This Was Halloween

Hogwarts can be pretty scary on normal days. What with the ghosts floating around all the time, making you shiver when they pass through you and Peeves, the poltergeist, hiding in rusty old armours and everything.

But on Halloween the average ghosts are the less scariest thing of all.

Floating candles everywhere, but not the one I’m used to, with the warm yellow light. No, special candles that glow cold blue and that not so much as lighten the darkness but enhancing the shadows and giving them the impression that something evil lurks in every corner.

Of course, there are carved pumpkins at Hogwarts. And carved they are. I mean there surely are artists in the Muggle world that can carve pumpkins into anything they want, with shadows and tiny details, and wonderful to behold, but the objects they create are fixed. In the Wizarding world, they move. The smile in a typical Jack-o-‘lantern stretches wide, then contracts, then opens to a silent yawn, revealing very pointed teeth and you just know they can easily bite off your fingers.

Pumpkin patch

The Halloween feast was spectacular. The food was generally a bloody mess, potatoes looking like eyeballs, beans wriggling like slimey green worms, bananas carved into bones and the steaks exceptionally rare. But everything tasted delicious, as always and was cooked exactly to the point and only the appearance was altered to look scary. However, I still had to pluck up all my courage to take a bite out of the severed sausage fingers 😉

At the hight of the feast, the Headless Hunt trampled – well, in a very silent fashion as they are all ghosts, even the horses 😀 – through the Great Hall, playing polo with their chopped-off heads. After some time Professor Sprout made them to leave the hall and afterwards the hunt continued up and down the Marble Stairs and the Entrance Hall.

A rare picture of Forbidden Forest ghosts

Very colourful fireworks marked the end of the Halloween feast. I tried to snap a decent picture of them, but it was moving too fast and almost all pictures were blurred and even the sharp ones couldn’t catch the colours and special effects. And it took ages to finish. I was already in bed and could still see sparkling rockets passing my window and hear the whizzing of fireworks.

Now I’m quite curious what wonders Christmas hat Hogwarts has in store.

Charming People

Yesterday was my first meeting of the Hogwarts Charms Club. I was really afraid because I didn’t know what or whom to expect. As it turned out I was the only first year to join  HCC this year. The other members are mainly 5th year students or above and I felt extra tiny. But they were really nice, they just took me in and after 5 minutes it felt like I’d been a member for several years ❤

As starter they showed me some pretty advanced charms like getting legs on a teacup or dying your hair pink. Now I can’t wait to learn these spells because changing my haircolour is pretty cool, even if I think my parents won’t like it as much as I will 😛

Can’t wait for the next meeting. Maybe I can persuade Lizzy or Charlie to join the HCC, too *fingers crossed*

Charms Club

After much debating with myself whether I have enough time and interest, I joined the Hogwarts Charm Club. Professor Wimple, the Charms teacher, is leading the Club and we meet every Tuesday. Mrs. Wimple tried to explain to me yesterday what the club is about: talking about known charms, discussing experimental charms and practicing both.

Now I’m curious how this turns out in reality. My first time is next Tuesday, enough time to let my imagination run wild 😉

Running Around In Circles

So far the Running project is working. I went for a run two times so far and as I expected the course around the Quidditch pitch is just perfect for it. Plain ground, no tree roots crossing the way and no big stones to stumble upon. I still managed to slip on a small pebble, fell and landed directly on my bum

This accident and two nice long workouts after almost two months of no exercise and today I’m quite sore and will be resting. I’m not too sorry about it, I have so much homework to do and I want to finish it today so that I can truly enjoy sunday!

No Sports

Now, after being here at Hogwarts for a good solid month and getting 3 square meals every day I need to file a complaint. The only exercise I get so far is climbing the stairs. Luckily I’m in Gryffindor where the common room and dormitories are on the seventh floor and getting there can be quite an exercise, especially when Peeves, the Poltergeist, forces us to take a detour.

But besides, there are no sports for first-years and even if I make it into the Quidditch team in my second year, flying on a broom isn’t exactly what I would call a good healthy exercise. And now the lack of exercise and the admittedly excellent food made me gain some weight. Not too much to worry, but I feel a certain strain on the waistbands of my jeans.

In my old school I was a member of the school’s running team and training was 3 times a week and once or twice a week I played basketball with some of my classmates, just for fun and no coach involved.

I really miss the workouts. I’m thinking about setting up a running club here at Hogwarts but I’m not sure if there’s a need for it. Maybe I just start running around the Quidditch pitch and see if others join in.

I’ll start tomorrow, directly after the Flying lesson. Let’s hop the weather isn’t too bad *fingers crossed*

First Result

Today I got back my Transfiguration test we wrote last Friday.

Well, my mother used to put it this way: Let’s be happy we’re all healthy, aren’t we?

Seems that despite doing my homework and feeling quite confident I did several small mistakes and confused the right order of the single wand movements. I guess my nerves played a trick on me because it was my first test at Hogwarts and I wasn’t expecting any.

Anyway, my test scored an A and I was really disappointed. I had expected at least an E

Maybe in the future I shouldn’t be this trusty regarding my feelings.

Why Mondays?

I don’t like Mondays!

Especially when being sick. Especially during an exceptionally dull History of Magic lesson.

Off to bed with a big box of tissues and an already sore nose 😦

So Lucky!

Finally weekend! Finally time to relax and to enjoy the new high spirits in Gryffindor house.

But alas, I caught a cold and now I’m lying in my bed, shivering despite being accompanied by Jeannie and a hot water bottle and a nose that is not so much running as flooding 😦

And Mr Pye, the healer, can mend bones within seconds, but he is almost helpless concerning common colds.

Instead of enjoying the weekend, I enjoy a sore throat and a red nose. Oh, and not to mention the headache!

Just my luck 😥

Aaaaand suddenly

A test!

Out of the blue, in Transfiguration today. I was so glad that I did my homework and therefore had no problems answering the questions:

Name
A) the incantation
and describe
B) the wand movement
to turn a matchstick into a needle.
C) What other objects can be transformed with this spell?
D) What are the limitations of this spell and
E) Why?

Usually, I can’t answer Professor Novar’s questions and most of the time I’m hiding from him, because I find him intimidating.

Now I can’t wait for the results!

The Day After

Yesterday, Emma told the true story in front of all Gryffindor house and apologized to us. I could see that this was really difficult for her, but she did it anyway and to me she seemed sincere.

Afterwards, spirits were low and everyone was quite subdued and not sure how to proceed. There were some shifty looks of the students who were all too ready to believe Emma in the first place and then talking behind our backs.

Professor Vector defused the situation by conjuring some plates full of biscuits and several crates of butterbeer and 5 minutes later we had a BIG PARTY! YAY!

It was definitely the best way to solve the tension and to get everyone talking again.
Some students used the relaxed atmosphere to apologize to us for not believing us and talking about us. It felt really really good 🙂

The party went on right into the night until Professor Vector came and sent us all to bed. After some late night talking with Olivia and Charlie, I slept right through the night.

For the first time in weeks!