Filius Favian Flitwick!

I do so love the holiday season! So full of good feeling and delicious scents and surprises. Such a treat for you young people to have a busy season full of frivolity. One must be grateful we can have such nice times with everything going on in the world. I am particularly excited about the Charms club dance, which of course I will be chaperoning, as well as the Choir concert! Our students are quite musically gifted this year, and you are in for a real treat.

I will be assisting in the decorating of the castle for the holidays this weekend, if there are any NEWT students who would like to assist me with the fairy lights and tricking up the armour & etc. etc. They do so love their bows and holly, I feel it helps them feel festive!

Seventh Years, do not forget your final project on Memory Charms will be due just prior to leaving for our winter holiday! I do not wish anyone to forget. Ha Ha.

( FLITWICK! )

END OF BLURRED WAR

Oh goodness. So I was thinking, that it's going to an awfully short summer for most of you, really in a way. I don't know how we can possibly count the training camp and everything that happened as anything even like a holiday, the lovely boat ride aside.

And for those of you who are finished with school, I do hope you know you can always look me up for anything at all. I have a special spot of fondness for my dear cohorts in reconnaissance, but you are all my dear children and I want to extend my fondest wishes and good luck to you wherever your lives may take you.

It is really too bad we cannot have fireworks.

I dare say the llama is glad to have me home. The groundskeeper took good care of it while I was gone, although it ate all the flowers up by the house. I think he'll miss me while I'm gone at school. I do wonder if perhaps I can bring him with me and keep him around on the grounds, Kettleburn, what do you think?

The house seems awfully quiet without all you young folk around. Even in all my years at Hogwarts I don't think I'd ever lived so closely with my students, and if I may say, I was proud to serve with all of you and proud to come to consider many of you to be more than just students, but friends and companions through our most difficult time. Hogwarts can be very proud of all of you.

[Warded to Former Students and Former Hogwarts Staff]

We have returned from our reconnaissance mission and given our report to the Sergeant Major. It is as we suspected, the Austrians are still surrounding us, and they appear to have added some dark creatures to their ranks.

Our findings are as follows:

We located four camps in the terrain surround the camp, positioned roughly around our entire perimeter. In addition to a small company of between thirty to fifty men in each, there were at least six trolls in one, a handful of men I suspect to have been werewolves from their appearance in another, and I am afraid to say, Inferi stationed at the camp to our West. We cannot be too terribly surprised that they have added to their ranks.

They did not appear to be mobilizing immediately and by in large the conversations I picked up from the soldiers seemed to be mostly complaints about their circumstance and the company they were keeping. I am sure you will receive a more definitive report and update from the Sergeant soon along with any change in our plans, but in the meantime I encourage all of you to continue your studies in defense and dueling in preparation for the battle that will most likely be coming soon. Our brave young men and women at the watch towers are keeping an eye out for the slightest sign of movement and I am secure in knowing all our working together with all of our well being in mind. Professor Viridian is doing an admirable job as always at leading us and I myself will be on hand to offer additional assistance with defensive charms to anyone who might wish it.

[Private to Reconaissance]

Well it looks like we've been assigned a mission. Good thing we had our training exercises to prepare. Everyone pack your knapsacks and we'll meet at the main building just before dusk so we can go over the map and formulate a plan before we go.

[Private to Edmund Corner]

I've spoken to our leader for Reconnaissance and he expressed concerns about teaching you Apparition with all of the stress and all of the other spells you are currently working on. I do wish I could provide some assistance, and of course I could instruct you on some basics, but he said he didn't believe it was safe to try and learn Apparition in such a short time. Perhaps you could ask the Camp Heads if they will be teaching it at any point? I am sorry my good lad. However I am quite impressed with your charms as well as what I have seen of your dueling and I think that you will be quite an asset to our team. If you are concerned about having an alternate mode of transport, perhaps you could see if Mr. Fletcher would give you some tutelage on flying?

[Reconnaissance]

Mr. Corner has done an excellent job of getting us started off in his journal for our project. We have determined several things and I thought it best to outline them so we can discuss them thoroughly.

Mr. Ogden and Mr. Corner both suggested I lead the project, which I am happy to if that is agreeable with the rest of you, however I would like to have the both of them as squad leaders, so to speak, for the plan I would like to suggest to you.

