Good Morning,my diary.Today is the last day of midterm before Christmas vacations.After the vacations,the next half of term will start.I dress up and the first thing I do in the morning is to freshen up and go to the library to update the printed version of my diary with what I have written until now.Then I head to the Great Hall for breakfast.The weather through the enchanted ceiling is bright and sunny,and its warm.For breakfast,I have toasted bread,cranberry sauce,jam,eggs,bacon and sausages,butter,dragon milk cheese,gorgonzola cheese,mozarella cheese,camembert cheese,brie,orange juice and two cups of coffee.I take care to wave to Lacey and Rose while having breakfast.A Gryffindor second year female student comes over to me and says "Hi",introducing herself as Saige Officer.I say "Hello" back to her adding that its nice to meet her and shake her hand,then,follow her on social media.She thanks me for the follow and asks me if I would like to join some of the clubs she is in.I politely decline as I am already overwhelmed with the little social life I have,and tell her that I am already in quite a few groups and also a little more overwhelmed as my midterm examinations are going on now.I tell her I may want to  join the clubs when I am free or in my later years at Hogwarts.She nods and says that she does not mind and invites me to join whenever I want to,telling me that the clubs will always be open.I wave her goodbye as she leaves and moves back to her place at the table.At the Gryffindor house table,a Gryffindor first year tells me he checked my magical social media and followed me and read my post about planting the knotgrass and being excited about having planted it.He says that he liked my post.He then asks me,"Why Polyjuice Potion though? Isn't it one of the more complex potions?".I am intrigued and enjoy his interest in my post and my choices.I reply,"Yeah,of course,its complex.But that is also one of the reasons that makes it more interesting and me more curious about it.The major reason is that if you have read my bio,you will know that I am a muggle-born and my only exposure to knowledge about the magical world until I joined Hogwarts has been through the Harry Potter books and movies,popular in the muggle world,in which The Polyjuice Potion plays a very important role at multiple points in the plot.Therefore,I have always wanted to know how to brew it.Thus,the Polyjuice Potion to me is one of the most intriguing and interesting potions and one of the potions I am very curious about.

I am only in first year as of yet,and we haven't been taught anything about the Polyjuice Potion in class.

