A Ravenclaw's Ruminations Solo Finished

Date: 12 September 2026 Time: 6:00 PM, a couple of hours before sunset Weather: Cloudy, at a pleasantly damp and chilly 11°C Location: Lakeside, by the shallow waters Storyline: Musings on the first few weeks in Hogwarts Word Count: Ambience:

Ripples gently propagated outwards from where Rosamund's bare feet lightly dangled over the cold, shallow waters.

The glassy surface of the Great Lake reflected the yellow-orange glow of the sun slowly setting beyond the distant mountains like a giant mirror held up on the skies. Clumps of healthy stratocumulus clouds aloft with damp and chilly prevailing winds from the west-southwest signaled a possibility of rainstorm later on in the evening.

And yet despite the cold, Rosamund sat on a boulder along the shores of the lake, feet bare and damp over the cold waters, a letter clutched tightly in her hand, staring across the great expanse of the reflective waters of the lake, savoring the chilly bite of the breeze across her face like a true native of London.

Almost a week had gone by after her mother stoically bid her goodbye at King's Cross Station, saw Hogwarts for the first time, and got sorted to Ravenclaw. She fell in love with the enchanted ceiling of her dormitory, made a new friend, and properly experienced classroom education for the first time in her life.

She was self-aware enough to understand that she's quite sheltered compared to a lot of her peers at school. Her whole life revolved around her family, her peers that her family carefully curated for her, the materials that her governess taught her, and the books available in the library. She's never made a friend outside of her family's connections, never ventured out of their townhouse in London or their manor in the countryside without her family, and never had many opportunities to explore ideas or perspectives outside of what she's grown up with.

And so like a thirsty person stumbling to an oasis for the first time, she greedily took to every lesson, every book in the library, and every novel experience. There's little wonder why the Hat sorted her to Ravenclaw, in hindsight.

Rosamund then looked at the letter in her hand, recalling how nervous she'd been writing that letter to her mother.

The reply she'd gotten last week was simultaneously something she expected and dreaded. The tone was neutral and cultured as it always was with her mother; but, the obvious immediate pandering to the positive qualities of the House she'd been sorted to, belied the icy undertone of her mother being surprised and confused—which with how impassioned her mother seemed to be when she talked about their whole family having been sorted to Slytherin, was something that she immediately picked up on. She was disappointed at her mother's reaction, but she did know her well.

Then, a letter from her father unexpectedly arrived that morning, and she was the one surprised and confused. She didn't even know that her mother had written to him about her, and that he deemed it worthy of his precious time to pen her a letter!

What's even more bizarre was that her father sounded like he was genuinely happy for her. He even told her to write to him about Ravenclaw tower's own library! (which is a generous word; it's more like a repository of odd books that Ravenclaws all over the years have donated or left behind or swapped with something else) Given that Rosamund had a distinct lack of proper familial relationship with her father due to the man always travelling abroad for their family business, this new development of finally having a shot at knowing her own father, albeit through letters, filled her with hopeful happiness and anxiety in both measures.

Looking back again at the setting sun above the crystal waters of the Great Lake, she did look forward to what the rest of the year looks like for her.