Derry Four
December 15, 2011 8:34 PM
A letter from home by Derry Four
Derry sat in the Teppenpaw commonroom, puzzling over the letter that he had just finished reading. It was from his mom. It didn't really say anything he hadn't expected it to say. She was well. Grandmother was well. Father was well. Hamlet was as well as a ghost could be. Christmas plans were coming along and he was to come home this year. They had been invited to a party that they could not turn down and Derry's presense was expected. She congratulated him on the charms essay grade he'd told her about in his last letter and reassured him that one poor performance on a potions exam was unfortunate but not unforgivable and she would have Hamlet go over the material with him when he came home. Then she asked how the transfiguration test had gone, about the progress of his Quidditch team, and how Thaddeus was adjusting to the school. All very predicatable and commonplace.What he couldn't figure out was why the letter left him with a deep feeling of unease.
Maybe it was that he hadn't heard about any parties, not from Thad or Demetra or Fae or anyone else. Maybe it was the odd stilted formality that was unusual in letters from mom that were not co-signed by Father. Maybe it was that she mentioned Hamlet tutoring him in potions. Maybe it was that Grandmother came up before Father or Hamlet. Maybe it was the lack of Mountain gossip. Maybe it was that she didn't sign it "Love, Mom" but "With regards, Your Mother." Probably it was just paranoia.
Still, he read it twice more and the anxiety in his gut only increased. He couldn't help feeling that there was something she wasn't saying. She hadn't mentioned the Anns. Maybe they were ill. Or perhaps something had happened to Duesius while he was tending those animals. Or Alicia miscarried. Derry bit his lip and fidgetted nervously. Obviously, something horrible had happened and Mom didn't want to tell him what it was in an impersonal letter. She wanted him to live in happy ignorance until he came home for midterm when she could sit him down, hold him close, and tell him what terrible thing befell his aunt/uncle/cousin.
Or perhaps the Imposter had moved to Mt. Pierce and it wasn't Mom who wrote the letter at all.
Fortunately, before he could work himself up too badly, he waved over one of his friends as he spotted them coming into the room. "Hey," he greeted in something like relief, and pushed the letter at them. "Read this and tell me I'm overreacting and that Thad's parents are still alive, my Mom is still my Mom, and nothing else is wrong either."
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Derry Four
A letter from home
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