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Letters Home (1/1) DEATHLY HALLOWS SPOILERS
Letters Home
by ms_semicolon

Rated PG, tops. Maybe even G.

WARNING: DEATHLY HALLOWS SPOILERS HERE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.



Ship: Albus Severus/Scorpius (AS/S)


Letters Home



(1st year)

Dear Mum and Dad:

I know you said it was okay for me to be Sorted anywhere but I really hope you're not mad. James is, I know, 'coz he dragged me out of the Great Hall to tell me so. He says his housemates are giving him trouble for having a little brother in Slytherin. I hate it that he's mad at me. Only I don't know why he is or why everyone says Slytherin's so bad 'coz I've got the best bunch of mates here. Sage Parkinson-Higgs is the only one who's a bit hard to deal with, everyone else is great, especially Scor, who's my best friend ever. He showed me how to put wards on my trunk so no one else can mess with my things, and he knows all the secret passages in the dungeons 'coz his dad used to be Slytherin too. And Professor Slughorn is really nice, he's had me and some of the others 'round his rooms for butterbeer and sweets. I really like it here! But James says I should've tried harder to be in one of the "good houses". I wish he'd leave me alone.

Anyway, I hope you're not mad at me.

I've tried to keep up with Rose like you said but we don't hardly have classes with Ravenclaw, only Herbology, and it'd be awful if Professor Longbottom had to scold us for talking. And it's like James said, you spend all your time with your housemates, it just works out that way. But I'm going to try to get together with her to see if she'll help me out with Transfig, Professor Patil's so strict and I'm having a lot of trouble with it. I'm not doing so well in Potions or Charms either, but Scor is really good with those and helps me out loads! He's even teaching me a little French, 'coz his mum speaks it, so maybe I'll be able to talk to Aunt Fleur a little when I come home for summer.

He really is a good friend. I don't hardly cry myself to sleep anymore. Not much, anyway.

Write back soon and please please please say you're not mad at me for being Sorted into Slytherin. Also some sweets would be nice. Scor got a big box yesterday and shared them all around, and it'd be nice to have something to share back.

Love,

Al



(2nd year)

Dear Mum and Dad:

Well, me and Scor settled who was going to be the next Slytherin Seeker... neither of us. A fifth-year named McLaggen got it instead. Which, I'm almost glad he did, 'coz if either me or Scor had got it, I don't know that we ever would have spoken again. But now we can get back to being friends. And just in time too, as I've been falling behind in Potions. Calvin Montague is an all right sort of guy, but he's an awful Potions partner. Scor hasn't had it any easier, I know, 'coz Sage keeps melting cauldrons on him. And then there's not having anyone to play gobstones with and things. It's just good to have my best friend back again.

James is being a real git about the fact that he gets to go to Hogsmeade and I'm too young yet. Keeps showing me all the neat stuff he's got and taunting me with it. I even offered to give him money to buy me things and he WON'T. Even though other big brothers and sisters do. All the stuff you were telling him last summer about not giving me trouble for being in Slytherin, well, he just does it anyway. Him and his friends. But don't say anything, 'coz then he'll just pick on me for being a tattletale. I just wish he'd stop.

I PASSED my last Transfig exam, thanks to Rose, who made me revise and revise until I was sick of it, but now I'm glad she did. Scor's been revising with us, and his grades are getting better too. His dad says that if he can make at least two Outstandings by the end of the year, he'll get Scor a Firebolt XT... because, you know, it'd be much easier to pass next year's Quidditch trials on a really good broom, wouldn't it, Dad? hint hint?

Anyway, I can't write much more if I want to get up to the Owlery and send this off tonight before curfew. Write back soon and please can I have some more of those sweets, the toffee ones and the little sesame crunchy things?

