Letters from No One

Letter 01 | Hogwarts Express

Dear Barnaby,

I saw what happened on the train. I was reading The Fountain of Fair Fortune, its my favorite story by Beedle the Bard, my mother gave me a first edition copy for my birthday (my birthday is the first week of September but we always celebrate at home before I leave for school).

I was reading alone in my compartment on the Hogwarts express when I looked up and saw you pass by with Merula and Ismelda, when she stared yelling at you for being stupid I got up to close the door, she can be quite obnoxious you know. I put my book down on the seat next to me and got up but I stopped when I heard what you said back to her. I have had my fair share of run ins with Islmelda and I know what those two can be like when they want to be cruel, I wish that I had the courage to stand up to them sometimes but considering what they did in retaliation perhaps its better that I haven't.

I'm sorry for eavesdropping on you, it was a very personal thing you shared with Merula and Ismelda. I can appreciate that even if they can't. I heard everything you said about your parents being terrible and how you were glad you weren't like them even if it meant being stupid and different. I know exactly how that feels, everyone at school compares me to my family and even though I love them, its not fair.

I am my own person and I just want to make my own way at Hogwarts without the pressure to prove everyone wrong. I thought of stepping out into the corridor and standing up for you but Merula was quicker with her wand. I heard her curse you with the full body binding spell and walk away laughing. I knew if I came out after that it would only embarrass you further so I pulled out my want and quietly performed the counter curse while you were struggling to get free.

I watched as you got up and ran off the in the other direction and I felt it best to let you go. I picked up my book but I was too distracted by what happened to continue reading and I watched the country side pass by my window until it got dark instead. I couldn't stop thinking about you, wondering if you were okay and wishing there was something I could do.

When the first day of the term came, I hoped to find you in better spirits. We have a class together but I have never introduced myself before. I won't tell you which class we have in common, not yet anyway. I could tell you were still upset about what happened and it broke my heart to see you so sad. I came up with this way to send you a letter to tell you that you're not alone here at Hogwarts, you are not the only one who struggles to fit in at school because of your family and while you may be different than Merula and Ismelda (which one may argue is a good thing) you are definitely not stupid. I hope this letter will cheer you up at the very least and maybe you will consider writing back to me.

I am writing to you on a muggle invention called a typewriter, my grandmother gave it to me for my birthday because she knows I love to write and she is obsessed with muggles, she thinks they are lovely. I brought the typewriter to school with me hoping to use it to write some of my poems down (it sounded very romantic to sit at the window in my dorm and type out everything inside of me) but this is a better use by far.

Normally a muggle will add a sheet of parchment to the typewriter and then an ink ribbon stamps each letter as you hit a key, meaning you have to type out one sheet of parchment at a time but I have enchanted this typewriter to better serve my purpose here. The sheet of parchment is ever lasting and will continue in a circle, I can write you this letter and if you want to write back to me you just need to turn the knob on the right side of the typewriter and it will clear the page and let you start anew.

I removed the ink ribbon and added a charm for reusable ink, that will make it easier to use and to share without needing to know how it works for the most part. When you finish your letter you simply hit the "Send" key and it will teleport back to me (I adapted the spell used to create portkeys for that part). I know it was a lot of work to set this up but if it works then we will have the best pen pal system in the whole of Scotland I imagine. If you decide not to write back, please send the typewriter back to me anyway.

I think we have a lot in common Barnaby and I think we could be good friends, I hope you consider writing back to me.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention...I will be tying a small wooden box to the bottom of the typewriter case for you, its called a cigar box. My Grandfather had a ton of them he used to keep his cigars in and my mother secretly keeps them to reuse at home for storage, you see she added a Capacious extremis extension charm to them that makes them bigger on the inside than anyone would imagine without adding any weight to the box, perfect for storage and perfect to keep a large typewriter out of view of other students. I have one in my dorm room as well, I tell the other girls that its a small box for my jewelry and no one is the wiser that I have a secret hiding place right at my bedside table. You can keep the box even if you don't want to write to me, it will be our little secret.

Your hopeful but anonymous future pen pal,

The Reader