The Diary of Samantha Black
July 20th
Okay, my name is Samantha Nicole Black. I'm fifteen years old and my birthday is in a few days. My friends Jessica, Heather, Dawn, and I have all started journals today so I guess I'll catch you up on my life a little bit.
I recently found out that my father died. My dad was a convicted murderer (Don't worry though, he was innocent.) His cousin Bellatrix Lestrange killed him. She's a Death Eater who is famous for torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom (who are two famous aurors who got hit by just a few too many "Crucio" curses.)
The Dementors who gaurded Azkaban joined sides with the dark lord Voldemort, which made it quite easy for most of the Death Eaters to escape. (Death Eaters are Voldie's followers)
I suppose if any Muggles were to read this it may expose our world, which the Ministry has worked so hard to keep hidden from all the Muggles. I am a witch. Muggles are what we call non-magic folk. Azkaban is a horrible prison which was nearly impossible to escape. (that is, unless you were an illegal animagi and could slip through the cell bars without the Dementors noticing.) No one had ever broken out of Azkaban until about three years ago. My dad was the first. When he went to school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he and his friends James, Peter, and himself all became illegal animagi (people who can turn into animals at will). They did this because their good friend Remus was a werewolf. Werewolves are only harmful to humans, so on the night of the full moon, they'd sneak out of the castle, transform with Remus, and hang out in the Shrieking Shack or Hogsmeade Village. (I know because my godfather, Remus Lupin told me.)
My dad could turn into a black dog so they nicknamed him Padfoot. James Potter was a beautiful and magestic stag, and they named him Prongs. Wormtail was little Peter Pettigrew and then the werewolf Remus was known as Moony.
Together the four of them caused all sorts of mischeif at school, and no one knew their way around the grounds better than they did. They even created a map called the Marauder's Map (the Marauders was the name of their small group) The map showed the entire school and little moving dots with name lables that showed where people in the castle were. (That's how they never got caught doing anything bad) The map was their secret, as were the fact that they were animagi (they weren't registered as animagi with the Ministry of Magic and could have all been locked up if anyone told the Minister of Magic.) To activate the Marauder's Map, you'd have to tap the blank parchment with your wand and say the words, "I solemly swear that I'm up to no good." and to hide the map again when you were done, you had to tap it and say, "Mischeif managed."
You're probably wondering how my dad got put in prison, huh? Well, after they had all graduated Hogwarts and James Potter married his long-time crush, Lily Evans, they had a son named Harry. Dad was made Harry's godfather ect. Well, just a few days before Harry was born, I was born. My mum was Lily Evans' best friend. Mum's name was/is Trinity. She was Trinity Maenner, Trinity Black after marrige... anyway, Remus was made my godfather and Lily and Mum's other best friend Storm married her crush and had a daughter named Jessica. Anyways, It was Halloween and I was one year old. Lily and James Potter found out that they were a target for Voldemort and went into hiding. Everyone figured my dad would be their secret keeper and Voldemort would go after Dad for answers on where the Potters were, but he convinced them at the last minute to change it to Peter. Nobody knew that they switched but the Potters and Dad.
Well, it turns out little Peter was a Death Eater (much like my uncle Regulus was) Peter gave Voldemort the location of the Potters and Voldemort killed James and Lily. He tried to kill Harry but the killing curse reflected off of the one-year-old boy's head and rebounded back onto Voldemort. Voldemort lost his powers and went into hiding.
When Dad found out what Peter had done, he went after Peter. He found him and was SO mad at Peter, he tried to kill him, but Peter cut off his own finger, blew up a whole street of Muggles, transformed into a rat, and disappeared off into the sewers with the other rats. The Ministry took Dad to Azkaban, not knowing that Peter was an Animagus and figured Dad killed Peter, (or in the the words of Cornelius Fudge, "destroyed him")
Mum disappeared after that and left me with Remus. I still don't know where she is, or even if she's alive. Pettigrew posed for twelve years as a pet rat to the Weasley family. Dad got out of prison and hunted Peter down. Everyone thought he was after Harry for bringing the downfall of the Dark Lord at the time... But Peter got away. His master knew by then that he wasn't a rat so he fled and returned to Voldemort. Just two years ago (or less than that, actually,) he reserected VOldemort. Voldie had a body again. Harry had to watch the whole thing, just after seeing a student named Cedric Diggory be killed by Voldemort himself. He even had to DUEL the newly-reborn Voldie while being surrounded entirely by an army of Death Eater scum. Poor Harry.
