Amelia Bones

05:02 pm: I don't know?
I thought the crematorium was just going to be a plain building with a giant furnace, but this place is kind of nice. Edgar's service is definitely shaping out to be an event I won't soon forget. I don't recognise a lot of the people here, but they all seem to know him some way or another. One of Ludo and Otto's team mates got so drunk earlier that he started screaming at the rest of us to guess how many pistachios he could fit underneath a certain bit of skin of his, and one of the people who work here escorted him off the premises. I guess this is -

Ted's singing that Baba song again. Fernando? That one Wasps player with the missing front teeth actually has a really lovely voice, but it's drowned out by everyone else's singing. Uhm. Otto is singing. I think I'm going to go for a walk.

11:43 am: The last time.
This is the last time I ever saw my family, so I don't care what any of you say, I'm going to write down every detail so I don't forget it. That's what a journal's for. So SHUT UP ABOUT IT.

Sadie's mum woke me up very early, around eight or so, I remember because Sadie has electricity in her house and a clock on her dresser so I looked at it and it was eight. She said there was a big Ministry owl waiting for me. I didn't understand what she meant by big but when I saw it, she wasn't lying. It was a huge Ministry bird, like a flying turkey. I took the message and it said very vaguely that I should come to the Ministry level two at once, before noon if possible. Edgar doesn't work in level two with the Aurors; he works on level six with the Portkeys and Floo Offices.

I get dressed and I Floo to the Ministry's Atrium and take the lift down to level two. I get down there and Ted is waiting, and Ted looks wretched, I know because he and my brother were drinking last night to beat Otto's wife. I wonder if they won. But Ted hugs me and this is odd because it's Ted and I don't think I've ever seen him hug his wife let alone me.

Then this frightening man with curly hair drags both of us back into the lift and we go to another level. Past all the cubicles and offices of that level and it looks like a very depressing archive. And he tells me, this might come as a shock to you, Miss Bones. The room's full of filing cabinets and he slides one out and there's my mother. Not a file of her. My mother. She looks like she's asleep but has cooling charms on her to keep her cold. It occurs to me that no one has told me yet why I'm here, why my mother is in a drawer.

And he asks me, is this your mother. And I nod and I ask him, why is she here? And he says very flatly, your parents were at your brothers' home last night and they were all killed. We don't know who did it yet, but we will soon. And then one by one, he keeps opening the drawers. There's my father, there's Angelica, there's Edgar, and then there's Patrick. I keep saying, yes, that's them, and Ted agrees with me.

I filled out loads of paperwork, I had to, Ted helped me, and then the Auror said the house was sealed but it would be opened again on Wednesday when their investigation was done and they would owl me once they found out who did it. Ted took me to his house, Andi made us breakfast, none of us ate, and now I'm sitting on their couch writing this. I think Todd already knows. Ted's going to come with me today and we're going to arrange for all of them to be cremated. And that's all that happened.

04:51 pm: Trying to look busy!
Hello, strangers. I'm on a train to Leeds right now, and I'm also trying to look very engrossed in this journal so this man that just sat down beside me won't start talking to me. Not that I'm asocial or mean-spirited, I'm just saving us both a lot of pain and awkwardness by avoiding two hours of tedious chitchat. I don't know how it makes others feel, but I find it painful. Where do you go to school? Are you travelling? Have any siblings? Do you like sports? Then before you know it, you're having an in-depth conversation on how his wife cooked the pork chops he ate last night for dinner. It's the worst.

Ha, something good happened! He just took out a book from his carry-on bag, so that should keep him entertained for a while hopefully. Usually, you can tell if they're chatters because you just get this feeling from them, but this man is a toss-up.

I don't know what else to write. To be perfectly honest, I don't really look at this journal much anymore. I do have my reasons. One of them being it was enough of a task to be around some of you face-to-face at school and then having to read the crap you wrote in your journals was just bloody torture. Another reason is that I've no patience, I've always been terrible at keeping journals and knitting and instruments because you have to come back and work and work and work on it. I much prefer immediate results and instant gratification. But then again, who doesn't?

