Living Distantly

[Aonghas Fergusson]

The owlery was not a place that Aonghas often went to, there was little need to send letters home at least in the last semester when he had been increasingly annoyed at his parents and the situation it had resulted in. Now, he had more reason to. The boy was determined to stick around in school, use his time in New Zealand wisely because when he finally returned home he’d have no choice but to hit the ground running. Part of this was reaching out and being less frustrated with his parents, he needed to get over his frustrations and just action his plan. The boy had written a second letter to his brother, he hadn’t heard anything from him in the last few months since leaving school. It had made sense, he’d been at home and getting a letter from Rory wouldn’t have been good, but the bigger problem was that he’d been at school a few days, and there hadn’t been anything. Aonghas was sure his brother was fine, but he just wanted to be sure. He half felt like he needed to be sure. The boy walked into the owlery and got the family owl and attached the first letter to it, the letter for his parents, taking great care in ensuring that it was the right letter going to the right people. Aonghas then had to find a school owl for him to use with the other letter. He didn’t have an address for his brother, but hoped the owl would find him. He grabbed one and had far more difficulty attaching the letter to its leg, but before he launched it off, the boy took great care in giving it some treats and stroking it’s feathers, if he had a bit of a connection with the bird, it would do more to make sure the letter went where it was supposed to, ”Yer a bonnie bird, aren’t ye,” Aonghas spoke softly.​

 

[Aegerine Night]

As much as she resented her mother right now, Aegerine knew she had an obligation to keep in contact with her. Besides, though she would never admit it, she missed her. They were both far away from home now, from everything they’d known, and even though it was Mum’s fault and Aegerine wanted to hate her, she was all she had. Aegerine had tried her best, so far, to keep to herself, to push other people away. She didn’t want friends, she didn’t want to settle in here. There was a part of her that was determined that she wouldn’t stay, and if she isolated herself enough her mother’s misplaced compassion might allow her to go home. Most of the people she’d met here so far weren’t worth her time, anyway. Aegerine would try writing to Dad, too, but he was always so busy, she wasn’t sure when he would answer. She ascended the long staircase to the owlery with both letters in hand, and hesitated at the doorway when she realised there was someone else there. Was there no way she could be on her own here? But then she heard the boy speak, and the familiarity of his voice shocked her into responding. At last, a voice from home, a reprieve from all these horrible grating ‘kiwi’ accents. “You’re Scottish,” she blurted out, in perhaps the least dignified conversation starter she had ever uttered.

 

[Aonghas Fergusson]

Aonghas looked up from the owl and looked towards the girl who’d just bluntly stated where he was from. Despite knowing the comment was directed at him, he still glanced about the owlery, just on the off chance that the girl had been speaking to someone else, but other than the owls, him and her, they were the only people in this room. He could note from this girl’s words and her accent that she wasn’t from New Zealand either, she had an english accent on how she’d stated that he was scottish, ”Aye fae the Bridge of Orchy, just at the highlands,” the boy replied, unsure if she would really know where that was, but happy to even just say it for once, ”Yer fae england right?” Aonghas returned to her. The boy was surprised by the fact that someone else was so far from home for school. Though he’d met a few people from far flung places he was always surprised by it. ”Why’d ye come tae Hogwarts here?” The hufflepuff decided to ask her, knowing that she could ask the same thing to him, but he’d decided to come Hogwarts. It had been his choice and he did not regret it. Being apart from his family was a good thing. It wasn’t like he could do anything about his family situation until he left school so, it didn’t matter where exactly he was. He kept a small eye on the owl he was holding, not willing to drop it, or for it to not be satisfied before it went off in search for his brother.​

 

[Aegerine Night]

Aegerine cursed her own surprised utterance. Now she looked like a fool for stating the obvious in front of this boy, which was precisely the opposite impression from the one she wished to convey. She hadn't even desired a conversation, but now she was trapped in one by her own foolishness. She nodded in recognition; Aegerine hadn't actually been to Scotland, but she knew the name, and recognition was clearly what he was hoping for. "Indeed I am," she agreed, still mortified by her inane comment. "I'm from Reading," she added, because he had, then immediately felt uncomfortable about telling a stranger where she lived. And then he asked why she was here, and Aegerine couldn't resist a dramatic sigh. "My dear mother decided it would be good for us to connect with our New Zealand family," she said, contempt evident in her every word. For a moment, her curiosity fought with her reluctance to communicate. Curiosity won. "And you?"

