MJs Hogwarts Journal Chapter 5

Wednesday 4^th September

First lesson this morning was Potions. Part of my wished that being as Professor Snape’s classroom was right next to the Slytherin Common Room that we could have a lie-in and just get up in time to make it to his class, but I realised that would mean having to skip breakfast, because we would have to go to the Great Hall first. I decided to get up early enough to join the others for breakfast. What was the point of starving myself when there were plates and plates of lovely tasting food in the Great Hall? My head did start throbbing from lack of sleep – I can never get to sleep on the nights because I’m too excited, but then I’m exhausted in the morning, because I haven’t slept well. Typical me, I guess.

Potions wasn’t too bad today. I think I’m getting a little more used to Professor Snape, having seen him around school more and in the Common Room. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I like him just yet, but he is growing on me. In his lesson today we started to look into what is known as Wiggenweld Potion. We won’t actually be making it for a few more classes yet, but the reading on it has been interesting. The potion is supposed to be able to wake you from a magically-induced sleep, which reminds me of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. I managed to copy out the ingredients list onto one of the Hogwarts napkins that I’ve kept (I knew that they would come in handy and that I shouldn’t have considered skipping breakfast this morning).

The ingredients kind of creep me out a little bit: salamander blood, lionfish spines and flobberworn mucus. I’m not quite sure that I understand the first step either: Add salamander blood until potion turns red? Add salamander blood to what? If you just poor it into a pot on its own, it isn’t going to change itself, is it? Maybe this is one of those trick recipe-type things that Professor Snape was talking about in his first lesson on Monday. I hope that I’m right. I might have to see if I can find him later and ask him.

*

Our second lesson was Herbology, with Ravenclaw. I’d been looking forward to his all morning, one) because we’re with Josie and two) because this class actually seems the easiest. It doesn’t involve any actual magic, which although it is annoying to a certain degree, it is also what makes it easier. Professor Sprout is lovely too, which helps. She spent the lesson going through, with us, the correct way to re-pot magical plants. We even got to try it ourselves. It was just like gardening. It was kind of fun – not that I’m a big fan of gardening, but knowing that I was planting a type of magical herb just made the whole experience seem more exciting.

Professor Sprout even lets us talk while we work, so I got to ask Josie all about her Flying and Astronomy classes. “The Flying lesson was pretty tough,” Josie admitted. “Not because it was hard to do. Most of us didn’t even get the chance to mount broomsticks. We shared our class with Hufflepuff though, so it wasn’t too bad.”

“Lucky you,” muttered Jed. “We’re stuck with Gryffindor.”

“Yeah, but being with Hufflepuff meant that if you mounted your broom after any of them, they thought that they were smarter than you,” she retorted. “It may not sound bad, but it’s not nice when people from your house walk past and laugh.”

“No!” I gasped. “Who’d do something like that?” Josie broke eye contact with me and stared at the plant pot in her hands.

“I don’t know who they are,” she mumbled with a shrug. “Some of them might have been Second-Years,” she said with a sniff. “It doesn’t matter who they were; it wasn’t very nice.” I watched Josie’s eyes shimmer as tears built up in the corner of her eyes. She took her glasses off and rubber her right eye.

“You weren’t last, were you?” asked Jed. I threw him an evil glare. How dare he ask that sort of thing when Josie was so upset. Lifting her eye level up to see Jed she shook her head. Sniffing she rubbed a hand across her face before pushing her glasses back up her nose.

“It still doesn’t make it right,” she murmured. I had to agree. That was awful. Whoever upset her is going to pay. Once I learn a spell… any spell, I will threaten whoever it is with it.

To try and take her mind of her Flying ordeal, I decided to ask her what Astronomy class was like. Upon changing the subject Josie’s smile returned. “I really like it,” she told me. “I’ve always been interested in the stars. I’ve always wanted a telescope too, but-” She ended her sentence sharply, before looking over at Jed. “Could you pass me some more soil please?” she asked. As he handed the sack of soil over to her, she immersed herself in her work.

