lorcan scamander will lead an expedition!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR OUR BIRTHDAY THINGS! Lily, I really did have the best birthday ever! They're always the best birthdays ever, every year. I love the tiny little animals! They're so cute!

Elliot, this book is amazing! The authors do some things slightly differently than my parents taught me, but that's a good thing! You can never have too many plans for how to deal with an emergency, can you? Plus I know more about the desert than ever before - I'm really much more used to forests! And I'm sure there's more new stuff in here, I just haven't finished it yet! Amelia, I can't WAIT to make notes in my new field notebook! I'm so excited to take it out in the rain and take notes that won't smear! I have so many new things to have adventures with!!!

Ava, your cupcakes were DELICIOUS! I would say they are delicious except that I ate them all! I haven't finished all the Bertie Beans from Barnaby though, I'm saving those! I did finish the rainbow stuff! I tried to eat it one color at a time but that didn't quite work out! That's okay, though, because it was really tasty! Also the ant farm is SO COOL I could watch them move around in there for hours! Actually, I already have done that!

I already said it but THANK YOU! I haven't stopped smiling for a whole week, not even when I bumped my head this morning! Birthdays are the best! And Lysander, they're extra amazing because I get to share them with you!

I want to hug everyone today!

[Private to Elliot.]
I need your help with something! Like the snow dragon only different!

[Private to Lysander.]
It's our birthday tomorrow! I had almost forgotten.

I want to do some snow sculpture. I saw a contest once, the entries were incredible. Would anyone like to join me?

I haven't really been very social especially with our guests this year. Even though I meant to be. I'm sorry. Are you all enjoying your time at Hogwarts?

Lysander, did you make a duck pond in your room? Can I come see? After I sculpt things in the snow.

Did you know ink can freeze? I left mine in the woods over a month ago and only just found it again. It was completely frozen solid! I also can't believe I hadn't gone to that part of the woods since September.

Are there really racists and sex criminals in Hogwarts now? And pregnant people? I suppose this is the time of year when animals get pregnant if they want to have newborns in the spring or the summer. I didn't think most students were of an age to do that, though. Also racism and sex crimes aren't very nice.

Did everyone have fun at the party? I couldn't go, I was watching a snake sunning itself on the rock. Or at least I thought that was what it was doing, but when it didn't move after the sun went down, I realized he had been dying instead. At least he was warm and in the sun, and he had company. I hope he didn't mind my company.

I identified him as an adder, and named him Todd. I think I'm going to give him a proper burial today. Lysander, what do you think a proper burial for a snake would be?

I missed Hogwarts. The crisp air and trees and the lake with its squid-y smell, and the cold scent of stones and dust and parchment and everyone's soap and shampoo mingling in the hallways. I know I'll be feeling restless within a month or two, as I always do, but there's something really nice about familiar places.

Would anyone like to explore with me and see what things are the same and if anything has changed? Even if you haven't been here before. I can point out the things that are new to me as well as the ones that are new to you. We've a whole weekend ahead of us, let's say a proper hello to Hogwarts!

DID YOU KNOW.

Arrowroot is not only an antidote for poisoned arrows (what kind of poisoned arrows, I wonder? this book doesn't say) but also used as a thickener in cooking? So you might actually eat your antidote without even intending to! Although I doubt eating something with a thickener in it (what kind of foods need that stuff?) will be your first thought after getting hit with a poisoned arrow.

This book also talks about things being fossilized in amber resin. I've always wanted to have a piece of amber with something really cool in it. Maybe the places we travel to next summer will have something like that.

I can't wait for school to begin. I've already seen a lot of you already! This year is going to be fun.

Since we're posting pictures!



I am King Lorcan of Tarragon. Also Prince Lorcan of Coriander. Hello everyone!

(I'm not usually wearing armor. Though sometimes I think I should be.)

A Quidditch tournament! And people from other schools! I wonder if I'll know any of them. I've probably been to where they're from, but countries and even cities are big places. And I wonder who will be playing on the Hogwarts team? I guess you can't do that, Lysander, since you've not had your OWLs yet.

I hope we have multicultural dinners as well as relations classes. Today I tried yak meat. It was delicious.

( ... )

Oh, not your everyday circumstance
A hummingbird taking coffee with the ants.

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