Best foot forward

[alt_umbridge]

Let us all begin the new week bright and chipper and cheerful! Take the time today to remind someone how to be their best possible self in service to the school and to our glorious Protectorate.

Those students who have been selected to be of particular assistance to the school should have received notes this morning.

I am also delighted to note we are rolling out our little daily essay project. Each evening at supper, beginning tonight, one of you children, selected at random, will receive a note with two possible essay choices. If selected, you are expected to post your essay (on one of the indicated topics) to your journal the following day. Failure to do so without excellent cause will result in additional opportunities to improve yourself.

CCF students:
We will be occupied all day next Sunday in activities designed to test your limits of understanding, knowledge, and skill. I am sure you will all do as splendidly as your respective abilities allow. As with last year, a great deal of the exercise will be about how you handle the unexpected, so we are providing very little detail in advance to anyone not directly involved in planning the activities.

The following CCF students should please stop by my office for some additional information at their earliest opportunity: Marvolo, Moon, Patil, Smith, Zabini, Greengrass, MacMillan.

Comments

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_sally_anne]

I got one of her essay assignments.

I get to choose between 'the benefits to halfbloods of having a defined role in society that does not place them under undue strain or stress' and 'praise for the blood purity laws.'

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_hydra]

Is this "opportunity" actually a punishment in disguise?

It doesn't sound as if you were chosen at random to me.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_sally_anne]

It's not much of a disguise.

The reason she made me read my PM to Harry the other day was that she said it was obvious that I'd posted the briefest possible public note in the hopes that I could get away with writing a private note underneath (that was before she decided I'd written the note because I was hoping to have to read it aloud... I don't understand her at all. It's very frustrating.)

Anyway. She hinted she'd be giving me an 'opportunity' to make up for it by giving me some 'helpful ideas' for a public post I could make and of course this is it.

Whatever. I got it done while eating lunch. Hearing Sophie Fleet have to read HER PM out loud reminded me to get it done early. I guess no one better PM their mum with anything they don't want the whole school to know, right?

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_hydra]

I think I could PM my Mum and she'd leave it alone.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_ron]

Yeah. I expect you could.

I wonder, though, if you could PM your cousin Dora or whether she'd make you read that out. I guess we're just going to have use owls more now to write people when we don't want everyone in the world to see what we say to them.

Actually.

Do you think that's it? Maybe Madam Umbridge has some connection with... I dunno, owl breeders or owl post offices or something... and she wants to make us go back to using owls so they don't lose all their business. I mean, the Ministry does all sorts of complicated things like that to help businesses sometimes. Sometimes it's completely daft what they think up.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_hydra]

Owls can be so slow, by comparison, though. Good for packages and things, but not as good as the journals for passing along messages. Madam Umbridge seems to write a lot of private messages herself, especially to people like Mr Strangeweale. If she wanted to promote use of owls I'd think she'd not do that quite so much.

I will probably still send Dora private messages, but I'll be more careful about what I say from now on.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_susan]

Well, Professor Gr Great-Aunt Mina's the only owl breeder I know and I'm pretty sure she's not conspiring with Umbridge.

But I could ask next time we have tea, just in case!

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_sally_anne]

And GO RAZ, I wish he'd hex that miserable cow.

Or curse her.

Not, as Professor Dolohov reminds us every chance he gets, there's necessarily any substantive difference between a hex, a jinx, and a curse, but 'curse' still sounds nastier and I am all for nasty (JUST SO LONG AS IT'S NOT ONE OF THE CARDINALS OF COURSE I DON'T WISH THAT ON ANYONE) when it comes to Hembridge.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_ron]

I'd be happier about what Professor Raz said if he hadn't pointed out that some of us have only written about the Quidditch, and not a very long thing, either.

I didn't write at all the first week. I mean, after I had to go in and read her the PM I wrote to Arista Selwyn, I expect I'm lucky she didn't assign me an essay topic like she did you. Well, not the same one, obviously, but-

I'd better figure out what to write about, though, or she will do.

I was thinking about writing Arista another note about her cat, actually. An open one, though. Is that just daft?

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_sally_anne]

And you know, I really wish I'd been able to keep her from hating me.

I TRIED. Honestly. But all the things that usually persuade adults to like me (unless they're, like, the Carrows) didn't work with her at ALL.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_hydra]

I don't know, I feel like Raz isn't taking her as seriously as he ought to. I mean, Madam Umbridge took the YPL away from Siz, so he knows that she has quite a lot of power, from somewhere. Maybe the whole point is to make it seem as if he doesn't take her seriously, when in actuality he does.

Maybe he's trying to diminish her? Psychologically, I mean. I don't know.

I'm sorry that she hates you (though it might say good things about you). She seems to ignore me, mostly.