Well, I thought the play committee

[alt_padma]

did rather well. Karoline's script is already well strong but she's taking all the suggestions people had and putting them into the third draft. Or maybe it's the fourth. Anyway, it's going to be brilliant.

And I think everyone's going to really enjoy a chance to have some fun, particularly after all the trouble last week! Honestly, you'd think Derwent and Yaxley were trying out for 'The Witches of Wormwood' or something, the way they were carrying on. And Sandoval has been beyond insufferable! It's just as well he told Dames he'd not be coming to Ravenclaw Corner anymore, because it's been the only place where no one's come looking to throttle him all weekend. Only I think Dames would let him come back if he'd start talking sense, which sort of worries me, because honestly I think his behaviour has been deplorable. Not just getting Derwent and Yaxley and even Chambers all ill like that, but the way he treated them afterward, as if it was their fault for snogging him and not his at all!

I mean, by comparison, really anything our year's done has been trivial. Well - I can think of one or two people who've done terrible things and deserve what they've got.

But anyway, I think we've got the Corner all straightened out now, especially after Dames and I talked to Madam Pince (and thanks for that advice, Lana!).

I can't believe it's already more than a week into October! Oh, and Finnigan, we'll be revising with the others tonight - at least for a little while. It gets too crowded in that classroom, though, so we might just take a smaller group nearby for a little more room. (Honestly, we might just as well tell everyone to go to the Great Hall when it's that many people!)

Comments

[alt_seamus]

I think smaller groups make a lot of sense.

And UGH to Orion Sandoval! I completely agree he's been a complete git.

[alt_padma]

Yes, I think things went much better after we split off. Especially when Gupta tried practising his 'Lumos' charm. I think he was even worse than you when you started!

[alt_seamus]

Oh? What did he light on fire?

[alt_padma]

Didn't you see? He made his hair stand on end and glow. And when Burbage got too close to him it made his hair stand up on end!

[alt_seamus]

Psht. If there were no actual flames involved he is not yet my rival for mishaps with basic Charms!

[alt_padma]

No, it was because he was spilling over onto other people - with the smaller group the firsties could spread out more and no one else got bothered by it.

Private message to Padma

[alt_seamus]

There's been all sorts of talk in the Gryffindor common room about Sandoval and his disease and HOW you get it (because I guess it's not really JUST snogging).

Someone said they knew a boy who got it from another BOY. One of the firsties ran out with his hands over his ears.

It reminded me I don't know if Do you know any men who snog other men? Because I don't. Do you think he was having me on?

Re: Private message to Padma

[alt_padma]

Well, I don't. But my mum does. Lots of designers and artists and like that. Hyperion, he's a pufta. Oh, and I think my dad said that the man who owns Presto Records, Tenebridge, he's a big one. I've never met him, though. But his robes are well flash and he has loads of rings and all. And of course there were all sorts of sordid articles about how Sirius Black would bugger anything, but he was just depraved, wasn't he? I think his brother was too

There are also girls who snog girls, but it's harder to tell because girls are more naturally affectionate with one another, you know? But I heard someone say Jeannette Derrick was one, and sometimes I think Brocklehurst might be. Only sometimes she's sort of looking at Morag or Belinda in a rather queer way.

Dad says it's because they're not made right, but Mum tells him it's just that people are different to one another and not everyone is meant to get married and have loads of kids. But it's sort of weird, innit?

Re: Private message to Padma

[alt_seamus]

Girls ARE more affectionate with one another, you lot can be dead puzzling, actually! Like when you're furious with each other one day and doing each other's hair the next.

Interesting to know about the flash robes and rings and all. Is that how you can tell?

Re: Private message to Padma

[alt_padma]

Well, boys are just as hard to understand. Like how you can eat five helpings of pudding and not get fat, or how you can go four days without a bath. Or when you're really thick - not you personally, I mean, but all of you, collectively.

I don't think it's the only way. I mean, I'm pretty sure that all those notes from Mrs Malfoy to Regulus Black about Ganymede Bobolis were because they were doing more than going to the club together. But the few times he was here Black never wore anything even remotely showy. And Professor Lockhart always wore exquisite robes and did his hair well and all, but he wasn't bent at all!

But I think if a wizard acts more like a witch, then that's usually a good sign he's a robe-lifter. Although I guess it stands to reason there must be some that aren't - I mean, someone has to be the man, right? They can't all be girls' blouses.

I dunno. Do you want me to ask Mum more? I mean, I know she knows a few and she'd know if they're all flamboyant like that.

Re: Private message to Padma

[alt_seamus]

If you don't think she'd mind You don't have to ask your mum, I was just curious. I suppose you're right about Lockhart. And Black. Ganymede Bobolis, he edits that magazine doesn't he? Is he girly, since Regulus Black really wasn't? I mean he never seemed girly to me.

As far as pudding we can eat all we want because we're growing! That's what I've heard anyway. Don't ask me to explain about the baths some of the others don't take, I shower every day.

Re: Private message to Padma

[alt_padma]

I dunno about Bobolis, I've never met him. But he didn't seem bothered at all to bid on Black in that auction thing. Or to wear fancy dress. But then fancy dress doesn't have to be girly, either, I suppose.

And if we ate all the pudding we wanted it would go straight onto our hips and ... other places where a girl doesn't want a lot of bulk! But even if you do take a shower every day, you still think disgusting things are funny - like dungbombs and belching and all.

Anyway. I just asked Euterpe what Ganymede's like and she said he's brilliant and not at all like a girl. Well, except that he has trouble growing his beard in, so he has a little moustache that's all blond and looks more like a girl's arm hair than a proper moustache, and she thinks he should just shave it. But she said he's fit and he doesn't dance any better than most boys. Whatever that means! Mostly boys hate to dance at all!

Re: Private message to Padma

[alt_seamus]

Oh well, there's no accounting for the fact that girls don't find dungbombs funny.

And fancy dress doesn't have to be girly at all. Though wasn't there a man dressed up as a girl in that panto we saw? THAT would be a girly sort of fancy dress.

Do you think it's a good thing, or a bad thing, for a boy to like dancing?

Re: Private message to Padma

[alt_padma]

Well. I think most girls would like a boy who likes to dance, and is somewhat good at it, because it's no fun to sit around all evening and not dance. But most boys are embarrassed about dancing, which is silly, if you ask me.

But I guess that's because some girls might think that if a boy holds her on the dance floor it's because he fancies her, and the boy might not feel that way. So I can see why boys might not want to dance.

Though it's odd that you'd all be worried about looking like fools, since you do that every day without any kind of music playing at all.

Re: Private message to Padma

[alt_seamus]

Too true.

Re: Private message to Padma

[alt_seamus]

And I expect Sirius Black would have buggered animals if they'd hold still and not bite him. I wouldn't put anything past his kind.