Closed I'm home.

[Jessy Talent]

It had been a hot day in Palmerston, the small muggle township where Jessy had been laying low. She had arrived back in New Zealand just over a week ago, and she had been trying to pluck up the courage to send a letter that was very important to her.

As the sun began to set, Jessy sat on a park bench watching two children play on a set of swings over the road. Jessy fondly recalled the day that she and her childhood best friend, Kyle, told each other about their magical abilities. They had been swinging, and Jessy had accidentally-on-purpose launched herself off the swing further than would have been natural for a non-magical person. Jessy hadn't expected Kyle's initial reaction. "You too?" She could still hear his voice, over 25 years later.

Jessy didn't know if Kyle wanted to hear from her... but there was only one way to find out. It was time to write the damned letter. No more putting it off. She pulled a notebook out of her pocket, and dug around in her bag for a ballpoint pen. Jessy never had parchment or quills and ink on her anymore. She thought about the hundreds of scrunched up letters she had already attempted, and failed to complete. Not this time.

~
Kyle,
I've written this letter a hundred times over the years.. and a hundred more times in the past few weeks. I can't find the "right words" so I figure there are no right words so this last attempt is me just going with it and seeing what comes out...

If the fact that my handwriting hasn't changed hasn't given it away already... Kyle, it's Jessy.

I know... You're probably upset with me. Or maybe you're not, I don't know what could have gone through your mind when I disappeared. I just need you to know, I'm sorry that I did.

I want to give you the explanation you deserve, but more than anything if possible I want the chance to see your face again. If you'll have me... I'm back in New Zealand, I have transport, and I can come to you wherever you are. I haven't put any roots down yet.. I'm going to see where things take me.

I miss you, rat boy

Jessy xx
~
​

Jessy didn't even bother to re-read the letter again before tucking it into her pocket. She knew she would second guess herself if she gave it too much thought. She stood up, threw her bag over her shoulder, and walked the block back to the small muggle hotel she was staying in. She had managed to sneak her owl, Doctor, in overnight through the window. When she returned to the room, Doctor was perched on top of her suitcase.

"I have a very important job for you, Doctor." Jessy gently stroked the top of Doctor's head. She pulled the letter to Kyle out of her pocket, addressed it "Kyle Alcott" and held it out towards Doctor, who nipped the letter from Jessy's hand, stretched his wings out and took off out the open window.

The deed was done, and all she had left to do was hope that Kyle wanted to see her.

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle had needed to begin finding new ways to occupy himself when October had left for Hogwarts, and now, nearly nine years later, he didn't think he was any better at it. October had long since moved out, chasing her dreams on her own terms, and Kyle couldn't be more proud of his daughter. October was growing into an incredible woman, despite Kyle's own... mishaps as a father. April and Matt were away at Hogwarts, and though Kyle saw his husband whenever possible, teaching was an incredibly time-consuming career, and full days together were few and far between.

Work at Scrivenshafts' could be busy at times certainly, but Kyle still found himself with far more free time than he knew what to do with. There were only so many books to read and scarves to knit before he got restless. Perhaps he should do something social today, get out of the house and stop wallowing in his own boredom. Gabriel had to be around somewhere, perhaps they could get lunch, or... how sad would it be to hang out with his own boss on his day off? Sam wasn't always the friendliest company, but he was fun enough to be around, most of the time. Great. Thinking about doing social things always managed to make Kyle feel worse. When had his social life dissolved around him? He had always had friends in his youth, sometimes more than he could even handle, but somewhere along the line he had been too busy... chasing his dreams, having a daughter, getting married... it had all taken priority over actually having any friends.

With those depressing thoughts only further bringing down his miserable day off, Kyle glanced up at a sound at the window. An owl he didn't recognise... were Matt or April using a school owl? Setting his tea down, Kyle opened the window quickly and let the bird inside, taking the letter curiously. The handwriting on the address was unfamiliar, only heightening the mystery. Knowing Kyle's luck, this would be that werewolf club again. One werewolf picnic in the woods with hunters on the loose had been quite enough for him, thank you very much. Sipping his tea, Kyle opened the letter and looked down at the first line, his heart stopping as he realised who this was from. He choked and spluttered, setting his cup down and quickly wiping his face before he got any tea on the letter. The letter from Jessy. Kyle read the letter with shaking hands, then read it again and again and again, hardly believing what he was seeing. He didn't know how long it had been since he had heard from his childhood best friend, but somehow it felt like yesterday all at once. And she was back. Kyle wasn't sure where she had gone, but she was back, and that was all that mattered. Grabbing a quill and parchment, Kyle couldn't even begin to try to make his handwriting neat and legible as he scrawled back a response, giving it to the owl to return to whence it had come.

