Marlene McKinnon

I don't know about the rest of you, but I think that was a frightening time we had last night!! I was so scared, but luckily Edgar came to find me and we hid until everything had passed over. Edgar was so brave! He hexed someone and oh, I'm so glad we're safe!!! I hope the rest of you are all right, too!!

Well!! Marlene swore she would never let me write here again but things change very quickly don't they!!

Marlene was thinking of writing something here because she hadn't in a very long time, but then we all saw the Prophet article about all those people killed by portkeys and she changed her mind!! She says she doesn't want to risk picking up her quill (I'm writing with my special quill, I told you about it Kingsley during the festival!!) and being portkeyed around and killed so she won't touch anything!! I think she's being very ridiculous but I can't stop and talk her out of it because I have a date with Brad Summerby and he likes me to be very prompt so that's what I'll be!! Don't bother sending Marlene any owls because she won't touch them just know that she's okay!! I'm still answering mine, though, just send them to

Iris Gillcrest
Hufflepuff House
Sixth Years' Dorm (Girls)
Hogwarts Castle
Oh Rabastan!! Kitty wants to know why you're not answering her owls or the notes she slipped into your pockets!! I think you two would be very cute together, especially now that she got a new toothbrush!! Good night everyone, please don't die!!

Ludo told me to go to bed really early tonight so I could get a lot of rest for the game tomorrow and I've been in bed since half-eight but I can't sleep at all!! Obviously I've never played in a real game before and Gryffindor are really good, at least, I think they're really good, the last time I saw them play I barely knew anything about Quidditch, but they win a lot!

We've been practising all the time for weeks now and I've barely seen my friends or Peter but I don't know if I'll do all right in a real game. Sadie and Amelia and Jill and even Iris have been really sweet about how nervous I am, they gave me sweets and everything, but I just wish I wasn't the only girl on the team! I'd feel better if someone else in the dorm was awake with me right now, I guess.

I just hope I don't fall off my broom or something! Or hurt somebody with a bludger! Davey said I'm supposed to have no mercy and everything but I'd feel terrible about hitting anyone! Especially someone sitting in the stands even. Oh dear.

I'm so glad we've got Hogsmeade weekends again! This one was really lovely. Peter and I walked around the village, I bought some sweets and presents for my family. The Three Broomsticks was quite crowded and loud and we'd been sitting at our table forever and no one came by to take our orders, so Peter was just darling and said it was all right if we went to Madame Puddifoot's, where all of us in my year vowed we wouldn't go (although we all wanted to, it looks like such a sweet shop!) except if we were with our sweethearts, because it seemed like that sort of place! It really is a very sweet shop, we got the daintiest little watercress sandwiches and heart-shaped biscuits with pink frosting and little edible shiny silver bits! (I know they're edible because we asked Madame Puddifoot if they were really safe to eat.)

I hate to ask this on these journals and be so distrusting but I've tried to hide this book the best I can, but Iris keeps finding it and arranging clandestine meetings and being rude to people! So do any of you have suggestions about charms I could use to make it so that she can't find this book, or write in it if she does find it?

MARLENE MCKINNON IS A NO GOOD DIRTY SNITCH!!! She didn't snitch to our new head Boy or anything but she has been taking the secrets we share as very intimate best friends and fellow Hufflepuffs and using them to write what SHE would call "not very nice things"!!! Not that I DO not very nice things but it's very rude to put them down in writing so I'm going to put them here because Marlene McKinnon is not as nice as she looks!! So there!!

 

ALSO Rabastan Lestrange you should stop sulking at prefect's meetings and if you don't stop sulking at the next one I'll do something for you that will make you not sulk!!! Good night everyone!! Sweet not naughty dreams!!

Yesterday was certainly interesting. Sadie decided to try out for the House Quidditch Team since she'd been playing keeper for her brothers all summer, so I went along with her for moral support and I thought all that meant was that I had to sit in the bleachers and cheer but when we got there she shoved one of the school brooms at me and told me I had to try out too since we were the only two girls there. (Iris was going to come and sit in the bleachers with me but Professor Spore made her stay inside and seemed quite annoyed because I think Iris changed the hem on her skirt and was distracting people? I didn't even notice!)

