Chapter 4

You probably are wondering why I haven''t dated these "entry" things.

And if you aren't wondering, then you should be.

The reason is because I don't believe in dates. They're just things that we, as humans, made up! Do they have any real meaning? No! They don't! I could just decide that this is the 60th of Redecembere and who are you to say that I'm wrong?!

You know another thing I don't believe in? Older brothers! I mean, what's the point of them?! They just get in the way and never actually do anything to help!

Take this morning, for instance.

I was just calmly walking down the stairs to go get breakfast with this girl I met, Charlie Bernala, I think her name was, when I dropped my hairband. I reached down to pick it up, but it was gone. Charlie and I began searching on the ground for it, when I felt something under my foot.

I looked down, and it was a book.

Suddenly, my dearest brother came charging down the stairs. "MINERVA LUPIN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! YOU'RE STEPPING ON A BOOK!" Remus shouted at me.

I glanced up at him and then looked down once more. "Yes," I agreed.

"YOU'RE STEPPING ON A BOOK! A BOOK!" he repeated as if I hadn't understood him the first time.

Remus marched down the stairs to where I had committed the terrible crime, snatched the book up, pushed me out the window (okay, maybe he didn't exactly do that) and stormed back in to his common room.

"Well, that was dramatic," I said, dryly.

I turned around to see Charlie looking at me strangely. "Your name's Minerva?"

"Yeah…," I said, confused. What did she think Mimi stood for?

But then, for some odd reason, Charlie started giggling. And once she had started she couldn't stop. "Your name's Mi….Miner..va!" she choked out.

"It really isn't that funny," I said, annoyed. But Charlie ignored more and laughed harder and harder.

I stared at her. Then, deciding to ignore her, as she had obviously gone insane, I continued walking down the stairs

Charlie followed me, though she was having a bit of trouble as she was doubled over in laughter.

We "walked" through the hallway and into the Great Hall. I looked around quickly for an open seat, of which there were very few, but then the Sirius dude motioned me over to where he was sitting with his friends at the Gryffindor table.

"HEY! COME! OVER! HERE!" he called over the noise of the hall.

Having nothing better to do, I went over to join him and James and Peter. Charlie ambled slowly after me, still chuckling.

When we got to the table, James looked at Charlie, then at me, then back at Charlie.

"What's so funny?" he asked, confused.

"I….," I began, meaning to explain the story.

"Her….. her name's….. Mi…. Minerva!" Charlie said with difficulty.

James eyes widened. "Really?" he asked, turning to me.

I shrugged.

At once James started laughing. Sirius and Peter, hearing the story, began to as well.

"What's so funny?" asked a pretty girl sitting next to James. I recognized her from the night before. What was her name? It was like….. Candy, or something.

"Yeah," said a red-haired girl sitting across from Peter. I assumed this was the famous Lily Evans, who I was told, James was completely in love with, how ever much he tried to say he wasn't.

"Her….. name's… Mi...nerva!"

The story went through the hall like wildfire, and soon the ceiling rang with the laughter of the entire school. I even saw the serious-looking Professor Marlesk fall out of his seat due to laughter.

I stood there, annoyed, with my hands on my hips. "This really isn't funny, guys."

Of course, no one listened to me.

So goes the story of my life.

….

….

Okay, you know this really isn't my fault.

It's later in the day, right now, in case you were wondering. The clock says it's 11:32, but I know that can't be right, because it's been saying that for like the last HOUR, TWENTY MINUTES, TEN MINUTES, WHATEVER!

Oh, wait a minute. It just moved.

It is now 11:33.

I'm sitting here, bored out of my mind, at the back of Charms class, watching everyone else "lifting" feathers off their desks (a.k.a. exploding them, setting their desks on fire, setting each other on fire, setting themselves on fire, setting Professor Escer on fire, etc.).

Why is this?, you might ask.

Well, see, at the beginning of class, Professor Escer asked us to take out our wands.

This, of course, made compete sense, as we needed them to perform magic (obviously).

So I reached into my back pocket, expecting to feel a wooden handle there.

But my pocket was empty.

I checked the other one as well, to the same result.

I was starting to panic a bit at this point, and I ducked down under my desk to check if it had fallen and I hadn't noticed.

There was nothing there, either.

I looked all around the room, but nowhere did I see any hint to where my wand was.

