Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday, pre_raphaelite1!
I hope you have the most fantastic day with cake and everything.
a letter to Bill:
February 1981
Dear Bill,
This is a letter I'd have written to you, had I known that I would die with us both this young.
We have spent a decade of our lives together, a decade and two months. This is your entire life and more than a third of my own. I have enjoyed every minute of it, every chance I had to get to know you better, see you grow up, help you find your way into and within this world. I feel truly privileged to have had you for a nephew.
The times we spent in each other's company have always been among my favourite memories. You visited me on several occasions in London, and your first visit will forever remain special to me, not only because it was the first one, but also because you met Augustus and managed, in your very unique way, to show me how very important you both were to me. I hadn't quite come to realise that I was already falling in love with Gus, but you had. You knew and told me so.
I don't know how often we went for a walk down that path by the Rheidol or how often we sat on the bank of the Ystwyth - you know the place I mean - but we talked about a great many things. You asked me so many questions, were so hungry for knowledge, that I sometimes didn't know what to say anymore. You had me think many things over and sort them out into something far more organised, so that I'd be able to give you an explanation that you as a six or eight-year-old would understand.
I believe, no, I know that you will find your way in this world and that you will enjoy Hogwarts with all its opportunities of learning to satisfy even the most curious among us - no matter in which house you're sorted. There are so many things to find out about the castle that Fabian and I only scratched the very surface with our night time strolls through the lesser used parts in our time there, and I know that you will appreciate the mysterious air many parts of it have about them.
When you were four years old, we talked about going to Hogwarts at some point, and I promised you that I would be there to wave goodbye to you on the platform on 1 September 1981. I'm going to be there that day, even if you won't be able to see me.
You are a wonderful person, Bill, and I count myself extraordinarily lucky to have been allowed to be your uncle and get to know you this well.
With all my love,
Ged