I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.

Dear students and visiting guests,

Our upcoming lecture:
On December 3rd, we will welcome several medwizards, who have graciously offered their time on Saturday to share some tips on dealing with urgent injuries and crisis care. Our guests are welcome to join us for this. You will be divided into groups, spending forty-five minutes with each presenter. Please gather at 1pm in the Great Hall for the introduction, and we will split off to other spaces from there.

CCF students: you will be grouped together and cover topics in more depth, as you covered some of the basics last summer, and will also have an additional hour training session following the main presentations.

(Thanks to Miss Perks for suggesting that this would be an excellent topic.)

Preparing for the Yule Ball
CCF students and YPL counsellors are asked to assist with various small duties relating to hosting the Yule Ball. Planning sessions will take place on Thursday, December 8th or Saturday, December 10th. Please sign up on the lists by my office for one of these two times no later than this coming Thursday. Each session will last two hours and begins at 7pm.

A schedule conflict
Finally, due to YPL planning committee needs, I must be in New London on Sunday, December 11th and Monday the 12th. My classes are cancelled for that Monday, including the observing session that evening (though I will be giving you assignments to cover the missing session this week). I will obviously not be available for questions or my normal office hours during those two days. I am confident this will be the last such disruption for this school year, and appreciate your patience.

Miss Clearwater and Mister Avery, I have an additional note for you below.

Thanks to the lifting of quarantine, I'm delighted to be able to announce our upcoming plans for the summer YPL programs. Obviously, we were able to do some general discussion via the journals, but for practical reasons, much of our detailed work had to wait until my Nashira could bring private messages reliably, or I could travel.

My thanks, first and foremost, to the Ministry staff who were willing to give of their time yesterday, so I could travel to New London and meet in person to discuss necessary details without disrupting classes and exam preparation further for our students. We made a great deal of progress on the practical aspects of our hopes for this summer, though a substantial amount of work still remains.

Current first years
We are delighted to be able to offer the same summer camping experience to you as we did to this year's second years. We plan to follow the same basic itinerary as last year, though with some changes based on what we learned. (Exploring the sea caves, for example, will not be an option this year.) And of course, we will have some new surprises for you, as we don't simply want to repeat each year over and over.

Further information will be sent home by owl (along with the appropriate permissions slip) to your parents as ministry owls can bring the messages. We again expect camp to take place in the beginning of August.

For our second years
We are delighted to be able to announce an exciting new program for you as well.

You will be invited to stay in New London for three nights (and four days) of activities, events, and opportunities. Due to limits on both Ministry staff time and housing, we will be hosting two groups. Information about which group you are assigned to will be posted in the coming weeks, and we are (again) sending information home to your parents as owls become available.

Activities will include a theatrical or musical performance, time to spend in New London's museums, a tour of the public areas of the Lord Protector's palace, a brief tour of St. Mungo's, as well as time to learn about various areas of Ministry responsibility.

Costs, equipment, and practical needs
Again:

- All housing, food, and other activity costs are covered by the Ministry through the kindness of our Lord Protector.

- Students will be expected to provide their own suitable clothing and other personal needs (If our fostered students have difficulty with any requirements, please contact me for assistance.)

- Pets will again be allowed for any student who commits to tending to all of their needs.

- Transportation will again be arranged by the Ministry: we do ask parents who are able to deliver their children to the central Port-Key locations to indicate their ability to do so on the permissions slip.

- Both trips are open to all students in the relevant year.

For our older students
I am delighted to announce that the Lord Protector will be making time in his crowded schedule for a brief visit with all the older students who have assisted with the YPL since its founding. Please stop by my office at your convenience so we can discuss the date, timing, and expectations for appropriate dress and behavior. (If you do not have access to appropriately formal robes - many of you are still growing, of course - we will be making arrangements for loans, but will need measurements as soon as possible.)

We also welcome applications from current fifth and sixth year students to participate as mentors and guides in this summer's activities. Again, this not only brings positive attention to your work from our Lord Protector and other Ministry officials, but carries a small stipend for your time and effort. Please stop by my office to sign up for an interview and get additional information about our expectations.

Students living in the Lake District
And finally, now that my Nashira can take a break from Ministry correspondence for a few days: any students living in the Lake District who do not yet have reliable owl access, my mother has offered to deliver any messages sent to her to your families. Please have them to me no later than noon on Monday (letters only, of course).