Coming back to why think about the Polyjuice Potion in first year,then?The answer is that,because one of the most important parts of the process of potion-brewing is its ingredients,to be an independent and successful potioneer and also to have better grasp about a potion,its important to have knowledge of where a potion's ingredients are derived from,better still to have access to self-grown or self-reared ingredients of one's own.Knotgrass being a basic bloom is being taught to me in first year,and I cannot let this opportunity go,because if I do,I will regret it in my later years when I finally study about the Polyjuice Potion.Therefore,I am excited about planting the Knotgrass.Also,this is only one ingredient of the Polyjuice Potion.There are still the other ingredients of the potion that I haven't yet been taught about.Therefore,there is nothing to worry about as I am not trying to brew the Polyjuice Potion in first year itself.I am going to take it at the pace at which Hogwarts teaches me,and learn properly what is being taught at any particular time.I am going to wait until I am taught at Hogwarts about the Polyjuice Potion,to brew it,because it is important to worry about safety and things I may miss if I do not wait to gather enough knowledge before brewing the potion,leading to accidents.However,everytime I am taught in class,about one of its ingredients,I am going to notice."He nods at me.I then try to ask him his name but he recieves an owl right then and rushes away to the bathroom with the message brought by the owl before I can do so.I check my magical social media to see his name,as he just said that he followed me on magical social media.He has indeed followed me and I find him among my followers,but even on magical social media he has no name on his magical social media profile.This looks slightly suspicious but I decide to ignore the feeling for now.I look over at Professor Draekon to try to make conversation,but he leaves the table just then."Not a very good day",I say to myself.The owl post comes in just then,with letters and parcels,flooding the Great Hall with screeches and landing on the tables.There are a lot of letters and messages for me too,which I am sure are mostly my grades.The first letter however turns out to be my family asking me how I am and saying that they recieved my last letter and are glad that I am enjoying myself at Hogwarts.I write back immediately after I summon parchment,quill and inkpot from my dorm using the Summoning Charm,Accio.I then use the same owl to send my letter to my family.The next owl left a message for me from my Herbology Professor,Professor Aspen.He wrote to me saying that I recieved a 90 out of 100 marks on the mandatory quiz assignment for the lesson we were taught in Herbology class yesterday.The message also says I got 9 house points for Gryffindor for it.I realize that I lost 10 marks on the assignment because of a silly mistake.The feedback for me for the assignment from Professor Aspen says "Great answers to your open questions :)".I promise myself that I will pay more attention during classes and while solving assignments,so as to not get less marks again.The next message brought to me via the owl post is from my DADA Professor,saying that I got a 90 marks out of 100 on the quiz assignment titled "Imps and Bowtruckles" and recieved 9 house points for Gryffindor for it.There is no feedback note for me for the assignment on the message.I am a little disappointed with my marks.I try to go through the answer marked wrong,as written on the message.It appears to me that my answer was correct,though I am not sure.I owl Professor Penrose to tell him that I believe my assignment was graded in error and ask him to look into the matter or kindly explain what I may have missed,but remember that I heard many students talking to each other saying that Professor Penrose is often too busy to answer owls.So,I also owl the Professor Assistant he asked us to contact in his absence,Isabel Rhodesse,with the same concerns and queries.Just to make sure that my query is ultimately answered,I also owl the same concerns and queries to Lily Lavender,a third year Gryffindor dorm member,the first person I met while searching for dorms to join at Hogwarts,as she is also a Professor Assistant for DADA for Professor Penrose.She owls me back almost immediately saying that she likes that I reached out and explaining why my answer was wrong and my doubts are cleared.I owl her back immediately too,thanking her and telling her that her owl was a great academic help.She almost immediately owls me back again saying that it was not an issue.As I am just about to start reading my third owl post,a Slytherin second year student,who is also a Charms Professor Assistant and Transfiguration Professor Assistant,comes over to my table to say "Hi".Her name is Evony Senoj and she says she is already following me on social media.I follow her back.She says she liked my choice of the broomstick Comet 340 as I posted on my magical social media wall,and also says that she likes my idea of always carrying a Remembrall in my pocket and taking it in my hand from time to time as she has noticed.She also says that she liked my post on planting the Asphodel and Knotgrass,and says that she was hanging around near my table and heard me explaining my choice of the Polyjuice Potion to the Gryffindor first year boy who was asking me about it and liked my explanation.I thank her and as everyone around me gazes at her in admiration,I suddenly realize that she is none other than the Evony Senoj who recieved a bronze medal for recieving the third maximum number of house points in school at Hogwarts for the last house cup.She is great in her academics and recieved an 'O' or 'Outstanding' grade in all her subjects,in her first and second year,and is doing equally well in her third year too.She also earned first place in the Grade-A-Palooza competition,and recieved her certificate for it from none other than Professor Draekon(a sharp pang in my heart).I see the bronze medal around her neck and a miniature of the certificate pinned to her robes.I appreciate her and tell her I really like her grades.She thanks me and I must admit I have never seen such a polite Slytherin student,though she is ambitious and has a slightly proud streak to herself.She is just then bombarded by conversations from Alyssa Riddle,her fellow Slytherin friend,who joins her and starts talking to her about each of their achievements.I excuse myself from their never-ending conversation to focus my attention back on my owl post.Being dissapointed with my DADA and Herbology grades,I carry my owl post right to Lacey's table,the Slytherin house table,to talk to her for being able to feel better,while reading the rest of my owl post.I do not go to Rose's table because Rose appears missing for breakfast,from the Ravenclaw house table.I do not pay much attention to it for now,reassuring myself that she may be busy with something,but as I make my way to Lacey's table,I notice Hazel Black,a Hufflepuff making her way to Lacey's table to talk to the Slytherin Head of House,Professor Penrose.She however stops in her tracks,and is disappointed when she notices that Professor Penrose is missing from his place at the Slytherin table.I realize that the ex-Auror Professor Penrose must also be a busy person,because of his own reasons.Hazel keeps looking for the Professor's DADA Professor assistants and while everyone is too busy to answer her query,I decide to answer it for her.I move up to her telling her that I would like to answer her query even though I am not Professor Penrose or a Professor Assistant for DADA for him.She asks why her answer to a question asking the correct pronunciation for the charm Nox marked wrong,as she answered "Nocks" and believes that that was the pronunciation taught in class.I explain to her that the correct pronunciation is "NOCK-ss",not "Nocks",and that the double 's' at the end of the incantation is important to the charm and that the emphasis on a certain part of the pronunciation,as denoted by capital letters in writing,is also important.Hazel says that she understood and retreats to her table.I reach over to Lacey,who is also busy contemplating her grades.I notice she is writing to Professor Penrose as well and is busily chatting with her fellow Slytherins at her table.I leave her at her table to not disturb her,and retreat to my own house table to read my remaining owl post.The next message is from my Flying class Professor,Professor Madame Eira Fox,saying that I recieved a 100 marks on and 10 points for Gryffindor for the quiz assignment for the lesson taught in Flying class for which we were taken on a virtual tour of the Ministry of Magic.The message carries no feedback for me for my assignment.The next message is from her as well,and says that I recieved a 100 marks on and 10 house points for Gryffindor for the assignment in which we had to identify the broom trading company being talked about from the characteristics given.The message contains no feedback for me for the assignment.The next message is also from her,saying that I recieved only 60 marks out of 100 on and 6 house points for Gryffindor for the assignment titled "Broomsticks Through the Ages".The feedback note from the Professor for me for the assignment,as written on the message,reads,"Please do not copy and paste from the lesson.".I realize I may have not understood some parts of the lesson and thus needed to copy and paste exact words and sentences from my notes taken by me during the lesson,but I am sure I did not copy and paste any entire answers from my notes as I almost never do that for any of my assignments at Hogwarts,thus I am a little bit offended but I promise to myself to minimise writing answers in the exact words as I hear and note down during the lesson being taught.I notice that the assignment is retakeable as I scored below 70 marks but decide against try to retake it as I am already not very good at Flying or not very interested in Flying class.I decide that it is neither possible nor required to excel at everything at Hogwarts and hence give up on trying to fix the grades on the assignment for Flying class that I have solved and submitted once.The next message is also from Professor Madame Eira Fox and says that I recieved a 100 marks or full marks on and got awarded 11 house points for Gryffindor for my essay for the essay assignment for which I was asked to write an essay saying which broomstick I would like to buy or already own/prefer explaining the reasons for it.The feedback note for me for my essay from Professor Madame Eira Fox as written on the message reads,"Good job".The next message is from Professor Draekon saying that I recieved a 100 marks on and 10 house points for the quiz assignment for the lesson in which we were taught how to brew the Cure for Boils.There is no feedback note from Professor Draekon for me on the assignment.As I finish reading these owl posts,I recieve another owl from Isabel Rhodesse,the DADA Professor Assistant I owled.The message answers my DADA query in the same way Lily answered it for me and asks me to not tell the answer to anyone as that could lead to future cheating.I owl back thanking her and saying that she cleared my query very well and I promise to not tell the answer to anyone.I follow Isabel Rhodesse on magical social media.I mentally calculate how many house points I thus recieved until now,and it appears to me as a result of my mental calculation that I recieved 524 house points for Gryffindor until now.I congratulate myself for whatever I have done until now and though I am a bit disappointed that I failed to recieve a 100 marks on each of my assignments until now,I reassure myself that I am doing good enough,if not the best,and promise to myself to try to do even better.I then head to the nearest bathroom to wash myself and drink water,and Rose joins me there after a few minutes.I ask her why she was not at the Ravenclaw house table for breakfast and she says that she woke up late this morning and got busy after that,so she could not come to eat her breakfast on time.She says that she came late and ate as much and as fast as she could,before breakfast got over.She says she has a lot of owl post to read too,but saw me leaving towards the bathroom instead and followed me to tell me something.She tells me that she liked my post on planting Asphodel and Knotgrass,and that she heard from one of her acquaintances at the Gryffindor table before following me that I explained my choice of the Polyjuice Potion to a first year Gryffindor boy and that she asked her acquaintance to relate the whole conversation and that on hearing it,she liked my explanation.She further tells me that she has been brainstorming ideas for fun mischief to make and fun things to do in the library during our meetings for the group "Our Own Cosy Little Library Corner".She says that she decided to try becoming animagi for our next adventure to be recorded in the book "Mysteries of Hogwarts" that she is writing,in which she has already recorded our adventures during our quest for the Marauder's Map.Though Rose is very excited about being Animagi and I feel bad for countering her,I decide to tell her the problems with the idea of trying to be Animagi in first year,and dissuade her from it as I personally feel that it is almost impossible.I tell her that we cannot legally practise Transfiguration in first year except under the supervision of a Transfigurist and that our Transfiguration Professor,Professor Mitchell warned us in class that it is highly not recommended to try to learn how to become Animagi on our own,and warned us to not try it,both of which are true.I also remind her that we will have to register about being Animagi under the Ministry of Magic,and though she says that we will do it,I tell her that it is very unlikely that they will just register us and not punish us or expel us or that there will be no consequences from the Ministry or Hogwarts for performing Transfiguration magic without supervision in first year.She is so excited about trying to become Animagi that she seems to have planned everything about our meetings for