Open Return To Sender

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander already had one gripe about Hogwarts, and that was to do with it's stupid rules on how many pets could be brought along per student - a rule he had already put in motion plans to completely break, but still one he considered a dumb inconvenience nonetheless. The Summers household he was accustomed to was a constant hive of animal activity due to the family owning the Menagerie and occasionally needing to adopt the pets out themselves, and the fact that he wasn't allowed to take all of the furred and feathered friends he had made along with him completely sucked. Their crup, the augurey, the pygmy puffs and the kneazle; It wasn't fair at all that he was only allowed to see the creatures a few times a year, when he thought they'd be just as happy and cared for at the castle and sleeping in his dormitory with him. How was he going to know to expect rain if Sorrow wasn't singing its mournful song? Who would guide him home if he got lost, if not for Samhain? What if he needed Odie's comforting cuddles? The boy had barely been at the castle for an entire twenty-four hours, and already he was missing all of them.

Taking the steps two at a time, Lysander hastily ascended the North Tower. When choosing which of his pets to take with him, the young boy had opted for Rembrandt, his smart and curious rat, to everyone's surprise. His family was sure he'd want to take Fuzzfeathers with him, as the owl was possibly his closest non-human friend in the world. Sander himself definitely believed that they were bonded on a fated level, which is why of course he couldn't actually attend Hogwarts without him. So, Lysander had decided to mail himself a letter before leaving. He wasn't sure he'd be able to get away with sneaking more than one pet through the luggage inspection, but owls were flying in and out of the Hogwarts grounds all the time. All he needed to do was ensure Fuzzfeather got himself to the school, and then keeping him there would be easy!

Reaching the top of the staircase, Lysander paused and doubled over to catch his breath, panting from the sheer number of steps he'd decided was a good idea to run the entire way up. He drew himself back up after a minute, taking in a deep gulp of air to keep him going, and powered on into the Owlery. The inside was surprising - he didn't think he'd ever seen so many owls in one place, certain that not even Eeylops kept so many in their store at once time. While a part of him wanted to stop and check out all of the different breeds of owls around him, he was only here for one of them. "Fuzzfeathers?" Sander called out, pursing his lips together to make kissing noises at the air. From somewhere above, a familiar puff of white feathers hooted and descended, and Lysander held out his arm for his friend to perch on. "You made it! Did you miss me?" He asked, working the fingers of his free hand through the loops of twine holding a letter to the owl's talons. His plan couldn't have been executed any more perfectly, though now he just had to hope that none of the other boys in his dormitory decided to tattle. ​

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas had spent most of the walk up to the Owlery weighing the pros and cons of actually sending a letter to his parents or not. On one hand, the idea of having to report back to them, even periodically, made Kas wanna barf, but he knew he'd get in trouble if he didn't send something eventually. There was something to be said for heading off that particular issue before it got him a howler. Even with the letter written and in his hand as Kas got to the Owlery though, he was still on the fence about just tossing it out one of the many open windows. At least then if he told his mum he'd written one it wouldn't be an outright lie. The owl must have gotten lost, he could say.

It wasn't a huge surprise that someone else was in the owlery already, but it did put a damper on Kas's plans to brood up here with his letter for a bit before dramatically throwing it to the wind. It was kind of nice to have a distraction from it though and Kas watched the other kid coo as his owl for a minute. "You have mail already? Did you forget something back home or something?" He asked, deciding to ignore the owl's cutesy name for the time being. It really was a gorgeous owl and 'Fuzzfeathers' surely didn't do the poor thing justice.

 

[Lysander Summers]

The mission back to the safety of the Gryffindor dormitories was supposed to be an easy one, and far less of a trek than it had been coming up to the tower from the ground floor in the first place, but as someone else entered the owlery, Lysander froze on the spot. Had he been followed? Was he caught? How did anyone catch on to what he was doing? Turning around, the boy realised that the newcomer was not the intimidating professor who had come to tell him off and send his owl back home as he had feared - only another boy roughly his own age. He thought he vaguely recognised him from the Sorting Ceremony, and his tensed up shoulders relaxed once more. "Yeah, you could say that." He responded, taking a few seconds to glance conspiratorially toward the stairs they had both ascended to make sure no one else was coming up, before delving into further detail. "Um, I had to leave my owl behind, because we can only bring one pet. Isn't that dumb? This is Fuzzfeathers. I got him to fly here on his own so he can stay with me now. He's going to be happier with me than stuck at home." He blabbed proudly, giving the bird an affectionate ruffle. Surely, this other boy wouldn't go telling any of the adults on him. There was something comforting about the yellow colours he sported, much like Lysander's own sister, or Wendall. Every Hufflepuff had seemed pretty cool so far. "You can't tell anyone though." He warned, just to be on the safe side. There was no way he was going to give up his best friend now that he was here, not ever. "There's so many stupid rules and its not fair. Do you have your own owl or anything?" He inquired, casting a curious glance at the letter he held and wondering if he were going to use the school's owls, or if he already had one perched somewhere around.
​

