alt_padma | I'm really glad that we don't

have Arithmancy until tomorrow. I heard that Professor Vector's still in a strop about Edgecombe's essay being all in glittery pink. (To hear Edgecombe tell it, she doesn't know what possessed her--it's not even proper ink, it's more like a special drafting paint she bought for drawing. There's a charm to make it give off a moonglow in the dark, too.)

Anyway, I thought I'd just remind anyone who might not remember: Black is the only acceptable ink for narrative. Colours are for calculations. (I'll leave what Professor Vector thinks of sparkles or glow-in-the-dark paints to the imagination. Really, it's better that way.) (First-years, that doesn't apply to Potions formulae. The advanced rules there are completely different, as I'm sure Professor Slughorn would be happy to point out.)

While I'm on the subject of reminders: Please make sure you've got all your books and all your supplies for lessons throughout the day. Third-years, you ought to know by now that you've not enough time to go running all the way back to your dormitories between lessons.

And please remember that if you're coming back to the castle from Herbology or Care of Magical Creatures or any other activity that requires you to go outside, you can perform a very simple cleaning charm on your shoes and robe hems before you come inside.

Finally, it should go without saying but NO MAGIC in the corridors. That means no hexing, no jinxing, no curses, no spells of any kind. (Particularly not the kind that might be aimed at a fellow student!) (And don't think you can just blame everything on Peeves, either.)

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Ugh, you should have heard the fuss Edgecombe was making yesterday. And Darshana, my cousin, you know--she swears that she had just done the cleansing spell moments before Milland caught her tracking great huge gobs of mud all through the entrance hall and up the staircase. Has to have been a hex for the last challenge. She was the worst blubbering nit about the whole thing yesterday, I had to send her out of Ravenclaw Corner because she was making such a fuss.

Have you done yours? I managed to hex Maurice Scroops in a way that made him think it was Quint Twycross, just a moment after I'd hexed Twycross's bag to fall apart. They despise each other anyway, so it was fairly easy to get them to duelling. And then it was just a matter of bringing them to Professor Acton. Still, it was harder than I thought to come up with something.

Oh, and Zach? Honestly. He should be eliminated for that feeble effort, I swear.

What, do you feel bad for Romilda Vane? I thought Zach's had flair.

Yeah, deliberately snogging two girls where one can see you and then thinking you can just say 'April Fool's' and not get hexed?

Zach's an utter pig. It's not that I feel sorry for Vane--she's a nitwit--but no bloke should do that to a woman on purpose.

And between that and the last one - I mean, dragon's scales leftover from two years ago? Dragon's don't even live in the Forbidden Forest. He should have failed at that one, too.

Yeah, that one was naff. I don't know who he thought he was fooling.

Lines wants to know if we've noticed that Lestrange is distracted. I told him how beyond inattentive F-F was this afternoon, you know? I mean, when you're more in touch with the revisions than he is, we're in trouble. No offence, just he's usually much more, I dunno, prepared.

Anyway, I think it's because he got caught. He'd have been easy pickings for anyone in Slytherin, from what I hear. And if he got caught and he and Hydra aren't supposed to be together, on account of Marvolo.... Do you think they'd elope? I mean, I can't imagine Lestrange running away from the competition but if they up and married, it's not like He would disqualify her, you know? I think she can Malfoy could almost do whatever they liked and they'd still be in the top ranks.

Well, I'd say F-F has a lot more to worry about than Hydra does. I heard Moebius Ollivander had his bits removed and kept in a jar until he was done with school. After he messed with Marvolo's Granger, you know? Anyway, if F-F crosses the Lestranges I'll be surprised if they're in any shape to be put back on, you know?

Apparently he likes to live dangerously.

Edgecombe clearly knows better. Who do you think did it? And I wonder if they Confunded her or what--I mean, it's probably the best one I've heard of so far.

Did you catch someone after all, or not?

That glittery pink ink should not have been funny but I do confess that it was. (No, it was not me-- and Edgecombe's distress was clearly NOT funny, as it quite disrupted class.)

As to who it was, going by the principle of examining the candidate who looks the most innocent, I have a short list:

Katie Bell
Draco Malfoy

Also, had you noticed that Hydra Lestrange looks rather distracted today?

As to my own cunning plans, they unfold apace. Someday there shall be epic poetry of it.

Since when do you know what happens in the 7^th-years' lessons?

I can't really see Bell doing it, can you? Actually, I'm not much sure what she's still doing in this competition, other than being Marvolo's girlfriend. Sort of.

(Not just Lestrange. F-F's been walking round like he expects to be arrested any moment. I expect someone found out about their little love affair. Do you know that Valerie Dunstan told Belinda that everyone in Hufflepuff know that he's down in the Slytherin dungeons almost every night? And no one says anything because they're afraid of Hydra. I imagine they'd be much more afraid of her mother if she thought anyone other than Marvolo were helping themselves.)

Epic poetry? Would that be the Rime of the Omnioculars again?

Since Professor Vector told me. I went in to collect the extra Arithmancy problems she gives me as a reward some weeks -- apparently my tutoring of Vane and Lonsdale is bearing fruit in the form of improved performance -- and she was still fulminating about how the whole thing had quite thrown a billywig into the cauldron. Between Edgecombe's hysterics and the hilarity of the others, there was little progress made in their apprehension of the intricate workings of higher Arithmancy. I managed to keep a straight face when she described the glittery pink ink, but I will own that it was a near thing.

Do not underestimate Bell. It is the sweet-faced ones that can sometimes be the most dangerous, I am told.

Underestimating Hydra Lestrange would be even worse. Underestimating her mother would likely be a very short-lived mistake, as anyone in the Protectorate knows. (I think, given the choice, I'd rather have Hydra cross with me -- but I intend to refrain from anything that would cause either of them to look askance at me, ever!)

Epic poetry has as its natural subject the actions of heroes and villains, Padma, and its scope may encompass the least of us as well as the most formidable among the Lord Protector's supporters. Not that these challenges are as glorious as the exploits of Byron himself, but one works with what one has.

Actually, if Bellatrix Lestrange ever did take something amiss that I'd done, I could do worse than to have verses in praise of her at the ready. Hmm.

Do you think she will come to Hogwarts?

I don't think Auror Lestrange is the type who...appreciates poetry, Lines.

Maybe if it were verses in praise of Our Lord. But--no, I'm pretty sure not even then.

And I suppose she would come to Hogwarts if there were a good reason. Like if she found out her daughter were planning to elope or something. With someone other than Marvolo, that is. Not that they are, of course. Planning to elope.

Anyway, it's no secret that Malfoy and Lestrange are miles ahead of most of us. Luckily one doesn't necessarily have to beat them, just be as good as or nearly. But Bell? No way. Not unless she's really biding her time to wait for the good quaffles. I'm not sure how many more of these tasks we'll have to do but we've got to be about halfway, if He's going to choose at the end of the term. She's flubbed so many now that she'd have to win almost every one just to come out in the top third.

I'm really glad that we don't

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