becoming Animagi and about who will join us in our meetings in the library under cover of the group "Our Own Cosy Little Library Corner".She appears to have also researched on the process and says that we will have to keep a leaf of mandrake in our mouth for a month and seems to be already planning for how to go about trying to become Animagi as she also says that we will need to go and talk to someone who is an Animagus.I wonder to myself that it will be very difficult to find an Animagus as Animagi are rare,and wonder if Rose has a good idea of how difficult it is going to be to do these two things.I bring to Rose's notice that if we keep a leaf of mandrake in our mouth for a month,there is the question of how we will attend classes,as she seems to have not considered that it will be quite impossible to attend classes without talking.Also,if any Professor notices us with a leaf of mandrake in our mouth,or finds out after getting suspicious about why we are not talking,the Professor will surely understand or guess that we are trying to be Animagi,as our Professors surely know about the process of becoming Animagi.If any student notices that we are not talking,the student may report to a Professor,considering our behaviour suspicious.Rose finally understands that her idea is not worth a try,and asks me if I will suggest an idea for our next mischief instead,but I encourage her saying that she often has brilliant ideas and that she can suggest an idea for our next mischief.She suggests finding the Mirror of Erised.I like this idea very much and tell her that I think it is perfect.I tell her that I suggested and planned our mischief last time,so this time she can do it.She agrees to plan it for us.I like the idea of finding the Mirror of Erised as I realize that using our Marauder's Maps will make it easy for us.Being so busy all the time during our times spent in the library for our quest for the Marauder's Map,I forgot to write in my diary that a queenly looking Hufflepuff girl in first year at Hogwarts,who always wears royal robes and golden earrings,and has hypnotizing eyes(her eyes often make me wonder if she is part-veela) and sharp features,called Everline Felice Mayhem,one day joined our group "Our Own Cosy Little Library Corner" in the library,during our quest,but did not join in the quest.We welcomed her as she is the first and still only Hufflepuff to join our group,and she fulfilled my wish of having a member of all four houses in our group,though she did not join into our quest for the Marauder's Map.I followed her on social media.She used to often join us in the library and watch us during our meetings for our quest for the Marauder's Map,but never joined into our quest.Rose tells me that she plans to ask Everline to join us in our next mischievous quest this time and I agree with Rose adding that that is perfect if Rose manages to convince Everline.A Slytherin first year female student called Alasia Rose Serpens,who belongs to the pureblood wizarding family Serpens,also asks to join our group "Our Own Cosy Little Library Corner" after she overhears Rose and me while we are talking in the bathroom.We approve of Alasia joining our group and allow her to join us in the library during the meetings of our group whenever she wants.Alasia thanks us and leaves the bathroom and I follow her on social media.Alasia's backstory on her magical social media profile is very interesting,as you will know if you check her magical social media profile.Rose and I then talk about our Marauder's Maps and where we are keeping it.I say that I am keeping mine locked in my trunk.Rose says that she is carrying hers around in her pocket.She suggests that I keep mine in my diary folded between two of it's pages,as someone may use the Alohomora charm on my trunk and steal my Marauder's Map.I agree with her and summon the Marauder's Map to myself,and then place it inside my diary between two pages,choosing the pages such that I have already written on them,and therefore am not likely to turn to again.Then we talk about when we will be grown up enough to drink firewhiskey and when we will be able to drink butterbeer,and then we leave together for Transfiguration class after summoning our previous notes from Transfiguration classes and our quills,parchments and inkpots from our dorms,as we are aware that we have our midterm examinations for Transfiguration today.As we reach class,we find Lacey and seat ourselves beside her.Professor Mitchell is already in class reading her own notes and waiting for all the students to arrive.Once all the students have arrived,she begins class.At the beginning of today's class,she perfectly and with ease,demonstrates two transformation spells,the matchstick to needle transformation spell and a transformation spell transforming her robes into a flowing ball gown.She informs us that these are the first and last transformation spells we will be learning to cast in our Transfiguration classes.She looked regal in the flowing ball gown and ever so confident while performing the spells.If you haven't already seen her demonstrating the two spells,you really need to,and for that,you need to attend her classes.She teaches us two lessons today.The first lesson she teaches us today is mostly about Transformation theory,definition and basic information about transformation,basic information about and categorization of transformation spells,spellcasting components of transformation spells broken down and discussed in detail,the variations and types of the initial objects on which the spell can be cast and the variations and types of the final objects the spell can be used for.After this lesson,the Professor hands us a mandatory short answer and multiple choice question quiz assignment titled "Theory Quiz" based on this lesson,which we complete and submit.Then,she hands us an optional essay assignment titled "Variations",for which we are asked to write an essay picking one transformation spell from the first year Transfiguration syllabus and discussing a variation of the initial object,and also the final object if we choose to,for which we would use the  transformation spell that we picked,including in detail why we think or believe that will work.Some students choose not to write the essay and use the time to revise all the lessons taught to us in Transfiguration classes until now.However,I usually try not to skip optional essay assignments not only because of the house points,but also because they help build concepts and grasp the material of the lesson better,therefore,I write the essay to the best of my ability and submit it.We are given a short five-minute break after being given some reasonable time for completing the essay assignment.During this five-minute break,some students drink water,some chat,some linger around in the corridor outside Transfiguration class and some visit the bathrooms,and some revise their notes from all the lessons taught to us until now in the Transfiguration classes.Lacey joins a group of students to go to the nearest bathroom and refresh herself,while Rose and I use the spell "Aguamenti" to conjure water in our drinking cups and drink and then revise our notes from all the lessons taught to us in Transfiguration classes until now,during the five-minute break.Once the five-minute break ends,Professor Mitchell announces the beginning of our fifth lesson of the first year Transfiguration syllabus and the second lesson of today's class.As all the students gather and take their seats in the classroom,the Professor places a safety match made of pressed paper and a hand-sewing needle on every desk and asks us to take our wands out.She explains that this is the first lesson in our Transfiguration classes in first year for which we will practically practise a transformation spell,and that we will be transforming a safety match into a hand-sewing needle in class today.She also tells us that we have been provided with both the objects so that we can have an idea of the transformation and to enable us to visualize the final object and the transformation happening.She tells us that we will need both the objects during the lesson to make observations on them.She then tells us that we will be having our Transfiguration midterm examinations after this class and advises us to pay attention and take proper notes throughout the rest of today's class and revise our notes from all the lessons taught to us in Transfiguration class until now,when told.Then,she teaches us the lesson,which mostly contains a short reminder of how transformations work at the molecular level,information about matchsticks and information about the types and purpose of matchsticks and the materials they are made of,and the observations of safety matches made of pressed paper that is on our desks,information about needles and information about the types and purpose of needles,and the materials they are made of and the observations of the hand-sewing needle on our desks,information about the spell for the transformation from matchstick to needle and how to cast it,the spell block of the spell and possible complications and what to do if the complications arise in class while casting the spell,and the historical context and use and teaching of the spell.After teaching us the lesson,she practically demonstrates the spell once again in class,and then we are told to try it on our own,on the safety matches on our desks.I find it a little difficult to manage all the spell components together and correctly,during the casting,but overcome the difficulty by practising each component separately and then trying them all together.It takes me a few tries to do anything at all to the matchstick,after which I manage to convert it into a hand-sewing needle,the body of which is still made of pressed paper,like the body of the safety match.The Professor untransfigures my resultant object back to the initial safety match,and I try the spell again.After a couple of tries,I succeed,and now there are two exactly similar looking hand-sewing needles and no safety match on my desk.Some envious students come up to my desk to take a look at my resultant object,while Professor Mitchell says "Good job" smiling at the two hand-sewing needles on my desk.The classroom,for a long time,is full of students jabbing their wands at the safety matches on their desks,trying to transform it,and students with safety matches incompletely transformed into needles on their desks,and students with safety matches completely transformed into a hand-sewing needle on their desks,and then Professor Mitchell raps her hand on the Professor's desk and announces that practice-time is over.In case you were wondering,Rose perfectly transformed her safety matchstick into a hand-sewing needle faster and at lesser number of tries than me,whereas Lacey took longer than me and made a couple of incomplete transformations on the safety matchstick on her desk,after which with some untransfigurations performed by and some occassional advice from Professor Mitchell,and a couple more tries,she finally succeeded in transforming the safety matchstick on her desk into a perfect exact copy of the hand-sewing needle on her desk.After Professor Mitchell's announcement of the end of practice-time,Professor Mitchell personally removes each object that is,or resembles,a safety match and/or needle,from every desk,by hand.She then asks us to revise our notes from all the lessons taught to us in Transfiguration classes until now which we all do,and following which she separately seats us at individual desks quite far away from each other in the classroom,and hands out a copy of the First Year Transfiguration Midterm Examination question paper to each one of us.She hands out blank parchments to write our answers in,to all of us.She then announces that our Transfiguration midterm exam begins and we begin answering the question paper on the blank parchments provided to us.The question paper contains short answer and multiple choice questions set from every lesson taught to us in Transfiguration classes until now.I find the question paper to be within the range of easy to moderately difficult to answer,and answer it to the best of my ability on the blank parchment handed to me by Professor Mitchell,and submit it when asked to.From Lacey's and Rose's expressions,they seem to have done moderately well too.Professor Mitchell asks us to remain seated where we are and tells us that we can take an optional essay assignment for midterm evaluation,if we choose to,and that the optional essay assignment for midterm evaluation will not affect our promotion into the next year at Hogwarts,even if not taken.She then asks the students who want to take the optional essay assignment for midterm evaluation to stay behind and requests the students who do not want to take it to leave class.Some students file out,while most stay behind to take the optional essay assignment for midterm evaluation.Professor Mitchell then goes around to each student who stayed behind,handing a fresh blank parchment and a copy of a sheet of paper containing the instructions for the optional essay assignment for midterm evaluation.I read the copy handed to me.The optional essay assignment for midterm evaluation asks us to write an essay picking three pieces of theory,definition,or explanation from the lessons taught to us in Transfiguration classes until now and applying them to the matchstick to needle transformation in no fewer than 150 words.The assignment also requires some more specific instructions to be followed,which are mentioned on the copy of the sheet of paper handed to us by Professor Mitchell,containing the instructions for the assignment.The copy also includes an incomplete list of topics taught to us in Transfiguration classes until now to provide inspiration.I complete the optional essay assignment for midterm evaluation to the best of my ability,writing my essay for it on the fresh blank parchment provided to me by Professor Mitchell,and then submit the parchment to her.Lacey and Rose stayed behind too to take the optional essay assignment for midterm evaluation and follow me out of class,after finishing their optional essay assignments for midterm evaluation.