I thought I might have dropped it on my way to class, but something made me doubt that.

Eventually, I came to the completely understandable conclusion that someone MUST have stolen it.

First I looked to the people around me, but when I didn't see my wand sticking out of any bags or pockets, I decided I needed to look closer

Completely forgetting where I was, I grabbed next to me's frilly pink bag thing and began to search through it.

Some books…. some pencils…. a few pens…two erasers… some notes… a…. What even is that?!….. nope, no Mimi wand.

There were, it turns out, many…ah, interesting objects in a person's bag. I even found a little baggie labeled "Crumple-Horned Snorkack droppings" in a first year's Care of Magical Creatures book.

I quickly put it down.

Soon, I had searched the whole row, and found no trace of my wand.

So, I moved to other rows.

I got up, walked over to the row in front of me, and picked up a black backpack hanging on the back of a girl's desk. After a quick search through it, I was able to conclude that my wand was not in this bag either.

I was about to pick up a boy's bag that was hanging on the side of his desk, when I noticed how quiet the class had gotten. Then I voice rang through the silence.

"Minerva Lupin, what in the world are you….!" the voice stopped upon hearing the whispers and giggles of the class.

"Her name's Minerva?"

"Minerva?"

Soon the class was laughing like crazy.

Oh, no. Not this again.

"Fine, Mimi Lupin," the voice tried again, once the laughs had abated a bit. "What in the world do you think you're doing?!"

"Nothing, Professor Escer."

"We've been watching you as you searched through people's bags for the last ten minutes now!" she said.

"I was looking for my wand, Professor….."

And, then, all of a sudden, it hit me.

The reason I couldn't find my wand was because… I had never bought one!

You might think this was dumb, but it really wasn't my fault!

See, when we went shopping at Diagon Alley for school supplies, I might, um, not have necessarily remembered to bring my list.

Which wasn't my fault either!

Okay, maybe that part was.

But, see, I was then forced to remember everything that had been on the list (and that was a lot of things) so how can I be blamed if I forgot one tiny inconsequential detail?

I can't!

"Miss Lupin? Miss Lupin!" someone called.

I suddenly jerked back into reality.

"Um, Professor?" I started. "It seems that I sort of…. forgot to buy a wand."

She just looked at me, incredulously. "You forgot to….. buy a wand?" she said, as if thinking she must have misheard me.

I nodded.

"Well then," Professor Escer said, recovering slightly and becoming businesslike once more. "You'll just have to….. yes, you'll just have to sit at the back of the class now, until you get a wand."

So, I, feeling a bit foolish (even though this was in no way my fault…)

You know what writing booklet, this "bolding things" thing is really getting on my nerves.

And you should know that I live in the Gryffindor common room.

And in that common room there is a fireplace.

FIREplace. FIRE. Like, you know, the stuff that DESTROYS PAPER!

And in case you didn't know, you are, indeed, made out of paper.

And, I could just happen to be walking by said fireplace and accidentally trip and possibly let whatever I happened to be holding in my hand into the fire, where in would burn.

Savvy?

I love that word, by the way. Savvy. Sav-vy. SAVVY SAVVY SAVVY SAVVY SAVVY SAVVY…

Anyway, where was I?

Right, so I picked up my stuff and walked slowly towards the back of the classroom.

Professor Escer continued with her lesson as though nothing had happened, though the other students kept throwing me weird glances for some reason.

In fact, someone must have told the rest of the school about the wand incident, because those weird glances kept coming my way for the rest of the day.

Transfiguration was, by far, my least favorite class, though. And that's saying something, considering I wasn't even able to participate in any of them, except for Potions.

Which, by the way, was the class I absolutely LOVED!

Even though I was pretty much a failure at it.

But Professor Dulce was such a nice smiling little man, that you couldn't help but like him.

You know, like you like strawberries.

Or ice cream.

Unless you don't like strawberries or ice cream. In which case….you wouldn't obviously, because….you don't like them, so… that would mean….

…What was I talking about again?

Anyway, nothing much really happened the rest of the day. Just the same incredulous looks on the teachers' faces when I told them I didn't have a wand, and the same giggles from the class.

Yep.

Charlie just waved me over. Better go talk to her, huh?

And while I'm walking over there I might just accidentally trip and drop whatever I happen to be holding into the fireplace.

You never know. :)

…..