Almost There

[Anastasie Vernier]

It was almost time for the Christmas holidays and Ana had already packed in advance. She wanted more than anything to get out of the castle and prepared herself diligently in hopes that she could be one of the first out. She had admittedly missed her baby brother and sister and was excited to see them both again. The girl sat in the steps of the Owlery reading a letter that was just sent to her from her family. It was written in French and Ana was able to read it fluently. Her eyes scanned the page and she smiled as they told her that they were also very excited to see her and Patrick again. The girl took out a blank piece of parchment to write a reply back to them straight away and her quill danced across the page as she did so, easily writing away in French. She liked writing in French better as it was her first language and she had a much better vocabulary in it than English. Ana tried not to smudge the writing as she wrote in silence, happy to be writing to her family rather than spend time with others before the holidays.

 

[Emilia Manning]

Emilia was so glad the Christmas holidays were around the corner. As much as she had enjoyed her time at Hogwarts, she had to admit she was quite homesick. She didn't see her cousins as much as she had expected at first, and she just missed her parents and grandparents a lot. That was why she was sending them all letters about her time here, with a few of her own drawings included. She knew she was going to see them soon, but that had only made her desire to write things down stronger. It was nice to get letters, and she knew they would enjoy getting hers. As she headed up the steps to the owlery, she felt a little nervous. Owls didn't really scare her, but when there were so many of them she couldn't help being a little worried. She hoped it wouldn't be much of a problem. But before she was even up where she needed to be, she spotted another problem. A girl. Emilia stopped in her tracks and looked at her nervously. She had run into Anastasie previously, and the Slytherin hadn't been very nice to her. Now she had to move past her, and Emilia wasn't sure if she dared. But she really wanted to post this letter. Carefully, she cleared her throat. "Sorry, can I pass?" She asked timidly. It seemed smarter than trying to push past the girl and possibly disturbing her writing.

 

[Anastasie Vernier]

As Ana wrote, her hand kept moving across the page, her train of thought running wild. She just had so much to tell her family and didn't want to leave anything out. She wrote about how she felt about quidditch and how disappointed she was in Patrick for playing the sport, letting her family know that he didn't end up dying yet. She couldn't imagine he'd be sending letters to their family and so thought that it was her job to keep them updated about him. Even though he was older than her, Ana always thought she was the one who should be looking out for him and kept this as her duty even whilst they were at Hogwarts. As someone came up behind her, Ana finally stopped writing and turned around to face them. She recognised the Hufflepuff from earlier on in the year and was happy that she had asked. "Yes." Ana replied, moving herself over so she could pass. When Ana was done writing the letter she tucked it neatly into the envelope and sealed it up before proceeding to stand up and find an owl to deliver it. She pursed her lips as she turned to the other girl in the room. "Which owl is the best owl?" she asked, wondering if the girl frequented there enough to know.

 

[Emilia Manning]

Emilia felt herself relax slightly when the Slytherin simply said 'yes' in response to her question. She gave her a nervous smile and passed her. She noticed the girl was also done writing soon after and joined her in searching for an owl. Her question caught Emilia off guard, though. "I don't know." She answered honestly. "I just pick the one that flies down first. They're all good, I think." Emilia had never considered if any where better than others, and really wasn't sure how to answer the question. Instead, she decided to ask something else, hoping for a friendly conversation. "Are you excited for the holidays?" She asked timidly as she called an owl down. She started attaching her letter to the owl's leg carefully.