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas raised his eyebrow when the kid with the owl started acting all shady. Was he smuggling something into the school maybe? He tried to get a look at the letter the boy had received but it apparently didn't take much to make this guy spill his master plan. "So you're smuggling in.. An owl?" He asked doubtfully. Out of all the things Kas had expected, the actual owl was pretty low on the list. "How many pets do you even have?" Kas had never really been allowed to have pets outside of what his parents had deemed appropriate, and that was very little. Pets were apparently too messy or demanding, a mindset which always made Kas wonder why his parents had ever managed to have a kid.

When the kid asked him not to tell though, Kas paused, wondering if he could use it as leverage. It sounded like an awful lot of work though and Kas kinda figured no one really cared if one random kid had two owls or something, so he simply shrugged and nodded. "Won't tell a soul," He said gravely, giving Fuzzfeathers a measured look. He laughed when the boy complained about all the rules though. "You know, I think I'm glad I'm not sharing a room with you, at the current rate I give you like 3 years before you've got a whole flock of owls smuggled into your dorm," Kas scratched his nose, peering around the kid too look over the school owls dubiously and down at his letter, now that he was partly reminded about it. "Nah, don't have my own, we have a family one, Saul, but I think he hates me. I pulled out a few tail feathers when I was like 6 and now he won't come near me." Kas figured after the number of times Saul had tried to liberate Kas' fingers from his hand though they'd be even, but apparently Saul didn't think so.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander pouted when the boy made his whole plan sound entirely dumb and pointless. He didn't understand at all what it was like to be separated from such a close companion, clearly. "No. Not just an owl. He's my friend." He said matter-of-factly, raising the avian to eye level. "Aren't you? Boop." Ly affectionately nudged his nose against the owl's beak, to which the owls only response was to tolerate it with an unimpressed stare. Besties. "Um, at the moment?" Sander said, turning his attention back to the other boy. That was a tough one. He counted them off under his breath, sticking out a finger for each pet he named. "Nine. Sometimes more, it depends if my dad needs to bring home any to care for, but usually it's nine." The house was its own menagerie at times, and though not all of them were technically his, they may as well have been with how much time he'd spent with them. All of that was changing now that he was here, and he was reluctant to see it go.

The dormitory comment may have been a joke, but Lysander's grin broadened at the mere idea of it. That was the goal, if he could possibly manage it. His current dormmates were going to either love him or hate him with the number of animals he intended to keep, and he wasn't too fussed over which way they felt. "I give myself two. I don't know if I'd want only owls though. Fuzzfeathers might get jealous." He chuckled to himself, and listened to the boy describe his own families owl, sucking in air through his teeth at the mention of plucked feathers. Oof. "That'll do it. You could try feeding him some treats or something to make up for it? You can win like, almost anything over with food." The boy cast his own gaze over the many perched birds. They all seemed okay, just as any other owl he'd seen in Eeylops - bar Fuzzfeathers, of course - but he felt that using someone else's owl just wasn't the same as having one of your own. "Except knarls. Anyway, what are you sending? We only just got here! I haven't even had time to write anything." The whole process of sorting and adjusting to an entirely new routine and lifestyle was an absolute whirlwind. Sander had been excited to tell his own fathers all about it, but seeing as one literally worked at the castle, writing his own letter was a relatively pointless endeavour, even if he could find a spare moment.​

asdsdghds sorry its been a busy two weeks

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas looked between the boy and the owl for a few moments when he said it was his friend. So he was one of those weird animal kids then. At least he wasn't one of those people obsessed with dragons, he supposed. "Cute.." He said slowly, still not totally trusting the bland expression on the owl's face. Kas did balk at the number of pets the other boy apparently had. "You have nine? How do you take care of them, I'm pretty sure I could kill a pet rock," He said, scrunching his face. Kas generally made a point to not try and think too hard about other peoples' home life, something about stones and glass houses, but he couldn't help but try to imagine what this guy's house must look like. Stuff to the brim with owl droppings maybe.

"I'm impressed with your restraint," Kas murmured when the boy said he'd limit himself to two pets for now, still replaying 'nine pets' over in his head. It was kind of nice when he offered some advice on how to deal with Saul, even if Kas figured his relationship with the grumpy old owl was a lost cause. "Well, I know food wins me over, so you might be onto something," He said gamely. Kas frowned when he was reminded about his letter, crinkling it a bit in his hand. "What am I sending? Nothing maybe, there's still a 50/50 chance this either goes out the window or actually makes it to my parents. They like being kept in the loop." He said, putting on the false cheery smile he liked to bring out when he mentioned his family.

no worries, I feel you about the busy part @_@