Owls from Priscilla Chattox-Kyteler, morning of 8 September 1942...
All sealed against tampering and warded against being opened or read by other than the intended recipients, written on St Mungo’s stationery:
To Endymion Dashwood:
Dear Endymion,
I have always been at something of a loss as to how to communicate with you effectively, but I want you to know that my thoughts and prayers have been with you during these difficult times, and that I am sorry for your losses, whatever you think they may be. I hope you are well and that this letter finds you in good health. My heart goes out to your younger brother as well, and I hope you and my son are taking good care of him.
Sincerely yours,
Priscilla Chattox-Kyteler
~*~*~*~
To Addie Kyteler:
Dear Addie,
It’s very strange to have gone almost a whole week-no, exactly a whole week, without hearing from you. I hope you are doing well in school and that you are having a better time of it than you did last year. I know how hard it was for you last year, and I have been thinking about you a great deal. You have been in my prayers, as always.
I miss you, and I worry about you. I hope you have more support from your housemates this year and that you are feeling more comfortable with your choice of career. I suppose you will enjoy having your half-sister in your house, and I know you are glad to have Alanna at school. I do hope that you will spend some time with Mary Walsh and Bessie Mahoney, your foster-sisters, who have no family at all except us.
It is so very odd to be alone in the house at night. I have been spending quite a bit of time at work, as we are so short-staffed, with so many of our best people gone off to the front and none of you girls here to help. It gives me a certain amount of peace, but I need to devote more time to my spiritual life, and I haven’t forgotten that I am supposed to have my Adventures.
Amadeo sends his regards, and hopes you will forgive him for the awkward manner in which you first met.
All my love,
Mum
~*~*~*~
To Alanna Kyteler:
Dear Alanna,
How was your first week at school? Do you like it in Hufflepuff? Have you made lots of friends? I do hope you are doing all right with your Latin and Greek, as I know you didn’t have them in your former school. I know it’s very hard, but I am quite sure Addie and Hadrian will be good enough to help you if you need it, not to mention your brother Justin.
It was so good to see you again, even for only a short little while, before you went off to school. I am sorry that I argued with your father; it was not well-done of us to have that conversation in your presence.
Please write soon and let me know how you are doing. I know there have been some difficult things that have happened at school this year, but I hope it is still exciting and fun for the most part.
All my love,
Aunt Pris
~*~*~*~
To Hadrian Kyteler:
Dear Hadrian,
I know you are very angry with me, and you are certainly entitled to your feelings, but I wanted you to know that I still think of you and pray for you and hope that you are well. I don’t pretend to understand why you want to rush into this thing with Endymion, but since you are completely determined to do it, I hope that it will work out for you. He must certainly be having a very difficult time, a time in which the strength of your relationship will be tested. It must be hard for you and I wish you all the strength you will need to get through it, however things work out for you both in the end.
I do miss you. I hope you miss me, at least a little. I don’t want you to get married at such a young age, to someone who has so many problems, but I know you do love him.
I know how much you hate the dark, and I hope you’re not having nightmares again.
All my love,
Mother
~*~*~*~
To Justin Kyteler:
Dear Justin,
I hope you are enjoying school again this year, and that you aren’t having too much trouble in Slytherin-I know they’re not very tolerant of Muggle attitudes or beliefs there, although I have never thought you were much like either of your parents. I’m sorry about the scene between myself and your father. I imagine he must be very hard to live with, and I’ve always been proud of you for managing to be so self-controlled, and of Alanna for managing to be so cheerful in the face of it all.
I would really like for you and your sister to spend some time visiting us over the holidays this year, so please do think about it. Also, I do hope you won’t let anything your father said come between you and your cousin Hadrian, although I have to say, I think you should be careful around his friend, Endymion, because Endymion does have a lot of problems that have given him a rather jaundiced view of the world.
Take care of yourself, and let Addie and the rest of her Housemates worry about Alanna, for once. She’s not your sole responsibility, and you deserve time to relax and be a young boy.
All my love,
Aunt Pris
~*~*~*~
To Bessie Mahoney:
Dear Bessie,
I am sorry that it has taken me so long to answer your letter. My heart truly goes out to you. That horrible boy deserves to be hexed into next week, although I do not really approve of revenge, which after all belongs to our Lord. However, it would be quite understandable, given what you gave him and how little he regarded it. Fortunately we have made sure that you won’t suffer any untoward consequences as a result of that episode, and you will not let it happen again.
