Hogwarts is Real?

Diary! I'm sooooo behind! I will have to attach my letters from Lottie and the ones I wrote to her after I catch up some. (I have them but I've been busy!)

The rest of the school year itself was rather uneventful, especially after being stuck as a cat for almost two months. I had so much to catch up with, for my practicals, that I had to drop out of the dueling club competition. That stunk, but at least I still got to participate in the club itself. I can compete next year. (And yes, I know, it was at the beginning of the school year, but I missed an important deadline for my age bracket during those two months so I wasn't eligible to enter this year's competition. The rules are very strict!)

REally, school was just....school. I had tons of homework (mostly essays) to complete, and I had to study hard. The most exciting thing was being told that later, when I'm older, since I had already spent a lot of time as a cat, that learning to be an animagus would likely be easy for me. When I asked, Professor Martins said while it was still possible that my animagus form might be a cat, the spell and potion mix would have guaranteed that I turned into a cat and that it wasn't an indication of my animagus form. SO maybe I will be something even more exciting! Although I wouldn't mind being a cat, either.... No matter, I have to wait til I am older. Professor Martins said it is extremely dangerous for a young magical to attempt it before their magic is fully matured. I wouldn't want to get stuck permanently as a cat or a half cat, half human monstrosity.

But really, that's not why I've FINALLY pulled you back out! (And I'm so sorry for ignoring you for so long, Diary. I truly didn't mean to forget to write.) You see, I've just returned home from the MOST AMAZING school field trip ever! Yes, Yes, I know. School is out for summer break. But this was a special invitation only Summer field trip. To be invited, we needed to be in 2nd or 3rd year and to have at least E's in Herbology, DADA, and Potions. All other classes could not be lower than an A. I had ALL E's! (My parents are SO proud of me! They treated me out for dinner for doing so well this year!)

A group of twenty students and four of our professors attended this trip.

We started out in the Forest of Dean. Professor Prince taught us how to put up magical tents and how to set protection wards around the campsite. (Did I tell you we had special permission to use magic this WHOLE trip?!) He mentioned that if any of us were interested in warding, being an auror, or being a curse breaker, that we might want to pay close attention to how the wards were formed. I don't know what I want to do after I graduate hogwarts, but I decided to pay close attention as well. Professor Prince praised me when I noticed the different colored threads of magic weaing together and asked why they were different colors. He told me (and everyone else) that wards were made with multiple protection spells, and sometimes other types of spells as well, and that each color represented one of them. He then challenged us to guess what each of the colored strands of magic represented. I only got one of them, but most of the group didnt' get more than one.

While we were eating breakfast the first morning, Professor Prince left the wards. When he came back, he brought another man with him. Katherine smirked at me when she saw who joined Professor Prince. I didn't figure out why til later. DAYS later. But I'll get there soon. She quickly ran up and greeted the newcomer. Professor Prince then introduced him to everyone as his father, Lord Prince.

Lord Prince is a Potions Master that, according to Katherine, puts all Potions Masters to shame for the last 50 years. Professor Malfoy heard her comment and agreed with her! Except he added that he thought Lord Prince put 100 years worth of Potions Masters to shame. I was surprised, and asked him what about himself, and he smirked at me and told me that Lord Prince taught him everything he knew and that he couldn't hope to compare until he was as experienced as the Master himself.

For the next few days, we were taught by Lord Prince, Professor Malfoy and Professor Longbottom how to find magical and mundane plants in the wild. We were taught how to harvest them safely, how to preserve them, and even how to take samples with us to replant in our own gardens. We are also given texts to study so we would know how to keep our samples alive while transporting them as well as in a garden outside of the plants' normal habitat. Professor Prince was quick to point out that learning wards would assist in protecting plants from weather and other threats. In the evening, we were working on potions theory and even some potions that must be made right when the ingredients are harvested. Professor Malfoy told us that we would learn about many of these potions in the later years of Hogwarts, but only the theory, and that practicing them now would give us a leg up in our studies when we got to those lessons. Juniper and Nicholas were both VERY smug about that.

we also learned a lot of survival skills. Wizarding versions. We learned how to tell which plants were edible and safe to consume and how to cook them. Professor Prince also taught us how to hunt for rabbits and other small game with magic. Then Professor Cauldwell taught us how to use magic to prepare the food. Of course, that was how we ate for our camping trip, as well. Professor Malfoy and Lord Prince were both adamant that one needed to understand all of these skills if they were going to forage for potions ingredients. "If you cannot accomplish the skills you learn on this trip, you do not belong searching for potions ingredients or any other magical things," Lord Prince told us sternly when Juniper and another girl, Agatha Rosier, complained about it. Both of them were quiet after that.

