Hydra Lestrange Finch-Fletchley

Is everything alright? Are you back to the Jugson's yet?

I ask because I think I'm going to need to give you Jack.

I've been keeping him in my room, but Rigel's either found a way in, or he's heard Jack's mewing, because now he keeps asking to see the kitty. Even if I do keep my room locked and warded I'm worried Rigel will make Mrs Baylock get Jack for him to play with. And you remember what happened with Tevis, don't you? Rigel decided he liked him and after that, Tevis never stopped following him around. He still does, even now.

Dear Mummy,

I know that you're busy and I don't want to bother you so I'll make this very short.

I was just wondering what it is you might have done with Tevis? I'm not asking for him back. I know that this is my punishment and I will accept it.

I'm not even that worried or concerned about him, only some people have asked where my rabbit's gone, and I'm not sure how to answer them. And I want to be sure that my answer doesn't displease you. That's all.

From,
Hydra

The firsties are so cute and amusing, and they don't even realise it.

Some of them were in the common room before supper talking about French Kissing, and they said that it's when you kiss someone on each cheek after having not seen them in a very long time. Cheek kissing is popular in France, and we do it here in England, too, but of course that's not what French Kissing is at all. So Remy told them that it's really snogging and they looked so embarrassed and also like they expected to be in trouble for talking about such a thing. I told them that if they felt confused they should talk to a prefect, because if Remy had kept talking about snogging then all their hair might've gone white.

The third year course work has been challenging so far. Transfiguration and Defense, especially. But both Runes and Dark Arts are covering material that I've already known for a while, so that helps. It's still a lot of reading, and I was almost thinking I should put learning German and French off to concentrate on homework, but then I received a fantastic book in the mail and thank you, Justin, for thinking to send it to me. It seems very thorough, and I especially like how you left your notes in the margins, they make it even more helpful. Thank you again! It should be terribly useful.

Does anyone know if Professor Grubbly-Plank minds speaking with students who aren't taking Care of Magical Creatures? I wish I coul I tried to talk to Professor Brutka about changing Tevis' diet for the winter, and he seemed grumpy didn't say much but reminded me that he doesn't teach Creatures anymore. So maybe I should ask her, if she doesn't mind.

Dear Sir,

I hope that it's alright that I've chosen to write You here instead of using an owl.
I've been thinking for days of what I need to tell You and I wrote it down on a piece of parchment first so that I won't miss anything or ramble about something that might not be interesting or important.
First, You wanted to know what I told Tom about You and the Protectorate, and I already told You all that I could remember.
And it was true, I really did go on an awful lot to him about New London and how wonderful it is, and all of the statues of You, and how the air is cleaner now and wizard-kind is much safer now that muggles are strictly controlled.
Tom was very happy about that.
But what I didn't tell You was that he was very happy with everything...except he didn't like that there were muggles still around at all.
I know that I should have told You that face to face, but it was such a difficult thing to say, I hope You understand.
I find it much easier to write down difficult things.
What Tom said was that the muggle and mudblood filth should be stamped out of England, and especially from Hogwarts, and that he thought You would have taken care of them by now, and that he hoped You hadn't turned soft.
He said that no one can control filth, they can only get rid of it, the way they would get rid of any other rubbish.
That's what he said, but I didn't agree with him and I told him that I thought You had done everything just right because it made the most amount of people happy.
It was so confusing sometimes, though, because he seemed to know so much about You, even though he was from ages and ages ago.
The way he spoke of You, it was almost as if he saw himself as Your Mothe parent.
Sometimes what he said about You made me so upset that I would be cross with him, and I would refuse to speak to Him for a while.
I even tried to flush him down a loo one time.
But then I decided that maybe he didn't mean to be insulting, because Hogwarts really did mean so much to him, he was always asking me about my teachers and classes, and wanted to hear all about my classmates, and also about Draco and Harry.
Especially Harry.
But he seemed to remember everything about the school, and knew ever so much more about its secret passages and hidden nooks than I ever could.
That's why I let him come over me, that first time.
He had shown me what Hogwarts looked like when he was a student, and I wanted to show him what it looked like now, when I was a student.
And then, when he starting taking me over more often, I wouldn't know that he was doing it until something big happened, like when Dennis fell over like a piece of stone, or when Tully was died.
He was so very powerful, my Lord, and he wasn't even a man yet.
Do you think that Harry really killed him?
It didn't seem like anything in the whole wide world could, but if there were one thing that could, it would make sense that it was Your son.

I didn't tell Mummy what Tom said about You.
I'm sure that she would punish me dreadfully for saying such evil words, even if they weren't my own.
She's already so unhappy with me for keeping secrets, even though I swore to her that I wasn't trying to.
Did You say something to her about it?
I don't want to preso presume but she seemed to act differently after our last meeting, like she was leaving it all to You now and would stop questioning.
Thank you

I'm also wanted to write so that I could tell You that I very much apologise for being so jumpy the first few times we had tea.
Only I didn't know what to expect, and I thought that it must surely mean that I was in trouble.
But you were just
It was just like
But now I would just very much like to serve You and please You, so if we have tea again sometime before I go back to Hogwarts, I would like that.

