The Diary of a Witch, Volume IV

THE DIARY OF A WITCH, VOLUME IV

CHAPTER 1: SEPTEMBER

Monday, September 1, Hogwarts Express,

 

            I think the weather tapped into the feelings of all the students today because it is POURING.

            I still can’t believe how fast the summer went by. I mean, one minute, I’m meeting Angela to go home (and glaring at her for the not asking me if I wanted to take art classes thing), the next, I’m pleading with Rowena to get into her cat carrier. Let tell you: cats DO NOT LIKE CARRIERS. They let these feelings out by scratching you to death.

            After getting Owen and Mrs. H to help me I finally got her into the carrier. Of course I had to deal with listening to her call me all types of profanities but this is the price you pay for having Wild Magic: you know exactly what your pets think of you. Trust me, it’s not always flattering.

            After Rowena I had to talk Gandalf into HIS cage. I finally gave up and let him fly to Hogwarts. If anyone asks, he’s delivering mail. When I did that, I had to listen to Rowena complain about how that was unfair, and why didn’t he have to go into his cage, yadda yadda. If that wasn’t enough Owen begged me to talk his owl (Tinkerbell, still can’t get over that) into her cage because she wasn’t co-operating. Evidently she hasn’t been too pleased with Owen’s Herbology project which delights in throwing needles in her direction. So she’s retaliated by giving Owen a hard time. Have you ever tried to explain the concept of good grades to animals? Believe me, it isn’t easy. In short my morning was spent doing a lot of persuasion and getting cursed at for my trouble. Owen owes me a Chocolate Frog.

            But we finally managed to get to Kings Cross station in one piece and on time. Mostly thanks to the fact that we were able to use Floo Powder to get to Platform nine and three quarters. Well, Owen and I could. Mr. S (KINGSLEY) and Mrs. H just apparated to the station and carried our luggage with them. Note to self: animals and plants DO NOT LIKE APPARATING.

            It’s great seeing everyone again. Everyone (except me of course) has gotten a bit taller, have tans (well, not Mandy because she NEVER tans) and in the boys case, have deeper voices. Ah yes. Puberty has started to hit. God help us all.

            Right now Terry is telling everyone who wasn’t there about what happened at the Quidditch World Cup, even though he is exaggerating just a bit. At least we’ve finally cleared up that dumb rumor about the dead bodies. Stupid Daily Prophet.

Later Monday, September 1, Hogwarts, Ravenclaw House, Dorm Room,

            I think this is the most eventful Welcome Feast that I’ve ever been too.

            The minute my friends and I walked into the entrance hall at Hogwarts (soaking wet because of all the rain) we got bombarded with water balloons courtesy of Peeves the Poltergeist. Yeah, haven’t missed him at all this summer. Needless to say we all ran for the doors to the Great Hall. Right before we entered Owen turned and gave Peeves a rude hand gesture that Hannah and Susan admonished him for and that I felt like applauding him for. When we got to our tables I did a Drying Charm immediately. I didn’t care about the dirty look Snape and several of the teachers gave me either because technically we’re not supposed to use magic during the Welcome Feast. But you know what? At least I was DRY.

            The Sorting Ceremony started soon after. Nine new Ravenclaws have joined our wonderful house to be molded into the perfect little study freaks. There was another Creevey sorted into Gryffindor this year, I feel very sorry for Potter right now. I also found it kind of funny that another Owen got sorted into Hufflepuff. Only it was an Owen Cauldwell instead of an Owen Hollins. I wonder if all guys named Owen get sorted into Hufflepuff???

            Headmaster D kindly took pity on our growling stomachs and all he said was tuck in. The feast itself kicked butt as usual, particularly the chocolate gateau. I learned about everyone’s summer: Turpin had a ritzy vacation in Malibu, Max helped his father run his store in Diagon Alley, Luna Lovegood likewise helped her father with the Quibbler (I mentioned I liked the last cartoon on the Ministry of Magic and she beamed), etc, etc.

            Then Dumbledore got up and made his usual announcements:

            Filch has added Fanged Frisbees and Ever Bashing Boomerangs to the list of forbidden objects at Hogwarts. The list is now exactly four hundred and thirty-seven items long.