After two weeks in the Forrest of Dean, Professor Cauldwell told us he had set up something special for our group this year for the second half of our trip. Professor Prince was very excited and told Cauldwell NOT to ruin the surprise and to go get the supplies he needed to get. When Sean pestered Professor Prince about the surprise, all he would tell us is that the Professors had managed to get permission from the ministry to do something new this year and that all of our parents had already agreed to it. EVERYONE was buzzing with excitement as we waited for Professor Cauldwell to return. Lord Prince got frustrated and finally told some of the third year boys to cool it. they had been getting louder and louder with their guesses and enthusiasm. Professor Longbottom took charge then and he and Professor Potter led the group in magically breaking camp. That only made us all more excited; where were we going?

When Professor Cauldwell finally returned, over an hour after his little announcement, he brought Lottie with him!! As soon as I saw her, I ran and hugged my friend. Lyra and Katherine followed behind me, but slower. I quickly turned to face all three of them and gushed at how now all three of my best girl friends could meet before introducing them to each other. I learned later that Geoff was a bit jealous. When I learned that, I apologized to him. I told him he was my one of my best friends, too, and that I had not meant to leave him out. He was still grumpy, but he said he forgave me.

Soon after Professor Cauldwell and Lottie arrived, he started going through our gear with each of us. Lottie assisted him. Juniper and Agatha and a few other pureblood students were not thrilled when they were done. I learned why when it was my turn. Lottie was actually the one doing the inspecting! She was telling her uncle whenever something wasn't "muggle enough." I was surprised and asked why he, as the Muggle Studies Professor, wasn't doing the inspecting. Professor Cauldwell winked at mean and told me Lottie was along as an "Expert" in all things Muggle and that the other students would need to learn to listen to her, so therefore he had her starting from the get go. Lottie was going to be leading a LOT of the activities in the second half of our trip. I was sooo excited because that meant I'd get to spend time with her while learning magic; it meant I could share some of my world with her! Unsurprisingly, the only things in my gear that were "not muggle enough" were my school supplies, my school robes (I don't have wizarding robes for outside of school yet), and my wand. I passed muster. Geoff was DEFINITLY jealous then, because HE didn't pass muster and he's a muggleborn just like me! Apparently he had gotten so excited about immersing in the wizarding world that he had a lot of day clothes that were wizard wear, and even his backpack was blatantly magical.

Once everyone was done, Professor Cauldwell gave each adult a portkey and divied us into five groups. Lottie, Katherine, Lyra, Geoff and I were with Professor Cauldwell. When activated, the portkeys tooks us to Diagon alley, where we each were given permission to exchange some of our money into muggle money. Then we were led out into muggle London. This was where Lottie got to first show off her "expertise" in all things muggle. She took our whole group shopping. Most of the shopping was paid for by the Professors; apparently there was a budget for required supplies. This included swimsuits. Muggle Swimsuits. Juniper, Yvonne, Agatha, and another third year girl named Aurellia were offended by the skimpy "bathing clothes" that muggles had available for us to purchase...until the realised how much the boys would oogle them. Then they were ALL for the swimsuits. Professor Cauldwell DID put his foot down on swimsuits he felt were too mature for a group of 13 and 14 year old girls. Apparently none of the boys had any problems with the swimsuits. According to Sean, muggle swimwear isn't much different from wizarding swimwear...if you're a boy.

When we were done getting the required supplies, Professor Cauldwell took us into a muggle toy store. The pureblood students, especially, were awed. It was actually very fun to see them explore muggle toys and ask questions about them. Everyone was encouraged to find a toy they'd like to take along. He did give us a budget and he also encouraged us to think about things that would either be appropriate to share or to be played with outside. Lottie was told to give the final approval for any toy we picked out. That included any toys that those with pocket money chose to purchase that went beyond the budgeted amount. One of the boys picked out a remote control car. Lottie approved it, but warned him that he would want to purchase batteries for it. Listening to the discussion about what the batteries were for was interesting because he was so dumbfounded that batteries were NOT magical. Thankfully, spare batteries were within the budget, so he could get his chosen toy.

When we were done at the muggle toy store, we returned to Diagon alley and then headed to a small building near Gringotts. The sign out front advertised Ministry approved International Portkey services and all of us started getting excited. Lottie gave me a knowing glance but refused to tell me anything while our professors and Lord Prince shuffled us inside and into a waiting room of some sort. After a few minutes, a short woman who introduced herself as Mrs. Howell walked into the room. She went over a list of rules we had to follow while traveling in another country. Most were basics to protect the statue of secrecy, to protect ourselves, and the like. She also listed off some laws for Wizarding UK as well as the International Conference of Wizards (which governs over all of the Magical World) and laws for the country we were traveling to. I was very shocked when she mentioned how we would land in the International Portkey office of the Magical Congress of the United Statesof America in New York. She then informed us that we would be transferred from there to the MACUSA's Appalachian Mountains' branch before we would be permitted to continue on our way. She then handed each of us identification and licenses. We were told that while she had given our professors copies of all of our paperwork, we needed to keep these on our persons at all time. Failure to do so could result in arrest and heavy fines.

