19 January 2087

What is your full name and why were you named it? Were you named after anyone? Do you have any nicknames? How do you feel about your name?

Once upon a time, there was a baby who was me. My parents named that baby (who was me) Charlotte Anka Wojack. The Charlotte was after my Gran Gusey, who is also called Charlotte, and the Anka was a traditional Polish name in honor of my very Polish maternal grandparents. The funny thing is that I'm adopted and probably not remotely Polish at all.

I like being called Charlotte, although only my boyfriend Kyroh ever calls me that. Or my mum does, when she gets really mad at me. Most people call me Dot or Dottie, because when I was first named after my Gran, there was already her being called Charlotte. My dad called me Dot 'cause I was a little speck of a thing, and I've been Dot ever since. It's a funny nickname now, on account of all my freckles. Plus I really like polka dots. So I do like being called Dot, but I'd like being called Charlotte more.

23 January 2087

Which family are you most like? Describe how.

I've always wondered whether I'm like my birth parents in any way. In some ways, I know that I picked up habits and speech patterns from my parents, like I talk a little too much the way my mum does and I sometimes answer in grunts the way my dad does and I have my Gran Gusey's fashion sense and my Gramp Wojack's warm heart.

But who do I get my freckles from? And are both my parents gingers, or is it possible my hair will get darker someday? Will I need glasses when I get older? How tall could I get? (I want to get to be at least 5'9" so I can be a Rockette someday) I don't really know who I'm like, so I just have to be like myself for now.

27 January 2087

What was your education like before coming to Hogwarts? Which did you like better and how did it compare?

When I was too young to go away to school, I had proper lessons at the local magical primary. We learned how to read and write our letters and do maths, plus they let us play Exploding Snap at recess, even though it always meant some girl smelled like rancid food the last half of the day from being exploded on. It was sort of nice because everything was so clear cut and had answers you could really suss out. Hogwarts is harder, because you have to work for answers.

When I was 11, my mum wanted me to go to Durmstrang, which is where she went to school. It was terrible because I speak English and a little Polish and very awful french that Gran Gusey taught me, but I didn't speak anything fluently enough to get along well with my Durmstrang classmates. And they were mean. One turned me into a goldfish for three days because I stared at her too long in the common room. I'm still kind of afraid of being underwater with my eyes open.

4 February 2087

What is the best thing that has ever happened to you?

If this wasn't a for class assignment, I would probably talk about Kyroh. He's my freckle friend, and my freckle boyfriend, and he has the best face of anyone I've ever met. Like a very strong and curious and sweet face. I could look at him all the time, which is very distracting. I would talk about how he was the first person who ever made me feel like I'm really special and like there's a Dot-sized hole in the world for me to fit into.

But this is a class assignment, even if it is my own story, so I want to talk about Bubba. Last year was a big year for my family, because my parents finally married each other and my mom and I became Guseys, and then my mom had a baby. We've always lived together, but we were, what one of my teachers once called us, an 'alternative family'. That means we were weird and didn't look like what people thought families should look like. But anyway, last year, my mum had a baby and we called him Samuel Ogden Gusey, although my dad and I call him Bubba.

Bubba is the very best person in the world. Maybe better than Kyroh, although different. He's a really good walker now, and he can say my name (although he says "DA" because the T sound is very hard for a baby person) (imagine how hard Charlotte would be for a baby person!). Whenever he sees me, he grins this big gappy-toothed smile as if nothing has ever made him so happy as having me around. I think that maybe Bubba made my family stop being 'alternative', 'cause now I feel like we all really belong to each other. So I think that Bubba is easily the best thing that ever happened to me.

9 February 2087

Have you ever met anyone famous? Describe the experience.

I'm pretty lucky, because my whole life is full of famous people! My dad is a Quidditch team Healer, so I've met loads of Quidditch players in my extremely long life. Some aren't famous, some are quite snobby about their fame, but some of them are quite nice!

I was also once invited to pretend crash a TDK (The Dead Kneazles) concert with Kyroh and Maddie and Dima. I say pretend, because of course we were really invited (I think). Even though TDK is pretty well known, they weren't at ALL when we went to this concert and we got to meet the band IN PERSON. They were pretty nice, although kind of boring because they didn't really want to talk to kids for very long.

ALSO one time, I got to meet the designer Pensacola Morgan-Bott. She was judging this contest for fashion design, which I entered, and she actually REALLY LIKED what I designed. I didn't win, though.

13 February 2087

Do you have any hobbies or special talents? Describe why you enjoy it and how or when you started.

