Quill Pals
Letter 5
Hey Kairi,
Thanks for saying that about my dad. I think he’s one of the best dads in the world. How did your mother decide on your name if you don’t mind me asking?
Anyways, though, you’re so funny, Kairi! Yes, I think we should be the Weird Sisters, haha! I’m so glad we have an inside joke now. Who knew it would be because of Spotify? But that’s so interesting. When do you think we’ll learn the charms (or is it a spell?) for making instruments play? I hope it’s soon. I focus better on homework with music.
I was excited to meet kids raised in the wizarding world too, but I just find it intimidating. What if I say something too weird, you know? Maybe we’ll be able to find somebody together who could teach us some essentials?
However, no, Kairi, I don’t think our first bit of accidental magic means anything about our personalities. I think you are a far kinder person than me. I can investigate what factors go into accidental magic more, if you want, but I do know strong emotions play into it. You were arguing with somebody, and it’s normal to be very angry from that. I hope you’re not very upset about it still.
Kairi, I’m not just saying this, but you are one of the nicest people I’ve met here. I’m so grateful for being partnered with you for this Quill Pals. Thank you so much for what you’re saying about me. I really appreciate it. I hope one day I can be as talented with my words as you are with your art. Also, my dad won’t let me on social media either, which I think is unfair. Although, electronics don’t work here, so it’s probably for the best I’m not too attached at this point in time.
Also, oh no! I’m so sorry you had a bad experience with ponies and horses. My dad took me to some stables before and I got to pat one, but I didn’t get to ride him. I say it would be really scary if somebody kept warning me about them while I was close to them. They are very big. And I understand what you’re saying, and that’s ok! We don’t have to like the same things because we are friends.
And yes, girls can be knights! They were called ‘dames’. I only found about them recently, though, and I got a little too focused on my magical research to really look into them. I did find some cool female warriors, though! Maybe some of them were knights too! I can tell you about some if you’re interested! Maybe some of them will be magical and we’ll find some books about them in the library.
About our visit to the library, though, I don’t want you to just go along with my passions. I want to learn about your hobbies and what your passionate about too! Maybe we can find some middle ground! Like magical music groups or famous magical artists? Then we’ll also have some reference with the kids who grew up in the magical world.
What do you think?
Best wishes,
Becca
OOC: Interacting with @Kairi Glamateux
Kairi and I decided to move our letters from private messaging to here, so here is the old the letters. I have their permission to copy them from private to here under a reducio.
Letter 4
From Kairi to Becca
ReducioDear Becca,
I'll make sure to keep that in mind, and I personally think that your father is amazing for that, really! I never liked the idea of having the same name of your grandma or your grandpa, which is something my father seems fond of. Thankfully my mother got to decide on my name in the end!
I was quite the opposite actually, I was super excited of meeting people that grew up so differently from me, but I'm clearly unprepared for it. Sometimes conversating with the pureblooded students can feel quite challenging, but it is just as intriguing as I thought it would be. I think the way they listen to music is by either making instruments play themselves through magic, or actually just going to a musician and listening live. How weird! There's no post-production magic for them, I think magical music is quite mediocre compared to what we have in the muggle world, but then I don't know enough to really say, most of what I just wrote down is based on assumptions. I have never heard of the Weird Sisters, either. Maybe we could be them? For liking Spotify? Hehe.
I'm very glad to have met you, too. You're the friendlisted anyone has ever been to me and I'm sure being able to hide behind a parchment and owls does help with that, but I feel really grateful for your friendship, even as it's just blossoming.
I think you, at the very least, are much better with words than I am, at least it really comes across that way. And structures, your letters are amazing in that, too. So writer or not, you're definitely talented. And uhm.. I actually know nothing about knights. Can girls be knights, too? In the stories I've read as a kid it was always boys and men who were knighted.
Actually, I think your instance of magic is quite cool, too. And I do think it's interesting that yours manifested out of worry and perhaps a bit of fear, while mine manifested out of anger and perhaps a bit of hate. I wonder if that means you're a kinder person than I am?
Thank you so much!! I've been drawing ever since I was six and I keep getting better at it, I love it a lot and I hope to become as good as some of the digital artists my mom has shown me on something called.. uuhm.. Twitter I think? It's a social media, like Instagram, but mom says I'm too young to use those. I always wonder why, because the art she does show me from both of those is always amazing.. I wish I could browse it at my own leisure.
Horses! A lot of girls I know like horses, I actually find them both scary and ugly. Uhm.. I rided a pony once and that was already kind of scary, horses are much worse in that regard. And then there's the fact that I kept getting warned of keeping my distance and how if they kicked me they could injure me really badly, and I just hate them. I guess I don't think I can trust them, and I don't like how they look, and...
