Padma Patil

Did you see what Marvolo's mudblood did yesterday? I barely noticed it at the time and then everyone was celebrating and then this morning I opened up my journal and looked back to see what people were saying during the challenge and I saw!

If I were Harry, I'd be well cross, wouldn't you? I can't imagine a servant getting above herself like that! What do you think he'll do to her?

And Lana Sandoval looked just radiant yesterday, didn't she? I think Auror training is honestly the best thing ever for her. She's so happy. And last time she wasn't, did I tell you about that? I'm sure I must have done. She didn't get her intensive with Auror Crouch and she had to work under some crusty old fossil at MLE and she hated every moment. But she spent her time writing papers and she's actually submitted them for publication! Pretty inspiring, I think, as a way to make the best of a bad situation. And now she's got a different intensive with Ms Wright and that must be very agreeable because she really looks amazing.

Plus? She hinted that she might be back over the holidays. It's got to have something to do with the Tri-Wizard Tournament, of course, but what?

Oh, and Lav, Daphs wants help with a project to look through old magazines for articles on someone, you'll never guess, but I can't tell you! It'll just be really interesting to find out what she's trying to learn!

is an utter waste of time!!! We'd do just as well to get the books and take it in turns to read aloud to one another, for all the good lessons do.

Why do we have to learn one thing from the books and a whole other thing to write in our essays for Professor Binns? It's so frustrating.

Today we learnt about Roman wizards coming to England with Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Our book says there were about 100 wizards, more or less, and the Emperor revered them and paid them tribute to get them to fight with him. They fought the druids and helped bring the sort of magic we use now into England, and the Emperor helped them until his grandson, who didn't like magic because he didn't have any, started to make things difficult.

But Professor Binns wants us to say that the Romans didn't have wizards in their armies at all, and that they (the Roman wizards) came only after Rome took over and they decided to trade methods and theory with the druids, all without the Muggles knowing about it, and that's why so many spells have Latin, but the wands are all made out of kinds of wood from here.

If the books are wrong, why do we use them? And if Professor Binns is wrong, why do we have to go on learning from him? Why can't we have another teacher and just change classrooms?

(Potions is still really excellent, though. And everything else is fine. And my marks are still really high. I told Morag and Linus I'd revise with them twice a week, but the rest of the time I'm with Sandoval and Johns and the rest. I'm learning ever so much!)

Mum wrote to say they're sending Morrison (that's the mudblood we had this summer) back to the camps. He's finished the shop expansion Mum wanted. I'm not sure what I think. I mean, at first I didn't like having him about at all, but after awhile it wasn't so bad. He wasn't smelly or dirty, except when he'd been working. He was really old, as old as Haruman I guess. and when he took his shirt off I'd almost got used to having him about, but it's not as if we really need him anymore at home. Pity he can't really be with either me or Parvati, to do chores for us here. But he's too old. And he's not Kshatriyan, so it wouldn't be proper.

Maybe we'll get a mudblood who's a little younger, like Malfoy's is, for our birthday next year. That'd be sort of nift.