Triumphant: logs, entries, media.

Graziella Chevalier
Arithmancy O
Astronomy E
Care of Magical Creatures E
Charms E
Defense Against the Dark Arts A
Herbology A
History of Magic O
Potions O
Transfiguration E

Is this really my baby? She looks so grown up!

How can I allow my son to attend Hogwarts when so many dangerous incidents have been allowed to occur on or near the school? What happened to Hogwarts being an impenetrable stronghold? What does the Headmaster have to say for himself?

As current and future parents of Hogwarts students, surely there can be someone to whom we can appeal for this entirely unacceptable situation.

The train from Hogwarts cannot arrive soon enough. My birthday was an annoyance in school because it reminded everyone that I was the youngest. Now it's because it reminds me I haven't seen my daughter since Easter. I wonder if there's much more lonely than a special occasion when your whole family isn't present.and goodness only knows what is happening at that school At least she will be home soon.

[Narcissa, Mr Nott]
I admit I'm less than happy to learn there was a security breach at Hogwarts from my mother after she read it in the newspaper. Whether it was students or not,  I'm  not sure, with everything that's been happening, whether it might be better for Gracie to take her exams at a different school. They're two years away still, but fourth year leads into fifth

I can hardly imagine that a single weekly serve of gelato is enough to affect anyone's weight if they are otherwise healthy. Listening to some of my coworkers bemoan the misery of their diets and martyring themselves over turning down something sweet is so tiresome. For all that I was born and raised here, and that I have never been truly tempted to leave more than temporarily, it's times like these that I find myself referring to 'English women' as something distinctly Other with strange customs that I don't entirely understand. Perhaps tomorrow I shall bring in a lunch of gateau and cheesecake simply so they can feel better about themselves for their plain sprouts and unleavened bread or whatever fad diet they're following at the moment.

And for those who wish to know "what gelato even is": it is ice cream made in the traditional Italian fashion, with a higher content of milk than cream and much less air. This makes it lower in fat, denser, and typically more flavoursome than cheaper British or American ice creams. For the extra curious, sorbet - in French - or sorbetto - in Italian - is a non-dairy dessert made using fruit flavours in a sugar syrup, often mixed with alcohol. Granita is sorbetto that hasn't been mixed as smoothly so as to create larger ice crystals. All frozen desserts were introduced to France and broader Europe from Italy by Catherine de Medici on her marriage to the Duke of Orleans. Ultimately, if you have never had gelato before, I advise you to try it. And stop obsessing over what you eat. Change your routine to involve more physical activity instead, you will be far happier.

My daughter is not quite so fast with her quill as the news media, but she is respectably close. It is extremely lucky for those children that Professor Dumbledore found them, but I wonder whether it's wise to rely on him always being able to do so. If it were not so close to the end of the year... Still, I trust that there will be increased security to prevent any foolhardy teenagers from sneaking into the Forbidden Forest until the term is over. "Forbidden" has always been considered something of a guideline but even compared to the dozens of ways a young wizard can find to injure oneself it is rather dangerous to be so close to a school. Anything that would slaughter unicorns could hardly balk at killing students.

One night, almost a week ago, I was disturbed from my sleep. The world had become...strange. Restless, and too quiet, like the calm before a storm. This home, this ancient, creaking manor, felt weighted down, as if at any moment it would sink into darkness. At first I thought it was a mother's intuition, that something was wrong with my child. I checked on Draco -- no, fine. Blissfully ignorant to the world and shielded from all its horrors for one more night.

Since that night, I've had the elves on a cleaning sprint, tops to tails. I've even gotten down on my knees to join the assault, though my contributions pale considerably in the face of their immaculate efficiency. The dust that seems to settle most on old things is nigh on inexplicable. I imagine it could probably be dated back three centuries, at least.

Cleaning out one's rooms feels a lot like exorcising the poltergeists of memories. When I first settled into my new life, it had been easier, too easy, to throw everything I owned into old school trunks, shrink them and lock them away in drawers. Mother had wanted me to get rid of them. Childish things, to be put away.

Did you know that it is written into the founding charter of Malfoy Manor that everything that comes to live within its walls for more than three moons becomes the property of the master? Tied to by blood and only relinquished by consent. How proprietary of the house. My childhood dolls, my tea set, to remain forever incomplete since the day Sirius dropped and smashed one of the cups. The hair pin I once borrowed from my sister before she was and never returned. I once made an entire scrapbook of dried and pressed flowers from my first garden, each page dutifully if clumsily labeled. Apparently I had intended to give it to someone: To Annalisa -- a childhood friend? I cannot recall who she was. I don't know what happened to her.

Such silly trifles, I've held onto. They were supposed to be too invaluable for me to have thrown out, and yet I've shut them all away and haven't thought about them. What are they worth to me now? They are only empty placeholders. Everything they once represented has been gone for a long time.

It's incredible the amount of work waiting to be caught up on after merely three days away for an event. I can't even truly blame jetlag for my weariness - Greece simply isn't far enough away. The news will have to do instead, though it's a shamefully easy scapegoat at the moment. I almost dread to wonder whether this unrest will settle or escalate in the next few weeks, when the school year is about to end and our children are no longer safely out of the way.