After that stern talking to, we were told what to expect with an international portkey and then she left the room after telling us that we had ten minutes until the portkey would activate. The portkey itself was a large wheel that, thankfully, would be easy for everyone to hold onto at the same time. It sat on a pedestal in the center of the room. Professor Cauldwell encouraged everyone to make sure they had all of our gear properly secured in their bags and our new identification cards and licenses, which were provided in wearable sleeves on muggle lanyards that also included pins to clip them to our shirts, were on properly. The purebloods had a little more difficulty understanding how to wear them, and at least one muggleborn third year complained about needing to wear the lanyard around his neck AND pinning the badge to his shirt, but after Lord Prince made a dry comment about either loosing the tag or worse getting strangled by it during portkey travel, he shut up and pinned it properly. At one minute til, we all reached out and grabbed the wheel. When it activated, I felt like my stomach had been left in London while the rest of me landed in New York. I don't think I was alone. However, we soon were all looking around in awe and wonder.

Other than the fact that the building itself was beautiful, the intricacies of traveling into and then through the MACUSA building were basically what you'd expect. They took us through wizarding customs, checked our bags for any contraband, verified our identities, exchanged some of our wizarding and muggle monies into american monies, and checked our wands. Then a representative took us to another room, this one was obviously more modern. It felt like a conference room to me. There, we met a representative from the muggle government who also reviewed some rules with us. (Really, they were the same rules that Mrs. Howell told us.) Finally he took us to a train platform and informed us that we would be traveling by muggle train to our next destination. He gave our Professors some instructions and our tickets and then left.

Once we got on the train, it was somewhat like traveling on the Hogwarts express, only more crowded and less private. Lottie was the only one in our group who seemed completely at ease. I entertained myself by watching out the window. Some of the group took a nap. Lottie entertained a few of the pureblood students with her mobile phone. (A lot of the adults on the train that were not part of our group were using them and of course that spiked curiosity.) At one point Lottie mumbled to me that she was really glad she didn't need to explain the nuances of using her mobile in a foreign country because she wasn't' sure she could. That caused me to giggle.

It was evening by the time we arrived at our destination. The train pulled into a station, supposedly for an inspection, and we were told that it was our stop by our professors while the announcer voiced something about how patrons were permitted off the train for a smoking break, but that if they left the platform it was on them if the train left without them. We tiredly departed the train and followed our professors into a building that Lottie told me she couldn't see. She clung to my arm so that she wouldn't get lost or left behind. We walked into the building (she could see it once we were inside) and were greeted by a large, jovial man in a green and brown outfit. His name badge identified him as Ranger Wilson. He quickly gathered us up and made sure we were aware that there were some dangerous creatures (like bears and copperhead snakes) that we needed to be careful of while camping in the Appalachians. We were warned that all food we didn't eat needed to be stored in the bear boxes he was loaning to us. These are large crates that he claimed a black bear couldn't open. He also said that they kept the bears from smelling the food inside as well. After "putting the fear of God in all of ya," as he put it, he provided some "proper footwear for hiking these trails" and then proceeded to guide us to our campsite. Once there, he and Lottie (And Professors Cauldwell and Prince) taught us how to pitch muggle tents. We also learned how to make a campfire the muggle way. Once the man left, Professor Potter still guided us through basic warding, but not until he verified that there were no muggles besides Lottie in the vicinity. He taught us a few simple and quick to put up wards that would give us the freedom to put up stronger  wards should they be needed. However, we were told that most of this part of the trip that we would be deferring to Lottie and Professor Cauldwell and doing things the muggle way. 

While camping in the Appalachians, we went on several long hikes to find magical and mundane plants that don't grow back home. Professor Longbottom was especially pleased that Professor Cauldwell had gotten us licenses for bringing home samples of some of the species so that we could cultivate them at home and at Hogwarts. We also kept journals where we drew and described things we found or saw. Animals, plants and the like. Just like in the Forest of Dean, we were educated on how to safely harvest and transplant different plants. We were also taught how to identify plants that were not found back home, as well as assorted creatures and tracks we saw on our hikes.

