The Diary of a Witch, Volume III

THE DIARY OF A WITCH, VOLUME III

CHAPTER 3: NOVEMBER

Monday, November 1, Great Hall, Breakfast,

Do people even USE their brains anymore?

Everyone is talking about how Black got into Hogwarts and are coming up with all these crazy theories about how he got into the castle. Hannah swears he can turn into a flowering shrub because a few nights ago this bush moved when she walked past it.

I know the bush she's talking about and that's Eris. She likes to move a lot when people move past her to freak them out. It's like this big game to her because she's irritated that most humans don't seem to realize that plants have their own personalities and feelings or something like that. I've tried to explain to her that most people didn't know, because they couldn't hear the plants converse and she sort of sniffed and said, "Well, maybe if they actually paid attention to us once in awhile and tried really hard, they could."

Plants are very difficult to argue with. I'm going to have to talk to her about the shaking thing and ask her to cool it for awhile or at least until this whole Sirius Black thing blows over. The sad part about all of this is that Hannah's theory is the saner of the theories. Don't get me started on the crap Ernie MacMillan has come up with.

Tuesday, November 2, Before History of Magic, HoM Classroom,

It's started.

During Divination I was nearly falling asleep listening to Trelawney prattle on about death omens when FEATHERS GREW OUT OF MY HAND!

I'm serious! It was like a freaking horror movie. Of course it had to happen right in Divination class where I sit in between Hannah and Owen who thankfully didn't see it as they were too busy dozing off. Remind me to let Owen know he drools. I just sort of looked down at my doodle of Trelawney and saw these crow-like feathers start to emerge from my hand.

I panicked, which seemed to make more feathers appear, and frantically shoved my hand off the table onto my lap and out of sight. I'm lucky no one saw it. At least I think no one saw it...no one's said anything if they did.

I tried to calm myself down and did the breathing in and out thing Firenze taught me to do. Dianna told me it helps to be really calm when this starts to happen; apparently the more you panic the more you start to change. I spent the rest of the lesson breathing evenly and willing the feathers to go away and lo and behold, they did!

So hopefully the rest of this so called "magical puberty" thing will go as easily. I have a feeling it will worse before it gets better. But then I'm usually wrong when I try to predict stuff so maybe I'm wrong about this too! I can hope.

Wednesday, November 3, Before Breakfast, Dorm Room,

Oh, wonderful; I swear this is a conspiracy.

This morning I officially "became a woman". At least that's what Angela called it when she started to give me THE TALK this summer before the wedding chaos. God, was that an uncomfortable situation. Especially considering I pretty much knew all about this stuff as I live in a girl's dorm with older girls. Let me tell you, you share a common room with fourteen to eighteen year olds, you hear stuff.

If I ever have kids with whoever I get married too I'm never going to have THE TALK with them. I'm going to give them books that explain the hard stuff. If they have questions after that I'll answer them and tell them that if they must have sex, to please do it when they are of age and do it safely, but other then that I'll let them figure it out on their own and save us both the mortification of having to discuss sex.

What gets me is that Mandy and Padma are acting like this is a GOOD thing. They only know because I had to borrow a pad from Mandy and Padma was in the hallway when I asked. I'm sorry but how is this a GOOD thing? I have cramps and feel weird. How come men don't have to deal with this sort of thing? Seems damn unfair if you ask me.

Whoever created humans was so a male because do they have to deal with this sort of thing? No. Well, they have a puberty thing but it's not as extreme as it is for girls. Life is so unfair sometimes.

Thursday, November 4, Great Hall, Dinner,

Oh PLEASE.

The Slytherin House team has some nerve. They're saying they can't play because supposedly Malfoy's arm is still injured. What a load of bull. Malfoy's arm was mended a long time ago, he's just faking it so he can get attention and get Hagrid fired. The REAL reason they don't want to play this weekend is because of all the pouring rain that is so thick you can barely see in front of you. So now Gryffindor is going up against Hufflepuff.

What a bunch of wimps. Slytherin, I mean, not Hufflepuff.

Friday, November 5, Before Transfiguration, Transfiguration Classroom,

Geez, what crawled up Snape's ass?

Not only did I have to deal with him in Potions today, but I had him for DADA also because Lupin is ill. This is the second time he's been ill within two months. Sure gets ill a lot.

