Prof. Sky Alton

Approved Ashley Barlowe - first year

Approved Xim White - first year

Wishing @Prof. Amy Lupin a truly wonderful birthday! White chocolate and cranberry cookies all round.

Magical foodies rejoice as it’s time for “Charm Your Own Cheese”! The cheese-tastic original was written by Greta Catchlove and a ripe revised edition was released by Gerda Curd. This book takes you through every step of the magical cheese making process, as well as how to make special varieties, like dragons milk cheese. NB: If you want to write about plant based cheeses, please do. Task 1: https://gryff.net/index.php?/topic/4501-charm-your-own-cheese-task-1/ Task 2: Task 3:

When cheese goes bad… No, we’re not talking about it going green and furry in the fridge, we’re talking about curses. Part of the book is dedicated to cursed cheeses and includes a few notable examples. What we’d like you to do is create a front page for the Daily Prophet about a cursed cheese that made the news. You can either create a graphic (in which case please keep it to 600 x 600 pixels) or you can describe your front page in 80 words (including what the headline would be, what accompanying photos you’d choose and a quick summary of the story). Please post your breaking news below by 23:59 HOL-time on the 31st of March to earn 10 rubies.

One of the most fascinating chapters from the expanded edition is on “cheese based potions” (I have so many questions…) Please suggest at least 3 cheese based potions to be found in the book and introduce us to them – what do they do? What’s in them? Who created them and why (most importantly, why cheese?)? Would you try them? Please write at least 100 words for full credit. Post your cheesy potions below by 23:59 HOL-time on the 31st of March to earn 10 rubies.

Wishing an extremely happy birthday to @Ivy Grey! *Hands round some Gryffindor cupcakes*

Approved Matthew Treetop - Hufflepuff visitor

Approved Sara Leblanc - First Year

Rubies have been reset for the new term so the homepage widget will look a little strange for the next week or so. :)

Approved Helenarosequeen Granger - Slytherin Visitor

The autumn term has finished so it’s awards time! Before we celebrate the hardworking lions (and guest) who’ll be taking home a trophy though, I’d just like to recognise everyone who contributed to the house during the first half of the school year. We have a very hard working and creative team of staff who do amazing things here on The Den and around HOL. And we also have lots of dedicated students, bringing home tons of points and proudly representing Gryffindor. Thank you all for making our house what it is. And now, onto the shinies… First up is the Platinum Quill Award, awarded to the Gryff who earned the most house points during the term. @Janne Halla is our extremely worthy winner with a total of 1,759 and we are still in awe at how he manages to earn so many AND do all the other helpful things he does around the castle. The Phoenix and Lionheart awards go to our top ruby earners for the term. Congratulations (and a massive well done) to @Ellie Vernez (495) and @River Fenwick (1120)! Then we have the awards decided by the Gryffindor staff… First up is Studious Simba, our award for someone who has been incredibly hardworking in their classes. We’re delighted to present it to Nargola Hawthorne for putting in a brilliant performance across all her subjects last term. The Curious Kitten award is for an enthusiastic person who has brightened up The Den and/or positively represented Gryffindor elsewhere on HOL. @Cassie Williams definitely embodied both of those things this time round, throwing herself into activities here and adventuring all over the castle in her first term. Consistent Cub is for someone who (well, consistently) inspires us all to get involved. Our winner this time round is Ellie Vernez, who was here, there and everywhere last term, taking part in things here in The Den and putting in sterling performances in the other Common Rooms too. Lastly, we’d like to present the Exploding Snap award to @Prof. Amy Lupin. This is an award for someone who has shown great creativity and ingenuity around The Den and Amy blew us away with her ideas during her first term as part of Gryff. I know everyone who took part in Potterium had tons of fun but what you might not have realised was that Amy coded a whole set of custom-made tools to keep things running smoothly behind the scenes. (I’m sure you’ll all join me when I say: WOW!) That’s all the awards announced so now, it’s time to party. I’ll grab the butterbeer!

