Padma Patil

Thank you so much for your advice this afternoon. I really appreciate it.

In fact, I'm already putting it into practice, as Morwenna Mullet will be able to attest.

She was disrespectful of Our Lord and of our work at Ollerton, so I Cruciated her very briefly, with a promise that I could have been much more severe with her had I seen fit.

I think her mates will probably take her to the Hospital Wing, even though I really only held the spell on her for about three seconds. But I know the Headmaster wanted us to report disciplinary actions, so I am reporting it to you.

If you have any questions about what happened, or if the Headmaster would like a more complete report, I'll be happy to provide it.

Thank you again. Your years of experience as a Councilwitch really are the best guide I could ask for.

-Padma

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.)

Oh, for Lakshmi's sake, Bole! You'd think you were the first person ever to break up with a boy. Dionysus Inderwick is hardly the end of the beginning. You'll soon find someone more worthy of your time.

Meanwhile, could you please undo whatever that weather charm was? There are five other girls in your dormitory who don't deserve an indoor rainstorm.

And while you're at it, you can do Darshana's parchment over for her again, she said the ink's all run off in a puddle.

Think about the consequences next time, before you go taking out your troubles on the Tower environment.

I'm sure we're all glad to be settling in and now that we're all in our Common Rooms, the reality of classes starting again tomorrow is being met with anticipation.

It's probably going to be difficult to get to sleep tonight, many of you, but do try to get back onto a regular schedule as much as possible.

Also, Ravenclaw girls, remember that you're back to sharing bathrooms. That includes the mirrors and the sinks.

And Ravenclaw Corner, Madam Pince asked me to tell you all that she found a piece of toast after everyone left for the holidays, behind one of the windowseat cushions. I'm surprised at you, whoever you were: Eating in the library is a clear violation of the rules. If you have to eat, you also have to leave the library.

(On the plus side, I did get her to agree to stock our usual table with the reference volumes we've been using, so they'll be there tomorrow between lessons. Anyone who is looking for Battle of Wills, 1001 Defensive Spells, or any of the Arithmantical Calculation series of volumes, among others, please come and use them at our table, with our compliments, but don't remove them. Madam Pince has the full list.)

And don't forget: History Club, tomorrow night, as usual. We may be suspending some Club meetings based on the rehearsals for Hogwarts Through the Ages but we'll let you know if that becomes necessary.


Welcome back, everyone!

Brampton, Case, Corner, Giles, Gupta, Lorimer, Shelton, Stretton, Tatterson, Whisp and Xing!

Congratulations on being Sorted into our House. We in Ravenclaw have a reputation for excellence both in and out of the classroom. You're sure to fit right in.

We Prefects are here in case you have any questions or problems. Don't hesitate to come see any one of us if you need anything. We'll use every discretion on your behalf.

And don't forget that the Common Room will have loads of information for you about life at Hogwarts. I hope you'll check out the notice boards and consider any of our many clubs, including History Club, Duelling and so on.

Especially for those of you with siblings in other Houses, your journals are a great way to keep in touch. By now I think you'll all know how they work but if anyone has questions about them, please ask any older student; everyone knows how to use them. Not in lessons, though, of course!

Welcome again and it's going to be a marvellous year.

Lana,

How is your grandmother doing? I hope she's all right. Haruman said he'd call to check on her if you like.

I've been thinking more about everything that happened Monday night and, well, it was all very frightening, but honestly it was also kinda cool to be able to pitch in and help. And I hope I did. Help you, I mean. Setting up the checkpoints and the relay stations. You were amazing, I hope someone's told you!

I'm already incredibly busy being back at Hogwarts, and lessons haven't even started yet! Finnigan and I are continuing History Club, of course, and then we've been talking about some other ideas for the CCF, based on everything coming out of Monday. We got to talking about the IMA and some of the other terrorist groups, and of course, the false Black post and so on, and we came up with a proposal we're working on for Professor Sinistra. (And Professor Raz, really.) It's to do with learning more about the ways one can help decode things in the journals - you know, how some people say that all those posts from the Crimson Company are nothing but encrypted messages to their followers? We want to start a cryptography workshop. I thought perhaps someone from MLE might come and give us pointers. I just think...it's hard when we're reading things in the journals, sorting out what's real from what's just a load of stuff, and no one really tells us much here, they like to just tell us that everything's perfect.

Well, we know that's not true, but the whole point of YPL and CCF is to make it more perfect. And it seems to me that knowing what might be going on below the surface is a good way to do that.

And the Corner is really going strong already. We've been putting together timetables for when to revise what. There's hardly going to be a free night, at this rate!

Now, don't fret at me, but Lares Tamblyn actually told me yesterday that he thought Page acted horribly last year and that if I'd like to sit with him and his brother and the other Prefects at meals and such, that'd be all right. And then he said - well, he said Davies even told Page he'd been beastly, 'and especially to someone as fit as Patil,' was what he told him. Cox and Samuels overheard him in the locker rooms, I guess, after one of their matches. Tamblyn said he figures Davies might like to ask me out but he doesn't want anyone to make a meal of it like they did with Page last year. So he suggested that sitting up with the Prefects would put me close to the Quidditchers but not right in among them, because obviously that would look like I'm just trying to catch Page's eye again. As if I'd give him a second chance to be a gentleman!

Well, I'm not sure what I'll do about it. I don't think Tamblyn's the type to wind one up; if Chambers had told me then I'd be sure she'd just putting a kneazle among the occamies! But I always thought Davies fancied Chang, so I don't know quite whether Tamblyn's really drawing the right conclusions. I mean, it could just be that Davies is too decent to let the side's reputation get tarnished by one player's foolishness. Couldn't it?

But anyway. I thought you'd be interested to hear. What else? Well, you probably already know that Karoline Moon's already quite the mope since Baddock's gone. (Clearwater, too, but she does a better job, at least, of not letting it rule her every conversation. Though, honestly, I think I'd be sick if she did go on and on about Weasley, of all people. By the way, what do you think of them choosing her for Head Girl? You probably don't want to say but personally I think, as much as I'd like to see a Ravenclaw with the job, the Headmistress is rather scraping if Clearwater was her best choice. She's not at all a leader like you were. At least, not so far.) But anyway, Dames says Moon and Baddock wanted to get engaged over the summer, but Baddock's father wouldn't allow it! She's been a mope about that, too. Dames thinks it's not that Mr Baddock objects, really, it's just that he thinks they're too young. I thought perhaps he wasn't happy about the play, from last year, you know, how Ptolemy let Karo put in all the stuff about his parents. But Dames doesn't think so, not really. She says Mr Baddock's far too sensible to hold something like that against someone our age. Well, Karo's age. I asked Lines what he thought about his sister getting engaged to Baddock but he just shrugged. Boys.

Oh, and can you believe there were actually no new Bobolis cousins in this year's firsties? But there are some promising ones. Persephone Sanditon's supposedly got a lovely voice and Orla Quirke dances, I hear. And my own cousin, Darshana, she got sorted into Ravenclaw as well! I'm sure Sanji would have been Sorted

Well, I've really gone on and on, haven't I? I'm sure you've loads of important things you're learning at the Ministry and I haven't even asked what you're specialising in now. Of course, Monday was far from the time to catch up but I hope you'll write back and tell me all the exciting parts of your training nowadays!