DADA class was awful. Instead of starting on Hinkypunks like Lupin had planned, Snape had us move ahead (to the END of the book, where does this sound familiar...) to werewolves. Not only that, but Snape took whatever chance he could to insult Professor Lupin's teaching methods which really ticked me off. For the record, counting to ten when you're ticked doesn't work.

So of course my legs started to get scales when I got angry. That's right, fish scales were on my legs. It was like that one movie my Mom dragged me to see that had Tom Hanks in it. You know, the one with the mermaid girl, I think it was called Splash...Anyway; I spent the rest of the lesson trying to hide my legs and get rid of the scales. This was not easy with Snape in the classroom because he always makes students tense, but I managed it.

Barely.

Saturday, November 6, Dorm Room,

I don't believe it.

Gryffindor lost. TO HUFFLEPUFF. It's like the Chudley Cannons suddenly going on a winning streak; completely and totally unexpected. Hell, even the Hufflepuff team left the pitch with slightly stunned looks on their faces.

Now to be fair to Gryffindor it wasn't completely their fault that they lost. There were lots of circumstances. For one there was the pouring down rain. I almost didn't go but Davies makes the whole team show up to games so we can study moves and plays. He gives a big lecture about team commitment and loyalty if you don't show up to a game as we all found out when Terry skipped a game last year because he had to study for a test. So I went, only because it wasn't worth the hassle I would've gotten if I hadn't gone.

Mandy and Padma declared I was nuts and stayed at the castle so I sat with the team and Owen, Justin, Hannah, and Susan who came to support their house. We dressed in our cloaks and carried umbrellas and covered ourselves with all sorts of repelling charms for protection against the rain. Gryffindor was actually winning by the time Diggory and Potter spotted the Snitch and started to race after it. I also think Potter would've caught it if DEMENTORS HADN'T SHOWN UP.

Yes, that's right, DEMENTORS showed up at the QUIDDITCH GAME! Thank you, Minister Fudge. They'll stay away from the students my ass.

I didn't really catch what happened next because I started to hear my parents again when they arrived and I sort of closed my eyes and tried to block out the sound of the memory of the crash. Owen told me on the way back to the castle that one of the Dementors got a hold of Potter and he passed out and started to fall off his broom. Dumbledore shouted some spell that slowed his fall.

But not before Diggory caught the Snitch. He tried to get Hooch to agree to a rematch because of the Dementors (he hadn't realized what had happened to Potter). So Hufflepuff won the game. On a default, but they won. It's kind of a bummer that Potter's Nimbus 2000 was blown into the Whomping Willow and trashed. That was a NICE broom. Had I not been busy with my own bad memory I would have tried to stop Whomp from destroying it.

Remind me to work on Whomp's aggressive hitting disorder thing. I wonder if there are such things as plant psychologists.

Sunday, November 7, Great Hall, Breakfast,

It's over! Huzzah! No more monthly period for twenty-eight days!

I just told Mandy and Padma it stopped when I got to the table and Mandy breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Good, because it really makes you crabby." Looking over my entries for the past few days I have to say that she's right.

Terry was there when Mandy said that though and he looked at the two of us in confusion and asked, "What makes Jubilee crabby?"

I kicked Mandy under the table before she could say anything and I said, "Nothing. It's girl stuff, Terry."

He wrinkled his nose when I said that. "In that case, I don't want to know."

Boys; they're so predictable sometimes.

Monday, November 8, DADA,

Lupin is back! No more Snape!

It's a good thing too because I didn't bother to do that two roll of parchment essay he assigned. I figured he wasn't the DADA professor so he didn't have the right to assign long essays. Especially not when I have a load of other homework that I all ready need to do. Fred and George were not kidding about them piling on the work in your third year.

Thursday, November 11, Before Ancient Runes, Ancients Runes Classroom,

Owen's being observant again.

People don't seem to realize that he gets this way, they disregard him because he's a Hufflepuff but Owen is actually very smart and perceptive. I'm sure the hat had a hell of a time deciding whether to put him in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. But he values loyalty and hard work more then knowing stuff. Mandy tried to get him to take Arithmacy with her since he's good at math but he kind of wrinkled his nose and said, "Just because I'm good at math doesn't mean I like it. I'll take electives I'm actually interested in, thanks."

How do I know he's being observant? Look at these notes he passed me in Divination:

-Jubilee, what's wrong?

-What? Nothing.

-Don't lie. You've been acting weird lately.

-Huh? No I haven't!

