She walked in. Angry.

Yes, you, angry.

She was going to scribble a note...no an essay..to her father. He had been wrong about EVERYTHING pertaining to the castle and conduct of things. Things. Mad hatter things. First was the sorting hat, then the food, the payment counter, the classrooms...funny teachers...what was this? School?

NO. No. Have to write to father and ask him straight. Was this a bad joke?

She hadn't seen Luna in a while, so she thought she should pay her a visit. She was her owl after all and she might be lonely. As soon as that thought crossed her mind though, she knew it wouldn't be true. Luna was incredibly independent. In fact, she might be running the joint by now, she mused as she entered the owlery, vacuum alongside her.

Her jaw dropped when she entered. Literally dropped. She gasped at the sights and smells and quickly covered her mouth to stifle an outcry of disgust. "LUNA?!" she cried, suddenly feeling frantic at having her owl live in this filth. "Bones and...and...are those poisonous berries on the floor?!" She was verging on outrage now. This is animal abuse!

She watched as Luna flew in and landed on a slab of wood. "Luna! Why didn't you come get me about this? This is horrid!" The owl hooted at her and ruffled her feathers as if to shrug. "What do you mean it doesn't bother you? Is the other portion nicer? Don't tell me you like the bones on the floor. That's morbid Luna and you know it." The owl seemed to concede, and Eliza nodded. "That's what I thought. You just don't want to complain because...you like the other owls, is that it?" She sighed, knowing she must be right. "Well thank goodness I came. I'm going to fix this place up." She aimed her wand at the vacuum and looked back to Luna. "You might want to fly out of here for this. It's going to be loud."

She waited until her owl cooed back and flew out of the doorway before casting the spell. "Vacavus!" The hose sprung to life and she quickly ran it over the entirety of the floor, along the walls, in the corners, and then the floor again. She watched in horror as the dirt, bones, berries, loose feathers, crumbs, dust, and twigs went flying up into the hose. Once the majority of the debris had been removed, she began to feel better, happier. She was actually making a visible difference and that made her feel good about herself.

These poor owls! I still can't believe it, she thought as she ran the vacuum over the floor for a third time. Once the suction of the spell ran out, she was compelled to really, superbly clean this place. She rushed around the room, holding her breath, casting all over the place. Nothing would be left untouched. "Scourgify! ...Scourgify!.... Scourgify!"

Almost there... She spun around to check her work and spotted one last pile of rubble. Checking it first to be sure nothing important was in the heap, she vanished it away. "Evanesco!" Thanks to Daichi, she could actually cast that spell without worrying about horrible things happening. Maybe I should tell him I finally used it today. I think he'd like that.

She took one long last look at the place and headed out. She needed to return her vacuum and would just have to spend more time with Luna later. She could come sleep with me in the dorms for heaven's sake! It's got to be an improvement. Although now that I've cleaned...this place might be better than the dorms. She smiled to herself for having done a good job and went out and down the long staircase back towards the castle.

Mack had sat up late into the night after the staff vs. student quidditch match to write her grandfather. She didn't want to discuss her parents, but knew that once she started writing she would. So pushing as many thoughts from her mind as possible she began.

SPOILER!!: letter

Pop,
I really don't know what to say about my parents. I'm in shock. I don't want to come home because then it really has to be real. I'll just wait until Christmas, I hope that doesn't make gran upset with me.

In other news, I'm really loving this term at Hogwarts, I MADE THE QUIDDITCH TEAM!! Our first match is Saturday week, I really hope you can make it. We play Hufflepuff. I hope that you and gran are well, though i would assume you not to be. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine here. Send an owl to let me know if you can make it to the match.

I love you Pop.
Mack

Finding Apple she tied the letter to her leg, and fed her a snack. "Take this to Pop, Apple." Mack watched as the owl took off towards home, the last place she wanted to be right now.

Jory had not written to his parents for a while and decided he should before they thought something had happened to him. His mom tend to worry. Alot. He already had the letter in his hand, having just written it in the Dorm after he came up from Herbology.




