Owls and Letters Open Closed

The sound of paper fluttering to the ground lightly caused Edme to jump, scrambling to pick up the letter she had dropped. One for their foster moms, and four for their foster siblings. She wanted each letter to feel like it was from the heart, even if they weren't truly related.

Their boots hit the ground in a large thump as they picked up the letters quickly, fingers slipping on the thin surface. Their hair curtained their hazel eyes and flopped down below. They brushed it out of their eyes as she rose from the ground and attempted to re-tie the terrible knot that held them together.

They just barely noticed the other face standing in front of them, eyes widening as they realized their presence wouldn't go unnoticed for much longer. They pushed their satchel to their hip and straightened their warm sweater. It had taken them an hour to find this place, they would not be running out because of the messy state they stood in.

Their lanky frame stepped around, as they carefully tried to hide their footsteps under the mask of screeching birds and pecking noises. It wasn't enough of course, as in their attempts to stay quiet they slipped up and dropped the entire package of letters, it falling to the ground in a loud thump.

@Edme Achillian

For a minute, Rachel didn't hear the other person coming in because of the noisy owls but the sound of something falling to the ground with a loud thump snapped her out of her thoughts. Moving her head to the source of the noise, she was met by a person with kind of short brown hair and hazel eyes. Rachel stood there, looking at the person with a curious gaze. She was sure that she haven't met them before but she also don't remember seeing them around here which was strange.

But maybe its because shes always surrounded by her fellow Gryffindors. She was about to introduce herself to be polite but noticed the letters scattered on the ground.

Clearing her throat, Rachel moved her gaze to the objects that fell and crouched down. "Thats quite a lot of letters." She said and picked up two letters that had fallen near her. It wasn't too much but it was a lot more than what Rachel would usually send but she shrugged it off. She is an only child after all, so the letters that she would send are only a few. Turning her attention back again to the person, she smiled. "I'm Rachel by the way."

@Rachel Davis

They watched as the girl- Rachel picked up the letter and handed them over. "Oh uh, thank you. I'm Edme." a thick Scottish accent rung through their voice.

They fidgeted with their fingers, wringing their hands. They hadn't been to real school for a while, so meeting new people was sort of out of her range. Wanting to be polite she held out her hand.

"I'm newer. I just got in this year." they nodded to a small pin on their satchel, "Ravenclaw. Ha, I'll be honest, I didn't really know what to expect."

The sound of screeching still filled the air, draining out any thoughts Edme could form at the moment. She had never been in a place like this, though one of the boys had mentioned it in their last foster home. It was definitely loud, and smelly, but it was amazing to see all the owls everywhere. The closest Edme had been to actually seeing an owl was when she was woken up in the middle of the night by one of the younger kids they had been housed with a few years earlier. The little girl had motioned to the window and shown a small crowing owl in the tree just outside the window.

"And you are..." they looked for a hint of a house.

@Edme Achillian

Rachel took Edmes hand and shook it. She then let go and smiled at her. "I'm also a first year, but Gryffindor." She said, assuming that the other is also a first year. Rachel followed their gaze to the owls, noticing that they were quite amazed at them. "Although the owls are loud and noisy, they're amazing right? May I ask, are you from the muggle world as well?" Before she could even think, the question already left her mouth.

Rachels eyes widen a bit, she didn't want to come off as rude so she quickly apologized to her. "Sorry, for that! It just seems like you're not used to the sight of many noisy feathers." She said and chuckled while rubbing her neck sheepishly. Rachel was used to seeing owls at a young age. That was what her parents would use to communicate with their friends in the muggle world, and not even once did the neighbors caught and questioned an owl in their neighborhood. So it wasn't really an unusual thing for her. But it does however, amaze her that there are hundreds of owls in one place.

Rachel wasn't really good at making small talk when she doesn't know much about the other but at least there wasn't an awkward silence in the air.

"Oh no, no! It's not a problem at all!" Edme waved their hands in front of them frantically, worried the other was getting nervous, "I was in a wizard family before this, they just weren't super big on owls and such. They preferred muggle mail tactics, I suppose. I bounced around a few wizard houses, though it was a common occurrence for them to either have simply well trained owls or just no owls at all."

It was bland, but it was most of what Edme knew. They always suspected it had something to do with foster care and the different kinds of kids that come in, some scared of owls and some not. But she didn't really know herself, so she never questioned it.

"If you don't mind, where are you from? As in blood and such." Edme realized immediately what they said, "Not that it will change anything! I'm not... you know. I don't mind blood. Or- no, I mean I don't mind your blood- blood type! Agh!"

There wasn't a way to phrase it that didn't paint them out as a serial killer. Blood was such a poor word to use for it. Status? Relation? Talking was hard.

@Edme Achillian

Rachel stood there, silent for a second. Loading what was happening and assessing the situation before bursting out laughing which might have made herself look crazy and strange in front of Edme. "I'm sorry but I just find it funny how we keep saying things and then realizing how wrong it sounds." She said while calming down from her giggling fit. "I'm a descendant of a Pureblooded family from Somerton, England which makes my blood type Pureblood Mx. Vampire." She teases to the other, instantly becoming more relaxed then before. Hopefully they weren't panicking now as well.

