Since class was dismissed I have kept my egg, who is currently without a name, in the left pocket of my robes. At night, I have slept with it either beside me or under one of my pillows to keep it warm. My cat, Walnut, finds the egg repulsive and perhaps evening frightening, so he has not enjoyed the addition of it to my sleeping routine. It certainly makes me wonder more about what is inside the egg.

Besides casting the occasional Excolo here and there to make sure it is clean, there hadn't been any drastic changes to the egg's appearance and temperature until this evening when I sat down at the study tables. I understand that one cannot consider this egg to be a living and breathing being - Professor Schirmer said so herself that there is nothing living within the egg - but it seemed like my egg was running a fever. So, I treated it as such. First, because all the moisture had been sucked dry from it, I performed Argentum Humidus to return moisture to the egg just like how you are expected to drink lots of liquids when running a fever. The egg seemed to like this and spun around like a spinning top.

Next, I used Argentum Frigidus to cool down the egg. Each time I did so, the egg shivered. At least, it looked like it shivered... Each time the shiver became less and less. I suppose this means that the difference between the heat of the egg's surface and the cold from my wand was decreasing, so the egg didn't have to adjust too much. I guess you could say it is the same as when we get into a cold swimming pool on a hot day. As we ease our way into the pool, our body adjusts and balances out the temperature.

After performing these two spells, my egg didn't appear to be tarnished or anything, so I simply left it as was and returned it to the pocket of my robes while I went back to doing my homework.

One thing about this assignment that I didn't plan on is just how heavy a metal egg in your pocket can be. The size is small, so the weight is not all that noticeable, especially in the morning, but as the day goes on I find myself leaning to the side to try and counterbalance the weight. I suppose it is a small price to pay as long as the egg turns out alright in the end.

Well, that's all for now I suppose. My egg is back under my pillow, but I have the sinking suspicion that Walnut is going to try and play with it, so it might migrate to a new location starting tomorrow.

Sincerely,
Kurumi Hollingberry

Several weeks have passed since my last entry and a few things have been confirmed since about the behavior of my egg. It appears that the shivering does mean that the egg its too hot. I first thought that this meant the opposite, that the egg was too cold and needed heating, but my egg seems to be telling me what it wants to happen. I have yet to see an of the other states with the egg, but I hope I am able to recognize the signs when the times comes and that it doesn't do anything too strange...

Anyway, today Walnut, my cat, managed to get his paws on the egg when it fell out of my pocket and onto my bed. It is my own fault for not being careful and allowing it to fall out in the first place, but Walnut pounced on it. it looked like Walnut had scratched it, so I immediately began casting Excolo wonder if perhaps it would be able to fix the scratch, only to find that it did no such thing. Of course, we were told that the spell will only polish and tarnish, but I was panicked!

In the end, it turned out that the scratch was no scratch at all, but a piece of thread from my blanket that had gotten itself caught in the intricate design on the egg. There is a section of the design that swirls around like a spiral with a hook at the end. I think it got caught on my blanket and pulled the thread out when Walnut pounced on it.

Needless to say, the egg is still in perfect condition and I was freaking out over nothing. It did get a thorough polishing because of what happened, so I suppose it wasn't in vain.

Still no name for the egg, but I am having a hard time naming an inanimate object. I understand that my housemates are picking names for them, but naming something of this nature just seems...odd. It isn't alive and even when it hatches it won't produce a living thing. Maybe I just need to bond more with my egg? My egg seems to think so as it began bouncing when I touched it. Is that even possible? Can this egg made of various metals and silver alloys actually wish for attention? Or is the egg telling me something else? Perhaps tomorrow I will try some of the other spells on it to see how it reacts.

Sincerely,
Kurumi Hollingberry

After what happened last time regarding my egg and Walnut, I decided that it would be best if I relocated my egg to a different place while I sleep since under my pillow seems to be very dangerous. My egg is now located in my sock drawer where I also keep my pygmy puff, Momotaro. Momotaro seems to have taken a liking to the egg and always snuggles it. Hopefully this won't over heat the egg...

Speaking of heat, my egg seems to be especially sensitive to heat and gets warm very easily. I am starting to think that I may need to start off each morning casting Argentum Frigidus just so it stays cooler longer or when I am about to have a Potions lesson. During about the last ten minutes of the lesson this morning, my egg began shaking in my pocket. It has never shaken this much before so I became concerned and went to the courtyard afterwards to check on it.

Seems like, due to being near the open flame for several hours, the egg's temperature was way too hot and it was shacking so much because it needed to be cooled down. It took somewhere around seven times casting Argentum Frigidus before the shaking stopped. I actually took a picture of the shaking and developed it with the solution we brewed in class - sort of ironic, I know.

The egg was cover in bits of smashed bugs and dirt because it had been rolling around the courtyard for a bit, so I cast Excolo next to remove all of that.

I am a bit concerned that my egg is always overheating, even in the cold winter months. Maybe putting it with my pygmy puff wasn't such a good idea after all. I suppose I will need to find another location. Maybe in one of my shoes?

