Closed The Caged Canary Owl to Join

I never liked pink anyway.

- Finn

Aly, on the other hand, wasn't at breakfast when she received the letter - and good thing, too, because that would not have been a scene that anyone wanted to see. She was in the owlery, actually, having just sent off a letter of her own, having no idea whether it would reach its intended recipient (or if he would read it). Feeling actually quite pleased with herself, as any sixteen-year-old girl would be writing a foolish, fanciful letter to a hot celebrity crush, the curly-haired Ravenclaw turned to make her way back down the stairs, hoping that she would perhaps be able to grab a hot roll from the eagle table in the Great Hall before food vanished from the surfaces and she was meant to head off to whatever next the day had in store for her.

She didn't think much of the owl at first as it dive-bombed her from above; the Ravenclaw had never necessarily been the avian sort, despite her House mascot, and in fact she rather preferred cats over birds in general (with the obvious exception of her friend Peri, though human-birds honestly shouldn't count in that description). Swatting it away with a free hand that didn't make contact, but rather swished uselessly through the air as its fingertips just barely brushed the creature's soft feathers, Aly muttered, "Shoo, you feathered rat - I've already sent my letter, I don't need you."

It dive-bombed her again - a feisty thing, that - and this time, when she turned to give it a patented glare that the angsty teenager had all but perfected over the past year, she noticed the letter attached to its leg. Frustration melted away into curiosity as she apologized, nearing it with gentler fingers this time: "I'm sorry, is that for me? Here, let me get that off you..."

Clearly as relieved that Aly had figured out its true purpose there as Aly was to get out of the owlery, the bird let her take the parchment before hooting annoyedly at her and flapping off to its post. Aly rolled her eyes - Annoying things, owls - as she turned and carefully stepped out of the owlery, not wanting to get her boots covered in crushed owl pellets or feathers or whatever else nastiness covered the floor here, and only once she was trotting her way happily down the stairs did she slide her finger beneath the seal and break it to reveal the contents within. Green eyes flitted to the bottom first, to see who had written it - Winnie, a girl in the year younger than her, on the Quidditch team with her, and one of her close friends as of late. Sure, she didn't like the lass's boyfriend - sorry, fiance after that disastrous fall ball, though hopefully not for long - but Aly could hardly fault anyone for poor taste. Hope flitted through her - perhaps, after a month of being engaged to a right prat, the younger girl had finally realised her wrong and was writing to right it by informing Aly of their breakup - but this was quickly dashed as Aly scanned the letter, intaking its terrible contents.

After the first sentence, hope turned to anger - no, rage. Who was this Matthias Pride boy to be taking their Winnie away from them, and so young? Aly's frustration toward the ginger bloke had only multiplied over the last few weeks, even though they'd never met - she had only ever really seen how his actions and words had affected Winnie, causing tears in the locker room and confusion at summer camp - and so she had written a... somewhat inflammatory article for the Headliner that was due to be published next week that involved more than a couple snide and honestly spiteful remarks about the Pride boy and his decision to propose so young. How fast was he pushing the Harper girl so that she was already writing to ask about bridesmaids? Next summer? Didn't most wizarding engagements last a year, at least? To not only force Winnie into this unwanted marriage so young, but to also rip away from her the fun of the extended planning period - that was just cruel. And Aly was mad at Winnie, somewhat, too. What in the world was the redhead thinking, that Aly would for some reason want any part of this prison-esque charade?

Then she read the last few lines, and the rage faded to pity as the letter fluttered from her fingers to land softly on the stone steps below her feet.

"Of course a lot of people are against you right now," she grumbled, frustratedly turning and kicking the wall beside her (which only resulted in the smarting of her toes), "he's a right twit."

But Winnie didn't deserve that. Winnie deserved happiness and brightness and pink and bows and strawberries, not the dull pureblood life that marrying the Pride boy would surely afford her. Aly herself had grown up in one of those colourless, monotonous, wholly unexciting households - and even then, hers was surely 'pureblood lite' compared to a family like the Prides. She didn't deserve for people to hate her for a decision with which she surely hadn't had anything to do. If there was one thing Aly knew from her parents, it was that breaking out of a pureblood marriage agreement was one of the hardest things to do in this cruel wizarding world. Hesper had done it, but that was for love. What Winnie had for Matthias surely paled in comparison, for that could not be love, no matter how hard she insisted.

Aly bent to pick up the letter, the last line repeating over and over in her head.

I need your strength now more than ever.

It could not any more clearly have been a cry for help, and Aly knew that. If she abandoned the younger eaglet now, that was just one less person Winnie would have to lean on when - if - she married into the Pride family. Staying close to her friends was the only way that Aly could also, thusly, stay close to her enemies. It seemed that the world turned upside down when Matthias Pride was involved. And so she would stay. She would be the strength, a shoulder to lean on, and she would keep an eye out for any chink in the male redhead's armour with which to take him down. Take the wedding down, from the inside, whilst also supporting her friend.

The beginnings of a plan taking shape in her head, Aly shook her head as she jumped down the last few steps and made a beeline for the Headliner office down on the ground floor. If she were to be part of this bridal party, the first step would be changing mentions of Matthias in that upcoming article so that he wouldn't immediately force Winnie to dismiss her as a bridesmaid. Dumb down the mentions of the ginger couple entirely, really, though she couldn't remove them entirely. That would take way too much persuading of her editors, and Aly wasn't sure that she had curried so much favour as to do that quite yet. Changing a few of the more inflammatory comments, however... that she could do, and then she'd write a letter to Winnie back formally accepting the position. Something that seemed excited, with a lot of exclamation points. Maybe in pink.

"Shame," she said to herself under her breath as she headed for the office, "I was quite proud of those insults, too..."