The Lundstroms

May 20, 2021 12:08 AM

Owl for Professor Carter-Xavier by The Lundstroms

The owl tapped on the window of the Pecari head of house’s office, bringing with it a white envelope, bearing a crossed-out US postage stamp. The owl had already made a similar delivery on the opposite side of the building, and with all its duties done, it found itself a perch and closed its eyes.

The letter it brought had been written on a computer. The correspondence from school had, so far, been elaborate calligraphy on heavy parchment, in stark contrast to this lightweight white sheet with its evenly spaced letters – something the writer hoped wouldn’t cause confusion to the recipients. To her, this had felt substantially old-fashioned, formatting it like a letter, with her address neatly at the top righthand side, like she’d been taught was the proper thing to do growing up. That knowledge had all but passed into memory, rarely being used in real life.

Dear Professor Carter-Xavier,

I’m Xavier Lundstrom’s mother. I wasn’t sure who the most appropriate person to write to was, so I am writing to both you and Professor Skies.

Xavier seemed very discouraged and upset when he came home for break, saying that he is struggling to make progress in his classes. He mentioned that he might be put into a student support program. Whilst I appreciate the extra effort you want to make to support him, it concerns me a lot that he’s doing so badly. I know there’s no shame in being different, or in needing help, but Xavier has never been someone that applies to. I’m worried both about his future, and the effect this is having on his self-esteem.

He always did well at non-magical school, and I’m wondering whether this is just the wrong environment for him. I know you say he has these powers that need controlling, but it really doesn’t seem like he has very much of them. Wouldn’t it be better for him to get an education where he can excel and be a high achiever than one where he’s going to be bottom of the class all the time?

I know it can take time to learn a new skill, but he reported that there are other people with similar backgrounds who are not struggling as much as he is. I just don’t want to leave it so long that he can’t integrate back into a non-magical school, if it turns out he’s not well-suited to magical school.

I’m also worried about his mental health. He seemed very despondent at break, which just isn’t like him.

I’d be happy to meet to discuss this further, though I’m not really sure how to go about that. If you’d like to talk by phone, my number is 612-XXX-XXXX.

Yours sincerely
- there followed an elaborate squiggle, with the printed name underneath.

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