Jessy

I don't even know what to say. I've missed you so much. Where are you? I'm in Dunedin again, bought a house here. I have so much to tell you, and I want to hear everything about where you've been. Please write back soon.

Love, Kyle.

 

[Jessy Talent]

Jessy hadn't been expecting a reply back so quickly. But only three hours later, Doctor swooped in through Jessy's open window holding a letter in his beak.

"Thank you so much Doc, I love you!" Jessy said to the owl, as she stretched out her left arm for Doc to perch on. She took the letter, and enjoyed Doc's nipping affectionately at her hair a little before he hopped off and perched on her suitcase.

She slowly sat on her bed and looked at the letter Doctor had brought her. Hands shaking, she opened and unfolded the letter, not knowing what to expect. The reply was short, but it was much much more than she had allowed herself to believe was possible. He's not angry. Jessy's heart was racing. He wanted to hear from her, but she didn't know how much of what she wanted to say would feel right being written in a letter. She wanted to talk.

No wonder Doc had been so quick, Kyle still lived in Dunedin, Jessy thought. It was almost hard to believe he was so close, just over 50 kilometers away. She had purchased a second hand car from a muggle tourist she had befriended briefly when she first arrived home a week ago. Jessy loved to drive... She looked across the room towards Doctor, who instinctively turned his head to make eye contact.

"Hey Doc, do you think you could do one more tonight??" she asked the bird, with a smile. Doctor jumped from the suitcase, onto the bed next to Jessy. He looked up at her with his beautiful eyes and she knew that he was itching to fly again. Rather you than me, friend. she thought to herself.

She grabbed her pen and notebook from her bag, tore out a page, and scribbled as fast as she could, chuckling to herself. She didn't even know if Kyle's current life circumstances would allow him to meet her "demands", but hearing from her childhood best friend had seemed to turn her back into the thirteen year old she was when she last saw him. She folded the letter in half, and gave it to her owl.

"Doc, I want you to stay with my friend, and I'll meet you there." Jessy always spoke with her owl directly, and in time it seemed they had come to understand one another very well. Doctor quickly hopped from the bed onto Jessy's lap before taking off, as if to say see you soon.

Jessy quickly threw her bag on her back, grabbed her own keychain and the keychain for the hotel room, from the bedside table, picked up her suitcase and headed out the door. She left her hotel key on the front desk, she had prepaid for her room one day at a time up until now for this exact reason.

She walked a few meters down the road and excitedly jumped into the car she was very thankful to have in her possession. The drive between Palmerston and Dunedin only took about 40 minutes.

~
Kyle!

I have so much I want to say but I can't write even a fraction of it on paper.

This is Doctor, I've had him for a couple of years and he is the best best owl in the world, please enjoy his company and meet me at the swings ASAP.

J.​

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Meet me at the swings. That was a sentence Kyle had heard more times than he could count in his childhood, and then never again since. From deadly serious games of imagination to eye-opening revelations about their lives, this park had been the scene of so many of the most important moments of Kyle's youth, all of which he had experienced with Jessy at his side. And then, nothing, his best friend simply vanished without a trace. Granted, Kyle had vanished himself for a while, but when he had tried to pick his life back up after being bitten, Jessy had no longer been a part of it. It occurred to Kyle as he sat on the familiar swing, that Jessy didn't even know he was a werewolf. She didn't know he was married, a father, any of the changes in his life he had faced since he was thirteen years old. And Kyle didn't know anything about Jessy anymore.

Kicking himself back and forth on the swing, Kyle tried to imagine what an adult Jessy would look like. He still had plenty of photos of the two of them together as children, but he had no idea who to expect at the park. She would be taller than him, that was obvious, but would her hair still be dark? Would she have kept it long, or cut it off? What would her smile look like on an adult's face? Was her laugh still the same? All this to say nothing of her life for the past decades, something Kyle didn't even know where to begin thinking about. Where had Jessy been, why did she leave? What was her job now, had she come back home for work? Was she a parent like him? Married? There were infinite turns her life could have taken since they had parted ways, and Kyle had no idea what to expect the person he was meeting today to be like.

