Normally Moira simply waved off most of Juni's letters, though sometimes she did reply a bit regularly, but her last one had actually asked the Hufflepuff to meet her at an empty classroom.

This wasn't one of her usual "I need to be saved" or even "what's your opinion on this?". Apparently her cousin had found something  she believed Moira would want to see. Really she couldn't figure out what Juni might have found. Knowing her cousin, it could have been anything.

So, with no pressing matters to attend after dinner she made her way to the empty classroom after dinner and found Juni waiting for her. With a nod of greeting she walked over to her, "What was it you wanted me to see?"

She and Moira had been communicating primarily through letters. It was like they were some sort of weird quill-pals. Except they resided in the same castle. It was a strange situation,  but plenty of people communicated using notes. Juni preferred face to face interactions, but she couldn't deny that sometimes it was easier to just let everything out on a page and send it. Or burn it and pretend it never existed.

Juni's father earlier in the week had sent another one of his packages-- one of his tokens of affection. This package was unusually personal though-- in it were envelopes with muggle pictures of her mother when she was young, and even one of her parents when they met. It ached to look at. She saw her mother enough when she looked in the mirror-- in her freckles, in the set of her jaw-- in her eyebrows. The resemblance was even clearer when Juni saw pictures of her mom at her age. Among them were pictures of her mother and her aunt-- an aunt she had never met, but always heard stories about.

The Ravenclaw stood up when Moira entered the room, solemnly handing one of the photographs to Moira.

"It's normal that they don't move, for muggles." Juni started, "They look happy, don't they?" That happiness was apparently as fleeting as their lives, though she was thankful it was captured on film. All that was left were pictures and memories. Her dad always told her that memories weren't always reliable, and even though she knew that he didn't mean it in this situation, it stuck with her. Memories didn't mean much when the person isn't there to remember them, too. Her stomach tightened up and she distracted herself by fiddling with the envelope and looking down at her nails that suddenly seemed too long.

Moira accepted the photo from Juni and stared at it. After a moment her jaw tightened and she drew her wand, flicking it towards the door and murmuring the spells so the door shut and locked before tucking her wand away again. Letting out a breath she sat down by where Juni had been sitting.

"Aye, they do. Dad says that's how mom was. Happy, full of life, determined to see the beauty of life every day. I assume your mom was the same way?"

Gently Moira ran her fingers over the photo. She had seen her mom in a few moving pictures that her dad kept in his room, but the one major one was her portrait hanging above the fireplace. These were different, but they still captured the same vibrant energy, moving or not. It was in her eyes and the dimples of her smile. Her sister, Moira's Aunt who looked very similar to Juni, seemed the same to her.

"My mom never knew when to stop talking. It used to annoy me." Juni took a seat next to Moira. "She'd come into my room, and she would knock first but come in immediately after so knocking didn't even matter. She'd interrupt whatever I was doing to tell me about her newest job, a new recipe, or a craft project." She pulled another photograph out of the envelope. In this one, their mothers were contorting their faces for the camera in the most ridiculous way. Her mom made those kinds of faces frequently, especially when she thought Juni was being too serious for her own good. 

The Ravenclaw glanced at the back of the photo, "Lovise and Coira, 1989." She read out loud to herself more than to Moira.

"We were close." Juni said carefully, struggling to keep her voice steady.  "She's my best friend, was my best friend." She examined the photo closer. Her mom had always straightened her hair, but Juni knew that naturally, her hair had big, frizzy curls. Between her parents, Juni's hair too, had no hope for being sleek and perfect. But she liked it. "She told me way too much, things I didn't need to know. She bit her nails and had the worst laugh. I miss all of it."

---

Moira listened quietly as Juni talked. While she talked Moira was semi-aware of a faint envy. For all the annoyances there was still that relationship built, the time spent, and the love they undoubtedly shared. Relationships were full of it all and that was what made them so special.

Reaching over Moira gave her cousin's arm a comforting squeeze before returning to her desk again. "I admit I think you have it worse than me. Learning all that and more, being annoyed by some habits and loving others then one day have it taken away. You remember and while you might smile you know those times will never be again.

Other than the one memory and a faint recalling here and there I don't remember my mum at all. I never learned of her habits to love or be annoyed at. How can you miss something you never knew?" With a sigh Moira shook her head. "But damned it all I do miss it. I miss her and I didn't even know her."

Yo, this post has language bc Juni has a dirty dirty mouth

---

Juni frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, "But you lost her and you didn't ever get to know her. You don't know what you lost and that is just as hard." She said tenaciously, "What complete bullshit, saying that one of us has it worse than the other. It's different. That's it." She didn't mean to sound so harsh.  "At the end of the day, we don't have moms. How we both got there doesn't really make a difference."

The ravenclaw bit her lip and rolled her shoulders, trying to release some of the tension she was feeling build up.

"My mom used to say, my dad and I would break before we bent because we were so damn stubborn." Juni nudged Moira gently with her elbow, "She was like that too, though. The fights she and my dad would get in were legendary." It was weird, how the things that stressed her out when her mom was alive were the things she looked back on with a fond bitterness.

"You don't have to know someone completely to miss them. Nothing will stop it. You'll always miss her and that will keep her close." She paused for a moment to take a breath. In and out, to calm down.  "Sometimes the stupidest shit will remind me of her. And I'm sad all over again. It's not going to stop, I think we'll just... Get used to it."

Moira nodded a little in agreement, listening to her cousin go on. It was a true enough point. In the end they were the same in the aspect that they had both had fathers and no mothers. Both of them were suffering in similar ways, it was just the details that differed. In such a situation she supposed the details really didn't matter.

Stubborn was one way to describe Juni. Moira, however, couldn't throw stones. Once she set her mind on something there was absolutely no changing it. She always thought it was a trait she had gained from her dad's side. From the sound of it though it sounded like it ran on both sides of the family.

"I think... it does get easier after a while. I finally confronted what happened last year and grieved. My grades suffered, I received a few detentions and Storm had me in extra study sessions." Of course she had opted to continue those extra lessons but that was neither here nor there. "It's hard still, but not quite like it was. Just sometimes."