We have discussed the ridge as being a good place for our target, both from its usefulness as a reconnaissance standpoint and its difficulty to reach. I have already asked Professor Euler to study the maps and triangulate good locations for our target spot as well as possible attitudes of approach.

We have also discussed the best way to approach the area. There are benefits and downsides to all the traditional methods. Walking is obviously time consuming and gives us more opportunity to be spotted, however it will be easier to obtain ground cover and hide more effectively. Flying at least during the day will be the most difficult and expose us the most, unless we approach at night. Apparition, while quick, has the disadvantage that one can be taken quickly by surprise and Apparate into a hostile area. Portkeys, unfortunately, are much the same and largely unpredictable, however I think they would be an excellent way to leave the area quickly for those who do not Apparate.

My plan if I may suggest it for discussion is as follows.

We break into two squadrons, one for initial surveillance and observation, the other for the primary infiltration. The initial group will be small, of perhaps two or three, and go on a combination of broom and foot to the target place, leaving in the early evening at first dark, noting location of enemy encampments, movements, etc, the flier keeping watch from high above for enemy movements that might compromise his cohorts. This first group will need to be highly skilled in concealment and disillusionment charms as well as practiced at evasive maneuvers. When they have reached the target location, one member will either Apparate or Portkey back or provide some other sort of signal to the rest of the group laying in wait, who will then Apparate, either in pairs or singly as their skill level permits, to the target site. We will complete a reconnaissance of the area over the course of the evening and into the next day, remaining carefully hidden, and sending small groups out in twos or threes to complete smaller surveillance missions. Then the next evening we will Apparate or Portkey back to the camp.

In this method of thinking, I would appreciate if everyone could reply here if they can Apparate or fly a broom and the skill level of their Supersensory Charms and Concealing and Disillusionment Charms. I would also like to spend our extra time this week working on these things in order to strengthen us as an overall whole.

Our target day will be the fourteenth, which will give us a cushion in case we have any difficulties.

[Private to Beery]

This play of yours. Would the ending be helped out by a bit of pyrotechnics? I can guarantee nothing will catch fire.

Students! Just think, today you are halfway through your examinations, those of you taking NEWTS and OWLS, and most of the rest of you have finished most of your examinations. I do wish all of you well with what tests you have remaining, and please, if anyone needs any assistance, as always my office is open should you require it.

I know these have been difficult times, but I have been so very proud of how so many of you have kept your wits about you and helped your fellow students in their time of need. Even when we face dark times, if we have good friends about us as our comrades at arms, the burden of the darkness seems a little lighter.

Like so many of you, dear children, these recent attacks on our friends have left me feeling worried and disheartened. However, even in dark times, we must not forget that the twin lights of justice and good reside in all hearts, even those which have been touched by darkness. We must band together, both for our own safety, but also in order to keep those lights shining brightly in the dimness of uncertainty and fear, it is what will chase them away and in the end, eliminate that which seeks to snuff them out.

I do hope all of you know that anyone, of any house, is always free to come to me if you wish to talk or share concerns, even just to let out some of your worries or uncertainties about this or the war or anything. My door is always open, at any time of day.

Sometimes I think it rather unfair that only Gryffindor is said to be brave and Ravenclaw keen of wits because these past few weeks I have seen these traits in so many of you. I do think we are all quite fortunate to have such strong, steadfast young men and women in our ranks while we are embroiled in these difficult times. You have shown restraint and fortitude and compassion for your fellow students, and I am very proud of you all.

I am so very glad that everyone who participated in Charms Club yesterday did so very well! The fortification charm I taught you will likely be very useful to many of you, and perhaps to some of you young ladies in Hufflepuff just now?

Again, the spell to help fortify and protect an enclosure is Cave Inimicum. You can use it on any sort of enclosed area, but it tends to be strongest on small areas. Like, possibly, the bed curtains of four-posters?

[Private to Staff]

Every year I believe students will not try to "reverse" Permanent Sticking Charms but several, at least, manage to do so. I have to say, the ingenuity of some of our students never ceases to amaze me even as I dearly wish they would simply have figured out the lesson without resorting to entirely replacing their objects with like ones or turning in objects cut with severing charms. There were not as many creative choices this year as others. Sadly, I am sure it is due to the students being distracted by world events. It is so disheartening to see their childhood so disrupted. At least we had some fireworks today.

