Writing home

[OLIVIA CHLOE JONES]

Olivia smiled as her little pygmy owl, Echo, darted out of the tower and through the sky, clutching an envelope in her talons and soaring out of the teenager's sight. It was, after five years of doing so, a tradition that Olivia would write home as soon as she got to Hogwarts at the start of term. Though her parents were once the ones who'd write back, now it was her sister Claire who replied primarily, eager to hear about the school and what happened there; with their parents adding a note of their own on the back of the letter. Whether or not the younger girl was ever coming here herself, no one was sure yet. Olivia was optimistic, though. She'd been around this age herself when things had begun happening.

Today's letter was the usual start-of-term correspondence, letting her parents know that she'd gotten there safely last night after they'd waved her off at King's Cross, and a photo- a magical, moving one- that had been taken yesterday; Olivia and a small group of Hufflepuff girls sitting and laughing in the common room.

It was still a little too early for breakfast, and sensing the opportunity, Olivia pulled a small device from her pocket. It had been a gift from her grandparents last Christmas, and the first ever indication that they were at all modern. A personal radio, powered by magic and able to pick up muggle stations if the location and weather were right. Deep in the highlands, this didn't happen often, but today was a lucky day. Turning it on at a low volume so she didn't bother the other owls- who were coming and going with the earliest of the day's post- Olivia sat in silence, pulling her hoody around herself for warmth, her uniform underneath.

[SAIRA VIOLET TREMLETT]

Saira hoped that the Owlery could be her escape. At the moment all of Hogwarts was buzzing with people meeting and greeting their friends. Sai had already seen hers, and now they were asleep in their dorms.

Sai was already fully dressed in Ravenclaw robes; she could see Hamlet on his perch soundly sleeping. She thought of sending a letter to her parents, but then thought against she could do it later when Hamlet was actually awake.

Sai looked around the tower, she saw a girl sitting and listening to her radio a hoodie wrapped around her. Hopefully the girl hadn’t noticed Sai, she wasn’t very good at meeting new people and making conversation. Sai turned to leave, her head still turned looking at the girl when the walked into a wall.

[OLIVIA CHLOE JONES]

Hearing footsteps, Olivia jumped a little, but didn't bother to look away from the window. People came and went from here often enough, she reasoned. Whoever it was had likely had the same idea she'd had, to send something as early as possible and avoid a rush later. Being used to getting up in the early hours helped.

The girl glanced over to the new arrival for a moment, eyes hidden by her hair, curious to find out exactly who'd come up here. The other girl was short and blonde, and definitely younger. Olivia had seen her around the castle before, so she wasn't a first year at least; but the older girl couldn't place a name to the blonde, and shrugged a little as she turned back to the view outside.

Thud. Olivia whipped her head around, and frowned. The girl had walked into the wall. "Merde," she muttered under her breath as she stood up and swiftly made her way over to the Ravenclaw girl. "Are you alright?"

[SAIRA VIOLET TREMLETT]

Saira rubbed her head and got up, slightly tipping to side as she did. She steadied herself soon enough, Sai looked up at the girl and gave a small smile.

“Yeah, I should’ve looked where I was going,” Sai whispered in a mousy voice, she gave an embarrassed smile at the girl.

Well wasn’t this a great first impression, people already thought she was a freak and walking into a wall wasn’t doing her any favours. Sai smiled again at the girl, not sure whether to leave or stay. Saira stood there awkwardly; she combed her to one side and started fiddling with a strand of it.

[OLIVIA CHLOE JONES]

By the time Olivia had gotten to the girl, she was on her feet again and smiling; putting the Hufflepuff at ease a little, and she smiled tightly as she girl mumbled something about looking where she was going. "Yeah, that'd probably be a good idea," Olivia said, raising her eyebrows a tad. Her eyes moved to the girl's head, and she frowned again. "Sure you're okay? You don't need like, ice or anything for it?" A bump on the head hardly required a trip to the hospital wing, but it couldn't have been comfortable, Olivia reasoned.

Her trail of thought was broken by the sudden increase of volume from her radio, which she'd left next to the window and was now playing a lot louder than it should have been, blasting out the muggle station she'd been listening to. She bolted over and picked it up, quickly hitting it and adjusting a dial on the side to turn down the sound. "Wizard tech, honestly..." she muttered to herself. I swear, if regular music players worked up here... blasting out like that...

She cleared her throught and smiled at the Ravenclaw again, aware that the situation was fairly awkward. "Sorry," she laughed, rolling her eyes, "it uh, has a mind of its own sometimes." Olivia glanced up at the owls, who mostly seemed undisturbed by her radio's outburst, save for a few that were glaring down at them now.

[SAIRA VIOLET TREMLETT]

“No, its fine, don’t worry,” Sai laughed at the last remark. “So, you’re in Hufflepuff then,” Saira could just about muster the courage to say this.


Saira looked around and saw that Hamlet was now awake. She smiled at the girl again, wondering what to say. This was probably the most awkward encounter she had ever had, and Sai had had quite a few of them. She started to fiddle around with the piece of her hair again; she went to feel the top of her head and established that there was already a bump and bruise. Nothing too serious though.

[OLIVIA CHLOE JONES]

Olivia grinned and nodded. "Yup, Hufflepuff," the girl answered with a laugh, offering her hand to the shorter student. "Olivia Jones, nice to meet you." She was aware that the two of them still felt pretty awkward right now, alone up in the owlery in the earlier hours of the morning, but did her best to try and ease up.

Her eyes fell back to the bruise that was starting to show on the Ravenclaw's head, and she frowned again as the girl checked it herself. "Ice'll stop it swelling up so much, seriously," Olivia commented, concerned for the younger girl. There was a spell for minor injuries like small breakages she knew, but she doubted it was meant for things an ice pack could handle.

Glancing out of the window again, Olivia noticed the sun now rising outside, which meant people would be starting to move for breakfast soon. At the thought of food her stomach rumbled- a little louder than she would have liked- and she blinked in suprise, laughing slightly.

[SAIRA VIOLET TREMLETT]

“Well I’m Saira, Saira Tremlett.” She smiled “I think I should go get some ice, then go to breakfast people will start to go down soon”

Saira didn’t feel too uncomfortable near the Olivia; she seemed like a nice person. Sai like Hufflepuff’s there was a calm nature about them she liked. She gave Olivia a wide grin.

[OLIVIA CHLOE JONES]

Upon hearing the girl's name, Olivia gasped. "I knew I recognised you from somewhere!" she said quickly, silently cursing herself for being so slow and not realising this sooner. "You got Ravenclaw's seeker spot last year."

Originally, Olivia had thought she'd like to be a seeker too, but when she actually tried out for the team, she found that even though she could fly perfectly well, her eyesight and reactions weren't enough to keep up with the Snitch whilst staying in the air. Chasing, however, she could do- and she did it well.

"Yeah, we'd better not miss breakfast." Olivia mused, heading towards the stairs that led down from the Owlery and back to the rest of the castle. "Ice first, though."

[SAIRA VIOLET TREMLETT]

”You’re the Hufflepuff chaser, if I’m correct” Saira had seen her on the pitch last year, she was good, very good!
Stumbling upon what else to say, Saira stood there like an idiot her head throbbing. She could feel the pulse in it. Sai laughed, she always did it when there were awkward moments and people would always stare at her which would make her immediately shut up. She soon realised that the sound of her laughter was giving her a headache so she stopped. But she didn’t stop smiling for some reason; there was a warmth inside of her that she hadn’t felt in a long time.