June 14, Wednesday

Midnight. Back in bedroom.

Was having dinner with the parents, when Mum forced a nasty looking gravy on my plate, insisting that I eat.

"You know," Mum had said, "Therma Prattle's daughter is starting her first semester at Cambridge this semester."

Knew this was coming, and the fact that she was going to start wishing I was more like Amanda Prattle made matters even worse. A little background information: Therma and Mum were best friends through and through, or so they claimed even though they only made passive aggressive conversation in the form of subtle insults whenever they saw each other. Mum claims that Amanda was my best friend all the way through grade school even though I have no recollection of this friendship. Although, I do recall Amanda giggling every time she called me Bobby for years after she put gum in my hair, thus forcing my parents to give my mane a real chop job leaving me looking like a bookish little boy, especially when placed side by side with Amanda's perfect blonde curls in dainty ponytails.

Mum had patiently waited for a response and evidently couldn't take it anymore. "So have you decided what you're going to do with you're life yet?"

The usual clatter of forks and chewing stopped and all eyes went on me. Was put on the spot and felt as if I should break out with song or dance, but only managed a shrug. Mum starred at me in disbelief for a good minute.

"So we sent you to this school where you do God knows what, and after seven years, you have nothing to show for it?"

"I have plenty to show for it. I'm just not sure what I want to do yet." I said rather grumpily.

She huffed, "You're a bright girl, Hermione. It's just that their curriculum was ridiculous, they didn't even have a proper chemistry lab!"

Was thoroughly irritated and decided to make a point. Took wand out of pocket and pointed it at the table.

"Reducio!" Causing entire table and contents to shrink to the size of fist.

"How's that for chemistry?" I said smugly before marching outside.

Dad, in mid bite, simply swallowed and formed a smirk before turning his attention to my Mum, awaiting a response.

"Hermione!" My mother screeched, storming after me, "That's my good china. Come back here, right this instant and turn it back!"

"No." I had said.

Had apparated to Neville's flat, as it was the first place to come to mind. Felt quite rude as appeared in middle of living room, but certainly couldn't be expected to make a scene by Apparating out of thin air into the middle of the sidewalk causing children to stare and conspiracy theories to be confirmed. Fortunately, Neville was very nice about it, saying that he understood. No one else was there, as they were all at the Burrow eating supper with nice, normal family and felt pang of guilt for Neville. Suppose he didn't have much of a family, considering his parents had the mental capacity of drooling babies and his Gram, according to him, had a rather unpleasant demeanor. After inspecting his rather empty refrigerator, we decided to introduce ourselves to the neighborhood by checking out a diner around the corner.

Over a well made BLT (suppose it's hard to not to make one right, but like to give credit where it's due) we discussed many things, including jobs (his at the Chelsea Physic Gardens and my lack of one) and he even revealed his rather cute crush on Ginny Weasley whereupon I felt rather obligated to exchange my crush.

"Really? On Professor Lupin? Isn't he well, a bit old?"

I sighed, "It's not about age."

"Does he know?"

At this point, proceeded to tell him all the gory details of the Horrible Friday Night Of Embarassment where I had to stop several times and beg him to stop laughing.

"I'm not laughing at you." He tried to explain, pausing to come up with an excuse, "Okay, well perhaps I am, but it's your own fault. I really can't imagine you dressed up like some tart and throwing yourself at a Professor."

"I was young and naïve!" I protested.

"It was hardly two months ago!"

Point taken.

12:05 a.m.

Could really use a midnight snack. Perhaps can just sneak downstairs

12:10 a.m.

Bloody Hell. Just chipped tooth on stale candy. Pain is excrutiating. Am going to die. Have two dentists in next room but can't wake them in fear of Mum's wrath. Screw you, irony.

12:15 a.m.

Shit, shit, shit. Shit.

12:30 a.m.

Very well might be first fatality caused by chipped tooth. Perhaps will just lie in middle of street and hope double decker bus puts me out of misery.

12:35 a.m.

Suicide over tooth doesn't sound very brave. Supposed to be Gryffindor. Right. Perhaps, I can just do something about this myself.

Noon Recovering in bed.

So much for being brightest witch of my year. Figured that simple Repairo spell should work on tooth, but didn't take into account that chipped tooth caused temporary speech impediment. Long story short, ended up in bathroom with wand pointed at mouth, expecting a quick and easy repair, but instead of Repairo, casted Reffero, which turns out to be very similar to an engorging charm. Thus, head swelled to the size of a giant watermelon and every attempt at a reversal caused even worse results. By the time Mum and Dad had woken up from all the commotion, they found me with a head larger than the doorframe, covered in warts, the color purple, and a tail dangling from my arse which Crookshanks promptly commensed to happily playing with, as though had done all this especially for him. Dad finally managed to calm Mum down and through a horrible game of charades (as by that point, could not talk at all as mouth was swollen and tongue was not), convinced him to get me a pen and paper, where I had scrawled out that I needed them to contact the Weasleys, as they were my only hope. Thank god for owls and their eerie sense of ESP as one was happily waiting downstairs, perched on top of the fridge and took my S.O.S. straight away. Within the hour, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Ron and Harry, were all in the hallway outside the upstairs bathroom. Mrs. Weasley, not nearly surprised as she should have been given my current state (then again, she had raised Fred and George), bustled about reversing all the charms within a matter of minutes, before giving me a kiss on the forehead and saying "Good as new." Granted, still had tooth ache, but considered it the least of my problems. After everyone was gone, had small heart-to-heart with Mum where she acknowledged the fact that I was simply choosing carefully before jumping headfirst into a career and I returned our dining room table to normal size. Come 8, she promptly took me down to her office and put a cap on my tooth which gave her a sense of necessity.

Very tired. Need sleep.