Sending off letters (OPEN)

Ebony sighed and looked out the window of the owlery, Ashes, her owl perched on her shoulder. She looked down at the paper in her hands, it was a letter her little brother had sent her and she frowned, her father was being abusive to him and there was nothing she could do.

She got her quill and dipped it in the ink she had in her bag before she started to write to her brother, she needed to comfort him from here, she couldn't just leave him to suffer.

Ashes nuzzled into her neck slightly as she wrote, cooing gently and nipping her ear gently, trying to get attention.

I tried hard to think of what to say.In the end I just wrote:
Dear family,
School is really exciting but I can't wait to see you all again.
Love Melody.
I rushed down to the Owlery with my black cat Jinxy following after me and I hoped that Jinxy behaved and didn't chase after any of the owls.Once we got there she made it near impossible to find an owl that would hold still long enough for me to tie the letter to it's leg but I eventually found a brown owl and after tying my letter to it's leg I watched it fly off and I hoped that I got an answer back soon. Hogwarts was so lonely especially if you're as anti-social and shy as I am.

Ebony looked up when she heard running footsteps. She turned and smiled. She saw the cat and Ashes' started to panic, Ebony easily calmed the owl by stroking his head. "Shh, it's ok Ashes" she cooed softly.

"Hey" she said as she stepped a little closer to the student in front of her, she seemed lonely.

"Are you ok?" she asked in a soft, kind voice. The cat brushed against Ebony's leg and she lent down slightly and stroked the cat, her owl perched on her shoulder, the letter still strapped to its leg.

"I'm so sorry!"I said."My cat chases owls sometimes."And then as if to prove me right Jinxy jumped at the girl's owl again.
"JINXY STOP!"I yelled.

"Don't worry about it, it's instinct" she smiled back as she calmed Ashes down and stroked the cat.

"He'll be fine, he's used to it, my brothers cat is the same" she smiled

"Oh.Well I'm still sorry,"I replied and Jinxy went over to me rubbing herself against my leg.

Ebony nodded slightly.

"So... are you a new student this year? I don't think I've seen you around this year" She asked, trying to start a conversation. Ashes pecked her ear to get attention and she stroked the owl before pulling out some treats and giving them to the owl.

"Yeah, I am new,"I said."I'm Melody and you've already met my cat Jinxy." Jinxy purred in reply and I wondered if it was a sign that she liked this girl. I'm not sure if my cat even likes me sometimes.

She smiled.

"it's nice to meet you" she smiled.

"How do you like Hogwarts so far?" she asked, she didn't really know what else to talk about since the female in front of her didn't seem very talkative at the moment.

"Hogwarts is okay so far,"I said."Expect for ghosts passing though me and Jinxy scaring away all the owls and shredding my text books."

Ebony frowned but nodded.

"Yeah... the ghosts are kind of annoying to begin with... you just get used to it after a while" At that moment, as if to prove her point a ghost went through her and she let out a small shiver at the cold but shrugged it off.

What I hadn't told her was that ghosts were on my list of fears but I smiled maybe I wouldn't be as afraid of them after a while at Hogwarts.
"I certainly hope I to get used to them,"I said.Then I didn't really know what else to say."So...you have a cute owl."
Lame Melody really lame,I thought.Maybe I should just leave before I embarrass myself or Jinxy decides to eat her owl not that I've ever seen Jinxy eat an owl.

Ebony smiled and nodded but frowned.

"Um... I guess we should get down to the great hall..... The lunch will start soon" she said, she really had no idea what to say Melody wasn't talking very talkative and Ebony wasn't great at making conversation so she just fell silent and took Ashes to the window. He pecked her ear and she stroked him and gave him treats before he flew off to deliver the letter.

"Good idea,"I said."Bye."And I rushed off with Jinxy following me because if there's one thing my cat and I loved it was food,especially sweets and in Jinxy's case cat treats.

Ebony looked after the girl in shock.

"Well... that was awkward..." she mused to herself. She walked out of the owlery and down to the great hall. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair as she walked in.

She walked over to her table and sat down, a small frown back on her lips as she sat down.

But I didn't go straight to the Great Halls.I went to my room first to feed Jinxy and after I was sure that Jinxy was busy eating and not going to follow me I rushed down to the Great Hall.When I got there I suddenly felt bad because that girl probably thought that I couldn't wait to get away from her.Maybe I should apologize but was I even allowed over to her table? Plus I was hungry.But in the end I decided I might as well find her.
"Sorry about that,"I said when I found her."I had to feed my cat otherwise she would follow me and steal food from the plates."Which had once actually once happened when I was little at a family reunion but at least that reunion wasn't as boring as my family reunions usually are.Then I realized that she probably thought that I was some crazy cat girl or just making up excuses.

At the end of the meal Ebony stood and ran a hand through her hair again ass he yawned softly.

She turned around when she heard someone talking.

"Hey" she said a small smile on her lips.

"Don't worry about it" she replied smiling a little. "We wouldn't have been able to talk to each other at lunch anyway... we can't really sit at other houses tables" she replied with a small smile as she started to walk with the female.

"Oh,good,"I said."So what's your name?"Really since she knew my name and my cat's name I might as well know her's.

"Oh... yeah sorry.. It's Ebony... Ebony Summers... the owl was Ashes by the way" she replied smiling politely as she looked over at the female again.

I nearly panicked after she said was because even though I've had Jinxy for a long time I still didn't trust that cat not to eat owls but I still trusted Jinxy a lot more than I trusted people.Still it was nice to have someone to talk to even though I had no idea what to talk about.I could ask her who she sent the letter to but that might be too personal.
"So what year are you in?"I asked.She didn't look like a first year.

Ebony looked over.

"I'm in third year" she smiled. "It's pretty stressful" she said as she shook her head.

"And as much as I love Hogwarts I still miss my brother so much... that's who I sent the letter too... my fathers is... um.... well..." she said trying to word abusive in a nice way.

"Angry... at both of us... usually I take it for him but now that i'm not there i'm really scared of what my father will do to him" she frowned.

I was surprised that she was telling me all this she must really need someone to talk to.
"I'm sorry to hear that,"I said."I hope my real parents aren't like your dad. I was found in the woods by my mom who I sent my letter to and she has a husband now and two sons who go to this school who I'm on okay terms with but when she found me it was just her,grandpa and me.I'm just scared that I'll never find my parents or that if I do find them that it will turn out that their really bad."I don't know why I was telling her this I guess that I needed someone to talk to as badly as she does.

Ebony frowned more.

"I'm sorry to hear that, I hope you find your real parents soon and that they are really nice" she said in a soft voice.

"You know about protection spells right?"I asked."Maybe you could enchant something to protect someone and then send it your brother.I could help."

Ebony looked up.

"Yeah my mother taught me before she died... I've never thought of that, that sounds like an amazing idea... I also know a spell for finding people and things... maybe i could use that to try and help you find your real parents?" she suggested.