[Private]
Oh, for pity's sake. I'm sure most people were aware on some level that the Ministry was monitoring this network, but that little warning is rather overbearing. It does, however, justify my caution against speaking openly with Bellatrix, even under wards. I cannot imagine there is much they're able to do against her, being here not entirely legally, but there's certainly a lot that would make my life more difficult. Though I do wonder what, if anything, prompted this. Death Eater escapees? Sexually charged double entendres? Criminal activity? 'Inappropriate' is somewhat open to interpretation.
[/Private]

The summer competition season will be starting soon and as disappointing as it is to have to carefully pick and choose which events I'll be able to attend I couldn't be looking forward to it more. If nothing else, it's always an excellent chance to catch up with acquaintances from the continent, and with renewed peace in both Lebanon and Morocco the field may well be a little wider this year. It's hard to say sometimes, with horses; it takes a few years for them to reach peak form, so undoubtably the middle of the decade will see a greater challenge, but there will be some born during the later years of their civil wars that managed to be unaffected.

Sometimes I question the mission of the Daily Prophet.

[WARD: Aberforth Dumbledore]

Do you have new brews in?

[WARD: Remus Lupin]

I'm not hearing of you having been arrested. The Wolfsbane must have held up.

[WARD: James Potter]

Did you just let her die th

[WARD: Private]

Just. Let it go. Don't engage him.

It isn't worth it.

Good God, Britain. You haven't changed much.

But I think this mo

[DMLE]

You do know how to make a girl feel welcome, coming back to overblown political statements and folks returning from the dead. Always something new.

The fellow with the Tom Riddle mask - quite the artist, though, wouldn't you say? So what is it precisely, we're meant to do?

Quell the unrest? Assert control?

Astounding how quickly news can travel from Oxford to Scotland and then, more impressively, from Scotland to Wales in the form of two feet of parchment. It's Friday, do the students not have classes? - or, more likely, is my dear daughter writing letters during her lessons under the assumption that her teachers will assume she's diligently taking notes? Regardless I have been treated to a recitation of the theorising and opinions of most of her Ravenclaw classmates, it seems.

Well this just opens up a whole realm of possibilities, doesn't it.

Private
I suspect Bellatrix will accept nothing less than full commitment to her own cause. I no more want that than I want the status quo, I am not prepared to risk everything I have to fall in with such destructive ideology. Particularly one which advertises itself so vocally. The trouble though is that, if there is more subtle discontent, I do not know who wields it. I am certainly not going to contact Rosier or Lestrange.

Waiting, then. This cannot sustain itself forever, and if they are determined to attempt to unravel it a possible outcome is a return to conservative values. (Another, of course, is much greater radicalism, but that can only add greater strain.)
/Private

I am taking no chances with the full moon this month.

It does not matter how old one's children get, receiving mail from them is always a delight. My youngest daughter, particularly, lives in France with her great Aunt and I see her so infrequently, that an Owl is something treasured.

[Private]

Sometimes I wake and I do not recognize this world that has been brought upon us by Dumbledore's vanity and foolishness. We were right to fear him - he's essentially castrated our society and is slowly squeezing the lifeblood out of it.

Sometimes I fear that if we are not careful there will be nothing left of our history and our tradition, that we might well just go and live among Muggles for at least then we can learn their primitive ways of protecting themselves against threats perceived or real. Perhaps I ought to send Theodore elsewhere from Hogwarts.

Oh, dear! Oh, dear! I was contemplating recent events as I took tea this morning and naturally I simply had to read the leaves. Concentrating one's mind on a subject does give such clear readings. But oh dear, what terrible things I saw in the leaves! A deer being chased by a rat and a dog. Oh, how I shudder. Quarrels and disputes leading to treachery and adverse conditions. As terrible as the news has been so far, it will only get worse!

( Private )

[Bellatrix Lestrange]
Welcome back to Britain, Miss Black. I hope the winter has been kind to your horses.
[/Bellatrix]

There are days that call for a rather more in-depth spreads than the simple three-card that is my usual choice.

That poor foal. My heart goes out to Madsen for his terrible loss. The emotional commitment inspired by these creatures is truly remarkable, I can only imagine the sense of betrayal he must feel that the business he trusted so much could not do enough to protect a vulnerable baby. It is so important that everyone respect the danger of werewolf attacks, especially those who live or work rurally where they're not protected through virtue of population density.

[Private]
One wonders where Lucky was, however. Surely if she'd been injured there would have been mention, he can't have sent her to compete at Algiers? I must check the listings. This is the sort of tragedy that happens when you see your horses as an investment.
[/Private]

Closer to home it seems Graziella is no longer of an age to enjoy Easter egg hunts. Apparently she would rather just eat the chocolate and then go to visit a friend. I can't help feeling a little put out - the Easter holidays are so short, I had hoped she would at least spend them all here. I suppose my little girl is turning into a young lady. At least she's yet to mention any boys outside of the context of classmates or friendship.

I hear France is nice this time of year.

[Private]
But it was never going to be over.

Such a beautiful Spring day to be sitting in the Ministry sending out registration reminders to active breeders and adding new foals to the records. I'd rather visit them to catch up with their owners and assess their form face to face, but this, at least, is important. Most of them have initial photographs I can content myself with. We have none yet ourselves, but that is because of Kurhah's Spilled Diamonds' stubbornness to mate and further stubbornness to foal. She may not be a good addition to breeding stock after all. It remains to be seen.

Enough of horses, though. Graziella has sent me another set of Divination homework to check for her. Who would have thought I'd be doing third year Divination again, thirty years later? But I don't mind. Sometimes I miss her, and it's heartening to know that she still values my judgement. We have not yet devolved to the "I hate you!" stage, it seems.

( Private )