Sirius Fudge

Thank you, Arianna and the Bloody Baron. That was a blast! \o/

I thought I could use some black but seeing as the hearing room is already gloomy as it is, I decided to add some blue-grey and grey colors to the armchair. For the seating position, I might sit straight-backed on the near edge of the armchair, given that the atmosphere of the hearing room is formal.

3-7-3-3 A paper coupon appeared from the side of the phone, with message on it saying: "Congratulations on winning a free scoop at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour in Diagon Alley. This free offer can be availed one week from today. Offered by the Ministry of Magic Committee on Awards and Freebies. Congratulations!"

From: Department of Mysteries To: Department of Magical Games and Sports We would appreciate it if you could also send us airplane memos from time to time. The department needs a little purple in here, any color willl do. Thank you. The plane design is that of a jet. The image is not mine. I just borrowed the image from the internet.

The 4,000 pointer award by Hufflepuff is the award that I am most proud of. I just earned it one time when I was a fourth year. Though it might not sound as illustrious now, it is a big deal for me then until now. Very few badgers have earned the award so I am grateful to be part of them. It is very hard to be consistently active in HOL throughout the year so I am thankful to earn the award even if I only earned it just once. Any Quidditch-related award (though not that many) is also very satisfying for me since it acknowledges the skill and hard work for the game. But a very special award that I won is the Parker Award which I won in my second year at HOL. I earned it for being a skilled mischief maker that I am. I still don't know how but I earned it, haha.

My thought is that magic would always make things easier. But after reading the post above, it kind of makes sense that sometimes the old school, manual way of doing things is still worth the try. It reminded me of things that can only be learned by doing the hard work, taking no shortcuts at all. One instance that I thought of is potion-making. For sure, magic may make things more comfortable in the process of potion-making. But as Snape says that potion is an exact art and subtle science, there is a layer to potion-making that is only determined and appreciated by doing manual work such as the number, direction, and degree of turn when mixing potions in the cauldron. The degree that can only be determined by the hand of the potioneer can be the decider if the potion will be effective or not. It is too complex of a subject to just depend on magic charms to do the mixing and turning.

I remembered this task when I read this week's chapter. "Time is Galleons" was mentioned by Fred Weasley, a brilliant play on the Time is Gold saying.

Yule

Otter

5265

I think that the dementor experience for Dudley is a thousand times scarier and life threatening than his pig tail experience with Hagrid few years back. This time, it is a near-death experience that he might be thinking every now and then from that day on. I think he felt a full lose of control of the situation, of nearly even his own life. A man like him would always like to be in control of the situation, and in the center of it all. To be put in a situation that is the complete opposite is a devastation for him and for sure is a lesson for him. And that magnitude of a lesson would surely straighten him out, especially after learning to accept to himself that Harry saved him from that situation. Lessons such as these happen to me. Maybe not that big of a magnitude event like that, but it happens sometimes that I learn some lessons from some humbling experiences.

*summoned in the dungeons* TAARRRRMMMMMAAAAAA! Hmm, payback time. AURE?

Wow! Congratulations, Max! Happiness for the both of you! \o/

Am back, and am not Aure! Maybe the real Aure is next?