            The Forbidden Forest is still forbidden, except of course for a certain Wild Mage with a Camouflage ring who shall remain nameless. Well, okay, he just said it’s forbidden, I added that last bit. Then he announced the doozy: QUIDDITCH HAS BEEN CANCELED FOR THE YEAR!

             THAT’S RIGHT: NO QUIDDITCH AT ALL! I for one am appalled. This SUCKS! What about the plans Terry and I had for the Quidditch moves we learned at the World Cup? Now we can’t practice them because there would be no point.

            Okay yeah, there’s going to be a Tri-Wizard Tournament in place of it. Big whoop. It’s not going to do ME any good because I can’t enter anyway: I’m not seventeen. Yeah, it might be interesting to watch but still: NO QUIDDITCH. This is so unfair. I guess I should back up and explain what a Tri-Wizard Tournament is.

            Once upon a time it used to be a competition between the three largest schools in Europe: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrung. Each school selected a champion to represent it in competitions that challenged the witch or wizard’s skill at magic. It took place every five years and each school took turns hosting the event for the other schools. However, it was discontinued due to the high death toll.

            Umm...okay, I’m sorry, DEATH TOLL???!!!

            WHY are they bringing back a tournament that had a DEATH TOLL!!!??? Why is there even a death toll?! May I just point out that Quidditch has no death toll? Well...unless you count that one referee...but he turned up three months later.

            Anyway, here’s what’s going to happen: the heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrung will come with a selection of their students in October and the three champions will be selected by an impartial judge. The prize for the winner is glory for their school (snore) and one thousand Galleons (what everyone REALLY wants). Needless to say, the minute Dumbledore mentioned the prize money EVERYONE wanted to enter. But there is now an age limit of seventeen.

            So instead of Quidditch we get a tournament that only the seventh years can participate in and that only has tasks about every three months. What’s so great about that?

            Oh well, at least we have an interesting DADA teacher this year. Not that the others were total snores, this one just sort of takes the cake in terms of looks and the way he entered the Great Hall. Professor Moody came just as Dumbledore was about to explain why there was going to be no Quidditch. He entered very dramatically by banging the doors open and calmly walking up to the staff table while everyone stared at him.

            His entrance wasn’t really why everyone was staring at him though. His face was. I don’t tend to judge people by their looks but I just have to say it: this guy is FREAKY.

            He’s got thousands of scars all over his face that makes it look like the bark on a tree. Then there are his eyes. One eye is a normal black eye, his right one however is the size of a Galleon and a bright aqua blue. The eyeball moves around constantly and in all directions, kind of like the eyeball of a dummy or something. It even went to the back of his head!

            At least an interesting DADA teacher will make up for NO QUIDDITCH!

Tuesday, September 2, Great Hall, Breakfast,

 

CLASS SCHEDULE: 

 CLASS: DAY:        TIME:  

POTIONS(w/Hufflepuff)                   M, F                9AM-11:30AM

TRANSFIGURATION                      T, TH              8AM-9:15AM

CHARMS                                           T, W, TH        9:30AM-10:45AM

HERBOLOGY(w/Slytherin)              M, W, F          1PM-2:30PM

DADA(w/Gryffindor)                        TH                  1PM-3:45PM

HISTORY OF MAGIC                      T, TH              4PM-5:15PM

ASTRONOMY(all houses)                F                     MIDNIGHT

ANCIENT RUNES(all houses)          M, W, F          3:50PM-4:50PM

DIVINATION(all houses)                 T                     1PM-2:45PM

LATIN(all houses)                             M, W, F          2:45PM-3:40PM

History of Magic on my first day back. Life is so SO unfair.

 

Later Tuesday, September 2, History of Magic,

 

            Oh my God, we STILL haven’t covered all the Goblin Wars???!!!

            UNBELIEVABLE. Is Binns making these up???!!!

 

Later Tuesday, September 2, Great Hall, Dinner,

 

            Okay, THAT was the best thing I’ve ever seen!

