The Diary of a Witch, Volume IV

THE DIARY OF A WITCH, VOLUME IV

CHAPTER 4: DECEMBER

Tuesday, December 1, History of Magic,

            Ugh.

            Such depressing weather outside. I woke up this morning and my first thought was “gross.” Plus the pitter patter of rain kind of makes it hard to meditate. But I have to meditate, otherwise...something will happen. Come to think of it, Firenze was never quite clear on what would happen if I didn’t meditate. But I’m guessing it’s something not good. Kind of like when my magic was all loopy when I was thirteen.

            Unfortunately this is not just regular rain, it’s sleet which I hate with a passion. If I had to choose between snow and sleet I’d take snow because that’s more fun. It’s pretty to look at when it sticks and you can do all sorts of fun things in it. Plus during snowball fights you can throw snow at a hated teacher’s head and pretend you were aiming for your friend and they can’t say anything because they have no proof that you weren’t. Not that I’ve done that before.

Wednesday, December 2, Great Hall, Break,

DEATH IDEAS FOR DIVINATION (a list compiled by Jubilee Johanson, Owen Hollins, and Hannah Abbot)

Decapitation caused by a number of sharp objects and enemies

Stabbing

Choking

Heart attack

Fatal Illness (some really good ones are in Magical Maladies)

Murder

Curses, Hexes, or Jinxes

Falling off your broomstick

Vicious animals running amok

Hagrid’s Skrewts getting loose on castle grounds

Poisoning from several poisons (several good ones in Moste Potente Potions)

Falling off moving staircases

            -This is absolutely morbid.

-That’s kind of the point, Susan.

                        -Yup. The more morbid, the more Trelawney likes it.

                                    -Yes. She’s completely obsessed with death.

            -Glad I don’t take Divination.

Thursday, December 3, Charms Class,

            Boy am I glad I know the Summoning Charm now. I got right outside of the DADA classroom and when I looked into my bag I realized I forgot my notebook AGAIN. I was about to run back to the dorm for it when Mandy rolled her eyes at me and said, “Jubilee, you’re a witch, remember?”

            I kind of looked at her and then feeling incredibly stupid, I summoned my notebook which came zooming around the corner a minute later.

            Sometimes I tend to forget I can do magic and do things the Muggle way. Hopefully it’s a habit I’ll break by the time I graduate.

Late Friday, December 4, Dorm Room,

            So tomorrow is Artemis’s eighteenth birthday. Even though I don’t have a crush on him anymore, he still is a friend and it’s thanks to him that I might actually get an O in Latin this year instead of an E. Which is why I went down to the kitchens. Nothing says happy birthday like chocolate brownies right? I guess I could’ve asked Giselle to send me some of hers but she needs explanations for why she bakes stuff. Somehow I’m thinking that saying I want to give them to an eighteen-year-old guy wouldn’t go over so well.

            The house-elves of course were only too happy to make the brownies. While they ran around the kitchen happily, I met two new house-elves who had just been hired by Headmaster Dumbledore. One was a really hyper elf named Dobby who seemed to talk a mile a minute. The other was Mr. Crouch’s old house-elf Winky. You know, the one he fired at the Quidditch World Cup?

            While Dobby seems perfectly happy here Winky is in pretty bad shape. She’s no longer wearing the tea towel that most elves wear but a skirt, blouse, and hat with holes for her ears. To be honest I think she’s depressed. Her clothes have stains on them and she bursts into tears every ten seconds.

            To his credit Dobby did try to console her but it didn’t really help matters. The other house-elves don’t seem to like him very much either, possibly because he boasted about being paid by Headmaster Dumbledore. I guess to house-elves that’s shameful or something.

            You know, Hermione has been going on about freeing the house-elves since the World Cup. She even tried to get me to join that SPEW club of hers. Yes, I am all for no slavery and equal treatment. I mean hello, I’m from America for crying out loud. But well...the house-elves WANT to serve wizards. Despite what Hermione said, it’s not like the past slavery in the US or anywhere else. Those guys didn’t have a choice in the matter. If a house-elf wanted, they could totally kick a wizard’s butt. But they choose not too.

            If it’s the way they want to live, what right do any of us have to say about it? I didn’t say this to Hermione though. Talking to that girl when she’s on a mission is impossible. I just bought the stupid button to shut her up.