You see, there was a prophecy made about Harry. Either he or Voldemort would kill the other in their final duel. (Don't ask how I know that, Dumbledore told me.)
After Harry's parents died, Harry lived with his Muggle aunt and uncle on Privet Drive in Surrey for ten years without having any clue that he was a Wizard. (He only found out when he got his acceptance letter into Hogwarts. I just got mine recently. Dumbledore gave it to me personally. So you know, Dumbledore is the school's headmaster and the leader of the leauge against Voldemort, which I won't put too much information about in here just incase this falls into any Death Eater hands.
Anyway, I've lived with Remus ever since Mum disappeared, although one year he got a job teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts class at Hogwarts. That year I stayed with my aunt Andromea, my uncle Ted, and my cousin Nymphadora Tonks. (Nymphadora only responds to her last name though.) Oh yeah, also, I visit my best friends Dawn, Jess, and Heather at the orphanage... I convinced them to become Animagi with me when we turned twelve, and we managed to do it at the age of thirteen. We're all going to school together soon, you see,
When the new term starts at Hogwarts, I'll be transferring there. I'm so excited, even though school doesn't start until September... Anyway, most people in the Wizarding worls are so terrified of Voldemort, they won't even dare to speak his name. I don't really care. I'll call him whatever the bloody hell I want to call him. Apparently, Voldie went to Hogwarts about fifty-something years ago, and was a half-blood. (That means one of his parents was magic, one was Muggle) Well, I heard that when his dad found out that he and his mum were wizards (of in his mum's case, a witch) his dad left them. After that he hated Muggles. He still does. His dad was named Tom Marvolo Riddle Sr. Voldemort used to be known as Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr. (Marvolo was his grandfather's name) Voldemort was the heir of Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts. Slytherin thought that only pure-blooded wizards should attend Hogwarts, but the other three founders didn't agree. Voldemort strongly agreed with Slytherin's "noble" idea to teach only students from all-wizard families. Other than Half-bloods and Pure-bloods, there are also Muggle-borns and Squibs. Squibs are people who come from magic families but don't have magic powers themselves. Muggle-borns are just the opposite. They come from Muggle families but have magic powers themselves.
Anyway, on the subject of school, Hogwarts was founded by the four greatest wizards of the age: Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Godric Gryffindor. Each of the founders had a diffrent idea of who they wanted to teach. Gryffindor only wanted to teach the brave at heart. Slytherin, as we already know, wanted to teach pure-bloods. Ravenclaw only wanted to teach the most clever and bright students. Hufflepuff wanted to teach the loyal and hard-working students, but she didn't really care who she taught.
Godric Gryffindor enchanted his hat to be able to see into people's minds and hearts when they put it on. Each of the founders created a "house". The hat would sort you into your house at your first year at Hogwarts. You gain points and stuff for your houses to try and win the house cup at the end of the school year.
Hogwarts isn't the only magic school though. There's also Durmstrans, Beauxbatons, Salem...
Anyway, before Salazar Slytherin left the school, he created a secret chanber in the castle, which only his heir, Voldie could open. Inside the chamber was a monster. A basilisk was in there. He was huge, and just looking him in the eye could kill you instaintly. If you saw a reflection of his eyes, or didn't look at him directly, you'd be petrified temporarily. The cure could be made out of Mandrake juice.
The Chamber was opened again in Harry's second year. Harry can talk to snakes. So can I and my friends, but no one knows but us.
Anyway, just two years ago almost, the TriWizard tournament was held at Hogwarts. One champion from each of three schools competed in a series of dangerous and challenging events. The Champions were Harry, from Hogwarts, Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts, Fluer DeLacour from Beauxbatons, and Viktor Krum from Durmstrang. Harry won and Cedric died...
