March:

I accidentally overturned a table in Herbology earlier, because an enormous spider suddenly ran at me! Professor Longbottom made me stay behind to tidy up. I'd accidentally destroyed the plants that had been on the table, and he wasn't happy with me. Worst thing was, I didn't know where the spider went. It was in there somewhere, still lurking among those many untidy plant-pots, tools and shelves and things. I kept looking over in the direction where it had gone.

"What is the matter with you?"Professor Longbottom said, frustrated and dismayed at the damage,"those plants aren't going to leap off the shelves and bite you, you know."

"No, but the spider in them might,"I said.

"Spider?"he said,"what spider?"

"There was a huge spider! The biggest one I've ever seen! That's why I knocked the table over,"I said.

"No excuses,"he said,"you can go when you've finished cleaning all this up. Now can any of these plants be salvaged, do you think?"

"I don't know,"I said,"I'm not good with plants."

"This one, maybe,"he said, examining one closely,"pity about the others."

"I didn't mean to,"I said.

"Just be glad they weren't the dangerous ones,"the professor went on,"you won't want to be doing anything like this again. I should know!"

I laughed.

"Well,"he said, after most of it had been cleared up,"that's enough for now. You can go."

"Why are Hufflepuffs always better at plants?"I asked, before leaving.

"What do you mean?"he asked.

"Well, out of all the people we've ever had classes with, Hufflepuffs are always the best,"I answered,"they're even better than Ravenclaws, and then there's you, and..."

"Me?"Professor Longbottom said, looking confused.

"Yes, you were in Hufflepuff, wasn't you?"I said, suddenly feeling confused as well, like something I'd said wasn't right.

Professor Longbottom laughed,"I wasn't in Hufflepuff!"he said.

"Oh! Then - what were...?"I asked, surprised.

"I was a Gryffindor!"he replied.

For some weird reason, all this time I'd been convinced Professor Longbottom was Hufflepuff!

"You seem like a Hufflepuff,"I said.

"How's that?"he asked, smiling.

"Well, you don't seem like a Gryffindor, you seem - too nice,"I said.

"Too nice to be a Gryffindor?"Professor Longbottom said, looking puzzled.

"Anyway,"I said, feeling like I'd better go quickly, before I said anything more stupid,"I think I should go now! Goodbye, Professor, I'm sorry about the plants."

Later:

Potions class was hilarious today. To me, at least. For some reason, Antonius didn't seem to be concentrating on his potion, and it blew up! Professor Park made him redo it; and as he did so, he stood behind Antonius examining everything he did, just standing there, leaning with one hand on the table, following his every movement. After observing for a very long five minutes, he said,"you know, there was a much easier way to do that."

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Antonius stared at him blankly. I knew he probably had really bad performance anxiety by this point. He'd been carefully crushing a pre-powdered root in his mortar and pestle for quite a while.

Professor Park picked up the bottle of powdered root and shook some of it into the cauldron, as you would spices into a cooking pot. Antonius looked utterly miserable. I was trying my best not to laugh. I knew if I did, Professor Park would come up to my potion - which, though not blowing up, was not going well...

I don't think I've ever seen Antonius like that before. Usually he's always so - boring! He seemed a bit agitated today, he wasn't being his usual self. It seemed something was bothering him.

The next day:

In DADA, I was happy to see Henry Blaise joining us. I knew this meant we'd most likely be practicing Patronuses again. I've been practicing by myself, and I think I've been improving. Also it meant I wasn't going to be sitting by myself, as I sat next to Henry.

When my turn came, this time I gave it real thought. I remembered my encounter with an old friend who had seemed lost forever - until our unexpected reunion, however faint and vague of a reunion that might have been (Sheila). I thought about how miserable I'd been at getting detention, and it actually turning out not so bad in the end. Yes, we have so many troubles, so many downs, but there are also ups. Life is what you make it. Life can throw what it wants at you, knock you down, but you just get back up. While you're still alive, still breathing - there is always hope! I thought about everything and everyone I appreciate in my life. The light at the end of the tunnel. Hope. Hope remains where life remains. I thought about the happiest I'd ever felt, and was filled with a surging optimism fuelled by hope and love! The future isn't to be dreaded, it is how I make it!

"Expecto Patronum!"

Then I saw it, just for a brief, fleeting moment, as it glided below the ceiling and disappeared.

My Patronus is a brown owl.

"Well done,"Professor Livia said,"I wasn't expecting that from you, Miss Carrow."

Did Professor Livia just congratulate me?

"Owl Patronuses are actually quite rare,"Professor Livia went on,"remember - conjuring a Patronus in a classroom may be one thing, but when faced with a Dementor, it becomes a different thing entirely!"

Later:

My wand began flashing orange. I realised Anita was calling me. I followed the call. She was in the treehouse with Lotty.

"What's this about?"I asked, as I climbed up through the trap door.

"Duelling practise,"Anita said, now using her wand to call Jared.

"How about we start now?"Lotty suggested,"I can practise with Cathy, now you're calling Jared."

"We need an arena,"Anita said,"it won't be proper without an arena."

"That meadow should do fine,"I said, looking down from one of the arched windows,"come on, Lotty!"

"I'll watch your progress from up here and be a judge,"Anita said.

We went down to the small meadow that separated the cluster of trees from the Forbidden Forest.

"I'm wondering,"I said, looking into the spooky trees that I knew housed all kinds of dangerous creatures,"is this the safest place to practice?"

"Probably not, but it'll do,"Lotty said,"I don't mind having my back to the forest. If you see anything coming out of there, just let me know, and we can both leg it!"

"I'll let you know as well!"Anita shouted, we heard her voice coming from up in the trees. A voice with no body.

We couldn't see the treehouse, of course. Just bare trees with their dainty peppering of early spring buds.

"Do you know any blocking spells?"I asked Lotty.

"Yeah,"she answered.

"Then block my attack!"I warned,"three - two - one!"

Lotty blocked my attack expertly, I was impressed.

Fortunately I've gotten better at blocking now. We took it in turns blocking each others' attacks. Then we returned up into the treehouse for a rest.

That was when Jared showed up, late as usual. He was holding a mug of tea, and following him was a large floating tea-tray,"I thought this,"he said, meaning the tea-tray,"was a necessary addition to our lair!"

We all agreed.

A few minutes later, Ed joined us.

"What's this? A tea party?"he asked, popping his head through the trap door,"I thought we were supposed to be duelling each other."

"We were,"I said,"but we're having some tea first."

"In that case,"said Ed, climbing up and grabbing a mug of hot tea,"wait - is this mine?"

"Of course,"I said,"there are five mugs of tea, and that's the last one."

"Well, then,"Ed said

Ed and Jared ended up talking about things - then arguing about things; and by the end of all the Duelling practice, Anita, Lotty and I were the only ones that did any. Ed and Jared were up in the treehouse arguing (about different things every time we went up there) and every time we asked them when they were going to have a go, the shooed us out.

"It's my treehouse!"Anita said, indignantly, one of the times we returned to the arena.

"Well, you know what they're like when they're arguing,"I said,"we need to be heading back to Hogwarts now. Someone should tell them."

"I will,"Lotty volunteered,"otherwise they can just stay there! I'm not bothered trying to drag them out!"

Anita and I made our way back to the castle. Lotty did tell Jared and Ed. They didn't listen. They got back late. They finally realised they needed to be heading back when they saw that it had gotten dark (even though it had already been dark for ages).