Pen for a Friend PV Ella Wang

Ella tried to conceal her excitement, but she couldn't stop a large, kind of insane grin from surfacing. Her first letter from her new Quill Pal has arrived, as she was looking forward to chatting with her new friend. She was assigned with a shy-looking girl, which she liked. Ella herself was extremely shy, but she was always looking for friends to count on. Of course, she was nervous as well- what would her new quill pal be like? Would she be as nice as she looked? Would she be rude and sloppy? She didn't know, and she figeted with the letter in her hands, flipping it over, and over, and over. Finally, she ripped it open.


With a laugh louder than she had in weeks, Ella slipped the letter back in the envelope. Her new quill pal- Magnolia Laurellion- sounded exactly like her. She couldn't stop herself from skipping from one foot to the other as she anticipated writing a letter back to Magnolia. She was remeinded of the piece of paper in her pocket, and the quills in the Owlery. Why not do it now? She has everything she needs. She also didn't want to make a trip all the way back to her dorm to write it there.

She picked up a quill, clicked her tongue, and starting writing:

Hi Magnolia,

Sorry for replying to your letter so late- I'm usually earlier than that, I was just a bit busy with classes and other things. Also, it's ok if you're not used to writing with a quill- I've been writing with a quill for 11 years, so I'm more used to it now. With practice, you'll be great! (Also, sorry to ask, but by regular pens, do you mean those Muggle ones?)

As you probably realised by now, I'm pure-blood, and I'm not that familiar with Muggle things. I'm also in Slytherin (Don't take that against me!) and I like reading and writing too! I also like playing wizard's chess, which I think is the same thing as muggle chess except with pieces that move. Also, you can bake?! I think I tried to take up baking when I was 8, but I was terrible at it. Also, in answer to your question, we don't really use bikes, but once, my mum enchanted a Muggle bike from a half-blood friend (that's what it is called, btw) and we had fun riding it underwater .

And yeah, I knew about magic, but I didn't kow any spells or anything. I also have a little brother named Jayden, and he is currently 8 years old. He hasn't showed any magic yet, and I'm worried he might be a Squib (That's a non-magical person from a magical family, btw!). Also I'm sending you a present along with this owl- have a look!

an owl adressed to @Ella Wang
word count: 690

Maggie had been living in a whirlwind at Hogwarts as soon as classes started up. More than half of her peers knew way more about magic than her, so she had quite a lot of catching up to do. Lately, she had been feeling stressed with all of it, so stressed that she nearly forgot she had a letter! It had been practically buried underneath her mountains of papers, and she only remembered it again when she finally finished one of her History of Magic papers…

And she was absolutely embarrassed. Well, embarrassed seemed like too light of a word... mortified was what she was. How could she forget to respond? The anxiety of the lateness in her response almost kept her from opening up the letter as soon as she rediscovered it. What if there was nothing nice in there to begin with? What if her Quil Buddy already disliked her off the bat? What if Ella thought her first letter was weird?

But the logical side of her won out in the end, with the knowledge that if she waited any longer to read it, then her response would only come later and later. And so, the young witch opened it up and read it.

And only after reading it, Magnolia found out she had absolutely nothing to worry about. Ella seemed like the kindest person she could have written to, and the letter even included a gift! There was a small bag of ten colored candies. Being a sweets lover, Magnolia couldn't help but tear it open, picking up a red one and popping it into her mouth happily.

Her peace was only temporary, before the candy exploded in her mouth, both physically and flavor-wise! She practically yelped, jumping in her seat while continuing to chew the candy. She had never experienced something like that before... was that magic? Suddenly, the idea that magic could create amazing candies hit her, and she grinned at that very thought. Picking up her quill and popping another candy in her mouth and grinning through the small explosion, Maggie wrote her reply.

Dearest Ella,

First off, OH. MY. GOSH. Thank you for the gift. I know the package said Exploding Bon-Bons, but I wasn't prepared for an actual explosion like that! Don't worry, I 1000% loved it! This bag will be empty soon, so we'll have to go sweets shopping together sometime soon! C:

I'm so sorry this reply came so late, settling into Hogwarts is pretty hard! I think it's so cool you have basically grown up with magic! And by the Muggle pens, yes! I mean those. I mean, we don't have to dip Muggle pens into ink, they already have them inside! Plus, the pens my moms buy me have cute little charms on them. I could send you one if you like!

How is it being in Slytherin? I still don't know too much about the houses, so I can't hold anything against you. All I really know is that the Slytherin mascot is a snake, and I think snakes are cool! I saw some at a zoo last year, along with lots of other cool animals!

And baking isn't too hard! It's kind of like potions here? Ingredients and directions! I could always try to teach you! Or at the very least, I can make you something!

And riding a bike underwater??? That sounds so cool! Do you think your mom would ever do that with my bike? And we could tour the underwater world? Do you think we'd see a mermaid or something?