            Malfoy was being his usual jerky self (clearly he did NO growing up this summer) and Potter rightly insulted him back after he made fun of Weasley’s parents. He (Potter) turned to go back here for dinner when Malfoy, lousy cheater that he is, raised his wand to Potter’s back.

            But before he could do whatever dirty trick he had in mind Professor Moody came out of no where AND TURNED MALFOY INTO A FERRET!!!!!!!! I’m serious! Then he started bouncing Malfoy up and down in punishment. I have to say, a ferret really fits Malfoy. It’s kind of a shame Professor McGonagall made him turn Malfoy back to normal. We could’ve kept Malfoy as the school pet or something. It would’ve been nicer then having to deal with Malfoy the human until we graduate.

            Professor Moody is now officially very cool.

            Classes are pretty loaded this year. I all ready have homework! There’s reading to do for Charms and Transfiguration, Professor Trelawney assigned a detailed analysis of the way the planetary movements will effect me with reference to my personal chart (whatever that means), and there’s an essay in History of Magic due next Tuesday.

            Why did I miss this place?

 

Wednesday, September 3, Great Hall, After Classes,

 

            So in Herbology we had to collect Bubotuber Pus which was quite disgusting thank you. It didn’t help that the Bubotuber I got wasn’t being very cooperative and I kept hearing all their complaints during the collection process.

            That fairly decent Latin accent I had at the end of last school year? Yeah, totally gone. I make Latin sound like garbled speech once again. Figures. I knew I should’ve practiced.

 

Thursday, September 4, History of Magic,

 

            Well. That was certainly...I’m not even sure how to describe that DADA lesson.

            So we all went to class when we were supposed to. I sat near the front and got out my books along with everyone else and waited. It turned out we didn’t even need to take out the books because Moody told us to put them away the minute he entered.

            After he said that, he took roll. I had to resist squirming when that magic eye of his rested on me when I said I was there. I hope he can’t see auras with that thing. According to Firenze my aura practically gives screams out that I’m a Wild Mage. Something to do with all these little twinkling blue and green lights around me.

            As he started to go over what we learned last year we found out that apparently he’s only staying a year as a favor to Dumbledore. Then he’s going back to what he referred to as his “quiet retirement.” So next year we have to deal with someone new all over again. You know, I’m beginning to think that the DADA job IS cursed. I bet Snape’s the one who cursed it. I wouldn’t put it past him. By the way, when Moody smiles? It DOES NOT make him look better like you would think. It makes him look even more creepy, if that’s possible.

            Anyway, Moody moved right on to saying we were far behind on curses. Note to self: Moody can see through solid objects, as proved when he caught Brown and Patil (Padma’s twin sister) looking at something. He didn’t beat around the bush either, he moved straight into the three Unforgivables: Imperio, Crucio, and Avada Kedavra.

            The lesson was interesting, if not slightly sickening knowing that wizards did that to one another. What I didn’t like about it was that he demonstrated the curses on three spiders.

            I am not generally a bug person. Bugs aren’t that talkative, they’re very purpose driven: mosquitoes tend to only think about collecting blood, ants are very focused on their duties to their colony, bees are focused on making honey etc. etc. Had bugs been human and gone here, they would’ve all been sorted into Ravenclaw.

            So it’s not like I have a personal attachment to them or anything. I do however mind, when someone purposefully tortures them. Last month I found a pair of boys experimenting with a magnifying glass and the sun on some poor innocent ants and I almost went postal. As Moody demonstrated each curse on the spiders it was all I could do to not run up there and set the spiders free. If I had I would have had to explain myself and I’m just not ready for anyone except Owen to find out about my powers.

            So I just sat there and tried to ignore the screams I heard coming from the spider under crucio and the sudden silence I heard after the avada kedavra curse.

            To be quite honest Moody just creeps me out. There’s just something so unsettling about him. Especially when his eye rests on me. When it does I feel like I’m being x-rayed. I sort of feel sorry for whatever Dark Wizards he caught because boy, they must have cracked after that eye settled on them.

 

Friday, September 5, Great Hall, Dinner,

 

            Snape’s mood has not improved at all this year.

            He’s already assigned a project for us. Geez.