Okay, the man put the book down. I need to write write write gibble gabble gobble hickory dickory dock the mouse ran up the clock I should write what's new in my life. I'm done with Hogwarts. I'm hoping to be able take a gap year. I'm going to stay a week at Sadie Collis's new flat in Leeds. We're interested in backpacking across the continent. Edgar has been married for over a year. Angelica still calls me MEL. I have three nephews. Patrick turned exactly three months old yesterday. Billy is going to be five in August. Wyatt turned three in May. Todd's wife Sofia is pregnant again. My hand is cramping. I need to write to Marlene. Iris gave me a picture of her shirtless as a goodbye present. I wonder how Ludo is doing. The man is snoring FINALLY.

12:46 am: I CANNOT BELIEVE ALL YOU STUPID PEOPLE! NOT ONLY IN THE JOURNALS BUT IN THE ENTIRE SCHOOL. ALMOST THIRTY PEOPLE DIED IN THE COURSE OF FOUR NIGHTS AND NO ONE BATS AN EYELASH! NOT EVEN AT POOR AMELIA WADCOCK WHOSE PARENTS WERE KILLED. THEY COULD HAVE BEEN YOUR PARENTS! OH NEVER MIND. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY ABOUT IT, IT'S SO AWFUL AND NO ONE REACTS AND IT'S NOT THE FIRST TIME: TOO MANY PEOPLE HAVE DIED RANDOMLY LIKE THIS AND WE SHOULDN'T SIT AROUND HERE DOING ANYTHING. YES THERE ISN'T MUCH WE CAN DO HERE IN SCHOOL BUT WE CAN WRITE LETTERS. TO THE MINISTER, IF YOU EVEN KNOW HER NAME. YOU CAN WRITE HER AND THE WIZENGAMOT LETTERS AND SEE WHAT THEY'RE DOING ABOUT THIS BESIDES MOVING SHEEP AROUND! BLOODY SHEEP ARE BEING SAVED BUT NOT PEOPLE! DOESN'T ANYONE SEE SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS? ANYONE?


STUPID AND SENSELESS AND HEARTLESS, THE LOT OF YOU.

09:34 pm: Well, Wizard Heritage Day was... interesting, to say the least. SOME PEOPLE need to understand that SOCIAL SKILLS does not involve STAINING MY DRESS (OR MY FACE) WITH GOAT BLOOD, though. Those people obviously had to be no other than MY OWN BROTHER AND COMPANY. Honestly, I cannot believe that you would do something like that! To me!

What's this rubbish Marlene's talking about? She says I'm queen?

12:50 am: Nothing happening.

I don't like the NEWTs.

Mum wants me to come home early for Christmas.

I'm going to be an Aunt next spring. Aunt Amelia does not fit.

Oh, and blue is the new red. Not that I care. I'll be in uniform for the rest of my life anyway, unless I can figure out a way to beat the system, because I'm obviously not passing with how I'm doing right now.

And terrible loss at the scrimmage, although Marlene did stunning. It's just that Ludo can't seem to remember where the audience is and where NOT to hit the bludger. Thank merlin the stands were practically empty. Except for me, of course. And a few others.

08:20 pm: Jill.
Ooh, that Jill really ticks me off.

We were in Muggle Studies today, and right, nothing interesting, but Mum said I should take it for a possible future in the Ministry and that makes absolutly NO sense, and I'm so BLOODY sick of hearing about the Ministry, but I've been taking it for almost four years now and there's really no need to stop, so I went ahead and took it, but anyway, that's not the point.

Egg (I really don't like him) made this comment the other day about relations with possible Muggles, and of course, all the muggleborns raise their hands and are bursting with responses, and Egg absolutly LOVED that, but Jill rose her hand, and spent a sodding TEN minutes talking about this boy in this town right outside of London that she's been corrosponding with since summer. And Egg just loved it. So he asked her to come in and speak with her after.

I asked her about it at breakfast yesterday, but she obviously didn't want to tell me. And then tonight, she walks into our dormitory, all giddy because she recieved another letter from him, and I'm finishing this assignment from that class that I absolutly hate, and she just smirks at me, drops the letter, and walks out.

Gr.

That REALLY ticked me off, and she's all proud because she's practically the only NON-muggleborn that doesn't have to do the assignment. And I do, because I can't SODDING help it. You know, that's almost discriminitory. I don't think I'm all right with that. I'm going to talk to EggHEAD about that today.