Then,while we stand in the corridor outside Transfiguration class,discussing our opinions on the First Year Transfiguration Midterm Examination question paper,I recieve an owl from Professor Penrose saying that I recieved a 94 marks on and 9 house points for my essay for the assignment titled "Trickery and Guardians".The feedback note for my assignment for me from Professor Penrose on the message says that I lost 6 marks for not including all the spellcasting components,and I realise that I did miss willpower.I am a little disappointed with myself and thus decide to retake the Flying Class assignment on which I recieved 60 marks.I quickly head to the Hogwarts grounds looking for Madame Eira Fox,and sure enough I find her there teaching Flying class lessons to students of some senior year at Hogwarts.I ask her to give me the assignment in which I scored 60 marks earlier,again,for retaking.She rummages through a few parchments and hands me a fresh copy of the assignment "Broomsticks Through the Ages",and tears up the same assignment that I previously submitted.I retake the assignment,this time taking care to carefully read my notes from the lesson from which the questions in the assignment are asked and writing different answers for the questions,the answers of which were marked wrong on my previous submission,and submit.After submitting it,I head back to the Hogwarts castle and enter the History of Magic classroom,and look for Lacey and Rose.I find them together on one of the last benches,with an empty seat between them,that they claim that they have been saving for me when I make my way towards them.I take my seat between them on the empty seat that they have been saving for me and Professor Everby begins class.She tells us that today she will be mostly teaching us the magical history of early civilizations in Asia,and that this will be divided into two lessons,both of which will be taught in today's class.She explains the division into the two lessons on the basis of geography,and briefly gives a summary of the content of each of the two lessons.She then starts teaching the first of the two lessons on the history of magic of early civilizations in Asia.This lesson is mostly about the history and culture of the early civilizations in Mesopotamia,Phoenicia and the Indus River Valley with specific focus on magic,magical people and their culture and their social status and interactions with muggles,along with a few comparisons to muggle history drawn in some places.At the end of the lesson,we are given a mandatory short answer and multiple choice quiz assignment titled "Land Between Rivers" based on the lesson.Lacey,Rose and I,and the other students in the class,complete the assignment to the best of our abilities and turn our completed assignments in.We are then given a short five-minute break during which we complete a visit to the nearest bathroom to freshen up and then revise our notes from all the lessons taught to us until now in History of Magic classes.When the five-minute break ends,Professor Everby starts teaching the second of the two lessons on the history of magic of early civilizations in Asia.This lesson is mostly about the history of magic in the Eurasian Steppe belt and China,with other relevant information included.At the end of the lesson,the Professor briefs us on our our upcoming First Year History of Magic Midterm Examination,and gives us an overview of what to expect,telling us that it is only fair to do so as this is the first exam we will be taking for her subject.Then,she recommends us to read back once or twice over our notes taken from all the lessons taught to us in History of Magic classes until now,if we are concerned.She also recommends students who have not taken any notes to sit for the First Year History of Magic Midterm Examination only after taking notes.She then leaves class for ten minutes to allow us to read back over our notes taken from all the lessons taught to us in History of Magic classes until now.Each and every student seems concerned about their History of Magic Midterm Exam,and the classroom is full of students reading their respective notes,some silently and some not so silently,for the entire ten minutes for which Professor Everby stays out of class.Lacey,Rose and I read and re-read as many times as possible,our respective notes taken from all the lessons taught to us in History of Magic classes until now,for the ten minutes provided for the same,after which Professor Everby enters class.Professor Everby then rearranges the desks,benches and students in her class to make sure that every student is sitting individually at their desks and far away from any other students.She then hands out one each of the First Year History of Magic Midterm Examination question papers to each one of us.She also hands out some fresh blank parchments to each one of us,and tells us that we may begin answering the question paper.The question paper contains questions set from each and every lesson taught to us in History of Magic classes until now.I answer each question to the best of my ability on the blank parchments provided to me,and then hand the parchments over to Professor Everby when I have finished answering all the questions and checking and rechecking each of my answers atleast twice.There is no time limit for the First Year History of Magic Midterm Examination,but the examination does not allow for cheating.Professor Everby has maintained throughout all the assignments she gave us until now in her classes,that she has anti-cheating spells and charms and other magic in place to detect us cheating,and the magic allows her to change the whole question paper and/or erase the answers already written,if a student is caught cheating by the magic.I have been faced with evidence and the consequences of such magic while taking assignments in her class,and she warned us of the same magic during our First Year History of Magic Midterm Exam.Almost no one including me,therefore,dared to cheat on the exam,and the few who did,were faced with the consequences of Professor Everby's anti-cheating magic.While I made my way out of class after handing over the parchments containing my answers for the First Year History of Magic Midterm Examination,Lacey and Rose were still furiously writing the exam.I wait for them for a few minutes in the corridor outside the History of Magic classroom,during which I realise that I am very close to the Hogwarts library which is located in the same corridor and complete a trip to and back from the library to update the printed version of my diary with whatever I have written until now.Lacey and Rose come out of the History of Magic classroom after completing their History of Magic Midterm Exam and then we head down together to the Great Hall.I am extremely relieved as I have now finished writing the First Year Midterm Examinations of all the subjects,and Lacey and Rose look relieved too.There is a lot of delicious food on the house tables in the Great Hall,and we seat ourselves at our respective tables to eat.There are roast chicken,baked chicken,peas,baked beans,rice pudding,Kreacher's French onion soup,gravy,different varieties of cheeses,beef casserole,baked potatoes,jacket potatoes,french fries,steak and kidney pie,sprouts and several glasses of orange juice,all of these distributed equally on the four house tables.I help myself to a little of every food item on my respective house table,and slurp two full glasses of orange juice.Out of the corner of my eye,I notice first year students from the History of Magic classroom filing into the Great Hall and seating themselves at their respective house tables,looking exhausted after writing the First Year History of Magic Midterm Examination.Soon,I notice Professor Everby walking into the Great Hall and taking her seat at her usual place to eat her lunch.This confirms that all the first year students who were writing the First Year History of Magic Midterm Examination have finished writing the exam.I feel relieved as I am eagerly awaiting the results of the First Year Midterm Examinations of all subjects.I take a deep breath and continue slurping on orange juice at my house table,full of relief.An owl swoops into the Great Hall and lands right next to my plate at my house table.I see that it carries an owl post for me.I recieve the owl post from the owl and read the message.It says that I recieved full marks or a 100 marks on and 10 house points for the quiz assignment titled "Theory Quiz" that I completed and submitted today in Transfiguration class.The message is from Professor Mitchell,and I notice that it carries no feedback note from her for me for the assignment.As soon as I finish reading the message,I recieve three more owls.The first of these owls brings me a message from Professor Everby saying that I recieved full marks or a 100 marks on and 10 house points for the quiz assignment titled "Land Between Rivers."The message also contains a feedback note from Professor Everby for me for the assignment,which reads,"Very good job!".I look gratefully at Professor Everby in the Great Hall,who is busy eating.I read the message brought by the second owl.It is from Professor Mitchell saying that I recieved full marks or a 100 marks on and 13 house points for the essay assignment titled "Variations" which I completed and submitted today in Transfiguration class.The message ends with a feedback note for me from Professor Mitchell for my essay for the essay assignment titled "Variations" which I completed and submitted today in Transfiguration class.The feedback note reads,"Excellent work!

