Open A Totally Real Love Letter

[Susie Lagowski]

Susie tried not to look like she was expecting a letter as she sat down for breakfast. Why would she be expecting a letter? Nobody sent Susie letters, except her brothers occasionally, but only when they’d gotten up to mischief and wanted to tell her all about it. They weren’t interested in her.

A loud hoot heralded the arrival of the post. Susie tucked into her cereal, ignoring the flurry of wings as usual, until - oh! A letter for her? She pulled it out of the milk and dried it off. What a surprise! Who could be thinking of her? Popping the envelope open, she pulled out the letter to read:

Dear Susie,

I miss you sooo much. I think about you all the time. You are coming home for the summer, right? If I don’t get to see you again I’ll be really sad. My friends don’t even think you’re real because you’re always in New Zealand but I don’t care what they think. I know I have the most amazing girlfriend ever.

Lots of love,
J xx

Wow, how sweet and totally not expected! Susie blushed, setting the letter down beside her bowl so that she could read it again while she ate. Using her left hand to write it had been a stroke of genius, really. Nobody would suspect a thing.

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

Tori didn’t usually pay attention to what was going on around her during breakfast, but something caught her eye today. It wasn’t uncommon for her friends to sit at different tables in the morning because sometimes if they were all together, they liked to eat together, so she’d been sitting close by at the Hufflepuff table leaving some room for Lili and Eoghan and Felix (though maybe he should stay away from her right now) if any of them wanted to join. She’d been surprised when she saw how excited Susie seemed to be for a letter, even though it had fallen into her milk - how unfortunate - she was doubly surprised of course when she noted the blush on Susie’s face. Who could that letter be from? And more importantly, why didn’t Tori know about it? She scooted over immediately and looked at Susie with a grin. “Who’s the letter from Susie?” She had to know. She had to know.​

 

[Susie Lagowski]

Did Susie feel a bit guilty lying to Tori? Of course. Was that going to stop her? Absolutely not. She wasn’t hurting anyone, after all. Nobody had to find out her boyfriend was fictional; she could simply break up with him when she got bored and nobody would be any the wiser. “Oh - it’s no one,” she said, with a nonchalant hand wave that betrayed a vast overestimation of her acting skills. “Just some guy from New York. He’s kind of obsessed with me. Boys, right? He’s kinda cute, though. Wanna see a picture?”

 

[Echolyn Zephyr]

Echo had been sat with her eldest sister at the Hufflepuff table, comparing various notes and making the use of knowing an older student. It wasn’t long however into their meal that the mail came raining down on them. Watching a Hufflepuff get splashed in milk as a letter fell into her cereal was precisely why she hated the tradition. Was there really no more organised way of delivering post when they could use magic?

The girl seemed very delighted with her letter, her face turning red as she spoke about a boy. An American boy. She turned her nose up at the girls attitude that he must have been obsessed with her, which was frankly disgusting. “Really? Some of us are trying to eat,” she butted in, completely put off her breakfast.​

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

Tori was so intrigued and honestly quite impressed with Susie being able to keep this boyfriend under wraps for so long. How had she gone this long and never told her? Susie was obviously very excited, since she was almost overeager to show her a picture and how could Tori say not to that? “Is he a muggle?” She asked curiously, even though that probably wouldn’t have made sense since he’d sent her a letter by owl and Susie wouldn’t have been allowed to tell her boyfriend she was a witch - but Tori was 13, she didn’t think about that. “Yeah! Of course! Show me!” She turned when a girl butted in and rolled her eyes. “Well no one asked your opinion, so,” she didn’t know the girl, but she’d heard the name Zephyr mentioned enough in Heta to assume she was Demi’s sister. She was probably just another Demi, though clearly not quite the same if her Slytherin robes were anything to go on. Same enough if she was making herself known where she wasn’t wanted though.​

 

[Susie Lagowski]

Susie made a face at the Slytherin who’d so rudely interrupted. Some people were just trying to have a bit of fun, but clearly not everyone was familiar with the concept. You had to feel sorry for them.

The photo was another of Susie’s many recent moments of genius. Carefully cut from a muggle fashion magazine, the boy in the glossy picture was fourteen or fifteen, with curly, dark brown hair and hazel eyes. His good looks were almost… well, unbelievable. Susie casually presented the cutting to Tori, watching her for her reaction. “Yeah, he’s a muggle. I told him I go to this secret boarding school for geniuses, which is like, half true, right? He’s actually really smart, too. His dad like, works on spaceships, or something.” Oh, no. She needed to stop adding details before someone asked her a difficult question. “But he’s kind of clingy. I don’t think it’s going to work out.” Shrugging, she tucked back into her cereal.

 

[Echolyn Zephyr]

It was true that no one had asked for her opinion, but Echo was also of the belief that she shouldn't have to wait to be able to speak either. The Slytherin continued to watch the girls talking about the weird muggle boy if not because it was a distraction from talking about homework with the older Hufflepuff, until the blonde pulled out a glossy photograph of her so-called boyfriend. It was a good job she didn't have any cornflakes in her mouth at the time otherwise the poor students at opposite her would have had a face full as she practically spat in shock.

Given that Echo was known in her family for the way she dressed, lending her sisters (and sisters' friends) clothes on occasion because she quite frankly had too many to her name, and she'd spent her childhood being homeschooled, this meant that the first year was very well versed in such fashion magazines, and as such was well aware that the boy the blonde was holding a photo of was none other than Cassian Valegrave, also known as Australia's teen heartthrob. He'd appeared in a number of issues and featured in a handful of commercials for the latest trends. Honestly the fact that the blonde was trying to tell the Gryffindor that was her boyfriend was hilarious.

"Oh I've met him," Echo interjected again with her lie, wondering how long the Hufflepuff was going to keep up the facade. "Hey, is he still hosting beetle fighting tournaments?" Echo took another munch of her breakfast, wondering what the girl would say as Echo tried to play on the reality.​