27/04/1990
Friday, 27th April
Dear diary, today I discovered something incredible and amusing! It turns out that Dad has been in contact with Limy, the house-elf who looked after me when I was little. I found out that, thanks to her, he has been giving James a hard time all this time. I didn’t know that was Sev’s way of making James pay! Apparently, he was in constant contact with the twins, receiving lots of ideas!
Dad told me everything this afternoon while we were having tea at home. He explained that Limy had been using her elf magic to play tricks on James, and I couldn’t help but burst into laughter as he told me.
Firstly, Limy ensured that James was always cold, even in summer. She used her magic to constantly lower the temperature around James by a few degrees. So, while everyone else enjoyed the sun and warmth, James was always shivering and complaining about the cold. Sev told me that James thought he was cursed and had tried all sorts of spells and potions to warm up, but nothing worked. (People around him started thinking he was losing his mind).
Then, Limy managed to cause small fires around him. Every time James lit a candle, cooked something, or was simply near something flammable, it would suddenly burst into flames. These fires were never very big but were enough to scare James and make him think he was haunted. James always screamed and tried to put out the fire, but people started avoiding him, thinking he was a pyromaniac.
Another thing Limy did was make James always feel followed. Using her magic, Limy made James hear footsteps behind him, whispers in his ear, and see shadows moving out of the corner of his eye. This made James completely paranoid. He constantly looked over his shoulder and was startled by any noise. Sev told me it was especially funny when James screamed and cast spells at nothing, thinking someone was stalking him. Even Moody thought James was mad!
Limy also managed to swap James’s shampoo with a special potion made by Dad. This potion left him bald for a week, or sometimes made his hair change to horrible colours like snot green or fluorescent orange. Every time this happened, James would get furious and spend hours trying to reverse the spell. Sev told me he even tried wearing wigs, but Limy always found a way to make them fall off at the most embarrassing moments.
Dad also told me how Limy made James’s food taste horrible. She would swap the ingredients in his meals to make them taste like rotten liver or boiled cabbage. James couldn’t understand why everything he ate tasted so bad and often ended up furious, yelling at the house-elves, who knew nothing about it.
Another prank was that Limy made the furniture in James’s house uncomfortable for him. She used her magic to make the chairs always slightly tilted, the sofas too hard, or the beds too soft. James could never find a comfortable position and always complained of back and neck pain.
In addition, Limy made sure James’s letters always got lost. Using her magic, she ensured that James’s mail never arrived on time, or got lost completely. This caused great anger in James, especially when he was expecting important replies.
Limy also made James’s plants die mysteriously. Every time James tried to care for a plant, it would wither and die within days. James tried all sorts of spells and remedies to save his plants, but nothing worked. Eventually, he gave up and stopped trying to have plants in his house.
The funniest thing of all was how Limy managed to make James’s potions and spells constantly fail. If James tried to brew a potion, it would explode or turn into something useless. If he cast a spell, it would go wrong or not work at all. James was convinced there was something wrong with his magic, and it drove him crazy. He even changed wands several times, but nothing helped.
Sev explained that normally Limy would have to punish herself every time she did something like this, as house-elves cannot disobey their masters. But James, in his arrogance, named her Lily’s personal elf, thinking this way he would be closer to her. What he didn’t know was that Limy could disobey him because that’s what Lily actually wanted. Before she died, or rather, before she got very ill, Lily gave Limy a knitted dress, freeing her. Despite being free, Limy continued to pretend to be part of the Potter Manor house-elves, but now she was my personal elf, without me knowing!
When Dad told me all this, I couldn’t help but feel a mix of surprise and joy. Limy had been looking after me all this time, even when I didn’t know it. Sev had employed her and named her my personal elf so she could stay close to me without the other elves or Potter Manor rejecting her.
Limy’s story made me feel very special and loved. Knowing that she was willing to do all that for me, and that Dad had helped her, showed me how much they both cared. Besides, the pranks on James were so funny that I couldn’t stop laughing.
After Severus told me all this, I decided to talk to Limy. I wanted to thank her for everything she had done for me. When I called her, Limy appeared with a shy smile. I knelt to her height and told her how much I appreciated everything she had done. Limy seemed excited and a bit embarrassed, but she thanked me for my words.
Then, we spent the afternoon together, talking about all the pranks she had played on James. Limy told me some more that Severus hadn’t mentioned, like when she used her magic to make sure James’s shoes were always full of mud, no matter how many times he cleaned them, or made sure that the books James wanted to read were always in inaccessible places or had their pages stuck together, she also made James’s quills break or the ink spill all over his desk, ensured that James’s clocks were always ahead or behind, so he was late or too early for his appointments, or even sometimes made the windows fly open in the middle of the night, letting in wind and rain into his room.
Every time Limy told me a new prank, I couldn’t help but laugh. I imagined James’s face and how he must have felt not being able to control anything around him. Limy had done an incredible job, and I was very grateful for everything she had done.
The best part is that the general public had started to believe that James had lost his mind. Some people even demanded that Xavier, as the saviour of the wizarding world, be kept away from James for his own safety. Of course, Dumbledore always made sure nothing got out of hand, but people were starting to distrust James.
At the end of the day, I asked Limy to accompany me to the garden. I wanted to show her something special. I had found a small corner in the garden where wildflowers grew, and I thought it would be a nice place to plant some new flowers in honour of Limy. Together, we dug small holes and planted the flowers. Limy seemed very happy and thanked me for the gesture.
Anyway, today was a day full of surprises and laughter. Discovering all that Limy had done for me and seeing how much she cared for me made me feel very fortunate. I am very grateful to have Dad and Limy in my life. They have both done so much for me and shown me how much they love me. I also need to write a letter to my favourite twins, thanking them for their ideas!
Oh! Julius was upset with us for not telling him all this before, as he also wanted to help. I don’t know what ideas he might have, but I can’t wait to implement my own ideas to keep making James’s life miserable! Even if he never finds out it was us, even better, I hope he never finds out it was us, so we can keep doing it forever!
See you!
Goodbye!