 

Saturday, September 6, Dorm Room,

 

            Okay.

            So, according to Firenze, I don’t need any more Wild Mage lessons!

            EVER.

            Apparently I’ve “learned all I need to know from him”.

            Now that I’ve gone over all the books he gave me in the early days I see that he’s...well right. I’ve learned all my powers: shape-shifting, making plants grow fast, healing, magical meditation, and listening to animals and plants. Learning the spells I can use with Wild Magic is pretty much in the books so if I ever need to know them they’re there.

            He said I was free to contact him if a problem came up but basically I don’t need the lessons anymore. Sadly, this meant I had to give the Camouflage Ring back. Bummer.

            So no more sneaking into the Forbidden Forest on Saturday nights. No more extra reading assignments. No more Firenze.

            This is going to take some getting used to.

 

Sunday, September 7, Great Hall, Breakfast,

 

THINGS TO DO:

1) Finish HoM, and Ancient Runes essay

2) Read up on the history of the Imperious Curse for DADA

3) Feed plants in Greenhouse 8 for Professor Sprout

4) Latin reading and translation

5) Finish up star charts for Divination (think up good deaths)

6) Repot herb garden, they’re complaining about space.

7) Think up present for Jessie’s birthday in three weeks

8) See if Calming Draught will work on Rowena, she’s been way to hyper lately.

 

Monday Morning, September 8, Great Hall, Breakfast,

 

            Monday mornings SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Tuesday, September 9, Divination,

 

            I can’t believe Trelawney is FALLING for this!

            Potter and Weasley so made this stuff up! I mean seriously: drowning? Decapitation? Death by rampaging Hippogriff? Where in Hogwarts does Ron Weasley think he’s going to find a rampaging Hippogriff? Buckbeak is long gone and Hagrid hasn’t brought back any Hippogriffs. Though according to Owen he’s brought back something much worse: Skrewts. Whatever those are.

            I mean, okay, I made my stuff up too. But at least my stuff is believable! It is quite possible to fall down staircases and break your neck here. Look at all the moving staircases! But does Trelawney praise me for bravely facing my fate? No.

            Not that I really want her too, it’s just the principle of the matter.

 

Wednesday, September 10, Ravenclaw Common Room,

 

            Terry, Max, and I have all decided that we are going to practice Quidditch anyway. We’re not telling Davies because if we do, he’ll totally go for it and make the whole team practice and then Maria, Michael, and Chang would be mad at us.

            Since Max has a lot of work this year (apparently O.W.L. year is a killer work wise, not looking forward to it) we’ll probably only meet once a week or possibly twice a week. It will depend on our schedules. Mandy and Padma are trying to talk me into going to Charms Club this week with them. I’ve never been much of a joiner, mostly because the clubs at the schools I went to didn’t really interest me that much. Except for Art Club back in LA. That I liked, up until the school had to cut the funding for it and it had to be disbanded.

            The first meeting of the year is this Friday. I’ve got time to decide if I want to go.

 

Thursday Night, September 11, Dorm Room,

 

            Fine. I’m going to the Charms Club meeting. If only to shut Mandy up.

 

Friday, September 12, After Charms Club Meeting, Great Hall,

 

            I guess that wasn’t so bad.

            Mostly we just discussed charmwork and what works, what doesn’t, tips for difficult charms, etc. Flitwick is the club supervisor and he seemed pleased that I was there. The meeting was fairly interesting. I found out stuff about charms that I didn’t find out in normal classes. Plus tips for charms we don’t always learn in the classroom and where to find them.

            The members were okay. A couple of Ravenclaws were there besides me, Mandy, and Padma. Anthony showed up, along with (unfortunately) Zacharias Smith. I don’t know what it is about Smith but sometimes I just want to smack him. Maybe it’s his holier-than-thou attitude that he sometimes gets. You know the type: the kind of people who think they are always right and you are just plain stupid for not thinking so as well.

            Unfortunately, he seems to like me, as in LIKE like me (not to sound like I’m in fifth grade or anything). At least that’s what Mandy and Padma think. I hope to God they’re wrong because Smith is so far from my type it’s not funny. Okay, so I don’t have a type, but if I did, I can guarantee that Smith would not resemble the type. I think I’m going to try and avoid him from now on.

