Compose A Response

This is part of Aly's Cast the Bronze storyline. You can find other portions here: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

So you moan and compose a response,

but you don't even know what you want...

Mrs. Hesper Livingston-Salinger
Livingston Manor
England, United Kingdom
4^th January, 2026

Ms. Alyssa Livingston
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scottish Highlands, Scotland, UK

My dear Alyssa,

I am writing on behalf of the entire Livingston family to express our disappointment in you following the news we received from Tenūsa earlier today. We allowed you to attend this foolhardy trip as a diplomatic mission to showcase your recently returned magical abilities and our connections to the jewel trade in Oceania, not to allow yourself to run around serving baked goods and leaving your cabin in the wee hours of the night to fight sentient greenery. You should note that a photograph was taken of you doing the latter and sent to the Premier Gazette; you are only lucky that the Gazette is a smaller magazine and thus your grandmother was able to exert her influence over the editor in order to ensure the offending image will not be published in tomorrow's edition.

By the time this reaches you at Hogwarts, you will have already returned from the journey, and thus we see it as an unnecessary waste of time for your grandfather or I to travel so far to remove you from only a single day of the event. Please note, however, that this has only served to further deepen the lack of respect you have earned as of late. Your grandparents and I fully expect to hear of nothing but excellent grades, perfect attendance, and "yes" to anything we ask of you over this coming semester.

Truly, Alyssa, I would hate to see you removed from this family as I once was. You have received a chance of a lifetime; please do not squander it so needlessly.

Sincerely,
Hesper Livingston-Salinger

Aly Salinger
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scottish Highlands, Scotland, UK
7^th January, 2026

Hesper Livingston-Salinger
Livingston Manor
England, United Kingdom

Dear Mother,

Silly me; I thought you would all be worried about me, not disappointed. Please know that I did not leave my cabin in the middle of the night on purpose, and I would have stayed if I had been able. I was dragged over the side of the railing and knocked unconscious; surely the photographer who captured whatever image of which you speak would have been able to provide this knowledge, too, if the Premier Gazette was not so intent on running smear campaigns against our family. I should hope that in the future Grandmother be inclined to ask me what happened rather than believe a reporter who may not know the full story, or may not be willing to share it, I suppose.

I will compose myself this semester as well as I can, barring any other incidents. I suppose that's what you wish I would have done in the first place, but as you well know, life is uncontrollable. And, at times, so am I.

Sincerely,
Aly

Go tell someone what you wish I would've done...

The Owlery | January 7^th, 2026 | wearing Ravenclaw uniform | #C47DDB