Monday

First of all, Tumblr is STILL down, and I am most unhappy. What, exactly, am I supposed to do without "The Frenemy?!" Oh, yeah, write TLAT.

Second of all: I'm so proud of my little brother! Though my efforts to force him to read the HP books before he saw the movies were fruitless (to be fair, he was like four when SS came out in theaters), he is now, finally, reading them. He just returned my copy of PoA, so I quizzed him on the differences between the book and the movie, just to make sure, before I lent him GoF. I'm such a good older sister.

Third of all--ETA on the next chapter? Erm.... I'm not sure. I'll update this blog again tonight, when I know how much writing I've gotten done this afternoon.

Fourth of all--LOOK WHAT I FOUND! Copy-and-pasted on one of my giant stock files, I found a "deleted scene," if you will, from Chapter 23 ("To End a Year"--the last one at Hogwarts that included a bunch of flashbacks to previous years). It's nothing too exciting, though... just a Frank/Alice flashback that got deleted, because that chapter was already almost 25,000 words long, and it didn't really add anything. Anyway, here it is:

“Griffiths, Alice,” called Professor McGonagall, and a tiny witch with curly blond hair stumbled forward. She nearly tripped twice on her way up to the Sorting Hat, and when she sat down, she could be seen blushing before most of her face disappeared under the rim of the hat.

Eleven-year-old Frank Longbottom had never been so relieved in his life. “Griffiths, Alice” had single-handedly given him hope. So far, every student to be sorted had looked calm or excited—at worst, a tad nervous, but mostly under control. None of the six first years that had been sorted prior to Griffiths, Alice had conveyed half of the anxiety that Frank felt.

But now, with the Sorting Hat down to her nose, Griffiths, Alice positively trembled. She continued to tremble, right up until the moment that the Hat shouted: “Gryffindor!”

And then she calmed down right away. She was beaming when she replaced the hat on the stool and rose, practically skipping to Gryffindor table. And, once again, Frank was hopeful. If Griffiths, Alice could be that frightened of the Sorting and still make Gryffindor, might not he be so lucky? And, a few minutes later, when “Longbottom, Francis,” was called forward, he was that lucky.

He sat down at Gryffindor table right beside the curly-haired blond.

“I’m so glad I made it here,” she whispered, while “Pritchard, Joseph” became a Ravenclaw. “Seems the best to me, by far. My older brother is a Hufflepuff, but I wanted Gryffindor.”

“My cousin is a Hufflepuff fourth year,” replied Frank. “And my mum was a Ravenclaw. But my dad was a Gryffindor.” Here, he beamed.

Griffiths, Alice held out her hand. “I’m Ally,” she said.

“Frank.”

They shook hands. “It’s very nice to meet you.” Griffiths, Alice looked around on the table at the empty plates. “Now, how long d’you reckon before we get to eat?”

And, strange as it may seem, that was the moment that Frank Longbottom fell in love for the first (and last) time.

Like I said--I'll post again tonight with more info on update time for Chapter 28. Much love!

Cheers,
Jules