All he could do was wait for her to arrive, and Kyle could have kicked himself for how long he had to wait. The second the letter had been in his hand, Kyle had been out the door, barely pausing to grab his keys. He had brought Jessy's owl as requested, the bird now contentedly napping in a nearby tree, and it had taken him all of fifteen minutes to get here. Which left Kyle with nothing to do for almost an entire hour, stomach twisting in nervous knots as he sat and waited and wondered, swaying in tiny swings back and forth on the same swing his life had changed forever on so long ago.

 

[Jessy Talent]

The drive between Palmerston and Dunedin had been uneventful, but peaceful. Jessy was trying to imagine what Kyle might be like now, what he may have been through in life, was he married? Did he have children? Jessy wanted to know everything, she wanted her best friend back in her life more than anything she had wanted in years.

Pulling up to the park, Jessy could make out in the distance that there was somebody on the swings. Oh god, he's here, it's Kyle, he came, it's him.

She threw her backpack on, stepped out of her car, the moment she had been waiting for had finally arrived. She stood on the pavement, took a deep breath and called out.

"Kyle?!"

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle didn't realise there was part of him that didn't think Jessy would really turn up until he saw a car pull up and his heart leaped into his throat. She was really here. After all these years, he was really going to see his best friend again. Kyle was out of the swings before he even knew he was moving, running across the park which seemed unnecessarily huge now. After so many years apart Jessy was standing in front of him again, and he didn't want to be away from her for a second longer. Crossing the grass faster than he had run in years, Kyle didn't even respond to Jessy's question, near tackling her in a tight hug. She had grown up of course, it was strange thinking the woman he was hugging was the same girl he had been friends with as children, but at the same time everything about her was achingly familiar. Kyle couldn't even find the words to say, simply hugging her tightly.

 

[Jessy Talent]

As soon as Jessy saw Kyle get up and start sprinting across the park, she began to do the same. She knew a collision was coming, but what could be more Jessy-and-Kyle than a flying tackle hug? She felt twelve again, as she wrapped her arms around her best friend and squeezed as tight as she could. She held on for a few seconds, before she was hit right in the emotions by the memory of Kyle's old rat, Eli.

"Kyle! Please tell me I haven't just crushed one of Eli's great grandchildren or something!" Jessy pulled away from their hug, her voice shaking, and she burst into loud, nervous laughter.

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Somehow hugging Jessy felt the same as it had so long ago, when they had been kids. Kyle felt as though he had stepped back in time, to a life he hadn't lived in decades. She was really here, his long lost best friend. Kyle didn't know if he would ever be able to let her go again. That thought was quickly brushed aside by Jessy's comment, and Kyle burst out laughing too, shaking his head and wiping the tears of relief from his eyes as he let her go. "No, no, the rats are at home." Kyle giggled softly, taking a nervous breath. "You... wow, I can't believe you're really here... I've missed you so much, Jessy..." Kyle wiped his eyes again, looking her over. She had changed and grown, obviously, but she was still Jessy, his best friend right here after so many years. "Where... have you been, what have you been doing?"

 

[Jessy Talent]

Jessy wiped a tear from her eye, it was all very overwhelming but in that moment she was happier than she had been in a long time. She gestured towards the swings "Come on, shall we swing while we talk, like the old days?" She began to wander back over the field, and took a seat on the very same swing she had launched herself from, all those years ago. "It's a little smaller than I remember!" She laughed.

She finally took a moment to take a proper look at Kyle, he had barely changed, still the same kind face and curly hair, but he wasn't a scrawny little kid anymore. The memory of him being smaller and younger, made her heart sink, and she realized how horrible it must have felt for Kyle when his best friend disappeared without a trace. "I'm so sorry, Kyle. My family fell apart, and Dad took me back to Scotland. I finished Hogwarts, but it wasn't the same without you." Jessy wondered how much Kyle actually remembered about her family, and how things had been for her as a child. "After second year, mum was so jealous that I was a witch, everything turned sour, and Dad whisked me away to the the other side of the world with barely a warning.. I tried writing to you a hundred times, but I never knew what to say, and eventually I just..." Jessy trailed off, she felt terrible that she had never actually sent any of the hundreds of letters she had tried writing over the years.

"When I finished school I didn't want anything to do with magic. It ruined everything. I've worked through a lot since then but.. Oh Kyle, I hope you can forgive me!" Jessy had intended to hold it together, but tears welled up in her eyes, as almost everything she had felt towards her mother and father, magic, and missing Kyle, all rolled into one wave of emotion, rushed through her body causing her to break into silent tears.

