Closed Put that bird to work

[Mania Athanasiou]

Mania was buzzing with excitement as she was dragging Callie with her to the owlery, well less so dragging more so just bringing her with her. See ever since that little silly incident in their dormitory Nia had been wanting to write Pim and Pom, she knew exactly what to write to both of them and had no doubt they would both write back to her. Well, Pom might not but eventually he would too, she was sure he thought she was his new bestie after all. "Come Callie, we need to go faster. The birds are dying to carry our little letters to well whoever you wanted to write to again." It had become a thing sort of where Mania went she would bring Callie and vice versa. These stairs must have been the idea of someone truly evil she decided as she finally thought she saw the end of them.

 

[Calliope Cartwright]

If Callie went any faster, her side was going to explode. She groaned as she stumbled up the stairs after Nia, trying not to think about how far she would fall back down if she slipped. These towers were a serious health and safety issue. "I'm coming," she grumbled. Truth be told, she hadn't decided who she was writing to. She knew she wanted to write to one of her parents - but which? Was one more likely to respond than the other? Her mother, perhaps; but it had been longer since Callie had seen her father, and the idea that her owl could find him wherever he was hiding both frightened and excited her. Excited her, because she could finally ask him where he was, why he had really left, and if he wanted to meet her. Frightened her, because if her owl returned with no reply, there would be no doubt left as to whether or not he cared. Doubt made room for hope. Was it better to know, or not to know?

 

[Mania Athanasiou]

Mania let out an excited shriek, quickly muffling it with her hand, when they finally reached the top of the stairs. "I am sorry birdies, I promise I'll give you some treats, just go back to sleep for now you'll need your energy soon enough." She said in an apologetic tone turning to Callie and offering her a parchment and quill. "I am going to write to Pim and Pom, I'm sure they'll be glad to hear of me. Even if they aren't I'll be very glad they are hearing of me so it's a win win situation really, yeah?" Win-win because well, she wasn't sure what the duo would win, actually yeah she was they'd get letters which would always be nice right? Surely.

Nia sat down on the cold floor of the tower and placed her parchment in front of her before starting to write. She started on a letter and huffed when the words seemed wrong on the first one. There was no need to explain who she was surely she left an impression that was hard to shake off? "Do you think they would want to hear of me? Surely they would right? I mean I'm sure they remember me and thought I was nice, or maybe not. Is this a silly idea?" The Gryffindor hadn't exactly meant to start talking out her doubts, but she also couldn't seem to stop them from falling out.

Dear Pim,
Hi, it's me Mania, I am sure you remember me

 

[Calliope Cartwright]

While Nia made herself comfortable on the floor, Callie opted to sit at one of the writing desks near the window. The sprawling view of the grounds, surrounded by dark trees, and the lights of Brightstone village beyond that, would have ignited her muse under any other circumstances. But as she took up her quill, she quickly realised she had no idea how to begin. So at the first opportunity to put it back down and talk to Nia, she did. "Of course they want to hear from you," she said. "I mean, knowing us, we could have got ourselves killed before the start of term. They'll be relieved to know you're OK." She was humouring her friend, but with the best of intentions; Nia seemed so excited to write to the healer and his cleaner colleague that Callie couldn't bear to dampen her spirit.

Picking up her quill again, she started to write.

Hi Dad,

It's me, Callie.

 

[Mania Athanasiou]

Nia looked at Callie wanting to believe the words, but just couldn't. "Callie as much as I love you, you aren't the best liar really, but we'll never know how they feel if I don't write right?" Surely they'd never find out because she'd never send a letter and they'd never receive one to feel anything about and that was just unacceptable. With a slightly more defeated spirit Mania got right back to work. Struggling a little to find the right way to address her target the girl was letting out multiple huffs and puffs, really just trying to wrestle with how to approach the situation. Eventually she just gave up and went with her gut.

"Here does this look okay?" Mania asked Callie giving her the small letter she'd been working on for the past Merlin knew how long. She was quite proud of it really, surely it would be a nice one to receive?

