The sixth year girls' dormitory in Gryffindor Tower wasn't known as a bastion of privacy or silence, but that was mostly due to Lavender and Parvati. Well, that and no dormitory could ever be considered a private place. Understandably, then, Parvati was incredibly careful with her diary. She'd always had one -- well maybe not always, but for a long time -- and for just as long it's been a complete secret. Not even her twin sister got to see it (though she probably knew it existed...) because it was nice to have something completely, totally, and one hundred percent hers.
Which was why the latest assignment about a diary entry made Parvati squirm. She supposed she could write one separately but that didn't make sense to her, considering she already had one. Sitting in her bed with the curtains drawn, she stared down at the purple bound leather book on her lap with hesitation. After a few moments of reluctance and nervous lip-biting, she opened it to the last used page, where a matching coloured string rested to guide her.
Dear Diary:
Things have gotten way weird this week. This clone business keeps getting more and more bizarre and no one's telling us anything (cough the Aurors cough). Lavender told me Daphne Greengrass was talking about all these clones being turned into snakes and Nott was one of them or something. I honestly don't know what to believe anymore and it's only gotten worse! It was easier to think everyone was like, confunded, or brainwashed or just victims of mass hysteria...except now it isn't because I saw something too.
Padma wanted to go to the library and conned me into going with her (not that she has to try very hard to convince me to do things), which was boring but productive, and said goodbye to her for the night at the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. I hate that stupid bird who asks questions -- if I were a Ravenclaw I'd just never go in. But that's not the point here. I was on my way back, thinking about something I don't even remember in specific, and someone I thought was Anthony Goldstein was coughing and looking like he was going to vom. And then, diary, you won't believe what happened! I hardly believe it. There was this crazy bright light and when it was gone he'd turned into a snake. They're not my biggest fear, I actually think snakes are kinda cool, but only in a controlled setting! I was totally freaked out and confused and afraid it was going to bite me.
Long story short, I think I killed it. I mean, I definitely decapitated it but it might have been dead before that. It wasn't until after the beheading part that I had enough time to remember the snake bit was what I'd heard people say about clones. So not only are there really other clones out there but they are actually snakes in disguise?
Are clones just popping up everywhere all of a sudden? Do I have a clone? What if I've been hanging out with clones when I really thought they were my friends? Merlin's balls, what if the last time I talked to Padma it wasn't really her?!? What if she turns into a snake and someone decapitates her? Will that even really count because it wouldn't technically be my sister?
Everyone's confused, understandably. I liked it more when I thought everyone wasjust off with the fairies...and not literal fairies. Like the loony bin kind. I hope the aurors know more than they're letting on. This is clearly dark magic and Hogwarts is supposed to be safer than that, isn't it? I guess it's a good thing I learned how to do a killer Reductor curse in the DA last year. I guess I never really thought I'd have to use it outside of my OWLS practical. I'm trying really hard not to think about how serious things might get, because it will just make me stressed and worried -- I'll lose sleep or have nightmares and Merlin knows my dreams are already bizarre enough as it is.
3 Situations that would be better than this clone stuff being reality
1. I'm alseep. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and this will all have been one crazy dream -- that would be nice. I'll wake up eventually.
2. Even waking up in St. Mungo's would be better than this all being actually real. If I've gone mad then there's always a chance I'll get better.
3. It's an elaborate prank. Not a very funny one, but if one of the aurors jumped out from behind a suit of armour and shouted "JUST KIDDING!" I wouldn't complain at this point.
BUT if it's reality then the world's properly gone to hell. Look on the brightside, I guess...if this is hell, it's surprisingly temperate. As always, I'll probably just take it day by day and deal with it -- whatever it is -- when it comes.
xoxo Parvati
Really, she thought the assignment was so stupid! Parvati already had a diary, didn't she? And now Professor Flitwick had given her this new one and she was supposed to put things in it. Even thinking about using it felt like...cheating or something. She was very attached to her diary, you see, and switching to put personal things in one she'd been handed by a professor just didn't feel right. Chewing on her lip, she looked over at said "fake" diary in suspicion. No, she wasn't going to put anything of substance in there. But it was technically coursework, so...
Dear Not Diary:
All of this clone business depresses me. We can't even really go outside and I'm starting to think we won't be home for the hols, even if they want us to think that, which is definitely not okay. It's also making everyone absolutely paranoid and weird and all around crazy. Is it too much to ask that I don't feel like a prisoner in, like, a psychiatric ward? I just want things to go back to how they were before. I don't want to have to worry about dark magic and clones and everyone around me losing their heads. I just want to be a normal sixteen year-old witch.
-Parvati
Feeling satisfied with the short but still accurate paragraph now written in her "not-diary," Parvati dropped in on the floor and pushed it under the bed with her foot. Like she was ever going to look at that thing again unless she had to. There was only one diary out there in the world for her, and no professor could make her be unfaithful to it in spirit. True to her word, an hour later, all thoughts of the diary and the assignment to write in it were entirely forgotten. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for clones...
