August WC - Fortune Cookie: Love is a roller coaster, it has its ups and downs.

Friday, August the 9th, 1894

Dearest Anne,

You must know that August isn't quite the same without your presence. And if you were not yet aware, perhaps this letter may serve to inform you. It seems equally unusual that I should have to pen a full letter to a dearest friend, who lives not far away at all, in order to reach her through this mysterious absence she seems to have taken from our lives.

I have finished my latest novel, The Jungle Book, you may recall me mentioning the author. I always enjoy Muggle authors who can paint such a magical world without having any themselves. The characters are very colorful and incredibly human, though most are animals. Some are even wiser than our Hogwarts professors, and I'd ask you not to repeat that to the professors at the castle, please. Levity aside, I felt most deeply for Mowgli, however, he is raised away from mankind among animals, yet he's more truly human than the brutish men in the book. How horrible it would be to live among your own kind and yet feel such closer affinity for others unlike you.

There has been so little else going on, I fear, that a book review had to dominate my letter to you. I know you dislike them, Anne, and humor me well enough. Sometimes the days I spend working for Daffy I would wish to be reading instead, even though that feels dishonest to consider. It didn't feel like such an obligation when the summer began, yet now there are days at the shop when I long to be anywhere else. I suppose I should be happy that I get along with Daffy, and I am helping out family after all. With so many new babies in the family this year, I am disappointed to discover that nursemaid is not a task I am well-equipped for, so it is better to be around plants and flowers that won't screech if I hold them wrong.

This letter seems long enough, so I will end it here. I miss your presence and our conversations, particularly the many insights you bring. Perhaps one will be the subject of what has kept you so tightly hidden away, too.

Yours, always and true,
Millie

P.S. Since you missed our planned gathering for the astronomy homework, Papa says we could make another try of it this weekend if you are able.

P.P.S. My letter from Hogwarts came with a prefect badge, and I haven't had anyone else to tell. No one else in the family was prefect or head student, which came as a shock.

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Anne Moony

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   Anne Moony

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Anne had searched for the words since the day an owl broke her heart. There is a mess of parchment and grainy paper started and stopped, more than one burned to ashes Anne hadn't bothered to clean yet. Her five-year foundation for school leadership amounted to a house of cards. Anne was devastated and, somehow worse, lost.

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10 August 1894

They didn't pick me.

Millie,

Everything is wrong, and I don't know what to do.

Anne

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   Millie Potts

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MJ about made me cry with this one!
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Saturday, August the 10th, 1894

Dearest Anne,

It is so hard to fathom of the calamity that could shake you so terribly to render someone so sturdy and confident as you speechless. Please don't hold back from sharing, I want nothing more than to be the friend to you that you've always been for me. And I sometimes find that writing out thoughts and feelings can make them easier to understand, perhaps this letter will inspire you to do the same.

Yours, always and true,
Millie

P.S. I didn't intend to write so much about myself in my letter, I don't truly feel all that self-important.

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Anne Moony

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10 August 1894

Millie,

What are you on about? Of course you're prefect. You had to be prefect; you're the best Ravenclaw at school and Ravenclaws are smart. You're the smartest person in our year; you're smarter than Greta and you're even smarter than me.

I'm potions club president, obviously, but that isn't what mattered. I didn't didn't did not some bleeding arse quaffle ruined -

I DIDN'T GET A BADGE, MILLIE.

Anne

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   Millie Potts

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MJ about made me cry with this one!
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Sunday, August the 11th, 1894

Anne,

What am I supposed to do to make this better?

I don't suppose that writing anything here will make things better. This is beyond t҉r҉a҉g҉e҉d҉y҉, Anne, yours might possibly be the saddest w҉o҉r҉d҉s҉ I have ever read. There is no one at Hogwarts I can think of who is more d҉e҉s҉e҉r҉ving of Prefect than you, not even me. In fact, I might be the w҉o҉r҉st choice for it. I think you do me too much credit to call me s҉m҉a҉rt, Miss Tearie Potts is far too quiet, too reserved to be a role model for anyone.

Please, A҉n҉ne, let me come see you. You are my dearest, most treasured friend. We can t҉a҉lk about it, we can even write a letter to Hea҉d҉m҉a҉ster Black together. There must have been a mistake, he will certainly see reason if it's brought to his attention.

Millie

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   Anne Moony

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11 August 1894

Millie,

Don't say that. You cried, banger of a deal. Who cares and who said it? I'll make them stop. You're my everyone's role model, Mills.

I'm supposed to be prefect, like my brother. I'm the best Slytherin in our year. I don't understand what happened. Mum and Dad tried to warn me. I hate them, Millie. All of them that don't think my kind can be in charge. I'm going to show them all. I'll show them by being the bloody best seeker and student Slytherin's had in ages. I'll show all of them.

I don't want you to see this. I feel like something died Black can go bugger a pincushion. There's no reason to it - this was politics.

Anne

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   Millie Potts

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MJ about made me cry with this one!
Thread Log

Sunday, August the 11th, 1894

Dearest Anne,

You are a true knight of the heart, no matter what a portrait might say. And that's what matters most, your heart. We both know that you are a true leader, your will and your words make you someone who makes others happy to follow them. It is because you have heart, something I am certain that others in Slytherin House recognize in you, badge or not. A silly pin will never make the difference between a responsibility and a leader.

Let us forget about all this for the moment, please. We still have weeks left before term starts again, and with each passing day I miss you even more. Tomorrow I work in Daffy's shop, but if it suits you we should meet the day after. There is a circus performing on Tuesday and it would delight me to no end if you would come with me.

Please consider what I write. Your knighthood would make a circus show into a dazzling affair!

Yours, always and true,
Millie

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   Anne Moony

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11 August 1894

Millie,

I'm a squire, remember? And it doesn't matter anymore. I worked so hard for this; I've wanted it since my brother got prefect. This meant everything and then we could all fight it out for Head Girl in the future. I could lose to you, that would be fine, but to Violet? Violet whines about being at Hogwarts, still whinges about not going to a silly French school, and wants to be nothing more than some stranger's wife. That's not a role model, that's pathetic.

And titles are all that matter in Slytherin, Millie. I'm not pure and I'm not rich, both work against me. The fact that I'm the smartest only impresses other smart people. I'm Potions President, but besides that and academics, I don't have power. I trust Sirius will do the right thing and help me become Captain for next year, but I can't trust anything now.

I miss you, too, but I don't know if I can tolerate people.

Anne

  

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MJ about made me cry with this one!
Thread Log

Sunday, August the 11th, 1894

Dearest Anne,

I hear your words from the page, as if you were here speaking them. It isn't quite the same, but nonetheless they echo with all the heart I know you to possess. They make mine ache, for I sit here as powerless as you, only able to abide by the choices someone else has made for me. Whatever I can achieve within those is mine, and what you achieve has always been, and will always be, yours alone, Anne. That is the way in which I think of you, my dearest friend, and the way I truly wish you would see yourself.

Now, once you have read those words, and I quite honestly do hope they come to you in my voice as you do for yours, I have just a few more for you. Quit moping to a piece of parchment, put down the pen, and come be with me for one day.

Please, all I need right now is to see your face.

Yours, always and true,
Millie

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   Anne Moony

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12 August 1894

Millie,

I hope you write books someday. Nobody else likes to make words as pretty as you do.

Fine. I'll go to the bloody circus.

Anne

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   Millie Potts

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MJ about made me cry with this one!
Thread Log