Dear Pim,
Hi, it's me Mania, I am sure you remember me
Dear Zennon,
Dear Healer Baros or Pim or Zennon, well no actually no.

Dear Pim,
It's your second favourite Gryffindor, yes I met your son he is AWESOME, Mania. I just thought it'd be nice to send you a letter to let you know that I got to Hogwarts safely. You know stayed out of trouble like I promised. I miss Tinsel, will you give her a pet from me please please please? OH and extra treats! Also tell her she's awesome and the best snake I have ever met and I'll make sure to visit her as soon as I can. I wish I had a snake, truly would make life better.

Anyways me and Callie are still friends, best friends actually as of now. We got into a bit of a fight but you know we made up within like maybe less than 30 minutes, so all good. Anyways gotta write to Pom now! Hope to hear from you!

~ Mania
~ Sincerely your best friend, Mania

 

[Calliope Cartwright]

"I mean it!" Callie said. "I'm not lying. You should write." But after a few minutes, she began to regret dispensing words of encouragement. All the huffing and puffing was terribly distracting. Realistically, she would never have been able to find the right words anyway, but it felt better to blame the block on Nia than to admit to herself she was afraid. What if her dad didn't even remember her? That was ridiculous, right? But it wasn't ridiculous to think he might have started a new family - one that was less... complicated than theirs. Maybe that was why her mum kept her in the dark. She was scared to tell Callie the truth in case it hurt her.

After a few more minutes, Callie struck through what she had written and started over.

Hi Mum,

I made it to Hogwarts! It's really amazing here. I was sad I didn't get to see you before I left. Now we will have to wait until Christmas, which feels like ages away (although if you are not coming for Christmas please can you write back and tell me because I will probably just stay here). By the way I am writing because my phone doesn't work here so sorry if you text me, I'm not ignoring you. Also I don't know how long this will take to get to you because it is coming by owl (obviously) but apparently they are actually fast. Please can you give the owl some treats, and if you want to write back you can just give it the letter and he will bring it to me (or maybe it's a she I don't know how to tell).

I hope you are OK. I miss you lots.

Love Callie xxx

P.S. Grandma was being kind of weird before I left so maybe you can check on her thank you xx

Callie folded the letter in half. It felt like a cop-out, but she could always write to her dad tomorrow, when Nia wasn't liable to come over and have a look. She wasn't sure how she would explain, or if she even wanted to. "Huh?" she said, taking Nia's letter automatically. "Oh. Let me read." Her mouth slowly upturned as she read. She hadn't thought all that much about Pim and Pom since they'd met, but suddenly she wished she'd written to them as well, or at least contributed to Nia's letter. "Can you put, 'Callie says hi too'? Or, wait - 'Callie says hi, and we'll be in Brightstone in a few weeks if you want to come and see us' - but be cool about it. I can help, here." She grabbed her quill, ready to start amending the letter.

 

[Mania Athanasiou]

Mania waited anxiously as Callie read the letter, though the smile on her face gave the Gryffindor a good feeling. It wasn't bad at all then. "Oh yes! We'll add that! Maybe he'll bring Tinsel too? I miss the snake she was so lovely." Her tone adapted an adoring tilt to it, she just really really wanted a snake. It was a shame the school didn't allow them. "Oh I know, we can just tell him to come meet Finley and bring Tinsel. Surely he will?" This might very well have been Mania's greatest idea yet, not that she had had many of those.

Dear Pim,
Hi, it's me Mania, I am sure you remember me
Dear Zennon,
Dear Healer Baros or Pim or Zennon, well no actually no.

Dear Pim,
It's your second favourite Gryffindor, yes I met your son he is AWESOME, Mania. I just thought it'd be nice to send you a letter to let you know that I got to Hogwarts safely. You know stayed out of trouble like I promised. I miss Tinsel, will you give her a pet from me please please please? OH and extra treats! Also tell her she's awesome and the best snake I have ever met and I'll make sure to visit her as soon as I can. I wish I had a snake, truly would make life better.