“My parents would never let me have a telescope,” I told her. “Not that I ever really asked for one, but I know that if I had, they would have said no,” I said with a laugh. Josie forced a smile in my direction, but that was as much as we were able to get out of her all lesson.

*

We asked Josie if she wanted to sit with us at lunch again – well I asked her, but like the last time, she refused. I let her know that the offer was always there for her to join us, but it didn’t change her mind. During lunch I asked Jed what he thought about Josie’s behaviour and whether he thought we should be worried, but he just shrugged.

“She’s probably just worried about us being in Slytherin,” he told me. “Most houses don’t mix with others too often, especially Slytherin.”

“But why?” I asked him. Again, he shrugged.

“It’s just the way it’s always been, I guess.”

“Well things are about to change at Hogwarts,” I told him. “I’ll make it so.”

*

After lunch we had double Transfiguration. It kind of dragged on a bit, especially when for the last hour Professor McGonagall got us to try and turn the matchstick into a needle again. Knowing a little bit more about magic now, I was disappointed that I didn’t manage to make a difference to my matchstick. It wasn’t overly disappointing though, because no one else managed to succeed fully either. I heard that a few people around the room had managed to make a difference though. Pansy had changed the colour of her matchstick to grey and Trevor had made a hole/needle-eye in the splint part of his. While I gazed over at Pansy and Scarlett, Jed nudged me. “Don’t worry about them,” he told me. I rolled my eyes at him and gave a sigh.

“I can’t help it,” I confessed. “What if I’m never going to be good at this?”

“Nonsense,” he said with a smile. “You’ve already made it pointy.” A frown formed on my forehead as I glared from Jed to my matchstick. I’m sure that he was just saying that to try and boost my confidence, because the matchstick still looked the same to me. “It is,” he exclaimed. “You’ve just got to look harder.” I must say, I give him points for trying.

To make me feel even worse, at the end of the lesson Professor McGonagall gave us our first lot of homework… and it was a lot. She told us to read the first four chapters of ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration’, the third and fifth chapters of ‘Magical Theory’ and the first sixteen pages of ‘The Standard Book of Spells (Grade One)’. Then on top of that, we have to write a three-parchment long essay about what we found out. And that’s due in this time next week. How on Earth are we supposed to be able to read all of that and write parchments on it? I’m not quite sure what the difference is yet between parchments and pages, but it sounds longer – much longer.

*

On our way to our first Flying lesson I turned to Jed, asking him something that had been on my mind for a while, “Jed… have you ever ridden a broomstick before?”

“Once or twice?” he mumbled, kicking at a stone on the path.

“So which is it?” I asked him with wide eyes.

“Which is what?” he asked with a shrug, his hands in his pockets.

“How many times have you ridden a broomstick before?” I projected, hoping that he would answer me this time. “Once or twice?”

“I dunno… maybe five or six times,” said Jed as he squinted, looking as though he was trying to search for the memory to pounce out at him. “No more than ten.”

“Ten!” I exclaimed, louder than I would have liked. My pulse thudded around my body. I quickly looked from my left to my right. There wasn’t anyone in sight. Hopefully no one had heard me. I ran a hand through my hair and took in a deep breath. “Great,” I muttered to myself as I stared up at the sky. “That’s all I need.”

Everyone from Slytherin was already stood waiting, well gossiping, while the members of Gryffindor filed in. As I saw that Potter boy and his red-headed friend approach the group, a blur of colour shot towards us. It stopped on the ground inches before our feet. Now that the blur was stationary, I could make out what it was. A short lady, with spikey, greying hair, dressed in a black t-shirt and trousers, stood before us with a broomstick in her hand. “My name is Madam Hooch,” she told us. “I will be your Flying instructor.” Her eyes burned into us as she barked, “Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up.” She clapped her hands at us to try and make us hurry. It worked.

