Letters to parents Dorian’s mother was worried. When he had been home over Christmas he had seemed more pensive than usual. It felt like he was lonely when he came home, and she could well see why… Matthieu and Émilie both had friends in the area and had busy social lives in the holidays. Dorian did not. It meant he spent more time with her. They had pored over the book his professor had leant him, and they’d had trips to galleries and museums. She was a little reluctant to give up any of her special time with her special boy, when she got to see him for so little of the year as it was, but she knew he was craving someone’s company other than hers. It wasn’t fitting of a mother to be jealous, or to let her baby be miserable. And so, sad as she was at losing his company, she was determined to fix the issue.
There was no reason why Dorian should not see his friends in the holidays. The distance was nothing when you had Floo and portkeys and aparition at your disposal. Distance just reduced the opportunities for things to be arranged. Her husband worked with Charlotte’s father - it was easy enough for them to casually mention how the girls must see each other during the week. And Matthieu had a whole Quidditch team of friends - it was practically a standing arrangement that they would meet in the park most days, and that in itself was enough to spawn a week or two of more personal invites. She lacked that kind of contact with the families of Dodo’s friends, and thus this sort of inviting did not happen. She hoped there was nothing more to it than that. It did feel a little bit like he returned here and they forgot about him. Not, she hoped, in a mean sense. His friends seemed genuinely sweet. But it was down to their families to decide their social lives, and there was a difficulty in being an outsider, a much bigger line to be crossed to actually be remembered and recognised as one of them. It felt like he wasn’t there yet.
But perhaps they thought the same. Perhaps they thought he was busy being Canadian and should not be disturbed. Someone had to make the first move, and there was no reason why it should not be her. She had composed the letters, and then had her husband check the one to Tatiana’s parents, and her English tutor the ones to Vladimir, Ruby and Jehan’s families. It was short but, she hoped, polite and to the point. Her husband and tutor had been asked to correct it on tone as well as grammar, and so she felt reasonably confident.
Dear Mr. Vorontsov and Mrs. Vorontsova,
I am writing to introduce myself. I am Lǐ Ài Héng Montoir, mother to Dorian, who is a friend of your daughter at school. I apologise that I cannot write to you in Russian, but Dorian assures me that your French is excellent.
Dorian speaks very highly of your daughter, and I am sure he would like to see her during the holidays. I also would very much like to know his friends better.
I understand that the time your child is home must be precious to you, and I would not wish to take her away from you. However, we would be delighted to see her during the holidays. You would be most welcome to accompany her, or to arrange a visit to us beforehand so that you might know us better.
Yours sincerely, 李爱恒 Montoir.
Ruby and Vladimir's parents had received almost identical letters, minus the apologies for writing in the wrong language, as both of those had been composed in their recipients’ native tongue, and in the case of Vladimir substituting the word ‘daughter’ for ‘son’ and ensuring that the pronouns matched this.
The letter to Jehan’s parents had been substantially different. After all, she knew that his parents were already more than willing to entrust him to their care, and didn’t even seem to mind lending him to them for a rather long time (something she found baffling, but considered to be to their advantage as he made Dorian so happy and was a perfectly charming boy). After his first visit, Jehan had been sent home with a letter thanking his parents for letting him visit, praising what a wonderful guest he had been and stating that they would always be happy to see him. She had therefore written stating how sorry they were not to have had compatible schedules given their visit to China over the previous summer, but that she sincerely hoped they would see Jehan this year, reiterating how very welcome he would be whenever he could be spared.