Vane by name, vain by nature.

So, Stacey, have you heard back about Quidditch? Are you on the team?? Unfortunately, I didn't make it onto the Gryffindor team. Tragic, I know. I think I ruined my chances when I fell off my broom because I was laughing too hard, but I definitely got Harry's attention! there's always next year! Haha, as if.

I asked McGonagall about Hogsmeade weekends this year and she said we will still have one a term, just like usual! Which is fantastic news. She did say that we can't go alone, but seriously, only losers go to Hogsmeade alone. Oh, and Filch will be poking everyone with that stupid Secrecy Sensor of his, which kind of sucks, but if he pokes ME then I'm going to report him for harrassment so there! My parents sent me some money last week, which means they've f-i-n-a-l-l-y forgiven me for going to Manchester that one time back in JULY. God, they don't half know how to hold a grudge. But whatever, at least I'll be able to afford to order some love potions buy chocolate and stuff now.

Oh, and guess what!! Slughorn is going to let me use the potions lab to brew some more of my hair dye potion for when my current supply runs out AND he said I could use ingredients from the store cupboard!! Isn't that, like, so cool? I thought I'd have to order some from the apothecary's in Diagon Alley, but this way I can save money. See, I can be thrifty when I want to!

It's so totally cool being a fourth year! It's like, my last year to have FUN, yeah, because next year is all about boring OWLs, and then in NEWT years the teachers push you even harder, so I've heard. I mean, I don't really care about exams and all that, because they're totally not that important, but you can't get away with not doing homework and all that jazz once you're a fifth year. So! This year is going to be ace, despite all the shit that's going on outside Hogwarts. You see if it isn't!

Quidditch tryouts on Saturday! I'm majorly looking forward to Harry that. I thought I might, you know, go down and watch... As I'm so interested in this noble sport... Anyone planning on trying out for the Gryffindor team? I heard those Puff girls, Sally and Chloe and Rhianna, talking about going for it, which is going to be a total hoot. And if they are going for it, then I don't see why I shouldn't, because I totally had my eye on Harry first AND I'm actually in Gryffindor!

What does everyone reckon about Slughorn and his mysterious little club? I think he's totally a better teacher than Snape. We were making Shrinking Potions the other day and I asked if they could be applied externally because I could totally do with losing some weight off my thighs and after blathering on for ages about this and that he said I think like a master potioneer! Yeah, apparently I have natural skill or something, so take that, Snape! I just wish Slughorn thought I was good enough to invite to his parties. Maybe if I told him my mum is totally a famous novellist...? Although he won't have heard of her, so that might not work. Damn.

Wow, this post is so messy. I think I need a new quill! Are we going to be allowed to go to Hogsmeade this year?

It's amazing how relaxed life is over here!! You'd seriously like, never be able to tell there was a war going on back in Britain. It's pretty cool. Here are a few highlights of my week!

~*1.*~ My aunt brewed a super nice smelling potion for my hair to keep it dyed black, since my mum wouldn't let me go to the Apothecary's when we were in Diagon Alley. (Apparently I was still in disgrace! Whatever.) My aunt is totally a great potioneer, and she was showing me what goes into making it, and we added lemongrass and black cherry, which you wouldn't think would mix, right? But it smells sooooo good, and it's not all full of gross Muggle chemicals so I won't have an allergic reaction to it!

~*2.*~ My Oma has a new puppy!!! He's called Fritz, and oh my god he's absolutely adorable. I laughed when I heard his name, because my Oma already has two dogs called Blitz and Lakritz, and we teased her about being predictable. But it really fits him! He's such a Fritz-y looking dog, just like Blitz is big and fast, and Lakritz is really friendly and sweet. Do you think a person can, like, become more like their name? Or is my Oma just part-Seer... (I totally wouldn't be surprised if she was, actually.)

