Never Seen Your Face

[Jai Dionysus]

With a bag of shopping swinging from both arms, Jai tucked his hand into his pocket to feel the letter that was crumpled there unceremoniously. It was about time that his other mother had written. He'd expected a letter at the start of the school year after he'd been sorted, but not several months later. Jai would do what he usually did with the late ones- toss it in the bin. He'd read it, of course. Despite the his nonchalance, Jai would read the letter fifty times over so that he might as well throw out all of the withered pieces of parchment, he knew them so well. She never said anything useful though, like 'One day I'll come to get you' or 'I want to meet. May I write to your mother to arrange it?'. Sometimes he wondered why she even bothered. Well, if that was the case, then he wouldn't mention what house he'd been sorted into at Hogwarts. She probably wouldn't care, anyway. thought the eleven year old bitterly. Jai spoke with such vehemence against his biological mother sometimes that even he began to believe that he hated her. But every time, the anger would die and the belligerent little boy would become sad and wish to see her for the first time. Jai hitched up his arms a little since the bags were beginning to drag on the ground, and moved towards a half occupied park bench on the side of the cobbled street. Jai sat on the lamp side of the bench and ignored the young man on his right. He was good at ignoring strangers.

'Here you are, dear,' his mother had said when she sent him off for bread. 'You can read this on the way. I know you like to do it alone,' she'd said kindly. Jai had merely grunted at her and given a half wave of farewell, thinking only of the folded parchment in his pocket. He swung his legs absent mindedly and placed his shopping down to pull the letter out again, now slightly furred from constant fondling at the edges. He distinctively heard an identical rustling of paper to the side but deigned not to look up, so engrossed he was in his reading. However, impulse led him to glance sidewards after reading only the first sentence, to see the man reading a letter just like his. Almost. It looked like they were reading exactly the same thing from his perspective, only there was a slight difference in paragraph length between the two. Without realising it, Jai had leaned in closer in astonishment, not even noticing that he had blocked the man's view of his own paper. It really was the strangest coincidence that Jai had ever seen before.

 

[Raffael Fox]

Raffael crumbled the letter in his hand more firmly as he walked down the path of Brightstone. He would admit that he had fled from his apartment in a mood, but he knew no one would blame him if he explained why. There was a part of him that had wanted to knock on Hadan's door, share his opinions on the matter, get her to throw the letter away, pull her close and then forget it was ever delivered to him, but the larger part of him wanted to be alone and mull over the writing on the parchment for a little while longer. He steps were determined, even though he had no destination. It was as though he was trying to stomp out his frustration through the soles of his feet.

Glancing down, Raffael eyed the parchment and at that moment he bashed shoulders with someone walking past him. "Oh, sorry." He mumbled, never forgetting his manners. Something his Mother and Father had drilled into him since he could crawl. He hadn't thought about them in so long! And he had been sure they hadn't thought about him. But the letter in his grip was living proof that his Mother cared, if only a little bit.

Letting out a resigned sigh, Raffael slumped onto a nearby park bench and opened the letter on his lap. He gave a sidelong glance to the boy sitting next to him, but other than that the ex-Ravenclaw's mind was focused solely on the cursive writing of Danielle Fox. One would notice her hand anywhere. The perfect loops and spacing running smoothly across the paper. Raffael sighed again, closing his eyes and rubbing his face with the hand that wasn't holding the letter. Why would she care? Why now? Raffael didn't know what to feel. Ecstatic that his Mother finally cared enough to write to him? Or annoyed that she had left him to fend for himself only to ask how he was doing a few years later? Raffael opened his eyes again to read over the letter, maybe just once more, when his view was blocked by the head of the boy that was seated next to him.

Raffael moved the parchment up and away from the boys eyes. "Excuse me, but that's a personal letter, might I ask why you are trying to read it?" He tried for polite, but his usually manner of speaking was laced with a tight frustration. However annoyed he might be at this kid, there was still a sense of relief at the unwanted distraction.

 

[Jai Dionysus]

Jai almost leapt out of his skin when he realised exactly what he'd been doing, and that he'd been caught. The man probably thought he was just a little sneak who liked p*ssing people off, which was a fair assumption since few people would bother reading a stranger's letter. He opened his mouth to explain but found himself with a magnificent scowl instead in response to the man's tone. Wordlessly, he thrust his own letter at him and folded his arms as if it was some sort of explanation. There the letters sat, side by side and almost completely identical. "I'm not some sort of snoop, if that's what you think." said Jai haughtily as only a grumpy child could speak. He stood up so that they were now at eye level, being almost exactly half the man's height. Even in his irritation, he couldn't help but think that guy was ... well, kind of cool. He wasn't wearing anything out of the ordinary, but somehow he just seemed like the kind of guy Jai wanted to grow up into. He was tall and strong-looking to him.

His feature's softened a little guiltily and he waves his small hand at the pieces of parchment. "I just ... kind of thought they were from the same person. 'Cause of the handwriting, see." Indeed, the letters started similarly as well. My dear Jai, read his. I do hope your mother is giving these letters to you. I cannot be sure since you never write back. If you are getting them, I hope you will write some day because I would like to hear what has been happening in your life, etc. Jai hadn't read the man's letter, though. He was too busy wondering at the similarity between the script rather than the content. But why would their letters be from the same person, Jai wondered. If it turned out to be true, then chances were that he was just some friend of his birth mother. Maybe there was an enchanted quill out there that wrote with that script. The parchment was the same, the ink was the same. Hell, even the barest hint of perfume told him that they were form the same person to two different people. It couldn't be true. Who was the man?

 

[Raffael Fox]

Raffael looked at the boy with calculating eyes. "That was my assumption." Raffael said in a monotone voice. After all the younger boy had stuck his nose right into the personal letter, why wouldn't Raffael think he was a snoop? Raff had disregarded the moody tone the boy had used and instead continued to look at him until he provided an explanation. Raff had been the subject of many verbal bashings, but he rarely ever got openly angry himself. Sarcasm and aggression just weren't Raff's thing.

In a short time, Raff watched the boy's features soften and he felt a small hint of relief, not wanting any conflict. It would only add to the horrible conflict he still held in his hand away from the boy's eyes. When he got an explanation, Raff raised an eyebrow and allowed his gaze to drift to the second piece of parchment. He squinted at what he saw. He first read the boys name at the top, then ignored the rest of the letter and scanned right to the very bottom. And that was where he saw it. The cursive writing, looped perfectly on the page. Danielle Fox. Raffael brought his own page down and placed it next to the boys. It was almost exactly the same, but obviously different words written on the parchment. "How do you know Danielle Fox?" Raffael instinctively asked, the name feeling foreign on his tongue. How many months had it been since he had spoken her name out loud. He felt his heart ache. Despite everything, Danielle was his Mother and had raised him. Therefore it wasn't a bad thing to miss her, was it? Raff wasn't quite sure how Jai knew Danielle, he assumed they were close family friends or something? Raff's parents had a vast network of friends and it wasn't odd for someone to send out letters on the same day so they didn't forget another time. Raffael couldn't really think about any of these circumstances properly. His mind was still buzzing from the second he had received his letter.