Oh, so they make out the letters with their fingers. That made sense and it sounded like a lot of fun. "We should play that game." Eino suggested as he made his way out of the owlery. "Faustus should be good at that game, you know, so we have to wait until he comes back." Which shouldn't be too long. It usually took a day or two for owls to deliver mail so Faustus should return soon. "I think we have enough time." Eino didn't know what time it was but the bell hadn't rang so they would be on time for class.

Kurumi cringed a little when Eino mentioned Faustus' return. She wasn't sure that the cactus would be making the sort of come back that Eino was hoping he would. Still, Kurumi decided that she was going to take it upon herself to search for the cactus and see if she could mend it. Perhaps its magical dew could bring the little guy back to life? "Right, well, we can come back and check in a day or two," Kurumi nodded shifting her eyes around and holding on to Walnut tightly, you know, just in case. "I wonder what the new professor will be like...I am really sad that Professor Di left," Kurumi said as the two made their way out of the Owlery.

Elyon had finally figured out where the owlery was. She had borrowed Christopher's owl, Baltimore, and finally brought her letter up to the owlery. She'd been up all night working on it in the common room. She could feel herself trembling as she walked up the stairs. As she was about to send it, she untied the letter from the owl's leg and read it over one last time, making sure it's perfect.

Quote:

Dear Mum,
I'm having a great time at Hogwarts, Chris is too. We're both doing very well and are getting the best grades we can. We really want to make you and dad proud, especially you. I know you don't approve that we're witches and wizards, but it's who we are. We can't control it, I'm so sorry! I'd rather have your love any day, Mum! I know, I pray, you didn't mean what you said.... about.... hating us. We just want you to accept us again. I'm so so sorry. I really need you.

Classes have been going great, I've even made a friend! I've never had a friend before, so that just proves to you, that Hogwarts is good! Right? Give dad our love.

With all of my love,
Elyon

She blinked back tears, and rolled up her parchment, re-attaching the letter to Baltimore's leg. She watched the owl disappear, just standing there, hoping her mum would send a reply. She was never this gloomy, and she hated it. She missed being bright, happy, Elyon.

Jamie made it to the top of the Owlery and waited on Rowan to catch up before she would write her mum and dad.

Rowan finally caught up to her friend, a bit out of breath. "Wow, you're fast," she gasped. "Remind me to never challenge you to a foot race."

"It's all that cliff diving. I have to swim to get out of the water then climb up the cliff. It's good for the body." Unless you die, Jamie thought to herself, but she never once harmed herself so it didn't matter. She grabbed a pen and some paper and slowly began writing.

Jamie looked over at Rowan and handed her the letter and the pen. "Here read it and if you want to add something to it." She looked up for her owl and spotted here. "Jasmine come here." And the owl flew down gracefully and landed on her shoulder.

Rowan took the letter and read it quickly. She didn't want Jamie's family to feel like she was begging for a home or want them to feel obligated to take her in. "Could I borrow your pen?" she asked. Taking the pen she quickly added to the bottom of the letter:

P.S. I realize this is asking a lot. Please do not feel that you have to say yes. I think Jamie is great and would love to be her sister but I will understand if you decide not to take on another girl.
Sincerely, Rowan Firestorm

"Okay. That should do," she said. She handed the letter back to Jamie.

Jamie nodded and then took the completed letter. She smiled at Jasmine and said, "Take this to mum and dad and don't leave without a reply." She pet her beak and watched her fly off. "So what do you want to do now?"

"Well," thought Rowan. "Have you been to see the Whomping Willow yet?"

"No," Jamie said smiling. "I heard it was dangerous and what not."

"I've never been there either. What?" she said teasing her friend. "Is Miss Cliff Diver scared?" she laughed and gave Jamie a tickle.

Jamie jumped back flipped the hair of her eyes and said laughing. "I never said I was scared only that I heard it was dangerous." She went and tickled Rowan back and said, "Are you scared?"

Why in Merlin's name could they not put the owlery out in the grounds somewhere? Geez, they sure did like to make the students get some sort of work out.

Mia stopped just inside the owlery and lent up against the stone wall, breathing heavily. She really needed to work on getting fitter, this was starting to get ridiculous.

Pushing off the wall, she moved deeper into the room, looking up near the ceiling trying to find her owl Bob. She almost slipped over when she stepped in a big pile of owl poo and she sighed deeply.

"Oh for goodness sakes. Bob will you come down here please."

Marie hadn't seen her owl Gizmo in several days so she decided to go to the owlery to look for him. She didn't have any letters to send today but she did have some owl treats.

Climbing the last step she stepped into the huge open room full of owls and their... not so pleasant droppings. Carefully watching where she stepped she made her way to the middle of the room and looked up. Where was that owl of hers?