Love,

Al



(3rd year)

Dear Mum and Dad:

I know you've already heard about this from Professor Slughorn and McGonagall and from James too, I bet, but I wanted to tell you my side of the story, which I swear is EXACTLY how it really happened:

We were down in Hogsmeade, me and Sage and Calvin and Scor, and we were minding our business, we'd just come out of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and were heading for Honeydukes, when suddenly James is there with six other Gryffindor boys, all of them older than us. And they surrounded us and started taunting us, y'know, the usual anti-Slytherin stuff. I remembered what you said to me, Mum, about not rising to the occasion, and we just kept walking and didn't listen to them. But then they started saying really filthy things about Scor's dad. Really filthy things, awful things. And Scor was just shaking, trying not to let them get the best of his temper. Then one of James' friends picked up a handful of snow and threw it at Scor, and well, things were kind of touchy right then, so Scor whipped out his wand and hexed him. So yeah, he cast the first hex, but it was the Gryffindors who made the first move, I swear! And we were outnumbered almost two to one, I mean it's not like any sane Slytherin would've started a fight with those odds! So then the hexes were flying back and forth, and Scor aimed one at one of the Gryffindors, who dodged - and so he hit Professor McGonagall instead; and by the time she was able to reverse the Jelly-Legs Jinx and get a clear picture of what was going on, all the Gryffs except James had scattered, and he was sitting there looking pitiful with a bloody nose claiming we'd started the whole thing.

Dad, it's totally unfair! We've all got detentions, and we're all being kept back from the next Hogsmeade weekend, and Scor got a Howler from his dad already, and meanwhile James and his buddies are gloating and rubbing our noses in the fact that they got away with it and we're getting punished, just 'coz we're Slytherin and automatically suspect. It's not FAIR. And to top it all off, I never did get my sweets from Honeydukes, and now I won't be able to get them next weekend either.

You've got to believe me. This isn't our fault.

Love,

Al



(4th year)

Dear Mum and Dad:

SUCCESS! I am now, officially, the newest Slytherin Beater! Well, me and Scor both. We talked about the whole Seeker thing, but everyone knew that Dhanishta was trying out for it, and Dhanishta is SO swift and sharp that there's no point going up against her. Besides, Beater meant we could maybe play together, instead of just one or the other of us making it to the team. And it worked - we both made it!

So now I totally need that Firebolt XT-2 you promised me. You PROMISED, Dad. You did.

James doesn't know yet, I don't think, and I can't WAIT to rub his nose in the fact that, A, he STILL hasn't made it onto his house team despite trying out every year, and B, the fact that the current Slytherin lineup is going to absolutely wipe away the Gryffindor team this year. We already had Merritt, who's the best Keeper ever, and the three Chasers we picked up are absolutely amazing, and we are going to take the Quidditch Cup this year, I just KNOW it! You wait, you'll see.

I hope you'll be able to come up for the games! I hope it won't be too painful for you to cheer for Slytherin.

Mum, Dad, I wanted to ask you something. Scor's parents are going to be away this year for Christmas - something about his mum's Aunt being in poor health and them needing to visit - and Scor's going to have to stay at school for the holiday. I know you said, Dad, that it wasn't that bad being at school over the hols - but I was wondering, d'you think he could come spend Christmas with us? Either that or maybe I could stay up here with him. I really don't want to leave my best friend alone.

Write back soon and let me know if it's okay for Scor to spend the hols with us, so he can ask his parents for permission. And I need more sweets, okay please thank you? Butterscotch drops please, and peppermint pockets, and chocolate lace biscuits, please please please.

Love,

Al



(5th year)

Dear Mum and Dad:

I think the OWLs are eating me alive. My brain is melting from all the studying. Please send sweets. If for no other reason than so I can bribe Rosie with 'em. Every Ravenclaw in the place is being courted by every other house, for study aids of one sort or another. I'm doing all right at Charms and Potions, thanks to Scor, but I'm pants at everything else. Don't be surprised if I end up a street-sweeper or beggar of some sort. My career prospects at the moment seem poor.

