Closed Pen Pals

[Jordan Harris]

Jordie had heard of a pen pal exchange program, and he had been very eager to join. He'd learned French from his uncle, but it was something he didn't want to forget while he was at school. Choosing a pen pal from Beauxbatons seemed like a great idea. Especially if Onyx was going to get really serious with that French man, Jordie wanted to be able to make a connection with the man, too. Humming, he set out to the owlery. After loving on Amoria a moment, he gave her his letter and sent her on her way.

Hello!

My name is Jordan Harris, and I'm eleven years old! You can call me Jordie, though. Let's see, my birthday is December seventh! I don't know where I was born though. I was adopted, and I live with my Uncle James and his boyfriend Uncle Colin. My uncle James is a photographer for a travel magazine, that's really cool, and my uncle Colin is a librarian, which is also super cool. I have twin siblings, Sapphire and Onyx, and they're 19 now. They're moving out soon, which makes me sad, but I'm going to HNZ now so that's fun! I've made a lot of friends, the boys in my dorms are really fun, and I've got friends in several other houses, and my Head of House is really awesome, I go to see him like every day, he's awesome!

I have two pets, my owl is named Amoria, you know her, she's delivering the letter! Isn't she the prettiest owl ever? I also have a little black kitten named Salem, he's really sassy. I love them! Oh, I'm in Hufflepuff, which is the house for the hardworking and true. I really hope to be the head boy and quidditch captain, but I can't try out for the team even until next year. I still run every morning anyway.

That's enough about me! Who are you? How are you? I can't wait to hear from you again! I'm really excited to get to know you and be friends! Write me back soon, okay?

~Jordie

 

[Amelie Derouin]

After her astounding failure to make the Quidditch team, and with a little encouragement from Gaby, Amelie knew she needed to try harder to build more of a life for herself outside of Quidditch. Jamie had surprised her, though Amy knew she probably shouldn't have been surprised that he wouldn't be disappointed she hadn't made the team. He always seemed to support her wholeheartedly, she supposed that was part of why he was her favorite cousin.

She had signed up for the pen pals program, and had been told her pen pal would write to her first, so for the first month of school she waited eagerly for a letter to come in. Just when she was starting to give up hope it would ever work, she was ecstatic to see a new, pretty owl come to her at breakfast. She smiled, taking the letter and reading it over. She was pleased it was in French and she wouldn't have to ask Jamie to translate it for her. She was still so impressed Jamie was bilingual.

She read over the letter carefully, smiling to herself before getting a parchment from her bag to write back.

Hello, Jordie,

My name is Amelie. I am twelve, and my birthday is September twenty-ninth. I'm an only child, though I have three cousins. I only have one friend so far, an older girl named Gabrielle, but I like her very much. I'm a second year at Beauxbatons, and we don't really have houses like you do. Your French is beautiful, if I may say, where did you learn?

I don't have any pets, but Amoria is indeed a beautiful owl. She's very kind. You sound like you have a very solid plan! I tried out for our quidditch team recently, but I didn't make it, sadly. I'll still try out next year though. What position will you try out for? I prefer Chaser myself.

I'm not really sure what I can tell you about myself; I go to school here, I joined the pen pals program to make friends, I like Quidditch. Why don't you tell me a bit more about you instead? You sound like a very interesting person.

Love, Amelie

 

[Jordan Harris]

Jordie was ecstatic to receive a new letter, curling up under his covers to tear it open. He read it aloud to himself, practicing his french, laughing lightly as he finished it and pulling out a new parchment to reply. Amelie, he still thought the french had such pretty names. And Amelie seemed like such a nice girl, he was eager to get to know her.

Amelie!

That is such a pretty name! I have other cousins too, three of them. I have another aunt and uncle, then my grandmother and her brother, my great uncle Chalcedony. I have lots of friends! Val is new to magic, my roommates Rune and Juno. Weston is great, then there's Noah and Isaiah. Aerin is sassy, but she's fun. We should meet up sometime! I can be your second friend!

I learned French from my uncle James, he's been teaching all of us different languages. He travels the world for his work, and he thinks learning new languages is both a useful skill and a valuable one to have. He is multilingual himself, when he's proficient enough in one language he starts to learn another. I've only learned French, and my older brother used to know French and Japanese. My older sister opted out of learning a new language, she said she didn't need it. I think she picked up some old Gaelic though, from grandmother.

I'm sure you'll make a great chaser next year! I'm going to try out for beater, or maybe seeker, I haven't decided for sure yet. My sister was a beater, and co-captain of her quidditch team, but I'm not sure how I'd feel purposely hitting people like that.

Don't be so down on yourself! I'm sure there's more to you than you give yourself credit for. We can be best friends and I can convince you how great you are. What got you into Quidditch? For me, it was my older sister.

I need to go do homework now, but write me back soon! I love hearing from you.

Love, Jordie