The Last Station

A field trip for work is taking me to London for the day: a conference, of sorts, for my department at the Ministry. Last year they rented an event room at a restaurant for all the presentations, but either too many attendees slipped away or the owner asked us not to return. (One of the people who spoke that day decided to 'liven up' his talk with a charmed light display and somehow set off the wards for the restaurant's fire prevention spells.) Either way, we're meeting in a conference room at the Ministry this year instead.

The Quidditch Cup Championships are always a huge deal in my department at the Ministry, so I've been receiving Owls on the subject from my colleagues all day. With the Tornados at the bottom of the league and the Hydras out of the running, I don't really have any preference who wins. At this point, I'm almost more interested in the pick-up games.

Warded to Serena
My head is still killing me. How awful were we on Mari her Marietta's journal last night? I can't bear to look.

I found a locket by the fountain in the center of town as I was walking home from work last night. I meant to post about it right away, in case anyone was missing it, but I tucked the necklace into my coat pocket and completely forgot. Well, I remembered in the middle of the night, when I couldn't sleep, so I pulled it out to look at it, trying to see if there were initials or anything that might help me figure out who it belonged to.

I thought the locket was broken, because it was rather tarnished and wouldn't open at first, but then it suddenly did and-- Well, the strangest music I've ever heard came out. It was so sad, but I couldn't understand any of the words. Asher, Harry-- one of you might know for certain, but I rather fancy it was Mermish. I remember Cedric

Of course, when I tried to confirm that this morning, to convince myself that I hadn't dreamt the whole thing, it wouldn't open again. I'll try again tonight; maybe it has to be a certain time of day. Or maybe it was all a dream. The strangest, least dreamlike one I've ever had, if so.

Hard to believe that there are going to be four teams when the pick-up Quidditch games start again. It feels like the village population has grown in leaps and bounds even since I moved in, in November, but maybe that's just my skewed perception of how many people live here now.

I saw that Foxglove is having special cupcakes for the holiday tomorrow (which I can't wait to try), but are there other celebrations going on? Saint Patrick's Day has never been one of my favourites-- when I was a child, my brother used to come wake me up by pinching me, regardless of whether I had on green or not. Not that he's done that in years, of course, so maybe it's time to give the holiday another try.

The passing of Valentine's Day puts us closer to the end of winter, which I'm definitely looking forward to. And the IQCs have made this an unusual week, though not a less busy one. For the first time in several weeks I have no plans for the weekend, and I'm looking forward to staying in.

Warded to Serena
I ran into her walking through the village last night. It could've gone worse, but at least the first meeting is behind me now.

Warded to Roger
I was planning to ask how married life is treating you, but I hear you're on a lovely vacation, so it sounds like it suits you. Hope you're both having a fantastic, relaxing trip.

Congratulations to the Hydras for yesterday's win. That was quite a nice catch, Sebastien. And I hadn't really taken a close look at the calendars until I bought as few as gifts yesterday, but they look fantastic as well. My nephew (and, let's be honest, my brother) will love it.

I can't imagine I'll write another journal entry before Christmas, and I'll be out of the village starting Tuesday, so Happy Christmas to everyone.

I didn't miss London at all until I saw The Leaky Cauldron and the rest of Diagon Alley decorated for Christmas. Or, at least, I missed London for a period of about 15 minutes, until the heavy crowd of holiday shoppers reminded me of all the reasons why I left the city. Afterward, it was a relief to come back to my quiet flat, make a cup of tea, and curl up with a book. I confess that's what I did today as well. With my shopping complete and no Quidditch match to attend, there seemed little reason to go out.

Warded to Serena, Roger, Julian, Penelope, and Eddie

Serena and I were thinking of heading into London this weekend for a little holiday shopping. Would any of you be interested in coming along? We're planning to meet at the Leaky Cauldron and make a day of it. Roger and Julian -- We'd love to have Merrill and Alicia join us as well, if you'd care to invite them.

Somehow I forgot to take snow into account when I decided to move to Hogsmeade. A blizzard for my first day of work isn't an ideal situation, but at least it's one that can be worked around. I'll head over to the stadium as soon as I've finished this cup of coffee.