had listened to their entire conversation, it wasn't that hard to do, as they didn't stand too far from each other, asked confusedly. He'd never entered Diagon Alley the Muggle way, but he'd heard enough stories from listening in on conversations of those of his brothers who had brought school friends over.