But yeah, Fritz is so eager, he'll already come running when you call his name, but then because he has huge padded puppy feet he skitters around over the tiles and loses his balance. Me and my cousins have been trying to teach him to do tricks. Oma says he's too young to learn anything complicated, but we figure it's best to start him off young. After all, they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, right?? Oh, and he totally likes me best. He has this way of resting his head on my knee when he's all kippered out from running around chasing his own tail. God, I wish I had a dog. I miss my kitty too. We had to leave Mackie with my other grandparents even though she hated all the rain and mist.

~*3.*~ My cousins are all, like, totally jealous that I actually know Harry Potter. And Ailsa dared me to snog him when I get back to Hogwarts, which I just laughed at, because I already have plans for that.

~*4.*~ It's actually SUNNY and I'm getting a tan!!!

Sophie Owled me about an Oasis concert she went to with her sister - apparently it was pretty huge. Did anyone else go? The daft cow wasn't exactly wordy with what happened, and you all know what I'm like for needing to know details!!! I wish I could've gone, though. Oasis rock. (But not as much as the Spice Girls!)

Oh. My. GOD.

Fred? You and George are geniuses. I mean, all of your WonderWitch products are amazing, of course, but the Patented Daydream Charms? I'll be ordering a LOT of those in the future. Good thing I picked up a few Owl Order forms on my way out! Do you deliver abroad, by the way?

Yep, I think my parents are finally as tired of this hovel as I am. Or maybe it's because the booklist for next year finally came, so now we don't need to hang around in this dump of a country any more. Seriously, where is all the sunshine?!? Dementors, my arse. Surely they can't be breeding THAT much. So yeah, it's off to Germany for me for the next few weeks! I can't wait to see all my cousins again.

Sorry, Megan Jones, looks like you'll have to find someone else to stalk!

My parents think I'm a juvenile delinquent!!! My mum found out about the money I borrowed from her purse - which I was totally going to pay back - and overreacted. God! Sometimes I think she's trying to make my life as miserable as possible.

Plus my scalp is absolutely killing me. I thought doing a patch test was, like, a suggestion!

Yesterday I escaped! I had to take two different buses in order to get to a train station, and then I had to change over once on that journey too, but eventually I MADE IT!!! Back to Manchester. Back to civilisation!! And god, it felt SO GOOD to be in a city again with shops and caffs and street performers and people. I don't know why anyone would choose to live in the country when it's seriously such a dump.

So anyway, I had a totally wicked time. I met up with Kelly and Jade and we went round the shops, even though it's majorly weird seeing rubble in places and still not being able to go in certain areas of the city. We ate at McDonalds and I had a McChicken sandwich and fries and a coke and then a McFlurry for dessert even though I was pretty full by that time. It's been soooo long since I had fast food, though! I couldn't resist.

And I bought so much stuff too. But I seriously needed a shopping fix!!! You girls will understand, right?? So yeah, I bought a totally cute glittery handbag and a denim jacket with silver piping down the sleeves, purple nail polish, loooads of magazines, flared jeans and a white miniskirt and a bright pink top that's really low cut but I think I could maybe get away with it if I wore my push-up bra.

Oh, and then we went into a kid's shop for a laugh, and they had a height chart on the wall in the shape of a giraffe, which was majorly cute. But the best bit! Is that I have grown A WHOLE INCH. Oh yeah. Say hello to the new 5'2" Romilda!!

But that's not all that's new about me. Oh no. I also bought black hair dye in Boots, and we went back to Kelly's house and she helped me dye my hair. I look so good, all mystical and enchanting. It totally works with my colouring, and Kelly said not many people can pull off black hair, which is such a compliment!

Of course, that was how my parents guessed I'd been back to Manchester instead of just out and about like I'd told them. So I'm now grounded for a week. But it's cool, because they didn't take the stuff I'd bought off me, so I get to read aaaall about the Spice Girls and Boyzone's new album which is coming out in October, and all the other celebrity gossip and fashion tips. Are you jealous? Of course you are.

