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It was nice to see that Fig was never too depressed about anything for too long. Bailey was no exception, Leigh guessed. Or maybe it was just that Leigh had cheered him up enough to banish any negative though from his head. She had an unconscious habit of doing that.

But Leigh did notice the violent shade of red that overcame Fig’s cheeks and ears, for the second time tonight. Leigh had a habit of causing that too (but most of the time she did it on purpose). Leigh was glad to have Fig back to his not-a-care-in-the-world self.

And Leigh was even more excited to hear about one of the subjects that had flitted in and out of her mind since it was brought to her attention. Was she excited about the dance? “You bet!” She grinned, and gained a bit of pep in her step. They were about half way up to the Gryffindor Tower. Leigh was incredibly grateful to talk about something a bit more light hearted than losing Bailey, surely now the trip up the grand staircase would fly by. Leigh continued, “But I only brought, like, two dresses with me.” She paused and remembered she had actually only brought one. “I’ll figure something out,” she shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t have to wear a dress, did she? She really had no clue, “St. Aggie’s never had dances, it was really lame,” she informed Fig. Leigh had told him about St. Agatha’s Private School for Girls before (or rather, complained).

The two had reached the 7th floor, following a group of older students and a prefect and they were let into the common room. Standing just inside the room, Leigh caught the last glimpse of two older girls heading up to the dorms.

“How ‘bout you Fig, excited?” Leigh asked as the girls came back down and started setting up what was soon to be a party. She curiously peered around the flood of students while trying to get out of the way, in an attempt to see what was going on all around, wanting to be a part of all of it.

‘Rise and shine, Leigh!’

No one else would wake her up, so Leigh had to do it herself… and she wasn’t very good at it. She knew she needed to get out of bed, she just didn’t want to. She really shouldn’t have stayed up so late last night, after a full day of travel and feasting. Oh well, it was her own fault. Leigh sluggishly attempted to roll out of her four poster bed. She adjusted herself to where her legs were hanging off the bed. It looked like her top half was a little too slow. She opened her eyes, she closed them. Leigh must have done this about ten times before even thinking about looking at the clock at her bedside. It was 8:02. Leigh had forgotten to set her alarm. Breakfast had already started, which meant schedules were being handed out.

As much as Leigh liked to sleep, she hated to miss anything, and she sprung out of bed. Flying to her trunk, she managed to mess up every single sheet on her bed. She thought nothing of it, as she would just mess it up later if she made her bed.

Anyhow, Leigh continued getting ready. Her trunk had already been rummaged through, so any sign of organization had been lost in last night’s tired but hurried attempt to find the spring green pajama shorts and pale yellow tank top that Leigh was currently wearing. In the folds of a pair of socks, Leigh found a piece of notebook paper, folded into a little triangle (a ‘paper football’ in America). Seeing that it was crammed with writing, Leigh realized that it must have been the note she wrote Fig on the 4th of July.

Being completely distractible to the point that she forgot that she was about to get dressed, Leigh unfolded and read the note.

_______ Heya, Fig!
It's the 4th of July, and here in America, it's a holiday. I'd go into a whole bunch of detail about it, but I don't think you'd care all that much, I know I don't. Something about America's independence from England. Funny, huh? You're all the way across the Atlantic ocean, in the country that we rebelled against. Us crazy Americans. Anyway, so we celebrate with fireworks and hamburgers, and right now my dad is at the grill. My mom didn't want me anywhere near the thing, so instead of watching from the other side of the back yard, I came up to my room and decided to write you a note. I've had a pretty uneventful summer, but then again, not much goes on around my house. So how is (or was) your summer, Fig? I'll probably ask you ask school, but I'm just trying to write about something. But I can't think of anything.

You're really lucky to have your best friends nearby so you can have a bit of fun every day. All of my neighbors are old couples or newly weds with babies. I miss you, Fig. I miss all my friends from Hogwarts. Heh, I was about to rant on and on about how my TV isn't working - but I stopped myself because I didn't think you'd understand. And then I remembered your parents are Muggles like mine, and our boring home lives revolve around TV. Or at least mine does. But anyway, you actually know what I was talking about when I say "television," unlike most kids at Hogwarts. I wonder what it would be like to have magical relatives. Do you think it helps people in school if they grow up with magic? I hope not, that would be really unfair. But that's why I'm taking Muggle Studies this year, I'm going to ace that class for sure. I could probably sleep through that class and get perfect marks.

I'm so excited for our 3rd year! We get electives and trips to Hogsmeade! I hear it's really cool, they've got a candy (or, as crazy British kids call them, 'sweets') shop and a joke shop. It doesn't get much better than that. I love sweets. You know what I've noticed? I've noticed that I have really made no spelling or grammar mistakes in this little note to you, my dear Fig. Could you guess why? Because my mom makes me do extra English excersizes … exercises. Ha, I just blew it with that last word. I really like that we don't have any silly classes like Math or Science at Hogwarts. And oh yeah - oh no. I'm almost to the bottom of this page and I don't see another clean sheet of notebook paper anywhere. So – just write me back, okay? A note as long as this one, alright? I won't be able to get this to you until the school year, because I don't have an owl... Oh, anyway, see you later!
_____________________________Leigh

Just after she finished reading, Leigh remembered exactly what she was supposed to be doing. She finished dressing, stuffed the note in her pocket, and decided not even to attempt brushing her hair. She pulled it up into a ponytail where the side part was still apparent (Leigh had always thought regular ponytails looked dumb). With all that done, Leigh’s stomach growled and she headed down to the Great Hall. It seemed as if she arrived just in time too, as Fig was already seated at the Gryffindor table, curly hair more rebellious than usual, chomping down on some sort of breakfast food.

“Mornin'!” Leigh said cheerily as she sat down in her normal spot next to Fig. She pulled a plate to her place and started piling on food, just as some people started leaving. Finally, after her plate was full, she remembered the note buried in her pocket. Before saying anything, Leigh made sure to find it, as past experiences had taught her a lesson ('Hold on, I've got it... one more second. Let me try again!'). Feeling the tightly folded paper between her fingers, she pulled the note out, and dangled it in front of Fig's boyish young face. “This is for you,” she said after his attention was caught and she dropped the note (still in the shape of a tiny triangle) in his lap. After doing so, though, Leigh could only hope that he didn’t freak out and let the note land on the floor, which would be sure to cause a mishap and some very embarrassing crawling under the table.