And I think you shouldn't worry too much about your younger brother! I myself didn't know I was magical until a little before I was ten. It was wild! I thought something supernatural was happening, like ghosts and stuff. But now I know that magic AND ghosts are real, which is crazy. Anyway, what's been your favorite class here at Hogwarts? I mentioned it earlier, but I have been loving Potions class!

Also! Also! I wanted to include my own gift in my letter. So enjoy! :3

Your Candy-Loving Pal,
Magnolia!

Ella paced around her dormitary anxiously. Why hasn't her Quill Pal sent a reply yet? Did Magnolia think her letter was too casual? Or too long, or too boring? What if she didn't like Ella's present? Ella personally loved Exploding Bon-bons but Magnolia wasn't used to magical sweets. Is that why she didn't reply?

Ella sat down, scanning her Defence Against the Dark Arts essay. It looked good, the topic was write about someone meeting an imp, and she had personally met an imp before, so it was pretty easy to finish the essay. She nibbled on a chocolate frog while making some final adjustments to the essay.

Suddenly, a hoot made her look up. It was one of the school owls, arriving with a letter and a parcel. That's Magnolia's letter,Ella knew. She colour coded her owls for different friends- she always used a light grey owl for Magnolia. Looks like she's back.

Ella hastened to retrieve the parcel and the letter, but then paused. She had thought the parcel was a good sign, but what if it was containing some prank product? If Magnolia didn't like the way she writes... she figeted with the parcel, still attached to the owl.

The owl gave an annoyed hoot, as if to say: "Stop overthinking it and get the thing off me already! I'm tired of carrying it around." Ella gave the owl a smile, then untied the parcel and the letter. The owl hotted softer this time, as if to say: "That's better." She flew away, leaving Ella with staring nervously at the letter in her hands.

Ella shook her head to clear it. She could hear her brother's voice scolding her in her mind- "Ellaaa, he whined, "Why are you always overthinking stuff? We never have any fun 'cause you always spend too much time worrying." Ella gave a half-smile at the thought of her brother, and without further ado, she ripped the envelope open with perhaps too much force. She scanned the letter inside, her half-smile growing wider with every word.

When she finished, she tucked the letter away in a drawer next to her bed. As usual, her fears were completely irrational. Ella already knew Magnolia was a very nice person from her first letter, so why was she still worrying? Magnolia's letter was as beautifully casually confident and nice as her first. Ella privately wished she was less shy, but she never seemed to gather up enough courage to talk anyway without stuttering and making an absolute fool of herself. Meanwhile, here was Magnolia, able to write letters so confidently and casually. After a few more moments of being stuck in an endless cycle of worry of what would happen if she met Magnolia face to face, a flash of brown brought her back to Earth. Oh right. The parcel.

And leave it up to Ella to still be worried after reading the kind and amazing letter. She wasn't that nervous anymore, so it was only after a few minutes of hesitation before she carefully opened her parcel.

Two black, long clips met her eyes. These were barrettes, right? She remembered her mum wearing them many times before. Although her mum always wore a sage green one. Ella liked sage green too, and it especially goes well with her black hair. As she thought this, the barrettes immediantly turned sage green.

A muggle would have been shocked, but Ella merely thought, oh, so these are the colour changing ones, cool. In truth, she thought Magnolia's present was a lot cooler than that. She undid her usual plaits down the back, and placed the barrettes on her hair. It did indeed go well with the black. Smiling wideley now, Ella turned to start writing her letter:


To Magnolia,

Thank you so much for the gift! It means more than you think, since my mum always wore one at home. By the way, were you aware that they could change colour? If I were you, I would be shocked to learn that. Well, maybe not really, because I would have already known about magic for a year, since you had your first occurance of magic when you were ten. And I'm so glad you like the sweets! If you want, I can get you more!

And, it's ok, because settling into a magical enviroment is definetely not easy. A lot of the homework is done quicker and better if you already have previous knowledge. For example, for my Defence Against the Dark Arts homework, I finished my essay about imps easily since I actually met an imp before. So don't worry if you're a little busy in the first couple of weeks, you'll settle in. Oh, also, no need to send me one, my friend is muggle-born and she has a large collection that she always shares with me.

Slytherin is basically the same as other houses really, and if you don't know much about houses, I can give you a brief explanation. Long ago, the founders of hogwarts went into a argument about who should be allowed in the school. Gryffindor thought only the bravest should be allowed, Hufflepuff argued the most loyal and kind should be allowed, (like you!) Slytherin disagreed, and said that the students with purest blood, (like me), should be allowed, and Ravenclaw insisted only the smartest should be allowed. So the school was split into houses, and the houses were named after the 4 founders' names. Cool, huh?

