Up and Down

Chaser and Keeper

Dear Papa,

I hope this letter finds you in good health and spirits. We arrived at Hogwarts safely yesterday. The journey was uneventful

"If that's what you want to call it," Sebastian plants a kiss on her bare shoulder, "it was rather full of events in my opinion. You had quite a few."

"Oh shush," she nudges him away and dips her quill to continue writing, "you shouldn't be reading other people's letters anyway."

and we have just had time to begin catching up with friends before the Sorting. However, professor Black had made an unexpected announcement.

What I'm about to tell you will probably shock you, and I beg you not to do anything rash.

He introduced a new professor of Magical Theory to us. It was Mother.

"Honestly, the woman doesn't deserve the title," Sebastian's voice is an angry snarl, his lips pulled back to show a hint of canines, "she abandoned you."

"She still is her birth mother," Ominis lounges on the other side of her, blond hair freshly washed, damp and sticking to his forehead, with only a towel wrapped around his narrow hips for cover, "we can't choose those and we can't choose what to call them."

They are holed up in the Room of Requirement for the end of the first proper day of school. It was all a bit of a daze for Anna. The classes were as hard as ever but her mind was not in it. The knowledge of her mother being so close yet barely acknowledging her existence, constantly percolating through her thoughts.

There was little room left for the studies.

I couldn't believe my ears. But there was little doubt it was her. I recognised her even though she left when I was only six. I could barely wait until the feast was over and I tried to speak with her.

She seemed... cold. Like she didn't recognise me

"Fat chance of that, love. No offence, but you're a spitting image of her."

but that's hardly possible. Sebastian tells me I look a lot like her. You never told me.

I just barely had time to say my name. She seemed more concerned with me wearing Sebastian's necktie out in the open.

I don't know what to make of all this. Why is she back? Did she learn that I'm a witch after all? How? I don't know what to think or feel.

"That's a bloody understatement."

She spent the night previous crying in the Undercroft, trying to explain through wracking sobs what was happening to her gravely concerned boys. It wasn't going too well.

In the end, with her permission, Sebastian used Legillemency to know her thoughts and share her feelings and pain.

Then, he was able to put to words her problems for Ominis and the two of them held her as she cried her heart out.

She felt like such a fool. Why should she be this hurt by someone she barely knew? But Alice is still her mother. There is still the invisible thread connecting the two of them. Alice cared for her, at some point in her life.

The bonds of love are persistent, anchored incredibly deep in the heart, no matter how much time has passed.

But those are rhetorical questions at best. I just thought you should know in case you wanted to perhaps send a letter to her, now that you finally know her location.

I pray you will not be disturbed by these news, as futile as that hope may be. Please, stay cautious in the ruins and don't forget to drink enough water.