Turning around and walking a bit backwards yet still looking up she bumped into something.... err, someone. Oh, it was Mia. "Hey Mia. Sorry about that." Hmm, it had been a few days since she had seen her friend. They hadn't even had a chance to talk since she seen her in the library.

Yeah, that was a time she wanted to forget.

Just as her owl swept down and landed her shoulder, someone bumped into her from behind causing her to lurch forward slightly and Bob flapped his wings and gave her an indignant hoot.

"Hey it wasn't my fault." She told her owl before turning around when she heard Marie's voice. "It's alright. Did you nearly slip over in the poo too? I think I am going to have to wash my shoes." Mia looked down and sure enough there was poo all over she shoes.

"You sending a letter as well?" She asked as she pulled out the letter she was sending off to Nik.

Oops, Marie didn't mean to make the owl mad.

"Erm, no. I just wasn't watching where I was going, that's all." She said looking down at her shoes. Nope, no poo yet.

"Nah, I don't have any letters to send right now. I was just getting some fresh air and decided to come see Gizmo." She probably should write to her parents and Lawson but eh, she would do that later. Maybe she would sneak away from school and pop in on Lawson... just hopefully he would be in better... spirits than the last time the girls popped in on him.

What a visit that had been.

"Well you won't get any fresh air in here." Mia wrinkled her nose a little before laughing. She took Bob down off her shoulder and placed him on a nearby perch while she got her letter ready.

Actually she should probably read it again to make sure that it sounded alright. As she opened it once again, Mia gave Marie a quick glance. "So everything alright with you now?" She knew that she didn't have to spell it out for Marie. She knew her friend would know what she was talking about.

Her eyes drifted back to the parchment while she waited for Marie to answer her. Hmm, should she have put more kisses on the bottom?

"Yeah, I know." Marie said laughing at the way Mia wrinkled her nose. "I wanted to bring these treats for Gizmo though. You want some for your owl?" She asked holding out a handful.

Right, she should have known Mia would ask if things were alright. "Um... well... we talked if that's what you mean." Yeah, she wasn't really ready to get into that right now.

Curious about the letter Mia was reading... since she looked like she was in some sort of daydream as she read it, Marie reached out and snatched it from her friend. "Who's your letter to?" she asked as she started to read it.

"My Dearest Nik," She began reading the letter out loud. "I love you, I miss you, I can't wait to be with you again." she continued as she stepped away from Mia so she couldn't snatch the letter back.

Okay, maybe that wasn't what it said but it was fun watching the reaction on Mia's face as she read it.

Mia looked over at Bob and he still didn't look too impressed with her. "Yeah better give him some otherwise he won't do the delivery for me." Tempremental little brat that he was.

Well that was a 'mind your own business' answer if she ever did hear one. Mia took the hint and let the matter drop. Marie would come and talk to her when she was ready.

"Hey!" She yelped as the letter she was reading was yanked out of her hands. "I was trying to check over that..." Mia's face went red and she quickly looked around to make sure no one else was in the room. "It does not say that!"

Heaving a sigh because she knew that Marie would not give the letter back unless Mia let her read it, she waved her hands at the girl. "Go ahead then. Read it. I know you're going to anyway."

Hmm, must be an important delivery if Mia was worried about her owl not making it.

Hehe, yep, as she suspected. A letter to Nik. "Oh no need to check it over, I'll do it for you. I'm an excellent proof reader." Marie said as she held tight to the letter. "Okay, so maybe it doesn't say that but I bet it says you love him somewhere in this letter." And she was going to make sure she read the whole thing.

Looking up from the letter with a raised eyebrow Marie grinned. "Well of course I'm gonna read it. I would hate for you to send a letter to Nik with spelling errors in it." Yeah right, Marie just wanted to be nosy and see what Mia wasn't telling her friends.

Marie read through the letter looking up every now and then to grin at her friend. Aww, Mia really was in love with this boy.

Wait!

"You're going to see Nik at Christmas? And your parents are okay with this? With you going so far away from home without them?" She said staring at Mia with her eyes about to pop out of her head.. There was NO way Marie's parents would let her do something like that at the age of 15.

Mia rolled her eyes and sat down on a nearby pallet and crossed her legs, looking at Marie. Was nothing ever secret around this place? Of course she didn't mind probing into other people's business but she wasn't exactly forth coming with her own. Especially her personal business.

"Good luck with trying to find that in the letter." Mia felt very strongly about Nikolai but she wouldn't tell him that she loved him in a letter, she would rather say it to his face. She shook her head at Marie but there was a smile on her face. "Oh please. You just wanna read it. Don't go making excuses to me."

The look on Marie's face was priceless and Mia had to bite on her bottom lip to keep from laughing even though her face was getting redder by the second. "Yeah, they're okay with it." She shrugged her shoulder nonchalantly. Really what was the big deal?

Her parents could drive her nuts sometimes but she wouldn't change them for the world. They were as easy going as Mia was. "We've been away from each other plenty of times. This is no different."

