Padma Patil

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.)

except for Astronomy.

Remember, History Club begins tonight! Parkinson and I have been working on a project that I think everyone will find really interesting. We've been looking at the history of the regulation of time travel. I think, given how well this has worked out, we might ask if others don't want to research other laws, like how Animagi came to be, or the history of Parseltongue or things like that.

Anyway, so far, I like Dark Arts and Arithmancy best of the new lessons, and Potions, Defence and Transfiguration are still at the top of the regular ones. I mean, I like Charms too, and Astronomy is okay but I like the night-time part better than the lectures (and that'll be tonight).

And Ravenclaw Corner is still nift, I mean, with Sandoval and the Bobolises and the Dameses and all. Oh, and Sandoval, I don't know if your brother told you but there are a few others who've started coming by more often. Davies, for example, and Cox. And there are some newer ones, like Gray and Martinez. But mostly it's the same chums from last year. Dunstan may start coming with me sometimes, and Moon, but only when Karoline isn't there to tease him. I guess that's the bad thing about having an older sister or brother at school with one!

to look at the photographs, Sandoval. It was wizard to see you and hear about your programme. And for everything else. I know you're really busy with training, so it was doubly kind of you to let us come.

Your home is utterly nift, too. The tiles in that Arab room are gorgeous. And the fountain! It's so stupe, how the photographs hung suspended in the water like that. Parvati said it was good to see Honoria. And your father was ever so nice. It's too bad Orion didn't come say hello. But the rest was really amazing. And Parvati thought the Turkish coffee was ever so elegant.

I'm having a think about all we talked about, too. Your advice means a lot.

Has everyone else got their books yet? That DA textbook looks wicked. Practical Curses for Every Occasion? Nift. And who else is taking Arithmancy? I can't wait for that, either, because Professor Vector's really such an amazing Head of House and I've been looking forward to taking her class ever since first year.