Sending a letter (Open)

J. J. started in wonder at the wide expanse of owls around her. She had never seen so many together before. In fact, before an owl arrived with a letter tied to its leg informing her she was going to a school of witch and wizardry she wasn't entirely she'd ever seen an owl before -- in real life that is. Of course she had seen them on T. V.
Sighing she looked up, wondering how she was supposed to know the difference between a school owl she was told she was allowed to use, and someone's pet. She knew that the students' owls tended to spend their year here too.
She jumped as an owl perched in fronted of her and whoo'd softly.
"Hullo there," she said softly, hesitantly petting its head, "Will you deliver my letters for me?"
She assumed since he came up that was what this owl intended to do. Since coming to Hogwarts she had learned that owls were incredible smart creatures. They were better at knowing what people wanted than she ever did.
Slowly she tied to letters to the owl's leg, "One for Zach, and one for everybody else."
She went to the window to watch the owl fly away, and then just paused there a moment, loving the way the wind blew up there, and the view.
Sighing, she decided even if she didn't have an owl, she might have just found one of her favourite place on the grounds.

Damian rushed up the steps to the owlry. He'd promised his parents he would send regular letters, which was imposition, but it meant he got to see Max, so he decided it was worth it. As he entered, the beautiful tawny owl swooped down and the boy held out his arm so the bird would have a place to land.

"Hi, Max!" he greeted his owl, digging in his pocket to pull out some of the treats he'd brought with him. "How are you? Betcha I've been busier than you. I've got eight classes and two apprenticeships, now. All you've gotta do is sleep all day and go flying and hunting at night."

The boy belatedly noted that there was someone else in the owlry. "Oh, hello, J.J." he greeted his housemate. "Sending post, too?"

J. J. was distracted by the sounds of approaching footsteps, and turned around in time to see Damian arrive, and an owl approach him.
She smiled as he talked to the owl; this was obviously his pet, and he seemed quite attached to the bird.
After a moment he noticed that she was there.
"Hullo," she greeted with a small smiled, "I was, but I did that I while ago, then I just go distracted by the window and everything else. I've found I quite like it up here.. despite the noise." She sent a bemused look at all the screeching owls above her.
She smiled at his owl, "That's a beautiful bird."

"Isn't he?" Damian exclaimed, lifting the owl a little higher. "His name's Maximus. My sister got him for me." His blue gaze swept the owlry.

"I like to come see all the owls. Though," his free hand absently came up to press a loose earplug more firmly in place, "it is really noisy up here." He grimaced slightly. Damian knew he'd eventually get used to everything being amplified - Master Chaos had said so, anyway - but at the moment the world still seemed incredibly loud.

"Do you have an owl, too? Or did you borrow one of the school owls?" Damian asked. "Hendrick's my favorite of those. He's the big barn owl at the back, there." He pointed to said owl as Max nipped at him for not paying him enough attention.

Damian gave the tawny another treat.

"The owls are nice - they're fascinating creatures... I'm kind of sad I didn't notice that until I got my Hogwarts letter," J. J. sighed and looked around her, "I just used one of the school owls. I'm afraid I didn't know his or her name. The owl just sort of approached me. No I just have a cat... who I have seen probably a total of once since I got to school. He's having the time of his life just running around."
She leaned against the ledge for a moment, then thought of something.
"You have a sister then? Is she older?" J. J. assumed that she would probably be older if she was giving gifts of Owls. "Do you have any more siblings? I have three, myself."

"I've just the one sister," Damian responded. "Her name's Theolynne and she's nine years older. She's really great - and she's smart. She's the Astronomy and Muggle Dueling professor. I don't get special treatment in her class, though! I'm treated the same as everyone else.

"Wish I had had more siblings. A brother, at least," the boy said. "Someone else who had magic, too. Theo was always gone to school an' stuff and our parents just don't get it." He scowled over the memory of how his mother always seemed to think he'd started all the fights with the muggle kids in their neighborhood. His dad hadn't been much help, either.

"It's great here, though," Damian continued, moving to the window ledge so he could put down Max and tie the letter to his leg. " I can see Theo a lot and there's others like me, so I really like it. Classes are brilliant, too, of course." He grinned. He loved his classes.

J. J. could tell from the way he spoke that he was a Muggleborn too. She watched him make his way to the window for a long moment, stuck in her own thoughts.
"I do have two brothers, as well as an older sister, it's not always all its cracked up to be," J. J. laughed softly at a memory, and the sobered, "Though none of them have magic... they try to understand, at least Zach does... he's not too bad at it either, but..."
She sighed and leaned against the wall, "It's easier here. I miss them, but here I feel different... more like me somehow even though I spent my whole life with them." She paused a moment fiddling with her robe.
"I was so confused, and scared... and alone at home; I didn't understand why I did this stuff but no one else did."
She bit her lip and then laughed self-consciously realizing that she had just spilt all this personal stuff to a practical stranger.
"But ignore me; you came up here to send a letter, not listen to my poor life story."

