So what does everyone else think

[alt_padma]

about all the reports in the news and on the journals? Did you see how Master Arkadinov says he predicted those dogstar captures, which Parvati thinks is proof he's a genius. I say it's proof he's full of himself! Last year he claimed he predicted that Auror Lestrange would kill Sirius Black - but I noticed that he didn't actually say that's what his prediction meant until after it happened. Just like now he's saying he knew all those dogstar people would be caught, but if you look at what he actually said, it just says that the Protectorate's fortunes will rise as stars fall. Well. Anyone who studies Arithmancy knows that there are meteor showers this time of year every year! I think it's awfully cheeky to say that they're linked to anything in particular. (But then I don't think Arkadinov is his real name, either!) Lav, I'm sorry, but he's really too much, even if he is supposedly very famous and Madam Carpenter says he's Talented. Your predictions are going to be ever so much more accurate and interesting, I'm sure!

But the reaction to the Aurors is really really nift, isn't it? Lana, I hope you saw that snitch entry Mrs Dapplemyre wrote about all the trainees, particularly you and Reethi Singh and how important it is that our young witches prove they're just as good as warlocks in the field. (I don't know if anyone else reads Mrs Dapplemyre regularly, but her entries are always interesting and really, really thoughtful about how witches can have brilliant careers and still be wives and mothers and all that. I just love how she writes about all the really amazing witches from the past and the ones we celebrate now in the Protectorate.)

And Seamus, did you see that long post by that bloke, whats-his-name, Orestes Skym? Well, he's Welsh so I'm not surprised at all that he thought MLE should have let well enough alone in the Vale of Glamorgan. But did you read the whole thing? Because toward the end he even compared his people's struggle to Ireland and how it would have continued to be peaceful and happy if MLE would just let them all be. And he had a choice thing or two to say about the Kestrels, on top of everything else!

I'm getting ready to go to the CCF next week, how about the rest of us who got in? Actually, I've kept up the exercises that we started when we were going to be tested - and Parvati sometimes comes along, too. We've convinced Mum that we're old enough we can take little jogs round the neighbourhood and no one will bother us. She even designed us some nift running robes, so that it's easier to go long distances. She might even put a line in for the autumn.

What's everyone else doing to prepare?

Comments

[alt_linus]

I think it's rather like living in one of those snitch spy novels! Good guys taking out bad guys is so much more wizard in real life!!! Especially when some of the good guys are from my school. I tend not to read most of the commentary posts after the fact. In most situations it's proper to have discourse, but one of the good things about living in the Protectorate is the lack of moral ambiguity. That's what Dad says, anyway. I took a look at Mrs Dapplemyre though, after what you said, and she seems like a really sensible witch.

I've been working on getting my library into a transportable state. Not all of it, mind, just my top twenty reference books and the Ministry-approved history texts. I hear Doctor Deller is really strict, but that'll be a nice change from Professor Rubbishbinns, even if I'm not working with him directly. Hope I will, though! And Mum seems to think they won't feed us enough, so she's been making biscuits nonstop. She's been complaining about how skinny I am.

[alt_padma]

We're learning how to be defenders of the Protectorate and you're bringing books?

I don't think any of the people we wrote to will actually be there, though, do you really? I mean, I hardly expect that Mr Malfoy will be all that involved and about four people wrote to him!

And they'll probably feed us the usual stuff. She should probably be feeding you loads of protein so you'll have strength for all the physical things they'll make us do. I bet you'll be well muscled by the end of summer. But anyway, you're a boy, which is lucky: you can eat biscuits all day long and it probably wouldn't make you any less skinny!

[alt_linus]

Of course I'm bringing books!!! If I had to rely on duelling ability or strength alone I wouldn't be in the programme at all, I'm guessing. I'll defend the Protectorate academically! But it would be right nift to muscle up a little. Then maybe Karo won't make fun of me so much when we all go swimming.

