Open Send this letter

[Bobbi Bacuzzi]

Bobbi was not having much success in the Owlery. She'd gone there with a letter and a pocket full of grapes as treats to entice an owl down. Apparently grapes were a firm favourite for carnivorous owls, which made sense to Bobbi, who did not know what to the word carnivorous meant. But since they took no interest in her, or her offerings, she started projectile launching grapes at the perched birds instead. The owls had not seemed to enjoy the treats as much as Bobbi had hoped which led to the conclusion that perhaps she needed to not through so hard.

"Come on, which of you feathery, fruit hating freaks wants to send my letter?" Bobbi shouted to the owls. Her voice echoed, startling a few who took off into the sky. "No wait! You don't have my letter!" She called, waving the envelope at them. They did not come back. Bobbi sighed and muttered to herself, "Hopeless, what a ridiculous postal system. What is wrong with a post box?" Nothing. A post box was a million times better than uncooperative owls.

 

[Weston Stirling]

There were many things Weston loved about the magical world. The owl post was not one of them. First, there was the letter writing. It took him forever to handwrite a short letter, and his hand always cramped after a paragraph or two. Things would be so much easier if he could just call people. Then, there were the owls. Some of them were cute, but others had really big eyes that just stared and stared, and it kind of freaked him out. Even the cute ones had very sharp and very long talons — talons that could probably rip a person's face apart.

But he couldn't just go the entire semester without writing to his parents. So Weston had forced himself to scrawl out a simple letter and to brave the owlery. He had barely stepped foot inside the room when he heard shouting — something about "fruit hating freaks" — and the fluttering of wings. It was dim, but he could see a girl his age scowling at the birds. "Why are you being so mean to the owls? Did one of them attack you?" He approached her cautiously, not really sure if he was more scared of the girl or the owls. At least it didn't look like her face had been clawed apart by owl talons.

 

[Bobbi Bacuzzi]

Bobbi fell to silence when she heard another voice, she turned and her eyebrows quickly drew together. The boy standing before her wasn’t someone she recognised. Her eyes scrutinised him in the seconds before responding. He was a Ravenclaw, here to post a letter too. He didn’t seem awful. It was probably safe to assume that this was someone who would not appreciate unprovoked meanness on owls. He kindly gave Bobbi an excuse without her having to think one up on the spot. "Er, yes! That one there!" She pointed at a menacing looking eagle owl sleeping on a perch. She double took, it hadn't been asleep when she last looked. "It looks innocent now, but it swooped down to me, would have taken an eye had I not dived out of the way."

A small smile fell onto her features. “You better be careful sending that letter!” She warned him with a shrug, "Choose a different owl. That is if you can get any to come down."

 

[Weston Stirling]

Weston instinctively took a step backward, covering his head with his arms as he tried to spot the owl she had pointed out. His gaze landed on a large eagle owl that was sleeping. "Oh." He smiled and lowered his arms. It was kind of cute, just standing there a safe distance away, dozing. The girl claimed that the owl had swooped down at her, and he frowned and shuddered slightly. "Really?" Now that she mentioned it, he could totally picture the owl trying to stab her eye out.

At the girl's warning, Weston nodded solemnly and glanced down at his letter. For a second, he considered abandoning his task, but he knew he couldn't do that. He scanned the owls, trying to find one that didn't look like it was glaring at him. Spotting a small cuddly-looking one, he tried to make eye contact and awkwardly waved his letter in the air. "Hello! I need to send a letter! Helloooooo!" Neither that owl nor any of the others moved. He frowned, turning to the girl. "Why are they all up there anyway?" He'd been to the owlery once before, and there had been plenty of owls resting lower to the ground then. It was like something had scared them all into the rafters.

 

[Bobbi Bacuzzi]

Sorry for the late reply!!

Bobbi watched as the boy tried to call down the owls but they weren't going anywhere. She sighed when his attempt failed too. “Good job!” She said, trying not to sound too sarcastic. A small bit of relief filled her up because she wasn't the only person who was unable to get an owl to send a letter. "I don't know, it is my first time up here." Bobbi said, rejecting any thoughts that she might be responsible. "Is it not normal for owls to act like this?"

She held her letter in both hands and read the scrawny address written on the front. This was her first communication with mum and dad since she had come to Hogwarts, "I suppose my letter isn't that important. Who have you written to?" She asked, taking an interest in why the boy was here.

 

[Weston Stirling]

((Don't worry about it!))

Weston gave the girl a confused look, not sure why she had complimented him when his efforts had clearly failed. "I don't think so. Last time I was here, there were more of them near the ground. I think they usually like sending letters...?" He wasn't completely sure about that last statement since the only time he'd seen the owl post in action was at his grandmother's house, and her owl was much more friendlier than these ones. Weston turned back to the owls and tried again, speaking as loudly and slowly as possible. "I — NEED — TO — SEND — A — LETTER." A couple owls flew further away.

"My parents," Weston replied. "I need to tell them all about Hogwarts," he said, brightening up a bit at the thought of talking to them. And there was so much to tell them; it was annoying that he could only do it via the most cumbersome method of communication possible. "Who did you write to?" he asked curiously, wondering why she didn't think her letter was that important.

 

[Bobbi Bacuzzi]

Bobbi bit her lip to hold back laughing too much at the boy shouting at owls. "Perhaps it's their day off?" Bobbi suggested through a involuntary laugh. She was ready to give up, it was obvious that the owls weren't budging today. It was the boys desperation to send his letter which kept her in the room.

"Yes, that does sound important." Bobbi nodded, looking around for inspiration and a distraction so she did not have to answer the boys question. She looked up at the owls then at the floor. They weren't that high up when she thought about it. She grinned mischievously at the boy and said, "I have an idea! Are you a good climber?"

 

[Weston Stirling]

Weston nodded. His letter was important, and it was nice of the girl to recognize that. He hadn't handwritten multiple paragraphs and braved the scary owls just to give up now. "I don't know," he said, giving the girl a cautious look in response to her question. He wasn't sure he liked where this was going. "I've never really climbed anything before. Except for a jungle gym. Does that count?" There weren't exactly a lot of things to climb in his small city apartment aside from stairs, and he didn't even like climbing those. "What's your idea?" he asked hesitantly.