Prof. Amy Lupin

Inspired by Newt Scamander's adventures (or should that be misadventures?), you decide to travel in search of the different magical creatures to learn more about them first-hand. Perhaps in time, you'll come to collaborate with Mr Scamander, or, perhaps, you'll even carve out a name for yourself — but for now, at least, an adventure awaits! This activity takes place over 6 weeks. You'll be able to work through the activity at your own pace, however we recommend that you don't leave everything to the end. There will be 15 tasks in total, which will be a mix of puzzles and creative tasks relating to magical creatures. Each task is worth 10 rubies, for a total of 150 rubies. Tasks will be sent via PM. Each time you complete or correctly solve the task, you will "learn" about a particular magical creature. You'll also be prompted to choose a new direction (north, south, east, west) to continue exploring in. This will influence which task you'll receive next. Timeline Wednesday, 16 July - sign ups open Saturday, 19 July - tasks start getting sent out Sunday, 31 August - last day to submit tasks Special thanks go to Arianna Stonewater and the Gryffindor staff for helping put this activity together.

Should you have any questions, post here and we will get back to you.

Post below to join in on the fun! Please also choose a starting direction (north, south, east, west). You will receive your first task via Gryffindor PM.

You put your quill down and close your copy of Spellman’s Syllabary, satisfied that you’ve finished translating the ancient runes before you. We’d be interested to hear what you’ve just translated - was it for an assignment, some independent research or perhaps ancient runes spotted in the wild? We’re also curious about the translation itself. Please share your translation (and its context) in 100 words minimum by 11:59 PM HOL time on 31 July for 10 rubies.

You page through your copy of Spellman’s Syllabary and come across a chapter detailing a different set of runes used by a remote Wizarding community. You notice that the style of the runes are very different from the ones you learned about in your Ancient Runes class. We’d like you to create a graphic showing what some of these runes look like (please keep it to 600 x 600 pixels). Alternatively, you can describe their appearance in 80 words minimum. Post your runes below by 11:59 PM HOL time on 31 July for 10 rubies.

Solutions sent by: Ellie Vernez Luna Ravenlong River Fenwick

Solution sent by: Ellie Vernez River Fenwick

Poetry is magical. Words get transformed into meaning, evoking thoughts and feelings. Transforming one word into another can also be magical. Wave your wand (or rather, use your writing tool of choice) and reveal each word. Each word differs from the previous word by a single letter (eg. theme → thyme). Clues are provided to help guide this process. Send your solution to me via PM (subject: Light Reading Word Ladder) by 23:59 HOL-time on 30th April to earn 10 rubies.

Thank you! :D

The board of Nimbus Enterprises has met to discuss the last quarter. They would like to express their gratitude for everyone’s hard work. - A big thank you to those who participated. I thoroughly enjoyed each of your submissions. Congratulations to River Fenwick, CEO of AstroMed Supply, for getting the highest rating, followed closely by Scarlet Robloutain, CEO of Nimbus Voyager. View the quarterly report

Our sources reveal that the priority shipments for Week 6 were as follows: High: Morrin (If lives are endangered, the galactic accords mean aid shipments automatically get top priority.) Medium: Taren Low: Gimel - The Interstellar Trade Commission thanks you for your efforts in transporting much-needed shipments to various parts of the galaxy.

During these weeks together, you’ve got to know each of the crewmembers. All of them have a valuable role to play on the ship, and the ship wouldn’t have gotten as far as it has without their dedication and commitment. The captain has asked you to recognise one of the crewmembers who has gone over and above their responsibilities and give them special commendation. For this task, we’d like you to pick a crewmember and describe how they’ve contributed to the functioning of the ship and/or its crew. Include their name, their role, their rank/rating (if applicable) and any other details you’d like to share. Post your recommendations below by 23:59 HOL time on 28 February to earn 10 rubies.

The ship has been underway for some time now. Intergalactic space flight regulations require ships to run drills at least once per month so that the crew can be prepared for any emergency. Seconds (even milliseconds) count in an emergency so it’s important that each crew member is extremely familiar with how to respond in an emergency. For this task, we’d like you to pick one emergency a ship might have to deal with (eg. life support malfunctioning, a breach in the ship’s hull) and describe what the crew needs to do in that scenario, bearing in mind that different roles may have to carry out different tasks. Post your emergency protocols below by 23:59 HOL time on 28 February to earn 10 rubies.

The captain has been quite busy of late, so he’s delegated one of his responsibilities to you. Each head of a division (eg. IT engineering, medical) writes logs throughout the day, both for record keeping and to keep the higher ups informed of any developments. The logs are also a way to highlight any requests – while they’ll typically get filtered through to the supplies officer, some of the less straightforward requests need to go through the captain as they have the final say. The captain typically goes through these logs individually and marks them as “acknowledged”, “more information requested”, “denied” accordingly. For this task, we’d like you to write 5 logs that might appear in the captain’s queue. Also mark each log as if the first mate has gone through them. The above examples are suggestions – you’re welcome to come up with your own actions. Post your logs and actions taken below by 23:59 HOL time on 28 February to earn 10 rubies.

Our sources reveal that the priority shipments for Week 5 were as follows: High: Iris (The scientists have some very influential backers for their research who have paid to extradite the shipment.) Medium: Orion Low: Xyris - Week 6 Planet: Gimel Resource: Steel A company in Gimel seeks to get their asteroid mining operation off the ground and need specialised steel tools in order to do so. Planet: Morrin Resource: Mixed shipment Authorities have expressed concern over the lack of communication from an outpost in Morrin. They’ve requested a mixed shipment be sent to the outpost to help address a range of possible issues they might be facing. Planet: Taren Resource: Tungsten Taren's guild of explorers has been enlisted to explore a new planet in the system. They want to take as many precautions as they can, including using tungsten for radiation shielding for their crafts and spacesuits. Post your chosen shipping assignment below by 23:59 PM on Friday, 28 February.