Your idea to switch a paintbrush for the quill in the Fork to Quill Transformation is especially unique. The parallels you draw between the original objects and their variations are logical and creative. Nicely done!".I am elated after reading the feedback note and glance gratefully at Professor Mitchell at her usual place in the Great Hall.She is busy eating.I next read the message brought to me by the third and last owl.The message is from Professor Draekon and says that I recieved a 95 marks on and 9 house points for my essay for the optional essay assignment asking us to write an essay describing our first potions lab,according to a given rubric.The feedback note from Professor Draekon for me for my essay for the assignment,reads,"Points were taken off because it was not clear that your final label had all the needed information on it.".I am a little disappointed at the silly error I made.As I promise to myself to take care to avoid such errors in my future essays,four more owls swoop down right next to me.I recieve the four messages they brought for me.All the four messages are from my Flying Professor Madame Eira Fox.The first is my grade for the assignment I retook,and it says that I recieved 100 marks on and 10 house points for it.Therefore,since I had recieved 6 house points for this assignment for my previous submission,and recieved 10 house points for retaking it this time,only 4 new house points will be recieved by me for Gryffindor for this assignment.The message also contains a feedback note from Professor Madame Eira Fox for me for this assignment,which reads,"Isn’t it amazing to see how much broom flight has advanced in just the last 200 years? I certainly am quite thankful for the Cushioning Charm myself!".The next message is my grade for the quiz assignment titled "Broom Basics" and says that I recieved 100 marks on and 10 house points for the assignment.The feedback note for me for the assignment from my Professor reads,"It is important to understand how your broom works and the basics of broom care. Next week, we fly!".The next is my grade for the assignment titled "Taking Care of Broomsticks" and says that I recieved 100 marks on and 10 house points for the assignment.The feedback note for my essay for the assignment from the Professor reads,"Thank you so much for staying after class to give our brooms some love and care – they needed it! You did a wonderful job!".The last message I read is my grade for the quiz assignment titled "Taking to the Skies",and says that I recieved 80 marks on and 8 house points for the assignment.The feedback note for me for the assignment from my Professor reads,"Controlling a broom is a very technical process. Be sure to practice when you can! I look forward to your performance on the Midterm. Study, study!".