Sunday, December 6, Great Hall, Breakfast,

THINGS TO DO:

1) Finish HoM and Transfiguration essays

2) Rune translation

3) Star charts for Divination

5) start Life on the Mississippi

6) Write letter home

Tuesday, December 8, Divination Notes,

-Wow, who knew Pluto could cause so much mayhem?

            -Yeah, especially since it’s so little.

                        -I still can’t believe Trelawney predicted Potter’s death AGAIN.

-She didn’t predict it, she implied it by looking only at him.

            -Same thing.

-True.

-Still, can’t she at least pick on someone else? How about Longbottom? He’s accident prone. He could easily die.

            -Or Malfoy.

-Malfoy?

-Yeah. Someone is bound to get sick of that mouth of his sooner or later and want to ax him just to shut him up.

                        -Good point.

-Yeah. Weasley also has a good chance. I mean he’s always tagging along with Potter on most of his adventures.

-You two do realize that we’re talking about who could easily die like we’re talking about the weather?

            -Hey, you started it.

-Actually, technically Trelawney started it.

Wednesday, December 9, Common Room,

            How could Hogwarts do this to me?

            The beauty of this place was that there was no annoying stuff like school dances or pep rallies or whatever. There were no things to force possibly embarrassing situations on us students. Because dances? Almost ALWAYS cause some sort of disaster for someone somewhere. Have these people not seen Carrie?

            Obviously not if they’re holding this Yule Ball thing. This explains why we needed dress robes.

            Well, I’m not going to bust my butt finding a date. I’ll be happier if I go on my own. That way I don’t have to embarrass myself by trying to pretend I can dance when I honestly can’t.

Thursday, December 10, History of Magic,

            Damn it.

            I thought Zacharias Smith had given up on me. Okay, maybe I had prayed he had given up on me. But ever since Flitwick made the announcement about the Yule Ball last night in the common room he’s been trying to get me alone. I’m not an idiot, I know why he wants to get me alone. He wants to ask me to the dance. I don’t want to hurt his feelings so I’ve been avoiding him like the plague. But Smith is a stubborn boy, I’ll give him that. He just won’t give up. Clearly I am going to have to find better ways to hide.

            As if that isn’t bad enough the girls are dragging me on ANOTHER shopping trip for the next Hogsmeade visit. I pointed out that we already have our dresses but Mandy and Hannah rolled their eyes at me and said we still need make-up and accessories.

            Um, I’m sorry, if they think I’m going to wear any make-up that isn’t nail polish then they have another thing coming. I’m not going anywhere near eyelash curlers either, those things are SCARY.

Friday, December 11, Dorm Room,

            Well, so much for my no date policy. Yes, I now have a date to the Yule Ball. If you count Artemis as a date. I don’t really cause of the whole friends thing and the whole him being gay thing.

            How did this happen? Well, to put it nicely, he’s a coward.

            This one girl from Gryffindor has been very relentless in pursuing him. Her name is Romilda something, I don’t know her very well. Hermione says she’s a bit boy crazy though. Anyway, she managed to corner him in the library and asked him to the dance. When Artemis very politely said no, she demanded to know why. I figured he would just tell her he was gay and be done with it. I wasn’t expecting him to spot me and blurt out that he and I were going together as friends.

            Like I said, he was a coward.

            May I just say that the glare Romilda gave me was very scary? I think I’m going to avoid her in the future. I wanted to just leave it at that but Artemis insisted that we go now because otherwise he would like a liar. Which he is, but whatever, I agreed. I guess going with him won’t be so bad. He’s nice and fun to hang out with, we get along, and I won’t have to worry about offending him if I step on his feet if he happens to dance with me. Which is a big if because I plan on staying as far away from the dance floor as possible.

            Besides, he gave me the puppy dog look and promised to buy me Butterbeer next Hogsmeade visit. Kind of low using my Butterbeer weakness but hey, it’s not like I had a date or was planning on getting one. Plus, now if Smith manages to corner me, I can honestly say I’m already going with someone.

Saturday, December 12, Dorm Room,

CHRISTMAS PRESENT IDEA LIST FOR:

Angela: homemade vase that I’m working on.

Grandfather: pinch pot, he can put it on his desk or something

Jacob: magic tea flavors from Magic Tea Company

Jessie: CD

Giselle/Gerard: ceramic plaque for their home

Owen: The Essential Ingredients for Every Potions Master

Mandy: A History of Spell Development

Padma: earrings I made

Hannah: necklace I made

Susan: bracelet I made

Anthony: Muggle riddle book

Terry: biography on one of his favorite Quidditch players

Team: earrings I made for Chang and Maria, Quidditch play notebooks for Michael and Davies and Max.

