Dear Dad

[rosewood]

Dear Dad,

I have just received your last letter. I am so glad to hear your work is going well, though PLEASE don't overwork yourself. I know you; you're just too zealous for your own good sometimes. Take care of Grandma for me, and tell her I miss her a lot, and I miss working with her in our shop. Oh and by the way Professor Sprout is really pleased with me this year, and has already said she is expecting me to do very well on my NEWT at the end of next year. I do hope she's right. At least Herbology is one subject I don't have to worry about.

I have not taken any Defence classes as of yet, so I don’t know what our new professor is like. One thing I'm sure of though is she'll definitely be better than Umbridge. Perhaps I shall learn something this year through a legitimate method rather than have to resort to joining a secret club. Not that I didn’t enjoy that. Harry was an excellent teacher as I told you during the summer, and though Defence is my weakest subject he managed to make my performance much better. I still don’t know what I'd do in a real-life dangerous situation though. I hope my nerves have grown stronger now I have a bit more confidence in my defence skills.

On a lighter note, quite a number of fun events are taking place at school this year. The Quidditch season has begun and the first match, which is to be Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff, is scheduled for after tomorrow. Almost all my friends are on the team; Cat, Dorian, Alexa, Celina and Savannah. I'm not sure they'll be playing, but of course I'll be in the stands and cheer them like crazy! We should win this match, Cat has had all the girls practising whenever they're free, and anyway the only new addition to our team is Kamron Leopold. I don't know what's he like on the pitch, he's a bit like my friend Jaquin; he's so studious the last thing you'd expect is to see him on a broom.

The second event is the Halloween Ball! Almost everybody I see is engaged in a conversation about who's going with who and what they're going to be wearing and that sort of stuff. It's going to be a costume ball. I don't what I'm going to wear yet though, maybe I'll find somebody in my History textbook and dress up as her. I don’t know, I haven't talked about it to the others yet, but I suppose we'll hang out as one big group of girls together. I have too much to do anyway this week to go and buy a new costume. I'll try and choose something easy to make.

I love you Dad. Don’t forget to tell Grandma I miss her and that I'm doing my best in Herbology like I promised.

Your loving and very busy daughter,
Julie Rosewood

[rosewood]

Dear Julie,

I am so proud of you dear. Your mother would be too if she was still alive. Your news of Professor Sprout's praise pleased me very much; keep up with the good work. I am glad you also have a few fun things to do this year, the NEWTs years require a great deal of dedication and persistence and as I have told you time and again if you want to do something worthwhile with yourself you have to work hard and make sure you don’t leave anything to the end of the year to study. You simply won't have the time. I hope your new Defence teacher knows her stuff. I am quite sure Dumbledore had a hard time finding someone for the job, inauspicious as it is.

Your grandmother is fine. She made me read her your letter. Her eyesight's failing her but she's as sharp as she ever was. She now has an assistant at the shop, but she's always looking over the girl's work and telling her how to do things and generally doing her usual stuff. I hope the girl stays - the way your grandmother keeps this up makes me doubt she will. By the way, your grandmother had an idea for your costume. She got really excited when I told her about the ball and then went into her room and got me a picture of your mother at a similar ball herself. She went as Mother Nature! Your mother always was one for original ideas, if rather eccentric. I've sent you the picture with this letter; perhaps you might to try something similar? Oh wait I'll send you the costume itself. I don’t know if it'll fit you, but like I have told you many times before you are very like your mother. Here comes your grandmother with the robe. I'll try and send the box as soon as possible.

I love you too my dearest. Your grandmother sends you her love and she said something about sending you and your friends a huge chocolate cake. I don't know if she will, but be careful in case one morning several owls fly towards the Ravenclaw table with a large parcel, they might be carrying your cake. Don't forget to keep me updated with your news!

Your proud and loving father,
Kevin Rosewood

[rosewood]

Dear Dad,

I love the costume! When I first wore it Savannah told me I had dressed up for the wrong occasion. She said I looked like a Christmas tree and it was Halloween and not Christmas. Typical Savannah. I have to admit I looked a bit strange at first, but after Celina and Dorian who are both good with things like this helped me remove some of the flowers and make a few adjustments to the leaves I have to say it looked quite good. I'm going to take some of the jasmine in the greenhouses and make a crown to wear on the day.

By the way, there's something I haven't told you. I have a date. You'll never guess who. It's Harry. Harry Potter. He asked me to go with him after our Care of Magical Creatures and I said yes. I've gotten to know him much better this year, and well I think I could end up having fun with him at the ball. I was a bit surprised when he asked me; I thought he'd go with some girl from Gryffindor. My friend Dorian is going with a 7th year also from Gryffindor and Alexa who's in the fifth year is going with a Gryffindor from her year! Gryffindor and Ravenclaw seem to have taken quite an interest in each other this year. My next letter will probably be all about Halloween. Thanks again for the costume.

Your loving daughter,
Mother Nature

[rosewood]

Dear Mother Nature,

I am glad to see you like the costume so much. I am sure you will look as pretty as your mother did when she was wearing it. Your grandmother gave me a crooked smile when she heard you were doing well in Herbology and when I told her you liked the dress. She said she knew you would, and that you were growing up to be exactly like her darling daughter.

I must say I was very surprised to hear your date to the ball is Harry Potter. You've never mentioned him before, and you're not the kind to keep secrets my dear. While I'm glad to see you're excited, I must ask you to take care. We're living in dark times Julie and nobody knows what's going to happen. While I know Harry would never intentionally place you in danger, you know what he gets up to at school. Actually not only in school but out of it as well. Please be careful Julie, Harry Potter is no ordinary boy as you I'm quite sure you realise and you’re the only person I have in this world, you and your grandmother.

Have lots of fun at the ball!

Love,
Kevin Rosewood

[rosewood]

Dear Dad,

What are you worried about? Harry Potter is the Boy Who Lived. He has fought and defeated Lord Voldemort (yes, I did write that) more than once. Furthermore, Harry and I have not been in any adventures together. At least of the kind you mean. He already has Ron and Hermione for that and well our relationship is very different. I don’t see him that much anyway, it's only lately that we have been spending more time with each other and even then it was not exactly our choice. We were stuck in the greenhouse together when it was raining and Harry had passed by and chatted with me. We were caught by surprise and then the rain came down in buckets, to use an expression of Grandma's, and naturally had a long conversation. Ever since then I have spent more time with him and have come to admire and respect him very much. I'm not friends with either Ron or Hermione and he isn’t friends with the people I hang out with so we rarely have time of our own to sit together. But those few times have been very special, and well you'll have to forgive me but I can’t tell you anymore about this as it's a little too personal and embarrassing. All I can is we're getting closer and please don’t worry. I will be on my guard too Dad, but I assure you Headmaster Dumbledore has taken many safety precautions and his mere presence in the school is enough to frighten Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

Please don’t worry Dad. I will be careful, but I also want to you know I will not stay away from Harry. He has the bravery to save our world and already has a very heavy burden on his shoulders, and if I can do anything to ease it I will. I am being honest with you as always and I hope you can understand how I feel about this matter.

Lots of love to you and Grandma,
Julie Rosewood