I had a lot of fun discovering American wildlife, but my favorite part of the trip was when we went out on a lake. We learned how to row a rowboat. In Muggle fashion, of course. There were three of us to a row boat, and we were required to have our life jackets on. Once Lottie and a Muggle woman named Ranger Taylor deemed us properly outfitted in our lifejackets and skilled enough to safely row our rowboats, our group was permitted to row across the lake. Professor Cauldwell guided us to an island on the far side of the lake. Apparently it was protected by magical means because Lottie said it looked very uninviting until we were very close to it. Once we pulled our boats ashore, we were permitted to have a break. We sat in the shade, drank water and ate a picnic lunch, muggle style, that we had packed at our campsite before heading out to the lake. After our lunch, Professors Malfoy, Longbottom and Lord Prince took over and guided us out into the water. There we used bubblehead charms and foraged for underwater plants. Professor Longbottom was especially excited to find the American cousin to gillyweed, a blueish green lakeweed he told us was called Turtlesbreath. Apparently early wizarding settlers discovered that they could use the weeds like straws to snorkel before learning that consuming it allowed them to breathe underwater for a short time. Turtles like to live in the weeds and thus it's name.

Once we had accomplished the day's lessons on underwater plants (and animals!) we were given free reign to play on the island's beach or to go swimming. Lottie, Lyra, Geoff, Sean and I went swimming together, playing a game of Marco Polo together. Soon, several other kids joined the fun. Katherine, Juniper, Agatha, and Yvonne all decided to sun bathe. A few of the other kids decided to build sand castles. All in all, we spent several enjoyable hours enjoying the beach until it was time to row back. Ranger Taylor was impressed with how long we stayed out rowing. None of us bothered to inform her about our explorations in the middle of the day. 

Evenings camping in the Appalachians were the most interesting parts of being in the campgrounds themselves. Other groups would hike past us. Sometimes they would pause to greet our group and say hello. Due to the frequent traffic, we all had what Lottie told us were called kapers. We were divided into groups and for each meal, a different group would have a different task. The same went for chores. And we had to do everything the muggle way. For muggleborns like Geoff and I, this was only a challenge in that it was a new experience for us to be camping like this. For the purebloods, though, many of which had house elves, it was very difficult for them. Not only was it a bunch of new experiences, but it was hard work! Each group got a turn out of the kapers rotation every day and that's when we got to play with the toys and games Professor Cauldwell purchased us at the toy store. One of the groups that hiked past us was a scout group. There were something like 35 kids in the group and seven adults. They paused and shared our campfire with us. The Scouts taught our group how to make s'mores, sharing their treats with us, as well as leading us in a bunch of campfire songs. I thought it was a lot of fun, though a few kids in our group thought it was a bit silly. When the scouts left (they were camping in the next site over) Lottie commented to me about how she couldn't have made that experience any better and how lucky she thought we were that those kids just happened to be camping when we were. I had to agree with her; especially for the pureblooded kids on our trip who had nevevr before been in the muggle world, it was a nice little experience of American Muggle traditions. 

When we finally had to break camp (still the muggle way, other than Professor Prince taking down the wards), I was somewhat sad to go. It had been a lot of fun! Katherine and Lyra were ready to go home, though, and Juniper and Yvonne were beginning to whine about not getting to live to their normal standards, so I conceded that it was time to return. They weren't the only ones. Even Professor Malfoy seemed done with all of the outdoors. It had been a very busy four weeks! 

We returned to the MACUSA building the way we came. There, our bags were checked for any contraband again. Our samples were thoroughly inspected to make sure none of use violated the terms of the licenses we had been given. Our remaining funds (we had investigated both muggle and magical Trading Posts (or camp stores) while we were camping) were converted back before we portkeyed back to the International Portkey Office in Diagon Alley. From there our parents came to pick us up. Well, those of us who didn't already have parents or guardians on the trip. Professor Cauldwell took Lottie and I both home after treating us to ice cream at Fortescue's. He told us that Lottie deserved a treat for being the "Muggle Expert" on our trip. It was during our time there that Professor Cauldwell accidently let slip that Lord Black was none other than the man known as Professor Snape in the Harry Potter books by commenting on how much more relaxed "Snape" was during the trip than he had ever been as a professor at Hogwarts. Of COURSE that led to Lottie and I making shocked comments about not knowing he had a son, among other things, which of course led to Professor Cauldwell admitting that Lord Prince had adopted Professor Prince. He refused to tell us anything more, however, telling us that it wasn't his place to gossip about his colleagues and friends. We grudgingly accepted that.

Now I'm home. Lottie's mom said I could come over whenever, but right now I'm just happy to see my parents and Amethyst (who wasn't allowed on the trip and had been sent home.) I'm exhausted and need to get ready for bed (I haven't even been home for an hour!) so good night, diary. I'll try to remember to post the letters Lottie and I exchanged during the school year in here later. 

Ava