Tuesday, December 27

Christmas presents!

Ok, I should be caught up now with all that happened before Christmas, now onto the exciting part; Christmas Presents! We woke up early on Christmas morning and exchanged gifts. Anne and Elliot loved the gifts I made for them. We all had fun things in our stockings, lots of candies and other treats, including some wizard candy I brought home. Then Anne pulled out a big box from behind the tree with a sly grin on her face. It was for me! I opened it up and inside was a beautiful fairy doll. She had silver wings with a pink dress and dainty pink slippers. Anne explained after I got my wand and it had fairy wings in the core, she came home and saw the doll in the store and just knew she needed to come home for me. I love her and can't wait to take her back to school with me, she'll be a great companion to sit on my bed!

Going Home

December 23rd

I’m packed and ready to go home. I’m excited but sad to go home. I’m looking forward to being home, but it will feel weird to leave Hogwarts. All the other students who are going home for Christmas have already left. They took the Hogwart’s Express back to London where they will meet their parents at King’s Cross Station. I sat in the Great Hall reading The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and drinking cocoa. (There are always yummy snacks to eat here, I hadn’t sat down more than a few minutes at a table to wait for Dumbledore and a mug of cocoa with marshmallows appeared next to my book!) Soon Professor Dumbledore came down, and asked if I was ready to leave. I said I was and grabbed my valise. He pulled a small silk bag from his robes and threw a handful of Floo Powder into the fire. I knew what to do at this point. I clearly said our address, and then stepped into the flames. I felt a whooshing sensation, and saw many other fire place grates pass by. I thought I even saw one that showed an underwater scene, but it was gone before I could get a better look. After what seemed like a long time, I finally recognized a familiar sight, our living room! I stepped out and Elizabeth was waiting there for me! She gave me a big hug, and said how much she missed me. It feels so good to be home. 

Decorating for Christmas

December 22nd


They started decorating for Christmas today! They’ve been bringing in very large pine trees and putting them in the Great Hall. One of the older students said each one would be decorated differently. The one they decorated first was covered in glittering snowflakes made of ice, but they didn’t melt! I can’t wait to see what the rest look like.
I’m also looking forward to going home! Professor Dumbledore said that they would be connecting one of the school fireplaces to mine just for one day to take me home for Christmas, and one for me to come back to school, allowing me to travel by Floo Powder. I have been missing Elizabeth so much, and am looking forward to seeing her and Adam and having a nice Christmas break. Also Professor Dumbledore told me a secret. Students are not supposed to do magic outside of school, but that while I’m in the United States, there will be no way for the Ministry to know if I’ve done magic. He said I should be careful and use the upmost care, but he also winked so I think he knows I’d like to show Elizabeth what I’ve learned. I’ll just have to be careful to make sure it is only when we are alone at home, I don’t want anyone to see by mistake!

My holiday break.

I have a lot of posting to do to catch up from the holidays, so I'll start with some things that happened before Christmas.

December 21st

The Draught of Peace came out great! It took me all of today to make. I hid away in one of the unused classrooms, and my friend Susan brought lunch to me. Luckily chicken soup and turkey sandwiches were served, so I didn’t make a lot of mess eating. When it was done, we both agreed the potion smelled lovely, like lavender and chamoille. Just the smell of it was relaxing. The book said the potion would be made correctly when it was a faint blue color, like a spring sky. It looked right to me, so we bottled it in a pretty crystal vial I’d been saving and tied a ribbon around it to make it festive. After I cleaned up my potion ingredients and cauldron we went up to the common room to give it to Selene. She loved it! She thought it was a very thoughtful gift, and she said it looked I made it perfectly. She told me that the potion itself was a nice gift, but she was very proud of me for trying such a difficult potion. 

Tuesday, December 20

Christmas!