Notes @Trevor Simonson I've changed your username so that it exactly matches your HOL name and approved you as a Hufflepuff visitor. :)

Approved @Nezuko Cotton - first year Notes Someone signed up with their email address as their display name. Please try again using your HOL name instead. :)

Approved Clementine Fernandez - Hufflepuff Visitor

Can you believe it's nearly the end of term already? The final deadline for most classes will be on the 15th of January but that isn’t always the case for every class, so be sure to double check. Whether you're ahead with your homework or playing catch up, you're doing great. You got this! And just because the term is winding down doesn’t mean there aren't opportunities to earn some extra points outside of classes. Once you’ve handed in your homework, you still have a chance to earn some extra points by submitting to the school newspaper, the HOwLer. Come up with something that fits the theme of “hidden depths” or go in a totally different direction, it’s up to you. Head over to the HOL Forum to find out more and get your ideas approved in time for the deadline on the 20th of January. If you’re feeling artistic, you could celebrate the new year (and snag some more points) with the Art Department as they explore all kinds of new beginnings. You’ve got until the 1st of February for that one.

Budding dragonologists, it's your time to shine. This month, we're leafing through "From Egg to Inferno: a Dragon-Keeper's Guide" by Ignis Nagy. This book covers everything you need to know about caring for dragons (while keeping yourself safe, of course). So whether you've always dreamed about working on a dragon reservation or are just a bit curious about these scaly wonders of the world, it's a must-read. Task 1: https://gryff.net/index.php?/topic/4468-from-egg-to-inferno-task-1/ Task 2: https://gryff.net/index.php?/topic/4469-from-egg-to-inferno-task-2/ Task 3: https://gryff.net/index.php?/topic/4470-from-egg-to-inferno-task-3/

Caring for dragons is a very delicate business indeed! That's why the book has many helpful entries on caring for dragons of all shapes, sizes and temperaments. We'd like you to pick your favourite passage on dragon care and reproduce it here (well.... write it yourself, actually). You could pick something about caring for a particular breed of dragon or something more general, like feeding, grooming or preparing a nesting site. Your response should be at least 100 words for full credit. To earn 10 rubies, please post your response below by 23:59 HOL-time on the 31st of January.

@Arcane Jinx I edited your username so it exactly matches your HOL name and you were approved

Happiest of birthdays to @Cassie Williams! *Hands round cauldron cakes and hot chocolate*

Humming along has always been a way to make time-consuming chores go faster. And even when you have spells to help, a little ditty can still break up the tedium. The publishers would like to recognise this and include a limerick at the start of each chapter, describing how chores are so much easier with a spell or two. For this task, please come up with a limerick about how you can use magic to make a particular household chore much easier. Limericks are short rhyming poems with particular rules you need to follow: 1. they should be 5 lines long. 2. the 1st, 2nd and 5th lines should all rhyme with each other. 3. the 3rd and 4th lines should rhyme with each other. 4. The rhythm should be two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one. If you're not sure how that should sound, look up famous limerick examples and see if you're able to copy the rhythm from there. We're not expecting perfection for this task, just give it your best shot! Post your limericks below by 23:59 HOL-time on the 31st of December to earn 10 rubies.

Hi everyone Unfortunately, we had an issue with the admin side of the Gryffindor forum that means we’ve had to revert to a back up of the forum data made earlier in the week. I’m afraid that means we’ve lost any changes made (like replies posted or private messages sent) over the last few days. If you notice anything missing that’s the reason and we’re very sorry for any inconvenience. The good news is that everything from Potterium should have been recorded correctly even with the technical problems. A massive well done to @Prof. Amy Lupin for keeping on top of all that! I’d also like to say a huge thank you to webmaster @Prof. Dario Brighton for working his magic on our poor database and getting everything back up and running so quickly. Also to @Prof. Maxim Trevelyan and the rest of the staff for keeping cool heads and being very supportive. We’ll be back with new tasks for Light Reading and an exciting December activity very shortly.

Hope you have a truly wonderful day, Janne! Make sure you take some time for yourself.

Approved Serus Mathers - First Year

Wishing @Lorainia Riverrider a truly spectacular birthday! I’ll get the red velvet cake.