The Diary of a Witch, Volume IV

THE DIARY OF A WITCH, VOLUME IV

CHAPTER 6: FEBRUARY

Monday, February 1, After Potions, Before Herbology,

WHAT SUCKS ABOUT THIS CRUSH ON OWEN:

1) He doesn’t know so I have to act normally around him which gets hard after awhile.

2) I still want to be friends with him so I’m still hanging out with him which means I see him constantly. It’s both torture and bliss.

3) It will not end well. I just know it. My luck is just that bad.

4) Did I mention I was around him all the time???

Tuesday, February 2, Divination,

            Okay, who freaking CARES about the effects of the planet Jupiter??? Not me, that’s for sure. Why can’t this class teach USEFUL stuff like how to tell whether or not someone you like likes you back?

            When am I going to need to know the effects of planet Jupiter on my horoscope? I’ll tell you when: NEVER. I’m not going to be an astrologist. I’m going to be an artist. Or have a job that deals with some form of art. Do I ever use astrology in art? NO.

            I should have dropped this class.

Wednesday, February 3, Charms,

            You know it’s too bad the Banishing Charm only works on objects and not feelings. If they worked on feelings there might actually be a use for it.

Thursday, February 4, Great Hall, Breakfast,

            There’s a Hogsmeade weekend this week! Maybe that will get me out of this funk that Mandy and Padma have been saying I’ve been in for the past week. I haven’t been THAT bad. Okay, a little more rant-y then usual but other then that I’ve been perfectly normal.

Friday, February 5, Dinner, Great Hall,

THINGS TO GET AT HOGSMEADE:

1) Candy to give on Valentines Day

2) Black oil paint, white primer

3) New book to read

Saturday, February 6, Hogsmeade, Three Broomsticks,

            What was I thinking???

            I was buying regular candy to give everyone on Valentines Day. You know the usual candy hearts stuff. Of course since these are wizard candy hearts so the sayings change every so often. Very general stuff. Then I saw the fudge. Not many people realize that Owen, while very much a vegetarian, has a sweet tooth that puts mine to shame.

            I’m serious, you should see that boy scarf down candy. Fudge, particularly caramel fudge, happens to be one of his favorite things to eat. There were these heart-shaped tins full of different kinds of fudge that were “guaranteed to make him/her fall in love with you”. That was an advertizing gimmick of course. Being able to see magic auras comes in handy sometimes. There are no love spells on the fudge, just a spell on the tin to keep them moist and warm.

            Anyway, I don’t know what made me do it but I bought a tin of caramel fudge.

            WHAT am I going to do with it?

            I can’t give it to Owen, he’ll catch on immediately. Heart-shaped tins are not something you give your best friend, they’re something you give to someone you really like.

            God, I’m turning into one of those lovesick girls in Padma’s romance novels.

Sunday, February 7, Great Hall, Breakfast,

THINGS TO DO:

1) Figure out fudge dilemma

2) Finish HoM, Potions, and DADA essay

3) Charms for Thursday’s practical

4) Feed plant project in greenhouse

5) Unicorn painting

Tuesday, February 9, History of Magic

PRO/CON LIST OF SENDING FUDGE TO OWEN

PRO:

-It’s a nice gesture

-He might figure out I sent it

-He likes fudge, he’ll be happy

CON:

-He might figure out I sent it

-After figuring out I sent it he’ll reject me as nicely as possible and our friendship will be ruined most likely

-He might find the heart-shaped tin a tad revolting. He told me he thinks Valentines Day is a commercialism crock and I usually agree with him. Yet here I am

-Getting fudge from an anonymous sender might make him think he has a stalker

-He’ll get teased mercilessly by the guys (because it’s what Terry, Anthony, Justin, and Ernie do best) which might make him not appreciate it so much

Wednsday, February 10, Charms,

            I’m not going to send the fudge. That, as they say, is that.

Later Wednesday, February 10, Latin,

            Maybe I should send it. I mean I paid two Sickles for the thing. It’d be wasteful to not send it. Nah. I’ll just eat it. It’s good fudge. Actually, if I leave it open in the middle of the Ravenclaw common room, it’ll be gone in like two seconds. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. It’ll be a nice treat for everyone since the teachers have been driving us crazy with schoolwork.

Thursday, February 11, Transfiguration,

            UGH!

            Now I’m back to thinking sending the fudge is a good idea!

            Making decisions used to be easy for me. I hope this insane crush goes away soon because this liking someone stuff sucks.

Late Saturday, February 13, Dorm Room,

            I’m sending the fudge.

            God, I’ve turned into a sap.

