October 1, Tuesday
It's now official that I'm supervising SpAWN studets again, five of them this time, AND acting as reviewer for another SEVEN! Apparently nobody else could make it this year! The good thing is that this year, they are due to present their projects in June (the preliminary version is to be presented in May, that is), which makes things much less tense and horrible. And they are the kids (well, I say kids...) I've already worked with, I gave them lectures and tutorials in their first year at the Society and ran into them regularly afterwards as well whenever I put in an appearance at the Academy, and I remember they were very good, and they liked me in their turn. The people I'm taking on are Oliver Pullston, Veronica Collier, Leonard Squires, Tara Fuller and Iris Ossett (Ann Whiskers and Layla Sellis are among the people I'm reviewing). They haven't changed much since the time I saw them last: Oliver and Veronica are still very relaxed and laid-back, so I sense problems there. Maybe it will be alright though – they've grown a bit, surely?.. Tara and Leonard are still very studious, Tara still a bit paranoid ('And what will happen if...? Will they be very strict at the defence?'), and Iris is still very cheerful and active and capable of doing loads of work. I'm actually feeling quite happy about teaching them again.
October 2, Wednesday
Nearly ruined my high boots today. The trolls have partly ripped off the flags in the corridor leading to the staff room, and even though they have rigged up something like a wooden gangway for us to walk on, the stone and plaster dust is everywhere, and obviously plaster dust and suede do not mix. Will stick to wearing my Muggle builder's boots until they're finished.
October 3, Thursday
First training session. Good fun, actually. Prof. McG is a very able fighter, and quite ruthless, I'm glad she's not the sort of person to get carried away because she could easily kill someone if she wanted. Aurora, Prof. Slughorn and Charity, on the other hand, are almost useless. I sparred each of them in turn, and it did take them a lot of effort to withstand even my mild gentlemanly attacks. At the end of the hour-long session, yours truly and Sev. were called forward to demonstrate our skills as we had done last year, and just at that moment, Dumbledore came in, took a seat at the back of the room and watched us fight. I suppose it was quite an exciting show really – hair flying, curses colliding in mid-air, sparks in all directions, hoarse shouts and stamping feet. I made S jump about a bit, too. It was, I think, about ten minutes before Prof. McG called a break, and as we shook hands and stood there, panting, sweat running in rivulets down our backs (well, down mine at least), Dumbledore came over and said, 'Well done, boys. Well done.' Sev. looked at him with a most peculiar expression on his face, something like resentment and even accusation. Wonder what's happened between them again.
October 4, Friday
Prof. McGonagall's birthday. We celebrated after classes with a cake she'd brought. I was very curious as to how old she had actually become, but it's not a thing you ask a witch, obviously.
October 5, Saturday
Spent an hour doing the pre-winter sorting out of my wardrobe. As I put the clothes out on the bed, I realised what a weird assortment I've got, Muggle and wizarding apparel all mixed up. Two pairs of jeans, corduroys and leather trousers. T-shirts and a suede jerkin. And linen singlets, and a linen shirt. Set of robes just in case. Warm Aran jumper, medium jumper, light jumper, poloneck. Belt, wristbands. Fur cloak, Doctor's velvet mantle, green autumn cloak, sheepskin coat, windbreaker. Yellow builder's boots, suede high boots, Dr Marten's, loafers. Pointy wizard's hat, woollen hat. Four, no five... no SIX scarves! I'm a scarf fanatic apparently.
The T-shirts and the leather stuff has gone some nondescript off-white colour from all the times I've changed it. Come to think if it, I don't remember what colour the T-shirts were originally... something trendy way back then, presumably, maybe yellow? I don't remember. I'm thrifty as a hundred-year-old granny. Enchanting all the clothes to make them ever-durable, changing the colour according to fashion or whim, and I haven't spent more than five Galleons a year on new clothes these last ten years!
October 7, Monday
Heaven be praised, they've put the flagstones down again. Yes, it does look neater. However, I still do not see any point in doing it all now.
October 8, Tuesday
Went for a walk in the grounds and ran into Prof. Sprout making a bonfire to burn all the dead leaves and stuff. Volunteered to help her, and spent a very pleasurable hour feeding twigs to the fire in the gathering dusk. My jumper smells of smoke now. Nice.
October 9, Wednesday
The new OWL students seem to be quite as studious and dedicated as last year's, they keep asking me questions like, "Will this come up at the exam? Will you teach us everything they'll ask us?" Of course I'll teach you everything, you silly children! I'm experienced now, I know exactly what they'll ask you.
