Letters & Songbirds

TIME | 5:30 pm DATE | 14 January INTERACTING |@Arden Rosethorn

“Who is She ?” 00:00⠀─── ◉ ───────⠀00:00

N/A | OUTFIT 1082 | WC N/A | MENTIONING

Friday afternoons were the time Hana had delegated to sending letters home. Not only did it perfectly fit into her schedule, but it allowed her to detail every event that had occured throughout the week, no matter how mundane. Whether it be detailing her quiet escapades in the library or her weekly archery practice in the nearby thicket of trees, a letter would be sent back filled with her family's enthalled responses. In their last correspondance, she could practically hear her twin brothers' bickering through the splotched and smeared ink on the parchment as they simultaenously tried to taunt her for taking a tumble down the stairs. A whisper of a smile almost graced her lips at the thought.

Her heeled boots clicked against the cobblestone floor of the owlery, as they always did, announcing her arrival to the parliament. Instantaneously, an owl perched above made its descent towards her, two thick letters settled in its mouth. Hm. Offering the owl a curt nod to the owl, Hana curiously retrieved the letters and gifting it the letter to return home. With a flutter of its wings, the owl soared away to return to the manor—oh, how she wished she could do that same.

The first letter she opened was from her family, who once again were ecstatic to be hearing from her. Her father responded to all her musings with vigor—as he always did—humoring the silliest of ideas that crossed her mind throughout the week. Naturally, he relayed all her mother's reactions as well, which mostly consisted of quiet hums with a scarce "Interesting idea, my bitter lotus flower." Her brothers all sent a page each, recounting their own week and choosing which questions in the previous letter were the most interesting to answer. The infant sent nothing—Hana assumed the cause to be her own arrogant nature, refusing to write a letter to her eldest sister.

However, at the end of the letter, the youngest left the most curious note.

Hey, by the way. The owl accidentally gifted us two letters rather than just the one. I assumed it's because the parchment wasn't able to keep up with your huge mouth, but it's actually from a girl named 'Andromeda.' New friend? Hah! Just kidding, you don't have any friends, yet. Unless you're hiding them from your big brother, which TSK TSK TSK! Big sister! You cannot leave such vital information out of your letters! Anyways, do what you must with the letter—Father insisted I send the letter back with our response. He trusted that you'll know what to do!

Love always,
Your youngest brother

Opening the second letter, her eyes briefly scanning over its contents. Hm. From its contents, the youngest Bakir deduced this individual was most likely to be another Hogwarts student.

Hana would make certain that the letter be returned to this 'Andromeda,' along with her own note. She wrote:

Dear Andromeda,

It appears the owls have mixed up our postage—or more accurately, the owl mixed up yours. The owl was able to deliver my postage back to my family with no trouble. But, no worries, my father ensured that your letter was safely returned back to Hogwarts.

Now, I must apologize—but I felt inclined to read your letter due to my own curious nature. I must say, I find it quite humorous that this is your first time using the Hogwarts owls, even showing concern for the owl's abilities. I do pray your owl, who's name I deduced to be Earl (correct me if I'm wrong, of course), a swift recovery. Though, I do not pray, as my family doesn't hold any religious affliations... as I ponder more, I remember various members on my mother's side of the family being Muslim. I digress. I suppose I am simply WISHING your owl a swift recovery.

Hm, if it serves as any consolation, I do not like being surrounded by so many people either, so I offer my sympathies to your struggle. My ears are extremely sensitive to noise, and it can get overwhelming at times if I'm bombarded by loud sounds for an extended period of time. Eating in the Great Hall is proving to be the most difficult task. I've found various quiet corners of Hogwarts I go to when I feel overwhelmed—would you like me to share them with you? Perhaps you could complete your puzzle there if you would like a change of scenery.

I must confess that I too am struggling to eat the food at Hogwarts. My brother tells me I simply have a dastardly taste pallet, but I disagree. I find my taste in foods to be quite exqusite, and he's a troll living in a dungeon (literally, he resides in our family dungeon). What's your favorite food? Surely, it cannot be fish. I find the bones quite tedious to pick out. My favorite food is watermelon rinds—they are quite delicious.

Hm, I find it very interesting that our of all the subjects we study, you choose to focus on History of Magic. I believed it to be an unappealing topic among our peers. However, like you, I find the topic quite interesting. Learning about war mongols who ravaged through their enemies is my favorite, and naturally learning about the wizards during the Victorian era is another of my favorites. My family arrived in the United Kingdom from Egypt during the Victorian era, which is why I am particularly drawn to that time period. What's your favorite time period to learn about?