Sunday, February 14, Valentines Day, Great Hall, Breakfast,

            So last night I snuck up to the owlery and talked Owen’s owl into delivering the fudge without an address. She wanted to know why I didn’t just give him the fudge myself in the morning. May I just say that trying to explain things like crushes to owls is very difficult? By the time I got through the explanation I had the whole owlery in stitches. I guess I can’t blame the owls for laughing at me. I mean sending fudge to your best friend anonymously is kind of pathetic.

            Ack. Morning post is coming I can hear the delivery owls yelling at one another to get out of the way. Whatever happens I will not look over at Hufflepuff table to watch Owen’s reaction. Because I do not care. Honestly. I don’t. I WILL NOT LOOK OVER THERE!

Later Sunday, February 14, Valentines Day, Library,

            Okay, so I looked.

            Owen was...well Owen about the whole thing. He kind of raised an eyebrow at the tin and then started offering fudge to everyone. Ernie and Justin of course immediately started to give him grief about it. Then after we all met at the library they told Terry and Anthony who started teasing Owen about his “secret admirer”. Owen just rolled his eyes at them and promptly told them to shut up, and at least he had an admirer.

            The girls of course immediately started cooing over how sweet it is and how they wished someone would send them candy (with very pointed looks at the boys). I don’t know what Mandy’s complaining about. Devon, who I seriously suspect is a closet romantic and doesn’t want to admit it since it would be very un-Slytherin like, sent her a poem and a chocolate rose. Nice but not overly done. I thought it was better then that unbelievably large bouquet of roses Diggory gave Chang at breakfast in front of everyone.

            I of course got zero roses. I did however get several cards from my friends of the generic kind. You know, the kind that goes: hey, hope you’re v-day is great despite the fact that you’re single. Okay, so the cards don’t really say that, but they might as well. On the bright side, I have lots of candy hearts, chocolates, and the like to munch on for the next two weeks while I study.

            Right now we’re all studying in the library due to tests, essays, and leftover homework that the teachers have assigned. You know they’ve gotten really homework happy lately. I kind of got away from everyone by saying I needed to find a book. Which I do need. Now I’m going to look for it.

Monday, February 15, After Potions, Before Herbology, Outside Greenhouse 7,

            Another day, another cauldron down the tubes. I thought I’d gotten past the whole melting/blowing up cauldron thing. I mean I haven’t destroyed one for like a year and a half! But no. Thanks to a certain boy who sits next to me in class and distracts me by doing that cute thing he does with his tongue when he’s concentrating and I not only manage to ruin my potion but I manage to knock in an ingredient by accident that causes the cauldron to fly into the air, therefore spilling green smelly gook all over me and melt.

            This stuff is all over my robes! It SMELLS despite the No-Odor Charm I put on them. Plus, I now have detention and twenty points were taken from Ravenclaw.

            This is a very bad day.

Tuesday, February 16, Dorm Room,

            Well, I ordered a new cauldron by owl. Hopefully it’ll be here by Friday’s lesson. I also hope this one will last at least up until I can take my Potions O.W.L. and say good-bye to Potions and Professor Snape forever. How long until the end of fifth year?

Wednesday, February 17, Latin,

            ALL RIGHT!!!!!!!!

            I got an O on my last exam!

            This is the first O I’ve ever gotten for Latin exams. Usually, if there isn’t a problem with my pronunciation, there’s a problem with my grammar (Latin grammar sucks) and I usually get just below and O, thus, the E I got last year. But NOT THIS TIME!

            I think I owe this O to Artemis. Maybe I can go over to the carriage all the Beauxbatons students are staying in and talk him out of his study hibernation. I know the N.E.W.T.s or whatever they’re called in France are important but really, can’t he take a break for Butterbeer at least?

Thursday, February 18, Great Hall, Breakfast,

            Whoa. Check out the owl I just got from home:

Dear Jubilee,

            Gerard and I have wonderful news!

            I’m pregnant! Two weeks pregnant to be exact. We just found out for sure from the doctor last night.

            We wanted you to know as soon as possible and your owl happened to be delivering the letter you sent. I must say, he sure is smart for a bird. Jessie swears he was reading her newspaper just now.

            Everyone else says hello. Other then this, there is no news here. Thank you for the Valentines Day cards and chocolate. Particularly the chocolate, it was quite delicious. In fact it almost tasted homeade. They haven’t let you into the school kitchens or something have they?

                                    Love,

                                                Giselle and Gerard

P.S. I wouldn’t know if the chocolate you sent was delicious or not. Giselle didn’t let me have any!-Gerard

P.P.S. Ignore him. He had five pieces.

            Again, whoa.