Oh, but that doesn't mean they're bad animals. I think it's amazing that you like them, and I was always happy when my friends rode on those, I just.. would never do it myself, but I would also never hurt a horse just because I don't like it.
That's wonderful. I can't quite read the part that you crossed in your owl, but... If it was about knights and history, you're completely right that I'm not really into it, but at the same time you're my friend now. I want to listen to your hobbies and what you're passionate about. Even if I don't understand it all, or find the thing itself boring, I still want to know and I'm excited to know! Knowing that it's important to you means that it won't be boring for me in the context that you're telling me about it, even if I would never inform myself over such topics on my own.
So, if you want, we can read a history book together. If we can hire two copies of the same book we could meat up over multiple days to read it and then exchange our thoughts once we finsih it. I just hope we read at a similar speed.
-Kairi
Letter 3
From Becca to Kairi
ReducioHey Kairi,
My name isn’t short for Rebecca, but most people think that it is. My dad named me after his grandmother but wanted me to still “have my own name” so it’s just Becca. Thank you, though! I like your name too, it’s so pretty!
I know what you mean. After my dad and I found everything at Diagon Alley, I was terrified I was going to be the only one who didn’t grow up in the wizarding world. I’m glad I was wrong. Also, no I can’t believe he thought Spotify was a spell! What does he listen to music and podcasts on, then? To be fair, though, sometimes my classmates mention something they grew up with in the wizarding world that I have never heard of. For instance, who are the Weird Sisters?
I’m so excited to learn about magic too. I think it’s very admirable you want to be important because you want to be strong and help people. What a fantastic goal! I feel like that shows so much about who you are as a person, and I’m glad I got to meet you!
I wouldn’t call myself a writer, if I’m being honest. The only reason I ended my letter with ‘Sincerely’ is because that’s what my dad ends his letters with to people he’s just met. I’m not sure you could learn much from me, unless it’s about knights. I love knights! I always wanted to be one when I was growing up.
But thank you for saying that.
Wow! That’s an awesome way to learn about your magic, but I don’t blame you for finding it a little scary. My first instance wasn’t nearly as cool. I just spilled some tea on one of my dad’s rare books and panicked. Then the tea magically disappeared and didn’t ruin the book after all.
Also, you’re an amazing artist! I wish I was that talented.
Bats are really cool, but my favorites are horses. I want a big, strong one that I could ride around and have swordfights on.
Yes, I would like to meet and go the library together. Maybe we could read all about the goblin rebellions. I know they’re already on the syllabus, but they just seem so exciting. Or I heard King Arthur was real! Isn’t that something? Maybe we could find some books on him and his knights.
Sorry, you’re probably not as excited as I am about knights and history. I’ve been told I can steamroll people if I’m not careful. We could read about anything. I like learning about all kinds of things.
-Becca
Letter 2
From Kairi to Becca
ReducioHi Becca,
Is your name short for Rebecca? Or is it just Becca? Either way you have such an attractive name! I always liked it, it's super cute. Though I might be biased because one of my best friends in the Muggle world was called Rebecca, or well, Becca for short!It's so nice to have a quill friend who grew up in the muggle world, it will make it easier to talk to you as I get more used to the wizarding world. I was talking to a boy just yesterday, and I mentioned Spotify and he thought it was a spell, can you believe that??Next to the end of her sentence Kairi had added a little doodle of her own face laughing, emoji-like
Anyways, sorry, I'm going on a tangent, I'm most excited about learning about magic, of course. This is all so new for me, and exciting and I'm just so happy that I have the gift of being able to spellcast. I want to become important when I grow up, not for fame, but because I want to be strong, and I plan on helping so many people, that it will be impossible for my name not to be known, so I look forward to that, too.
Right now, however, the most exciting thing is getting to meet you! Are you a writer? Your letter was structured in such an inspiring way, you even used "Sincerely" at the end, like a professional adult and everything, woah! I feel like I could learn plenty from you based on that alone, really!
Oh by the way, I forgot to say, but for me my mother was the muggle, and dad kept the wizarding world hidden from us until I burned the garden when I didn't get what I wanted...Hehe, pretty cool, right? Albeit a bit scary, I was so proud when I found out that I was the reason for the fire.Another doodle would follow, this one requiring more effort, depicting herself as a nine year old crying, and looking visibly upset, while staring at a bush in the garden which had erupted in flames that were quickly starting to spread. Her mother would also be there, staring in fear and confusion. Her father was nowhere to be seen
Anyways, would you like to meet and go to the library together? I absolutely hated muggle history in school, but I'm excited to learn about magical history, so maybe we could bond over that. Aside of that, I also like animals, but like.. I don't trust myself to be responsible enough to take care of one. Bats are my favorite, I wish we could buy one.
My personal interests and hobbies are singing and drawing, I'm quite good at it, for my age anyways!
