Beautiful Raven

I had a meeting with the Head of Spell Damage today. I've passed my training, and I am officially a Healer. I'm expecting the certificate to come in by owl tomorrow.

It's been a very long road to this point - five years worth! - but I'm incredibly glad that it's done and I can get on with doing what I love to do, and what I do best.

( Private to Friends/Family )

When I officially get my Healer certification (which should be about a week? I'm pretty sure it's only paperwork and waiting left to go, so soon) we are having a girl's night. Chez nous.

For the record.

I just realised how long it's been since I was in Dunstone. With Dylan and Charlotte gone, it's only Mum and Dad and a few the cousins there, but it would be nice to visit anyway.

It would be nice to walk on the Moor again. Although nothing could ever persuade me to do that walk without a wand again. I did that once with Dylan and we ended up piskie led. The fog settles in, and you can't see anything, and you feel like you're going huge distances for hours. My brother was much less worried about it than I was, as he was completely certain that he knew where we were, while I suspected that there was something actually dangerous there. The old Celtic stories about the time-and-logic-shifting mysteriousness of the otherworld and people being lost for decades are enough to do that, even if I wasn't aware of the creatures that it might realistically be.

I would also like to see if I could speak to some of the ghosts that inhabit the Moor. I've never tried before, though I think I would prefer if someone else would go with me. And visit the less menacing ones, of course.

Unfortunately, I've just been so busy, I haven't had time to make it there! And I probably will have the same luck for a little while yet. Perhaps I'll try to go for my birthday. It's only a week away, but I might be able to persuade Charlotte and Dylan to go too, and maybe Tristan and Sophie. I'd like that.

I am so, so tired. The last couple of weeks have been draining, and I've been getting dismal shifts. Lots of nights. And I couldn't make it to the statue dedicating ceremony either.

But it's only a few more weeks and then it's official.

In the meantime, sleep.

( 5 years later and some things have changed. )

I need caffiene. Large quantities thereof.

Is it possible to get coffee with all of our meals? I would very much like it. Otherwise I will have to ingest inhuman quantities of very black tea.
Or chocolate. That works too.

( Private to Lucy )

( Private to Current Ravenclaws )

You know what I was thinking the other day? That I desperately needed a new wand؟ And a new class schedule. Just dying for them؟

And then the fates provide.

( Private )

( Private to people she knows )

Happy Easter!

Tristan sent me a huge bag of Cadbury Mini-Eggs for Easter. I am in heaven, obviously. They're my favourites.

If you'd like some, I'll trade for some of your Easter chocolate! Because variety is the spice of life.

( Private to Lucy )

"...visual, easily identified proof..."

I'm seeing stars.

( Private )

( Private to Lucy, Su, and Kevin )

The History of Magic essay was a good one. It's been a while since I've been this much over length.

Were you aware that there is a sarcasm mark?

I found one in one of the older books in the library. I had to look up what it meant, as I'd never seen it before. It looks rather like a backwards question mark.

Not that you should use it, sarcasm is a horrible thing؟

( Private To Self )

( Warded to Lucy and Sasha )

My cousins laughed when I said that everyone was making a big fuss over the Weird Sisters joining the journal system, but I didn't really know who they were.

They said the went to school at around the same time, so if you know Sophie Dunstan (Hufflepuff, 1990) or Tristan Dunstan (Ravenclaw, 1993), they say hi. I think they were considering getting journals just so that they could do that themselves, but I'm not sure.

Uncle Charles told me that they were selling the journals at a faster rate than ever before, too.



Home is different than I remembered.

Talking to Dylan was more difficult than usual, and Mum and Dad kept asking questions, and I didn't know what to say. Charlotte is still jealous of me, but...

I think I'll get Dylan to introduce me to some TV show or something totally unrelated to anything.

When rocks melt with the sun, ie. never.

Sometimes I wish I would just stop thinking so much.

( Private )

Protective Decree? As in like the Educational Decrees? Those were a roaring success.

I'm so... I don't know... I'm worried about them. I hope everyone's alright, I really do.

Hogsmeade visits are more fun when they're slightly unexpected, because then they're a surprise, and that's always fun. 

School work has been satisfyingly challenging so far, don't you think? Of course, many of my classes are rather small, seeing as they aren't particularly common choices. 

I was reading one of the books my aunt got me for my birthday, and it had a little riddle in it. Anyone want to try it?

"A man who is not a man saw and did not see a bird that was not a bird in a tree that was not a tree; he hit and did not hit it with a stone that was not a stone." 

It's Ancient Greek, so some of the puns aren't as good as they should be, but I think someone should be able to get it. 

[ooc: snitched from the footnotes on page 174 of Plato's Republic (matching 479c), which is where Branwen got it too.] 

My mum always told me that my name meant beautiful. I don't know why, because it's not totally correct. I was reading a book the other day, one my mum gave to me, about the Mabinogi. In the story, there's a woman, called Branwen (the story is named after her), and the footnotes say that they don't know if her name is what it was supposed to be. If it has changed, then it could just be a variation on bronwen, which means 'fair breast', or Bronwyn, which means 'dark hair'. They seem too similar to have such different meanings, but I don't know. But if her name hasn't changed, then it probably stems from bran and gwen, which mean 'raven' (and the name of her brother) and 'beautiful/white/holy', all in one word. They say that she is one of the ancestresses of the land, and the fairest maid there is.

The story is quite tragic really, with Branwen having an arranged marriage to the Irish king, but when her wicked step-brother kills her husband's horses, she is forced to work as a scullery-maid. Her brothers are mad, so almost everyone from Britain comes to take revenge and save Branwen. Many, many people die, and Branwen's heart breaks from the grief. 

There are all sorts of odd things happening in the story. Branwen's brother Bendegeidfran is so big as too make a giant look small, and when he dies, the cut off his head and it talks and protects Britain from evil. There are also cauldrons which ressurect dead bodies, and bizarre time magic.

The whole thing is rather impressive, for a Muggle story! Although it does seem to point to wizards being less discreet in those days. Surely Bendegeidfran is a giant, and the ressurected soldiers could easily be an interpretation of Inferi. The magic head and the time magic are probaly extrapolations of what was Muggles thought was possible back then, as they certainly aren't possible today. 

In short, my name stems from the tragic heroine of a very odd story, and means approximately 'beautiful / white / holy raven', which is oddly appropriate for a Ravenclaw, don't you think? 

And Happy Birthday, Luna.

It seems to me like everyone tends to make a big fuss over little things. Like birthdays, or glue, or shoes, or parties, or homework, or lots of things really. It seems an awful waste of time.

School continues to be quite as delightful, as usual. It is quite a relief to be free of active matters such as Herbology and Transfiguration and be able to focus on the deeper mysteries of Divination, Astronomy, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Potions. It is also quite a joy to have an opportunity to study the history of this magical world. 
I take Charms out of career aspirations rather than any other purpose, but it goes well. 

Thank you Sasha for reminding me about this. You were right, it is quite an amusing book. Studies in humanity could be persued with remarkable ease. I shall remember that for a later date.

Adieu!