"Your family's okay with it, too, then," Damian surmised. "With you having magic, I mean. Even if they don't get it. Some muggles kill their children for having magic, you know." He sent Max on his way with another treat, watching fondly until the owl was out of sight.

Blue eyes turned back to focus on the girl. "I don't really miss anyone back home," Damian admitted, though a tinge of wistfulness colored his tone. He had once had friends in his neighborhood, after all, before they all turned on him. "I was lucky, really, cos I had my sis. She always knew I was a wizard and taught me everything she knows." He smiled fondly at the thought of his elder sibling.

"Here's where we belong," he continued seriously, "with people like us. The muggles will never understand, even if they try. And the rest would rather see us dead. Because they fear us." Something cold and dark flickered in the boy's eyes. And they should, he thought.

"I don't mind," he said. "Friends should get to know each other, yeah?" Damian smiled warmly at her.

J. J. watched his owl fly out of sight before responding, "That would be awful." J. J.'s gut twisted at the thought that someone could be so afraid of magic that they could kill, murder their child in cold blood. "Parents are supposed to love their children unconditionally... Sometimes I don't realize how lucky I am that my family did."
It was true that for a while her family had to get use to the idea, and they treated her differently, they still did - except for Zach, Zach never cared either way - but she knew they always loved her.
J. J. appraised Damian for a few moments; the way he spoke of home... she wondered if he wasn't so lucky as her, not completely. But it wasn't her place to pry. Damian would share what he wanted to share when he wanted to share.
"That it nice. I never understood my magic until my Hogwarts letter, and even now..." she shook her head. "There is still so much I need to learn. I want to learn. I don't think I can ever know enough about magic, about what I am
J. J. nodded slowly as Damian claimed this was where they belonged. She could feel it; she understood that. Something flashed in his eye though, when he mentioned fear that started her thinking again. She was shot with a sudden urge to know what happened to him, for something had to with his kind of emotion, but she wasn't going to ask. Just because she spewed her guts, doesn't mean that he had to. Hers wasn't even that personal. Not really.
"I get the fear though... when I first started using magic I was so... well more than anything I was confused and that made me scared. Who wants to be different," she gazed out into the horizon, getting lost in her thoughts, "fear seems to be humans natural reactions to things that they don't understand... that doesn't mean they have any right, any right to do what they are doing; what they are doing is, is..." J. J. trailed off with a sigh, "I just wish... but what's the point of wishing when things never turn out that way anyways?"
"Friends should," J. J. responded pulling herself out of her head with a firm and happy smile. When she thought back on it, Damian might have been the first person she met to mention friends... besides Karma but J. J. felt more like a project for the older girl than a true friend. J. J. smiled teasingly enjoy "So Mr. Grey, I know that you have an older sister, and a pet owl, but what else is vital to your identity? Do you have a secret love for toadstools? A dream to runaway and join the circus?" She paused a moment, and acted like some talk show host that Abigail always watched after school, "What makes Damian Grey tick?"

"That's why it's so great here, though - there's so much to learn!" Damian exclaimed enthusiastically. "I wanna learn everything I can, so I can be best wizard I can be. Theo says I've got lots of potential, more than most, even. She says I can be anything I want." He smiled, wholly confident that he would succeed in such an endeavor.

"I wasn't afraid of my magic - but I was expecting it, though," the boy chattered amiably. "It was mostly small stuff, really. I don't remember my first bout of accidental magic, but my last one -" He broke off abruptly, memories of that time washing over him.




Damian shook his head, forcing a smile onto his face, though his eyes had become ice again. "That time caused a bit of trouble," he said, though, not as lightly as he'd intended.

He pondered her question for a moment, hoping up to sit on the broad window ledge. "Hmm... well, I like animals of all kinds," Damian answered. "And I like learning everything else, too! I'm taking lotsa classes. I'm good at Potions, already - my sis taught me how to make a lot of 'em. And..." He paused, trying to think of what else he should say. Finally, he admitted with wrinkled nose, "And I hate peas.

"What about you?" he returned the question. "What make's you tick?"

Flora climbed up the stairs to send a letter to Lee. Will I ever see you again? She thought.
'Oh, hello there.' she greeted the two students present.
She held up her hand, 'Hello, you there, who'll take a letter for me?'
A golden brown owl swooped down on her outstretched arm. She petted him and fed him a strip of bacon she saved from breakfast, 'Hello gorgeous, take this letter to my muggle friend, will you? And wait for a reply,ok?'she whispered. He nipped her finger affectionately and flew away.
She leaned on the ledge, 'Hello, I'm Flora.' she told the other two.

Damian was definitely confident about his magic. J. J. admired that. For the longest time she wasn't sure she was even supposed to be here. Things were getting better though. She could see a future now.

"That's too bad," J. J. murmured as he spoke of his last time using accidently magic. His eyes flashed again; J. J. felt that whatever happened must have happened then. "I'm Sorry." She didn't exactly know what she was apologizing for but she felt like whatever he was remembering needed an apology.