 

Saturday, September 13, Dorm Room,

 

            So Terry, Max, and I had our pseudo practice today. Davies would have been proud of us: we were very organized. We went through warm-ups like usual. Then went through the plays we already knew.

            After an hour of that, we flew to the ground and poured over my copy of The Chasers Bible to look up the plays from the Quidditch World Cup. We tried two plays tonight and boy, they’re more difficult then the book makes them look. But we almost got it down. We’re going to practice it more next week hopefully.

            At least these practices sort of make up for the no Wild Mage lessons. It’s weird, I feel like I should be heading towards the Forbidden Forest now. Instead, I’m sitting here at my desk procrastinating once again on my Potions essay.

 

Sunday, September 14, Great Hall, Breakfast,

 

THINGS TO DO

1) Finish HoM, Potions, DADA essay

2) Transfiguration equations at the end of chapter twenty

3) Rune translation

4) Drawing of plant with labels for Herbology

5) Read book on Summoning Charms for Charms

6) Write letters home

7) Buy primer paint at Hogsmeade.

8) Avoid Smith

 

Later Sunday, September 14, Dorm Room,

 

            Okay, when you see someone sketching wouldn’t that tell you that they WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE??? Logic would point in that direction. But apparently, Zacharias Smith doesn’t have much logic to speak of because when I’m sitting in front of the fireplace in the common room trying to practice my portrait skills he comes up and starts to talk to me.

            My friends, while not creative people, know better then to try and interrupt me when I’m in what I like to call my creative zone. I do not like being interrupted when I’m trying to create something, it’s one of my pet peeves. I’ve been known to snap at people when they do this.

            I didn’t snap at Smith right away because I figured hey, he doesn’t know me that well, so maybe he doesn’t know I get annoyed at this. So I gave monosyllabic answers when he tried to get me to talk about...what was it he wanted to talk about anyway? I wasn’t really paying attention. Too annoyed I guess.

            FINALLY after about half an hour he gave up trying to draw me into conversation.

            I know it was probably kind of rude, but really, I just don’t like Smith. Hopefully this will keep him away from me for awhile.

 

Monday, September 15, Latin Class,

 

            I’m so glad we’re having a Hogsmeade trip this weekend. I went to start an oil landscape for the area around Hogwarts, which is really beautiful by the way, and discovered I was out of not only primer paint like I knew I was, but a) black oil paint, b) white oil paint, c) stretchers for my canvas, and d) nails for the stretchers.

            Why do I always run out of stuff at the same time? It’s annoying.

 

Tuesday, September 16, History of Magic,

 

            MORE GOBLIN WARS.

            Will I never be free of these damn things?!

 

Thursday, September 18, History of Magic,

 

            Professor Moody is OUT OF HIS MIND!

            He performed the Imperious Curse on the students! That’s the Unforgivable that puts someone under complete control of whoever casts the spell. Is he even allowed to do that? I mean Imperious is against the freaking law for crying out loud! He can shout constant vigilance at me all he wants, casting Imperious is still ILLEGAL.

            I would’ve walked out of there but...I have to admit, seeing Imperious at work sounded intriguing. Learning about these curses is sort of like watching horror movies: even though you know the movies are wrong on so many levels (bad acting, cheesy special effects etc.) you just can’t stop going to them.

            Moody went through each student one by one. I tried to fight the curse, honestly I did. But no matter what my brain told me otherwise, I just felt the need to suddenly start waltzing around the room with an imaginary partner. Never mind that I don’t know how to waltz or do any dancing of any kind. I suppose he could have made me do a lot worse.

            He made Dean Thomas jump up and down singing the national anthem (his voice is even worse then mine). Lavender Brown went around acting like a squirrel. Padma started to suddenly tap dance. Or tap dance as well as she could in sneakers. Neville did back flips across the room, a feat I know he could not possibly have done on his own.