As I was saying during my last entry, I like to design. I've always been interested in making things to wear or making what I have to wear my own and better. When I was little, I would make tissue paper tutus to wear to ballet (they did NOT hold up well), and some of the first spells I taught myself when I got my wand and went to school had to do with making sequins and stitching charms. I don't really think that I've found my aesthetic yet, and I might not be very good, but it's something I really like doing. Lately I've been thinking about shoes more, and about bags, so I need to learn some new skills and expand my skillset.

Another thing I love to do is dance. I've been dancing ballet since I was a little bitty girl, which I'm sure was quite hilarious at the time, and it's something I can see myself doing even after I graduate from Hogwarts. It's hard to keep dancing at Hogwarts, especially ballet, which requires smoother floors and a barre, but I've found some spots that work perfectly for my needs. It's also hard to find TIME to dance around homework and classes, but it isn't like I have many other things to do. Plus it's really good exercise.

18 February 2087

Do you have a pet? Tell a story regarding your pet or what kind of pet you would have and why if you don't have one.

I happen to have a grey kneazle named Nimbus. When he was a little baby kitten, Nimbus was this adorable and bumbling little ball of fur who mostly liked to sleep inside my slippers (he didn't fit) and had trouble figuring out what was food. There were lots of things he tried to eat along the way - my socks, my sleeve, my finger, his own tail - and he would get SO disgruntled when he figured out something wasn't food. Actually, when he tried to eat his own tail, he got more than disgruntled... he got furious at his tail and tried to fight it! Even now, Nimbus is pretty sure that crumpled parchment is yummy, and he likes to nibble it when I'm not looking. It's very dangerous for my homework!

25 February 2087

What chore do you hate doing and why?

Although I'm a fairly tidy person by nature, there are definitely chores that I think are the absolute worst. I don't mind keeping up my room or putting away my clothes, because did you know that a tidy room actually helps your mental health? I even clean up after my roommates sometimes if their junk is in my line of vision! But the one chore that I really hate is when my mum makes me help do the dishes. THERE ARE SPELLS FOR IT. It can be done in just a second without getting your hands wet and soapy, but I have to do it by HAND. And then I have to dry them! And they'll dry on their own. You don't even have to dry them! It's such a dumb thing to make me do, but she insists.

1 March 2087

What is your first memory? Describe it. Why do you think this stands out as your first memory?

I really wish that I could remember being a baby, because then maybe I would remember when I was first born and what my birth parents looked like. No one remembers being a baby, and I don't even really remember being a toddler. I do remember being pretty small and playing with my very best friend in the world, Dima Toussaint. If you don't know, Dima is super duper rich and lives in this posh house with a whole ROOM full of toys. We mostly always went over to play at his house when I was little, and I remember when he got these really awesome rocking horses. Even though I was pretty young, I knew that they were for both him AND FOR ME, because one of them was pink. PINK. And Dima only had a brothers, so that pink horse was meant to be mine. You can understand why I was very confused about mine vs his for a long time as a kid. I also fell off that horse more than once, but that's not part of this memory.

9 March 2087

What makes you unique?

Okay, I want to do this one at a list, because one of the things about me is that I really like LISTS. They just make things so neat and organized and tidy.

1. I like lists.
2. I'm a ginger, although I do NOT have a fiery temper. Maybe being ginger isn't totally unique, but I read once that we're probably going extinct. So that's bad.
3. I'm teaching myself to be an animagus. I can't WAIT to see what animal I'm going to be at the end! I'm not super good at Transfiguration, but I'm stubborn and I want it. I think that makes up for it.
4. I have three best friends, and they're all Ravenclaws.
5. I USED to think I was meant to be a Ravenclaw, but it turns out that I'm too mean and not smart enough to be anything but Slytherin. I guess it suits me, right?
6. I think it's impossible not to get runs in tights, right? Or is that just me? I think it's a special skill I have.
7. Glitter is SO PRETTY and goes with everything.
8. Your class is probably one of my favorites. Thanks for making a subject that seems kinda boring more interesting. If you can figure out how to mix dancing and history, then I'll probably keep taking it all the way to NEWTs.

14 March 2087

What makes your family unique?

Everyone thinks their family is unique, even people who have exactly one mum and one dad and one sibling and a dog and a house in the countryside. Even those people think they are unique, but it's my family that is probably the weirdest one you'll ever see. So first, I'm adopted and not related to either of my parents, which is different enough. The other weird thing is that my parents lived together for my whole life, but they only got married two years ago when they finally decided they actually are TOGETHER. Before that, we all lived together, only I'm not sure my mum and dad were more than just really cranky roommates. I'm not sure. Adulting is very complicated. NOW I have a baby brother who is 100% biologically theirs and 0% biologically mine, but I love him a lot. I also have two grandmothers who are 'meddlesome' as my mum says, but my granddads are dead. My family is more than unique... they're plain weird.

