A letter home (Kendra or Lance)

[Lachlan Moore]

It was getting late and the common room had begun to empty. The fire was beginning to die down and most of the students had vanished down the many small corridors and through the wooden round doors to their bedchambers. The few students left were mostly those studying or finishing assignments due the next day, a few others were trading chocolate frog cards and still there were those simply chatting amongst themselves.

Lachlan was one of those still up, he had sat himself in one of the large plush armchair around the fire, he sat with both legs swung over the arm of the chair lazily, propping himself forward on the opposite arm. Upon his lap was a rather long piece of parchment, he scratch away at it with his gray flecked quill. It wasn’t homework that Loch had stayed up for, he had finished that earlier in a free period. No it was a letter to his sisters. I say sisters because it was addressed to both of his little sisters, Katie and Matilda, but it would be Mattie who would read it over and over again.

At least once a week Loch would right them a letter, and ever fortnight his parents would receive one too. Katie didn’t resent Loch for being the only magical one in the family, but she did find it hard, she wanted to be part of the magical world her brother wrote about but it would never be, she was already thirteen, her letter never came. Mattie, well she was only nine, she was captivated by the magical world and wanted nothing more than to be part of it, she loved the letters that came from Loch and the schools owls that brought them. She held on the dream that maybe one day it would be her world too.

Loch would right them about the things he did and people he met and ask many questions about what was going on at home. Lachlan loved the magical world but felt so removed from his family and the rest of the muggle world when he was at school, the letters he got from home were the only link he had to the two lives he was currently living, one as a fisherman’s son and the other as a trainee wizard.

Putting the final touches on his letter Lachlan slipped it in the envelope and with a tap of his wand sealed it, he was after all quite talented at wordless spells. Tapping his leg with the envelope Lachlan leant back and wondered if it would be worth trying to sneak up to the owlry to send it right away, but he did have a long way to go from the basement and wasn’t sure if it would really be worth the risk.

[Kendra Martin]

Kendra was bet over a parchment of her own. It was also a letter, one that was years in the making, really. She'd revise it, and reword it, and start from scratch. Because maybe, if she wrote the perfect letter, her brother would come back. She was writing a letter to Declin, despite the fact that her only other brother, Jace, swore to her that Declin never wanted to see her again. Kendra just couldn't accept that.

Her hair fell into her eyes, and she brushed it back, tucking the blond locks behind her ears. She wondered sometimes why she wrote so furiously, why she was so convinced that all Declin needed to hear was how much she missed him.

"Oh, for Salazar's sake," she muttered, just loud enough that the students closest to her all looked up for a moment. Her quill lay in her hand, snapped in half, and she frustratedly dropped it on top of her unfinished letter.

Her whole day had been going along these lines. Ever notice how one bad thing happens in the morning, and the rest of the day is tainted? That was pretty much Kendra's day.

She sighed, running her hand through her hair. "Fine, I give up," she muttered to herself, unaware that Lachlan was actually quite close to her and could probably hear all of her muttering. He'd probably think she was crazy.

[Lachlan Moore]

Loch didn’t know the girl with blonde hair very well. Kendra was her name; he had a few classes with her and knew her to be a kind sort of person. He remembered having a few conversations with her in the past but they weren’t exactly close. But he coudnt help but look at her now.

It’s a little hard to ignore someone you just saw snap quill in two, admitably he had only just caught it out of the corner of his eye but still, she was obviously fairly frustrated. When Kendra remained silent Loch went back it his thoughts, home, family and how he might get to the owlry without getting caught. Although it seemed he wouldn’t be left to his thoughts for long. ‘Fine, I give up’ he heard her mutter.

You wouldn’t exactly call Lachlan a social butterfly, he enjoyed company as much as the next man but starting conversations with people he didn’t know well never seemed to come easily to him, however he couldn’t just leave poor Kendra to deal with her troubles alone, perhaps he could help in some way.

Standing up briskly Lachlan shoved his just finished letter into the pocket of his robes. As usual he was looking a bit shabby, his second hand robes were obvious and his hair was wind swept, most likely from time spent on his broom earlier on in the day. But despite his somewhat scruffy appearance there was a warmth to him.

Sitting himself down in the chair beside Kendra, Loch lent a little closer to speak to her. “Are you alright, Kendra?” he said in a hushed voice, after all he didn’t want the little third grader that was sitting cross-legged on the floor to over hear, she was staring at Kendra with obvious curiosity.