I now mentally calculate the total house points I recieved for Gryffindor until now.My mental calculation yields that I recieved 607 house points for Gryffindor until now.I check my magical social media profile to tally my house points,and it matches.I give myself a virtual pat on my back and then find Camomille Nott in front of me at my house table.She is a fellow Gryffindor,of course.She joins me at the Gryffindor house table,seating herself opposite to me,and tells me that my ideas for new sweets were appreciated very much.She asks me which job I would like to take up as part of the membership of the students' group "Honeydukes Factory".She provides me with a parchment containing a list of jobs that the members of the students' group "Honeydukes Factory" must do,and tells me to choose one among them.She says that being a first year,I can either be sneaked into Honeydukes in Hogsmeade in disguise for the purpose of the job,or I can choose a more passive job that can be done from the Hogwarts castle itself,or I can choose a job that allows me to do it passively for now from the Hogwarts castle and involve myself more actively,visiting Honeydukes factory in Hogsmeade,later when I am in my senior years at Hogwarts.The parchment containing the list of jobs includes inventor,service agent,shop assistant and employee to choose from.The job descriptions for these as described beside the respective jobs on the parchment are as follows:-

Employee-"Employees are people who work for the shop, they must give their opinion give ideas that inventors or themselves will have to realize.".

The job description is followed by the names of the students in the group who are currently working as employees.

Inventor-"they must invent new sweets, experiment...".

The job description is followed by the names of the students in the group who are currently working as inventors.

Service Agent-"They have to clean up: sort out the good and bad ideas, keep the ones that are interesting, make reminders about important things...".

The job description is followed by the names of the students in the group who are currently working as service agents.

The next thing on the parchment is the description of a 'chief' among the group of students.The description is followed by a mention of Camomille Nott being the Head of all the corners and Lily Rose Delacour being the Head of the candy corner.This is followed by a list of candies that need to be managed and improved,with the names of students who are tasked with managing and improving the particular candy beside some of the candies.The next thing on the parchment is a list of new sweets,each accompanied by the names of the students who are the inventors of these sweets.

The parchment then mentions the name of a student as the 'Leader Corner Cake',which is followed by the name of an existing treat in this corner and then blank spaces for more treats for this corner that require invention.

The next thing the parchment mentions is the name of "Ghoulish Witches" as the 'Chief of the chocolate corner".This is followed by a list of three existing chocolate treats,and then there is a blank space for more treats to be invented and added.One such blank space is already filled by the name of a treat and it's inventor.

The parchment then includes the job description of the last job which can be chosen by me,which is shop assistant.

Shop assistant-"Shop assistant are responsible for recruiting members by offering them the delights of the shop.Maintain the store in excellent condition and respect,Contribute to the sales process by ensuring the store is properly restocked.

Check that the members send their ideas, that the dates are not out of place..

More details if you are one".

The job description is followed by the names of the students who are currently working as shop assistants.

The parchment then contains a further large list of candies and sweets with names of their inventors and/or their descriptions,but I do not read further.

I return the parchment to Camomille,and after a lot of speculation,I cannot decide between inventor and service agent.I tell her that I would like to be one of the two,and ask her if there is a matter of salary or preference by the shop owner,to help me decide.Then,before Camomille can answer,I decide that I would like to be an inventor more,so I tell her that,"I think I would like to do inventor.".Camomille nods and tells me that she will get back to me with correspondence from the group and leaves.I then get up from my house table and leave towards my dorm.Rose comes over to me and tells me that she is both excited and relieved at having finished midterm and chats excitedly dreaming of butterbeers telling me how we can have butterbeer together in future,the wizarding world drink I have been looking forward to since forever.Out of the corner of my eye,I watch Lacey about to dart out of the Great Hall with an enthusiasm on her face that only shows on her face when she is heading towards the Quidditch pitch.Before anyone of us can leave the Great Hall,Headmistress Oshiro clangs her spoon on the side of her teacup a few times and then stands up to make an announcement."Students,gather round please,do not leave the Great Hall.Form rows in between the house tables in no particular order or manner,and not necessarily according to house,you may stand wherever you like as long as you are all standing in neat rows between the four house tables.",Headmistress Oshiro announces.There is a bit of confusion for a little while,but soon the confusion clears up and the students are standing in neat rows between the house tables,with students of all houses intermingled together."I stand behind Rose in one of the rows and Lacey joins right behind me with a dash.Headmistress Oshiro then continues to speak,"First of all,congratulations to all students on completing their midterms,especially to first years as this is your first midterm.You all have done a great job at being disciplined students until midterm,except a negligible few.I am about to make some announcements that you all must take note of.As some of you already know,your Christmas vacations start tomorrow,and the next half of your term starts only at the end of your Christmas vacations.All those students who want to go home during their Christmas vacations must have already sent or recieved owls to or from their homes regarding their return to home from Hogwarts through the Hogwarts Express,which leaves for the 9¾ platform at King's Cross Station,London from the Hogsmeade train station tomorrow.You are required to pack your trunks and keep ready for the travel if you are going home.If you have not made the necessary correspondence with the necessary people at your homes,you are advised to send all necessary letters and owls to your homes describing the situation,by today evening,using the school owls housed at the Owlery in the West Tower.If you are not going home for whatsoever reason,you are welcome to spend your entire Christmas vacations in the Hogwarts castle as long as you promise to follow the normal and regular rules of the castle and maintain the discipline as done during term,such as maintaining the curfew and not visiting the Forbidden Forest.However,if you are staying in the castle,you must inform your fellow dorm members and the heads of house of your respective houses,so that your safety can be properly ensured.

