31st December – New Year's Eve!

8.03a.m. Gaaaaah. Panic panic panic. Alice is having a sleepover at her house as a New Year's celebration, and practically every girl in Gryffindor is invited. Actually, it was just going to be Alice, Heather, and me. But then Mary got wind of it (I may have accidentally said "Mary! Guess what! I am going to be at Alice's for the New Year at a super fun slumber party!" But honestly, it was a mistake anyone could have made.). Mary made a big fuss, so then it was Alice and Heather and Mary and I. (I? Me? I try to say it in a sentence and then I get all muddled because then the sentences get very confusing. So I repeat the sentences a few times... and they begin to sound very awkward. So I try to figure out some way to structute the sentence differently and therefore avoid the whole 'I' vs. 'me' problem altogether.) And then Eleanor invited herself. We had to invite everyone on our floor because they all worked it out and got super huffy and accused us of being elitists. Eventually all the Gryffindor girls sort of informed Alice that they were going to show up on New Year's Eve.

Anyway. Alice had a total meltdown about providing enough food slash entertainment to entertain forty people. I offered to cook, but she politely declined. I suspect this may be because I accidentally set a tiny fire in her kitchen when we tried to make banana bread the Muggle way. So I am in charge of the entertainment instead.

Except I forgot.

So.

Emergency List of Fun New Years Eve Party Activities

1. Those little picture frames you decorate with dried noodles?

2. Knitting…?

Oh my God. I am terrible at party activities. If I had my way, we would all play Duck Duck Goose and Ring a Ring o' Roses. And then I would explain the history behind both games in great depth, which would prompt everyone to give me a standing ovation. Also, they would probably carry me around on their shoulders for a bit, and generally just shower me with compliments.

This is a disaster. I am an old woman! I like childrens' games and crocheting more than I like copious amount of alcohol! Seriously, I might as well retire now and go to a home for the elderly and play bridge around a little square table with other old people while we watch other people celebrate the New Year on a tiny, black-and-white television and reminisce about the good old days. Except I will not have had any 'good old days' and the old people will look at me with pity in their eyes and say things like, "You spent your seventeenth New Year playing Hopscotch? When I was seventeen I went skinny dipping. In the ocean. With my model/musician/intellectual boyfriend. Also we were very drunk."

Whatever. At least I can still play Hopscotch. Old people can't jump due to osteoporosis. (HA! I have successfully mastered that piece of vocabulary!)

10.34am Asked my mum for good party activity ideas.

She suggested:

Blind Man's Buff

Simon Says

Mother May I

So at least I know where I get it from. Also, my father fell madly in love with her eventually, so obviously I am not totally and utterly doomed forever.

10.43am Oh my God, what if I am totally and utterly doomed forever? What if I meet the model/musician/intellectual of my dreams and then he decides that I am not enough of a party girl and runs of with a female model/musician/intellectual/party-girl instead????

10.45am Also. What if they invite me to their wedding? Do I reject them in a cold, aloof manner? Or do I say 'Actually I will be partying all day that day.' Or something else that is equally ironic?

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3.03pm I will just tell Alice I forgot. Someone will bring alcohol anyway, and then the problem with be solved.

4.15pm Just realized that I have not thought about what to wear. I usually just go over in jeans and a shirt and then change into my pyjamas with the little whales all over them. They are especially exciting pyjamas because they are footie pyjamas, and even have the little flaps that you can fold over your hands to keep them warm at night. I reserve them for special occasions such as this one.

4.25pm Have just ransacked wardrobe for any pyjamas that might be considered normal. Stupid Alice. Stupid party. Stupid Gryffindor. What is the point of having a slumber party on New Years anyway? We all live at school together and have a slumber party every single night. Besides the whole falling-asleep-exhausted-after-a-long-night-of-homework thing. And the roommate-communication-being-reduced-to-a-series-of-grunts-by-about-halfway-through-the-term thing.

Note to self: Remember to purchase some pyjamas that do not fall into any of the following categories:

a) pyjames with marine animal themed prints

b) pyjamas with little hoods that pull up over the head- the little hoods that have googly eyes on the side and are yellow and have an orange visor that is meant to represent a duck bill

c) pyjamas that are the boxers and big t-shirts I wear to bed at Hogwarts.

6.03pm Thought about dressing up before going, but then was distracted by the same documentary on marine iguanas as last time. It's really a very good documentary. I do love the BBC. Anyway. Off to Alice's.

10.15pm I HATE EVERYONE. Especially Eleanor for inviting herself to our stupid party and then bringing the rest of stupid Gryffindor with her. Also. I hate Gryffindor. If I were Hufflepuff, I would probably be home alone right now, watching more documentaries about the ocean. I'm pretty sure I hate Alice as well for having a party in the first place. And Potter. I hate Potter. I hate him so much.

Because all the Gryffindor boys are here too now. Some girls invited their boyfriends. And then everyone just decided to come. And then Alice's house was too small for all one hundred and thirty four seventh year Gryffindors, so we all went into the park near her house. And there are boys. Did I say that? And normally I would not object to boys, except:

1. Potter is here.

2. I am wearing red flannel pajama bottoms and a yellow jumper slash pyjama topthat has a hood that makes me look like a duck. And I everyone else is in party clothing. And this is how I am starting the New Year.

3. I have had two alcoholic beverages already and am already feeling a little floogly.

4. I am not entirely sure floogly is a word.

5. POTTER IS HERE.

6. Actually the duck thing is pretty okay because I managed to convince a lot of people that duck-themed clothing is very 'in' in the Muggle world. Trendy and such.

7. I HATE YOU POTTTERRRR

8. I actually kind of want to play Duck Duck Goose, but that is not a game one proposes when boys are present.

9. The park is bloody cold. Because it is bloody NEW YEARS which is in the middle of bloody WINTER. At least I'm warmer than everyone else. Because they are wearing party clothes and I am wearing flannel pants and a jumper. Ha. Ha. Ha.

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I was going to make this longer and full of more stuff about the party and Potter's presence at it, but I actually am going to a party. Tomorrow will be very detailed, I promise.

Anyway. The main reason for my babble is to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of you. Really really really truly.