Anyways me and Callie are still friends, best friends actually as of now. We got into a bit of a fight but you know we made up within like maybe less than 30 minutes, so all good. Anyways gotta write to Pom now! Hope to hear from you!

~ Mania

~ Sincerely your best friend, Mania

P.S Callie also said hi! We'll be in Brightstone in a few weeks time, maybe we'll run into each other!

P.S Callie is here too and wants to say hi! We'll be visiting Brightstone village soon, maybe you can bring Tinsel there to meet Finley, he misses her loads too!

~Sincerely your two besties who are definitely staying very good and not breaking any rules, Nia and Callie!!

Mania folded the letter in half and put it on the desk in front of Callie taking out her second parchment. "Okay, Pom's turn! Oh who did you end up writing to?" She asked while shimmying to sit next to the girl, albeit it was rather uncomfortable if she was being honest with so little space, but they'd make it work.

 

[Calliope Cartwright]

"Does Finley actually miss Tinsel?" Callie asked, although she didn't stop Nia from writing it. Maybe a little white lie wouldn't hurt if it meant Healer Baros and his friend would come and visit them. Finley would surely be happy to see his dad, anyway - snake or no snake. "Perfect. Pim is the doctor-man, isn't he? So Pom must be his friend. I can't remember his name - can you?" Pim and Pom were such catchy nicknames that her brain had hung onto these and discarded their real ones. She put a hand over her letter, then withdrew it. There was nothing really personal in there, except perhaps the bit about her grandma, but she didn't mind talking about her if Nia asked. "I wrote to my mum. OK, what should we say to Pom? Should we tell him to come too? We don't want to leave him out."

 

[Mania Athanasiou]

Mania smiled nodding, "Yes Pim is Zennon aka the Healer-man and Pom was his friend, Arvel the quiet but kind one." She said her smile growing at the memory, in her opinion he was truly kind and she just wanted him to know it too. "And surely Finley misses them, I am sure he wants to see them. He hasn't told me but like it would make sense right?" Mania asked before beginning her writing and listening to Callie and who she had written to. "Ooh, I remember you spoke about your Nana, do you live with the both of them?" She was curious really and wanted to hear more about her life before this whole witch thing.

"Oh that gives me a great idea, we surely won't leave him out. Besides they seemed to be very good friends? Now look at this." She said before adding her subtle hinting at Zennon wanting Arvel to come too. Surely it seemed real and he couldn't say no! Besides they seemed to like each others company last time! It was truly incredible that she had had two life-changing insanely good ideas within thirty minutes of each other! She must be a genius, well at least she was in her own head right now. "Does it look fine?" She asked giving her the letter.

Dear Pom,
I hope you are doing well! It's me Mania and Callie too! I wanted to write to you and tell you we got to Hogwarts safe and sound! I got into Gryffindor, though believe it or not the hat practically told me to shut up AND called Callie obnoxious! Imagine that? Truly upsetting and rude, right?

Anyways I am sure you have important things to get to so won't make this long

Like I said earlier I hope you are doing well, I think you were very nice and wanted you to know it. Perhaps I can send you more letters in the future, I'd like that. Also I said Callie was here right, she too got into Gryffindor! Oh and we are best friends too now so we are sticking together! Though we had a little bit of a well some would call it a fight I call it a misunderstanding, but we made up and are better than ever! Okay I'll let you get to your life now but I hope to hear from you! Maybe you can tell me how your first weeks at Hogwarts went or what it was like with the Hat? OH tell me was it rude to you as well?

P.S. We'll be at Brightstone in a few weeks you should come there.

P.S. We'll be at Brightstone in a few weeks! Pim will be there too or well it's probably Zennon to you. He said He'd like to see you as well there, maybe you could come together you know. It'd be a nice thing since the both of you are obviously already coming might as well make the trip together right?