It's like, so exciting to have Rita Skeeter writing for the Prophet again!! Has everyone read her article on Harry Potter being the Chosen One? She says that when he went to the Ministry last month, it was to get a prophecy from the Hall of Mysteries. Harry is destined to defeat You-Know-Who! It's been down since his birth. When he was born there was a sign.

You know, this totally reminds me of a book I read called "Daughter of Destiny". It was about this witch who lives in Siberia - it's set hundreds of years in the past - and the Seer in her village has prophesied great things about her since she was little and she faced down an Erkling. (That was the SIGN, you see!) But she doesn't want this destiny, because she's fiery tempered and beautiful and she doesn't want to be tied down! I don't want to ruin the ending, but she ends up falling in love with a wandering nomad wizard who arrives at the village for shelter one night, and it turns out her destiny is entwined with his. It's SO romantic, and one of my absolute all-time favourite books.

I can't believe I'm in the same House as someone who has a prophecy about them! And to think, I sat next to him in the common room once! The Chosen One. Wow. Of course, now that I think about it it's soooo obvious he's A Hero With A Destiny! Those piercing green eyes... That tousled black hair... The minor imperfections of his scar and glasses. It's a totally mystical appearance he's got going on! But now I know, I see right through it to the hero underneath.

On Saturday the 15th, Manchester, my city, was bombed by the IRA. And my parents didn't bother to Owl me because - in their words - "You were coming home in a week anyway." IT TAKES A DAY FOR AN OWL TO GET TO HOGWARTS. What the hell were they thinking? That they didn't want to worry me? That they didn't think I would care? God, they are so TOTALLY out of order! I snuck out of the house and went into the city centre. There's like, police tape everywhere, but you can still see all the rubble and stuff. It's crazy.

But that's not the worst of it!! Yesterday my parents dragged me and Sebastian off to our grandparents for God knows how long! We usually go to Germany in August - which I wouldn't have minded, since my cousins are pretty cool to hang out with - but my mum's in the middle of publishing her latest novel so she has to wait to hear back from her editor and all that jazz. Which she could have done from home! But nooo, we have to stay with Granny and Grandad in their tiny damp cottage which smells of frogspawn and mould, because "we haven't stayed with them in a while". Yeah, well, there's a REASON for that! And I wish they'd stop telling me it's "safer" out here, as if that's some kind of excuse for bringing me out into the countryside where the nearest village is ten miles away, and civilisation is about a hundred miles!!!

There is NOTHING to do and I'm going to go out of my mind with boredom pretty soon! It's totally not on! I can't find the right words, but it's - it's himmelschreiend und abscheulich und Verdammt noch mal! Scheiße!

AAAAAAARGH!!!

Ooh, it's been a while since I wrote in this thing. A month, in fact! But don't make the mistake of thinking I've actually been revising for exams. Haha, as if. Nah, I know I'm going to pass them all, so why waste my time? I wish all the other Gryffindors would stop yelling at me, though. I'm not being that noisy!!! Hello, it's called a COMMON ROOM for a reason. If people want to study they should go to the library! I can listen to the Wireless if I want!

I am sooo ready for the holidays. Exam time is so boring! Nothing interesting EVER happens because everyone is too busy being stuffy and shouting at innocent third years just because they tried to speak to their friends!

Oh. My. GOD. I'm as rebellious as the next person, yeah? Probably even more so. But even I have my limits. And all those dungbombs in the first floor corridor? Were TOTALLY OUT OF ORDER!!! I thought I was going to die!!! Oh sure, all the older years were able to cast those stupid bubble-head charms, but what about us younger years, huh? You didn't think of us before you set off those dungbombs! I had to have three showers before I could get the smell out of my hair, and I'm never wearing those robes again. Ughhh. Can't people rebel against Umbridge in a cleaner, LESS SMELLY WAY?!?