            The real surprise came when he got to Potter though. He managed to fight off the Imperious Curse! I didn’t even know you could do that! But then I don’t know why I’m surprised. The reading I did said extremely stubborn people can manage to fight off the curse and when you look at Potters aura there’s a lot of red and orange in it which usually means there’s a lot of stubbornness and pride in the person.

            I don’t know why but the more classes I have with Moody the less I like him. It’s not that he’s done anything to make me uncomfortable, it’s just that there’s something...I don’t know, off about him. Maybe all that black in his aura make me uneasy, I don’t know. His eye doesn’t help matters either. I hate it when it rests on me, I feel like he’s sizing me up or something. Something about him just makes me not trust him.

            No, it’s not just the fact that he’s off his rocker, either.

 

Friday, September 19, Latin Notes,

 

-Mandy, did you get the answer to number four?

            -Yes. But I’m not going to tell you.

-Oh, come ON.

            -NO.

-PLEASE???

            -NO! Figure it out yourself!

-I’ve TRIED! My brain has shut down today, remember?

            -Brains can’t shut down, Jubilee. If yours did, you’d be dead.

-Then why isn’t it working properly?

-Possibly because you’re busy writing notes instead of working like you’re supposed to be doing.

-I’m annoying you right now, aren’t I?

            -YES!

-Sorry.

            -Get back to work, PLEASE?

-Touchy, touchy.

 

Saturday, September 20, Hogsmeade, Three Broomsticks,

 

            Butterbeer, Butterbeer, oh how I’ve missed thee.

            So the shopping trip was successful, more or less. I bought the art supplies I needed and I found a copy of Famous Wizard Plays, Volume I in One Sickle Books, and found a new CD to tide me over for the month. I also stocked up on Chocolate Frogs and Sugar Quills.

            Next Hogsmeade trip I’m going to bring my sketchbook and draw the Shrieking Shack. It’s really cool looking, I don’t know why I haven’t tried to draw it before.

            Oh no, Smith is here. Time to hide.

 

Later Saturday, September 20, Carriage Going Back to Hogwarts,

 

            Okay, I would just like to point out to Owen that I am NOT a coward.

            Hiding from Smith is not a cowardly thing to do, it’s a polite thing to do. I don’t like him even though he likes me so avoiding him at all costs is the thing to do because it makes it so I won’t have to say something cruel to get him to leave me alone.

            Really, I’m sparing his feelings here.

 

Sunday, September 21, Great Hall, Breakfast,

 

THINGS TO DO

1) Finish HoM and Herbology essay

2) Runes and Latin translations

3) Reading for Charms, DADA, and HoM

4) Transfiguration questions at the end of chapter

5) Avoid Smith (do homework in dorm to do this)

6) Start Famous Wizard Plays, Volume I

7) Categorize CD

8) Start landscape painting

 

 

Monday, September 22, Latin Notes,

 

-Padma, how do you let someone down gently that you don’t like them?

            -Huh? Why are you asking me?

-Well, I can’t ask Owen, he’d laugh his head off. Ditto Mandy. Hannah...I like her and all but she would squeal over the fact that a boy likes me at all. She’s a hopeless romantic, you know that. So you’re my best bet.

            -Gee, thanks J.

-You’re welcome. So?

-Hmm...I honestly don’t know. I think your best bet is to just tell him that you don’t see him that way. It’s not him, it’s you and that there’s sure to be someone more worthy of his attention.

-“More worthy of his attention?!” Uh...hey!

            -This is about Smith, right?

-Yeah.

            -If you appeal to his ego, he’ll probably get over it.

-I guess so. How do you know this stuff? You’ve never even been on a date! Have you???

-No, I haven’t. I just happen to read a lot of romance stories and listen to my sister who surprisingly has pretty good advice about guys. She, I know, has been on dates.

-With who???

-Some older guys in Gryffindor, I think. I’ve never really asked. We tend to stay out of each others private life.

-That’s probably wise.

 

Tuesday, September 23, Divination,

 

-Owen, why should we care about the impact of Mars again?

            -Something about how it represents coming war or strife or something like that.

-Well, that makes since. I mean in mythology Mars was the God of War.

            -Oh right. Muggle mythology. So what’s this about Smith having a crush on you?

-What? Who told you that?

