1 September, 1984

Dear Sirius,

Since I last wrote you a lot's happened even though it's only been two days since I wrote you.

First thing that I must tell you about is that I discovered lavender eyes - they're sort of like grey but they have a little bit of purple to them so they're similar to the ones we share naturally, but they're also a little bit my own and I thought you'd like to know that I've been using them lately and they look really righteous with my pink hair.

It's not because I don't like grey eyes, mind you.

Next is I went to Hogwarts this morning.

It was really scary at first because I've never been far off from home. I was brave about the leaving though and tried not to cry too much when I said bye to my Dad and not to be too excited saying bye to Mum. I know it isn't her fault she wants me to keep my natural hair and eyes. I know its because she loves me the way I came out and she doesn't think I need to change anything - I'm really glad you taught me that by the way - but I just really like my pink hair and I feel more like myself with it than I do with boring old brown.

Maybe someday she'll understand that and we'll get on better.

Anyways...

I sat with Charlie Weasley on the train. You remember Charlie? He's the one who was always sooo obsessed with dragons. Well he's still obsessed with dragons. You should've heard this little tosser, all the way from London to Hogsmeade, going on and on and on about dragons and how many knots they go and a vast wealth more information about the things than I ever needed to know. But even though it was kind of annoying, him talking about dragons like that, it also made me think how much he must really like them to know that much information about them and it became such a lot more interesting when I thought of it like that. His excitement became sort of contagious and instead of being annoyed about all the talk about dragons, I actually wanted to know just to continue on listening to his excitement about it.

I'll bet no one has ever been excited to listen to him talk about dragons before, Sirius, because his face simply lit up with joy when I asked him questions.

It was really cute.

So I decided that Charlie Weasley is my best friend. I told him so when we were on the boats because he just looked so lonely and I didn't like that he looked sad and lonely... He comes from such a large family, I'll bet it feels very quiet and lonely here at Hogwarts for him now, even though he's surrounded by loads of students. Gosh, I hope somebody in his dormitory is kind enough to let him go on about dragons.

Well, I think he thought I was crazy when I said he was my best friend, at least at first... He said the saddest thing though, he said, "I've never had a best friend before." I never really thought about it until he said it, but I guess I haven't either.

Well isn't that a kick in the teeth?

You told me once that you never had friends until you met Remus, James and Peter. I'm glad you had friends like them, and I hope that I make some friends too. Inez and Polly seem very nice and they are both in my dormitory, too.

I'M APPARENTLY A HUFFLEPUFF BY THE WAY AND I'M VERY ANGRY ABOUT IT, I WANTED TO BE A GRYFFINDOR LIKE YOU!!!!!!

Remember that time you told me about your old friend Maryrose who was a Metamorphmagus? I think about her a lot. It's really cool that you knew another person like me. I wish I knew others. There should be a club or something for us to all get to know one another. I'd love to know if some of the stuff I feel is normal. For example, is it a metamorphmagus thing to look in the mirror and not recognize myself? Maybe one of them could tell me why I don't feel like "me" half the time... Maybe then I could explain it to mum, if I knew how to explain it even to myself.

I miss you Sirius Black. You're not guilty and I know it. I'll love you forever, whatever anyone tries to say about you.

Sincerely your cousin,

Nymphadora Tonks.