"Did you check to make sure there were no surprises on that thing before you sat down?" That would just be so disgusting to sit in owl poo. Worse than stepping in it.

"Oh I'm sure I'll find it somewhere here." she said scanning the letter. "Aha! Here it is, right here... 'LOVE, Mia.' " She said pointing to the bottom of the letter. "And you even included kisses." Only two though. "You might want to add a few more since you won't be seeing him for two months. She said giving Mia a wink. "Yeah, you're right, I just wanted to read the letter, but you know you wanted me to read it too or you would have protested more to get it back." Not that that would have mattered. Marie was gonna read it no matter what.

"Maybe your parents can talk to my parents." Cuz yeah, Marie knew who she wanted to spend time with. Then again, her parents would probably try to make Mia's parents think like them. It would so be worth a shot though.

Yeah, well Marie had been away from her parents plenty of times too... just not like that. "Yeah, your parents really need to talk to mine. Get them to lighten up on me a bit. You know, so I can show them how responsible I can be." It seems they still had a bit of trouble trusting her since she ran away two summers ago.

No she hadn't checked the pallet before she had sat down. "Too late now." She said looking at Marie with a grin on her face. It was only poo.

Marie certainly knew how to drive a person nuts. Mia made an exasperated little noise and ran her hand through her hair. "I always sign a letter or card with 'Love Mia.' Don't go making a big deal of it." Only she was allowed to make a big deal of it. In private. So that her relationship didn't get jinxed in any way. She was a little superstitious like that. "I would rather give him the kisses in person rather than waste them on paper." She pointed out to Marie in a straight face. This conversation was headed in places she was uncomfortable with.

Mia stared at Marie for a moment with a rather stunned look. "Well if I wasn't scared of getting a black eye or broken nose, I would have protested more." And she wasn't totally stupid either.

"I don't think your parents would like mine." She said honestly. Marie and her family were world's apart from Mia and her family and she wasn't talking physical distance either. The Gibbins family were a little out there.

Right she signed everything that way. "So you're telling me that if your parents made you send Christmas cards to all the staff here at school you would sign them all 'Love Mia'? Even the one to... Healer Moretti... or worse... Professor Lafay?" Yeah, she hadn't missed that little PS at the bottom of that letter. "And don't give me that, 'but my parents would never make me do that' crap. I'm talking hypothetical here, so don't try to wiggle your way out of answering this one. Cuz yeah, she could see Mia trying to do just that... wiggle her way out of answering a question. "Admit it Mia, you love Nik. I can tell just by the way you act when you talk about him or even when his name is mentioned." It didn't take a rocket scientist to tell that her friend had been bitten by the love bug. "Well yeah, real kisses are always better, but when you can't have them..." Just sayin', might as well let the boy know she was thinking about kissing him.

"Why in the name of Merlin's saggy pants would you be afraid of getting a black eye or broken nose?" She only did that to her friends that snogged her boyfriend... like Destiny. "It's not like you've been snogging Jimmy so you have nothing to worry about... right?" she said with a raised eyebrow. Because Merlin help the girl who snogged her boyfriend now. Destiny had it easy compared to what the next girl would get.

"You never know. My parents aren't so hard to get along with..." most of the time. 'They're actually pretty reasonable people." Until it came to their only daughter and the places she went alone. One of these days though, her parents would trust her again... She just didn't know when that day would be.

"Yeah actually I would...well okay maybe the Healer wouldn't be getting any 'Mia love' but I wouldn't have a problem sending my love to everyone else." Especially that charms professor. "And actually my parents wouldn't make me to do it at all. They wouldn't have to."

She laughed as she stood up from the pallet and took a moment to see if she had in fact sat in any poo. Satisfied that she hadn't, Mia looked at Marie again. "You should know by now Marie, that I am all about peace, love and happiness." So there!!

Gah! Marie just couldn't let this go, could she? Even though she could see how uncomfortable she was with this whole conversation. Mia turned to her owl and began to fuss over him a little just so that she could avoid eye contact with Marie. "I have no idea what you are talking about Marie." Well yes she did but she figured if she played dumb long enough then Marie might get bored with torturing her.

Mia let out a snort at that comment. "Marie, I have seen you in action, you know? I watched you kick that Gryffindor in the shins because he threw paper at you." Merlin only knew what she would do if Mia had tried to take that letter off her. And there was no way she wanted to find out either.

At the mention of Jimmy and snogging, Mia cringed a little. She had told her friend about their past, right? "Er...right. I am not snogging Jimmy." Which was technically true. She wasn't now but she had many, many, many, many moons ago.

"If they're so reasonable then why do you need my parents to talk to them?" Mia raised her eyebrow at Marie and then giggled. Reasonable or not, Marie's parents wouldn't be able to last two minutes with her parents.