Private message to Raz

[alt_sinistra]

Love -

Writing things down so they don't fall out of my head. (Which is full of other people's exams.)

First, an owl came for you when I was still having breakfast this morning. It looked like it might be related to whatever it is you said you were plotting, so I didn't open it and just left it on your desk. (Nashira's handy if you want to send a reply, and I won't need her for a few days.)

Second, can we practice those chained charms some more before we do another demonstration round for Harry? I've got the beginning of the sequence down - I like that variant of the shielding charm, quite a lot, actually. But when I get to the Deprehensio variant, I keep getting stuck, because I'm not sure what to do next. (I mean, I know it detects magical effects, it's figuring out what to do with what it detects that confuses me.) I might think faster on my feet than I used to, but there are times it's by a very small amount indeed.

Anyway. I'd rather not look a fool.

Third, Mum and Dad want to know if we'd come to supper once we're done here. I thought maybe not the first week we're off, since there's all the unpacking and things, but maybe the week after that? Mum thought Storm and Dittany and us, and that's it. (I think she sort of wants to talk about what to do about Theo, but I might be wrong.)

Fourth, Poppy

Going to try to get through as much of the exam marking as I can this afternoon, and I need to set up early again, but I'll be down for supper at the very least.

Comments

[alt_rabastan]

The bottle of wine does sound like a nice extra. We'll have to make plans, maybe for the Perseids?

What does Poppy want to talk about? I'd be happy to practice this evening before diving into the endless marking. After glancing through what the booklets from today's second years, I'm already regretting a few of the questions I asked. Incendio and Incarcero are so obviously different spells with completely different uses. Of the top fire exams on the stack, three of them picked the wrong one.

[alt_sinistra]

Bottles of wine are often a very pleasant addition to plans. (Speaking of, Mum sent some stout she thought you'd like. It being marking season. Also some cider she thought I'd like, and you're welcome to try.) We needn't wait for August, mind, though meteor showers do make delightfully uncomplicated viewing, don't they?

My first years have some hilariously funny but rather depressing misunderstandings of the cosmos. (There's at least three who cannot get geocentric separate from heliocentric, for some reason.) The sixth years are better than I thought they might be (especially with fewer of them having the arithmancy), but there's a couple of gaping holes that need fixing for some of them if they're to manage the NEWT in good form.

Poppy, oh, I told you I was working up the nerve to talk to her about next fall, because really, there's quite a few relevant bits. (I mean, I suppose that Lizzie Stevens means she's better up on that line of care than she might be some years, but I don't know if she'd want to take it on, or ask.) And really it's kinder to give her the summer to think about it, never mind the fact that I'd like to ask her a couple of specific things.

Anyway, I went down late Monday night, but she was deeply in the midst of something. (Had quite the list of calamities for me when I checked in on Tuesday.) But of course, now she knows I wanted to talk, and she's like a terrier sometimes. I don't want her to fuss, but it's also not a topic I want to discuss with a stream of students in and out. One bit. Time enough to be a topic of gossip when we have to, and not a moment sooner.

Practice right after supper, and I'll tell her I'll come talk after curfew and before the exam?