Yes, there are kind, good and decent men, but boys your age as a general rule do not have the self-control or developed moral sense that is necessary for a committed relationship, which is why we don’t let anyone under the age of seventeen get married, and why we discourage marriage before the age of twenty-one. By the time you are twenty-one, you will have spent lots of time observing young men, and you will have an idea what characteristics you want in a husband. You won’t fall into something precipitously as a result of unbridled emotion. Please consider waiting until you are old enough to get engaged to enjoy that level of physical intimacy again. I married much too early in life, and while I cannot regret my children, who are dear to me, I wish that I had had more adventures in life before I settled down to bear and raise them. I don’t delude myself into believing that a healthy young woman your age wants to wait for marriage, but you certainly should not sleep with anyone you would hesitate to marry, and since you are not yet old enough to make that judgement, it would be better to abstain.
I don’t think you’re miserable-I think you were having a very bad day, and I had more than a few of those when I was your age. Just remember, you have friends, and you will always have a friend in our Lord Jesus Christ.
I don’t think you should admire your new roommate for carrying guns-which are, in general, filthy things-but smart and brave sounds good. Is she related to the Zitek family by any chance? Trousers are fine things for work. Do you want to wear them? I am interested in women’s dress reform, but I started wearing a corset when I was thirteen, and I am sadly uncomfortable without one.
Audrey sounds very silly, but it is possible to forgive a boy altogether too much if you like him. I can’t say I’ve never been guilty of that myself. Perhaps now that Mary is over this silly boy, Audrey will get him. It sounds like she’s on his level, and we both know Mary is not.
I am in my own way just as glad as you that I have done the right thing by you and Mary.
I am doing very well and working hard. I look forward to having you and Mary and Addie, and hopefully Hadrian, Justin and Alanna, home for the holidays.
All my love,
Pris
~*~*~*~
To Dracaena Lady Malfoy:
Dear Lady Malfoy:
I thought you would appreciate hearing that your former common-law husband, Ercole Zabini, is doing reasonably well here. He has been pleasant and remorseful, for the most part. Dr Yang and I have been working with him, and I have asked Dr Proctor, with whom you are very familiar, as well as Dr Wilkes, to consult with us on his case. I cannot say we are close to a cure for him, but he has himself under control for now.
I want you to know that in this, at least, you have done the right thing.
Sincerely,
Priscilla Chattox-Kyteler
~*~*~*~
To Mary Walsh:
Dear Mary,
I hope your first week at school has treated you well, although I did hear from Bessie that you had broken up with your boyfriend. I know this will seem like cold comfort, but you are much too young to be committing yourself to a permanent relationship at your age, and I think it’s far better for you to concentrate on your academic goals at this point in your life, for you are a beautiful, intelligent, kind young woman and love will surely come to you when you are ready.
I would enjoy hearing from you whenever you have time to write to me. I miss you and Bessie, and also Addie and Hadrian, quite a bit, and I look forward to having you home with me.
All my love,
Pris
~*~*~*~
To Alessio Zabini:
Dear Alessio:
It has been made quite clear to me by Dr Jameson Wilkes that given the short staffing of our facility and your skill and your ability, we simply cannot do without you for very much longer here. I would like to offer you your place here as journeyman again. We do need you, very badly, much more than the Zabini Company does.
However, I do expect you to commit yourself to finishing your training and residency here, and I expect you to be more discreet than you have been. I do not by any means approve of your intention to marry a sixteen-year-old girl who should really be in school, but I would prefer it to some of the things you got up to here in the past. Don’t think that I don’t know you have been one of Dr Wilkes’ paramours, and don’t think that it won’t make things difficult for you with Laurens van Rensselaer, no matter how strongly I insist upon professional behaviour from all of you.
As soon as Lady Malfoy has come back for her check-up, and Dr Proctor and Dr Yang are satisfied that she has been stabilised and is adequately rested, I will expect you to report for duty. You will of course be granted whatever time you need to recuperate from the treatments we will be giving you, but I must admit we do need you, and that when you allow yourself to be, you are a truly brilliant healer.
Sincerely,
Priscilla Chattox-Kyteler