James' first letter arrived two weeks after his departure. His pale, flat-faced barn owl, Deacon, soared through the open bay windows at the Potters' London home. Deacon was followed closely by Angelo, the family eagle owl. Angelo circled once around the breakfast table, dropping three envelopes before Mrs. Potter and a copy of the Daily Prophet in front of Mr. Potter while Deacon flew straight to Branwen, delivering a small, rather grubby piece of parchment before making his way to the attic where the Potter owls resided.
Branwen tore it open excitedly:
Dear Bon-Bon,
I can't believe I've been at Hogwarts for two weeks! I miss you lots, but I've made some great new friends too. I got sorted into Gryffindor (of course) and there are three other boys in my year, Remus, Peter, and Sirius.
Remus is a nice guy. Quiet. He knows all the answers in class but never says anything. We told him it's okay though, as long as he helps us with the homework (which there is a lot of!). Poor guy's in hospital right now though. Got a nasty cold.
Peter's a Muggle-born, so he knows practically nothing. Can you believe he'd never even heard of Quidditch?! I've taken him under my wing to teach him the right way to be a wizard, which of course includes an oath to support Puddlemere United for all eternity.
Speaking of being the right kind of wizard, the other boy Sirius is part of the Black family. I thought he'd be a total git because of it, but he's actually pretty cool. He says he's the first one in his family to be in Gryffindor. Can you imagine?! He was also the first of us to get detention. He made a paper bird and tried to make it fly in class. It caught on fire. Maybe don't tell Mum about that last part? I don't want her think I'm hanging out with the wrong kind.
Can't wait 'til you get here! You'll fit right in. Bye for now,
Jamie
Branwen kept every letter her brother sent in a small drawer beside her bed. James wrote things like "we got pelted by Peeves, the school's poltergeist yesterday; planning revenge" and "Sirius and Peter started a food fight this morning; we all got detention" and "visited Remus in the hospital wing last night; had to use Dad's cloak to avoid getting caught by Mr. Filch and his ugly cat."
Branwen sent a reply every time, but felt that her news was always a disappointment. "Mum and Daddy are still doing well;" "I did some more practise with my broom yesterday;" "the aconite in the garden is coming along swimmingly."
Each day, she marked a new little red "x" on the calendar on her wall. Each one was another twenty-four hours gone, twenty-four hours closer to Hogwarts.