Jory looked around, for his owl, Tobias but didn't see him "Where is he?'' the boy wondered. A loud hoot came from behind and he spun around. "Oh there you are, Tobias. I thought that you may be out. I've got a letter. Take it home.'' He stroked Tobias's head. The owl gave another hoot and spread its wings and then soared out of a window. Jory watched him go, deep in thought. Every year when he was at Hogwarts, he would hear from his sister. Almost every week. But this year, he had not even gotten one letter. He sighed. His sister hated him.

Kace decided to write to his parents and Belle about the quidditch game. His mother knows that he made the quidditch team but he didn't tell them about the game yet. He came up to the owlery in the wee hours of the morning just so he can be alone and it is quiet so he can focus on his letter.

He brought his quill and parchment with him and he began to write.....

SPOILER!!: Kace's Letter

Hi Belle, Mom and Dad

I just had my first quidditch match. It was a nerve wracking experience that is for sure. When i was in the locker room, i was shaking with nerves but once i got on the field, the nerves vanished!

Once the game was going on, i managed to get the quaffle and i scored the first goal for Hufflepuff. I was SO happy. But then afterwards i committed a foul on the Gryffindor team. I didn't mean to but it just happened. I was in my game mode and mom you know my game mode is impossible to break sometimes.

Belle i wished you could have been there! It would have been nice for you to cheer me on. But in the aftermath of the game, we lost but we lost with pride. The seeker didn't manage to catch the snitch but we do not blame him. Hey you win some you lose some. I even managed to get some ice cream afterwards! It was tasty. I know the seeker and captain were sad and hard on themselves but they shouldn't be.

How is Dad doing? Hopefully mom you explained to him about Quidditch and what this means. I will be seeing you guys over christmas! i can not wait to tell you guys about it and even grandma and grandpa!

Love your little son/bro,
Kace

Once he finished his letter, he sealed it and then he saw Charlene. It was Belle's owl but she let him use it for sending letters. "Hey Charlene, send this back home okay?" he said softly.

She hooted in response and held its leg out for the task. He tied the letter around her leg and then she nipped his finger to show she understood the address he told her.

Then he watched her sail into the sky and he even saw the sunrise rise up over the grounds. It was so beautiful, then he heard his stomach rumble and knew it was time to eat.

Finally it was time for het to TAKE revenge! She MUST show Forrest that it was his fault that she had been covered in mud, he had experimented with the swamp and HE was the one who had used is wand at the swamp, not she, no… Sonea had done NOTHING wrong! She had even tried to help Forrest when the professor had asked them what had happened, and what was his thanks to her? He WAS RUDE to her! Rude?! Who did he think that he was?!

No, Sonea had a letter in her hand and read it one last time before she picked a school owl and sent the letter. She had on purpose didn’t signed the letter with her name so that Forrest would think that this letter has been sent by a friend.

Close-ish was good enough for Alice, so after taking a look at his calculations, she headed for the owlery. "The place where they send them from should have a window, right?" Or open space.. something. She gave the sextant a couple of good swings on their way to the post place, brandishing it like the execution equipment it was and clinging tightly to her other materials with her free hand. These things, they were awesome.

Would Flamsteed maybe let her keep one? For celestial purposes and stuff, no whacking. Obviously.

There was still no way other than the pointer stars that she could recall for Polaris finding, so she looked for them in the bowl of the Big Dipper again, soon arriving in the vicinity of the North Star a second time. "There." Up there. In the sky. She saw it.

"You're dead scary with that thing, you know?" Mo scooted out of her reach while Alice was brandishing her sextant as a weapon. He had no interest in unusual shaped bruises, and that was the direction he was heading while Alice was clearly imagining hurting people. Sometimes her mind, fascinating as it was, scared him.

He inched into the opening, trying very hard not to step on owl droppings or those pellets with mouse skeletons in them. It was difficult to get close enough to the opening to see the sky, let alone Polaris, but Mo finally managed to catch the tail end of Draco. He followed Draco up with each step, and there at the end, the last star was in line between Ursa Major and Polaris.