-Kairi
Letter 1
From Becca to Kairi
ReducioHello Kairi,
I’m Becca Cross and we were partnered for Quill pals. I read your sign up sheet and am so excited to be paired with someone who also grew up in the Muggle world!
My dad is a Muggle and he raised me. I like reading, especially history, and animals. I’m especially excited to be at Hogwarts and learn about the magical world.
What are you most excited about?
Sincerely,
Becca Cross
'I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know.'
-Mark Twain
Quill Pals
Letter 6
Dearest Becca,
Of course. Mom says you should only hold your tongue when what you have to say is rude and nothing more, but you should try to always say your compliments because people, especially older ones, apparently don't praise each other enough. So I've been trying to always say when I think something someone does is amazing, and I genuinely think so about your dad.
My names means "Sea" from what I understand, so maybe it has to do with that? Or maybe mom just really likes it. I.. don't really know, I never really asked her.
ALSO, ahah! I love it. Yes. I do think we should be the Weird Sister, but at the same time, as I was playing around with the idea and fantasizing about this before finally writing a response to you I started to wonder if it might be offensive to the pureblood students? We don't know how important those sisters are and just last week I overheard a much older student complaining about Half-Bloods and Mudbloods even being allowed in the school, so I'm not really sure..
I'd love a spell that plays instruments for me, though! See I wanted to pick up an ukulele but I'm absolutely terrible at it, and singing without any music is not as great, and well, without a phone... It'd just really help if a piano played itself for me!
But yeah, I get the intimidation. Some people don't seem to like people like us, but maybe that's okay? I wouldn't know. I'll have you know, most people I have talked to have returned me the same kindness, I gave them. I think for the most part we're just people with different upbringings and that's more exciting than anything else, but... There's also that one older student. I want to believe that most people will accept our quirks and like us, even if we do say something suuuuuuuuper weird, but I don't knoooow!
You make a very good point about accidental magic, and everything magic is what I am interested into, but knights, too. I do wanna know more about them and especially the lady ones. They sound so cooool from how you describe them! Perhaps we can try to look into magical knights as well? I wouldn't know if wizards were ever knighted during those old times, but it would be cool to find out, and it would be something that technically touches on both our passions.
I actually don't like researching other artists and stuff, I don't really care much about them, so reading about old art and things like that would probably put me to sleep... Unless we research like, spells that help you do art? That sounds interesting!
I'm super grateful of being partnered with you for Quill Pals, too, by the way. You're the coolest person I've met in Hogwarts, and while that may as well be because you're basically the person I talked to the most already, it doesn't change anything about the fact that you are super amazing and I'm uber glad to be your friend.
I do think our parents are too protective of us regarding social media, but oh weeeelll.. Mom doesn't get to ever see Hogwarts, which I think is unfair, too. So I suppose I can live.
But yeah, I answered my thoughts about the knights and what we could research in the library a bit earlier in the letter, because i went onto a tangent and I remembered you mentioning that question at the end of your letter and and.. yeah. So... I think whatever we end up reading, I'm sure we both will have fun, and if either of us gets bored, we can always change it up on the flyyy.
Spending time with you is the real gift, really. You'd become my first real friend at Hogwarts, and that's more than I could ask for, really.
With much Love,
Kairi
OOC:
Reducio
Kairi doesn't know that Mudblood is a derogatory term. She just copied what she heard from this alleged older student. You're welcome to reprimand her of course, just giving context that, obviously, she doesn't dislike muggleborns!
Quill Pals
Letter 7
Dear Kairi,
What great advice from your mother! I think I'll try to live by that philosophy too. I think your mother must be amazing, as well.
Also, what a great meaning. Do you like the sea? My father and I would often go on day trips to the beach as I grew up. He marveled over the connections the sea could bring. He enjoys studying ancient trade routes via the sea.
Oh, I didn't think about that. I don't want to offend anybody, even if it was just by accident. Also, what a horrible thing to overhear. I'm sorry. I've never heard of 'Mudbloods', but it doesn't sound very friendly. Is that another term for muggle-borns?
Most of the people I've talked to seem to like us too, but I did hear that there were people who wouldn't like me because of my blood status. I hope there aren't too many because it's not something we can change.
Ooooh! What a great idea! I wonder if there were magical knights too. If there was, what did they do? Did they still ride horses and fight with swords?
Fair enough about researching other artists. I wonder if there are spells like that, or if we would even learn them here. If there isn't, how would somebody even create a spell? I would wager they had to be very, very talented and informed in magical theory. I wonder if that's something you can do when you graduate from Hogwarts.
Whatever we read will be great because we will be learning together. The only thing is, you might have to drag me out of the library if there's a whole lot of books on knights. (That was a joke) (but it could be a real possibility).
I'm super glad to be your friend too! You are very cool as well, and it has been great getting to know you over these letters. It is something I have grown to treasure. I'm glad we both signed up for Quill Pals!
