Dear Diary,

I can't believe I haven't written in you since last spring. I wrote all winter long about my classes and watching the quidditch games and sneaking over to the kitchens to get midnight snacks. Oh, and the detentions when I was caught (me and Amy were caught, rather). And how sad I was to go home on the Hogwarts Express but how happy I'd be to go home. It's funny that. And that's why I didn't write, I guess, until I was back here, at Hogwarts again.

Scalawag's a full grown cat now. I guess that I can say she's a cat, even though I now know for sure she's at least part Kneazle. But she's shown some behaviors that really do not belong to a full blood cat.

Okay, I'm delaying writing about home, aren't I? Well, it seems that when I went home, that Mom was about to leave. Seems she met someone and wanted to go live with her. Dad was all upset and everything but at the same time he seemed a little relieved. So Mom stayed home long enough to say hi to me, and explain things, and then she just kind of packed her bags and left.

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do. I just cried for about a week. I felt all guilty; it was my fault because I was a witch. It was my fault because I wasn't there during the winter to keep things together. It was my fault.... Finally though Scalawag got tired of me crying and stuff and YOWLED in my ear that I was being stupid. Okay, maybe she didn't say the words but I'd have sworn that she was saying that. So I decided to go find Dad and find out what happened. Sure, I'd heard her version of it, but... yeah. Let's hear the rest of it.

So I went to find Dad and found out that things hadn't really gone very well ever since she found out that he was a wizard. And I was a witch. She got really upset with him for keeping this back from her. And when I left, on the Hogwarts Express, he says that she just withdrew into herself for a few weeks. And then everything exploded. He said that he was wrong to hide it from her, but.... Anyway, there it is. They stayed together for the rest of the winter and spring because she didn't have anywhere else to go, that she wanted to go. And then she met someone new at work and this and that and so she wanted to go away and live with this other person.

He talked for a long time; a couple of hours. I just said 'yeah' and nodded and stuff, there wasn't much for me to say really. I got up and made us some hot cocoa and dug out some of our favourite cookies. So we ate all the rest of the cookies and had a couple mugs of cocoa each.

Alana, our neighbor who is a witch, you remember that she is the one who took me to Diagon Alley when I got my letter from Hogwarts? Well, she'd been away for a while too; she was off on some sort of project for the Ministry of Magic I guess. She got back the next week after I heard all that from Dad. I gotta admit that I wondered if there was something between her and Dad, I mean they are both wizards, right? But no, they're just good friends. I'm kind of glad. I think I'd be pissed off at her if they weren't just friends. That doesn't make sense, I know, but there it is.

But she came over about once a week, usually with pizza and something to wash it down with, root beer usually for me. She knows I love muggle root beer. So the summer went kind of slow in a way. I'm not allowed to use magic outside of school so I couldn't practice any of my charms or spells or anything.

HOWEVER! One really great thing happened this last summer! I got my list of books and stuff that I'd need for 2nd year and had to go to Diagon Alley, right? So this time, both Dad and Alana took me — in his car — so I didn't get to ride on Alana's Motorcycle which was a bummer. But it was fun to go in the car because he'd do little things and we'd just cruise along and somehow be further along than would be possible if he was a Muggle. He'd never done this with me before, because he'd always had Mom in the car too and was pretending to be a Muggle.

So to the great thing. We went shopping for my stuff and went and had ice creams like last year when Alana got me an ice cream float. I'd gotten everything, just like last year and then Dad got this funny look on his face and asked me if I'd gotten everything I needed. I said 'yes', because we'd got everything on my list, right? But I had this like a tingle in my gut....

And YES! He took me over to the shop I'd been pausing in front of, every time I had a chance, and we went inside. AND HE BOUGHT ME A BROOMSTICK! I was just so excited, I couldn't stand it and was bouncing all over the place squeaking because I couldn't talk. He got me a Twigger 90! I was really hoping for that. I knew I wouldn't get a Firebolt or a Nimbus 2001 or even Nimbus 2000 — for one thing, I don't fly well enough for that! I mean, think of going 150 miles an hour in 10 seconds. HA! I think I'll be happy to stick to 65-90 miles an hour thank you very much.

At least for a while.

So this year, when I came to Hogwarts, I have my very own broomstick. Scalawag likes it too; I'm trying to figure out how to put a 'passenger seat' on it for her so we both can ride on it comfortable. Right now she rides on my shoulder and sometimes that puts me off balance a bit. We've only fallen a few times, though, and usually not from more than 5 or 6 feet up.

And now I'm sleepy and tired. I'm back at Hogwarts and classes start tomorrow and Scalawag is purring me to sleep from the foot of my bed where I'm sitting here writing this.

So, good night Diary.