Anyway the boys were sort of rude to us (and YES, this means you, too, Ludo!!) and Sadie was blushing and all ready to leave and I didn't think that was right at all so I was sort of rude back and eventually they let us try out properly. I don't think I'm terribly good at flying but I've never fallen off a broom at least, and I didn't yesterday either but all the boys were looking at me sort of funny when we got back to the ground so I hope I didn't do anything too stupid! The important thing is that Sadie didn't have to go by herself though! Ludo said he would let us know if we were on the team or not. I should probably tell him that I don't really want to be on the team.

Ludo, are you reading this? Did you read that last sentence there?

Besides that, I've just been doing homework and more homework. NEWT year is terribly hard, don't you think?

Well! It turns out that I left this journal on the table at Edgar's wedding and Jill Abbott picked it up and only just gave it back to me the other night! She didn't owl me about it to let me know it was safe or anything. But she said she was on holiday in Cornwall for most of the summer so I guess it's not really her fault.

But my book is back safely now, although I don't think I'll ever have the time to catch up on everything you all said all summer! I went on holiday to Camber Sands for a week with my parents, and it was mostly Muggles, so it was sort of exciting! We had Muggle money and even cooked on a campfire without magic! I went to two weddings (Edgar's and Ted and Andi's), and now Andi has a baby girl which is just lovely and I have to send them along their baby gift and their wedding gift since there was some confusion at the end of the wedding.

But that's just sort of my to-do list, sorry to put it up for everyone to read! I'd scratch it out but it'd be messy. I hope you all had good summers, too!

It's nice to be back at school, and I learned some new recipes over the summer, so hopefully I can make some cookies and muffins and things to share! Peter, would you want to read recipes for me again?

Well, I've been home for a week now and I've been meaning to write in this thing to say hi to everyone but I've been so busy! So hi, belatedly, and I hope that all of your summers are starting off well! I know I'll see some of you at Edgar's wedding tomorrow!

Speaking of Edgar's wedding, Iris is here and we went dress shopping in Muggle London today, which was quite exciting and a little confusing! Iris has her dad's Muggle camera that takes pictures that come out as blank squares right away and then you shake them around and wait awhile and the picture just sort of fades in slowly!! It seems so much like magic!!

So Iris used the camera to take pictures of our dresses because she said we should put them in my journal thing, although I don't really know why, since we'll be wearing them tomorrow and everyone will see them then. ( But here they are anyway.Collapse )

Peter? Are we (we being Iris and I) meeting you and Remus at the wedding? Or we could meet somewhere else beforehand and then we could all go to the wedding together, it would be easier to not get lost that way, I think! If you don't see this before tomorrow I guess we're meeting at the wedding and I'll see you then.

Amelia, I hope things aren't too too crazy at your house tonight. See you tomorrow!

First of all, I just wanted to apologize to everyone, in case Iris said anything not nice to you, since she had this book for days. I think I'm going to have to start hiding it somewhere, or carrying it with me everywhere so I know who's writing in it all the time. Or not writing in it, because if I'm carrying it all the time I won't be writing in it all the time! That would be so silly, if we all just carried these around and wrote down everything that happened! And I think it would get quite boring, because everyone would just end up talking about their classes and what was for breakfast and everyone already knows what was for breakfast because we all eat breakfast at the same time!

I guess it could be more interesting during the summer, though, when we're not all in the same place. Are these journals going to work during the summer? It would be a quicker way than owls to talk to Peter, and everyone else of course, and keep up with each other. Although there's not much to keep up with about my summers, usually, I just spend a lot of time with my family and read a lot and help my mum cook. Maybe I could copy recipes into this during the summer! Then you could all make raspberry muffins. Or I could write book reviews, it would be sort of like a magazine!

REMUS HELP ME I AM UNDER TOWER ARREST!!

Okay Marlene said to stop being so melodramatic and it's her journal so okay well see Bones (the boy) said I can't leave Hufflepuff until I change my picture on Marlene's journal and I don't want to do that so I'm stuck here!!

Hi Remus!!

from Iris