I am still admiring you for being able to bake. Because, well, I think that being able to throw a bunch of stuff in a cauldron and stir it a couple times is nothing compared to cooking up a delicous treat without it burning in the stove. (I think that's what you call it?) And baking has so many different instructions, while making potions is just stirring it a couple times.

And also, it is pretty easy to enchant a bike to ride it underwater, I forgot which enchantment it was, but I think I know how to do it. It was in one of the books in the library. I'll have a look at it again, and once I memorised it, I can do it to your bike, I think, if everything goes right. When you ride it underwater, it goes really fast, but the problem is breathing underwater. my mum used a bubble-head-or-something charm, but I can't do that. We'll have to figure out a way. Hey, do you want to meet at the grounds during one of the breaks? Tell me whenever you have time, and we can try to figure out how to ride a bike underwater!

And, my favourite class is defintely Defence Against the Dark Arts. I like Charms too, but I guess that's just because I like the professor. Seriously, she is so cool.

Looking forward to seeing you in the grounds!

Your very excited Quill Pal,
Ella.

an owl addressed to @Ella Wang
word count: 836

"Reh-PAH-roh!"

Magnolia stood still in her room, her walnut wand pointed at a snapped-in-half Ticonderoga pencil. And despite the correct pronunciation, she just couldn't seem to get the movement right. She had been at this for nearly an hour. She took a couple of deep breaths, trying not to frown too hard, and just plopped down on her bed.

Her fingers searched her bed before making contact with her weighted Triceratops plush, TJ. She pulled at one of his limbs, gathering him into her arms and giving his forehead a soft kiss. At least he was here to support her, despite her struggles with magic. And the universe knows that she needed all the support she could get when it came to her lack of magical prowess...

Her mind wandered away from the anxiety-inducing thoughts that were her magic prowess, and to her quill pal, Ella. She thought more about it, and she really needed to meet her in person soon. She was struggling to make friends at Hogwarts, which, for a lack of a better word, sucked. She had written letters home, and her mothers encouraged her to at least meet up with her one actual friend.

And as if the universe was listening to her mind, she heard a nearby hoot. Thinking that maybe it was her roommate's owl and not moving from her comfy spot, the owl that carried Ella's letter fluttered over to sit on the foot of her bed, hooting again. She quickly sat up, her mood lifted.

"Oh! Thank you, Owl Friend," she purred, happily sliding herself closer and taking the letter while 'paying' the owl with a scratch on the head. She had made it a habit to say thanks to the owls, and even inanimate objects, like the bowl of fruit painting that allowed her into the kitchens, or the barrel that allowed her into the common room. It was just good manners, and in her head, everything magical had to have some sort of consciousness.

She grinned as she peeled open the letter, no hesitation like there was last time. She snuggled up with TJ as she read, nearly kicking her feet in glee.

Magnolia was practically grinning ear to ear when she finished up Ella's letter. It was becoming a pattern now, feeling better right after reading one from her. This was further proof that a quill pal meetup was becoming more and more inevitable.

Magnolia scrambled up from her bed, obviously giving TJ a farewell headrub, and practically fell into her chair with how fast we was going. She took out her writing tools, which she was getting more used to using, and began to pen(well, quill) her response.

My Dear Pal Ella,

I’m so happy that my gift brought you some joy. Now you and your mum are twinning! And I remember that when I bought it, the shopkeeper said that it magically changed color! I’m glad that it was true, or else I’d have to get my money back!! XD

Also yes. I would love more of those exploding candies. I finished my bunch so quickly! Almost like magic, hehe.

You’ve met an imp before?? What was that like? Sometimes I look through all the creatures in our textbooks and it’s still a little difficult to wrap my head around the idea that they’re actually real, like they’re a part of magical science and stuff. Although I think a part of me always knew unicorns were real. They’re too cool not to be!! What’s your favorite magical creature so far? I wonder if we’ll get to meet some when we’re older…

And thanks for the run-down on our school’s history! I think it’s pretty cool how four different people with different personalities could come together to make a school! Teamwork makes the dream work, as my momma would say. I think that even though we’re different houses, I think you’re my closest friend here!! I hope that doesn’t sound too sad, seeing how we haven’t even met up yet, but I just think you’re cool!!

And I feel like we should meet up soon! I love writing these letters to you, but I'm not sure if I send you a pastry through the owl mail system, that it will be fresh when it gets to you. If you tell me your favorite pastry or baked good, I can bring it for the first time we meet! We could... be out on the grounds and relax! Or even by the lake, I hear that it's pretty when the sun hits it. Or we could meet in the library, with all those books! You can pick if you like.

And hopefully when we're even better friends, we could meet over the summer, and we could ask your mum to help us ride a bike underwater. :3 Ooo! Or maybe even rollerblade or skateboard or something! Except I don't know how to skateboard yet, but I can learn!

Hope to meet you soon,
Mags!