Sunday, December 13, Great Hall, Breakfast,

THINGS TO DO:

1) Finish HoM and Potions essays

2) Drawing for Herbology and new Ancient runes chart

3) Latin paragraph

4) Astronomy and Potions record book update

5) Come up with list of things needed for dance

6) Start to alter dress more to liking

7) Avoid Romilda girl

8) Ditto Smith

Monday, December 14, History of Magic,

            HAH! He FINALLY DID IT!

            Devon Greengrass finally caved and told Mandy he liked her! It’s about damn time. Now they are going to the Yule Ball together. Mandy keeps blushing too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her blush. Oh teasing her about this is going to be FUN.

Later Monday, December 14, After Ancient Runes, Hallway,

            Well, it had to happen eventually.

            Smith managed to corner me after class and asked me to the Yule Ball. He tried to be all suave about it too and made it sound like he was doing me a favor by asking me. To be honest I was kind of happy to tell him I was going with Artemis. I mean I still felt bad about it, but him being all confident and pompous about asking me kind of made me feel better about it, you know?

            I honestly think that he now gets the message that I’m just not interested. At least I hope he got the message. If not, I’ll have to come up with a more direct way of telling him.

Tuesday Morning, December 15, Great Hall, Breakfast,

 

            Ah the drama that dances bring.

            Padma just went on a rant about how boys are all jerks and said she didn’t want to deal with them so she’s going alone regardless of whether or not she has a date. This is possibly due to the fact that Terry, who she has been eyeing lately (though pretending not to), asked out LISA TURPIN to the Yule Ball! Well, technically she asked him, but whatever, he said yes. I could tell he hadn’t meant too because he looked slightly startled afterwards. In Terry’s defense she DID ask him just now in front of everyone. No wonder he had a deer in the headlights look for a minute.

            Personally, I didn’t even know Turpin was INTERESTED in Terry.

            Guess you never know, huh?

Later Tuesday, December 15, History of Magic,

            Unbelievable. Look at these notes that Owen passed me in Divination today:

-Jubilee, is it true?

            -Is WHAT true?

-Are you going to the Yule Ball with that French bloke?

            -If by French bloke, you mean Artemis, then yes: it’s true.

-WHY? You hardly know him!

-I know enough to know he’s a decent person, fun to hang out with, and I know I’ll have at least some fun at this thing if we go together. How did you find out about this anyway? I didn’t tell you.

-Smith mentioned it yesterday.

            -You talk to Smith?

-Only when it’s unavoidable. We ran into each other in the library. He mentioned that he was surprised that you were going with Artemis and not me.

            -Oh.

-Look, far be it from me to judge but isn’t he seventeen? Why would he want to take a fourteen-year-old to a dance?

            -Oh for crying out loud. We’re going AS FRIENDS.

-You sure? How do you know he doesn’t have something else in mind?

            -LIKE WHAT?

-Use your imagination.

-Okay. I’m going to write this once and once only. You tell anyone and you’re dead. ARTEMIS IS GAY.

-WHAT?????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-GAY. He likes men. If you have a problem with it, Owen Hollins, I will personally kick your butt.

-I don’t have a problem with it. Are you sure he’s gay?

            -He said Malfoy was hot the other day so yeah, I’m sure.

-Huh. Malfoy’s hot?

            -Yes. A jerk; but a hot jerk. Don’t forget what I wrote above.

-Yeah, yeah, I know. I tell anyone, and you kick my butt.

            -As long as we’re clear.

-If he’s gay, why is he taking you to the Yule Ball?

-Because he didn’t want to let Romilda Vane know he’s gay so he decided to take me since I already know about it.

-Romilda Vane? I don’t blame him. If he told her, the news would be all over Hogwarts in seconds.

            -No kidding.

-This explains the glares she’s been shooting at you though.

            -She’s been glaring at me?

-Yeah, Hannah and I noticed it yesterday.

            -Oh boy.

-Relax, she’ll get over it. If she doesn’t, you can always kick HER butt instead of mine.

            -Great.

            So now that Owen knows Artemis is gay he’s suddenly okay with our friendship.

            Like I said, whatever.

