Next Day:

The weather has suddenly gotten a lot colder. Anita was talking about building a fireplace that wouldn't damage the treehouse or tree (we were sitting up there, shivering. It's not such a cosy hideaway now.). None of us know how to conjure that kind of fire, and it could go terribly wrong if we tried... We had to make Anita promise she wouldn't try it, not at least until we'd discovered a safe way to do it, and practised elsewhere. Because, I tell you this, once she gets ideas, there's almost no stopping her! I know she's going to go straight to Ed to ask about conjuring fires, but at least we made her promise to practise them somewhere else first! Otherwise, it would be just like Anita to accidentally burn down the Forbidden Forest!

Late November:

It's been a long time since I last wrote. We've sort of abandoned the treehouse for the time being. We've been spending a lot of time indoors (apart from Lotty, she's still practicing flying for the Quidditch trials. She's been out there working hard, toiling away in all weathers!).

I've been paying a lot more attention in Ancient Runes. I was asking Professor Willow (who teaches Ancient Runes) if he knew about more ancient forms, and he actually did.

Not much is known about the oldest form, but he was able to present me with some scraps; and some workings done by magical linguists who have tried to decipher them properly in the past.

"There's a very strange thing about these runes in particular,"he said, handing me a piece of parchment, and an old book,"whenever we try to decipher them, what should be simple becomes entirely complex. Look at this parchment here, and tell me what you see?"

I looked at the parchment - it seemed to be translation workings; a lot of symbols had already been decoded, and were listed in a key. They had been using a partial script (which they wrote was traced from a very old stone, and they'd used that to fill in the gaps). It looked very interesting! Languages and codes, all those sorts of things have always been my strong point.

I pointed out to him the things I saw, but he shook his head.

"That is not what I see,"he said.

"Then what do you see?"I asked.

"I just see random, unintelligible nonsense,"he responded,"and the nonsense I see, you can guarantee, will be different to the nonsense someone else sees. It seems that there is some curse, some enchantment on this ancient language. An enchantment that will prevent people from ever deciphering it. For many years, enthusiasts have tried to break the enchantment, the spell, whatever it is; but it must be so old, so long forgotten, that no one knows how."

I examined the book I held in my hands, wondering... I remembered the curse on the secret underground chamber in the fox's den. A curse that had prevented me from speaking about what I had found. How I had written down what I found, but the others only saw it as random nonsense. Maybe that was the same curse that was on these runes?

But I had been in the chamber, and seen the book. Maybe the curse didn't prevent me from seeing through the enchantment, because I already knew. Maybe that was the reason that now, this book, and the parchment fragment made sense to me - even though Professor Willow was going on like it was impossible to read.

"May I borrow this for a while?"I asked.

"Yes, of course,"Professor Willow responded,"but you won't get anywhere with it - I've tried, and so have many others before me, all to no avail! It is a lost cause, I'm afraid. Make sure you bring it back afterwards."

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"Of course, I'll bring it back,"I answered.

This was exciting! Maybe I could learn to read that ancient language and de-code the runes in that mysterious book? If only I found a way to return to that secret chamber? I'd have to get Ed to teach me the digging spell.

Imagine being the only person to know an ancient language cursed by an unknown enchantment! But was I the only person who knew? I realised that even if I did successfully translate this old form of ancient runes, I would never be able to show it, or prove it to anyone else. All Professor Willow would be able to see would be random scribbles. Maybe other people have found out how to read them, but they're the only ones that can, because they can't show anyone else what they've solved.

In any case, this was a rare secret.

This is another reason why I haven't written in so long, actually. Instead of reserving scraps of my spare time to write in my diary, I've been studying the book Professor Willow gave me. And I've been making progress! So much so that I now have a key that appears to make sense. The only problem is, I don't have enough sample texts to practise it on. A lot of it is based on theory, and I'm unable to fill in the gaps. However, I know I could make real progress if I could just see that old book in the Foxhole Chamber again.

Maybe I could take Ed with me? Maybe if we're both in there, and we've both seen it, we'll be able to discuss the language together and it'll make sense to us? I know Ed studies ancient runes, too. Though he's not as dedicated as I am.

So, other than studying, what else happened? Professor Park threatened to cut off Dominic's hands when he stirred his potion the wrong way, after being told off for doing it wrong three times already. Regulus Flint (our Quidditch Team captain, he's in my year) ended up being the first person to blow up one of the 'highly flammable' potions, and actually set Antonius' robes on fire! Fortunately, both of their burn-removal potions were up to standard, because they needed them! Especially Regulus! Professor Park was furious. He told them if it ever happened again, he would turn them both into potion ingredients. Antonius was particularly annoyed (in a passive aggressive way), seeing as he wasn't the one responsible for the disaster, but it serves him right! He's always managing to worm his way out of trouble, or as far away from it as possible, he needs to be taken down a peg or two, every once in a while!

December:

I went to ask Ed about a digging spell.

"What do you want to use a digging spell for?"he asked.

"Well, it came in useful back on Halloween, when you dropped your wand down a fox hole!"I said.

"Yeah, but that's not exactly an every-day thing to happen,"he replied.

"But it proves it could always come in useful,"I persisted.

"Why don't you learn it yourself, Cathy? You should read more books,"Ed said, irritably.

Since the cold weather has been keeping us indoors, he's taken to studying extensively again, and it's been making him bad-tempered, as usual.

"You should WORK a bit more, instead of getting other people to do all of the work for you!"Ed was ranting.

"It's just one spell,"I said.

"You're always asking me 'how do I do this?' - 'how do I do that?',"Ed went on,"really, Cathy, you need to put in some effort once in a while!"

"Ed, I can't help it that I'm not as clever as you are,"I said,"I try to study a lot, but it's really hard. It takes me a long time to learn things!"

"Which means it's going to take a long time for me to teach you!"Ed objected,"no way! Go and learn it yourself!"

"You could at least tell me where you learned it?"I insisted.

"Right then! Listen to me, Cathy!"Ed said, snapping the book he was reading shut with a sharp slap,"GO into the library, and use your brain to THINK! 'Hmm, I wonder where I could find some information about digging spells?' then, if you HAVE a brain, it should tell you 'gardening - therefore the Herbology section, let's have a look over there', and 'yay! A book on Useful Spells for the Magical Garden!' and what do you know? There's the digging spell! Right there in the book! Cathy, you need to start learning to think like us people with brains, for once in a while!"

"Fine!"I said, understanding from this long speech of his, that I had to go to the Herbology section of the library and find a book on gardening.

Later:

I found it! I've started practising the spell, and it works!

Pity about Ed being grumpy, I was going to tell him about the runes, but I've decided not to. Especially as Ancient Runes is something I'm better at than him. He knows that, and it'll just make him even more grumpy!

Next day:

It's the beginning of the Christmas Holidays! We're going home for Christmas.