Scribbled Letter (Lily)

Derek didn’t like the rule that only third-years and above could go to Hogsmeade. They should make an exception for him because his family lived there and he wanted to see them. At least, he had discovered, if he got a job in Hogsmeade when he was thirteen, he could go before third-year. That would be great. He could get a real job at Madam Puddifoot’s and see his family all the time at the start of next year! That was a while away, unfortunately.

Meanwhile, he was stuck writing letters to tell them about wonderful exciting stuff that went on at Hogwarts. It wasn’t at all good, because it would be much better to tell them in person, especially Trevor, who he knew would love to hear about his adventures, especially if they were together at the time. Nevermind. Again, he asked directions and navigated his way across the grounds to the tall owlery tower.

Now that he thought of it, maybe he should have written a letter before he came here, because now this trip was pointless. But it was okay! Luckily, he had his school backpack which contained parchment, a spellchecking quill and some ink. There was nowhere to lean his parchment on so he was resourceful and took a seat on the floor in the middle of the room. Then he leaned down and started to scribble a letter, not bothering too much about neatness because it was only his family. At least the spellings would all be right!

Lily missed her parents a lot. She had never really been away from them for longer than a couple of days before. On the bright side, she still had Kaleb. It would be the bright side if Kaleb didn’t totally hate her, anyway. She had never done anything wrong to that boy and although he could forgive her father and even her mother (who she expected would be the one who took most of the blame), he couldn’t bear to even act civilly to her! Maybe if they had been sorted into the same house, he would grow to like her a little bit. But no, she was a nice Hufflepuff and he was a super smart Ravenclaw.

Obviously she knew that there was an owlery at Hogwarts where she could send letters from, but it was actually finding the place that was the problem here. Eventually, after a while of wandering aimlessly around the grounds, she came to a weird tower which must be it! It turned out she was right when, once she had climbed the steep stone stairs, she came to a room filled to the brim with owls! They were everywhere! Lily had her own owl, which used to be her father’s. She was very proud of good old James. And he was very special because he used to be her father’s. Unfortunately, James had hurt his wing so he was at home. She would gave to choose one of the cool school owls!

There was already a boy in the owlery, but he had his back turned so she didn’t say anything to him. She chose a majestic brown owl and started to neatly tie her folded up, perfect letter to his leg. Then she saw the boy properly. She knew he was a first-year and from his uniform, he was obviously Ravenclaw like Kaleb. Maybe he would know Kaleb! Hopefully he wouldn’t be moody like her brother. Was it rude not to greet him? Lily didn’t want to be rude so she smiled at him. “Hi!” she chirped.

Derek was too focused on writing this letter to multitask. Obviously he couldn’t multitask in any situation. But here especially he found it very difficult to talk to the new person who had come into the room while scribbling. If he tried, he would end up quoting his letter to them. He did glance up, though, to see if it looked like a friendly approachable person who he could have a good conversation with. Even though she didn’t talk to him, she looked nice enough, a small, Hufflepuff girl with neat hair. What could be bad about her?

Once he had finally finished writing, he turned to the first owl he saw. It was skinny and scrawny and pretty useless, but it looked like it had a big heart and that was what mattered. He tried to tie the letter to its leg as carefully and painlessly (for the owl) as possible, but it still let out a little yelp. It was probably just being overdramatic, so he shrugged and sent it off as soon as he had recited his parents’ names and address. He wasn’t sure how much information he needed to give the owl, so he played it safe and told him everything.

By this point, the pretty girl had greeted him. He smiled and stroked his face as though he had a beard and he was stroking it thoughtfully. Derek really wanted a nice manly beard, seriously. It would definitely attract girls. “Hey! I’m Derek!” He may as well get straight to the point so that they could be besties straight away. “I like your hair,” he added. Because it was great hair, very shiny and straight.

Lily looked up in alarm when she heard an owl squeal. What was the boy doing? Oh, it was okay. The owl was just being silly. Obviously the boy was being as careful as he could so the owl couldn’t really be hurt. She smiled and rocked back and forth on her heels. And tripped over her robes. These things were so stupid! Hers were too long so they trailed along the floor behind her a bit and she kept falling over them! Why did they need robes anyway?

Then the silent boy spoke. He was enthusiastic. Lily liked that enthusiasm. He seemed like a good friend to have. And it looked like he had an imaginary beard, which was always nice. “Nice to meet you, Derek!” she said, trying to be just as enthusiastic as him in her response. “Really? Thank you! I like your hair too! It’s very floppy. And your imaginary beard.” She couldn’t forget to bring that up, no.

Now, the question that she was eager to ask him. “Hey, you’re in Ravenclaw, right?” That sounded stupid, since he was wearing Ravenclaw uniform. She mentally slapped herself for the idiotic remark. “Do you know my brother Kaleb? He’s in Ravenclaw too. Smallish, brown hair, moody attitude, traumatic past?” Lily asked, stopping herself there because she was starting to babble. And she didn’t want Derek to ask questions about Kaleb’s traumatic past because nobody should know about that.

Wasn’t she just full of compliments? That was so nice. Derek liked Lily more and more. She was pretty and friendly and he was certain that they were going to be best friends. Awesome best friends. “Thanks! I think it’s really about what condition you keep your hair in. I use good conditioner,” he nodded. “As for my beard, eventually I’ll grow a real one, but for now the imaginary thing is pretty cool, yeah.” Lily would definitely agree that beards were very masculine and cool.

Even though she was pretty and friendly, it seemed that she wasn’t the smartest. “Yeahhh, I’m in Ravenclaw,” he nodded, pointing to his blue tie. “And I know Kaleb! He’s my roommate!” They were cool roommates. The Cool Cat Ravenclaw Kids. “Wait - he’s your brother?” He did see the very vague resemblance if he stared very hard at her face. Then he went on to correct her statements about him. “He’s taller than me, he’s very friendly and nice and he never mentioned a… traumatic past,” he said, slightly confused. “What happened to him? Is he okay? What?”

Derek also liked Kaleb so he wanted to know if something bad had happened to his roommate so he could be very supportive and nice and friendly, more than he already was.

Lily giggled but nodded in agreement. Derek was so funny and silly. In an awesome way, of course. "Beards are very cool. I do wish that I could grow my own beard. I'd look great with a really big Santa Claus beard, don't you think? Obviously not gray, though! That wouldn't look very nice." And if it didn't look nice, it wasn't worth the hassle of maintaining a beard.

"Sorry, that sounded stupid," Lily smiled. "That's awesome!" Wow, Kaleb was lucky to have a roommate like Derek. However, maybe that didn't apply vice versa. "Really? He's actually nice to you? He doesn't like me much because of family stuff but it's alright, I'm trying to convince him that I'm not evil." Her hand flew to her mouth. "I shouldn't have said any of that! I'm sorry! Don't mention it! He's fine! I was...lying!" Lily was panicking and words just came flying out of her mouth.

"I have to go," she excused herself, grabbing her bag and waving. "Nice meeting you Derek, see you around." Then she ran out of the Owlery, feeling like the most terrible person ever.