Post by Katherine Newcombe H4 on Feb 11, 2008 4:07:05 GMT
Dear Mother and Father,
It is now February of my third year at Hogwarts. I must confess that this year is shaping up to be a big improvement on the first two. Although I may still be sitting at my desk, a quill in my hand and a parchment on my desk, things have changed significantly for me. I don’t know how or why, but with each passing year, I seem to be able to stand a little taller, speak a little louder and think a little clearer. I’m still shy, and perhaps in many ways I always will be, but I’m growing more confident by the day.
When I think about how I was as a child, and how I am now, it feels as if I’ve been two different people: I used to be so self-assured and vivacious. I remember playing in the large, rolling fields behind our house every afternoon with my sisters, occasionally waving to you as you watched us from the patio, delighting in our secret games. Then, every Saturday, we would put a concert on for you. I will never understand how you could give me a standing ovation for those truly awful songs I wrote, especially when I sang them at the top of my lungs, but I’m glad you did. I never told you this, but the only reason we kept holding those concerts was because you both told jokes when it had finished. Your stories always had us laughing in a way only children who have never been hurt can.
I haven’t sung in years. Do you remember teaching me to sing, Mother? Every afternoon we’d sit by the piano and go through our scales. I’d complain and complain, but secretly I loved it. It was the only time when you were mine. You weren’t my sisters’ or my father’s, but mine. Now that I have no idea where or how you are, it seems wrong to sing. I know you’d be disappointed in me. I can almost hear you, urging me to sit by the old mahogany piano, a rare and valuable instrument, and sing our song. But I can’t, Mother. Not while my precious sisters are still with Aunt Edwina, and not while you are not even returning my letters. I have sent one letter a week to you since you let Aunt Edwina take us to England. You replied at first. Where are you? Have you even received them? Did you cry when you read how unhappy we were? Or didn’t even open it?
I’m sorry. I know I need to remain strong so that I will be a comfort to my sisters, both now and when they come to study at Hogwarts. It is only for them that I will do all I can to leave this hurt behind. You should know that everything I do, I do for those girls. When we were with Aunt Edwina, I raised them. Every time Edwina, who I refuse to acknowledge as family, was in a temper, I was the one who wiped away their tears. I was the one who told them funny stories when Edwina scared them. If they come to Hogwarts and see me as someone who can’t even start a conversation with someone else, I don’t know what I’d do. All I want is to be their protector, their confidante and friend, and I can’t do that as I am now. They are now my only family, and there are no two people who mean more to me.
That is why I am determined to find out what happened to you. Even if it means discovering you rejected us, something I may never believe, it will be better than not knowing. I do love you. One day I will understand what happened, and until then, neither I nor my sisters will withhold our love from you.
Did you know that I write to them every week? They are well, and are looking forward to when they can come to Hogwarts. Edwina is as beastly as always. When we first went to live with her, I struggled to accept that someone who was related to you could be so cold and unloving. However, please know that even in the pain she put us through, we respected her, and tried to love her. If there’s one thing I can give you, it’s the knowledge of that.
There’s one thing I must ask you, though. Does she know what happened to you?
I really should get back to my homework. Tomorrow, I will talk to one person that I’ve never talked to before. Not for me, but for them. So that when they come to Hogwarts, they will be proud of me.
All my love and best wishes,
Katie.
It is now February of my third year at Hogwarts. I must confess that this year is shaping up to be a big improvement on the first two. Although I may still be sitting at my desk, a quill in my hand and a parchment on my desk, things have changed significantly for me. I don’t know how or why, but with each passing year, I seem to be able to stand a little taller, speak a little louder and think a little clearer. I’m still shy, and perhaps in many ways I always will be, but I’m growing more confident by the day.
When I think about how I was as a child, and how I am now, it feels as if I’ve been two different people: I used to be so self-assured and vivacious. I remember playing in the large, rolling fields behind our house every afternoon with my sisters, occasionally waving to you as you watched us from the patio, delighting in our secret games. Then, every Saturday, we would put a concert on for you. I will never understand how you could give me a standing ovation for those truly awful songs I wrote, especially when I sang them at the top of my lungs, but I’m glad you did. I never told you this, but the only reason we kept holding those concerts was because you both told jokes when it had finished. Your stories always had us laughing in a way only children who have never been hurt can.
I haven’t sung in years. Do you remember teaching me to sing, Mother? Every afternoon we’d sit by the piano and go through our scales. I’d complain and complain, but secretly I loved it. It was the only time when you were mine. You weren’t my sisters’ or my father’s, but mine. Now that I have no idea where or how you are, it seems wrong to sing. I know you’d be disappointed in me. I can almost hear you, urging me to sit by the old mahogany piano, a rare and valuable instrument, and sing our song. But I can’t, Mother. Not while my precious sisters are still with Aunt Edwina, and not while you are not even returning my letters. I have sent one letter a week to you since you let Aunt Edwina take us to England. You replied at first. Where are you? Have you even received them? Did you cry when you read how unhappy we were? Or didn’t even open it?
I’m sorry. I know I need to remain strong so that I will be a comfort to my sisters, both now and when they come to study at Hogwarts. It is only for them that I will do all I can to leave this hurt behind. You should know that everything I do, I do for those girls. When we were with Aunt Edwina, I raised them. Every time Edwina, who I refuse to acknowledge as family, was in a temper, I was the one who wiped away their tears. I was the one who told them funny stories when Edwina scared them. If they come to Hogwarts and see me as someone who can’t even start a conversation with someone else, I don’t know what I’d do. All I want is to be their protector, their confidante and friend, and I can’t do that as I am now. They are now my only family, and there are no two people who mean more to me.
That is why I am determined to find out what happened to you. Even if it means discovering you rejected us, something I may never believe, it will be better than not knowing. I do love you. One day I will understand what happened, and until then, neither I nor my sisters will withhold our love from you.
Did you know that I write to them every week? They are well, and are looking forward to when they can come to Hogwarts. Edwina is as beastly as always. When we first went to live with her, I struggled to accept that someone who was related to you could be so cold and unloving. However, please know that even in the pain she put us through, we respected her, and tried to love her. If there’s one thing I can give you, it’s the knowledge of that.
There’s one thing I must ask you, though. Does she know what happened to you?
I really should get back to my homework. Tomorrow, I will talk to one person that I’ve never talked to before. Not for me, but for them. So that when they come to Hogwarts, they will be proud of me.
All my love and best wishes,
Katie.
