Technically True

Dear Mum, Dad, and Sophie,

Sorry it's taken so long to write this. I know I promised I'd tell you all about Hogwarts, but I've been awfully busy. Anyway, here's the detailed letter I've been promising you.

First, Hogwarts itself. This place is amazing. It's full of magic--the stairs move, the portraits talk. The entrance to my dorm is a blank stone wall until you say the password.

She didn't tell them what the password was. She contemplated telling them about the ghosts, but decided against it.

All the magic makes it rather hard to get to class, though. Sometimes doors lead different places on different days.

Good. A minor complaint. If she sounded too positive, they'd think she was hiding something.

Magic is difficult, but the classes are fun. Tranfiguration (turning something into something else) is really hard, and I still can't do even the most basic transformation (turning a match into a needle). Potions, on the other hand, just seems to come naturally--I'm the best in our class, and we've got the same class as the smartest quarter of our year.

She'd only had one Potions class so far, but it was true--she'd done it perfectly, better than anyone else in the class.

Should she explain about the Houses? She'd been here less than two weeks, and she already knew that Slytherin had a reputation for turning out Dark wizards. Her parents wouldn't know that, of course, but if she told them all the houses, they might guess. Bravery, intelligence, hard work... and ambition. Better not mention the House traits, perhaps.

I'm already making friends. The two I'm closest with are Graham Pritchard and Malcolm Baddock.

Not technically a lie, she reflected. She didn't need to mention that they were her only friends, as well as her closest. Unfortunately, she knew she would have mentioned female friends, if she'd had any. Her mother always wanted her to be less of a tomboy. She wondered if she should make Teresa Hughes out to be a friend, but decided that that would be doing too much violence to the truth. She didn't want to have to recall every lie she'd told every time she dealt with her family. She also rather disliked the idea of outright lying to them, especially now that she was far away in a strange place. A strange place where she was expected to be loyal to the wizarding world, and turn her back on the muggle one.

I love you all, and I miss you, but I'm doing well here.

True enough, with a liberal definition of 'doing well.' She was learning magic, acquiring abilities the like of which she had only dreamed about. Malcolm and Graham were still sticking up for her, and she found their company interesting and enjoyable. That was enough, in her opinion, to qualify as 'doing well.' Her parents might have a different definition, one that didn't involve being looked down on and bullied b a large portion of her house, but there was no need to worry them.

Yours truly,

Emma Dobbs