Toujours Pur | Euphemia Black

Chapter 55 | Forgiveness At Fortescue's

A rather ruffled looking barn owl flew over the terraced houses of the north of England in the city of Manchester - dodging through the smoke and steam emanating from all of the working class muggle family homes.

If it hadn't of been for the foggy air that graced that early July morning, people probably would've questioned the owl flying in daytime but they didn't, due to not being able to see it.

Especially if the muggles in Manchester noticed that the owl was carrying a letter in it's beak, they would've wondered but they didn't and that was that. The owl flew in peace to it's destination.

The destination that that particular owl was heading for was actually the Sprout household which rested on the outskirts of the city of Manchester.

Pomona's family lived in a rather big country home that overlooked the industrial city that was still suffering with damage from World War Two bombing.

"Post!" Mrs Sprout bellowed when she saw the barn owl approaching the large bay window of the Sprout home.

The woman bustled across the room to open up the window and allow the owl to fly in and land on a nearby kitchen surface.

The Sprout family were seated at the dining table eating breakfast and Mr Sprout glanced up expectantly, assuming that the mail was for him but his wife soon informed him that it was in fact for their fifteen year old daughter.

"Pomona, this is for you," Mrs Sprout said, placing the letter down next to Pomona's plate and the girl picked it up curiously, turning it over and feeling a surge of regret shoot through her as she saw the other address on the other side of the envelope.

"Ooh, has Mona got a boyfriend?" Poppy Sprout, Pomona's nineteen year old sister, teased whilst she tried to snatch the letter out of Pomona's grip but the girl only held it out of her way, not letting her sister to even get a peek of it.

"Shut up," Pomona mumbled as she continued eating her porridge, discarding the letter until later as she wanted to open it in the privacy of her bedroom and not in front of her gawking parents or nosy sister.

Pomona couldn't help but become rather hopeful about Euphemia's letter and she became quite excited to read it.

It had been a while since she had gotten mail from Mia and the Hufflepuff couldn't help but wonder whether this letter would be the building blocks to their path of friendship recovery.

On the other side of the country, in the small flat that the Fortescue's owned above Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour in Diagon Alley, Florean had a similar looking letter arrive to him.

"Mum, I'll be right back," he informed his mother, standing up from the breakfast and abandoning his toast on his plate.

Mr Fortescue glanced up from where he was reading his newspaper at the head of the table and he furrowed his eyebrows in curiosity and wonder.

Florean had been writing letters back and forth with his new 'friend' David all summer but he was acting different about this particular letter and even snuck upstairs to read it which made his parents wonder.

"D'you reckon it's from a girl?" Mrs Fortescue asked her husband as she sipped her tea and Mr Fortescue simply shrugged, not really bothered anymore about his son's love life.

Meanwhile, Florean was opening the letter upstairs and felt an enormous weight lift off his chest as his eyes scanned the parchment and read what Mia had written to him, her words were so sincere and honest that the boy couldn't help but believe her.

Smiling to himself, he quickly scribbled a reply and sent it off out of the window with his owl, Alfred whilst Pomona, on the other side of the country, also sent a similar letter out, both of them with one purpose - to reach Euphemia before it was too late.