Hermione Jane Granger

Well today was Terry's birthday and would you believe that Fred and George Weasley got him a birthday present! Or, anyway, Mrs Weasley sent things and they gave them to him and they're saying to people that it was to get well soon but they know and I know that it was a birthday present.

And Madam Pince was cleaning out the old books that no one uses anymore, like the old edition of Ancient Runes Made Easy and a copy of Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century with half the pages torn out (but it's still useful because it's alphabetical and so we still have all of names M through Z) and she gave them to me and so I gave them to Terry, because he can't come read anything he likes in the library, and there were about fifteen of them and when I saw the Headmistress she gave me a bow to put on them (thank you Headmistress) and Madam Pince let me make a birthday card with the inks I was using on the Pretiosissimum Donum Dei, even though of course I couldn't tell her that I was giving him the books too.

The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Terry wasn't so afraid of Mr Lupin, but I think that perhaps if he would only just get to know Mr Lupin he wouldn't be so scared, because he'd never bite anyone, not even if the Lord Protector told him to himself! And I know that not everybody in the Order thinks so and I'm sorry because you all probably know him better than me, but you haven't talked to him in years and years, and I'm sure I'm right!!

But in any case Terry is out of the Hospital Wing and I think he had a good birthday.

Terry is in the hospital wing.

He told me that Professor Carrow dunked him in a bucket of water, only I said that doesn't sound so bad, at least he didn't hit you or jinx you like he did that one time and so even if it was scary at least it's over now and it doesn't hurt any more. But it is actually worse because now he has something called asspiration pneumonia (Madam Pomfrey made sure that I knew how to spell 'pneumonia,' it isn't at all like you'd expect) and he has to stay in the hospital wing, only that doesn't sound so bad because now Professor Carrow can't dunk him in the bucket of water again, only Terry is very frightened and I'm not sure what of.

He won't ask to come stay with me in the library either, although I think that if Professor Carrow hates him so much he'd want him out of his sight, and he won't tell me why and I sometimes think he doesn't like me after all. But I know that isn't true. Anyway he has too much of a fever now to make alot of sense. Madam Pomfrey says he will be alright though because mediwizardry is so much better than Muggle healing ever was. If Terry were a Muggle before the Lord Protector came they would have fed him moldy bread, which sounds disgusting, only they must have had a reason to feed people moldy bread. Madam Pomfrey said it worked sometimes but all the Muggle Studies textbooks I can read don't say that, they just talk about how mean it was to feed sick people mold. But they caught the pneumonia early so maybe that is alright.

I wish I could apologise to Terry because I yelled at him, and I know it was wrong but he didn't tell me about Professor Carrow dunking him and I went in to work in the hospital wing and he was there all wet with Madam Pomfrey and I couldn't help it because I wanted to know what happened! But he just kept shivering and crying and all.

I don't think I ever have thought that I was going to drown. I suppose it is very frightening. Terry was very frightened.

And now I am going to bring him some books so that he can read them while he is in the hospital wing and no one can see that he's doing it.

I'm just finished recopying and binding the Pretiosissimum Donum Dei, and it's beautiful!!! I'm so happy that I did it well. That was the secret job I had, to recopy and bind it. Madam Pince is excited too. It was the first time I was allowed to copy out a book! Soon she'll let me do it for books that can't be reproduced any other way, and then I'll be a real scriptor!! The Pretiosissimum Donum Dei is supposed to be Professor McGonagall's gift to the Lord Protector. She told me it wasn't a secret as of today, so I could tell people. It's as if I'm giving him something too, even though I know he wouldn't want anything I could give him, because I'm a Mudblood.

Anyway I'm looking forward to the Feast so I can see it be presented to him! I keep looking through it, it's so nice. I'm really proud of myself.

I'm learning a little bit of Latin as I go too. Not much but I can say "Ave et vale!" So ave et vale!!!