Private message to Nymphadora Tonks

[alt_hydra]

Hello,

You haven't written about your baby in a while, and I was wondering if she's doing well. Is she still keeping you awake at 3 in the morning?

Also you asked about my horse's name and I never said, but it's Lady Primrose. Only I just call her Rose.

I'm sorry about what happened to your Foster Mother, Mrs Crouch.

From,
Hydra

Comments

[alt_nymphadora]

Hello to you, too.

I suppose I haven't written anything in a bit, have I? Ought to do something about that, then. It gets busy with a baby. More than I ever thought before we had her.

Bea's four and a half months old, and she is still waking us in the night, only now she doesn't just wake us to say she's hungry, but because she's teething and I think it wakes her up hurting.

Tell me more about Rose. What sort of horse is she? Do you miss her when you're at school?

How is this term coming along?

And thank you. I wasn't very close to Mrs Crouch, but I'm sorry about it, too.

Nice to hear from you, by the way. Cheers.

[alt_hydra]

Does your husband take care of the baby too, or does he work all day? When Rigel was teething he put everything in his mouth, including people's hair and fingers. It was very messy.

Rose is part Westphalian warmblood and part Saxony Maerh. She chestnut, which basically means she's a brown colour.

I might miss her if I got to see her every day when I wasn't in school, or if she was boarded at St. James Palace. But she isn't so I only see her once a week, maybe, at most.

I don't feel that I know her very well yet, actually.

This term is going well. There aren't any dementors, or other unpleasant things, so that makes it better. And the guests from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are arriving very soon, so everyone is excited.

From,
Hydra

[alt_nymphadora]

Junius does a lot with the baby, though he only feeds her when I go off to work. (I'm back to work at the Ministry, keeping the building.) Feeding her is really something that's easiest if I do it. Making up bottles for her is a bit of a fuss. Anywiz, he holds her and makes faces at her. He totes her about when she's awake and wants to be moving. And he watches her when we put her down to play on a mat or in her pen. We share doing all that.

So Rose is a magical horse, then? What can she do that normal horses don't?

As for school, to say a term is going well because there aren't dementors seems like putting a really low bar for calling it good! Are you studying anything you enjoy? What are you best at?

And you've got guests coming from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang--I guess I did read about there being a tournament, but I'd forgotten it. How many are coming, then?

[alt_hydra]

That sounds like an awful lot of work. My parents would bring Rigel out and do those things when we had company, or when they felt like seeing him for an hour or two, but otherwise it's Mrs Baylock's job. I suppose it was the same when I was a baby, only the woman who took care of me was named Mrs Padgitt.

Rose is part magical, yes. She can't fly or anything, but I've read that Saxony Maerhs are good for taking into duels, and they're not afraid of hexes firing close by, whereas a regular horse might spook.

There aren't any dementors, and the nastiest Professor is gone, so it makes a bigger difference than one might think. Having new classes is difficult, though. I like runes a lot, and dark arts is easy. Arithmancy makes my head swim. What was your best subject at school?

I don't know the numbers exactly, but it seems like it's going to be loads of them. I think 25 from each school, so that will be 50 total, plus some of their professors.

From,
Hydra

[alt_nymphadora]

I suppose my best was Defence. I was good at Charms and Dark Arts, too. The one I liked best, though, was Creatures.

That's why I'm interested in your Rose, I guess. I'd have loved to have had a horse. Now I wouldn't have any place to keep one, though. And Bea takes more time than six horses!

[alt_hydra]

Oh, I wanted to take Creatures, but there wasn't room for it in my schedule.

Do you have any other animals? You could get something small and easy to care for, and it probably wouldn't take up too much time or be that much work.

Oh! I just realised that I called you Nymphadora Tonks instead of Ponds. I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking.

From,
Hydra

[alt_nymphadora]

Well, we live in a part of New London that has loads of strays. Mostly cats, but some dogs.

And you know, we run a shop and a cafe--did you know that? Anywiz, we sometimes feed them because we rather like having the company. Bea will like having animals, too, I'm sure. When she's old enough to know.

No worries. It's funny. I hadn't really noticed. When I was at school people called me Tonks all the time, of course. But Junius calls me Dora, so our customers do, too. And other people we know. It's funny sometimes how people decide what to call us.

[alt_hydra]

I've never seen strays where I live in New London. Ducks and geese, but I don't think those count.

I don't think I knew that, no, but it sounds fun. What kind of food do you serve? Do you have anything without meat?

You can't really shorted Hydra to anything, so I'm Hydra no matter what. Dora sounds nice though.

From,
Hydra