Arabella,

I can't imagine kissing a girl is any worse than kissing a boy; it's probably less awful, really. That doesn't make it any less appalling, but it's not as if her mother can undo the kiss.

I have no issue seeing you in Ravenclaw, although I can equally see you donning yellow in Hufflepuff! You have a very good heart and I'm sure the hat will see that. I don't believe Gryffindor is the right place for me; my mother was a Slytherin and my father a Ravenclaw.

Merriweather was a Slytherin, so I always imagined I'd be there or in Ravenclaw. I don't really enjoy books, though, but Ravenclaw isn't all about books, right? It's cleverness, too, and wit! I'd have thought this is something I would have figured out by now, with school so close, but I'm stuck!

Yours,