            Gerard and Giselle are going to be parents! For the kid’s sake, I hope he or she looks like Giselle because Gerard has a nose that rivals Snape’s nose. Also, for the kid’s sake I hope Gerard and Giselle don’t take him or her to any family reunions because that kid will have issues if they do. Their families do not mix. Especially when they’ve had a few bottles of wine in them. Everyone at the manor still cringes when the wedding reception is mentioned.

Later Thursday, February 18, Dorm Room,

            Okay, WHY does the headmaster let Filch think up the punishments for students? I mean really, the guy is insane! I don’t care what Mrs. Norris says otherwise. So he had a bad childhood, so what? I lost my parents when I was seven and lived in a big creepy manor with a grouchy relative who doesn’t seem to know I’m alive. You don’t see ME taking delight in other’s suffering or trying to make others miserable.

            For my detention I had to dust all the portraits in the hallways. None of them appreciated it of course. They complained loudly and hurled insults at me. At one point I kind of lost my temper and said, “Hey, you think I want to be here?! Please! I could be sitting my room listening to Bon Jovi right now but NO, Snape has to be a jerk!”

            Filch took points for insulting a teacher. He’s lucky I only insulted Snape.

Friday, February 19, Dorm Room,

            Out of some sort of morbid curiosity I checked out a book on pregnancy from the library. Granted it deals with witches who are pregnant but for the most part it’s the same. The only real difference is that occasionally when witches are pregnant their magic tends to be chaotic at times due to hormones and whatnot.

            Anyway, the book described the entire birthing process and symptoms and stuff. All I can say is my respect for mothers have gone up a whole lot. To think, Ginny Weasley’s Mom had to go through that EIGHT TIMES! Whoever I marry better only want one kid. They also better be willing to wait a few years before even asking me if I want a kid because I’m honestly not sure if I’m the mother type.

            My cauldron arrived this morning just in time for my potions lesson. I did not appreciate that comment Turpin made about steering clear of me during class. Just when I think the two of us have reached a semi tolerance for each other she goes and says something that pisses me off again and I remember why I don’t like her very much. I don’t care what Mandy and Padma say, the two of us are never going to get along.

Saturday, February 20, Ravenclaw, Common Room,

            Okay, Padma needs to learn to not overreact sometimes. Just now she saw the pregnancy book I checked out and was all, “Jubilee, is there something you haven’t been telling me?” in a really loud voice. She realized of course the moment she said it that the idea was completely ridiculous. I don’t even have a boyfriend for crying out loud. Aside from my crush on Owen and the whole Wild Magic thing she and Mandy know pretty much everything that goes on in my life because they’re there for most of it. That’s what happens when you spend sixty percent of your day with someone.

            Then she was all excited when I told her about Gerard and Giselle’s baby which is kind of weird because she hasn’t even met them. When I pointed this out to her she said, “Well, you’ve told me so much about them, I feel like I’ve met them. What’s the matter with being happy for someone who’s having a baby?”

            Whatever. She probably wouldn’t be saying that if she saw those diagrams in the book that showed what babies look like before they’re born. Let me just say that they do not look so cute then.

Sunday, February 21, Great Hall, Breakfast,

THINGS TO DO:

1) Send congratulation card to Giselle and Gerard. Something that says congrats on the new baby, please don’t make me baby-sit it.

2) Find a way to drag Artemis away from his study materials for at least a day.

3) Study for the Ancient Runes exam on Friday

4) Start studying for the DADA mid-term

5) Finish HoM and Potions essays

6) Start vase idea for Giselle’s b-day next month

Monday, February 22, Great Hall, Dinner,

            You know, with all this work the teachers have been throwing our way I kind of forgot about the second task. It’s this Wednesday right after breakfast. I wonder if there’ll be another dragon???

Wednesday, February 24, Great Hall, Breakfast,

            Wow, Artemis actually came out of hibernation. He looks a little tense though. It’s kind of weird seeing him like this, usually he rivals Owen in the laid back department. Everyone is here having breakfast except for Potter, Weasley, and Granger. Wonder where they are??? Come to think of it, where’s Chang? She and Diggory have been joined at the hip since the Yule Ball. Why isn’t she here giving him a good luck kiss or whatever? Not that I’m not minding the brief respite from their usual kissing sessions, it’s just kind of weird.

Later Wednesday, February 24, After Second Task,

            So the second task involved the champions diving down into the lake to retrieve what they would miss the most. For Diggory what he’d miss most was Chang (which explained why she wasn’t at breakfast), for Delacour it was a little girl who I think was her sister because they looked a lot alike, for Krum it was HERMIONE (going to have to ask her just how close she and Krum have gotten...), and for Potter it was Ron Weasley (this caused Artemis to excitedly ask me if either of them were gay, I had to inform him that no, as far as I could tell they weren’t. He looked very disappointed when I said that).