October 10, Thursday
My beginners seem to be entering normal working mode. They aren't afraid of me any longer and I seem to have learned most of their names and even started putting them more or less effectively to faces. Obviously the ones I learned fast and easily are either the ones who cause no trouble at all (like Zoe Worming or Keira Thewlis or Alice Yarman or Bruno Montgomery or Victor Adams), or lots of trouble (Miles Elgar, Lucy Liver, Dora Corncrake, Anne O'Leary). I still let them decide on the course of the class so far, but that was just a way to make them feel secure, I'll change it next term. No more "Who'd like to...?" but "And now let's listen to..." It's amazing though: some of them are always ready, and always with something worthwhile. Bruno Montgomery's incredibly reliable in this respect, and it is a bit more surprising than, say, Zoe Worming's dedication, because he's rather quiet generally and doesn't really shine unless you ask him a direct question. I like him a lot. All the more surprising to hear Prof. Trelawney talk about him: she says she's never met a more insolent child. At first I thought we were talking about different boys. But then she does seem to have even less of a grip on a class than I do. Come to think of it, they don't misbehave at my classes really, do they? And they listen to me and do what I say. Maybe I'm not that bad at teaching after all.
Oh! Must not forget to ask them to write a list of what they'll have learned by the end of the year. Will probably forget, though.
October 11, Friday
Just got sopping wet as I came home from the village. Me and Aurora popped out for a forage in the library and on our way back were drenched to our skins by a sudden shower! We did magic up umbrellas for ourselves, but all they could do was to keep our heads relatively dry, because there was also wind that threw the water around so that by the time we got back into the dry safety of the castle, the hem of Aurora's dress and my jeans from the knees down were dripping, and the rest of us was damp at the very least! Hope I haven't caught a cold.
October 12, Saturday
Don't think I've caught a cold, but will stay inside today and tomorrow just in case. Plenty to do, anyway. The desk needs clearing again, and I probably should finally arrange stuff on my shelf in the staff room as well.
Stuff in the staff room. I'm thinking in tongue-twisters now.
October 13, Sunday
There's a staff meeting tomorrow at lunchtime. Mustn't forget.
October 14, Monday
Oh dear. I'm starting to regret continuing with German. Somehow there seem to be more classes this year than there were last year... oh well, of course there are more of them! Year five moved into year six, and there are new third-years. There are more classes compared to what I had last year. So I hardly seem to have any energy for the extra class. (Especially today, on top of a staff meeting and before a duelling session.) Oh well. I have made my bed and all that – as that lovely Russian proverb goes that they taught me in Kitezh all those years ago, if you call yourself a mushroom, you must get into the basket. Will pull myself together.
October 15, Tuesday
Trying to pull myself together.
October 16, Wednesday
Unsuccessfully.
October 19, Saturday
What a horrible thing to happen! Katie Bell, a Gryffindor seventh-year and Quidditch player, has been taken to St Mungos' after being dreadfully cursed. She was carrying a cursed necklace on her way back from Hogsmeade for some reason, and touched it with her bare hand. Sev. was summoned to take care of her, she was in a terrible state, he says, it was a really bad, ancient curse, and she might be away a very long time. Everybody's shaken, because however well-protected we all may be within the castle here, with all those Probity Sensors Mr Filch keeps trying to stick up everyone's bottom, Hogsmeade is much less heavily protected, the Aurors there can't keep an eye on everything, and anyone there is much more vulnerable.
Just ran into Neville on the stairs, he's very pale and shocked, and I can see he really misses his parents. Well, having parents. A family. I told him to come over for a cup of tea whenever he likes; after all, I am family, albeit distant. But I don't think he'll come. I think it's just a temporary thing. He's grown much more independent and confident in the last year. I think, actually, that being friends with Harry Potter is beneficial for him. Harry Potter is famous, and famously brave, so any of his friends are likely to be regarded as brave, too, and there's just one step from being regarded as brave to turning really, outspokenly brave and confident, and look at what Neville did in June, fighting Death Eaters in the Ministry with the rest of that gang. He has always been very brave, of course, but in a very shy and quiet way; now it shows. I'm glad.
October 21, Monday
Anne O'Leary's mother's been to see me. Well, not me alone, also Prof. Burbage and Hagrid, i.e. those whose classes she started attending this year, Mrs O'Leary had already talked to the other teachers last year, as it transpired, when Anne was transferred here from Dun Laoghaire. I was rather worried when she first got in touch – the girl's actually not the, as someone said, sharpest quill on the porcupine (although she is hard-working and generally rather nice), and there's the language barrier, too, she actually is still struggling with English. I thought the mother was going to plead with us to make allowances and everything , but it turned out she was wondering if the girl was putting enough effort in! She asked what we could recommend for them (the parents) to do, and it looks like all three of us said they'd better take on an English tutor, nobody was displeased with Anne's performance with the actual subjects.
