The next chapter should be up in about a week.
26 March
Mum,
What do you mean you're corresponding with Orla and Dee's mothers?! I realize you want to know something about my friends, but did you ever consider asking me? Spying isn't necessary! I'm the good daughter, remember? You can trust me.
Besides, if it's really important, the school will send you a note. Like they did about my detention.
Speaking of which, I don't care if you ban me from the television, my music, and the computer all summer, and never make me cookies again; nothing you do to me can possibly be worse than that detention.
I assure you that scrubbing cauldrons (and related paraphernalia) by hand is not at all comparable to washing dishes, not even that one time Dad accidentally left the pan of baked beans outside for three days.
Usually students clean their own cauldrons with magic once class is over; the only exception being if said student royally messes up his potion and ends up in the hospital wing. This means the cauldron is charred, pitted, and/or melted and left for days. Add in the fact that potions consist of ingredients like armadillo bile, toad hearts, and testicles of a newt. Ick.
The other type of cauldron to scrub comes from the N.E.W.T. (really advanced) classes or Snape's own projects. These are magical enough that they can't/shouldn't be magiced. The contents have to dry before they can be properly disposed of, ant it takes a lot of elbow grease and some really strong cleansers.
To make matters worse, Grandma has nothing on Snape when it comes to being fastidious about his glassware. I swear, if a single dust mote landed in one of his stupid phials after I cleaned it, he made me do it again.
I don't think my hands will ever recover.
I think I envy Dee. Some of these potions required ingredients much worse than human waste, bedpans don't require Dragons' blood to scrub, and Eleanor is realy friendly compared to Snape.
I'm going to go; my hands are too cramped to write more. I need one of those quills you can dictate to.
-Liss
Lin,
I realize this messes up my perfect no-detention record. There's no need to gloat.
Besides, you have no room to talk. You average what? About two a week? And you only spend seven-ish hours a day in school, not months.
Get off my case or you won't be getting Zonko's for your birthday.
-Liss