"It isn't hard to find, is it? Do you think there's anyone left who can't do it?"

"Am I really? Think I could knock someone out with it? Or like perform an execution with it?" Alice regarded the sextant with even more interest than before, bringing the device up to her eye after another quick inspection and lining it up with the North Star. "I can find it easy, as soon I spot the Big Dipper. Is there another way to do it?" Mo could show her if there was, because she didn't know of it yet.

She adjusted the sextant using the clamps again and checked that Polaris was the reference point one last time. The angle was reading.. 64? Or a little over than 64, but not quite a half. And Alice was precise, Mo remembered Divination tea readings and fractions, didn't he? So she was reading that as 64.4. Because that was what it was.

"Whatcha get?"

"Yeah, for sure. But can it not be me? I realize you are no longer enamored with the shape of my face, but I have to stay pretty so other girls will want to snog me," Mo dodged her again, this time with a grin, before putting the sextant up to his eye again. He released the clamps and adjusted until Polaris rested again at the horizon.

So he was totally an expert at this now.

"You should be able to use any of the circumpolar constellations, actually," Mo suggested as he jotted down his numbers.

"This is sort of rubbish, isn't it? I mean... we didn't really change latitudes, but now we're at 19. Or 26. Or something."

Without looking where she was going, the seventh year ascended the stairs, holding an envelope in her left hand. In the other hand, she held a letter for her best friend, which she was re-reading. Her eyes were carefully scanning the words written in her horrible distinctive handwriting, so she didn’t mind to see where she was stepping.

Once she got to the owlery (without stumbling on the staircase!) , the Ravenclaw took a few steps towards the desk, still reading the words scribbled on the piece of parchment. Mhm. Seems fine, the Ravenclaw told herself, raising her eyes from the letter.

Hmm. She would have to borrow one of the school owls to send the letters. Owning an owl would be useful, but also rather impossible- since she also had a cat. Tsk Tsk. Jinx wouldn’t really have appreciated it, had his owner brought an owl to Hogwarts.

Holding his letter in his hand, Daichi decided to go and find his owl at the owlery to deliver the letter back to his father. As he walked up the staircase, the Slytherin was busy re-reading his letter again and again. He hoped he didn't sound too rude to his own father or else he knew he had to travel to another country.

He had just left Professor Flamsteeds office after asking for his advice and the Slytherin had decided to go through with it even if he felt hurt that his own father would do that. Sending your own kid to a psychiatrist. Daichi knew it was for his own good but he also felt like he had failed as a son.

Opening the door, the Prefect stepped inside and looked up. His owl should be here somewhere. He called him and heard a loud screech from somewhere at the top. "Come down! you have to deliver this letter"

The old and stubborn owl screeched again and turned his head to look outside. SIIIIGH! Why did he even bought that owl? Oh right, because the shopkeeper had said he was mean to costumers and Daichi had innocently thought it was because the owl had been sad because no one wanted him. He know got why people didn't wanted the owl because the owl itself didn't want to be owned it seemed.

MWEH why did he have to wait till wednesday when Professor Flamsteed was going to teach him that cloud spell where he could hover everywhere?! Looking around, the Prefect noticed Gwen in the room as well and he walked to her. "Hey, do you have some owl sweets perhaps? My owl is REALLY stubborn and won't come down otherwise"

Stupid cute old owl.

Gwen was still reading the letter for the last time when she heard someone’s voice. Hmm. Just some student calling an owl. Mehh. The Ravenclaw didn’t mind to see who it was, although the voice sounded familiar.

Anyway.

Her eyes were scanning the last lines from the piece of parchment, though she got distracted, as the other student started talking to her. The seventh year tracked down the source of the voice and soon noticed the Slytherin Prefect. ‘Hi Daichi’, she greeted him with a small smile. Mehh. Gwen generally didn’t smile, she just grinned. But she felt kind of happy that day. ‘Umm… I think I have some’, she mumbled and searched in her bag. She had brought some owl sweets with her to give to one of the school owls, which would deliver her letters. But she had no idea how much or little an owl could eat, so she may have brought a bit too much food. Ehem. ‘Here’, she said as she passed a small bag to the Slytherin.

