Mary Smith and The Three-Headed Dog

24. Merry Christmas

"Cerberus are loyal and dependable creatures. Their best used for guarding things. Different from dragons, Cerberus will both prevent intruders as well as keep it's guarded item in check. So, the Cerberus is best made for guarding living or dangerous goods. If it is treasure you simply want to guard, you are better off using a dragon."

--Sirius Black

Chapter 24: Merry Christmas

Dear Mama and Papa,

How are you? How are things at church? I hope you haven't been kicked out because I go to heathen school now. Does anyone even know where I am?

I am sorry I haven't written until now. I wasn't sure you'd want to hear from me. I'm sure you are horribly disappointed. I just wanted to let you know that I am doing well. I am brushing my teeth and changing my socks.

Have a blessed Christmas.

Love,...

I stared down at my parchment- it's easy to call it parchment because it looks different. It is scroll paper, thick and it curls a bit. I stared down at my parchment at my sad excuse for a letter. How are you? How's church? I'm a darn witch! I don't give a hoot about church! Or I'm not supposed to anyway. And love...love...is that how I wanted to close this? Did I love them? I don't know. They're not my real parents. I don't belong to them. I belong here with witches and wizards and three-headed dogs. I crossed Love out and followed the scribble with Sincerely. Now I stared at it again. How would they feel when they read this letter and could see where I clearly crossed out the love? In frustration, I drew large stars over the scribbles across the letter like a border effectively covering up the scratched-out Love and the Sincerely. But not well enough.

It was a mess.

I...resigned myself to my letter not getting any better than this and tied it to Owl's foot. "Remember Owl," I pointed in seriousness, "Don't get close to them. In and out. That's it." Owl ruffled his feathers and gave two wing flaps signaling he was ready to get going. I rolled my eyes in my own irritation, handed him a treat, and opened the window. A bit of snow immediately blew into the guest house.

I was back at the Finnegan's for winter break. Mrs. Finnegan had heard about what happened at the school in October and so I had been ordered not to leave the Guest house under any circumstances. It was hardly fair. Seamus blew things up all the time, but he wasn't grounded.

It had been days since I'd spoken to anyone. Dean wrote that he'd be visiting for a couple of nights, but he never said if he was coming to see me or Seamus. It really made a big difference because Seamus hadn't come to the guest house to see me once. I didn't do nothin', but he was upset with me anyway and it wasn't fair.

I had already finished my break homework over the past few days. I was now sitting in a dusty lawn chair that sat in the corner of the public space under a standing lamp. My bare feet curled under, my dictionary lay open in my lap. Reading a dictionary was no fun, but maybe if I studied enough words, I could save some study time to practice spells for any future dangerous Hufflepuff tasks. If they were all anything like the last one, I would need to learn a lot and fast. Ten words a day. I just needed to focus on 10 words at a time, so I wouldn't forget them.

At around noon there was a ...a...rap. I could use rap this way- there was a rap at my window. When I looked up, a large gray owl sat on the windowsill. My mind immediately stretched to Nymphada Tink, and back. She still hadn't written me back. I gave up on the thought that she would. "Dean doesn't have an owl. Who could you be from?" I opened the window and the bird immediately swopped down on a leftover owl treat on the floor. While it gobbled it down, it lifted its leg in wait. "Right," I started. I set down my dictionary and reached down to untie the letter and a small box. It smelled familiar if that made any sense. "It's from Cedric."