6-Dec Letter Home
Hi Lottie!
I hope you were not upset that I didn't write individual letters last time. I have been sooo busy with homework! We are getting ready for end of term finals and I have been studying like crazy. The Library has been packed nearly every day after classes. It's kind of funny when we all leave, en masse, for dinner. It's almost as though we've been in another class that's just been dismissed!
I hope school has been going well for you. Are you looking forward to winter break? I am! I can't wait to see you! I will be traveling home for break on the 17th. (Finals are on the 16th!)
See you soon!
Ava
Dear Mom and Dad
Magic school is so very different from non-magic school, and it's also so very alike. I have term finals on the 16th, just before I get to come home for a few weeks. I really can't wait to see you guys, I miss you SO much! I'm a little wary about my Herbology final. It's not a difficult class, per se, but I have been told that I'll have to identify a certain number of plants by sight! I'm ok with telling you how to care for the plants we have learned about (and how to keep myself safe) if I know what plant we are talking about, but I'm not confident in my ability to correctly identify them by a single leaf or other plant part. In the greenhouse, each of the plants are clearly labeled and the WHOLE PLANT is there. I hope I can pass...
I'm excited about my potions final, though. Professor Malfoy said I'm doing really well. He had us do mock tests last Wednesday to show us what to expect during our finals and to help up determine how to study. He told me that I would have passed with flying colors if the mock test had been the real final!
DADA will be ok, though I'm a little concerned about the practical part. It's not that I don't think I can do the spells, it's that I'm not sure I can handle casting them on someone else. Professor Prince told us that each of us will have to cast a set of offensive spells that we have learned so far this year at HIM! I know he can defend himself and will have a strong shield up, but what if I hurt him? Katherine told me not to worry, that her dad is one of the MOST powerful wizards ever, but I'm still nervous.
Transfiguration and Charms shouldn't be too hard. Both of them will have essays as two thirds of the grade. Even if i fail to do the practicals, i can pass the written parts!
Arithmancy, though, UGH. I am NOT looking forward to that. (guess what I've been studying the MOST??) It's not any easier than the maths I learned in non-magic school, although at least it appears that I have a leg up on students who have not attended non-magical schools before attending Hogwarts. I've been helping all sorts of kids my age (friends and acquaintances) to understand the basic maths I learned before I came here. It might be helping me study, going over it with them, but it doesn't make it any easier to actually solve the equations. Then you have to add in the magical theory behind the equations and explain THAT and I'm just not grasping it. Thankfully my friends are helping me there. Lyra's got a knack for arithmancy. She claims it is because her father has hired private tutors for her specifically for that, but i still think she has talent in Arithmancy. She picks everything up so easily!
Astronomy will be tiring (that final is actually this thursday night, and we won't have the class next week so that we are well rested for the other finals), but it will be relatively easy. our professor told us that we will have to find one of a selection of constellations, map it out and then write an essay about why the constellation we choose is important to magical rituals and which types of ritual need to involve that constellation. Since we will get to choose from a selection we are given, I can pick the constellation I know the most about!
Thankfully, Wizarding Traditions and Customs doesn't have a term final, though we have been told that we will be graded more harshly on things we have already learned as far as Wizarding etiquette is concerned after the break. Apparently we will be expected to conduct ourselves as though we are at the Ministry or a high society function (or other such scenarios) each class period after the break and we will be graded on how well we followed the proper procedures and etiquette for the day's assigned scenario. I'm a little nervous, but I think it will be alright.
Well, I must go. Lunch is almost over and if i want to send these letters out today, I'd better dash up there now or I will be late for History of Magic! (Oh! I forgot to tell you about HoM's final! That class we will only have a written test. A second year told me it will be multiple choice like in non-magical schools and I'm delighted! at least one test will be easy!) Ok, I must go. See you on the 17th at King's Cross!
I love you!
Ava
P.S. the smudges are from Amythest. I think she wanted to help me write the letter!