I must say I was amazed when I saw Mrs O'Leary. I first thought she was Anne's elder sister. Incredibly young-looking, quite attractive. An exceptional woman.
Well, from among the few women I know, obviously.
October 22, Tuesday
Been to the village library after classes, found a 1930s Muggle detective story. Will be interesting to read it.
October 25, Friday
Holed up here marking the mid-term tests. Wish it were summer and I could take all my parchments outside and mark them lounging on the lawn in the sunlight.
October 26, Saturday
Full moon
Good job it's Sunday tomorrow. It's two o'clock at night at the moment and I'm sitting in the window-seat, reading. I still can't get enough of that window-seat. I'd missed one ever since I left Hogwarts. It's so nice to sit here with a book, candle-lit fireplace-warmed room on one side, dark moonlit landscape on the other.
October 27, Sunday
Suddenly realised what a weird impression I must be making on my students. I write things up on the blackboard, actually write them up, not magic them up (first lesson excepted). That must look almost as if I were a Squib or something. On the other hand, they know me well enough by now to know I'm far from being a Squib. Oh well. Just one more thing to add to my unorthodox wardrobe and general non-conformist image, I suppose.
Why I do it is of course because with runes, you have to actually write them. It feels disrespectful to produce a runic text in any other way. At the first lesson, I just introduce runes to the kids, one by one, so magicking them up is all right, but serious work is to be done with written texts.
October 30, Wednesday
Hmmm. The redecoration seems to have finished. The trolls and their appliances are gone, although I can't actually see any noticeable changes in the way the castle looks. Slightly fresher in places perhaps, but after a month of noise, dirt and swearing in Troll I thought we'd get something more impressive.
October 31, Thursday
Hallowe'en
Right. That's certainly a first. I walked out on my third-year H/S group today, because out of sixteen of them, only three – THREE – had done any home assignment! I took loads of points off, of course, said I saw no point in carrying on in this case, told the three that were ready they were excused from our next week's class, and went. Hope it shakes them into sense.
November 2, Saturday
Been to the Quidditch match. Gryffindor won (of course). Harry Potter is now their captain, so they're really good. Sev. looks annoyed (it was Slytherin they were playing against), especially since it wasn't their usual team – Malfoy couldn't play for some reason, and he's a decent Seeker, really, and used to playing against Potter, but the boy who was in his place today obviously wasn't. I asked Sev. why Malfoy was absent, to which he muttered something vague which gave me an impression he didn't know the reason himself. But that's so much unlike him that presumably there's a different explanation. Maybe Lucius Malfoy was allowed a visit in Azkaban and that's where Draco went? Malfoy may not be as big at the Ministry as he used to be, but gold is still gold. Come to think of it, you most probably couldn't bribe Dementors, but you bloody well can bribe a human warder. Well, obviously I hope you can't bribe Aurors, but still.
No wonder the country's going to the dogs if half her most skilful Dark wizard catchers are busy guarding a prison instead of doing what they were trained to do.
November 5, Tuesday
Bonfire Night. Like last year, I'm going to take out my Scrying Screen and watch the fireworks and bonfires – it's too cold to travel anywhere. Good thing, this little mirror of mine. Just tell it what to show and it shows you. One of my prize possessions, along with the music box and the staff – and found in a junk shop! I remember I read about them at school and tried to make one myself, but failed. In spite of all my efforts, my enchantment lasted no more than a few minutes, then it was an ordinary mirror again. It was too advanced for me then – I think now I might succeed if I tried to make one and really put my mind to it.
The music box is another useful thing, because carting around a gramophone would have been rather cumbersome, and this birthday present from Sev. was very timely, right before my posting to Durmstrang. Just extract the memory of the song and pour it in the box and it plays loudly and clearly.
And the staff. Quite a good thing, too, even though I say it myself, who carved it out of an ordinary stick of ash wood.
Oh, just remembered vividly a most unpleasant scene I witnessed over the mirror, one of those times I tried to spy on Sev. and his teaching to try and understand why it breeds so much bitterness in him. And come to think of it – it must have been Hermione Granger, that girl whose teeth grew like the fangs of a sabre-toothed tiger, and he said he could see nothing out of the ordinary! The bastard. What a bastard. Sometimes he's so childish in his behaviour it's almost unbelievable.
