Open Twice the Work and Twice as Hard

[Leah Thorne]

Leah sighed as she stared at the two pieces of parchment in front of her. She hated this. It was hard enough to find the time between lessons to write one letter to her parents let alone two. She had been relieved when they sat her down on what felt like a random Sunday afternoon and told her about the divorce. Foolishly she had hoped they could maybe be friends if they couldn't be married to each other. She figured you had to like someone at least a little bit to spend twelve years together had have a child. But apparently liking each other wasn't required for any of that. Now she was the one stuck writing two nearly identical letters to her parents because the thought of sharing a letter never would have crossed their mind. But if she could avoid being the source of conflict she would do what she could. With another heavy sigh she opened her bottle of ink and dipped in her quill. The lounge was fairly quiet today and she hoped she could get this over with quickly so she could go outside and enjoy the summer weather. "Dear father..." she mumbled to herself as she started to write about her first week back at school.

 

[Conan Burke]

Conan was absolutely thrilled to be back at school. He much preferred to be here than at home. Being at home was strange. He had noticed the dynamic between his family had changed a lot while he was away but decided not to question it while he was home. Conan did miss his friends at school though and was happy to see them again.

The Ravenclaw boy was bored though, and he didn't really know where his friends were. Conan decided to take a trip around the school. His usual shoe box collection under his arm. There was no one that looked familiar as he was walking around until he saw a familiar face when he walked into the student lounge. "You doing school work already?" Conan asked Leah with a slight frown, unaware that there was schoolwork to be done, as he made his way towards her, not really paying attention to what she was actually doing.

 

[Leah Thorne]

Leah hadn’t gotten past a simple greeting before she heard a familiar voice and she looked up. She felt an immense sense of relief when she saw it was Conan. She smiled and put down her quill. It would be rude to ignore him after all. Her parents could understand that, couldn't they? She laughed when she realized it looked like she was doing homework. Did she look that miserable? Probably. “No, not school work.” she said with a sigh. She wiped at a spot of ink that had dripped from her quill. It left a smudge and colored her fingertips black. "I'm writing to my parents." she said simply and wondered if she should say more. "But they don't live together anymore so I have to write them separately." she added tentatively, deciding she could trust Conan with this.

 

[Conan Burke]

Conan was relieved it wasn't schoolwork because he wasn't in the mood to try and catch up with schoolwork. He nodded his head when Leah explained that she was writing to her parents. Conan didn't write to his parents a lot, as he'd rather be doing something else, but his mum always bothered him with lots and lots of letters almost every week. "Oh... I see" Conan said, unsure of what to really say when he heard Leah's next statement. He wasn't really sure what to say in that situation. "I'm sorry," Conan said, as he thought that might be a better response to go with as well. "Is it hard? Having parents that are no longer together?" Conan asked unsurely, hoping that it wasn't a touchy subject. Things at home between his parents had been rocky for a bit now and he wasn't really sure how to process it or if anything was going to change.

 

[Leah Thorne]

Leah held her breath without realizing it as she waited to see what Conan had to say. She wrinkled her nose and waved off his apology. She wasn't sure why he was sorry. She wasn't sorry. She was tempted to tell him just that but he seemed to genuinely care and she softened slightly. She chewed on her bottom lip as she searched for words. "It's not hard." she insisted but sounded unsure. "But it's not easy either." Leah was trying to explain but it felt impossible. She didn't want to make her parents seem like bad guys. They weren't. They just... She sighed and felt her cheeks flush. "They don't get along. Even now they're apart." she added simply and tired to think of something lighter to say. "They live in different countries too. My mom lives in the US now. Have you ever been?"

 

[Conan Burke]

Conan listened as Leah explained everything. Though he couldn't really personally relate to a parent's divorce, he felt like it was certainly heading that way with his parents as of right now. Conan didn't know what to say, but he definitely wanted to be there for his friend if she needed anything at all. "Woah... Two different countries? Sounds like you have to travel a lot to see your parents" Conan says. He couldn't imagine doing it with his own parents. Conan shook his head. "Nope, I've never been. The only other country I've ever been in is Ireland" Conan says with a small chuckle. "What are the states like?"

 

[Leah Thorne]

Leah felt some of the tension she had been holding inside herself lessen slightly as Conan seemed exited to hear her talk about traveling instead. She shrugged and tried to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal. "Yeah I had to go back and forth for the holidays. It was kind of annoying. But I think I ended up with more presents than usual." she said with a grin. She didn't mention that some of her gifts had been duplicates, that she kept to herself. "Oh, Ireland is great!" she gushed. She had been there on holiday with her parents and had really liked it. "The states are really cool. She lives in Connecticut with my grandparents right now. It's actually not that far from the American wizarding school. That's where my mom wanted me to go to school, but I convinced her to let me come here." Leah realized she had been rambling for a bit. "Did you live in Ireland?" she asked curiously, thinking back to what he had said before.