‘Which one is your owl?’, Gwendolyn asked as she looked around. Too many owls there for her to tell which one was Daichi’s.

After waiting for a reply, the seventh year drew her attention back to the letter she had written. Merlin’s beard, her handwriting was really hideous! Should she umm… rewrite the letter? Mehh, Ari was probably one of the few people who got used to her handwriting. The former Gryffindor would figure it out. Hopefully.

Cutty carried his heavy school bag, which was only heavy because he'd put so many sweets into it, up and up and up towards the castle's owlery. He huffed his way over to a very dirty wooden desk, there was some paper there and it appeared, a quill and ink. Well, why use your own when they'd provide you with some for free. Afterall, they've been charging for everything around here, it's about time there were some freebies to be had. Cutty removed his bag and set it down on the floor in front of him, then drew out the quill feelings of relief as he began to think of just how to word his thoughts.

Much to his surprise, however, the quill he was holding did nothing but cut the surface of the parchment and leave a jagged and skippy mark. "Stupid, skint school!" He uttered outloud and tossed the quill, knocking over the ink as he did so, but what should have been unsurprisedly, Cutty found that no spill occurred. He lifted the bottle to his eye and looked inside to see that it had all dried up. He tossed that to the side as well residing that he'd have to use his own supplies.

Satisfied with the letter, Cutty placed it onto the leg of an owl and headed back down to get into things.

Was it really that time of year yet? Ryan grumbled as he made his way up to the Owlery and took out a crumbled bit of parchment, ink and a quill. Smoothing it out on a window sill, he took his inked quill and started a short letter to his parents.



Reading it over and deeming it alright, he rolled it up and sealed it with his wand. Then he looked up at the school owls and chose a random barn owl, tying the letter to its leg. Once the owl had took off, Ryan stayed a bit just to watch the sky, wondering if this would indeed be the last time he would be standing in the school's owlery.

With a worried look in her eyes, walked the third year old toward the owlery, she knew that her mom would send her a letter today and because it wasn’t really easy for a owl to bring a letter down toward her when she was inside the common room, she had promised her mom to wait for the owl in the owlery. She wondered annoyed why her mom had send her a letter after dinner because now she needed to walk up toward this smelling place where all those owls were sitting. Owls were smelling and they were eating rats, so she didn’t liked them. She had even left her two rats, Sir Blue and Little Princess inside the common room because she didn’t wanted her two rats to get eaten by a owl! She wished that her mom had send her the letter during dinner so that she could read it when she was sitting! But no… her mom didn’t thought about her, as usual.

Stepping carful inside the owlery she looked around her, searching for the little brown owl her mom always used. “Nabber, where are you?” Called Sonea and saw that the owl from her mom flew toward her with a letter on his claw. She saw that the letter was almost too large for the small animal to carry so she walked quickly toward the owl and took the letter from Nabber. She gave the owl something to eat and walked toward a corner and leaned against the wall with her back toward the open door while she folded the letter open.

Sonea stated with her eyes wide end her mouth open at the letter she just had read, her mom had… was she… her dad… How was this possible? And why was her mom so cold toward her, she even didn’t had tried to tell her NOT to worry, she was just her cold self… But, this wasn’t real, right? This was a joke! Her mom didn’t had betrayed her dad! She didn’t wanted to believe that, it was impossible! Her dad was… just her dad! She stared again at the letter and blinked a few times with her eyes because she felt that they were wet now. “This isn’t real” said Sonea out lout to herself and knelt down and sat on the floor with the letter still in her shaking hands. “This can’t be true” her voice wasn’t sounding steady and she knew it. She was now happy that she didn’t had opened the letter in a busy place like the great hall, she was alone here so nobody was seeing her, or… she hoped that…

Forrest was whistling a tune as best as he could while he climbed the stairs up to the owlery. It was a long way, and mp3 players sadly didn't work in this place so he was left to making his own music. He was panting slightly as he reached his destination with a letter to his mum in his hands. He was sending his usual weekly letter. He entered the owlery carelessly--as it was right after dinner, he was sure no one was there--and walked to the school owls. Before he picked the strongest though, he heard a voice from behind.

