Ron Weasley

You know, if tomorrow just has NO SPIDERS in it, I'll be happy to read another of those pamphlet thingers out loud in front of everyone and pretend I LOVE the Lord Protector like the father mine should have been and whatever whatever it said.

I don't even care if they really do make us go through a test to see who can take the most pain without screaming or passing out or whatever. But then, it was Zabini I heard that one from. So, y'know, whatever. He was probably just taking the piss.

But I swear, if Thomas and Finnigan try anything more, I'm going to totally let them have what's coming.

So, honestly? I don't know what we should do.

We've got Potions this afternoon. With Ravenclaw. And I haven't heard if Professor Slughorn is going to make us move tables or not. Or change partners, or whatever. I sort of don't think he will, but I dunno.

But this morning in Transfiguration, I thought Carrow was going to hex us for sitting where we usually sit well, where I usually sit in the back. He said we knew before we came in where we were supposed to sit, and we got another detention for not wanting to just let them tell half our class they aren't good enough to sit with the rest of us.

I mean, I'm trying to let Seamus think it's more about me not liking to sit up front like a girl, 'cause he's really

he agrees with

that some people are better

only, of course, he thinks he's in the better group, but even with the Carrows, who're making him sit in the back, he doesn't want us--Nev and me--standing up for him. He's really

I dunno

And Dean just shrugs and won't talk about it, but he's really hacked off, you can tell. And also scared expecting, I dunno, but he knows it's not going to stop with making him sit away from the rest of us. He's seen what happens, and I think he's getting ready for that. But he won't say anything to us, and I don't know if he thinks we're making it worse for him by showing we don't think this stuff is right. And Bundy. She never says anything to anyone, anyway. She just kind of flinches if you even look at her.

So I don't know what we should do, y'know? And we've got both Charms and Transfiguration again tomorrow.

So this morning everyone was talking at breakfast about the Headmistress's announcement and Towler said it was in the Prophet, too, in the section where they report what happened here at Hogwarts during the week. And later we thought that we should probably check to see if they said any more about Dean, so at lunch we asked around and found someone who still had a copy--you know, I never really noticed, but I don't think a lot of people take the Prophet, I mean Towler and Wood just get it for the Quidditch results, I think--anyway, it didn't say anything new about Dean, so that was okay, but then I closed it up and saw what was on the front page.

I mean, it took me a few minutes to realise what it was. There's a picture of a dead bloke on the front page!! Really! A corpse, just sitting there on a bench, and he's dead dead!!! It's, um, the article says he's a 'Mudblood labourer found murdered at his New London worksite Monday morning'. And he's just sat there, with his lunch beside him on that bench, and one arm draped over the back of the seat like he's just waiting there, and then if you watch the picture just a minute, you realise that it looks like he's sweating: there're beads of it on his forehead and dark patches of it, y'know, on his clothes, and then I saw it looks like he's been crying cause there are kind of streaks running down his cheeks only it's not clear like tears, it's darker like maybe there's blood mixed in? But it's hard to tell because it's a picture, and THEN! Something blurps out of the side of his mouth and sort of blurbles down his shirt front!!!

And, and, the article says when they found him all his fluids (ew, I know!) had been turned to mud. So that's muddy tears on his face and that sweat is mud, and when they moved him, it says that loads of mud just sort of sloshed out of him!!!

I can't believe they put this in the paper. Except Seamus says it's because of what it says on the bench beside him in the picture. Somebody's written 'this is the grim truth' on the bench like that's the point of it. But it just doesn't seem right, them putting a picture of a dead body like that where everybody can see it. Just, y'know, ughk!

Well, tea with Professor Brutka was interesting. And his office is totally wizard!


But, yeah. Malfoy. You'd better keep totally out of my road tomorrow. You and your lousy gob. Dean Thomas is loads better than you can ever hope to be.