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle grinned and nodded, feeling another wave of emotion as Jessy suggested they go sit on the swings, just as they had a thousand times before as kids. So many important defining moments of their childhoods had happened at this park, moments neither of them could have understood the importance of at the time. It felt right to return here at their reunion, to share this moment with the place they had shared so many other important moments. Kyle settled in to a swing next to Jessy, laughing softly and wiggling a little. "Definitely the swings shrinking, and not our bums growing." He said cheekily.

The grin faded from his face though, as Kyle listened to Jessy telling the story of what had happened to her. He had known a little bit about the turmoil in his friend's family, but had never really understood just how bad it was. "Oh, Jessy, I'm so sorry." He said softly. "Of course, I... there's nothing to forgive, I understand." He reached across the swings and took her hand, squeezing it firmly. "That's so much to go through so young." Kyle started to speak but his voice died in his throat and he looked down at their joined hands, tears pricking at his eyes. This was a conversation Kyle preferred to avoid at all costs, something he only discussed when it was absolutely necessary. He could count the number of people outside his family who knew on one hand. This was Jessy, though. She was family. And she needed to know.

"I... had to leave school right after you did too, actually." He said quietly, still looking down at their joined hands, a years-old scar from a particularly nasty full moon on the back of his hand catching his eye. "I was... a, uh... I was bitten by a werewolf." It hurt to even get the words out, the tears in his eyes welling again for a moment. "My cousin homeschooled me for a few years, until... I was ready to go back to Hogwarts. It took me... a long time to adjust." Kyle blinked a few times, trying to get a hold of himself. It hurt to be this vulnerable, hurt to return to the night that had... ruined his life, had changed who he was for good. It was too much. Pushing the lump of unaddressed feelings down, Kyle swallowed and then laughed, shaking his head. "So, I suppose that's the caveat of staying with us. Gotta put up with me howling in the basement all hours of the night." He joked, trying his best to paper over the feelings too painful to address.

 

[Jessy Talent]

Jessy was so overwhelmed, the fact that Kyle had rushed out to see her and that he was accepting her back into his life like nothing had happened and no time had passed, but once Kyle explained that he had been bitten by a werewolf Jessy's heart sank. "Oh, Kyle! I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you! I can't imagine what that must have been like for you. I would have been there for you if I could have, I promise!" Jessy looked Kyle up and down, picturing him as she remembered, much much tinier than the man who sat next to her today. She felt sickened at the concept of her best friend being attacked especially so young, but before she could speak further on the subject she was thrown by the next comment Kyle made.

"Uh.. You want me to come and stay with you? No questions asked?! You're the best, Kyle!" Jessy gave Kyle a thankful smile, before she realized the full implications of what Kyle had just said. She blinked, and her jaw dropped. "Us? KYLE!?!? Who is US??? Are you married? Do you have kids? I don't think you're just talking about rats, are you?" She pulled herself over on her swing, closer to Kyle's swing, and gave her friend a playful poke on the shoulder before lifting her feet off the ground and allowing the swing to sway and spin around as she pestered Kyle for information. "Come on, Kyle, tell me everything! Who is US, Kyle?!?!" Jessy laughed, she wanted to know everything.

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle smiled sadly at Jessy's reaction to his revelation, nodding slightly. "I know you would have." He said gently, squeezing her hand. "I... my family helped me a lot, and I've had time to... come to terms with it. I'm fine now, it's inconvenient more than anything else. I don't... make a habit of telling people, though." He added quickly, a flash of fear spiking through his brain at the thought of Jessy talking about him without realising how closely guarded his secret was.

He laughed softly and nodded when Jessy accepted his offer of a place to stay. "Of course!" Kyle said brightly, heart swelling at the thought of having Jessy in his home, having time to catch up with her properly. He laughed louder at her reaction to him being an us, nodding quickly. "Yes! I would have invited you if I could, I got married a couple of years ago, up at Larnach. His name is Matt, he's lovely." Kyle smiled warmly. "Matt's daughter April lives with us too, she just finished at Hogwarts. My daughter is at uni, I'm sure you'll get a chance to meet her." Kyle's smile slipped very slightly at that thought. Facing his failings as a father had been hard enough, and he didn't love the thought that they could all be exposed once again for his best friend's perusal. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.