            -Oh, Mandy mentioned it yesterday in the library. Our little Jubilee has a suitor!

-SHUT UP!

            -Jubilee and Zacharias sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

-What are you, five?

            -I’m sorry, I just find this very funny.

-Yeah, you would.

-Oh all right, you know I’m just kidding. I mean it’s not like you actually like Smith back or anything. You don’t, right?

-NO. Please, give me some credit! Maybe if he wasn’t such a pompous know-it-all, I might like him as a friend, but since he is...

            -Poor Zacharias. You’re going to break his heart.

-Oh, I am NOT. This is one of those stupid crushes. Like the one I though I had on Max in second year.

            -Max? Max Underhill? When did you have a crush on him???

-When I first started playing Quidditch on the Ravenclaw team. It didn’t last though. Besides, he just sees me a kid sister or something. The point is, Smith will get over it, and then he’ll find some other poor girl to annoy. I hope it’s Turpin.

            -I can’t believe you had a crush on someone and never told me!

-What, we tell each other who we like now? You never told me about that crush you had on Professor Sinistra.

            -What!? How do you know about that?!

-It was kind of obvious, Owen.

            -Yeah, I guess it was.

-If it makes you feel any better, half the other guys in our year had a crush on her then too.

-It doesn’t really help. At least I know I’m not the only one who went through an embarrassing first crush. Though, I got to say, you hid yours better then I hid mine.

-Yeah. Those years of making my face blank while Grandfather lectured me finally paid off.

            -Hold on, when did Trelawney start talking about Jupiter???

 

Wednesday, September 24, Charms,

 

PRACTICE SPEECH FOR LETTING SMITH DOWN GENTLY:

Zacharias, we need to talk.

[insert whatever he might say]

You’re a great guy, really. But this following me around thing has got to stop. No offense to you or anything, it’s just...

            Oh brother. I can’t come up with anything that doesn’t sound egotistical. What if I just blew this way out proportion and he doesn’t even like me that way? If that’s the case, I’ll sound really stupid.

            Hey, maybe that is it and I won’t have to do anything! Meaning no awkwardness!

            What, I can’t dream?

 

Thursday, September 25, History of Magic,

 

            Whoa.

            Apparently, I’m not the only one around here who doesn’t like Moody. Though it’s not that I don’t like Moody, it’s just that he makes me uncomfortable for some reason. Snape on the other hand, hates his guts from what I saw. If Snape’s glares could kill, Moody would be pushing up daisies as we speak. Actually, the whole school would be pushing daisies, come to think of it.

            Anyway, Professor Moody kept me behind in DADA to talk about my essay. Apparently I need to use evidence to back up my opinions from now on. Whatever. I can find evidence if I have too. Though last I checked, DADA was not debate class. I wonder if that’s Snape’s problem with my essays? I doubt it, but it couldn’t hurt to try it next time.

            So I went back to my desk to get my bag and gather up my stuff when Snape stormed into the classroom, making me spill my ink. I glared at him but he didn’t pay any attention to me. He just marched over to Moody’s desk and here’s what happened:

SNAPE: Moody! What is the meaning of this!?

MOODY: [raises eyebrow] Meaning of what?

SNAPE: You know damn well what! You searched my office without permission!

MOODY: [sarcastically] Did I?

SNAPE: You know you bloody did! You had no damn right!

MOODY: Professor Dumbledore hired me to keep an eye on things around here.

SNAPE: Keeping an eye on things includes searching my office? [all said very sarcastically.]

MOODY: As a matter of fact, it does Snape. Good day.

            I half expected Snape to hex him as he walked out the room or Moody to spontaneously combust from his glare or something.

            I am the first to admit that I do not like Snape that much. Yes, I learn in Potions, sort of. But honestly I find him grouchy, mean, and a grudge holder. Not to mention not very open to opinions as proved by my essays. I even have to admit with the creepy black eyes, hooked nose, and greasy hair, he does seem like the non-trustworthy type. But I try to go by this saying: you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover.