Sincerely,
Kurumi Hollingberry

I learned today that my egg is even more sensitive to the heat than I first suspected. Knowing that I was going to do some baking, so I cast Argentum Frigidus to cool the egg before I got too close to the fire, but even that didn't seem to be enough. Only after a few minutes of standing by the stove, the egg began to shiver A LOT in my pocket. I guess I need to be more careful around the heat.

Something else strange happened today when I used Argentum Frigidus when it probably wasn't really necessary: my egg sort of glowed. It turned a light golden color, but there was no shivering or bouncing movement, just the color change. It happened again after I caught the egg - long story - and used Argentum Frigidus on it again. I am still not sure why it did that and I am kind of afraid to experiment with my egg for fear of damaging it. That being said, all changes that have happened with my egg - the shivering and the bouncing - have all been an indication that it wants something to change. This color shift must mean something too. Now I just need to figure out what. Perhaps that will become apparent in the coming weeks.

I also needed to cast Argentum Siccus on my egg today, which was very tricky since it was bouncing around so much that I couldn't get a proper grip on it and had to take careful aim. Once again, kind of a long story, but I was able to manage after a little. Besides there being a lot of moisture on the outside of the egg, I am not sure that there is any other indication from my egg that it wants to be dried. I wonder what it will do when it wants to be damper...

Still no name for the egg, just doesn't feel right yet. No sense in forcing a name on it, right? Arya thinks I should name it, she names everything, but nothing is coming to me. This assignment kind of reminds me of something that I've heard happens in some non-magical schools back in America where students are paired off and have to take care of a real egg. They all seem to name their eggs too. Maybe I am the weird one.

Sincerely,
Kurumi Hollingberry

I nearly had my ears blown off by my egg today.

I suppose the good part of this whole thing is that I now know what it means when my egg shifts colors. More specifically I know what it means when it turns a golden hue and glows. I initially mistook this glow to mean that it wanted to to cleaned, you know, shinny and new?

Well, the egg didn't like that...at all. In a pitch that a swore only dogs could hear, it began squeaking. It literally redefined the expression 'squeaky clean' which actually doesn't mean clean at all surprisingly. The English language is so strange...but I digress. The egg clearly didn't want to be cleaned anymore, so I tried my next option - warming it.

Casting Argentum Calidus to work and the egg shivered slightly in response. I concluded that this was for the same reason as when I when I cooled the egg using Argentum Frigidus. It's nice to know that there are some consistencies with this egg. I took another snap shot of my egg, for future reference.

In the meantime, I have been thinking more about this egg name and I think I may have come up with something. Eggs can be extra fortified with Omega-3 as a nutrient for healthy brains. Omega-3 fatty acids are crucial to take into the body since the body doesn't produce them. They are thought to be crucial for overall good health and are said to help prevent cardiovascular disease. I was thinking about perhaps naming this egg Omega...but I am not sure if it is really sticking with me.

I need more time to think about this I guess. Calling it 'the egg' is starting to get tiring.

Sincerely,
Kurumi Hollingberry

For lack of a better word, I finally cracked. It might of had something to do with my egg squeaking obnoxiously every time I called it simply egg, but today I took it upon myself to head to the library and do some research on possible names for it. Clearly, my egg has an idea of what it wants to be called and I am really wishing that it had been charmed to be able to speak. I would try to perform such a charm myself, but I am afraid of doing anything other than the spells taught in class for fear of potentially melting it.

Anyway, upon discussing possible names, my egg behaved in a very strange manner. It began making noises that sounded very similar to when someone coughs. The sort of dry and raspy voice that tends to be heard all over the castle around this time of year. Lots of people do seem to get sick in March - must be the changing of the seasons and allergies. Between the coughing and poofing of what looked like sand from itself, I figured that this was its way of telling me that it was too dry, so I cast Argentum Siccus on it and it seemed to like that. The rolling around tends to mean that it is happy as long as it isn't making other noises.

But, the real reason for my entry today is that I have finally decided upon a name - a very fitting name in fact. Understanding my eggs behaviors is very difficult, like a riddle with many layers, I was reminded of a riddle involving eggs. This riddle's question was first posed by a philosopher named Aristotle who said

If there has been a first man he must have been born without father or mother - which is repugnant to nature. For there could not have been a first egg to give a beginning to birds, or there should have been a first bird which gave a beginning to eggs; for a bird comes from an egg.

The whole concept of which came first, the chicken or the egg is a very old causality dilemma that really is synonymous with life in general. Technically, the statement should really be "Which came first, X that can't come without Y, or Y that can't come without X?"...but that would just be me over thinking things again. POINT BEING that I have decided to name my egg Aristotle. I feel really weird about this, but it seems to like it.

Sincerely,
Kurumi Hollingberry

I am still dripping wet, so this entry will have to be a short one.

While I was in the library, Aristotle Merlin I can believe I am actually calling it by name began to shake like it always does when it wants to be cooled down, so I cast Argentum Frigidus and then returned it to my pocket so that I could return to getting some of my own studying done. However, in the next instance there was a sound like heavy rain falling on metal, and then my pocket became really damp and...well... Aristotle decided to turn into a pocket fountain. Water was going everywhere - I didn't even know these eggs were capable of producing water - and I tried to cast Argentum Siccus before too much damage could be done. Thankfully, the library is safe, but my robes are a wet mess and hanging by the fireplace as I write this.