The voice was familiar.

It was talking angrily.

He vacillated, breathed, panted, but in the end turned towards it. He didn't want to face an angry her, but she must have seen him too. So maybe he could just sneak out quickly.

Not so quickly.

Because she wasn't just angry. She was--crying. Or her eyes were pretty watery. His eyes got watery when he cried. So she was crying in his book. Shaking and crying. And he saw her like that. He knew she was crying. He felt like crying too. Not out of sympathy, out of pity for himself. She wasn't going to let him just walk, he knew. She was going to torture him and make him promise to keep it to himself. He would be lucky if he made it out alive. He was staring at her with BIG, horrorful eyes. He gulped. Maybe if he caught her by surprise...

"Please don't kill me I won't tell anyone."

He was good, see? He meant no harm!

"Please don't kill me I won't tell to anyone." ... ... ...

For a moment she stiffened and held her breath, she knew that voice... she knew that voice... ... ... ... It was from that boy, the muggleborn! Forrest Charlton! He was here and... he had seen her! He was here and he had watched her! How long had he been here? Had he SPIED on her!? Had that STUPID BOY watched her?

Slowly, VERY slowly, she turned her head in his direction and looked at him. She didn't tried to hide her tears because he already had seen them, so why would she bother? "What are you doing here?" She spoke with a low voice and she felt really, really angry at the moment. "Have you spied on me, is that the reason why you're here?" She sounded again angry and wanted to say more when she... saw that he was scared! Why was he scared if he was here to fight with her? She looked at his hands and saw that he was busy with sending a letter!

For a moment she closed her eyes and she stood slowly up. "I'm really tired and i don't want to fight with you at the moment." She sounded tired and she knew it, she knew that she didn't looked like her normal self at the moment and she hated it. "I let you go but-" She suddenly pointed her finger at Forrest and did a few steps toward him, but tried to hide the letter behind her back with her other hand... "If i discover that you are making fun of me i PROMISE to make you already sad life like a REAL hell, do you understand me?"

The third year old walked away from Forrest and stared again at the letter in her hands. "Just leave me alone" said Sonea with a sad voice. "I don't want to fight now"

S--spied on her?! Forrest's face went paler. She was doing that scary whispers-threatening again. He gulped and took a step backwards towards the open wall of the owlery. He was doomed. He didn't want to die! He was still too young. He opened his mouth to speak, maybe he could still be spared, but no sound came. He tried to talk again, but it was in vain.

He was going to--live, perhaps.

But what she said didn't make sense at all. "Let me go?" he repeated dumbly. He frowned and hardly heard the rest of ther threats. His mouth was closed now, but he looked dumber than ever. He noticed the worn-out tone of her voice. Why was she so tired?

...was that... sadness?

See, that was the problem with him: he never understood the cues. Right now, he really had to leave probably--she did deliver her point well--but he didn't. On the contrary, he took a few steps towards her.

"What's wrong?" He had, y'know, forgotten completely about their animosity and was actually treating her as if she was his friend.

Such a Hufflepuff.

Was he stupid or what? She told him that he could go now and that she wasn't bullying him this time, and he stood there, repeating her words? He probably wasn't aware of it, but he was proving her that he was really as stupid as she thought that he was, like all the muggles! She wanted to yell at him, to make clear that she didn't wanted to have him around her, that he was making her already bad temper only worse, but she hoped that if she ignored him, he would leave her.

She really wanted to be alone, she had MUCH to think of and she didn't wanted to do it when that STUPID boy was with her! Her mom... was she telling the truth? Her dad really hasn't contacted her since she had left with her mom... But... if he... if he was't... Who was than her dad? Did she knew him? And why wanted he to have her? Was her mom trying to fight for her? Wanted her mom to keep her? She hoped it, not that she was really happy with her mom, but she didn't wanted to live with a stranger! Maybe it was a muggle like Forrest, or a halfblood!

