Friday came around relatively quickly, Phoebe struggled through lessons, which were only made bearable by the fact that Harry and Ron also seemed to be having trouble - perhaps not as much as herself, but still.

The only thing of interest that had happened was watching Gryffindor's quidditch practice, she didn't completely understand the rules, but it had been interesting to watch. Ron was training to be keeper and Harry was still in detention with Umbridge, so she sat in the stands with Hermione.

Instead of trying to finish the homework that had been set, Phoebe was writing back to camp. She tried to cram in as much information as possible, but because she hadn't managed to get any details out of the trio about Voldemort, there wasn't much she could offer. She would have to ask them soon and see what they knew.

As she was writing, she noticed Hermione glancing curiously at the parchment, but didn't worry, because as far as she was aware Hermione couldn't read Greek. Her handwriting was even messier than usual due to the flimsy quill she had to use to write, she would definitely need pens soon, she had gone through 7 of the feathers this week! And the ink was irritating beyond belief, having to dip the quill in it every 5 seconds made writing take twice as long. The wizarding world needed to update some of their practices.

Dear Chiron,

I'm afraid I haven't got any valuable information about Voldemort, but I have befriended Harry Potter and his friends, which will be useful. From what I can tell, the magical community is denying the fact that Voldemort has come back, and in turn are ostracising Harry. The lessons are tiring and I still have a lot of catching up to do, with the help of Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom (who attend Hogwarts as students, which surprised me) I should be able to pass most subjects. If anything changes I'll write straight away,

Phoebe

P.S - Please could you give the other letter enclosed in this envelope to Piper, thanks.

P.P.S - Could you also send a big pack of pens, enough to last until Christmas at least, thanks again.

Phoebe would admit she was slightly disappointed at how little she wrote to her mentor, but that would be enough until the next time she sent something. On her next piece of parchment she wrote a small amount to each of her closest friends, knowing they would no doubt want to hear about every single detail of the school.

Piper,

How are things back at camp? I hope you're not missing me too much, gods know I'm missing you. I'd forgotten how scary it is starting a new school, the people are nice enough, but everyone wants to know everything about me. It's a little overwhelming. The lessons are extremely confusing, though vaguely interesting when I actually manage to understand a word the teacher's saying, but I won't bore you with the details.

I've made some friends, Harry Potter (the guy who's supposed to defeat Voldemort), Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. They're all very nice, Hermione's extremely smart, her and Annabeth would get on great, Harry is a bit distant, probably because of all the stress he's under, and Ron is goofy and funny, I get along best with him so far because he doesn't care that I'm lazy, and he encourages my love of food. There's also these twins, Ron's brothers, who I'm not sure about yet, but they've dragged me into a tour of the caste, which is huge by the way, I don't think I'm ever going to remember my way around. Anyway, they're like the Stoll brothers and the thought of them meeting terrifies me.

You better write back quickly,

Phoebe xxx

Her next letter was to Annabeth and was mostly details about the different lessons and all of the architecture, which Phoebe knew was sure to make her jealous.

She also wrote one to Percy, just a quick one, telling him about the aspects of the castle he would like to hear about, namely the Black Lake and huge meal they had every night.

And her final letter was to her all time best friend, Leo Valdez. Her and the small Latino boy had hit it off straight away, bonding over self-deprecating jokes and a shared love of Doctor Who.

Dear Mr Spock,

I hope you're sad without me, because I am without you. I don't know how much longer I can live without hearing your irritating voice and seeing your greasy face. In fact, I fear my time is limited. I dread to think of the upcoming months without you, they will surely be the hardest of times I have ever faced.

How are you doing back at camp, anyone give you any trouble? Because if they do I will swim all the way back to America and beat them with a stick.

On a lighter note, I'm doing fine (other than the unbearable pain I feel from being separated from you). Lessons are boring, people are nosy, teachers are strict and want me to drown in homework, but the food is good. Yesterday, I ate a whole plate of pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I have no regrets.

Apart from being bored out of my mind, I can't really complain, everyone's been pretty accepting of me, though they ask a lot of questions. Some people still feel the need to stare at me wherever I go and on Wednesday I got asked if I had ever considered a threesome. Wizards are strange, you would probably fit in just fine.

Hope to see you soon,

Phoebe - your favourite person in the whole world.