            I have to say I’m a little surprised about Hermione being what Krum missed the most. I mean they’ve only known each other less then six months, right? He developed an attachment to her that quickly? Kind of makes you wonder just how few friends and loved ones this guy has.

            All the guys of course were extremely pleased about the sister being what Delacour missed most. When I asked why Ernie said, “Because, it means she hasn’t fallen for anyone! We still have a chance!” I hope for Ernie’s sake he was just talking about the male population in general because no offense to him but the odds of Delacour even LOOKING in his direction are...kind of slim. This also means that Davies has clearly been exaggerating about how he stole her heart.

            Anyway, we all went outside to these stands that had been set up for the task. I would personally like to congratulate the genius who not only decided to do this task on a FEBRUARY MORNING, but decided to do the task OUTSIDE. It’s freezing in February! It’s even worse in the mornings! I found it hard to concentrate on the task because I was freezing my butt off. What, it would have killed them to wait until the end of March at least?

            Right, where was I? Oh yeah, we went outside and Dumbledore explained how the merpeople were guarding the thing (person) that each champion would miss the most at the bottom of the lake. The champions had two hours to rescue them. Scores would depend on what spells they used, whether they stayed within the time limit etc.

            I tried to stay in the stands, I really did but I started to get a headache from all the complaints the underwater animals and plants were giving me due to the disturbance the task was causing them. Since they have no one else to complain to I get to deal with their complaints. This whole being connected to nature thing really bites sometimes. I mean seriously, you would not believe how whiny plants and animals can be. I’ve gotten so I can block it out. Now I’m used to the jumble of voices I hear along with the regular human voices but sometimes when something is particularly upsetting them, I can’t ignore them. I think they know it too.

            So I spent most of the task sitting there with something very close to a migraine. My friends even noticed and asked me if I was okay. I told them I had a slight headache. Owen caught on and directed their attention away from me so I wouldn’t have to come up with an explanation for why I had a headache when it was relatively quiet. It’s so nice having him know my secret. Really, it’s a miracle I didn’t get found out those first two years and a half because I am lame when trying to cover up stuff like this.

            So with my pounding headache I didn’t really pay much attention to what was going on. I remember vividly that Potter came running out late to the task in his pajamas (which gave a nice view of his butt for all us girls, that was nice to see) and used gillyweed to breath underwater. I wonder how he got gillyweed? That plant is seriously rare. I’m probably the only one who knew what it was though, I kind of automatically know what plants are the minute they’re near me. I think it’s part of my Wild Magic.

            After that though, I kind of got sidetracked with the complaints and half an hour into the task, my pounding head. I do remember the end results though: Potter rescued Weasley, Krum got Hermione, Diggory got Chang, Delacour unfortunately got tied up with a Grindylow (who had a morbid fascination with her hair, I could hear him admiring it and thinking up ways to use it. Eww) but her little sister is okay because Potter went back for her thinking that they would actually die or something if the champions didn’t get there in time.

            That was kind of stupid and kind of sweet at the same time. Stupid because Dumbledore wouldn’t let anyone die at this thing and sweet because of how he was worried about someone he barely knew. The standings are now as follows: Diggory and Potter are tied for first place with eighty-five points, Krum is in second place, and Delacour is in third place.

            It looks like there’s going to be a Hogwarts victory! Awesome!

Thursday, February 25, Great Hall, Dinner,

            Wow, Weasley got popular all of a sudden. Everyone wants to hear about his involvement in the second task, even Padma went over to the Gryffindor table to ask him what happened.

            Of course she doesn’t believe his story about fighting merpeople for a minute (neither do I for that matter) but she told Mandy and I that she feels a little guilty about abandoning him during the Yule Ball even though he did sort of deserve it. So from now on she’s going to try and be a little nicer to him.

Friday, February 26, Library,

            Okay, here’s the REAL story about what happened to Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. I know it’s true because I asked Hermione instead of Weasley. She isn’t prone to exaggerating like Weasley seems to be.

            Basically they were all taken to McGonagall’s office where Dumbledore explained the task and put them in some sort of enchanted sleep. Because we’re well, us, we’ve been spending the last hour trying to find out what spell they used to figure out what the champion missed most.

Saturday, February 28, Great Hall, Breakfast,

THINGS TO DO:

1) Send congrats card to Gerard and Giselle (forgot to last Sunday)

2) Finish HoM, Charms, and Transfiguration essay

3) Herbology drawing with lables

4) Study up for DADA mid-term

5) Tell Hermione if I figure out what spell was used to figure out what the champions missed most (we finally had to give up yesterday due to Madam Pince kicking us out at closing time)