Best wishes,
Becca
'I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know.'
-Mark Twain
Quill Pals
Letter 8
Dearest Becca,
I'm so happy you like her "philosophy". I had to look that word up, you know? I think you'd make a wonderful writer.
I actually prefer the mountains over the sea, but that's likely because I also like winter much more than summer, but I do like how vast and blue and pretty and inspiring of freedom it is when you look at it the first time. I like to think as myself as a vast expanse full of potential, too. But it's just a silly thing related to my name that I do, I know that it doesn't define anything in the real world.
I've actually never heard of "muggle-borns" but that sounds like a much more friendly and intuitive term. Could it be that the one I know is only used by people that grew up in the magical world? Though, I guess, Mud is kind of dirty.. Could it be it's an insult, instead? I'm not sure, but I'll stick to 'muggle-born' moving on, just in case! Perhaps you should too!
But yeah, I think it's messed up some thing don't like us for things that we had no control over, and just like my name, that don't have any effect on the real world!
Oh my god, can you imagine magical swords? I think they exist in videogames, from what I have seen. What if they're inspired by the magical knights of Eld?? That would be so cool. We have to find out if that's the case.
I do hope to learn spells that can make me enhance my musical or perhaps even artistic talent. That would be so, so, amazing. But for now I want to learn magic in general, instead of focusing on any specific field. I want to learn as much as possible!!
I don't think I could drag you out of the Library even if I wanted to, because I'd be just as enchanted and lost in my books if we were having THAT good of a time together that you wouldn't want to leave.
I'm sorry I took a bit to reply to this letter, classes have been pretty tough and I got distracted. But I've missed you. It's been nice to take a moment to write to you again and fall in love with this Quill Pals program. Even though we haven't seen each other that much in person, I think you're my best friend here at Hogwarts, so I'm really grateful for that.
Kisses,
Kairi
Quill Pals
Dear Kairi,
Thank you for the compliment. The mountains are beautiful too. I really like how big they are, especially when there’s a sunrise. I think you have a lot of potential, too! I don’t think it’s silly at all to define yourself by the meaning of your name. A lot of people do it, I think.
I think I’ll stick to ‘muggle-born’. I looked it up and it’s against the rules to use the term ‘mudblood’, so I believe it is an insult.
I hope there is such a thing as magical swords! I would want to find one. Maybe I could track one down throughout history. I wonder how much of the magical world has inspired things in the muggle world. There’s probably a lot if you really look into it. I know Merlin is one example, but I wonder if there’s a lot of others.
Ooh, it would be nice to learn spells that can enhance natural abilities, but I wonder how much. Would too much enhancement be cheating, or is it just using the talents available to you? I can’t wait to learn more spells, too! And I’m glad you like the library too!
Now it’s my turn to apologize for taking so long to reply. I’ve missed talking to you, but life got very busy for me too. You’re one of my favorite people here at Hogwarts. I’m grateful to have met you.
With much love,
Becca
'I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know.'
-Mark Twain
Quill Pals
Letter 10
Dear Becca,
You never need to apologize for taking some time to reply. Being at Hogwarts for the first year can be a bit overwhelming, can't it? I always want to pen a letter down for you, but I find myself often lost just exploring the castle. There's so much to see and it's so easy to get lost, too. Most of my free time ends up being used up like that. It's a bit lonely, if I think about it, but in the moment I never feel sad or bored. It's amazing how entertaining this place is.
I still believe it is a bit silly, to define oneself just by their name, but it is fun to do and I don't blame people from doing it. I do think it dangerous if they let that rule their decisionmaking, though. For example, if I chose to go to the sea, just because of my name, even in spite of much preferring the mountains, then I'd consider that silly, and for more serious situations, definitely dangerous.
Oh, I see. I should've made my own research. Thank you for clarifying that with me. 'Muggle-born' it is. Though that does mean those people I heard the other term from would probably hate me... Well, hate us.
Oh well, their loss. Really. I'd love to see magical swords. Do you think you could use them as wands? That would be so cool, slice and spark!! And yeah, I wonder too. I like to play videogames and the Muggles creativity when it comes to fantasy is amazing. Dragons are definitely something that Muggles have seen before, way way back when!
Even if it were cheating, to enhance one's magical abilities. I read it in a book. It's just the ABC:
Always Be Cheating. If you can get an easy advantage, and you don't, I believe there are very few situations were it is not justified. Cheating is very frowned upon, so there's a risk/reward situation, but if you can make sure not to get caught, I think you should always cheat, is that weird?
Either way, this was a nice catch-up. Hopefully we can find some time to meet in the Library soon, but for now... I can't really say my schedule is very reliable. I mostly barely make it back in time for curfew. Though I would try and make time for you, if I could!
Anyways, I hope to see you or write to you again soon.
The best of wishes,
Kairi