Thank you to all the extra students that came to Charms club this week and last! Our refresher courses on basic camping, cooking, and first aid charms have so far been a rousing success. We have already covered rope and knot, digging and erecting, fire building, and beginning first aid! Next week, I intend to focus on directional charms and magical maps! And the week following it will be basics of cooking! So if there is anyone who has not been in attendance, please feel free to come! Also, please, if there is anything you would like to see covered that has not been, please bring it to my attention!

I must say, Charms Club has not been so well attended since the early thirties! I do hope some of you will continue on after our little sessions are complete!

I was so very pleased to see so many of you at the enlistment session the other day. While it weighs my heart heavily it is necessary for you young people to go to war, I am also very proud of all of you. And don't think I won't be around as well!

Students! Since I have heard of the delightful success of the Dueling Club this weekend and after some conversations with a few of you in the past weeks, I have thought it would be very helpful to have some special meetings of the Charms Club to cover those sorts of charms that might be useful to anyone who is considering enlisting or would just like to be prepared on the home front!

These include fire building charms, fortification charms, erecting charms, sanitation charms, directional charms, locating charms, rope tying charms, emergency first aid & etc. I also thought perhaps mending charms and the most basic cooking charms for field cooking that may be unfamiliar to some of you young men would be useful and I will be asking the always lovely and skilled Professor Gulch if she has time to help us with these! Unfortunately Healer Smethwyk will be too busy to attend, but Nurse Smethwyk will be with us! And I am if we have any specific questions my most basic knowledge of first aid can not address, he might be able to help during his office hours!

Our first workshop will be held during Charms Club on Thursday, and I do hope to see all of you in attendance for this valuable experience!

[Private to the Smethwyks and Zamira]

Zamira, Amalthea and Pip! I am going to be running some special workshops in Charms Club to help prepare the students better for the war if they are planning on enlisting, including reviewing fire building charms/sanitation charms/tent building charms, etc, and I thought it would be helpful to have some very basic first aid charms such as Episkey, etc, covered as well, that the students might better aid their comrades until skilled help such as yourself could arrive. I also thought some basic cooking and mending charms might be useful for the young men, Zamira. Is this something you think would be helpful and would you wish to assist in it?

[Private to Staff]

Pip or Amalthea, meet me straight away in Binns' classroom.

I think something has happened.

[Private Wards to Professors Viridian and Merrythought and the four Heads of House as well as Headmaster Dippet]

Colleagues, I have had several students approach me to ask if I would be willing to provide them with the necessary staff supervision in order for them to practice their dueling outside of class or dueling club. When it was just one or two individual students I was not too alarmed, and I am, of course, more than happy to help any student who is in need of assistance, but I do not wish to cause any difficulties or proceed with providing supervision for several groups of students without your consent. It is my understanding that the majority of these students are not in dueling club and would simply like some time to practice their defensive spells and the like or to brush up on them as it were. If I am able to dedicate some of my time to this effort, do any of you have any objection to my doing so?

I had also thought it might not be a bad idea to host some review sessions in basic defensive, healing, and protection charms for any of the student body to attend if they might wish to. It certainly could not hurt.

[Warded Private to Cepheia and Albus]

I've spoken with Miss Gregorovitch about her journal entry earlier. She is in a quite unwell state today after the news she has received from home, and I have given her permission to use my office today to work on some private studies. I told her I would let the two of you know she will not be in class and ask that you give me any work for her she might have for the day. I am terribly sorry to have to ask this and hope you are not inconvenienced that I have given her permission to have a day away from her studies, but given the circumstances she is not well enough at all today to face her classes or fellow students.

This has made me think as well we ought to be keeping an eye on the well being of herself, Mr. Brand, and the Goldstein brothers, I imagine this time is even more difficult for them than it is for the rest of us, which considering recent events is saying quite a good deal.

I do not know what to do for our dear children. I must confess I do not feel I have ever felt his disheartened or grieved so much for their dear innocence which is being lost so quickly.

It causes feelings of anger in my heart I am not accustomed to, and I can only hope for a quick end to our current incivilities.