Harriet spent the next days thinking and reading and then thinking some more.
What the hell was she supposed to do? The message from her relatives had left quite a shock and the situation with the philosopher's stone was an issue.
Also, she was figuring some last minute gifts for some friends but that was another situation entirely. What in Merlin's Name was she supposed to do?
She mulled it over. Writing back was the polite thing to do, obviously. But was it the smartest thing to do? She fiddled with her sleeves. Gosh, she needed to clean her glasses. She yanked them off and rubbed them with her sleeve. That hadn't been one of her brighter ideas. Now they were all smudged. How was she supposed to think with smudged glasses?
Briefly, she considered asking her friends for help. That was off the table for several reasons. She couldn't bother them before Christmas, they had their families to think about that. They probably wouldn't know what to do either. Or they would ask their parents or others for advice and then everyone would know.
She pulled a blank piece of parchment towards her. Quill in hand she stared at it as if the letters would write themselves.
Dear Petunia, she began. She crossed that out.
Hello Petunia, was the next attempt. That was scribbled out as well.
Petunia, she settled on.
Your letter came as a shock. Given our history, I assume you understand. What happened to your marriage with Vernon? What's the current situation? Are you still living together?
Harriet
Now the letter to Dudley. She had even less of an idea of what to write. Maybe she just shouldn't reply? No, no, he should get a reply. It was the nice thing to do. What he had written about Smelting's wasn't something he had the brains to come up with. That much was obvious. If Petunia, who wasn't quite as dull, had checked the letter there wouldn't be that many spelling mistakes. That meant it probably was the truth.
Dudley,
Now you know how it feels.
Shoot, she couldn't start with that. Even if a small part of her thought he deserved it. Hastily, she scribbled over it.
Hello Dudley, she began again.
I'm not entirely sure what to say. Thanks for the apology, I guess. It's nice to hear one.
I thought you'd fit in at Smelting's before you went. You seemed like the type of person to be in the 'cool kids' gang there. Sorry if that sounds mean. I'm not entirely sure how to put this. Hang in there I suppose.
Honestly, I can't say I'm surprised at your Dad's behaviour. Sounds like typical Vernon to me.
My school is pretty awesome and I made some really cool friends. Of course we're all freaks in our own way, but that's okay here.
Letters can be as long or short as you want them to be. When you run out of things you want to tell the person, you end the letter.
Just like this.
Bye, Harriet.
She tore off the botched parts of both letters and folded them. Hedwig flew over as she shoved them into an envelope and added the address. She watched the snowy owl fly off and wondered if she had made the right choice.
Whatever, there was no going back now. Just planning for various potential outcomes. Maybe she should get her friends Christmas presents first. Ball point pens maybe? They didn't seem to have those in the wizard world. They didn't even have fountain pens! She could gift Crabbe and Goyle ball point pens. They were really messy writers. She probably should gift Crabbe and Goyle ball point pens. It was an act of community service really.
Blaise would be happy to get anything Quidditch related. A scarf would do. Draco was receiving a planner that she had cast a couple of spells on so it would remind him of his various classes and appointments. Maybe he wouldn't be so late.
Amina and Elizabeth had loved the idea of files and ring binders. She'd just get them those and hole punches. Millicent an Pansy needed more thought. Especially Pansy. What were you going to get someone who had seemingly everything and was one of your best friends? Hereby ignoring that you hadn't really had friends before.
Millicent liked fighting people. She also liked her friends and hairstyling. The first one Harriet could work with. The other two, not so much. Maybe she could get Millicent a voucher for boxing classes during the summer holidays? She'd do it. She had no other ideas.
Now what in the name of Merlin's sodding name was she going to get Pansy? She really shouldn't have left this as a last minute thing. She wouldn't do that next year. She needed ideas.
Oh no! She still had the Weasley twins to consider. And Hagrid and Hermione.
Hermione would love a planner as well, she decided. Her bushy haired friend loved anything paper and stationary related. She could get her a writing pad as well.
She'd get Hagrid something for his garden and a chew toy for Fang.
The twins and Pansy were still without gifts. Decisions, decisions. What to do?
She spun and punched the nearest wall.
"OW!" Harriet cursed violently.
"What happened here?" someone asked.
Harriet spun around. Great. Not someone she knew well enough to care about their opinion. Still...
"I was attacking the wall." She answered.
"Why were you attacking the Wall?" The Person looked genuinely confused.
"It was being annoying."
"Okay..."
"What are you doing here? Who are you anyway?" Could this girl leave? Please!
"The name's Jiyu Burokami. I was walking by and saw you punch a wall so, I figured that I'd check up on you and see how close you are to a mental breakdown." She grinned and leaned against the wall. "Besides, I've been wanting to meet you since Fred and George told me they'd adopted a firstie."
Harriet blinked at her. "What?"
"Yeah, we're buddies."
"What?"
Burokami sighed. "I'm friends with the twins. I'm checking on you because any friend of theirs is a friend of mine and because it's the nice thing to do. Also, no one should be this stressed before Christmas."
"Isn't everyone this stressed before Christmas?" Harriet raised an eyebrow.
"Beside the point." She rolled her eyes. "Last minute shopping failing or something?"
Harriet considered her answer for a moment before nodding. She had no ideas.
"Who're you stuck on?"
"The twins and my friend Pansy."
"Parkinson?" Burokami's eyebrows went up.
"You know her?"
"Just the rumors about her family."
"Well she's brilliant and anything bad you heard is fake," Harriet glared.
"Whatever, let's brainstorm some gift ideas."
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Hope everyone is doing well with everything that's going on in the world right now. Thank you to all my readers as usual. A special shoutout to my readers that are participating in the Black Lives Matter movement as well.
XOXO, Drachma