There were two lines with nearly twenty brooms in each. The two lines were facing one another. This was rather embarrassing; it meant that we would each have to face another member of the opposite house, whilst trying to learn to fly a broomstick. I hurried to the line, although I wasn’t eager to fly, I wanted to make sure that I didn’t stand opposite anyone who looked too threatening. At first I stood myself opposite the girl who introduced herself to us on the train, Hermione Granger, but then I remembered from Potions class that she is a bit of a know-it-all, so I guessed that she probably already knew how to ride a broomstick. After ducking and dodging my way through the fight of people trying to line up beside a broomstick, I opted to stand opposite the short, round boy who lost his toad on our first day. He didn’t seem like too much of a challenge – not that this was a competition… I just didn’t want to be last at grasping anything and I hoped that me and, I think his name was Neville, would at least tie for last place, so I wouldn’t be on my own.

The broomsticks were no more than a collection of twigs tied together on a thicker branch by a bundle of string. ‘It doesn’t look very safe,’ I thought to myself. But then again, neither is flying a broomstick in the first place. “Stick your right arm over your broom,” ordered Madam Hooch, “and say, ‘Up’.” We all held our hands out over the broomsticks and did as she instructed. Nothing happened, at least not to me anyway. Both Blondie and the Potter kid’s brooms zoomed up and into their hands. Nobody else’s broom did. I think I noticed Hermione’s twitch a little, but it didn’t move from off the ground. “Again!” commanded Madam Hooch. Again, we held our hands over our broomsticks and shouted, “Up!” It didn’t seem like much of a spell to me, but more and more peoples broomsticks flew into their hands. Jed (on my left) was holding his, this time, too.

“Come on MJ,” Jed cheered. “You can do it.” I pinched my eyes tight and took in a slow, deep breath.

Holding my right hand out at my side, I spread out my fingers and shouted, “Up!” Something thudded into my palm. My heart flipped inside my chest. I flung my eyes open. Looking down in my hand I gasped. “I did it,” I cried. “Jed, I did it.” I had managed to get the broomstick to fly into my hand and I wasn’t the last one either. Hermione, Neville and Priscilla’s broomsticks still lay on the ground.

Once all of us had out broomsticks in our hands, Madam Hooch showed us the correct way to mount it, which I guess is a little bit like riding a horse. Then, whilst we all sat upon our brooms, she made her way down the line and corrected out posture and our grip, so that we were less likely to slip or fall.

“Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard,” she told us. “Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning forwards slightly.” My heart hammered in my chest. I held my breath, feeling the pulse pounding in my ears. My stomach twisted around inside of me. I knew I shouldn’t have eaten that extra sandwich for lunch. I could feel it churning its way back up to the surface. I snapped my eyes shut and breathed deeply. Even with my eyes closed I could feel my head spinning.

As Madam Hooch counted down from five to one, Neville jumped, kicking his feet off the ground too soon. Like a rocket, he shot off into the air. Madam Hooch shouted for him to come back down, but poor Neville obviously didn’t know how to control his broomstick and just kept flying higher and higher. He rose like a helium balloon – he was rounded like one too. As Neville flew up even higher, he began to wobble. All of his weight swayed to the one side. He took one hand off his broom. Lowing my head, I balled my hands into fists and pinched my eyes shut just in time to see Neville’s broomstick zoom out from under him and off towards the Forbidden Forest.

THUD! Squinting open one eye, I noticed a heap on the floor. Everyone began to crowd around. “Oh dear,” muttered Madam Hooch. “A broken wrist.” She helped Neville to his feet. I have no idea how that boy managed to survive such a fall with nothing more than a broken wrist. Madam Hooch left to escort Neville to the Hospital Wing and warned us not to move an inch until she got back, otherwise she would make sure that we got expelled. I forced myself to swallow. This woman meant business.

As soon as Madam Hooch and Neville were out of sight, Blondie and his gruesome twosome burst into laughter. “Did you see his face?” Malfoy sneered. “The great lump.” Some of the others started joining in; I just hid my mouth behind my hand. Spotting the sun reflect off a round spherical object on the ground, Blondie started laughing once more. “Look,” he said as he picked the ball up. “It’s the lumps Remembrall from the post this morning!” I had no idea what they were going on about. Apparently, Neville had received a small, round, crystal-like ball in the owl post that morning – I didn’t know, I was still half asleep this morning. Jed told me that a Remembrall is something that is supposed to help a person remember something that they have forgotten, and that Neville’s grandmother had sent it to him.

