𝟏.| ✬ 𝒟ℯ𝒶𝓇 ℬ𝒾𝓁𝓁, ✬ {ℬ. 𝒲ℯ𝒶𝓈𝓁ℯ𝓎}

\𝒻𝒾𝓋ℯ\

~

In the first week of school, Eleanora realized that her N.E.W.T. classes would be harder than any she'd taken before. She struggled in every single one except for Potions, where she seemed to excel more than usual. On Wednesday, her elixir to induce euphoria received top marks in the whole class, and when the bell rang, Cedric Diggory approached her. "Back in the same class," he said, smiling. "Feels nice."

"Oh, yeah," Eleanora said, giving Snape a cheerful wave goodbye and walking out of the dungeon with Cedric. "How'd you do without me last year?"

"Horrible, got partnered with this Ravenclaw girl who had no idea what she was doing. And I didn't have the benefit of being partnered with Snape's favorite student."

"I'm not his favorite," Eleanora answered quickly, "And I was partnered with Marcus Flint."

"Ohhh, you beat me," he laughed, then spotted Fred and George hurrying towards them through the crowd.

"Eleanora, you've got a letter from Bill, and if you say anything nice about him I'll throw up," George said, thrusting an envelope out.

She scoffed at him. "Don't intercept my mail, Weasley," then, turning to Cedric, "I'll see you on the quidditch pitch then, second match is Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff."

Cedric grinned. "See you then."

Fred, George, and Eleanora all migrated to the boys' dormitory so Fred and George could stock up on fireworks and Eleanora could read her letter.

Dear Eleanora
As I'm writing this, your owl is repeatedly pecking at my hand, so I'd like to know a.) did you put her up to this b.) how she knew to come here, and c.) why she came with no letter from you. I'm glad she did anyways, well maybe not a and c, but I've been meaning to write to you since you left and just haven't gotten around to it. You know, some owls can sense when their owners are feeling lonely or are in trouble and do stuff like this. Everything okay over there?
Things have been absolutely awful here. Pretty much right after you all left, a guy I work with got cursed really badly in one of the pyramids we've been working on. He can't stop jumping, no matter where he goes, it's awful really. My boss has been getting really strict about things too, mostly because Sirius Black is on the loose. Personally, I don't see what Sirius Black would want to do in the middle of the desert, but I suppose the precautions are valid. I'll bet securities really tight at Hogwarts. Someone said something about dementors being around, is that true? If it is, good luck and don't sneak out no matter how much you and Fred and George want to cause trouble on the grounds. I've never come face to face with a dementor myself, but they're nasty creatures. I don't recommend.
On a better note, I had a really good time when you all came to visit. In fact, I've been thinking about coming home next summer, maybe for good. Don't tell anyone or get your hopes up, nothing's definite yet. You know how much I love my job, but I'm getting sick of the endless desert and always having sand everywhere and not having any family around. My friends here are wonderful, but I miss England. On top of that, we're starting to get overstaffed here and it's not as much fun anymore. When I first started, my team only had four people and we were like a family. We did everything together, including risking our lives everyday in some of the most dangerous tombs our boss could find. Now, I'm in charge of a team of twenty and it's just not the same. None of the original people are on it, we've all been promoted to lead our own separate teams, which I suppose is probably better but all the same. It feels like there's nothing left for me here. I've trained an entire team of curse-breakers to practically do my job for me, and all the excitement's gone. I've also heard of some exciting things happening next year that I can't tell you about (no, don't ask me), and I might want to be there for that.
I hope you're having a good year at Hogwarts so far, write me back,
Bill