The Letter that Never Arrived

When Osmund wasn't in the library studying, he was often found in the Owlrey. Distance from his beloved father had brought upon a habit of writing letters to the older wizard, telling of his endeavors and successes, in hope to impress the man. Countless numbers of letters had been sent via school owl yet not one letter back was received.

"Bloody birds," Osmund scorned. They were good for nothing, probably second rate birds that the school had only gotten because the owl dealer couldn't saddle them on any other owner, and for good reasons too. Scowling with all the muscles of his face, the young Oulett kicked an owl pellet on the ground in frustration. "You lot probably lost all my messages! That's why I haven't heard anything in return! 'Cause he ne'er got the letters, did he?" Osmund yelled, pointing into the face of a wide-eyed owl who, in return, bite Osmund. The boy reacted to the pain, pulling his hand back close to his person and sucked at the place where skin had been torn. "Sods. You're all bloody, worthless sods!" He said and then turned his back to leave.

It was then that a new owl had swooped into the Owlrey with a fluid motion of grace and let its burden drop to the pellet covered floor of the establishment. Osmund looked at the stationary letter, his heart picking up its pace before he bent over and retrieved it. In his excitement, the boy hadnt looked at the addressment, instead deciding on the best and opening the letter with greed to hear what his father had to say. Eyes skimmed across the note. A heart dropping. "This isn't for me at all," Osmund noted, and, flipping over the envelope he sure enough saw a different name from his own. His aura of disappointment continued as the door to the Owlrey opened and someone entered. Extended the letter out to them, Osmund didn't care if it was for them or not, he just didn't want to have it in his possession anymore.

The school was bewitching. Actually it was more than bewitching, she had fallen in love with the magic, the adventure and the mysteries that surrounded everything about the place. Most of the people were great, she hadn’t become close to many people but she could deal with that as she was fine by being alone for a bit. But, she hadn’t realised how much she would miss her family. She missed almost all of them. She missed her oldest sister Cherry’s bossy motherly ways, to her older sister Opal’s more discrete protective manners and her stubbornness that would always make a scene in the mornings. She missed her three older brothers Daryl, Zion and Dale, their troublesome ways that would always bring a smile to her face and their witty jokes that would stand out in any conversation.

Teddy knew it was strange. After all, she missed her three younger brothers as well. Payton, Sawyer and Noah, despite how much she had complained about them and acted as if she couldn’t have waited to get away from them. Just simply thinking about the farm made her smile slightly, wondering how they were doing as everything that she was experiencing with the magic still could not be compared to family. As, she found in the end family was everything and something she would cling onto so much.

Taking one of her usual walks around the grounds, she exhaled slightly. A smile across her face as she wandered into the owlrey, hearing some one she slowed down slightly as she heard shouting almost? Which she found most peculiar, and with her curious nature she did not hide or sneak away, she walked further in to find the familiar boy she had seen around quite a lot. With his hand stretched out with an envelope that was open in it she narrowed her eyes slightly to it as she took it. Reading the address and seeing it being addressed to her she grew more suspicious and curious on why he had opened her letter. “Thanks?”

The girl had accepted the letter and stared back at him with a look that told she thought he was odd. Osmund scowled. "Well, is it for you or not?" He snapped, his tone unreasonably irate for the words he was saying. Though what could he do? He had his hopes up so high for anything from his father only to have them be crushed before him. Why doesn't father love me? The question rested in the back of his mind, but he wouldn't ponder it.

'I will just have to try harder,' the boy told himself as he tried to make his way out of the owlrey, though he was lost within his own thoughts and had found himself tripping over a sizely pile of owl regurgitation and ended up lying face down on the ground. The Oulett didn't need to look up to know that the girl was still in the owlrey with him. He could sense her presence while his face reddened by his blunder. No doubt she had at least seen the aftermath of what had happened.

Picking himself up from the floor and brushing off straggling pellets from the blue robes he was wearing, Osmund attempted to cooly leave the building while giving the girl a stare that challenged her to say something about what had just happened.

His question made her react quite quickly as she looked to the letter for not really much of a reason than for a little comfort in the strange situation she had walked into. After all, she had not been at all expecting this boy to be in the Owlrey in the first place never mind to be screaming on the floor? It all confused her, her young innocent mind running with questions she nodded slightly in response to his question. "Yes it is" she responded as she blinked a few times watching him arise from the floor.