Potter pushed his way forwards and held a hand out to Malfoy. “Hand it over,” he demanded. Blondie seemed to think that Potter’s words were a little too harsh, for he laughed in the boy’s face.

“I think I’ll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect,” Blondie sneered, squaring up to the dark-haired boy. “How’s about… up a tree?”

“Give it here!” Potter yelled. This only encouraged Malfoy more. In a flash, Malfoy had already mounted his broomstick and was in the air.

“If you want it… come and get it,” Malfoy jeered, as he swept in and out of a couple of nearby trees. As Malfoy had done, Potter threw himself over his broomstick and sped off after him. The two darted in and out of the trees, getting higher and higher.

“Give it here, Malfoy, or I’ll knock you off your broom!” threatened the Gryffindor.

“Oh yeah?” Malfoy sneered, as shot upwards. “Catch!” he said with a smug grin as he threw the glass ball up in the air and darted back down towards us. That was a rather stupid thing to do, but pretty good flying on Blondie’s half. As for Potter, he sped off, crashing through the branches of trees, leaves lodged in his hair, as he sped off after the Remembrall.

Landing with a thud on the ground with the ball in his hand, Potter clambered to his feet just in time to hear Professor McGonagall scream his name. She must have seen him from a classroom window. “Never in all my time at Hogwarts,” she roared and marched off with Potter in tow. Needless to say, our Flying lesson was cancelled. I guess Malfoy is good for something – getting us out of Flying. I don’t think I’ll be able to get him to pull another stunt like that again though – I’ll have to wait and see.

- Josie -

MJs Hogwarts Journal Chapter 4

Tuesday 3^rd September

At least this morning, already knowing our timetable, was easier to know what books I needed to carry for the day. First off was History of Magic. I honestly don’t see the point of writing about any of this class in here ever, because it was just so boring. It’s a good thing that we only have it twice a week (the other time is second on Thursdays). The one incredibly strange thing though, is that our professor is… well, he’s a ghost. His name is Professor Binns. He speaks in such a monotone voice; he really was boring me to sleep. Okay, so maybe the fact that I keep staying up late at night to write in here doesn’t help, but this guy really is something else. How anyone can possibly learn anything from him, I’ll never know. I guess it kind of annoyed me too that this lesson was a lot like the school lessons back home. There was absolutely no magic involved whatsoever. All it is, is this ghost droning on and on about stuff that no one probably even cares about anymore. So, it would be nice to learn a little bit more about the history of how witches and wizards came to be and why I have these powers, but my family don’t… it’s just Professor Binns is just so grrr! There we go, that’s a good word to describe him: grrr! Even strict Professor McGonagall would have been a much better choice than this guy.

I found out later (on the way to Transfiguration) from Jed and Blondie that Professor Binns used to be a teacher at Hogwarts years ago. Apparently, he fell asleep by the fire in the staffroom and somehow the fire grew and engulfed him. It seems kind of creepy that he supposedly had no idea about the fire and slept through the whole thing. By the time someone came to extinguish the fire it was the next morning and the ghost of Professor Binns just casually got up out of his armchair and went to his classroom to teach and he has been doing that ever since. It makes me shudder just thinking about it.

*

Like I mentioned, after History of Magic we had our second instalment of Transfiguration. We didn’t get to use magic this time, which was a shame; although I am a little bit glad, because trying, but failing, to turn a matchstick into a needle so many times was so frustrating. By the end of Professor McGonagall’s last class, I think we were all nearly pulling our hair out. Today, however, it was all theory work. It is so complicated too. You have to pronounce everything too clearly and precisely. It’s funny, because Professor McGonagall gets really frustrated with Jed, because of his thick dialect. The spell that we were using yesterday involved saying the word, “Alteareh,” whilst swishing our wands from right to left in a sort of ‘U’ shape before tapping the object.

