Owl Post

Just as Cedric had said, an owl delivered her wand on the third day after she returned home.

It came with a letter from Professor Dumbledore.

"Dear Miss Albert,

Mr. Diggory has told me everything that led up to the incident, so you need not worry.

The creator of the Sectumsempra spell is currently teaching at Hogwarts. You may come and see me anytime after the term begins, and we can discuss the spell together.

A.D"

Clara felt her heart beating faster and faster.

She had read many of Dumbledore's books and often saw him in the school's Great Hall. His handwriting also appeared on the start-of-term notices, but receiving a private letter written specifically to her was still exciting.

She had never imagined the headmaster would write such a letter to an ordinary Hufflepuff student. Evidently, she had thought Professor Dumbledore was much stricter than he actually was.

But her attention was soon drawn back to the mention of Mr. Diggory. So Cedric had gone out of his way to tell Professor Dumbledore?

She had thought he had only gone to Professor Sprout. He had held back in that little note of his.

As it dawned on her, she rushed downstairs to the study and, under Mrs. Albert's puzzled gaze, snatched a sheet of writing paper from a drawer.

"Mom, I'm writing a letter!"

Before Mrs. Albert could answer, she had already rushed back upstairs.

Clara wrote the opening of her letter three times.

The first was "Dear Diggory"-too distant, when he had called her Clara in his letter.

The second was "Dear Cedric"-she stopped halfway through and stared at the form of address for a long time. Her handwriting trembled slightly over the letters of "Cedric."

It was the first time she had written his name on paper, and writing it after "Dear" felt completely different again. The ink had yet to dry when her ears turned red.

She crumpled that sheet up too. On her third attempt, she finally put pen to paper:

"Cedric,

Thank you for your letter, and thank you for writing to Professor Dumbledore too. I received your letter this morning, and the owl arrived just as I finished writing my reply. I've received the package, and I was really relieved when I opened it and saw my wand. At least I don't have to explain how I lost it anymore.

Professor Dumbledore asked me to see him after term starts to discuss the spell. To be honest, I'm a little nervous, but you were right-at least I don't have to worry about it anymore.

Thanks again. I'll buy you a Butterbeer when term starts.

Clara"

Leaving off "Dear" somehow made it seem even more conspicuous, but it was the best opening she could think of.

After she finished, she read it from beginning to end. The tone seemed a little too formal, but she didn't know how to change it.

She had never written a letter to a boy before.

She had written countless letters to Rowle over the summer holidays, full of exclamation marks, capital letters, and doodles of Krum as a stick figure at the bottom of the page.

She had also written Cersei a few notes about homework, but using "Dear" between girls wasn't much of a problem.

In the end, she gave up trying, folded the letter, and put it in an envelope.

Her owl, Banban, was already waiting on the windowsill. Now Banban held out a leg for her to tie the letter to.

Clara tied the letter on, then took a piece of dried meat from the drawer and gave it to Banban. Banban picked it up and flew off, soon disappearing among the shadows of the plane trees outside the window.

She had only just sent Banban off when another owl flew in through the same window.

Its gray-brown feathers had a satiny sheen in the sunlight, and it was slender and a little haughty. She had never seen it before.

It landed on her desk, placed a letter precisely beside her pen holder, and pecked her twice, seemingly urging her to hurry up, read it, and write a reply. Then it began preening its wing feathers as though nothing else mattered.

Clara was a little bewildered. Had the Rowle family got a new owl?

No, that couldn't be right. Their little owl had only delivered a letter a couple of days ago.

Puzzled, Clara reached out and untied the envelope from the owl. The moment she saw the handwriting, her face turned red.

It was from Cedric.

"Dear Clara,

If you've already received Professor Dumbledore's letter, your wand should be back in your hands too. Congratulations! I told you it would be sorted out soon—I hope you believe me now.

I have two more pieces of news for you. The good news is that I've been made a Prefect this year. That means I can help you more with certain things—if you need me to.

The other news is that, according to my dad, Hogwarts is holding a very special major event next term. He said he couldn't tell me much, but he also said it might be the grandest school event in years. I think you'll probably like it, and I'm really looking forward to it too.

They've also told us to get our own wizarding dress robes. I wonder what they're for? Anyway, do you have any suggestions? My dad nearly decided to buy me a vintage style from the last century, but luckily my mum stopped him.

See you at the start of term. If you think of anything before then, you can write to me, or come straight over by Floo Powder-my address and the password haven't changed.

Cedric"

She felt as though the haughty gray-brown owl was still staring at her.

She looked up and met its eyes.

The owl tilted its head and gave an insistent hoot, then held out its leg. Its meaning was clear: write back.

"Little one, but I just wrote a letter," Clara said, trying to bargain with it.