~ Much fun and no trouble from your besties Nia and Callie!

 

[Calliope Cartwright]

"Just my grandma," Callie said simply. She didn't mind talking about her, but she didn't much feel like going into the details of her parents' involvement (or lack thereof) in her life. It was... messy, and sometimes she wasn't even sure she had all the details herself. So how could she ever explain it to somebody else?

Contrary to the blithe enthusiasm she displayed, Callie did have a few brain cells in her head, and presently they supplied her with a stream of sensible thoughts about stranger danger. She wasn't entirely ready to dismiss her concerns just because Healer Baros was Finley's dad, but this did put her a bit more at ease about the whole thing. They weren't stranger strangers. Or at least, Healer Baros was no more a stranger than anybody's parents whose house she'd visited in her life. But Arvel was, and now that Callie thought about it, she wasn't even certain the two men were friends. She stayed quiet while Nia wrote, then spoke up at last. "Maybe we shouldn't lie. We don't really know them. I mean, maybe Finley's dad doesn't even know Arvel that well, and he'll just think it's weird that we asked him. Right? We should just throw this one away."

 

[Mania Athanasiou]

"What's she like then?" Nia asked about her grandma, sensing Callie's unspoken dismissal of the subject of her mum. Not for today then. Mania narrowed her eyes, pondering on what Callie had just said. She had a point she supposed and she also knew she could be rather careless. Maybe this was one of those situations, where she didn't think it through. "Mmm, yeah maybe you are right. Yeah let me just copy what I wrote and just leave some of it away." She admitted a bit begrudgingly. Nia copied down the good parts and out of the letters this one definitely came out the cleanest. "There is this better?" She asked, wanting to make sure she didn't do any tomfoolery.

Dear Pom,
I hope you are doing well! It's me Mania and Callie too! I wanted to write to you and tell you we got to Hogwarts safe and sound! I got into Gryffindor, though believe it or not the hat practically told me to shut up AND called Callie obnoxious! Imagine that? Truly upsetting and rude, right?

Like I said earlier I hope you are doing well, I think you were very nice and wanted you to know it. Perhaps I can send you more letters in the future, I'd like that. Also I said Callie was here right, she too got into Gryffindor! Oh and we are best friends too now so we are sticking together! Though we had a little bit of a well some would call it a fight I call it a misunderstanding, but we made up and are better than ever! Okay I'll let you get to your life now but I hope to hear from you! Maybe you can tell me how your first weeks at Hogwarts went or what it was like with the Hat? OH tell me was it rude to you as well?

~ Your two besties Nia and Callie!

 

[Calliope Cartwright]

"A nightmare," Callie said, then instantly regretted it. "OK, no, that's not fair. She's fine. She just likes everything to be..." She gestured uselessly with one hand - the other was gripping the desk so that she didn't fall off her portion of the chair. "Perfect. Including me. But she looks after me, so... I can't complain, can I?" Actually, she could complain, and she regularly did, but only to Aster. Complaining to anyone else felt wrong somehow. Even Nia, who was her new best friend now, or something.

She read the revised letter, then re-read it one more time, making sure it didn't give away anything too personal. "Maybe get rid of the besties part, so it says, 'From Nia and Callie'. Hasn't anyone ever told you? Not everyone you meet is your best friend; you've got to be careful." Really, it was a good thing Callie was here to stop Nia getting herself into trouble. Maybe the lack of fear was a side-effect of living without muggle technology. Callie had only been allowed a smartphone after passing three online safety quizzes and agreeing to let her grandma access her texts at any time, without notice. It was a bit overkill, in Callie's opinion, but it was better than having no phone at all. Ha! So much for that.

 

[Mania Athanasiou]

Mania frowned at her explanation of her grandma. That didn't sound fun. "That sounds... A little well nightmareish, just strict and not fun I suppose." She admitted, feeling bad judging someone even though she didn't know them. Her frown only deepened at the additional jab at the letter. Apparently it wasn't good enough still, though she might have been right the way she said it sounded so much like her parents, albeit her parents were well ruder about it. Of course not everyone was her best friend, maybe Callie was even hinting at herself.

