A Delayed Reply

[Bruin Dumbledez]

Bruin made his way up to the owlery with a letter clutched tightly in his hands. The first two months of school had flown by and Bruin hoped that Sakura would not take the long period since his last letter as an indication of disinterest. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth...Bruin found himself thinking about his long distance pen pal on an all too frequent basis, sometimes during lessons and sometimes when he was relaxing in his dorm room.

The simple truth was that so little had happened in Bruin's life that he had a hard time coming up with enough material to put together what might make up an interesting letter. As the Halloween Ball approached, Bruin felt a pang of regret that Saks wouldn't be here this year to enjoy it. There would be no girl at the party this year that Bruin would be attempting to discover the true identity of...there would be no girl at the party that he'd even try for...

Bruin whistled and Legend swooped down almost immediately, landing on his shoulder and nibbling good naturedly on his ear while Bruin pulled an owl treat out of his pocket. "Easy there Legend..." He scolded the Northern Spotted Owl gently, "Take this to Sakura alright?" He stated as he fixed a letter to the owl's leg.

Dear Saks,

Sorry for the long time since my last letter, but things have been pretty crazy since I've been back. I figured this Head Boy thing would be easy, but we have a rather mischievious group of first years who have been causing trouble on an almost daily basis and I, rather stupidly, have opted to carry on with the majority of my courses. I wish I knew what I wanted to do when I leave here so that I could just drop a few of my courses, but I still haven't figured out what I want to do so am trying to keep as many doors open as possible.

We seem to have picked up a lot of former Hogwarts Scotland students this year through transfers as well...Alex, Nina and Noah all appear to be calling New Zealand home these days, but I'd trade them all for you in a minute (nothing against any of them, but well, just between you and me...they can't hold a candle to you!).

How are the tutoring sessions going anyway? Feel like ditching the solo sessions and hiding out here yet? The Halloween Feast is coming up later this week and I have no ideas what to dress up as. To tell you the truth, without having a mysterious stranger to look for, I don't even feel like going...am I getting too old for this stuff? Don't answer that!!! You know it will just reflect on you anyways!

I wish this letter could be longer, but sadly my life just isn't all that exciting. Gryffindor Quidditch should be starting up shortly, I'll let you know if I need any advice, alright? I hope all is well with you and that this note finds you in your typical good form.

Bruin

p.s. Any chance that I could come and visit you next summer... I've always wanted to do a stop over in Europe and well, if you aren't going to be able to make it here then I suppose I'll make the effort to come there.

Bruin watched as Legend soared out the window. He felt strange knowing that the girl that he'd come to feel so close to was likely asleep on the far side of the globe at this very moment. Why do I always have to do things the hard way? He wondered to himself as he made his way back to his dorm room.

 

[Sakura Gemini]

Sakura's owl Digs flew like the wind to reach the New Zealand school. It was a long arduous journey but he knew there would be treats at either end for him to enjoy and some rest before retaking the journey home. He was becoming fond of taking letters to this boy, Digs even liked the owl that this boy had too. Not as stuck up or proud like other owls he met on his journeys.

Hey Stranger,

Well fancy that, I don’t hear from you for the longest time and when I do it’s so you can invite yourself round mine for the summer. You’ve some neck on you that’s for sure but have squared it with the folks here and we’ve more than enough room to put up with you for at least a fortnight over the summer holidays. So whatever month is good for you let me know and I can try and organize stuff for us to do. Fun packed of course, actually it’ll be something to look forward to.

What I thought might be fun as turned out an unmitigated disaster. My tutor is major of the massively boring posse and has no problem in teaching in that style. Classes don’t go on for just one hour, oh no! My love of potions is dwindling ever so slowly as a result of his methods. We could be at one subject for the best part of four hours, I mean does the guy not realize we have a whole week in which to learn stuff that he doesn’t have to scrunch it all into one day. My brain is mangled, totally.

Am so tempted to brew myself up some polyjuice potion and high tail it out of here and hide away down there where you are. Yes, it has come to that, sad huh? I really did miss your letters but figured you were attempting to come up with the best fancy dress costume ever just to impress me with – there was this great invention a while back called the camera and I really was looking forward to another photo, preferably of you winning a trophy for your zany dress sense. Hahaha but truthfully, you’re never too old for Halloween. I thought I wouldn’t have any party this year to go to but this wizarding family my folks know are throwing a huge party and we’ve all been invited. Haven’t completely decided yet what it is I’ll be wearing, the possibilities are endless but I will send you a photo of the finished result, I promise.

Can’t believe they’ve all moved over there, Nina , Alex and Noah. I heard there was going to be a mass exodus alright but don’t know the reason why. I mean I heard even one of the Malfoys decided to transfer as well. Strange that, perhaps all this time it was my presence keeping them all together, without me Hoggies in Scotland just wasn’t the same. Hahaha now you so know I am joking there, I am a lot of things but conceited is not one of them.

Feel a bit bummed out now that I’m here and not there but thank you for the compliments, I know you’re just trying to make me feel better so you don’t have to honestly. What are your plans for Christmas this year? Are you going back home? I’m only asking on the off chance that it takes another two months before you write to me again. Trust me the slightest bit of news is worth putting on paper, even if its…
‘ Hi Saks, woke up this morning and stubbed my toe getting out of bed. The day went down hill from there…’
That would suit me as well but I understand writing isn’t probably your forte and as you can see from this long winded letter, I’m bored out of my tree and would like nothing better than to just have a normal chat with you or anyone else for that matter that doesn’t bore me to tears.

Quidditch… what was that again? Sigh… see what I mean, they’re succeeding in draining me of my spirit. Something will have to be done, seriously. Wonder what potions I can brew up to liven up the tutor a bit, hmmm now that’s something for me to consider and keep me occupied until you next venture into the letter writing business.

You take care and make sure you go party, all work and no fun will make Bruin a very boring boy and I am now living vicariously through you. If I can’t be out there enjoying life then you have to do it for me, just don’t forget to write to me about it.

Ok, I think I’ve stressed quite enough in this letter how much you are guilty of poor penpalship so I will lay off the guilt trip for a moment to say goodbye for now.

Your friend always,

Sakura