Closed Pen Pals

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander had always been fascinated by some of the other schools out in the rest of the wizarding world. Mahoutokoro was by far the closest to New Zealand, and while growing up he'd always dreamed of flying to school on a giant bird as its students did. It was a lot more exciting than taking the plain old train, that was for sure. Watching Beauxbatons play a match against Slytherin had been very cool too, and Sander had found himself envious of the fact Gryffindor hadn't had the chance to compete against the foreign school at the end of the year. He still held high hopes that his house would take the lead this time, and felt more confident now that he was on the team in an official capacity. He wanted to see for himself what playing Quidditch against students from another country was like, and what they were generally like themselves. When he'd found out that the school had a pen pal program in place, Lysander had realised that until then, it was the next best thing, and wasted no time in putting his name down. Ellie would be so jealous if she knew he'd made friends with someone magical in another country. He had so many questions about what kinds of creatures they had, or what candy they ate, or if they had their own foreign spells they learned. When he'd finally been paired up with a boy from the Ilvermorny school, he'd put aside writing boring class essays to write a letter instead.​

Astronomy Homework
The planets in the sky are

Dear To Hi! I'm Lysander
It's cool to sorta meet you! I haven't written to anyone from another country before, so I don't really know what I'm doing, but I was told I should tell you about me to start off with.

I'm twelve, and a Gryffindor at Hogwarts New Zealand (it's not the same one all the most famous wizards went to, like Merlin and Harry Potter and stuff, but it's still pretty awesome). I mostly like to collect chocolate frog cards and go on adventures outside with my frends friends. I love animals! My parents own a menagerie so our house has always been full of them, and I have my own owl, rat, frog AND a puffskein that I brought to school (but its a secret so you cant tell anyone). I also really like to play Quidditch, and I'm a beater on my school team now. I used to be an altinate, but this year I got a real spot!

We just had a Halloween feast here. I went as a knight! Last year I won the dress-up contest (I went as an animagus that time. One of my dads is an animagus, and one day, I'll be one too!) but I don't know if I've won anything this year yet. My friends and I did this courage challenge in the dungeons after the feast where we had to touch this creepy statue, but it wasn't really that scary. Gryffindors are really brave so nothing scares me ever.

Do you have houses too? What's your school like? Mine is a castle with lots of towers. There's a lake full of mermaids and a forest with centaurs, but we arent allowed to go into it. It doesnt stop me. I know lots of spells to protect me from anything bad. I haven't met any centaurs yet. Professors keep coming in before I can find them >=(

Ok that's all I got! I hope this letter doesnt take too long. I had to look at your country on a map and its really far away. I didn't know owls could even fly that far! Or maybe they use the floo. I dunno. Anyway, hope you have an awesome day whenever you get this! Peace out

Perfection. The Gryffindor stuff the parchment into an envelope and raced it up to the owlery to send it off. At first he'd considered sending Fuzzfeathers, so the foreign boy could meet one of his best friends, but he had no idea when he'd see the owl again. A few days? A week? A MONTH? It was way too long to be apart from his favourite bird. Instead, he tied the letter to the leg of one of the schools owls, and sent it off.​

@Einar Haines

 

[Einar Haines]

Einar’s therapist had noted that Einar seemed to lack friends. He’d told them that he didn’t need or want friends, but his therapist had been adamant that he try reaching out to other kids and talking to them, and hadn’t let it go. In the end, he relented to one of the ideas presented, a penpal, from one of the other schools. Einar had thought this would be the easiest to do, a letter, that he could write small responses to. Someone who he wouldn’t have to talk to face to face. It just happened, that on that day, his pen pal had written to him. Einar had sent the owl the letter had been delivered with back without anything, figuring his penpal would rather the owl back before a letter. Einar hadn’t wanted to open it in amongst all the other students. The letter sat on Einar’s bedside table for a few days before he’d decided to open it, he didn’t know why he’d kept not doing it, it would just be a simple letter, and he just had to write back at least once, and his therapist would be happy about it. Part of his mind wondered quietly if his brothers would’ve written to him while he was here. In the year prior his mother had written on occasion, and it also did a little remind him of that, of her. But it was time to just read it.​

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Einar held the letter and waited till the dorm was empty, double checking to be sure it really was empty before he opened the letter - being absolutely sure his shadow wasn’t around. He sat on the edge of his bed and opened the letter. The horned serpents eyes glanced quickly over the page first skimming it and then reading it more closely. His pen pal was Lysander, he went to Hogwarts New Zealand, it was odd, to read about this boy, it wasn’t a normal letter really, this was an introduction to his pen pal. It was odd to read about how he played quidditch, and how the Halloween celebrations were on the other side of the world. What Hogwarts was like, and how far away Einar’s school had been on a map. It was nice. Einar surprised himself by thinking so. He wanted to hate it, he wanted to hate his pen pal, but he couldn’t. Einar grabbed some parchment and a quill and wrote his response, he struggled greatly with it, knowing he would never match the boys tone. Knowing that where Lysander’s letter had felt warm, his wouldn’t. Einar didn’t have as much to say or much he wanted to say and he definitely didn’t have as nearly an interesting life as Lysander did. The finished letter spent a few more days sitting upon his desk before he’d finally found the courage to go send it to him, using one of the school owls to do so. He almost hoped that his slow response would have put Lysander off him, though he’d asked enough questions that seemed to contradict his hope.​