19 March 2087

Who is the most influential person in your life? Why are they influential to you and how do you aspire to be like/unlike them?

Influential is an interesting thing, because it means something different than the person who we find inspiring or interesting. It's less about who in my life I want most to be like and it's more about who in my life has made me the way that I already am. I think there are probably three people who are most influential on me, even though the question only asks for one.

The first is my mother, Stella Wojack-Gusey. She's a Healer and loves people, and she always always says exactly what she's thinking, and I think I get my big mouth from her. But I also get my honesty and clear vision from her, because I grew up in a house where no one lied (except to themselves). When I was little, she seemed sort of sad to me sometimes, and I thought that maybe everyone's a little bit sad, but she's so much happier now that my parents got married. I still see that same sad in other people, though, and I always recognize it and know that I want to make it go away more than anything.

My second is my daddy, Ogden Gusey. My Oggie is a big grumpypants, but he's always patient and listens, and he taught me that I'm worth listening to and that my ideas matter. He's also super kind and lovely, even though he's grumpy and enormous, and I know that people often have lovely things hidden underneath their skin.

And my last influential person is my first and oldest best friend, Dima Toussaint. Dima loves no matter what, and he's always so good and careful with people. He makes me want to be so much better, and he taught me to see good in myself and others. I would be so much more boring and reckless if I didn't have him around to make me better.

28 March 2087

Who is your favorite teacher and why?

I think you're totally fishing for compliments here, Professor! Picking a favorite professor is so HARD, because some you like for their subject and some you like for their personality and some you like because they open your eyes in a new way. Like, for example, Professor Flamsteed is SO excited about Astronomy, and it makes me excited about it too. And Professor Moxley is always so positive and caring, and she makes me feel like she actually likes me a lot. Personally, I mean, not just because she likes students. And you make History of Magic come alive in a new way, and I always thought it was so boring before because I think reading is boring. And Professor Culloden has a knack for explaining stuff in a way I really get. I like lots of the professors, so it's very hard for me to say just one, but I think I like ANY professor who likes us as people and likes their subject and wants us to like it just as much as they do.

1 April 2087

Choose a recent milestone - a birthday, a life-changing event, a major accomplishment, etc. - and document it.

I just had my fifteenth birthday, which is very important because it marks my growing maturity AND because I am allowed to have a boyfriend once I'm fifteen. Although, I actually already have one, and his name is Kyroh, and he's amazing.

Anyway, my birthdays are always nice, because I get woken up early, and my friends and I have birthday waffles as a tradition. This year, everyone was keen to let me choose the things that I wanted to do the most to celebrate, so Thornton danced with me in the Room of Requirement, and Kyroh helped me cross a very important to-do item off my bucket list, and Maddie even let me primp with her a little bit. Not to mention there was lots of food, which I normally can't eat because of dancing reasons, but which I was allowed to eat on my birthday. And presents. And so many cuddles I thought my heart would explode.

12 April 2087

Write some advice to someone based on personal experience.

Dear Someone,

Sometimes, it seems like the things that you want the most are out of reach and your life is just terrible. When I first came to Hogwarts, I was so sure that I would be a Ravenclaw and that I would get to spend every moment with my very best friends. I argued with that stupid Sorting Hat, even, but it still put me in Slytherin. My heart was so broken, and I cried under the Great Hall tables and made a big stink. I was just so sure that I could never ever be happy if I wasn't a Ravenclaw and that my best friends would replace me and that my life at Hogwarts was over before it even began.

But I was wrong, Someone, and I'm glad that I'm a Slytherin (usually). Here's the thing: I wouldn't have been a very good Ravenclaw. I'm not clever and interested in ideas the way that Ravenclaws are, but I see people and I'm interested in how they work. If I'd been in Ravenclaw, maybe I wouldn't have learned how to meet new people and get along with them, and maybe I wouldn't have made friends with Mr. Henry, and I certainly wouldn't have had to develop the habit of understanding how people work and what they want. I'd be a different person, I think, and maybe a worse one.

So the point, Someone, is that the things you think you can't live without are sometimes not that important, and the ways that your life feels broken sometimes are fixing you to be even better. And that was almost poetry, but not quite.

Love,
Charlotte Anka Wojack-Gusey