Start Smiling Solo

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COLOR GUIDE: 074628
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As Sienna had found out throughout the course of her first year, it was always better to come up to the owlery in the early morning just before dawn, for there was a far less chance of running into anyone else. In a rare occurrence, the Gryffindor had woken up excitedly. She had sent a letter home to her mother and brother a few days ago, and since then had been waiting for the letter that her brother was sure to write back, if not her mother as well. Sienna loved to hear from Jack while at Hogwarts, and in return she'd tell him all that was happening around the castle.

When she burst into the owlery, she found not a single owl with a waiting letter. Whenever she expected a letter, she was sure to be in someplace private to read it, what with all of the nosy people around here. Just as she was turning around to head back to her common room before anyone was the wiser of her disappearance, she heard the flutter of wings from behind her. Whirling back around, she found a single owl with a letter tied to its leg.

Sienna quickly untied the letter, sustaining a nip on her fingers from the irritable bird. Tearing the letter open, she found two pieces of paper inside. So her mother had decided to write back to her after all. Unfolding one of the papers at random, she discovered it written in Jack's familiar scribble.

Dear Sienna,
I miss you, won't you come home soon? Or better yet, couldn't you and I find some way to get me into Hogwarts? That would be ideal. Maybe I could sneak on the train when you go back after the holidays?

I need you to come home because things have been...not right here. I mean, Caspian is nice and all, but as friends, not family! What's worse is that he is impossible not to like! You've got to tell mum she can't marry him! She won't listen to anything I say, but maybe she'll listen to you 'cause you're older.

I guess I have to go now, mum wants me to go outside for a while. Write back soon though, I need you here.

~Jack

Scanning the text through another time to be sure she had not misread anything, Sienna's eyes flew across the page. What was this nonsense about her mother marrying someone? Jack knew just as well as anyone that Sienna would hate such a prank, which is how she knew it must be true. Wildly grabbing for her mother’s letter, she tore it open and began to read.

Sienna,

If you have gotten your hands on Jack’s letter and read it before my own, chances are you may have found certain things written there, and now likely have many questions. To keep it simple, I did meet someone earlier during the summer months. We have made plans to marry and while I write to tell you, Caspian writes to tell his daughter, who studies at Beaubaxtons Academy. Her name is Maria, a few years your elder.

When you and she come home for the holidays we will make the introductions. Until then, I do hope you will try to understand that this is a happy event for all of us.

With love,
Mum

Sienna stood frozen for several moments afterward, absorbing the devastating information. Though she knew otherwise, it felt as though her own father and sister were being replaced. Screaming in anger, Sienna tore the letter in two, but shoved it into her pocket. She kicked some of the mouse skeletons littering the floor aside in anger as she stalked out of the owlery. Her mother was wrong. She would never understand.

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STA: 8 | EVA- 8 | STR- 1 | WIS- 5 | ARC- 4 | ACC- 9

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