That's almost all,except,for a few more things.Your midterm examination results will be sent out to you this evening in your dorms or your common rooms,wherever of the two places you are found,by individual owls from each Professor,sending you the marks you obtained on your midterm examination and informing you about the house points you were awarded for the examinations.Your overall grades for the subject until midterm will also be mentioned on the message carried by the owls.So make sure to not leave your respective residences this evening,not even for Quidditch practice,and ensure that you sit by the fireplace cosily in your common room or dorm and take a deep breath as you wait for your midterm examination results.".Headmistress Oshiro looks sternly at some of the students who look eager to leave for the Quidditch pitch and who after her stern look,now stand with disappointed faces.Headmistress Oshiro then speaks further,"I would also like you to note that there will be a grand feast at dinner in the Great Hall tonight at Hogwarts,and of course,all of you are invited.We will call this the 'end of midterm feast'.This is to celebrate your journey until midterm here at Hogwarts.And,as usual,there will be Christmas celebrations in Hogwarts like every year,and the students who are staying back at Hogwarts for their Christmas vacations will not find it dull or boring at all here at Hogwarts,but will get to partake of the Christmas feast and celebrate Christmas with everyone present in the castle from staff to professors to students,including the Hogwarts ghosts.That is all for today,please head back to your dorms and have a good rest or pack your trunks for tomorrow.Thankyou for your attention,as always.".

After Headmistress Oshiro's speech,all the students return back to their dorms for a boring but restful and peaceful,quiet evening,to relax,but anticipate with hope and/or fear their desired results of their midterm examination for each of their favorite and/or not favorite enough subjects.I sit in my dorm,breathing and relaxing and meditating,while some students play chess or gobstones in the Gryffindor common room.I stroke Hedwig Two or Queenie,in her cage,and fill her water bowl,with water from the Gryffindor common room water jug.Some students in my dorm write letters to their parents at their homes,asking to go home or to stay at Hogwarts.I choose to stay at Hogwarts as going home will disturb my newfound peace at Hogwarts castle and that may make me lose my calm.Also,since I cannot practise magic at home,especially since I am a muggle-born and live in a fully muggle residential area,I decide to stay at Hogwarts to practise magic and ensure that I do not lose my touch with magic and perform badly in the next half of term at Hogwarts due to loss of touch with magic.Keeping these considerations in mind,I write a letter to my home,explaining why I choose to stay at the Hogwarts castle for the Christmas vacations.I then take a quick trip to and back from the Owlery in the West Tower at Hogwarts Castle,during which I post my letter by tying it to the right leg of one of the owls at the Owlery and asking it to take it to my home.The owl readily obeyed,therefore I am assured that my letter will reach the right place on time.Then,I recieve a letter from Rose in my dorm via her owl saying that she is staying in the Hogwarts castle too for her Christmas vacations as her parents are going on a trip to visit her sister in a foreign country,and thus she cannot go home as it will be lonely back there at her home as her parents will be away,visiting a foreign country.I owl back to Rose saying that I am staying too and explaining why,and asking about Lacey.Rose replies back via owl saying that she does not know about Lacey.I send Hedwig Two,or Queenie,to Lacey via owl telling her that Rose and I are staying at Hogwarts castle during the Christmas vacations and asking about her and where she will be staying during the Christmas vacations.Hedwig Two,or Queenie,comes back soon with Lacey's reply saying that Lacey is packing her trunk now and will be going home for her Christmas vacations as she belongs to a pure-blood Slytherin wizarding family,and Christmas is celebrated very majestically at their homes with their other pure-blood relatives and that she does not want to miss it.I write back to Lacey via Hedwig Two or Queenie,saying that I understand,and wishing Lacey goodbye and Merry Christmas in advance and Happy Holidays,and then,I use Hedwig Two,or Queenie,with a message to Rose telling her about Lacey going home for her Christmas vacations and her reasons,after Lacey writes back to me wishing me the same.I then,soon learn from sources here and there,and students chatting among themselves that Bea Loralles is staying at Hogwarts for her Christmas vacations and Everline Felice Mayhem is too.I immediately know that Rose will be very happy.😉 *wink;).And then I inform my dorm members of my decision to stay in Hogwarts castle during the Christmas vacations and owl my head of house,Professor Draekon,while simultaneously blushing all along,through Hedwig Two or Queenie,telling him that I will be staying at Hogwarts castle for my Christmas vacations.

An hour or two later into the evening,we all recieve a flurry of owls in our dorms and both the dorms and the common rooms are full of shrieks and screeches of owls landing with their posts.It is the midterm results declared.The students who had been nervous all this while are now excitedly opening their owl post,looking at their declared results,some of them joyful,some of them still nervous as they are reading through their owl post and some of them with their faces getting saddened and disappointed as they read through their owl post.I am so scared and nervous that I begin to feel chills,not owing to the presence of any ghosts or the winter,but because of the nervous excitement and fright of the exam results being declared.I am unable to open the exam results on my bed due to the chills I am feeling and carry the messages I recieved from the owls,to the Gryffindor common room to sit by the fireplace and warm myself and get rid of the chills.I settle myself down on a large squashy armchair by the fireplace and open the owl post one by one.

Since it will be tedious,I will not describe each owl post I read as a sequence of events,but here as follows is my declared midterm results that came via owl post in a short summary,along with a short one word or a few words description of my feelings towards and reaction at the particular result:-

Charms:-

Midterm Essay:-100 marks(full marks) recieved,13 house points awarded.Feedback note from Professor for my essay reads,"You have demonstrated great knowledge and understanding of these charms! Excellent work!

I am really impressed with your story-telling and the creative use of the spells. You showed wonderful effort and attention to detail!

As a note, remember to always insert a space after punctuation marks such as commas and periods. This will make your writing easier to read.".

I am elated.

Course Average until now: 98% - O.I am happy.

Astronomy:-

Midterm Test:-95 marks out of 100 recieved,9 house points awarded.Feedback note from Professor for my assignment reads,"The Moon and planets have a different type of effect, while the A.M.E. tells us the amount each reflects. Well done!".

I am averagely happy and moderately satisfied.I am a little disappointed about my silly mistake which made me lose the 5 marks.

Course Average until now: 99% - O.I am happy though I know I could have done more and performed better if I hadn't made the silly mistake in the midterm examination and also hadn't made the silly mistakes I made during assignments in class.

