Hogwarts had always felt like my home away from home. So when I stepped foot in the castle again after a long summer away, it felt like everything had snapped into place once more and I was finally where I belonged. That, and the fact that being back in the confines of Hogwarts meant that I could do magic again. I had been craving the feeling all summer, which I supposed was normal. And it didn't help that my older sister used it for just about everything; practically dangling the fact I wasn't old enough to legally do magic right in front of my nose.

So, naturally, I had thrown myself into everything else. Including, sending letters to everyone who I knew might respond, just to give myself something to do. Luna was good enough to send me copies of The Quibbler, along with long and whimsical retellings of the times she encountered certain creatures, which were strangely gripping and definitely had me searching through the woods at the end of our garden in the hopes of finding anything remotely similar.

So far, I had only seen a couple of foxes and some squirrels, but they were nice enough. And some of the encounters Luna described half made me not want to actually find anything after all.

Our other dormmates, Catherine, Pearl and Lois had responded as well, although not as frequently. Catherine had been quite terse, her letters characteristically short and to the point, which was to be expected of her given her usual attitude. She was nice enough, I supposed, but we had never really been particularly close or anything, with her usually seeming to choose to be on her own. Pearl and Lois had been nice enough to keep up conversations with me though, with the former also enclosing dried flowers from her garden and sealing her letters with a sprig of baby's breath encased in wax.

It was nice to keep the correspondence going over the summer, and at one point I was troubling our family owl so frequently that my mother put a ban on how many letters I could send. But there was one letter, however, that remained on my desk for the entirety of the summer- written and sealed, with a name neatly stated on the envelope, ready and waiting to be sent. And I was going to send it. At least, at first. Then I had chickened out and it had sat on my desk for the rest of the summer holidays, taunting me.

It had become such a constant in my life that I didn't even question my want to pack it in my trunk, as if I might change my mind and send it after all.

And maybe I would. Maybe.

*

"How good was that?" Lois commented as we headed back to the Ravenclaw common room. We had just finished dinner- our first one since the last school year- and it had been amazing as always; a cacophony of tastes and textures. Hogwarts truly knew how to do food.

"I didn't realise how much I'd missed it," I admitted quietly, and Lois nodded, agreeing with me.

"I'll say," Pearl spoke up, "My dad makes fish pie at least twice a week, so this is the stuff of dreams."

"Fish pie isn't bad," I said.

"Twice a week," Pearl reiterated, and based on her solemn look I could guess it wasn't a good experience.

"Perks of living by the sea," Lois said with a shrug, stopping in front of the portrait that hid the entrance to our common room, "and having a fisherman as a dad."

Our conversation swapped to the newest riddle that kept our common room locked up tight, with the four of us trying a few different answers that all ended up being incorrect. But, after a hint from an older Ravenclaw student who was also waiting to get in, we weren't kept waiting in the corridor for too long. Not long enough for it to be embarrassing, at least.

There were already some other ravenclaws in the common room, catching up from the long summer spent apart, and Lois went over to talk to some of them. Luna, Pearl and I headed to our dorm, though. I, for one, wanted to unpack. It was an activity I had always despised, so I liked to get it over and done with as quickly as possible.

Luna was finished long before us and was perched on her bed, rattling off to Pearl about Wrackspurts or something of the sort, and I took the rare private moment to take out the letter and thumb it carefully. It would be so easy to send it- to just be done with it and let it reach its addressee. But every time I came to the conclusion that I would finally do it, I instantly felt ill at the thought of it and hid the letter away again.

Now, I put it on my bedside table, underneath the current novel I had been sinking my teeth into on the train journey. Hidden in plain sight.

Then, before I could forget, I did the usual thing of writing a letter to my parents, just to let them know I had arrived safely. It was something they had drilled into me long before I came to Hogwarts for the first time- to keep them updated on what was going on and to write to them often, just so they knew I was alright. So I wrote quickly- a simple letter just detailing the trip and the first meal back- and then sealed and addressed it before leaving it on my bedside. I would probably make a trip down to the owlery tomorrow with the others, since I knew they also like to send their parents letters frequently.

Pearl was taking extra long so I quickly wrote one to my aunt as well, just to pass the time and because I knew she would appreciate it. Then finally, when the others were ready, we decided to go down to the common room to relax for the rest of the evening. I picked up my book to take with me before carefully turning the anonymous letter over, so as to not show who I had written it to.

We sat for almost an hour, just catching up with our classmates- including Catherine, who entered the common room with a vicious slam of the portrait and joined us without divulging details of her own summer, or the fact she had been missing for most of the evening. And the book stayed closed in my hands, more of a comfort than anything else, given that I was too caught up in conversation to even consider trying to read.

Then Luna, who had drifted off near the fireplace doing Merlin knows what, came back over to where I was sitting in a cushy armchair, listening to Lois fawning over some Hufflepuff.

"Do you have any letters?" She asked, her voice characteristically dreamlike, "I'm taking a walk to the Owlery now."

"Just a couple on my nightstand, but I'll come with you," I replied, already moving to get up. Night had long since fallen and I didn't like the idea of my friend venturing out on her own, even if she was probably already friends with all the creatures that stalked around in the dark.

But she rested a gentle hand on my shoulder to stop me. "No need," she said, her decision clearly final. "Just the ones on the nightstand, yes?"

I nodded hesitantly, giving her a chance to change her mind. "Yes please, Luna. As long as it's no trouble."

She also asked the others but they hadn't got round to writing any letters home yet, so Luna skipped off upstairs to collect mine and hers and then headed out, the small pile clasped tight in her hands.

I didn't think anything of it at the time. I mean, why would I? This was a normal thing for us, taking each other's letters to the owlery, usually taking it in turns or paying each other back with pumpkin pasties. And, in the delusional glow that came with being back at Hogwarts- the place that very well might be the most magical on earth- I didn't even notice that my bedside table was completely empty when we eventually went back up to our dorm room. Devoid of even a single, anonymously written letter. 

A/N: Hey, welcome to this story. I haven't written a HP fic in literally so long so sorry in advance if there's an inaccuracies or anything. I would read the books again as research but lowkey don't want to give JKR the time of day you know??

If you've read my ASOUE fics then hey, I'm finally branching out! (Like I said I would years ago...)

Anyways, thanks for reading this first chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! ❤