Journal Entry #2

Dear diary,
 
My family is leaving for Romania in a few days. Mum and dad told me that we would be going way back before the Easter holidays. I was so excited to go, but now with things being as they are, I feel like I'm abandoning my friends. Mum and dad have been busy lately. Dad has been doing some freelance work for the ministry and mum is working extra hours so she can get extra time off when the baby arrives, so I've been going over to the Philip's nearly everyday. I've been trying to be helpful to Liam in anyway that I can. I think he's a bit skeptical still, which is fair. I'm only a third year, and the work he's doing is really complex stuff. Sometimes I remind him that in the span of 11 years he went from not being able to read and write to creating one of the most complicated and outstanding potions made in modern wizarding history. Besides, I'm not doing anything directly with his work. I write notes, sometimes I'll stir a cauldron but only with explicit permission and detailed instructions from Liam.
 
He's not sure if we'll be able to complete the potion before it's needed, but we're also working on our backup plan. Ellie has been studiously preparing for her role in all of this. I think she'll be brilliant at it. I never noticed how good of an actress she is.... A little spooky. I've been meaning to ask her how she's doing. She lost months of time while petrified and was thrown in to a vat of bubbling chaos as soon as she opened her eyes. She and Ethan and a bit of an argument about a week and a half ago. It sort of snowballed and Eve got involved and to be honest got a little messy. I was able to talk to her a bit, and learn why she cared so much about the..... issue that was brought up... I know very little about Ellie's life before Hogwarts. I don't want to pry, every time something relating to her old life gets mentioned she sort of goes rigid and gets the glazed look in her eye. I don't really understand what's happening, but I know it's definitely not good. I'm sure Eve and Ethan know, they're much closer to Ellie than I am. Still, I was able to help her through a bit of it, but fortunately they were able to work it out and I got to be a fly on the wall as it happened.
 
I'm scared about Eve, I don't know if this is going to work out. I'm scared to write anything down too. Every time I think about what's coming I feel sick. I can't dwell on it. I've found that the Phillips household has a subtle sort of cyclical rhythm to it, directly related to how well Liam's research is going. Several times I've gone over to the house and there's been a strange gloom over everything. Usually that means that Liam is struggling with something and Eve and Ethan have picked up on Liam's frustration. He can't help it, he works so hard. I've stepped into a new role: the unfailingly optimistic assistant. Every time I notice that Liam is having a rough go of things, I make some tea, force him to take a break and eat something, and serve as the households personal cheerleader for as long as needed. Honestly, I think forcing him to eat is more helpful than my cheerleading, but I'm going to pretend that everything I'm doing is helpful.
 
Archer is away on Egypt. I haven't heard from him yet, but I hope he's having a good time. Most likely he's already gotten himself into trouble with some ancient Egyptian curse that he's going to bring back to Hogwarts and infect everyone with. If he does, he better at least bring me a trinket.
 
I wonder if there's a way to make this journal really private. Like when someone opens it they just see random scribbles or something. It's hard to "journal your deepest thoughts and feelings" when you are afraid of what will happen if someone reads your deepest thoughts and feelings.