This was certainly a first, the spewing water thing, and here I was thinking that Aristotle had calmed down since I really only needed to tend to him once last month. Well, there were a few instances where I needed to cast Excolo to polish him up a bit, but nothing like this. Here's to hoping that for the rest of the term things stay a little calmer and that he doesn't squirt more water. I guess I should be thankful that the water wasn't boiling but a pleasant room temperature.

Sincerely,
Kurumi Hollingberry

Is it possible for a metal egg to feel...lonely? Have I been going about this assignment the wrong way the entire time? I know that it is not a creature in the way that my cat is, but today Aristotle seemed to be show more than just the emotional range of a teaspoon.

While making my way through the maze that is the moving staircases, Aristotle began bouncing...a lot. He was also glowing which means that I needed to cast Argentum Calidus on him, but before I could he was bouncing from staircase to staircase in just the right way so that I could not follow him. He seemed to be enjoying this game of tag, but I certainly wasn't amused. I eventually caught him by casting Immobulus and summoned him to me with Accio, but it certainly took a while to get into a position where I could do so. He seemed to enjoy this as he did that weird humming thing he does all the way back to the Gryffindor common room. At one point, I thought that he may have even been purring...

This is a debate that is often had in the non-magical world with artificial intelligence...but I am beginning to have the same sort of thoughts about my egg. What does it mean to be alive? If one were to look at my egg, one would certainly say that it isn't a living thing...but simply charmed metal. If it was just that, then would it have the personality that it shows me? Is it possible that in charming objects to do things that wizards are, in fact, creating their own version of artificial intelligence?

It's become more and more obvious to me over the past few days that, despite it creeping me out a bit, I have actually come to care for the egg as if it were a pet. Isn't this a bit odd? I mean, it IS just a charmed piece of metal that reacts certain ways, yet myself and everyone else can't seem to accept it as that. Why would a metal egg want attention and lash out like a small child to get it? This certainly gives me a lot to think about and makes me wonder even more what my egg with hatch into.

It also makes it impossible for me to change in front of it. I shove Aristotle in my sock drawer when I put my robes on in the morning. It's too awkward.

Sincerely,
Kurumi Hollingberry

I've been spending more time talking with Aristotle. As a result, he hasn't been bouncing around as much and seeking attention. Which...only adds to the notion of it possessing even abilities that it shouldn't and it taking on human-like characteristics. Perhaps this is simply because I am unfamiliar with the abilities of charms and just how much they are capable making an inanimate object, um, animate, but some of its traits are a bit too human-like.

Today, I spent several hours in the Transfiguration practice room making an ice cream cake - which was a mistake as I sort of caught a cold - and should have wrapped Aristotle up in a towel or something, because the environment was far too cold for him and he began to glow and...turned purple. I managed to take a picture of this and have included it below.
As per usual, the glowing means that Aristotle wanted to be warmed, so I performed Argentum Calidus several times until the glowing stopped and his color returned to its usually silver color. This is the first time that he had turned purple...which was a bit strange, especially since he now seems to be picking up on some of my own behaviors. The other day when he rolled off my bed, he turned a sort of burnt orange color...which is something that my hair does when I am embarrassed. He even sort of turned a blueish color when I left him in my sock drawer a little longer than I usually do because I forget to take him out before heading to classes. I suppose that this is a good thing and it means that we are bonding...if that is even possible.

Hard to believe that my next entry will be my tenth on and that I will have had Aristotle for half a year. Merlin does time fly by fast. I'm...almost sad to think about him hatching. I've actually grown rather fond of him just the way he is.

Sincerely,
Kurumi Hollingberry

I am finding it hard to believe that this is my final entry and that the next step will be Aristotle hatching into...whatever it is he will hatch into. It sort of reminds me of this toy I had when I was younger called a Tamagochi. You started off with an egg and depending on how well you took care of it it would hatch into one of many things. I wonder if it is the same for him? I think I've done the best job I can including daily polishes with Excolo and he hasn't been seeking extra attention, so I know I haven't been neglecting him like I did in the beginning. It certainly has been a growing experience and the learning curve has been rather steep. Especially with regards to what happened today.

I was walking in the pathways when Aristotle began jumping in my pocket again, but this time when I removed him I found that he was flashing rainbow colors, like this:

Last time he turned a color, purple, it meant that he was cold, so I thought that the multicolors implied that he was experiencing a lot of different things, which lead me to try every charm we learned in class, but nothing seemed to work. As it turned out...the color changes were just his way of saying Happy Birthday, but I didn't realize it until he shifted his designs a bit to spell it out for me. My only concern is...how did Aristotle know the date? Seriously, as much as I enjoyed parts of this assignment...the whole borderline artificial intelligence bit really creeps me out.

So, I guess that is it for now. I'm nervous about what Aristotle will hatch into...but I wonder if he will still be Aristotle when that happens? I rather like him the way he is and don't want him to change.

Sincerely,
Kurumi Hollingberry