The ONE bright spot in my future is next year's Quidditch World Cup. Thank you SO MUCH for giving me permission to go with Scor and his parents! It's going to be the best thing ever, even better than last summer when I got to spend those weeks at the manor. I really don't much like to think of the long summers I'd have otherwise without my best friend. People have taken to calling us "twins", which is partially a joke as we couldn't look less alike, but also partially in reaction to the way we work together on the team, in which we're so in tune with each other that it's kind of scary. I just always seem to know where he is and what he's doing without having to look. Part of why we did so well last year, and why we're heading to an equally successful year this time around.

Don't know if he's told you yet, but James has a girlfriend - Lucy MacMillan in Hufflepuff, they're together all the time. Even Lily's got a boy hanging around her - I think she's less interested in him than he is in her, but it makes me wonder what's wrong with me, that I'm the only one in our family who's not seeing anyone. I know you're just going to tell me that stuff about "blooming at my own rate" again, which isn't really helpful, actually. At least I'm not the only one in my class who's still single - Scor isn't seeing anyone either, so I've still got my best friend to hang around with. So I don't mind all that much.

Write back soon, and please send sweets. Or those great cookies Mum sent last time, those were wicked!

Love,

Al



(6th year)

Dear Mum and Dad:

Wow! Congratulations on the big news! It's so strange to think that in just a little while, I'm going to have a new little brother or sister! Grandma and Grandpa must be thrilled. Any ideas on names yet? I wonder what house this one will be in - Slyth like me, or Gryff like James, or Hufflepuff like Lily, or maybe Ravenclaw so that we can be one of the rare families with children in every house. How much fun would that be?

Anyway... I was going to write you this letter before I received your announcement, and I'm going to go ahead and write the letter I'd meant to, even though this might just be a horrible time, and I might be an awful son for doing so. But I don't want to carry on deceiving you any longer.

I want you to know that I've done a lot of thinking, a lot of soul-searching, to come up with this realization. It's not something spur of the moment, not a casual whim. Over the course of many years, I've realized that I'm just not drawn to women in any romantic way. I've tried, I've dated different girls, but they just don't interest me as more than friends. The only time I've felt romantic attraction or any sort of desire is for members of the same gender. In short, to put it bluntly, I'm homosexual.

I know you may think I'm too young to be certain of my own mind, but believe me, I'm certain. There's no doubt whatsoever in my mind that I'm gay. I can only hope you can love me and accept me as I am, because I can't change who I am or what I feel.

Please write back and let me know what you think, as I will be awaiting your reply on tenterhooks, as you can imagine. Also, please - don't reveal any of this to James or Lily or anyone else just yet. I'm not sure I'm ready to "come out of the closet" quite so permanently, and I really don't think I can handle the kind of harassment I'd get from James' Gryffindor friends.

I love you both. I hope you still love me.

Al



(7th year)

Dear Mum and Dad:

Just got your last letter and enclosed gift, and I don't mind saying that Scor and I are delighted! Neither of us had expected anything quite so extravagent for a graduation present! Rest assured, it'll go a long way toward furnishing our new flat - Scor's parents have been generous about handing down furniture and such from the manor, but it's still nice to have things of our very own. Who knows, perhaps we'll have enough left over for a proper vacation before we start our new roles with the Montrose Magpies!

I can't believe we've almost finished here at dear old Hogwarts. Seems like only yesterday I was boarding the train and begging the Sorting Hat not to put me in Slytherin. How different things would have been if it hadn't! I might not be the Magpies' new Beater, for one, but more importantly - I might never have found my best friend and dearest love. It seems as if we've been together forever, Scor and I, and I believe firmly, with all my heart, that we will be together for years and years to come.

Only three more weeks until we're done for good! and I can come and harass James in person at his Ministry office, and take baby Sirius off your hands for a few hours of babysitting here and there, which you're no doubt looking forward to! In the meantime, give them both our love (or more accurately, a slap to the side of the head for James, and a poke in the tummy for the baby) and I'll see you on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters shortly.

Love,

Al