Well, there's one more thing. She woke me up at almost midnight last night, with her scratching of the quill, because she was writing yet another letter, and she just had to make sure the light was shining right in my eyes. And it took me three whole hours to fall back asleep.. She went to bed hours before I did. Oh! And the best part. She tried to blame it on something else! She swears it was another sound, some sort of high-pitched screaming or screetching, or something! Can you BELIEVE that?

Terribly sorry though, I just needed to get it out. Marlene, I haven't seen you all day, and Sadie's all goody-friendly with her, so that won't do.

11:37 pm: Have you noticed how much lighting can affect your hair colour? I have. Mum did this, thing to my hair a few weeks ago, and now it's extremely straight. And I've been looking at it a lot. I think I like it. It makes me look older, maybe? I don't know, but I think I look different.

Oh, and I'm a 7th year now. Still getting over the shock of that. I think I forgot about this thing after the wedding, which was relatively nice, but such old news now, I barely remember it. The family stayed though. ALL summer. And now I honestly know why Edgar married and got out of there. I suppose I should start looking, since I'll need to do the same. Only problem is, Mum is beginning to pressure me about possibly working in the Ministry when I get older. It's been a family thing, and I was really surprised she's never approached Head Boy Edgar about it. I mean, reallly, smart people run the world, not me. She has this room, or really, it's fathers, and there's a picture of each and every family member that's ever worked in the ministry before. Father's been away though, so last week, as I was packing, she took me in there and gave me the talk. And according to Lisa, a second cousin of mine, it was exactly the same talk her father gave her, except without the room. I don't want to go back there now. And this stacks about twenty pounds of stress on my shoulders. Very unecessary stress, if you ask me.

Oh, and I didn't get prefect this year, not that I was expecting it.

Anyway, I'm at Hogwarts now. I should say unpacking, but really, everything lives in my trunk, except for the extra pillows I bring with me. I'm a bit wierd about using others pillows. Always have been. Even family's pillows.

This is pointless already, and hello most people. Hopefully you all had decent summers? I'll just think yes.

12:02 am: Oh, help.
I need to get out of here. Now. Today. This minute. I can still hear his voice, it just reached a high note. They're singing together now. Help, please.

I don't care where I go, honestly. I thought I'd be able to last a week or so, until the wedding, but NO. Definately not. I'll be fine after, but 16 relatives are arriving, TOMORROW, and that's just the first batch! Angelica's nice and all she pinched my cheek twice, but everyone's caught up in this wedding extravagent thing and since I'VE been at Hogwarts, I'm completly blind, according to the aunts, to what's happening.

Edgar's just laughing. No, he's giggling. It's like he's lost his manhood, although NO. I'm not talking about that!

Nine more days until the wedding. Nine more days until silence. I don't think I'll make it.

02:32 pm: Herbology Test
Right. After all has settled, or well, it seems like it hasn't really settled, but ANYWAY, I thought I'd talk about the Herbology test that everyone had been so keen on talking about earlier. We got our results back the other day, and I actually did relatively good, considering I had studied while that screaming banshee of a Slytherin had been banging on our house door.

That's the only real thing of interest. NOTHING ELSE is interesting, you know why? That's because NOTHING ELSE HAPPENED. I did go on a walk last weekend, which when I say a walk, I actually MEAN a walk. And during that walk, I chatted about things such as Edgar Quidditch and Edgar sheets. And THATS it. And then after taking taking a walk, or moving over a surface by taking steps with the feet at a pace slower than a run, I walked back to the castle, following the same method, and chatted with Iris in my dormitory for a bit.

I do have a few things to say to certain people though.

The prat who I had the displeasure of ONLY walking with. Stop waving me down in the halls. I don't care if you light explosives or put on a complete entertainment or even memory charm everyone to forget the incident that NEVER HAPPENED. I'm not talking to you.

The older sibling of mine, are you all right? You seem very quiet suddenly. That's not like you. Usually, I can't get you to shut your mouth.

Actually, on the other hand, nevermind. But don't expect to fight all my battles for me. I'm only a year younger, you know.