Professor McGonagall had taught us that the correct way to pronounce the spell was, “Al,” which rhymes with pal, “tear,” as in to cry, which rhymes with here and it ends in, “uh,” which kind of rhymes with the way you pronouncing a capital ‘D’. So it sounds like this: “Al-tear-uh.” But the way Jed says it; it sounds more like, “Al-tear-ah.” He gets the ‘Al’ bit right, but he pronounces the ‘tear’ bit like how you tear a piece of paper and he says the end syllable like how you pronounce a capital ‘A’. It’s so funny. This morning, Professor McGonagall spent over five minutes with Jed saying, “Al-tear-uh,” just to have him repeat his version over and over again. But what made it even more hysterical was that Jed couldn’t see the difference. As far as he knew, he was pronouncing the word exactly how the professor was. It was just his accent getting in the way. Oh, it was so funny. Then to make it even better, just before we left, Professor McGonagall turned her desk into a pig. I thought that my eyes were going to pop out of my head. I think she did it as a sort of incentive to get us to concentrate in her class and to do our homework (which she has already promised us loads of after our lesson tomorrow), then one day we’ll be able to turn our desks into pigs… well I’m not too sure about a pig, but I wouldn’t mind turning mine into a dog. That whole class definitely made up for our boring History of Magic lesson this morning.

*

After lunch we had our second Charms class. This one was quite interesting. Professor Flitwick gave us a quick introduction as to one of the spells that we will be learning this year. “Now,” he said as he towered over us on top of his pile of books. “So that there isn’t any cheating between houses, like in the past, I am giving each house a different spell to learn first.” This kind of made his class seem like a competition. It made it more exciting too, to know that we were going to learn a charm before all of the other houses. “Like with all other spells, this one takes precise pronunciation.” Jed and I looked at each other when he said this and sniggered. “Are we ready? Your first charm is: Wingardium Leviosa. That’s win-gar-dee-um lev-ee-oh-sa. Now I want you to keep saying this. Without wands. I’ll be giving you your object to charm in due course. Just keep saying it boys and girls. Come on now, with me.” He looked around the room and raised his hands, signalling for us to join in with him.

“Wingardium Leviosa,” we all repeated in a bit of a jumble. It really was a mouthful to try and say. He got us to keep repeating it over and over whilst he went away to a little cupboard in the corner of the classroom.

I have to admit, this one seems a lot easier to say, even though it’s a lot longer. It’s actually pronounced exactly as it’s spelt too. So, when Professor Flitwick came back from his cupboard of mysterious lesson-related paraphernalia, he was carrying a stack of feathers. On his way back to his desk, he began handing one out to each of us. “This is what you will be using the charm that I just taught you on,” announced the professor as he returned to his spot on the top of his stack of books. “Now just give your wrist a little flick,” he said as he swiped his hand from left to right. “And say win-gar-dee-um lev-ee-oh-sa.” We all gasped as Professor Flitwick’s feather began to float in the air. He hadn’t actually told us what the charm was going to do, so to see this happen was super exciting and it made me even more determined to get it right.

After the count of three, Professor Flitwick got us all to try the Wingardium Leviosa charm. We tried and we tried, and we tried. This one was a lot more fun than trying to change a matchstick into a needle. I actually felt like my feather twitched a little. It was difficult to tell though because Crabbe and Goyle started blowing on everyone’s feathers to make people think that they had managed to actually do the charm. By the end of the class though, I was surprised to see that Blondie was the closest to actually succeeding. He managed to get his feather to hover a good couple of centimetres above the desk, before drooping back down. When the professor saw, he gave a little squeak of excitement and then broke into a round of applause. Although I was impressed, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. This would only make Blondie’s ego expand.

I have to admit that I really like the idea of this spell. I know that I can’t do it just yet, but I have a feeling that this may be one of the first spells that I might actually be able to get my head around. How cool would it be to be able to make things float about in the air? I could make something float towards me, or away from me. Yes, I definitely need to learn this spell.

