Note Left on Susan's Bed
Dear Susan,
Don't feel bad; I know you've had an awfully busy schedule this term, and so have I...sometimes I feel like we never see each other at all, which is a sad state of affairs for best friends! Well, we can blame it all on the horrendous courseloads we're taking for N.E.W.T.s--that's what I blame everything on these days.
We should have one of our tea-and-revision-and-chat-in-between afternoons soon.
I'm so glad you're enjoying The Fellowship of the Ring, highly fictional as it is. I know you usually prefer to stay a bit more grounded in the real world, but somehow I thought you might appreciate these. I love the funny bits at the beginning with Bilbo's birthday party; the rest of it is wonderful too, but in a darker way. The Black Riders are so _creepy_! Sometimes they remind me of Dementors, only with brains But Strider is brilliant, isn't he? Yes, it is the first of a series--I have the rest here, if you want to borrow them. There's also another book called _The Hobbit_--it's a lighter, funnier prequel, but I've just lent it to Hermione Granger. _The Hobbit_ and these other series' called _The Chronicles of Narnia_ and _The Dark is Rising_ (have I ever pestered you to read those?) gave me all my images of magic before I came to Hogwarts. They're so wrong in the details, but in the underlying spirit, I think they're right. It does feel to me like we're living in a story sometimes and sometimes it's a bloody terrifying one. Does it ever feel that way to you? Or does it not, because you've grown up in this world and it's what you're used to? It's funny how much Muggles write about magic, even though they don't believe in it--it's like the imagination is a kind of magic of its own, or like they feel some sort of unconscious pull toward the mysterious things in the world, even if they don't know they're real.
Thanks for recommending Dawn of the Phoenix, too; I love finding out that an author I like has more books out. Do you know if it's a sequel to Night of the Unicorn ? I just love that part at the end of Night of the Unicorn where Aurelia has to go back to the unicorn grove and beg them to gore themselves, so that her lover can live without triggering the curse. It gets me every time!
By the way, have you seen Zacharias at all today? Ernie seems to think he's disappeared or something. I know Zacharias likes to be alone, or go off with his friends in Ravenclaw, and Ernie's probably just being Ernie as usual, but something feels Not Right about this...and we know Zacharias does mad stuff sometimes...Listen to me, I'm turning into an old worrywart!
talk to you soon,
Eloise
Don't feel bad; I know you've had an awfully busy schedule this term, and so have I...sometimes I feel like we never see each other at all, which is a sad state of affairs for best friends! Well, we can blame it all on the horrendous courseloads we're taking for N.E.W.T.s--that's what I blame everything on these days.
We should have one of our tea-and-revision-and-chat-in-between afternoons soon.
I'm so glad you're enjoying The Fellowship of the Ring, highly fictional as it is. I know you usually prefer to stay a bit more grounded in the real world, but somehow I thought you might appreciate these. I love the funny bits at the beginning with Bilbo's birthday party; the rest of it is wonderful too, but in a darker way. The Black Riders are so _creepy_! Sometimes they remind me of Dementors, only with brains But Strider is brilliant, isn't he? Yes, it is the first of a series--I have the rest here, if you want to borrow them. There's also another book called _The Hobbit_--it's a lighter, funnier prequel, but I've just lent it to Hermione Granger. _The Hobbit_ and these other series' called _The Chronicles of Narnia_ and _The Dark is Rising_ (have I ever pestered you to read those?) gave me all my images of magic before I came to Hogwarts. They're so wrong in the details, but in the underlying spirit, I think they're right. It does feel to me like we're living in a story sometimes and sometimes it's a bloody terrifying one. Does it ever feel that way to you? Or does it not, because you've grown up in this world and it's what you're used to? It's funny how much Muggles write about magic, even though they don't believe in it--it's like the imagination is a kind of magic of its own, or like they feel some sort of unconscious pull toward the mysterious things in the world, even if they don't know they're real.
Thanks for recommending Dawn of the Phoenix, too; I love finding out that an author I like has more books out. Do you know if it's a sequel to Night of the Unicorn ? I just love that part at the end of Night of the Unicorn where Aurelia has to go back to the unicorn grove and beg them to gore themselves, so that her lover can live without triggering the curse. It gets me every time!
By the way, have you seen Zacharias at all today? Ernie seems to think he's disappeared or something. I know Zacharias likes to be alone, or go off with his friends in Ravenclaw, and Ernie's probably just being Ernie as usual, but something feels Not Right about this...and we know Zacharias does mad stuff sometimes...Listen to me, I'm turning into an old worrywart!
talk to you soon,
Eloise