 

[Aonghas Fergusson]

Aonghas just smiled, ”Aye near London right?” his own geography of England was a little lacking but he was fairly certain he was quite close. Reading was certainly much further south that he was. ”Ye got much ae it tae really merit bein’ sent across the world,” Aonghas asked, he could understand it somewhat if there was a lot of people on this side of the world for her to connect to but it seemed a little pointless. When the question was returned to him there was a little smile that appeared on his face, thinking of how complicated his family had become, his reasoning would probably wouldn’t make too much sense to her. She’d been sent there but he’d ended up picking it. ”Ma da sent my brother here,” the boy said, ”And ah followed him,” was likely the easiest way of putting it, his brother had graduated and he was spending more time alone than with him, but Aonghas knew it had been the right choice. He couldn’t imagine how much worse it would’ve been facing never seeing his brother again after he’d gotten kicked on. Being at Hogwarts Scotland during all of it. ”But it wis pretty dumb since he graduated and now ah cannae switch,” Aonghas extended the truth a little bit to her, opting to just do that rather than outright have to explain to this girl what happened in his family. It was easier to say he was stuck.​

 

[Aegerine Night]

Aegerine nodded, a little reluctantly; she really didn't want to talk, but now she was trapped in it. Close enough to London that one would think Dad would have visited more, but he was always so busy. Of course, with magical transportation, it wasn't difficult to visit, but Aegerine wouldn't let that decrease her anger. "There is an intolerable quantity of them," she said disparagingly, "and as far as I can tell they're all insufferable." She frowned a little at his smile; as far as she could tell, there was nothing to smile about regarding being sent here. "Why did he send your brother here?" she asked, curious despite herself. His reply seemed to have merely pushed the question back another step, making it about his brother rather than about him. She supposed she could understand following a sibling; she had heard that siblings were often very close, although as an only child herself Aegerine couldn't really see it.

 

[Aonghas Fergusson]

Aonghas laughed lightly at her reaction, he was sure it wasn’t something she would find funny, but her reaction to it, her wording of it was just a little funny to him. ”Ah’m sorry, ah know that’s probably no funny tae ye, but ye wording wis,” he explained lightly. He could agree with the statement mostly, there were a lot of people in his family but most of them were alright, only a few quite insufferable and of course he was far away from all of them now. He wasn’t too surprised at the follow up question that she had for him. He sighed a little, keeping his gaze on the younger student as he considered how best to phrase it. Of course he didn’t really know why exactly, all he had was a vague idea of what had happened, what had brought that about. ”Ma da never really said why,” Aonghas started, he had never been told, but he had mostly pieced together what he thought had happened, what he believed had started all of this. He wasn’t sure this girl would be interested in knowing, he didn’t even know the girl’s name. ”Ah have ma theory as tae why, but ah cannae be certain,” Aonghas said just shrugging again, ”All that matters is he wis sent here and ah followed,” Aonghas finished. He held his hand out to her, ”Ah’m Aonghas by the way,” ​

 

[Aegerine Night]

Aegerine drew back as the Scottish boy laughed at her. how dare he? What right had he to mock her vocabulary? He, who hadn't come out with a single interesting word, and had distinguished himself only by his pronunciation of the mundane! "Well, I'm sorry to hear that the only reaction you can summon to a superior vocabulary is to find amusement in it," she said coldly. "I had hoped to have an absorbing conversation, but I see now you are not equal to any such thing." She stalked past him haughtily, towards the owls at the far side of the room. This interaction had quickly turned sour; anyone who made fun of her vocabulary was definitely not worth talking to. And as the boy made evasive answers to her question, she lost interest still further. Aegerine was endlessly curious, but indulding her curiosity was no longer worth speaking to this plebian. Aegerine ignored his introduction; she no longer wanted to know his name, and she certainly wouldn't give him hers. She picked an owl at random, stroked it gently, then set about attaching the first of her letters to its leg.

 

[Aonghas Fergusson]

Aonghas was a little surprised by her reaction to him laughing at her words. A superior vocabulary? Absorbing conversation? Not equal? ”Wow,” was all he could say in return, watching her as she pushed past him. He rolled his eyes a little at her, that was such an odd reaction, he had found the wording amusing was that really so bad. No one spoke like that. No one spoke like that to him. The irony of the words she’d said to him about not being equal, when he knew they weren’t. ”Whit is actually wrang wae ye?” the boy said to her when she didn’t even introduce herself back to him. ”Yer actually no gonnae reply cause ah found yer wording funny? Didnae say that it wis bad, just said it wis funny. No the patter ah'm used to,” Aonghas shrugged a little at her, not really willing to get into it with her. He didn’t get why anyone was opting to be so rude when he didn’t think he’d done anything that wrong, even having apologised for having found it funny when he’d laughed. He muttered a little in gaelic under his breath and rolled his eyes again at her. If this girl was so unwilling to be nice, why would he bother. He knew that believing one person to be better than another because of how they were raised, that exact idea, that principal had torn apart his family. He just focused on the owl in front of him the one with the letter to his brother.​