Tears of Grief. [open]

Once again, Valery was up at the Astronomy Tower. It was a good place to think and to calm yourself. The promise to herself to sleep early had not worked. Homework made her stay up till 5 in the morning, and she had slept for only 3 hours. Since Madam Sproit has been bitten by one of her own Flesheating plants, she had a couple of hours free to do what she want. Some people did their homework, other did games or talked to each other. The Prefect was a bit done with the useless talking, and homework gave her headache. So, here she was again. The papers of the Muggle Book she was reading rustled in the calm wind. She yawned and ate a bit of the Chocolate Frog next to her. With her head against the wall, she was dozing off, so she stood up to wake herself up. Walking to the parapet, a familiar sound made her look at the sky and narrow her eyes, to see what the small dot in the blue sky was. She layed her hands on the parapet and waited for it to come closer.
After a few minutes standing there and looking at the owl who was coming her way, she guessed it was an owl, she saw it was her own owl, who was staying with her Grandparents since she got Normal. The owl landed on her arm and bit softly in her ear as a greeting. "Hey there Rumble, what are you doing here ?". the owl extanded his foot and showed her the letter on it. With shaking fingers, she freed the letter. Rumble jumped on her shoulder and looked curious at the yellowish envelope in her hand. Who would write me ? I hope it isn't from my grandparents. Or ... She shook her head and turned the letter. The corners of her mouth curled in a smile and her eyes started to sparkle when she reconized the handwriting right away. But the happy expression on her face faded when she read the letter.
My dearest Valery,

I'm pleased to inform you of my graduation on Durmstrang Institute. You are invited to a party in your Christmas Vacation.
I hope you are doing okay. I wish I could tell you this face to face, but I can't. I have to tell you something very important, and I hope you aren't going to be mad at me. I don't have a choice. Now I'm graduated, I have to find a job. The Ministry of Magic in the U.S.A. have offered me a fantastic job, wich I'm going to accept. I'm leaving right after the party. I wish it could be different, but it can't. I don't have the money to come over every holiday, so it will be a very long goodbye. I hope you understand me, I don't wanted this. I have to accept it, it is such a great opportunity. I don't have a choice.
Write me.

Daniel.
Ps. I'm so proud of you being a Prefect !
A tear fell on the paper when she finished reading. Looking away from the paper, she noticed she cried. She tried to stop it, to wipe away the tears. But it didn't helped. Her face burried in her hands, she slid down the wall to burst out in tears on the cold stones.

Pumpkin slowly limped her way up the astronomy tower, she found herself going here more and more often. That was not like her. She grunted slightly and arrived at the landing, upon arriving she heard the most peculiar noise. Someone was crying. She raised both her eyebrows and pushed the door open noisily and peered inside. There hunched against the wall sat Val crying, she frowned and dropped her cane and quickly limped up and pulled Val into a hug momentarily forgetting her pain. "What's wrong?"

Suprised by the sudden contact, Valery took a few steps back. She looked right in the face of Pumpkin. She blinked and started wiping away the tears. "Oh, hello Pumpkin. I didn't hear you coming." Her voice trembled and she tried to stop it. With a lot of effort she faked a smile and looked at her friend from head to toe. "You look terrible."

She waved away Val's comment about herself and studied her friend in concern. "Its nothing. Now will you tell me why you are crying?" She looked around the landing and spotted a piece of parchment and thought it probably had to do with that but would wait to see if Val would tell her.

She bit her lip. "Oh, its nothing. Just stress, you know." of course she was aware of the red stripes going down her cheek. The tears were coming up again, and she zhook her head to get them away.

She raised her eyebrows at Val. "You honestly expect me to believe that?"

She sighed and shook her head again. "No. I'm sorry." She slid down the wall back on the floor again.

She hobbled over to the wall and sat down beside Val with a small grunt. "So you gonna tell ol'Pumpkin whats bothering ya?" She summoned her cane and let it rest across her lap.

"Its kind of hard to tell without crying I think." She said with a weak smile. Rumble, who was sitting on the parapet, picked up the letter and brought it to her. "Read it." She gave the letter to Pumpkin.

She looked at Val for a second then took the letter and read it. She frowned at it slightly. "I don't understand it because I don't know who Daniel is."

"We basically grew up togheter. He's my cousin, and he lived at our place for a while. Before his parents found a place in our neighborhood. We were best friends, and he always helped me with my grandparents and stuff. He is two years older. We both got our letter for Hogwarts, but his parents didn't wanted him to go to a school with muggleborns. They moved so it would be easier but he comes over at christmas and a week in summer."

"Then I'm sorry about the letter, but I'm sure you can still visit him or he visit you right? It's not goodbye forever." She handed the letter back to Val.

"With what ? We both don't have money to travel ." Pumpkins reaction made her smile. She was so down to earth. I wish I could be like that.

She chuckles. "I didn't mean right away, but you could both safe up for later. I mean... Yeah..." She trails off and grins sheepishly.

She shrugged and looked at the letter again. "Yeah. Maybe I'm just overreacting."

She grinned and winked at her friend. "There is nothing wrong with crying, especially since your very close friend is leaving. Sorry I didn't mean to remind you..."

Her eyes flew from the letter to her friend, and she gave her a grateful smile. "Its okay. I mean, I just. I think it is anger too. He doesn't even tells me in the face."

She nods. "I can see how that would frustrate you." she shifts slightly. "Will you go to the party?"

She let her head fall against the wall and sighed deeply. "Its kind of hard to say no. It would be the last time I'd see him. In a very long time."

"it's always good to part on good terms." She mused and thought about her she herself parted with Captain and their... Arguments... She sighed. At least things were patching up. Somewhat.

"And whats with you ? You look terrible."

She blinks. "wha? Huh me? Oh nothing just fell down the stairs." she grinned at Val and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Uhuh." Her eyebrow raised when she kept looking at Pupkin, but she didn't say anything.

She grinned at her friend.

She pursed her lips. Rumble made an annoyed sound. "So... Hows a going ?"