From,
Hydra

Last night I caught Cressida looking through my things.
Not just looking for a piece of parchment on my desk but trying to open the trunk in my wardrobe.
So I hexed her and now her fingers are swollen up like sausages and she was crying in the night because it hurt.
She couldn't even hold her wand to hex me back, and I think she wanted Norma to do it but Norma wouldn't.
She gave Cressida a salve, instead.
I don't know that it worked that well because at breakfast just now Cressida kept dropping her fork.
Maybe she didn't think I knew that she was the one who stole Tex so long ago.
But I knew and I didn't forget, and I don't want her stealing anything of mine ever again.
Maybe it was a little bit mean to hex her, but Mummy would have done it and so would probably a long time ago, too.
And then I got a parcel from Daddy this morning, so I think it will be a very good day!

Something dreadful happened on Monday.
Tully's leg was hurt.
I found him huddling behind my trunk, and his left back leg was bloody and twisted.
I took him to Professor Brutka before dinner and he fixed it, thankfully (and without removing any of the bones on accident, too).
He said that maybe the charm that protected Tully from the cats in Slytherin had wore off, so he put it on Tully again.
Tully was just so frightened when I found him and that frightened me, too.
But now he seems alright, almost as if nothing happened at all.
Maybe rabbits don't remember for very long, which could be useful sometimes and not at all at other times.
A girl from Ravenclaw wrote in her journal about how her Mummy died doing a charms experiment.
It made me afraid of doing my charms homework for a little while but then I realised I was being silly.
Still, it scares me a little to think of how Daddy works with dark, cursed objects all the time.
He's never had one of them hurt him, but what if one did?
Dark, cursed objects can do worse things to you than killing you.
I told Draco about it and he said I worry too much, and that I should play more games like imploding snap and gobstones.
So does anyone want to play gobstones in the common room tonight?
Let me know if you do.
Mummy's owl this morning wrote about how we're going to have a special guest staying with us over the holidays.
I wonder who the special guest will be?

I spoke with Professor Brutka this afternoon about how to care for Tully.
He knew a lot about rabbits, and I was suprised by some of what he taught me.
Like rabbits really shouldn't have lettuce, and carrots should only be given as treats.
Instead I should feed Tully a special hay and some pellets, which Professor gave me some, and sometimes fruit or sweet potato or herbs but only as a treat.
I will also have to brush Tully's fur and clip his nails.
He will be a lot more work than Tina ever was, but much more fun, too!
Something else I learned is that Tully isn't white and brown spotted, like I thought, he's broken tort.
I'm not sure what broken tort means, but maybe a fancy way of saying white and brown spotted.
The rest of what I learnt is that a baby bunny is called a kit, and a boy bunny is a buck, bunnies can purr like cats, and they can also learn to go to the toilet indoors like a cat.
Because there are already many cats in Slytherin, Professor put a charm on Tully so that they will think he's a cat, too, because normally a cat might try to eat a bunny.
And then he gave me a hutch to keep under my bed, but said that I should let Tully get exercise outside of it, too.
Is it bad to be happy about my new pet when Auntie Lucretia died?
And also to be happy when Mummy is cross with Daddy for sending me Tully, and cross with me for wanting him, too?
I think I must have also learnt it is possible to be happy and sad at once.

They were right and we are getting more homework now.
Some of it I like a lot like potions, because I've made potions before with Daddy, and also because its Professor Slughorns class, and he is my favourite professor.
Even though I like all of the professors very much, I do.
I want to be the best at Professor Slughorns class so I'm studying potions the most.
I'm also studying history of magic alot but not because its one of my favourites.
I think it might be my hardest subject, because some of the things Professor Binns says about history sound wrong to me, but can a professor be wrong?
He says "muggle born" a lot and when I asked what that meant he said a witch or wizard with muggle and swin parents but I thought people like that were called mudbloods.
And he also said Merlin was the greatest wizard ever but didn't he want to help muggles more than wizards?
I don't know what to do, so I'll just keep studying and maybe it will make sense.
Tina is still lively and lovely but I can't find Tex anywhere.
He disappeared a few days ago.
I've asked Cressida and Norma if they saw him around the dorm and they say no.
Norma thought that I might have done the charm wrong and it made Tex hop away.
So if anyone sees a little parchment rabbit hopping in the common room or somewhere else in the dungeon, can you please return him to me?
I know rabbits aren't allowed as pets, but I wonder if the Magical Creatures professor keeps any in his classroom.
Rabbits aren't magical, though, so he probably doesn't.
Does anyone know if I will get in trouble if I don't eat meat at supper?
I'm more in the mood for just mash and then pudding, of course!