*

The last lesson of the day was Defence Against the Dark Arts. The classroom was so far away from anywhere that we had ever been in the castle. Okay, so we have only been here two days, but still. I was scared of getting lost. The whole class was lost. We had all gone together from Professor Flitwick’s Charms lesson to try and find our Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. I swear, if I had been on my own, I would have cried. It was so difficult to find. It must be the furthest possible classroom from the Slytherin Dungeon that exists in the whole school. I was scared at first that we would never find it with how far away we kept going. Then, once we got there, I was worried that we would never find our way back again – it is a good job that Defence Against the Dark Arts was our last lesson for the day.

To find the classroom we had to go up a staircase with steps that weren’t really there. Some, no, most of the steps were an illusion (like Ivy warned us about the other night). When you put your foot on the step, it disappeared, and your foot just fell through. It was so scary. In fact, absolutely terrifying is the word for it. My heart thudded against my chest the entire time and my palms got so sweaty that I was scared of dropping something down the hole in the stairs. Your foot just drops into a hole and you go down with it. Luckily, I only fell through once, but poor Priscilla fell four times. I’m glad that wasn’t me, but I can guarantee you that it will be next time. I know that sounds mean of me, but it was the scariest things I think I have ever had to do. I will never be able to remember which steps disappear.

We eventually found our classroom at the top of a winding staircase. Our teacher was the man that I saw talking to Professor Snape in ‘The Leaky Cauldron’. He was still wearing the same dusty-mauve coloured turban and sash that I saw him wearing at ‘The Leaky Cauldron’ and at the welcoming feast the other night. He appeared to be wearing the same marled-grey suit that he was wearing at the feast too. I wonder if all of the teachers here have an endless supply of clothing in the same colour. That seems like an interesting idea: find an outfit that you love and buy loads of it. Or maybe witches can wash and dry their clothes instantly. Now that would be a cool spell to learn. You wouldn’t need a washing machine or washing powder or fabric softener. You wouldn’t have to hang your clothes out on the washing line either and have all of your neighbours see your underwear. Okay, I really need to learn this spell.

So, back to Defence Against the Dark Arts. The pale-faced, purple-turban-wearing professor was named Quirrell. I actually felt sorry for him. It’s like he was scared of… well, everything. As we filed into the classroom he jumped, twitching his head towards the door. He stuttered all the while and at times his hands shook so much that he couldn’t even hold his wand out steady. And this guy was going to teach us self-defence? What happened to him? Some guy in our class, I think his name is Blaise Zabini, said that Professor Quirrell used to be really brave, but he took a year out and supposedly fought against vampires. Blaise also said than an African prince supposedly gave Quirrell his turban as a favour for getting rid of a zombie-type beast. It’s rumoured that Professor Quirrell is hiding a stash of garlic inside his turban to warn away the vampires that he encountered during his absence from Hogwarts. The story sounded rather far-fetched to me, but then again what do I know about the wizarding world? It does explain the classroom’s stench of garlic though… and why Professor Quirrell is so jumpy. I guess something really bad must have happened to him on his travels that scarred him for life. The poor guy.

“Now st, st, students,” stuttered the professor from his desk. “I must w, w, warn you that there, there, there are many, many evils of the wizarding world… although I d, dare say being Slytherins you’d know all about, a-all about the d, d, d-Dark Lord.” There were many gasps from around the room. Even I found myself holding my breath. This was the first teacher to mention such things and to assume that all of our families were pure-blood Slytherins too by the seems of things.

Professor Quirrell turned his back to us as he faced the board. Picking up a piece of chalk, he wrote the phrase, “Basic Defence,” on the board before spinning around on his heels to face us. “Now he wore a huge smile. It was a really warm and sweet smile, definitely not forced. “Right, now I am h, here to train you,” he told us before asking for a volunteer to step up in front of the class and assist him with a demonstration. A guy in our class named Trevor shot his hand in the air.