-Yes, you have. You never speak up in class anymore. You keep breathing weird and closing your eyes.

-I don't know what you're talking about. I have spoken up in class. Just not classes that you have with me.

-Not according to Mandy and Padma.

-Oh, so you three have been discussing my habits lately behind my back? Thanks.

-That's another thing; you get irritated way too easily lately.

-I'm thirteen, it happens. Now leave me alone, I'm trying to concentrate on what Trelawney's saying.

-There, you see? Since when do you try to concentrate in Divination?

-Owen, I mean this in the nicest way possible: LEAVE ME ALONE.

-Fine.

Damn powers. They keep acting up in Potions because I get irritated at Snape and Divination sometimes because I get irritated when Trelawney predicts another doom and gloom prediction. Sometimes it even happens when I get bored and don't pay attention to things. It's happened about ten times this week so far. I've randomly sprouted feathers, scales, fur and I'm positive my finger started to turn into a talon yesterday in the Great Hall.

If I don't watch it, Owen's going to figure out I'm this weird witch who can turn shape-shift into animals (though not yet) and all this other stuff.

Saturday, November 13, Dorm Room,

Remember that feeling I had of being watched? Well I was being watched, but not by a human, by a dog. A very large, grim-like, black dog. A dog is living in the Forbidden Forest. Willingly. There are so many weird things with that statement I don't know where to begin.

How did I find this out? Well, I was on my way back to the castle after the lesson with Firenze (still no luck on shape-shifting, just major headache from trying to will my body to change) and I got the feeling of being watched again. I decided then and there that I had enough of this so put on my Camouflage Ring so whoever it was wouldn't see me and made the sounds of footsteps to make them think I had left but stayed where I was.

A little while later the dog came out of the bushes cautiously and jumped a mile high when I took off my ring and shouted, "CAUGHT YOU!" Serves him right for spying on me, which is what I told him when he stared at me in surprise.

After getting over the shock of being discovered he said grudgingly (after I pestered him a few times) that his name was Padfoot. You know, he's kind of weird for a dog. Most dogs I know have very little on their minds and what they do have on their minds consists of the following: food, playing, food, mating, food, and when they're going to get their next meal. They don't usually plan for the future or even have a sense of what the future is. The truth is most animals are like that. Their minds aren't as organized as humans.

Now some animals vary from others. I've discovered animals that live around wizards or magical places like Hogwarts tend to be smarter then most animals that live in the wild away from humans or live among Muggles. Padfoot's mind is a lot smarter then most dogs. He had worries about something that I couldn't understand and he actually pushed me out of his mind when I entered it slowly. Most animals can hardly tell when I'm in there which is why I usually ask for permission first.

But Padfoot could tell and practically shoved me out of his mind before I could even ask. A little rude if you ask me, but I guess I can understand not wanting a human in my head. He was sort of suspicious of me so I think he hasn't had much contact with humans and those he has had contact with didn't treat him very well. He seemed to like me better though when I said I would bring some chicken for him next week. When in doubt, bribe animals with food and they'll like you.

At least it's Padfoot who was watching me. For a crazy minute there I thought it might be Sirius Black. But Firenze says none of the centaurs have seen him here and if they did then they would've contacted Dumbledore who apparently asked them to keep a look out.

Sunday, November 14, Great Hall, Breakfast,

1) Practice mind-meld and meditate more often to hopefully better control Wild Magic.

2) Finish Ancient Runes and HoM essay.

3) Transfiguration equations at the end of ch. 4 in Intermediate Transfiguration.

4) Biography on famous seer for divination, due Tues.

5) Look up spells used to defeat hinkypunks for practice quiz on Monday.

6) Laundry.

7) Clean Gandalf's cage.

Wednesday, November 17, Dorm Room,

I don't believe it. I have CAT EARS.

CAT EARS.

Not because of a spell like a normal person. Oh no, I got these ears thanks to my Wild Magic, annoying thing that it is. I was practicing the mind-meld stuff this evening and went into the mind of this cat named Crookshanks who belongs to Hermione Granger. I wonder if she realizes he's part Kneazle...

Anyway, I asked him if I could practice on him and he said sure, he was bored anyway. So I mind-melded with him and looked at his surroundings through his eyes. It just so happened that at the time he was in the Gryffindor common room, at least that's where I'm assuming he was since all of them were there, and there was a lot of red and gold in the room.