Sighing deep Nia completely blacked out over the first row of who it was from only to add another one. She could not be asked to rewrite the whole thing, not for such a small thing. "There? Is this safe and good enough?" She asked giving her the final product, you know what if it wasn't Callie could write the letter herself.

Dear Pom,
I hope you are doing well! It's me Mania and Callie too! I wanted to write to you and tell you we got to Hogwarts safe and sound! I got into Gryffindor, though believe it or not the hat practically told me to shut up AND called Callie obnoxious! Imagine that? Truly upsetting and rude, right?

Like I said earlier I hope you are doing well, I think you were very nice and wanted you to know it. Perhaps I can send you more letters in the future, I'd like that. Also I said Callie was here right, she too got into Gryffindor! Oh and we are best friends too now so we are sticking together! Though we had a little bit of a well some would call it a fight I call it a misunderstanding, but we made up and are better than ever! Okay I'll let you get to your life now but I hope to hear from you! Maybe you can tell me how your first weeks at Hogwarts went or what it was like with the Hat? OH tell me was it rude to you as well?

(Pretend this is just splotch of ink covering text ty ty)
~ From, Mania and Callie

 

[Calliope Cartwright]

Callie could tell Nia wasn't happy, but she only felt bad for a few seconds before she remembered she was doing the right thing - both in protecting her friend, and teaching her about the dangers of the world. She leaned over the letter as she read it one more time. Much better. "Yep. I'm happy," she said, sliding it back toward Mania. "So we need... three owls? Or do we give all the letters to the same one?"

 

[Mania Athanasiou]

"I probably seem too careless and very trusting to you right about now, but I do know there are dangers and to be fair I do usually try to you know keep it safe, but I do get excited and ahead of myself at times." She hated being lectured, especially about things she already knew. Although Callie was doing it for the right reasons and Mania was definitely not angry she still wanted to make it known she wasn't that oblivious to the world usually. "I think uh two birds are fine? Maybe three so everyone gets the right letter, no two. Pim and Pom can have the same owl, maybe or would three be just best. No two yes Pim and Pom can share." Why was choosing the owl so difficult when they weren't even at that part yet. "Your mum needs her own owl I'd assume, since she probably lives quite a lot farther away than Pim and Pom." The owls were smart, but no need to overwork one to carry three different letters and at worst not even get snacks in between the trips.

 

[Calliope Cartwright]

"I know," said Callie, tucking her own letter into an envelope. "I'm just being practical. He's not our friend, is he? He'd old. Old enough to be our dad." She wasn't trying to make her Nia feel bad. Having grown up with the internet, she simply felt more qualified to judge such situations.

Two owls seemed like a sensible number. "England," she confirmed. "Actually... maybe it's cruel to make an owl fly all that way. Maybe we should just send yours." Animal cruelty wasn't the only thing giving her pause. The more she thought about it, the less she wanted to update her mum after all. It wasn't like her mum ever bothered to update Callie on anything. Was that petty? Maybe. But right now, being petty made her feel great.

 

[Mania Athanasiou]

Mania conjured a smile, feeling both defeated and sort of glad. Defeated in the way that she had let her excitement rule out her rational thinking, glad because at least one of them was rational enough to think it through right now and that was enough for her. "No no silly, they probably have flown all over the world. I'm sure it'll be fine, besides I'm sure your family would like to hear of you!" The Gryffindor tried to assure her friend that it'd be fine. After all these birds were practically world travelers already they'd be fine. "We'll send mine and yours, it will be fine." She concluded before starting to lure two birds over, one that looked quite professional in Mania's humble opinion. "There you take this to uh, Zennon Baros and Arvel Ayers won't you good birdie?" She spoke to the owl which now had her letters in it's mouth.