I'm hoping to get an interview in person with Doctor Deller sometime before the start of next term, actually. Now that I've got my foot in the door, I'm hoping to keep up a correspondence through my school years. There aren't many respectable history scholars out there, and to get in good with the best of them is a big deal!!!

Mum says hello and congratulations, thanks again to your Mum for the lovely visit last week, and best of luck to her with the new line of running robes.

[alt_draco]

There's plenty of land at the Manor for long walks, flies, or runs, so I've had more than my fill of exercise. Too bad the food's so nice. What would a nift running robe be like? I've rigged mine so that the cooling charm doesn't kick in until I keep up a certain speed for a certain distance. Good trick, that.

[alt_padma]

I don't know anyone else who complains about the food at home being too nice! I'm sure you'll be more than fine at the CCF, though. You're bound to know all about the things we're to learn.

The robes hang so they don't tangle up around your legs - and they have slits like riding robes only they can also be converted to regular skirts. And the ones Mum's putting in the shop will probably have little weight charms that you can increase for extra resistance.

But the cooling charm's a good idea. Mum already uses a wicking charm in her summer fabrics.

[alt_lana]

Congratulations on your CCF acceptance. I wish we'd had that opportunity when I was your year. I imagine you'll all find that it opens many doors for you in future.

I know from experience now that physical training puts one in much better form not just in terms of stamina and strength but mentally and magically. I'm always sharper on days I've begun with solid time in the sparring dungeons or out on the field courses.

Even now that I'm working off-site most days, I've kept my regular regimen with Singh and Evan. It's good to have a partner or two: they help you keep the commitment and they push you on days when you might otherwise slacken the pace or short your routine.

Thanks for pointing us to Mrs Dapplemyre's piece; I would have missed it otherwise. Did you see what Maestro Gilhooly wrote about feeling as though our realm is finally coming into it's own now? Oh, and Belinda Sewell--you know, the biographer? she's written on all the important old families--did you see that she wrote a piece about Auror Crouch and his grandfather, Caspar Crouch, who was a military officer and an administrator in India. It was a really fascinating reflection on how our models of leadership and loyal service have progressed over time, and it was also about how character develops as a result of influences in and beyond the family, considering that virtue and aptitude sometimes skip generations. It was the sort of piece, I think, that only Mrs Sewell could have written without causing a fuss, but it was so perceptive. I couldn't put it down.

Mostly, though, the writers I follow are either motivational--like Aptos Markham, who's always got his eye on the goals Our Lord has set for us--or fitness specialists--I especially like Michaela Throckmorton because she's always suggesting things to add a bit of variety in a routine or things you can do while standing in a queue or waiting for the lifts at the Ministry. Of course, I also keep up with what our trainers write in their journals--Professor Myddleton, for instance, is simply fascinating on magical techniques for enhancing memory and mental keenness.

I suppose that's more than you wanted to know! I hope you do enjoy the experiences you'll have in this CCF programme. It sounds absolutely nift.

[alt_padma]

Thanks! I know what you mean about getting regular exercise. At first it just made me so tired, but now I feel like I've got more energy if I start off with some physical activity. It's a bit backward, but it's true.

A partner's a good suggestion. I mean, it didn't really occur to me that Parvati would be anything other than a partner, but once I've been away for a week she might not want to go out every day. I should see if Su Li or any of the others wants to meet up regularly while we're supposed to be working on our own.

My father reads Gilhooly all the time. He played in the symphony premiere on the 15th, did you know that? My father, that is. But Maestro conducted.

And I hadn't seen Mrs Sewell's. Her posts are quite long, aren't they? But comprehensive, I guess.

There are just so many journals to read, if you wanted to! It's hard to choose. I do like the occasional funny one. Like that cartoonist, Mr Mockridge? The animations are always good for a giggle. And he always gives Kelvin the wittiest lines. (Considering that Kelvin's a fox that's not too surprising!)