Wednesday, December 16, Charms,

            Well, that was unexpected.

            I just learned from Mandy that Hannah got asked by Justin to the Yule Ball. She of course said yes. While she claims she was over the silly crush she had on him in first year I kind of get the feeling that she isn’t really. Now she’s going with him to the Yule Ball. I’m so happy for her.

Later Wednesday, December 17, Ancient Runes,

LIST OF THINGS TO BUY FOR THE DANCE:

-Purse/clutch big enough to hold the following: lipgloss, wand, small hairbrush

-Flower clip of some kind (make one if can’t find one)

-Stockings (remember to put Untearable Charm on them before hand)

-Style Hair Potion

-Clear All Skin Potion

-Gems or glitter of some kind to go on dress robes

Thursday, December 17, History of Magic,

RUMORS ABOUT DANCE THAT ARE TRUE:

-The Weird Sisters ARE GOING TO BE PLAYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-There will be actual food served. As in actual MEAL, NOT finger-food.

-Chang is going with Cedric Diggory (does she even KNOW him outside of Quidditch?)

-Davies is going with Fleur Delacour (believe it or not, he wasn’t lying)

RUMORS ABOUT THE DANCE THAT ARE SO TOTALLY FALSE:

-Potter and Hermione are going together (PLEASE)

-Dumbledore ordered 800 barrels of mulled mead from Madam Rosmerta (Fred and George had something to do with this rumor, I think)

-You HAVE to have a date to get into the Great Hall.

Friday, December 18, Greenhouse 5, After Potions, Before Herbology,

            Ugh. Only Snape would be mean enough to have an exam on the last day of winter term. I totally bombed it too. The written was fine, I have no problem remembering facts. My antidote however...I think I missed an ingredient because it was the wrong shade and had this weird odor. I would have redone it but there was no time.

            Stupid Snape. We need to stage a protest about this. Besides, who really needs Potions anyway? None of the careers I’m interested in involve Potions.

Saturday, December 19, Hogsmeade, Three Broomsticks,

            Oh God, my feet are majorly sore. Accessory and make-up shopping is HARD. Especially when you do it with four other girls. It didn’t help that since the dance is just a few days away every other girl in Hogwarts was doing the same thing we were. Not to mention every girl who came with Madam Maxime. So yeah, that’s a LOT of girls.

            Getting through the crowds however was only the first step. I had to find a hair clip that matched the idea I had for my dress and the jewelry that I was thinking of making. In the end I ended up going into the art store and finding a corsage that I could attach to a clip with a Sticking Charm. Finding the glitter and fake gems was the easiest part. So was finding the stockings. The really hard part was the make-up.

            Yes, I bought make-up. It’s Susan’s fault. Unlike Mandy and Padma who just rolled their eyes at me when I went on a rant about animal testing Susan was able to appeal to my inner artist. You see, the thing about my inner artist is that it makes me unable to stand anything that’s blank. Doesn’t matter what it is: a bead, paper, canvas, if it’s blank I have to put color on it. That’s why my furniture in my bedroom at home have bright colors on them and stencils on the drawers or sides. Because I found the plain old white wood that was in there when I arrived in England completely boring. Thus, my first two weeks in England were spent painting furniture and putting designs on them.

            Anyway, Susan kind of pushed me in front of a mirror and made me realize that a face without make-up is kind of like a blank canvas. While it is perfectly okay without it, the face is kind of boring or bland. So she was able to talk me into some eye-shadow, eye-liner, and mascara that I could put on without the scary eye-lash thing. I even got into the spirit and got some glitter stuff that you can put on your cheeks. Best part is that while talking to the make-up lady I found out that wizard make-up isn’t tested on animals or other creatures. They have another way of doing it.

            You know, Susan really should go into sales, because she would be good at persuading people to buy stuff.

            After I bought my make-up I had to wait for Mandy, Padma, Hannah, and Susan to choose their make-up. We spent a good hour in that store. What I can’t believe is that for this stuff I spent TEN GALLEONS. Do you know how many books I could have bought for ten Galleons? At least five. Oh thank God, the Butterbeer is finally here.

Sunday, December 20, Great Hall, Breakfast,

THINGS TO DO:

1) Alter dress for dance. Add gems along edges of robe and dress; put flower gems on flats. Spread glitter on robe.