" I love animals... though some of the bigger ones make me a little nervous," J. J. admitted as he spoke. "You're lucky; I'm sure I'm going to screw up whatever potion they give me... sounds too much like cooking. I was never good at cooking." She grimaced and laughed slightly as she remembered a particularly bad casserole she had tried to make. Zach claimed he gave her food posioning. "Though peas are perfectly reasonable to hate."

"Me?" she asked biting her lip. The flaw in her plan. She had forgotten that the question would bounce back on to her, "Well... I love anything to do with nature, the outdoors, trees. My house is right around the Yorkshire Moors... I loved to go out and just wander them. I guess some people may say they are little... foreboding, or some such, but I love them. That is one thing I do miss while I'm here. My brother would claim my cooking could kill you," she added with a laugh, "Oh, and I'm a tad bit competitive... I kind of like to win." She paused a moment, "I think that's about it... I get a little skittish around things. A lot can make me nervous. I'm trying to work on that one."

J. J. looked up as another girl, a young Ravenclaw entered the room. She watched as she talked to a bird, and then sent if off.

"Hello Flora. I'm J. J."

Flora nodded at her, "Nice to meet you J.J." Then a thought struk her, "Are you from a muggle family, or a wizard one?"

Damian nodded as J.J. spoke, laughing as she agreed on his assessment regarding peas. He waved off her apology. "It's nothing," he said, matter-of-fact. "It'll all be sorted, eventually.

"My mum's baking is the same way," Damian revealed, affecting a shudder. "And she only bakes when she's in a foul mood of some sort."

Damian turned his head towards the entrance to the owlry a moment before Flora entered, having heard her climbing the stairs. He winced slightly as she raised her voice to ask which of the owls would take her letter. The boy reached up to adjust one of his earplugs, again, certain the things weren't fitting properly.

"I'm Damian," he introduced himself. Then, frowned minutely. "Don't see as it matters," the boy stated, though, not unkindly. "It's magic that makes a witch or wizard, not what sort of family they're born into." Damian hoped she wasn't one of those wizard blood purists Theo warned him about. His magic was every bit as good as any old pureblood, after all.




((OOC: As I have this set sometime first term, in my head, Damian's wearing earplugs in both ears because I envision this being within a day or so of his first apprentice lesson with Asric))

J. J. agreed with Damian's assesment on the importance of whether blood mattered, but she also couldn't help to not answer a question.
She shrugged after a moment.
"A muggle one," she said after a moment, "If it really matters."
She wasn't ashamed of her upbringing or family. Anyone who wanted to know could.

"I'm muggleborn, too," Damian said, though, he really didn't think it mattered. "My sister's got magic, too, though." If Flora made an issue of his blood-purity, he'd just walk away. There were plenty of others he could be friends with, after all.

Flora nodded, "That's good. I haven't mate magical people before I came to Hogwarts. I wanted to know about magic, you know, what it entitles to be magical... and I's hoping to ask someone without being ridiculed for being ignorant." she shrugged.

Damian straightened. "Are you muggleborn, too, then?" he asked curiously. "Didn't expect another muggleborn to ask about blood-purity right off, is all.

"Everyone is here to learn," the boy continued. "The only people who'd ridicule you for not knowing much are blood-purists, and even they still have to learn all the spells. You can ask me, if you like. My sister taught me everything she knows, so I reckon I know just as much as anyone."

'People don't need reasons to ridicule if they want to.' Flora shrugged. 'Anyway, I wanted to know about wandless magic. Aren't we allowed to do them? Why do they make us buy wands?'

J. J. looked up at the meantion of wandless magic.
"You can do wandless magic?" She hadn't heard that before, "Really? I didn't think... well guess what was my accidental magic anyways?"

'Well yeah' Flora frowned, 'Can't everyone?'

J. J. shrugged, "Except for some small things when I was younger, that I did by complete accident, I haven't no... but I'm not very talented or knowledgable about most things magical."

((OOC: ... Flo, have you gotten the green light from Asric for that? I know he recently sent around an owl regarding special abilities, so you might wanna check.))

(OOC: I got the letter after posting it. So yeah, bit of a complication.
I'll try to manage things without contradicting myself.)

Flora shook her head, "No, not the accidental type. I could control it when I was mad or desperate. But it always gives me a headach afterwards, I guess wands make them easier. So what are your wand types? Is it true that you can tell how the person is by his or her first wand?"

"Wandless magic is harder to learn than with a wand," said Damian. "The wand works as focus - to help... uh, channel your magic. It can take years for someone to manage without a wand - some witches and wizards can't. It takes lotsa practice to master."

The boy nodded enthusiastically over her question about wands. "A lot of the times, you can," he replied. "Mine's eleven inch Oak with Dragon Heartstring core, and um... inflexible. Uh, mostly, I think it means I'm just really stubborn, sometimes." He laughed.