I really think the CCF programme will be very rewarding - and I'm sure that next year, those of us who've done it will be given preference for counselor positions in the YPL, too, which will be utterly nift. I guess I didn't really need help on the exercises and all, but thanks for the names of those other journals! I'll be sure to look and see if there are any routines that would work well for what we're learning.

[alt_seamus]

I hadn't noticed the post from Skym until you pointed it out. He's an idiot. A complete barking idiot. If you give muggles an inch, they'll take an ell, and if he knew anything at all about Ireland he'd know that.

As far as training goes, my tutor this summer is working with me on duelling and physical training so I've been doing whatever he tells me to, which has included running but also a lot of strengthening exercises. He seems to especially like sending me out to run when it's raining.

[alt_padma]

We've had rain but we just use an Impervius charm to keep it off.

I think that's why people like Skym can be let go by the Ministry, though, don't you? Because what they've got to say is just so obviously daft. It's almost like it makes the reverse argument for the reader. Sometimes I think it's good to hear the opposition's opinion, like in Future Interrogators. You have to let someone try to defend the other side, if only to show how utterly wrong and mad they are and how their arguments don't hold up to any sort of scrutiny.

I can't believe that's the same tutor who drilled you in spelling and regular lessons! I mean, it's hard to imagine someone like Professor Raz also getting all meticulous about grammar.

What else are you planning to do this summer? After next week, I mean. Do you think Hooper will want to hang about with you in New London or anything? I mean, he must have his own plans, too. But I guess you and he are fairly good mates, right? It's too bad Page turned out to be a berk.

[alt_seamus]

It's a different tutor this summer! Mr Rosier said this summer he wanted me working on the three D's -- Defense, Duelling, and Dark Arts.

Hooper and I met up yesterday in New London and we'll probably see each other a few more times, he's busy too but it's nice to see friends. Do you want to come over for a visit once we're back from CCF? You'd be welcome any time, you know.

As far as people like Skym go, you're probably right but I hate seeing them go on in public. I worry people will start thinking it's NORMAL to want to coddle muggles like pets. And hardly anyone here really understands what's going on in Ireland, anyway, so it really makes me cross when someone's going on like they do know, and they obviously don't.

Private message to Padma Patil

[alt_seamus]

By the way.

Do you know anyone who's been going to those weight loss clinics? Because Hooper had some pretty appalling stories from his brother about what goes on in them. Apparently they make you lose weight by putting the Imperius Curse on you so you eat less and exercise properly. Which I can almost understand, I mean there are days when the LAST thing I want to do is go out running no matter what my tutor says.

But, it gets worse. Because of course if you're under the Imperius curse you'll do ANYTHING, so apparently they're taking hair from people and things like that and selling them to shops that want them for Dark Arts.

Anyway there isn't anyone in your family who's going to one of those places, is there? They sound dodgy. Worse than dodgy. I think the Ministry's planning to shut them down soon, fortunately. I don't know why they've let them go on as long as they have. I sort of wonder if someone (not Mr Malfoy, of course, but someone below him) is taking bribes? Or maybe the clinic wizards are using Imperius on the Ministry inspectors, but if they'd worked that out I'd have thought everyone would've had their license revoked by now.

Re: Private message to Padma Patil

[alt_padma]

Really?

My mum has a bunch of clients who she says ballooned over the last year but then a few of them went to those clinics and dropped the weight again like anything. Some even tried to return their larger-size robes because they said they'd only worn them once or twice!

Mum figured that the clinics were dodgy because anyone who can make you lose weight that fast has to be using some unsafe spell. But Imperius? Wow. That would be why it's well expensive, I guess.

And oh! I bet some people break through the curse - and that's why so many bakeries and tea shops have been broken into lately! Huh.

Wonder if Sandoval knows anything about it? She's been working with Mr Lestrange, you know, on cursed objects, but I bet one of the other trainees in her cohort is working on something to do with those clinics, if they've got enough to shut them down soon. I wonder if any of them went...what-do-you-call-it, undercover? That'd be well snitch, wouldn't it? Spying on a place like that?