Defense Against the Dark Arts:-

Midterm Exam:-92 marks out of 100 recieved,9 house points awarded.No feedback note from Professor for my assignment.

I am quite disappointed as 8 marks lost are a lot of marks.

Course Average until now: 92% - O.I am quite disappointed,and regret not doing well on my assignments in class.I promise to pay more attention and do better on my assignments in DADA class and promise to do better on my DADA final examination at the end of term too.

Transfiguration:-

Midterm Test:-95 marks out of 100 recieved,9 house points awarded.Feedback note from Professor for my assignment reads,"Outstanding work!".

I am moderately satisfied.But I had better expectations from myself for this subject.I must say I am also slightly disappointed.

Midterm Essay(optional essay assignment for midterm evaluation,does not affect passage into the next year at Hogwarts):-100 marks(full marks) recieved,10 house points awarded.Feedback note from Professor for my assignment reads,"Outstanding essay!".

I am quite happy,though still disappointed about the Midterm Test.

Course Average until now: 99% - O.I am elated.

History of Magic:-

Midterm:-92 marks out of 100 recieved,9 house points awarded.Feedback note from Professor for my assignment reads,"I'm glad you're enjoying the class! :)".

I am very much disappointed at having lost 8 marks.

Course Average until now: 98% - O.I am not happy,but moderately satisfied.

Potions:-

Potions 101 Midterm:-90 marks out of 100 recieved,9 house points awarded.No feedback note from Professor for my assignment.

I am extremely unhappy with my result.

We'll Make It,I Swear(optional essay assignment for midterm evaluation):-100 marks(full marks) recieved,11 house points awarded.Feedback note from Professor for my assignment reads,"I appreciate the amount of work that you put into this essay but please do mind that there is such a thing as ‘too much’. With any essay, not just those in PTNS or HiH, it’s critical to know your audience and intuitively assess their level of background knowledge of the subject. In this case, all PAs have an exceptional understanding of all PTNS material, hence why they grade it. It’s a bit unnecessary to explain to us what a molecule is or the different phase transitions (excluding what is needed to answer the prompt. Even if you consider it from a roleplay perspective, I’d argue that most of the general population would have a basic understanding of what a molecule is and what phase transitions are.

Again, I appreciate your effort into this essay, but we do not simply reward students with more house points simply for writing more words. You have, however, been awarded 1 EC point for developing a safer dispersal method of the vaporous Cure for Boils. Please keep this in mind for your future essays. I look forward to reading them.".

I am happy with how my essay was graded.

Course Average until now: 98% - O.I am not so happy,I needed to do better,as this is Professor Draekon's subject.

Herbology:-

HERB 101 Midterm:-96 marks out of 100 recieved,9 house points awarded.Feedback note from Professor for my assignment reads,"Congratulations on completing your Midterm :)".

I am slightly disappointed about the one silly mistake I made,but it is okay.

Course Average until now: 93% - O.I am not very happy,in fact I am very disappointed,but I still somehow think that it is just okay.

Flying:-

FLY 101 - Midterm:-100 marks(full marks) recieved,10 house points awarded.Feedback note from Professor for my assignment reads,"Excellent demonstration of broom control! Well done!

We are already halfway through the year; can you believe it? Are you ready to learn a bit of fun, flashy flying next week?".

I am happy that I did so well in my Flying midterm examination as this was supposed to be my poor subject as I started this class as a student afraid of flying,and I was never much interested in playing Quidditch or broomstick maneuvres and broomstick racing.But I seem to have somehow passed this examination with good marks,just like I somehow overcame my fear for flying and managed to fly well enough in the first practical flying lesson in Flying class.

Course Average until now: 97% - O.I am quite happy as I did not imagine that I would have an okay Course Average in Flying class,as I had imagined I will never do well enough in Flying class,because of my fear of flying.It seems like I have overcome my fear quite a lot because I seem to have done okay in Flying class until midterm,though not great.

If you do not know,I would like to tell you that the Course Average is an average of the student's performance in all the assignments as well as examinations(including the midterm examinations) for a particular subject.

I seem to have performed the best in Transfiguration and Astronomy until now.I seem to have performed the worst in DADA and Herbology until now,I am disappointed that I did not do well in these two subjects,but I promise to myself that I am going to fix this in the next half of term.

The grades obtainable in Hogwarts are as follows:-

O - Outstanding - above 90%

E - Exceeds Expectations - 80-90%

A - Acceptable - 70-80%

P - Poor - 60-70%

D - Dreadful - 50-60%

T - Troll - below 50%

These are arranged from top to bottom in order of the best to the worst.Only the top three grades are passing grades,the lower three grades are failing grades.

You can check your answers and the corresponding grading,and know which answers you answered correctly and which wrongly,by visiting the Hogwarts administrative staff of the "Academic" section and asking for your gradebook for each of the classes.Inside the gradebook for each subject,you will find your Course Average for that subject,the grading ID of each assignment and on tapping the assignment with your wand,you can also see the answers you wrote and how each answer was marked,including any feedback note by your Professor for you for the assignment.

I mentally calculate the total house points I earned until now and it yields 705.I tally it with the house points to my name until now as visible on my magical social media profile,and it matches.

I decide to go check my gradebook tomorrow morning and for now I head down to the Great Hall for the grand feast at dinner.I find Lacey and Rose and ask them how they did on their midterms.They both say they have done well,but I fail to get any more details from them.Lacey,Rose and I hug each other and join our house tables to partake of the feast.All the Hogwarts Professors are present in the Great Hall tonight,including Professor Draekon.I smile at him and he smiles back at me and I barely hide the butterflies in my stomach and then begin to eat.

The Great Hall is decorated with thousands of beautiful floating candles and there is soft music playing from some unknown source.The enchanted ceiling shows a brightly lit starry sky with almost no clouds and the full Moon in the sky shines bright,reminding me of Astronomy classes.The house tables are decorated with fairy lights in the house colors and so are the house banners.

The Hogwarts grand feast for today's dinner includes roast beef,roast chicken,pork chops,lamb chops,sausages,bacon, steak,joints,steak and kidney pie,boiled potatoes,roasted potatoes,mashed potatoes,chips,Yorkshire pudding,peas, carrots,gravy,ketchup,and peppermint humbugs.For dessert,there are blocks of assorted ice cream,apple pies,spotted dick,chocolate gateau,treacle tart,pumpkin tart,chocolate éclairs & jam doughnuts,trifle,strawberries,jelly,and rice pudding.After stuffing myself completely full with everything at the feast,I go back to my dorm to stroke Hedwig and push myself into my four poster bed,exhausted,and sleep.