"And guessing from your accent, I'd say you're from Scotland? Although I'm not sure about your blood status." Rewinding back to what she said, Rachel was confused at the bouncing around a few wizard houses part of what they said. Do they have many relatives to stay with? Deciding to not ask about it for now to not seem as someone nosy.

"Huh, mine is quite the opposite. Super fan of being traditional and not using muggle stuff often. Which style of communication do you rather prefer?" Rachel herself doesn't care if her family uses muggle way or the owl way but she does like to pet the owls that come by to drop letters and all.

Hello?

A light voice with a slight Indian accent interrupted. A fresh first-year stood in front of them, fidgeting slightly. He held two letters in his hand, both smelling, rather strangely, of curry leaf.
The two girls already in the Owlery kept talking, rather strangely, and he quickly said -

I'm Youssuf Baid, in Gryffindor. I just want to post a letter.

The girl with blue hair kept talking. Mortified, he looked down and blurted -

I can come back later. I'll leave.

He began withdrawing from the room, flushing a deep, crimson red.
Just outside the room, he stopped and took a deep, calming breath. It was his right to post a letter; no reason to be scared whatsoever. Then again, he still felt that he should give the girls some privacy.

Having decided, he made his way inside the room once more, carefully tying his letter to the leg of a handsome brown owl, and then quietly prepared to leave. But just as he was about to leave, he saw another boy entering. He vaguely recognised him as a Ravenclaw first-year whom he'd met, a few hours ago.
He didn't say anything, however. He just stood and looked at the boy, glad beyond words to have some male company to relate with.
Youssuf admired the beautiful owls of all sizes and types as he studiously ignored the conversation around him.

Though the Owlery was just a short walk up from the Ravenclaw Common Room, in that it shared a tower with the Eagles, Eliphas Dune had never quite mustered up the courage to scale the stairs. He ought to have sent letters prior to now, in fact he'd considered asking Josepheen to send one for him, but for some reason or another he'd always talked himself out of doing so.

Perhaps by doing so it would make it all far too real. Perhaps he was simply a coward, afraid of the flutter of feathered wings. Ironic, coming from a Ravenclaw. Whatever the reason, today would end that he decided. Today he'd conquer yet another fear.

Grasping tightly onto two carefully penned letters, tucked into beautiful parchment-formed envelopes, Eliphas put one foot in front of the other and made his way up the spiraled staircase toward the one room he'd openly refused to explore. He paused only when he reached the landing just shy of the top, where a basin filled with water, feather, and droppings, awaited him.

From up above, where the owls made their roosts, voices could be heard. He gulped down some of his uncertainty, resisting the urge to flee back down the stairwell, and pressed on. At the final step he saw the trio, one of whom appeared to be backing away from the others. One he recognized as being Rachel Davis, First Year Gryffindor and fellow Astronomy lover. Or... Astronomy curious individual? He wasn't sure how best to frame that. Thankfully this was all thought in his mind, and not aloud.

Another was a fellow Ravenclaw, though not one he'd really interacted with before. He tried to think of her name... Evelyn? No, that wasn't right... Drats. What was it again?

He realized he was probably staring, so he put the thought to rest and carefully stepped around the other boy. His gaze fell over the multitude of owls, expression turning to one of unbridled horror. How did this even work? Was there a specific owl which delivered to Lancashire? How did the owl know who the letter was for?

"Uh... Hi Rachel," he said, not daring to try and recall his fellow Ravenclaw's name. Then he glanced at the others, cheeks flushed. "Does uh, anyone know how this works? I've never sent one before..."

A letter for his sweet grandmother, explaining rather excitedly that he'd met a Finch! The other, of course, for his parents.

@Rachel Davis | @Edme Achillian @Youssuf Baid

"I suppose letter works as well as anything. I don't mind owls, however smelly and loud they may be." Edme laughed, a great breath that could only be held for a moment before the realization of her own presence.


An abundance of people had begun arriving, and Edme was none happier with their presence. It wasn't like she hadn't expected a great amount of people to be grouped or parted in the Owlery, they hadn't exactly known what to expect though. And three new faces, each of which were random Hogwarts students, two of which she didn't know the years of.

And on top of this fact, there was a new kid in the Owlery who was about to leave because of Edme and Rachel's lack of recognition and welcoming of his presence, which put guilt on discomfort, which had been slammed onto the awkward tension that filled the Owlery.

But another had asked the question of how the Owlery even worked, and she had to prioritize the confused.

"Uh, you give... well I suppose you have..." Edme began to realize that, though she had come up here, she herself hadn't known how to send out letter "Uh..."

This was awkward. Edme wanted to punch herself for beginning such a stupid conversation. They could have gotten out of here in moments, simply winging it and giving it to some nice looking bird and sending it off to nowhere with their foster families letters clutched in claw.

"Rachel... do you know how these work?" Edme's Scottish accent muttered the words out in an embarrassed mess. What would these new kids think of her lack of knowledge regarding the wizarding world, especially considering she was last in a wizarding family.

The problem was that she had initiated the answer, so asking another for an answer was like cheating. At least to her maybe.