Reading this letter back, I noticed that I have tripled your letter in length. Apologies, I'm terrible at writing letters. I prefer not to leave any thoughts when writing letters, as I believe anything can be important. But I supposed thats a perspective I should leave for when I write home to my family, not some random person I don't know. I also realized that I'm offering you inquires you will most likely not answer because we do not know each other. Apologies again.

I hope you are well, and again, I hope Earl recovers swiftly.

Strangely enough, the letter would remain unsigned. Hana spent so much time detailing her musings, it seems she forgot to add a signature at the end.

coded by charisse

IC notes: Reducio IC notes here

OOC notes: Reducio Word count: 870

Arden was a slightly confused when their father sent a letter and mentioned not receiving Arden's usual letter, the thought of the letter getting lost in the whirlwind that was the owl postal service was rather disconcerting. After a few hours of risening worry, Arden decided to just put the thought aside and leave the matter to be. Atleast Arden now felt reasonably justified in their opinion of the hogwarts owls.

The thought of the missing letter pushed itself itself into the back of Arden's mind, looming quietly in the background as Arden moved through the motions of school life. Until one day, when that thought emerged when a letter reached Arden, containing news of what had happened to their missing letter.

Arden held the parchment in their hand, other hand gripping their quill as they sat. Eyes gliding over the words before Arden set the letter down, taking a few moments to just blink at the paper infront of them, trying to absord the information presented. Their letter had genuinely ended mixed among some other students post and delivered to the wrong recipient. Their first instinct was to cringe at the sight of someone else calling them Andromeda, a name which only their father addressed Arden as, though that was better than one of their aunts many imaginitive nicknames. Their second thought was that technically this had always been possible, letters could get mixed up, but theyd never really thought it would happen to them.

Placing that aside -a sentence Arden seems to have thought many times lately- their letter had been read, not just read, also responded to by this student. Arden felt a slight disturbed feeling at the invasion of privacy, but a other part of Arden felt insistant curiosity at this strangers response. Arden thought of themself as a rather private person and held a feeling of fear at their private letters being read that kept clawing at them, but it was also the first time Arden had received a fresh prespective on their mundane thoughts.

With the hesitant thought of their two new goals, Arden picked up their quill and began writing a response. Arden wanted firstly to know who this mysterious person was and secondly to answer this strangers inquires, maybe add a couple of their own in the mean time.

Greetings
Hello
Excuse my
To whom it may corcern

I would like to firstly thank you and your family for informing me of where my letter ended up and for ensuring that the letter was returned to hogwarts. I also express my gratitude for your wishes for Earls, my father's owl, wellbeing and he is indeed recovering steadily. I also apologize if my letter writing is a bit lacking, i rarely find the need to send letters to those outside of family.

On other news, i very much relate with you on the struggles of the constant loud noise that seems to be the norm for hogwarts and its student population. On the topic of quiet places within hogwarts, i would be delighted to hear of the places you have found. I myself have only found a couple of places to settle in between classes and most other time i spend my dorm.

I particularly enjoy the trophy room on the third floor, which is seems to be unlocked at all times, and a small room on the fifth floor near the transfiguration classroom, though that particular room seems to be occasionally locked.

It is a delight to write with someone who shares my interest in history of magic, considering most classmates seem to find the subject quite unpleasent. As for my favorite time period? I have to confess i am struggling to choose, of course the Victorian is one of the more favorable options, though i personally lean more towards the Renaissance and Elizabethan eras.

I have also been reading on the history of wizarding egypt and it is simply fascinating, so much of the ward and protection charms that are common today had their early deveploments start sometime in the Antiquity time, which admittedly is a rather broad section of history, but still interesting nontheless.

I apologize if this is a bit of a more personal question, but you happened to mention your family and your brother. Do you happen to have many siblings? if you do, what is it like? I myself am an only child, i've never really placed much thought on different life could be if i did happen to have a sibling. My family is mostly just my father and my aunt, with a rare letter a more distant relative once or twice.

Lastly i would like to inquire about your identity, considering you decided to leave your last letter unsigned and you already have my middle name as Andromeda is not my first name.

With the friendliest regards,
Andromeda

ps. I noticed i forgot to answer one of your questions, my favorite food indeed happens to be fish. Though among fish dishes i prefer salmon or tuna. Have you ever tasted a good tuna sauce?