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Hi hello Lysander,​

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I’m Einar. I’m also twelve and I’m at Ilvermorny. I don’t have any pets, but a dog would be fun. What are the names of your pets? I play quidditch too, I joined the team this year after my mum told me try, I’m a chaser. Are you any good? I like flying. Most of my time is spent flying or drawing really, I don’t really do adventures..​

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Well done on winning last year and on your bravery too. I didn’t attend my school’s Halloween celebration. I didn’t last year either. What does your halloween celebrations consist of? What’s an animagus? Sorry, my parents weren’t magical I'm the first in my family to attend a magical school and we haven’t covered that yet.​

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Ilvermorny has houses too, I’m a horned serpent, but I don’t know what that means in your school. There are four houses here, are there four houses at Hogwarts? The school is nice. It’s a big building, it has some nice grounds and there are some towers, I guess. The climates a little warm for me.​

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What sorts of classes do you do? What’s it like to have no snow over christmas? Do you stay at school over the break if your dad teaches there?​

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Einar​

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[Lysander Summers]

It had felt like ages before Lysander received a response from his pen pal. He'd started to wonder if his letter would even make it that far across the world by the time the post arrived, and he'd eagerly opened the letter during lunch to read it while he ate. He hadn't known what to expect, and as he read on the thought Einar sounded a bit...formal? Yet friendly. His father had told him that tone didn't always come across in writing, which was why he'd opted to use his exclamation marks and drew faces in his own letters. He had to guess that was why it sounded the way that it did. He was enjoying learning about this other boy on the other side of the world, and already couldn't wait to find out more. Ilvermrony sounded a lot like Hogwarts, with its towers and nice grounds. Horned Serpent was a way more awesome house name than some of the Hogwarts ones, he had to admit. With how busy everything had been, it had taken Lysander some time to write back, and every day there seemed to be something new he wanted to write down. His letter was much longer than his first. He had to hope he wouldn't have to keep adding more pages as time went on, otherwise he'd be stuck sending an entire book by the end of it. He was sure he'd written shorter essays for class. There were too many questions to ask, or reply to. He had no idea how much harder it would be to get to know someone when you couldn't just sit and talk face to face.​

Hi Einar!

Sorry you don't have any pets. I think a dog would be great! We aren't allowed to have them at Hogwarts. My owl is called Fuzzfeathers. I named him in a competition when he had just hatched and saw him a lot after that. I was allowed to buy him a few years later when we were both old enough, because no one else had baught him yet. I'm pretty sure it was destiny and we were meant to be friends. My cousin is a seer and she says that things are fated and coincidences aren't real, and I think it's true because it was like he was waiting for me to get him. My rat is called Rembran[sup]d[/sup]t and my frog is Hopsprocket. The puffskein is called Pudding. Its technically my sisters, but I'm looking after it.

Congrats on getting chaser! Maybe we'll have a match. We sometimes get Beauxbatons to play against us here (their a french school). I think I'm pretty good. My team just won our first match! My aunt is a Quidditch player (Do you know the Tuscan Charmers?) and she helps me learn over the holidays. My captain is a beater too, so I feel like I have to do my best. What do you like to draw?

I didn't end up winning any of the Halloween contests this year. There were a lot of other people who dressed as knights too. Maybe I'll win next year, but I don't know what I'll go as yet. Do you have any ideas? Why don't you go to your Halloween celebrations? Ours are always really cool. There's always a spooky tent and magical spider cupcakes and spiderwebs and stuff.

An animagus is someone who can transfigure themselfs into an animal but with their mind and memory and stuff. My dad can turn into a dog, and I went dressed as a dog because I can't transfigure myself yet. When I'm one, I think I might become a dog too. I wouldn't mind being a bird or a fish, so I could go see whats it's like deep underwater where the mermaids are, or fly around without a broom. You don't get to choose what animal you are, which sucks. I like muggle stuff, they have really fun stuff like video games and movies and comics. Are you liking learning about magic?

There are four houses at Hogwarts too! Gryffindor (We're brave and heroic), Ravenclaw (Their the smart house), Hufflepuff (Their[sup]They're[/sup] all really friendly, my sister and most of my friends are in Hufflepuff) and Slytherin (I think they're meant to be about being the best or being sly or something. I don't have any friends in Slytherin, so I dunno). Does Horned Serpent have personality stuff too? We use the Sorting Hat to decide houses. It's a hat that reads minds. Do you guys have sorting hats or clothes?

This semester I'm taking transfiguration, history, astronomy and herbology. We've been raising baby mandrakes in the greenhouses. Mine is called Owen, because he reminded me of a boy I went to pre-school with who cried like, every day. I know you said you don't do adventures, but I sort of had a fun adventure the other day. A niffler escaped from the care of magical creatures class and ran around the school stealing stuff, and I managed to catch him! A girl in my house tried to steal him from me, and even used magic against a prefect who came out. It was so crazy. Luckily I got him back to the professor. She was nice. I think she'll be my professor when I take care of magical creatures next year. What subjects do you have? Are there any you want to take?

We get snow sometimes. It's not as much as America, and sometimes its made with magic if its not cold enough normally. I'm in a boys club and we had a snowball fight on the lawn the other week. Are you not used to the warm? Where are you from? I usually go home over the break so I can see my other dad, and the rest of my family. Do you go home?

Can't wait to hear from you!
Lysander