Eleanor Potter ~ My Brother's Best Friend

Letters From Home

The rest of the week went very well for the new first year Gryffindors. Every morning the boys would wake up at 7:00 to Remus's alarm, they would then all fall asleep again for an extra half an hour so actually they'd all get up at more like 7:30 but still so far none of them had missed breakfast which for four 11 year old boys who had no parents to wake them up each morning, they were doing pretty well. The girls dorm was quite different, every morning without fail Ellie would wake up at 6:30 and begin to get ready for the day then followed by Lily and Alice who would wake up a bit before 7 and then Mary and Dorcas who would wake up to an alarm at 7:00. Marlene would wake up at 7:26 every morning without fail, she called it her body's natural alarm clock.

Somehow the boys had now all learnt how to tie their ties properly now so they no longer needed to dedicate 15 minutes each morning to that simple task, instead they'd spend those 15 minutes copying up homework from Remus that they'd neglected to do the night before. Mornings went like this for years to come, another thing that just sort of stayed the same.

This particular morning at breakfast the Gryffindors were all sat together when the owl post arrived. This was the first time the first year Gryffindors had received any post as each had told their parents to give them a few days to settle in before writing to them before they left for Hogwarts. Seeing as it was now Saturday and their first day off all the parents had somehow collectively decided now would be a good time to write.

Everyone got letters, except Sirius.

No one seemed to notice, or so Sirius thought.

But Ellie noticed, she was good at noticing things about people others would usually miss. Ellie noticed that Peter never pulled his tie tight, she noticed that when Remus rolled his sleeves up he would pull his right sleeve down if it went a bit higher than his wrist, she noticed that Lily sang herself a song every time she brushed her hair, she even noticed that Marlene's skirt had gotten a millimetre shorter everyday since the first day of term. But one of the main things Ellie noticed is that no matter what, Sirius would avoid eye contact with anyone in Slytherin house. She knew from the train journey that he had expected to be a Slytherin himself so she assumed this meant that he had friends or relatives in Slytherin, but he never mentioned anyone or spoke to anyone. This then led Ellie to believe that the people in Slytherin house had probably (like Sirius) expected him to be sorted into Slytherin and were most likely upset with him that he was in Gryffindor.

So when the rest had letters dropped in front of them, Sirius pretended not to care and he carried on eating his toast as if nothing was happening. As Ellie had noticed this she decided to save her letter for later, just to make sure that Sirius didn't feel alone in that moment when he wasn't opening a letter. She knew that he would of known she'd received one but thought that maybe he'd notice the gesture anyways and maybe perhaps feel a bit better.

Sirius did notice this, he noticed every time.

"Mums gonna send me a box of her chocolate chip cookies tomorrow Nora, so if you want me to share you'd better be nice." James said across the table with his mouth full of toast.

"I don't know what your talking about, I'm always nice Jamie" Ellie responded with a slightly annoyed look on her face that she had just been called Nora in front of all her friends who just laughed.

The rest of the Gryffindors continued to eat their breakfast and read their letters before they all disappeared off to decide what they were going to do in their first weekend at Hogwarts. The first thing Ellie did was open her letter.

**
Dear Eleanor,
I can't believe you've almost been gone a week, time definitely does not fly when the house is the quietest it has ever been in 11 years. It feels as though you and your brother have been gone for a month at least, the house is also so tidy and clean you'd think you had been gone a month for your mum to have made the house as shiny as it is. I'll be honest with you Els cause I know you'll understand, I think your mums been struggling a bit with you being gone. The other day I found her just stood in the doorway of your bedroom, don't worry she hasn't been to clean in there, yet. Don't worry you will be getting a letter from your mum in a few days but thought it best not to overwhelm you with letters from us both all at once, however I think your mum might appreciate a letter from you as well, just to let her know your thinking about her. But moving on to more important matters how are you and well done on making Gryffindor me and mum are so incredibly proud, we knew you had it in you. I hope your doing alright and that James is taking good care of you, I know how nervous you can get. Feel free to tell me about all the new and wonderful friends I'm sure you've made in your response, but no boys. No boys until you move out you understand? Good. I want you to know that I'm just an owl away so if you have any problems or things you want to tell me about please reach out. Remember your never alone Els, I will always be here for you. That's all for now I very much look forward to hearing back from you my favourite daughter.
Lots of love, your dad.
**