You know, compared to the Raveclaws, their common room is NICE. Not that ours completely sucks. I mean come on; we get an entire corridor to ourselves. We also have a fireplace like Gryffindor has and a way bigger staircase at the end of the corridor that splits into two with one leading to the girls side and one leading to the boys side. Plus we all get our own rooms, whereas according to Crookshanks, Hermione has to share her room with Parvatie Patil and Lavender Brown. God, the giggling she must put up with...

Not to mention we get reference books in our common room along with several rows of study tables lining up and down. But compared to Gryffindor, Ravenclaw's common room just seems so...uninteresting. Most of what happens down there are study groups and during finals time you get yelled at if you so much as sneeze. This is why I go up to my own room to study because I can't study without music. Thank God for Magic Phones, best ten Galleons I ever spent. I especially like the part where you don't have to put batteries in it like a Muggle CD player.

In Gryffindor, people were playing Exploding Snap, Wizards Chess, and just genuinely having fun. In the Ravenclaw common room they don't allow loud games because it could distract the people studying. Okay, back to the cat ears explanation:

I looked around the common room for awhile, watched Weasley trounce Potter in Wizards Chess (he's surprisingly very good at that game) and then left Crookshanks mind. I went to go pull on my pjs when I looked in the mirror and shrieked because on top of my head were two large cat ears. I shrieked loud enough to wake Gandalf from his snooze which is saying something because he can sleep through a hurricane if you let him. It's a good thing there are silence charms on my walls. I learned them solely for the purpose of putting them on my walls to block out Lisa Turpin's annoying pop music. I really wish she'd use Magic Phones instead of listening to the Wizards Wireless she has.

The worst part is, I can't get rid of these stupid ears! I know it has something to do with my magic but I can't figure out how to use my magic to get rid of them. I've tried picturing them vanish with no success, I've tried using charms on them with no luck, and everything else.

My only hope is that they disappear over night because there is no way I'm going to class tomorrow with cat ears. Not unless I find some sort of hat to hide them.

Thursday Morning, November 18, Dorm Room,

My cat ears are gone!

YES!

Saturday, November 20, Dorm Room,

Firenze told me that the car ears are natural magical side effects. How cat ears on a human can be considered natural is beyond me but whatever. He's also apparently right because he had me mind meld with a squirrel name Quick and I am now spouting a large squirrel tail on my butt.

No, I'm not kidding, though I wish I was.

I met up with Padfoot after the lesson and he just sort of gawked at my tail. I'm pretty sure I heard him snickering when I left. I fail to see what is so funny about me having a squirrel tail.

The worst part? It's close to 11PM and it still isn't gone!

How am I supposed to sleep with a tail sticking out of my butt?

Sunday, November 21, Great Hall, Way too Early,

Mandy is cruel for waking me up this early.

Doesn't she know I spent half of last night trying to ignore the huge tail? Well, no, she doesn't. This is why I tried not to yell at her for waking me up at 7AM on a SUNDAY! I thought Sunday was supposed to be the day of rest. Apparently not if you're Mandy Brocklehurst.

I know this Latin test we have on Monday is important but so is my beauty sleep.

Monday, November 22, After Quidditch Practice, Common Room,

Not even Davies is letting me take a nap. Especially since this Saturday is our first game of the season and we're up against Hufflepuff. He's drilling our team in plays, if I didn't know any better I'd say he and Wood switched minds or something. He won't even stop after practice; the only reason he's quiet now is because Maria, Chang, and I threw pillows at him to get him to shut up.

Man, my back is sore. I think I did a wrong turn on my Nimbus this after noon. Or it could be a backlash from that god awful Latin exam this afternoon.

Thursday, November 25, Library,

WOOD is helping out with strategies! Is that even allowed! He says he wants us to win because that means Gryffindor will have another chance at the Cup. After this game though, we're on our own. The entire team is sworn to secrecy and apparently none of the Gryffindor Quidditch team members know about this.

So I guess this isn't technically allowed.

Oh well, if will get Davies off our backs...

Saturday, November 27, Common Room, Ravenclaw Celebration Party,

WE WON!

YES!

It's all thanks to the brilliance of us Chasers too. Okay, so Davies blocked all but two shots and that extra 150 points Chang earned us by catching the Snitch helped. But Terry, Max, and I earned 100 points beforehand so the final score was 250 to 20.

We trounced them.

I love Quidditch.