When she had finished all the letters, she folded them up and shoved them in a large envelope. Before coming down to the quidditch pitch she had fetched Copper, the small owl she'd been given by Chiron, and now she let him out of the cage, reluctantly allowing him to perch on her fingers. He disliked her just as much, probably more, than she disliked him, this was shown in the way he dug his claws into her hand and bit her finger as she gave him the envelope.

"Ow! Here, take this, stop biting me! Take this to Chiron at Camp Half-Blood alright," she whispered to avoid Hermione hearing. Copper sent her one last glare before snatching the letter into his beak and flapping off into the distance.

"Who were you writing to?" Hermione asked, good naturedly.

"Some friends back home."

Phoebe must have looked nostalgic because Hermione suddenly adopted a sympathetic expression, "You must really miss them."

"I do," Phoebe nodded and for the first time since she arrived, she fully allowed herself to think of all the things she missed; like breakfast every morning with all of her siblings, who were vastly different, but mostly got along well; like feeling the wind in her hair as she raced through the trees, playfully taunting the Stoll twins as they chased after her; like sitting on the beach for hours with her friends, staying there until the sun was kissing the horizon and the Harpies started to come out.

She really missed Camp Half-Blood, unhealthily so.

"Can you tell me about your friends? I know I've asked you tons of questions about your old school, but I never thought to ask about the people you care about."

It took Phoebe a moment to register what Hermione had said, she was so lost in thoughts.

"Yeah, sure," she smiled, "Uh, who to start with? There's Piper, she's probably my closest friend, we're like sisters. Then there's Leo, he's definitely my best friend, he's very sarcastic and often makes jokes at inappropriate times which, I guess, is why became friends - we have a similar sense of humour. There's Percy, he's pretty laid back but you never want to see the dude get angry. Um, Annabeth! You two would get along really well, she's incredibly smart and wants to be an architect. Thalia is awesome, she's a huge feminist and joined a group to protect young girls who have had bad experiences with men, she travels all across the world with them. I'm not as close with Connor and Travis Stoll but they're still good friends, though I find it very hard to trust them because you never know if they're going to pull a prank on you. Like one time I was talking to Travis about his girlfriend Katie and I didn't realise that Connor was sneaking into my dorm to put blue hair dye in my conditioner until the next morning when I woke up looking like Marge Simpson."

Phoebe could have gone on all day about everyone at camp, but Hermione already looked like she was having a hard time keeping up.

"I've never heard you say so much before," she said, slightly shocked, "and I didn't know it was possible to speak so fast."

Phoebe laughed awkwardly, "Sorry."

"No don't apologise, it's a good thing, I can see you care a lot about them."

Phoebe made a sound of agreement, not trusting herself to talk, in case she started rambling again. Maybe when they replied to her letter she would be able to function properly again.

Not wanting to do Potions homework, though she would have to at some point, she turned her attention back to the quidditch pitch.

The shouty girl - who was actually called Angelina Johnson, but after Phoebe's first impression of her, she felt the nickname fit her better - was, no surprise, shouting.

Her booming voice reached Phoebe and Hermione even from their relatively far away spot, "COME ON WEASLEY YOU HAVE TO DO BETTER THAN THAT!!" She yelled as she hurled two quaffles at poor Ron, who managed to intercept both of them, but was hit straight in the gut with one.

"This seems like a violent game," Phoebe observed.

Hermione looked up from her Runes work and glanced over the field, taking in Ron's hunched form and Angelina's annoyed stance. "It is, in first year Harry almost fell 100 feet to the ground, in second year he broke his arm and in third year he really did fall 100 feet."

"Ouch,"

"Even though, I must admit, Harry has been known to sustain more injuries than any other person in the school, in quidditch you're lucky if the whole team comes out unharmed."

Phoebe watched as another quaffle struck Ron on the head, "I think I like it."

"Don't you have quidditch in America?" Hermione asked, suddenly sounding suspicious again and Phoebe mentally cursed, she should have known not to show such little understanding of a sport that was obviously popular worldwide.

"Um, yeah, but because my school was so small we didn't have any teams, and I was raised in the muggle world so I didn't learn about it there either, so I just never really found out anything about it."

Hermione nodded her head and turned her attention back to her homework, but Phoebe could see the frown adorning her features - she hadn't believed the lie. Merde.

word count: 1834