            Obviously he must be trustworthy to some extent because Dumbledore hired him. Now aside from one or two certain DADA professors I won’t mention, Dumbledore’s a pretty good judge of character from what I’ve seen. So if he trusts Snape enough to hire him for this long then he must be a good guy to some extent right? Or you know, Dumbledore just might not want to go through the trouble of finding a Potions Master along with a DADA professor.

            So what is Moody doing searching his office? Don’t you need a warrent for that sort of thing? Or is that just the police? I don’t really know how the Auror system works. Maybe I should ask Kingsley next time I see him. Hey! I remembered to call him Kingsley!

            Plus, what’s this “keeping an eye on things” business about? Keeping an eye on what??? The Tri-Wizard Tournament? Fred and George Weasley (what, it’s totally understandable with the mayhem they tend to cause). Weird. Where’s Sherlock Holmes when you need him?

            Any sympathy I had gotten for Snape’s predicament evaporated however as soon as Moody walked out the door. After he left, Snape spotted me standing in the back of the classroom and glared at me. “Ten points from Ravenclaw for eavesdropping, Johanson,” he snapped, and then he stalked out of the room.

            Jerk.

 

Friday, September 26, Ancient Runes,

 

            I think I’m going to go visit Firenze tomorrow night.

            He never said I couldn’t and I kind of want to see how he’s doing. Plus, possibly ask him about REAL astrology because Trelawney? Does NOT know what she’s talking about.

 

Saturday, September 27, Dorm Room,

 

            Okay, THAT was rude.

            I went into the Forbidden Forest to go see Firenze, right? I didn’t get caught once either since I shape-shifted into a cat by the way. I love being a Wild Mage sometimes. Anyway, I get to the forest and instead of finding Firenze I ran into Bane, my favorite (note sarcasm) centaur. He just sort of sneered at me. “What are you doing here, Wild Mage?”

            I looked at him and couldn’t help but glare at his tone. Why is it whenever we run into each other he acts all condescending and makes me want to punch him? What, it would kill him to be nice for once? Maybe that’s why I don’t like Zacharias that much. He sort of reminds me of Bane. I honestly tried not to be insulted by his tone but dude, ANYONE would have been insulted by his tone.

            Finally I said, “I’m just going to say hi to Firenze. What, is that a crime?”

            Bane narrowed his eyes at me. “You have no reason to come to this forest any longer. Your lessons are over. Go back to the castle.”

            Now THAT annoyed me. Who is he to order me around? I don’t take orders from people I don’t respect and Bane, is not one of the few people I respect. So I glared at him and said, “Hey, it’s a free forest last time I checked. I can be here if I want to.”

            Unfortunately, he wasn’t very impressed. “You are a Hogwarts student. The last time I checked these grounds were off limits to students. Being a Wild Mage does not excuse you from that rule. Your lessons are over, child. Therefore if I catch you in this forest again I will contact the Headmaster.”

            Well, couldn’t say much to that, could I? Because as much as I loathe to admit it: he has a point. It IS against school rules. So I left. He didn’t have to be such a jerk about it though.

 

Sunday, September 28, Great Hall, Breakfast,

 

            Umm...okay, HUH? Check out this owl Firenze sent me:

Jubilee,

        Bane informed me that last night he ran into you in the forest. As happy as I am about you saying hello, it’s best that you not come here on a regular basis. Our herd is growing restless. The stars are speaking of dangerous times coming for the Wizard world. They are contemplating banning humans from the forest until the conflict is solved.

        If you truly need to speak with me, send an owl. Do not come and see me in person.

                 Firenze

            Dangerous times? What’s that about? Also, how can they BAN people from the Forbidden Forest? What, they have ownership on it or something? Obviously Trelawney really hasn’t been teaching us properly because I haven’t seen any danger or strife in these astrology things she’s been having us do.

            Not that I’ve really been looking that hard.

THINGS TO DO:

1) Write Firenze back.

2) Finish Charms, HoM, and Transfiguration essay

3) Memorize potions for exam on Monday

3) Star charts for Divination

4) Study vocabulary for Latin quiz on Friday

5) Record book for Astronomy

6) Read second play in Famous Wizard Plays

7) Hogwarts painting

8) Order cat litter for Rowena