2) Steam robe and dress so it doesn’t wrinkle and then put Non-Wrinkle Charm on it, along with Non-Tear Charm, and Non-Stain Charm.

3) Finish holiday homework

4) Get autograph from Viktor Krum!

5) Send x-mas presents home along with letter of explanation of why you aren’t coming as planned.

Monday, December 21, Great Hall, Breakfast,

            Why, why, WHY did I mention Artemis in my letter? Really, what was I thinking? I should have just said there was a school thing and left it at that. But NO, I had to be all honest and say there was a dance and I had a date to it. STUPID!

            I just got an owl from home from...well EVERONE. The adults all demanded information on Artemis and a picture of the two of us. Jessie was the only one who wrote have a good time, though she did want to learn all the details afterwards.

            I appreciate the concern but why can people not realize THAT I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!

Tuesday, December 22, Library,

            Umm...okay. This is weird.

            Owen and Susan Bones are going to the Yule Ball together. He asked her last night apparently. I didn’t even know he LIKED her like that. I knew they were friends but...why am I so weirded out by this?

            That’s not all though poor Padma was set up by her twin sister Parvati. You see, her twin sister Parvati got asked to the dance by Harry Potter of all people and not having a date, she said yes. Somehow she got it in her head to agree for Padma to go to the Yule Ball with Weasley. Sort of a double date thing. After Padma had her heart on going alone and dancing with all the cute boys from Durmstrung (well, she says they’re cute, they seem kind of grumpy looking to me).

            So now she’s stuck going with Ron Weasley who she has barely spoken two words too in the four years we’ve gone to school here. Needless to say, she isn’t happy with her sister right now.

Wednesday, December 23, Great Hall, Lunch,

COUPLE LIST SO FAR FOR THE YULE BALL:

Artemis and I

Owen and Susan

Justin and Hannah

Terry and Turpin(I refuse to start calling her Lisa yet)

Devon and Mandy

Harry Potter and Parvati Patil

Ron Weasley and Padma

Neville and Ginny Weasley

            Is it me, or is this a slightly weird list?

Thursday, December 24, Christmas Eve, Library,

            It’s Christmas Eve and I’m spending part of it in the library. I have officially been in Ravenclaw WAY TOO LONG!

            Something good did come out of this study session though. Anthony and Blaise were complaining loudly about their options for dates being gone. Devon finally rolled his eyes at them and said “Why don’t you just go together and shut up about it?”

            They looked at each other. Then Anthony went, “Want too?”

            Blaise shrugged and went “Sure, why not?”

            That was that. So now we’re all paired off like we’re in Noah’s Ark or something. Only I’m pretty sure Noah’s Ark didn’t have a Madam Pince shushing the animals every time they made a small noise.

Friday Morning, December 25, Christmas Day, Dorm Room,

WHAT I GOT FOR CHRISTMAS SO I REMEMBER WHO SEND THANK YOU GIFTS TOO:

Angela: pretty jewelry box

Grandfather: cash (going towards oil paint and pastels)

Jacob: a fancy sketchbook

Giselle/Gerard: The Scarlet Letter(?)/Apple tarts!

Jessie: A Beatles t-shirt

Firenze: roll of parchment that has some written out spells and uses for Wild Magic.

Owen: a wrist wand holder to go under sleeves

Mandy: cute earrings

Hannah: The Illustrated Guide to Magical Wildlife

Padma: nature artbook

Susan: magic mood ring

Terry: renewed subscription of Quidditch Weekly

Anthony: updated copy of The Chasers Bible

Artemis: a broomstick charm for the charm bracelet I have

Max: renewed subscription to Charms Today

Quidditch team: various candy from Michael and Davies, bracelet from Chang, pin featuring the International Quidditch League logo from Maria.

Later Friday, December 25, Christmas Day, Dorm Room,

            Once again, I am forced to come to the conclusion that boys have it easy.

            They do not have to go through all this preparation like we girls do. Oh I know they have to do some stuff but not as much as we have to do. Plus, they don’t have to worry if they don’t look absolutely perfect. No one makes a big deal if they haven’t shaved in two days or whatever. However if you’re a girl and you show up with puffy eyes from staying up late reading Helen Keller’s biography you get harassed for it. Okay, not harassed, but people do notice and frown at you.

            I was enjoying a perfectly good snowball fight outside against the Gryffindors then Mandy and Padma literally dragged me away from it. Just as I was about to get Seamus Finnigan too.