I have been trying to work on Christmas gift in my free time between studying and classes. It has been a little more difficult than I imagined. I wanted to give something to Selene for all the help she’s given me, and I figured what would be better than a potion! She’s been very busy studying for her OWL exams at the end of the year, so I thought she might like a Draught of Peace. Taking it gives the user a sense of relaxation and peace, and can help them through stressful times. Its towards the back of our book, so it is very difficult, but I’m just going to take my time and be very careful.
I already have my presents for Anne and Elliot chosen. I’m going to get an assortment of wizard candy and sweets to take home and enjoy on Christmas day. All three of us are rather fond of sweets and desserts. I gave some of my pocket money to one of the older students, and he’s going to pick me out some things from Honeyduke’s Sweet Shoppe.
Some of the other students and I have been trying to figure out how to use magic to make some of our presents. I found useful spell to turn mushrooms into pincushions, and it only took my two tries to get a pincushion that wasn’t rubbery and free of the mushroom’s spots. Anne loves to sew, so I think she’ll like this for her sewing table. For Elliot I found an old hat in the Lost and Found box, and with the help of a book called “Magical Fashion” from the library I was able to make it look brand new, and even add a smart colored band and a little owl feather. I really hope they like their presents!

Sunday, December 18

Quidditch!

Ravenclaw played its first Quidditch match today! It was our team versus Slytherin! I wore my scarf Anne made me to the match, to help show my support but also because it was very cold. We all left for the Quidditch pitch shortly after breakfast, and all the Ravenclaw’s gathered in the stands under a very large blue and bronze banner with our eagle crest on it. Luckily, there was already a match, Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor, early this month, so I understood the basics of the game already, and was able to pay attention better. Slytherin’s team has a tendency to play dirty, but I was hoping we’d make up for it in skill. It was a very exciting game, our Chasers kept a hold of the quaffle for a good part of the game, even though the Slytherin Chasers kept throwing elbows which are a foul. We had a really quick Seeker, and it only took her forty-five minutes to find then Snitch! We won, we had a big party in the common room tonight. Lots of butterbeer and candy from Honeydukes! It’s a big deal to beat Slytherin, and I hope we can beat the other Houses too!

Friday, December 9

History of Magic

I think I’m the only one who enjoys our History of Magic class. Most of the students find our professor boring, and I do too a little. He tends to drone on a bit. I like the subject though. Sometimes when I have a hard time paying attention class I read my textbook. Reading it is like reading a fairy tale almost, but with less princess’ and more goblins and trolls.
I’m really glad I’m in Ravenclaw, all of the students like to read and learn like me. I’ve never met anyone who liked reading books as much as I did until I came to Hogwarts. It’s nice to go up to the common room and see so many other reading or working on classwork, even History of Magic!

Wednesday, December 7

Potions Tutor- Part Two!

I met with Selene, my tutor, for the first time yesterday. We met in an empty classroom, Professor Slughorn recommended one that we wouldn’t be disturbed in. Selene decided that we’d start back in the beginning of the potion book with the easiest ones, and work our way along as I mastered each one. So I worked on a Cure for Boils yesterday, and I remember it was really difficult in class, so I was a little worried, but it was actually pretty easy, I was fairly surprised. I must have gotten better already and not known! She then helped me make an Awakening Potion, and that one was a little more difficult, but I got through it. She said next time we’d do the Awakening Potion again, and if it felt good we’d move on. She recommended that I go through the instructions for the different potions and try and memorize as many of the instructions as possible, so I don’t have to refer to my book as much while I’m brewing. I definitely need to find some flash cards I think.

Sunday, December 4

Wizard's Chess

Well, Wizard’s Chess didn’t turn out to be much different than normal chess. All the rules and pieces are the same, except for one thing, in Wizard’s Chess the pieces move! They walk to the space you tell them to, and if a piece of the opposing person is in the space they want to occupy, they fight them! I had a set I borrowed from one of the other boys, and the pieces were constantly trying to give me advice. My friend Michael said that if I was going to play often, getting a set of my own would be a good idea since the pieces would get to know me better and question my actions less often. Getting your own set of pieces is quite expensive though, so I don’t see that happening anytime soon.