But the little owl clearly ignored her request. It picked up the sheet of writing paper she had just set aside and brought it to her, then planted a claw on her quill.

It tilted its head at her, its round eyes full of uncompromising resolve: "Stop dawdling. Write."

Merlin, the Diggory family's owl had come to life!

Clara's resistance got her nowhere, so she had no choice but to pick up her quill again.

"Dear Cedric,

I just sent off my letter to you. Yes, five minutes ago. Banban probably hasn't even flown past the plane trees yet. So you should have two letters on the way now.

(I hope you won't think it too strange when you receive them. Blame your family's owl for making me write.)

Congratulations on becoming a Prefect. Actually, I'm not surprised at all. I don't think anyone in Hufflepuff will be surprised. If I really do run into trouble, I'll come to you. Don't worry, I won't stand on ceremony.

About the wizarding dress robes-

(Though I believe you'd be a pleasure to look at even in a vintage style from the last century.)

I think you'd look good in any style, so the most important thing is to pick one you like!

As for that mysterious event you mentioned—if your dad can't tell you, I won't ask. But since you put it that way, I'm sure it'll be interesting.

Yours, Clara"

She tied the letter on, and the gray-brown owl was finally satisfied. It gave her finger a gentle peck, then spread its wings and flew out the window. Its wings traced a lovely arc in the morning light before it quickly vanished into the deep green shade of the plane trees.

She had to say, it was just like its owner.

A very pretty little owl.

For the entire day that followed, she waited.

About every ten minutes, she opened the window to see if an owl had come back.

Banban returned, but there was no reply tied to Banban's leg. Clara was a little disappointed.

Cedric didn't seem like the sort of person who wouldn't reply to her. Could he have found her letter too boring? Or had leaving off "Dear" struck him as impolite?

She couldn't take in a single word of her fifth-year textbooks. Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw Cedric's smile, and his letters began playing automatically in her head.

She realized this was wrong, very wrong.

She jumped up and wrote Rowle a short letter as fast as she could.

"Rowle, I think I've really gone mad! Cedric wrote to me, and I wrote him two letters back! Oh, Merlin, I only meant to write one, but his owl made me write a second!

But I think both my letters were terrible! Merlin! What do I do!!!

He hasn't replied. Banban just flew back with nothing on her leg. I've been sitting by the window waiting all day.

Will he think I'm a walking contradiction? Or does he simply have nothing to say, since he already said everything he needed to in his letter?

Does 'see you at the start of term' mean there's no need to write again before then? Is that it? Is that what he meant?

Rowle, please tell me how to fix this as soon as you get this letter. I'm going mad here at home because of my own thoughts.

Clara"

She tied the letter to Banban's leg after the owl had only rested a short while. Banban gave her an "I knew it" look, but obediently flew off all the same.

When Banban reached the plane trees, the owl looked back and called out, the sound somehow resembling a sigh.

Early the next morning, Banban returned with a smoking Howler.

"Clara Albert!

He wrote to you!!! Nothing else matters! The point is, he wrote to you!

Oh, darling, don't worry. He's probably just waiting for your second letter. He's not an idiot; he should realize why the first one arrived so quickly, and why it wasn't even brought by his own owl.

What does that mean? It means you were already writing to him before his letter arrived! Do you think he can't work that out?"

Clara lifted her head from her pillow and froze for a moment. She hadn't thought of that. She had been so excited when his letter arrived that she had focused entirely on opening it, without giving the timing a thought.

"Oh~ a little girl with a crush, whose brain never works quite right~ Isn't that so, my dear Lyla~?"

Rowle delivered the last line in a mocking tone, dragging it out with several twists and turns. Clara was so angry she wanted to hit her, but the Howler turned to smoke as soon as it finished speaking.

She really had spent too long with the Weasley twins. She was just as annoying as they were!

Banban gave a low hoot from the bookshelf, which somehow sounded like agreement with the Howler.

Clara pulled a face at Banban, who buried her head in her wings and pretended not to have seen a thing.

Cedric's replies arrived the next day. There were two of them.

The first was a perfectly conventional reply to her first letter.

The second was clearly much more excited, since the handwriting had become a little messier.

"Dear Clara,

I received both your letters. I couldn't decide whether to write two replies or one, but after thinking it over, I decided two replies would better show my sincerity.

Thank you for the compliment in parentheses, but I'm glad I didn't let my dad see it, or he really would have gone and bought those robes.

There's only a week until term starts. Shall we meet in Diagon Alley? Maybe we can even go to Knockturn Alley and pick up a few little pranking gadgets. It's time we paid the Weasley twins back!

P.S. My dad says the return on that two-Galleon investment has already exceeded that of all his accounts at Gringotts. He says he'll come to you again the next time he bets on a match. Also, when we go to Diagon Alley next week, he plans to treat you to ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.

Yours, Cedric"