Anyway, Viktor Krum is an internationally famous Quidditch player on the Bulgarian Quidditch team.
Quidditch is a popular magic sport that is played on broomsticks. There are seven players per team. The Keeper is like a goalie in Muggle football (or what Americans call soccer). Their job is to gaurd the three goal posts. There is one Keeper per team. Beaters chase balls called Bludgers, which flail around and try to knock players off of their brooms. The Beaters (there are two per team) have to make sure their players don't get bloodied up too bad. They deflect the Bludgers with small metal clubs that look like miniature baseball bats. Chasers get ahold of the balls known as Quaffles. They try to get the Quaffles past the Keepers and into the goal post they need it to be in. There are three Chasers on each team.
The last job is the Seeker, The Seeker (there is one on a team) chases a small hard to see ball with wings called the golden snitch. When the Seeker catches the snitch, the game is automatically over. Catching the snitch gives your team 150 points. You also have to catch the snitch before the other team's Seeker does. Each Hogwarts house and each country has their own Quidditch team. Harry is the Gryffindor Seeker, and I think Dumbledore said that Harry would be named team captain for this year.
Dumbledore is great. He's the only man Voldie ever feared. Even if he is old, he is very wise and clever. He's amazing. He's the greatest man I've ever met. He is a perfect role model for any wizard or witch.
Hogwarts is located here in Britan. There are a ton of diffrent classes you can take, like Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies, Divination, History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Flying Class (for first year students), Potions, Arithmacy, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, Charms...
Professor Albus Pevrical Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is the headmaster and former Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts. Professor Minerva McGonagall is the Transfiguration teacher and Deputy Headmistress (meaning she'll be the headmistress if Dumbledore ever steps down or dies) Argus Filch is the school Caretaker, Professor Sprout teaches Herbology, Severus Snape is the Potions master, Professor Binns teaches History of Magic, the school healer is Madame Poppy Pomfrey (she can mend bones in a heartbeat.) Tiny Professor Flitwick teaches Charms, Professor Sinistra teaches Arithmacy, Professor Vector teaches Ancient Runes, Rubeus Hagrid is the games keeper, keeper of the keys, and Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Madame Prince is the Librarian. Professor Trelawney teaches Divination (although I think she was fired last year and her place was taken by a centaur named Firenze.) Madame Hooch taught flying, but I heard Dumbledore say something about her resigning over the summer holidays.
Back on the subject of Harry, he's been through a lot at his years at Hogwarts so far. He faced Voldie, a giant, a troll, a giant three-headded dog, a dragon, mermaids, a basilisk, voldie again, thinking dad was after him, traveling through time, boggarts, Dementors, the TriWizard tournament, Pettigrew, watching Dad die, having visions in his sleep, having half the school thinking he was mental... poor Harry... Oh yeah, can't forget the Death Eaters, detentions with Umbridge, Occlumency, a trial at the Ministry of Magic, forming an illegal defence group at school because their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher wouldn't teach them anything.
Harry's best friends are a Muggle-born girl named Hermione Granger (who's parents are dentists) and Ron Weasley, a pure-blooded wizard with so many brothers and a sister, he always wanted to find his place. He always had to compete with his siblings. His older brothers Fred and George are almost eighteen. They own a joke shop on Diagon Alley. Percy and his dad work at the Ministry of Magic. Bill Weasley, the oldest son, works for Gringott's wizarding bank in Egypt. Charlie studies dragons in Romania, and was a star Quidditch player when he was at Hogwarts. Percy was Head boy and Prefect. Ron was Prefect last year though. Ginny is the youngest, but she's the only girl so she's special. Ron is the Gryffindor Keeper and GInny wants to be a Chaser. Fred and George used to be Beaters, but they left last year.
We're going to go to DIagon Alley in a few days for school supplied. Right now I'm getting ready to go to headquarters. Mad-Eye Moody (a retired Auror) and Dumbledore are coming to get me tomorrow. Anyway, Remus is standing in my doorway bitching for me to go to sleep, so I'll write more tomorrow.
Sam