“I’ll do it professor,” he cheered. No doubt he was hoping to show off in front of the trembling teacher.

“Okay, okay,” chuckled Professor Quirrell, as he appeared to be oblivious to Trevor’s game. “Come on up. And bring your w, w, wand. It’s the most important part.” After asking for Trevor’s name, Professor Quirrell asked him to place his wand where he usually keeps it on his person and to face the rest of the class. Trevor obeyed. Tossing a fallen part of his sash back over his shoulder, the professor circled Trevor. While he did, Quirrell arched his finger around his chin and hummed. “Arh hah!” he laughed. “The, the, this dear Trevor,” he said as he whipped Trevor’s wand out from his back pocket. “This is very sloppy, v-very sloppy indeed. How easy for, for your opp-ponent to steal. Again,” ordered the professor as he turned his back.

With the professor’s back turned, a thin line creased Trevor’s forehead while he tried to find a new place to hide his wand. His eyes widened as he slid his wooden stick up his sleeve. “Okay,” Trevor announced, once he was certain that his wand was securely hidden. The professor spun around and began circling Trevor, who stood with his chest pressed out and a smug grin on his face.

“Hmm… a cocky one, are we?” said Quirrell with a grin. “Walk up and down p, please.” I can’t quite put my finger on what it was that had changed about him, but you could tell that the spark in Trevor’s eyes had gone. His smile looked more forced too. Yet he appeared determined not to let it show as he strolled towards the back of the classroom. As Trevor passed me, I noticed that he had balled his hands into fists, keeping a tight grip on the cuffs of his cloak sleeves. Making his way back to the front of the classroom Trevor held his grin as Professor Quirrell held out a hand to him. “Congratulations b, boy. I’d like t’ sh, sh, shake your hand.” I found myself biting my bottom lip as Trevor extended his hand. The professor grabbed Trevor’s right hand with his own, before slapping his left hand over the top. Their handshake was very vigorous. Professor Quirrell rapped his hand up and down so hard and fast that I swear I thought he was going to shake Trevor’s arm off. “Well, well done dear Trevor… oh!” said the professor with a grin as Trevor’s wand slid from his sleeve. “What’s this?” Wow! A sarcastic teacher! Now that was funny. I bet he knew where Trevor’s wand was the whole time, that’s why he made him walk up and down, to try and get the wand to fall sooner. Brilliant!

However, the whole hiding of the wand exercise did start to make me worry: where am I supposed to keep my wand? Where is a safe place? Luckily, Professor Quirrell spent the rest of the lesson telling us how best to keep our wands safe from, ‘The enemy,’ as he kept wording it. He also started rambling on about vampires and the living undead, which was a little creepy. But, I did find out where the best place was to keep my wand. Inside my robes there is actually a really narrow, vertical pouch on the left-hand side on the torso. I’ve got my wand in there now. I guess it does make for easy access. You can just throw your hand into your robes and whip out your wand. That’ll be a cool idea, once I actually know how to cast a spell. I’m getting there. I’m getting there! I’m kind of confused as to where I’m going to keep my wand when I’m not wearing my robes though, like after lessons are over, and on the weekends when we don’t need to wear our uniform.

*

I was hoping to sit and talk with Josie this afternoon, but she had her Flying lesson straight after classes. I did manage to catch her in the Great Hall at dinner time, but she told me that she was in a rush to try and get some homework done before her Astronomy class at midnight. She’s so lucky getting to do both of those classes already. I’ve got my Flying lesson tomorrow and Astronomy on Thursday. Even though I’m looking forward to flying, so that I can imitate the cartoon of Samantha at the opening credits to ‘Bewitched’, I’m actually really scared. Every time I think about it, my stomach spirals and my head spins. I don’t like heights. Oh, how on Earth did I think I was going to be able to fly if I can’t stand being off the ground? I think I’m going to need Josie’s help on this one. At least I have Herbology with her second lesson tomorrow, so I’ll be able to talk to her about it then.

- Josie -