09:31 pm: Today
I can't believe that Tonks got Andi pregnant! And now Edgar's getting married and all the Hufflepuff Quidditch players won't stop sulking, especially the Bagman pair. Has the world gone mad? AND THEN THAT PSYCHOTIC SLYTHERIN BASHING ON OUR DOOR LAST NIGHT. I HAD A HERBOLOGY TEST THE NEXT DAY HELLO, but of course, NO!!!! SHE CAN'T COMPREHEND THE DEFINITION OF THE WORD DECENCY OR POLITENESS. And so now I probably did poor on it and I'll barely pass the class and then I won't get make it into decent NEWT classes next year and Mum will be all mad at me because I'm the youngest and the youngest Bones members always end up with a Ministry position but I won't be in the right NEWT classes to even be considered to take an assistant position once I graduate, and Edgar doesn't even seem the slightest bit interested, not that IT WOULD MATTER BECAUSE HE'S THE HEAD BOY AND I'M NOTHING AND GRAM SAID SO LAST CHRISTMAS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM. And who was that anyway? I need to find out so in ten or twenty years when I'm working off the streets I can find that person and tell them YOU RUINED MY LIFE BECAUSE YOU HAD TO ACT PSYCHOTIC THE NIGHT BEFORE OUR HERBOLOGY TEST AND JUST RUIN EVERYTHING IN A COMPLETE CHAIN OF PATTERNS CAUSED BY YOU.

Well, er, it seems we had that Herbology test today. And lunch was, well, rather well.

I, erm, studied last night in the common room. It was... nice.

And I checked out a new book from the library today. It's interesting.

12:43 am: My break. Not is not in a nutshell.
Suppose I should update since I'm back from the hols and whatnot. But honestly, if you've got any brains or have been within 50 500 meters of Edgar you've probably realised what happened.

And that's pretty much what surrounded my break. Congratulations again Edgar.

Other than that, classes are back, and I'm suddenly realising how nice it is not to be stressing over OWLS, or NEWTs, to a serious extent at least.

Yup. Okay. Ending this. Exciting break, eh?

08:58 pm: Journal? Who's journal?
Oh, great. Forgot I had this ruddy thing. I was doing a bit of almost-spring cleaning and found it. Anyway, Edgie Edgar, this was really a waste of time, setting a journal up for me. I'm not a journal person, honest. Plus, I'll ask you once again, why do you want a diary? It's not private anyway, and I doubt you'd have anything sensitive to write about.

Enough with this, this thing is resting on my bedside for the evening while I continue my serach for a sharp quill. It frustrates me to ends when I can't find what I'm looking for. And of course, it has to happen the night I decide to sit down and actually make early progress with my homework.

Well, at least I've got a place to rant in. I suppose this makes my day, or NOT. Quill, where are you?

09:12 pm: There's never much to say.
Perhaps there is something in my genetic code that makes me a stranger to everyone. I’m not sure, but it’s always been this way. Even in lower school, everyone found it easier to avoid me than to talk to me. ( I’m thinking this has something to do with Edgar and his charming, albeit rather stern, personality where I’m concerned.) I suppose I make it easy on them, as I do what’s expected and never really stray from that path. I go to breakfast, I study, I go to class, I spend time in the common room by the fireplace, and then I go to bed. It’s a mundane existence, but it gets me by.

Until there are things like Masques that everyone is looking forward to, and I barely have the slightest clue as to how to deal with something like that. I have brothers, not sisters, and only one female friend to speak of. I usually can’t be bothered to deal with pretty things like dresses and costumes and the like, but it does seem as if it’d be fun. Might be that I should talk to Lily and see if she has any suggestions. I’m at a complete loss, as usual.

10:03 am: Climb aboard with me.
Quidditch.

Isn't there more to life than bludgers and snitches? Just curious, because I don't see the thrill. Maybe that makes me the anti-witch, but really. I have better things to do, like work on this bloody potion that I'm never going to get right. I'm not even sure I could tell you who is on our team. *puzzles*

Alas.

03:54 pm: I'm truly vexing.
Edgar says I should do this, so I'm doing it.

I really don't see the thrill in chronicling one's existence. If you make your mark, it's made, no need in forcing the issue. But Edgar, omniscient and omnipresent, says I should make my presence known.

Here I am.