She was so lost in her thoughts that she looked startled when Forrest spoke again. Was he still here? Did he really wanted to make her angry? Wanted he death!! When she looked up her hands were shaking a little and she wanted to yell at him, to tell him to GO AWAY! But, strangely, when she heard what he had asked her, she broke down! A soft sniff sounded and quickly she turned away from him. "You don't understand it, so just go. You muggle family isn't so complicated as mine so don't try to sound like you are caring about me" she still stood with her back turned toward him and she wished that she could disappear at that moment, to hide somewhere were nobody could see her or talk to her.

He didn't understand it? Forrest opened his mouth to point out that she didn't even bother explaining, but he wasn't that dumb. So he kept silent, and listened to her raging. See? This was her prolem. Now he was angry. She just thought she was the best, but she really wasn't. And Forrest was going to tell her exactly that.

...maybe twenty years later.

"I would care," he said softly. He hated and feared her alright, but he couldn't leave her crying either. It wasn't a Huffie thing either. It was a human thing. "But fine." He shrugged and walked to the door to leave. He was just going to send his letter later. It wasn't urgent.

Still standing with her back turned toward Forrest she heard how he... was just standing there! Was this boy really so stupid? Why didn't he just leave? This was his chance and probably his only chance! This was the first time that she wasn't in the mood to bully him and than... he was being... Himself, stupid and a real Hufflepuff! He had such a simple life, no muggles were stupid and didn't had the same problems as she had, she was a pureblood witch and he would NEVER undersand what for problems she could have! Forrest wasn't even standing in her shadow, so why would he even TRY to listen to her?

...Stupid muggle boy...

What I care?! Where was he talking about?! She turned her head toward him and pointed with her finger at him while her face reddened. "What do you mean! You even don't know what is wrong with me, and still you're telling me that you care? YOU DON'T KNOW HOW IT IS TO BE NOT WANTED IN YOU OWN FAMILY!" Shouted Sonea but her voice wasn't sounding angry, but... sad. And... why was she even talking to this boy? He was so stupid that wouldn't be able to understand her, right?

Taking a deep breath she calmed down a little. She didn't wanted to get in trouble and she was sure that if she would shout again at this boy, he would cry again and then she would lose some house points because she had made him scared... And she REALLY wasn't in the mood to lose house points, she just had won some points and even didn't had lost anything this year, and she wanted to keep that record. So... She looked away from him and stared at the owl from her mom, Nabber. "I'm sorry that i shouted at you, don't be afraid, i'm not going to hurt you" She sounded tired now and wanted to kick something, just to lose some aggression. There was maybe a old pillow she could find in the girls dorm...

Correct, Forrest didn't know. Correct, Forrest was telling her he somehow cared. Incorrect, he actually knew what it meant to be the unwanted one.

After she shouted like that, he stopped walking, turned to her, looked into her eyes and took his time with responding. And good thing he didn't answer her so quickly, because she apologised.

Sonea Duvessa apologised!

He gaped at her only for a second, before he composed himself. His heart softened a little. But only a little. Because she was still Sonea Duvessa, and he was a muggleborn.

"My parents didn't like me too. My father and brother, at least." He didn't know why he was sharing his most intimate memories with her. But it felt right. So that she would know she wasn't the only one. "Because weird things happened around me. But they accepted me now. Eventually. So I'm sure they will accept you too."

And those were all he would say for now. Offering her a sympathic smile, he turned again and walked away downstairs. Because she obviously needed some time alone, and because he was still afraid of her.

As she reached the Owlery, Charlie pulled the letter from her bag and gave it a once over. All the facts were there. The facts being that she was back at Hogwarts safely and had survived the journey, etc. Her dad was so protective, and she shook her head at the reminder.

Least her cared, though. Even if she now had to address said letter to him and his 'fiancee'. She shuddered at that thought. The debated about them moving to Australia was mentioned - she'd flat out refused to, and stated that she would go back to living with her mother.

He probably wouldn't take to kindly to that.

Holding out her hand, Charlie tried to coax a school owl down with a few owl treats.