            I have spent the last hour or so just doing plain preparation stuff. You know, shower, brushing of the teeth, combing out hair, that sort of thing. Now I’m getting my clothes ready and am about to change my purple bangs into a silvery glitter color.

            Last night I finally put the finishing touches on my dress robes. Now, instead of just a plain blue velvet robe over a ice blue shiny dress, there are small purple gems that I used a Permanent Stick Charm on to get them all along the dress’s hem and neckline and along the edges of the robe and at the end of its sleeves. Then I sprinkled silver glitter all over the blue velvet robe to make it shimmery. My silver flats now have a purple flowers embroidered on them thanks to a Stitching Charm (I can’t sew to save my life).

            Add silver hoops in all four of the holes I have pierced in my ears and the silver flower choker I bought and you pretty much have my outfit for the night. I’m also going to wear the mood ring Susan gave me, it’s kind of cool. For once in my life, I might actually look decent.

            Now I just have to figure out my hair and make-up.

            Artemis better appreciate this.

Ten P.M. Friday, December 25, Christmas Day, Yule Ball, Outside,

            No, I didn’t bring my diary to the Yule Ball, I’m not THAT much of a dork. I just summoned it and the quill from my room just now.

            But that’s not the important thing right now.

            What’s important is that I JUST THOUGHT THAT OWEN WAS CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

            Yes, I am talking about Owen Hollins, MY BEST FRIEND! He got cute! When did that happen? Better yet, why the hell am I noticing this? This is not the type of thing you notice about your best friend. This is bad.

            You know what? I bet it was the punch. Fred and George were standing near it earlier and I don’t trust those too with food. I bet they spiked it somehow. Yeah, that’s it. This is just alcohol talking to my brain.

            I hope.

12:10 A.M., December 26, Dorm Room,

            Okay, now that I’ve calmed down a bit I’ll talk about the Yule Ball.

            I ran a little late tonight due to make-up woes. I can’t believe Mandy and Padma put this junk on every morning. It took me over twenty minutes to apply the stuff. Personally I think I look the same. I mean aside from the glitter on my cheeks and blue eyelids I looked pretty much like me

. According to Mandy the trick to make-up is making it so you look like you’re not wearing any. If that’s the case, then what’s the point?!

            Anyway, I finally got the entrance hall and found Artemis who somehow managed to make basic black dress robes look very stylish. I’ve noticed he tends to do that with all of his clothes, whether he be in his school uniform or a basic jeans and shirt. I hate him. Not as much as Romilda Vane probably hates me right now though because she was drooling over him all night. Poor girl, how can she be so blind? Of course I can’t really say anything, I didn’t figure out he was gay until he told me.

            Everyone was meeting at the entrance hall so it wasn’t just me and Artemis there. It was slightly weird seeing everyone all dressed up. I’m used to seeing the student body of Hogwarts in uniforms and, when it’s the weekends and dinner time, casual cloths. Padma had stayed behind and came down with me to meet Weasley. I have to say he could’ve been more nice to her when her sister introduced him, like say she looked nice or something. Instead all he did after they said hi was hide behind Potter when Delacour and Davies walked by.

            I have to say the couples tonight were very interesting. You had people going as friends like me and Artemis. Surprise couples like Padma’s sister and Potter. Then you had couples who genuinely were interested in each other in the romantic sense like Devon and Mandy. Not to mention the completely random hook-ups like Padma and Weasley or Anthony and Blaise.

            The most surprising couple of all I think were Viktor Krum and Hermione Granger. Yup, you read that right. Hermione went to the Yule Ball with Krum. I didn’t even know she KNEW him. She looked awesome too in the periwinkle robes. I couldn’t help but feel a bit of glee at the fact that even Malfoy and Parkinson couldn’t say anything to her tonight they were so shocked. Out of all those girls throwing themselves at him, Krum chose Hermione, who I know for a fact wasn’t even interested in getting his autograph. Does that rock or what?

            The Great Hall was totally different when we went into it at eight P.M. The walls were covered in a silver frost and hundreds of garlands and mistletoe hung over the ceiling. The four tables were gone and replaced by hundreds of smaller tables sitting about twelve people or so.

            Luckily Artemis didn’t mind sitting with my friends. Padma had to sit with Weasley and his crew since technically they were going together. Though he mostly spent the evening scowling at Hermione and Krum. If he didn’t want her to go to the dance with someone else why didn’t he ask her first?