Tilting her head to the boy as she watched him brush off the pellets from his uniform she stepped forward with a warm small smile across her face as he gave her a little challenging look. Which did not at all make her want to move away or leave him be. Stepping closer to the boy she brushed off a pellet from his shoulder that he had missed to brush away and, then without his consent she hugged him.

It didn't take a genius to know that the boy was not in the best of moods, and Teddy found that when ever she was not in the best of moods hugs and being close to someone always made her feel better inside, it filled her with security and hope.

His stare was meant to discourage her in the least, perhaps even send her running for her own life, yet instead Osmund found her coming closer to him. With a raised eyebrow, the boy involuntarily took a step back. He hadnt expected this and jolted when he felt her hand slide across his shoulder to brush off a straggling owl pellet, immediately reacting to throw her hand away from him. "Don't touch me!" Osmund commanded. He wasnt quite fond of it when Katie touched him, let alone this girl who he only knew by face.

Eyes widened as the next thing the Oulett knew, he was caught in an embrace. His back stiffened as his hands lingered in the air, not returning the favor. His mouth was open to speak protests but words were not coming out. "Wha-!?" He tried. It made no sense as to why a perfect stranger would do such a thing and it was especially confusing in context. There was no reason for what she had done.

A moment of pure flabbergasm passed before Osmund found the power to push the frame of the girl away. "What the bloody hell was tha!?" Osmund shouted, disrupting peaceful owls around in the establishment. His face reddened as his eyes narrowed and he rubbed his arms as if brushing off the last of the hug from his body. "Yer out of yer sodding mind!"

Her arms around him for only a few moments till she was pushed away she pushed her own unread by herself into her pocket as she looked up to the lad. A small smile on her face as she allowed him to shout, shouting in her books was good. It was another way to express emotion and thought, and she was used to shouting, most of the best thoughts and ideas in her household had been sorted and made up by shouting.

Exhaling through her two front teeth as he responded once more to her, this comment one that made her smile spread even further as she shrugged ever so slightly. "So i've been told" she responded in a friendly tolerant tone "but if we want to put it nicely, i prefer to be called 'Misunderstood'."

Utter confusion swept through the boy as he suddenly realized he didn't understand this girl at all. He threatened her to back away and she hugged him. He yelled at her and she smiled. She was entirely off her rocker was the closest thing to a conclusion Osmund could come up with, and even that she had something to say to it.

Osmund shook his head. Misunderstood, yes, but still a madwoman, nonetheless. Fixing the collar on his shirt, Osmund tried to collect his dignity and leave, this time without stumbling over the owl pellets. "Just take your letter and leave me be,"Osmund said, pink gracing his cheeks as he spoke in a calm, lower voice and then attempted to walk around the girl and leave.

With his response of his shake of the head she only looked at him, it had become a habit to become what her dad would have called a 'people watcher' as Teddy had found it awfully amusing and interesting to watch people. Watch how they dealt with things and watch how they would go about things. Pushing a hand through her dark hair she tilted her head to the boy as his tone lowered and became a lot calmer. "I have my letter" she said calmly as it was true, it was in her pocket as he had handed her the letter in the first place!

With his comment on leaving him be she only waited slightly and watched him attempt to walk around her which she was not going to stop him doing as she exhaled a little chuckle. "Odd" she thought out loud "You ask me to leave you alone yet, you leave me alone?" she thought once more out loud as in her mind it should have been her leaving if he wanted to be alone.

Osmund should have known she wasnt about to let him leave without saying something first. His frame was in the doorway, one foot out, when he froze in his movement, her question had been asked. Swinging himself around to face her, Osmund offered her an incredulous look. "Don't get wise," he remarked. She was reminding him of a certain grinning cat in a muggle story his mother had told him. The cat did nothing but contradict and was never much help to the lost English girl named Alice.

"You talk too much for yer own good," Osmund criticized, his hands making their way to his hips. It was a thing of hippocriticism for him to say, but when it came to hippocrits, it never seemed to bother them to judge others for doing what they already do. He wasnt going to answer her question. He had more important things to do like sulk and maybe study rather than chatting with the confusing girl.