I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good

It's very early in the morning and Harry and Hydra are both gone finally, so I'm able to write.

I wasn't allowed to spend nearly any time with Harry and that's why I've been so quiet. When we got home I was in trouble as you know, and then Hydra came. Then I was expected to clean for Harry in the early mornings and then go work with the other Muggleborns at Buckingham all day, and then help him again at night, but so late that there wasn't anything we could do.

Now that they're both gone, Harry off to the training and Hydra back home again I suppose, I can breathe a little bit more freely, even though it still isn't like it when it's just Harry and me, because I don't have to report to work until breakfast is served at eight o'clock. I can skip my own breakfast if I want and write. Or I can get up extra early and not have to skip breakfast at all, although that doesn't always answer because if it's anything like last year sometimes people stay up late and late and late and then I have to stay up too.

Things here have been fine. I was sorry to hear about Oliver. I didn't hear until very late because of the way things have been but Harry finally told me. It seems like it would have been a nice place.

I'm glad that Terry is all right.

Order Only: Buckingham

I finally have a chance to tell you all about Buckingham lately, because now Harry and Hydra have both left and I just have regular duties instead of everything all together.

There was a big argument about whether I would go along on the training and then they decided I wouldn't, but maybe I'd go on the second round. I don't know why they thought that. But I suppose there will be plenty of ways to find out what's happening at the training but not many ways for you all to find out what's happening at Buckingham, even though Professor McGonagall is going to be in London or the London area anyway.

Only, so far there isn't very much to say, except about Harry and Hydra, which I don't see why you would be very interested. I haven't had a good talk with Harry in a week but he was - I don't think he knew what to say about Sirius and everything, he was fighting with Draco about what had happened at the end of the year, and who to trust, but once he said something about how he was so glad to know for truly real that he had people who cared about him, which I think meant Snape and also you Sirius, although not Macnair because he still is scared of Macnair and that's fair enough, isn't it? Only then I couldn't push him to talk about it more, and anyway I'm not sure that I should say more if he had told me what he really feels except that I know that he doesn't know what he's doing, he seemed very uncertain, especially when Hydra came.

He likes Hydra a lot and I do too, I mean she isn't a bad sort, and he didn't mind having her along even though I think he probably got tired of it because she can be very uncertain about herself and then she's boring boring boring, only he doesn't realise that they're trying to throw them together in case maybe someday they might date. It's really obvious but he hasn't a clue I think. Of course I didn't see them when they were with her mother or anybody else who might have thought of it but I don't know what else to say based on everything that happened, what the Lord Protector said when he cursed me and everything, and anyway Hydra says that she's being told that she should prepare for being a good wife and mother, which is silly because we're only fourteen or thirteen and she's younger, only I suppose people got married when they were fourteen in the dark ages didn't they?

Anyhow I should be able to overhear more now because I'm to be waiting on people like all the other muggle-born servants starting today.