            When we sat we had to wait for the four champions and their dates to go to the top table and sit with the judges. The only judge who was not there was Mr. Crouch; in his place was Percy Weasley of all people. Who looked as smug as ever might I add. I guess real life didn’t bring his ego down a few notches. Damn.

            Then we finally had dinner. It was awesome of course. Artemis and Terry got into a Quidditch debate (to which Turpin rolled her eyes at, I’ve heard her say more then once that the game was juvenile). The debate made everyone relax though. I think we were all sort of nervous at first because we had people we don’t normally hang with there (Devon, Turpin, Blaise, and Artemis) plus we were technically on well...dates.

            Quidditch debates soon turned into a discussion of the most boring History of Magic lesson ever, into Artemis telling everyone about his dull Arithmacy professor at Beauxbatons, then he and Mandy started discussing the subject. Before we knew it the Weird Sisters (who are even hairier in person) arrived and the champions had their spotlight dance.

            After the spotlight dance everyone else joined in. Except for me, I refused to budge. Artemis tried to convince me to dance but I didn’t, really it was for his own good. I didn’t want him to have injured feet! So for the first couple of dances I hung out at the table with Susan and Owen until she got asked to dance by someone. Owen let her go because he’s about as crazy about dancing as I am. The two of them were just going as friends anyway so he didn’t really care.

            It wasn’t like we weren’t entertained. Weasley and Hermione had a blowout over at Potter’s table. He was furious she went to the ball with Krum and actually accused her of flirting with the enemy! God I wish he and Hermione would wake up already. It’s obvious they like each other as more then friends. Judging by the look on Potter’s face as they argued, he wishes the same thing.

            Then in the middle of the dance Artemis hurried over and dragged me to the dance floor by force telling me that by the end of the night I would know how to dance if it killed him. Don’t think he was doing this out of the kindness of his heart; Romilda Vane (who had come to the Yule Ball without a date) had been following him around when she saw I wasn’t with him.

            Believe it or not, about thirty minutes later I was actually decent. I could spin without hurting anyone! There were no damaged toes either. I never be doing those fancy dance numbers like in Dirty Dancing but I can wing it without bodily harm now. That counts as success in my opinion.

            Then it happened.

            Wanting to make sure I actually learned something he somehow convinced Owen to dance with me while he danced with Susan (who had returned and was chatting with him about classes). I don’t know how he did it but that’s when my trouble started.

            When you dance with someone you can’t help but notice certain things. Like how they are the perfect height for you. Or how their brown eyes seem to sparkle when they laugh. How you like hearing their laugh up close. Or that they smell nice or...Argh!

            Now you see why I was wigged out earlier.

            Stuff like this is why dances are never a good idea. They make you think stuff about a person that you would normally never think. I mean Owen was in dress robes okay? They looked really nice on him and I’ve never seen him dressed up. It was the formal wear.

            Or, like I thought before, Fred and George spiked the punch. They must have gotten past Professor McGonagall somehow. Yeah, that’s it, it was the alcohol. I don’t really think Owen is cute and I’m not at all attracted to him. Really.

 

Saturday, December 26, Great Hall, Breakfast,

            I seriously did not get butterflies in my stomach when Owen grinned at me.

            That was probably my pancakes. No more drowning them in syrup.

Sunday, December 27, December 27, Great Hall, Breakfast,

THINGS TO DO:

1) Do NOT think about Owen in any other way then as a friend.

2) Ignore stomach problem. If it continues, go to Madam Pomfrey.

3) Pack up mini x-mas tree on desk

4) Send out thank-you cards for presents

5) Finish x-mas sketch of Great Hall

6) Order primer paint via owl

7) Start Scarlet Letter if only to figure out why Gerard and Giselle thought you might enjoy it.

Tuesday, December 29, Dorm Room,

            I finally managed to corner Fred and George and asked them if they put anything in the punch. They said no, they didn’t. Though not for lack of trying, according to Fred.

            Which means those things I noticed about Owen weren’t due to alcohol.

            Damn.

Late Thursday, December 31, Great Hall, Ten Minutes to the New Year,

            Man, this place is packed.

            We’re all squeezed in along with the Durmstrung students and the Beauxbatons students so there’s very little leg room. But I still managed to find a place to write in this. Go me.

12:01 A.M., Friday, January 1, 1995, Great Hall,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!