Prof. Sky Alton

Approved Anne-Marie Gagne - Ravenclaw Visitor Charlie Love - First Year

Approved Elize Vanderwall - First Year

Approved Ilios Foinix and Harmony Potts - First Year

Approved Arabella Johnson - Fiirst year Keeema Knox - I changed your name to @Keemma Knox to match your HOL name and you were also approved.

Approved Hanna Joyton and Nicole Tomlinson - First Year

Happy, happy birthday to the ever-so-lovely Luna Lemongrass! I hope it's been full of sunshine.

Approved Morrigan Auclair, Ian Lupin, Amethyst Silvermane, Biscuit Smith, Valerie Byrne and Usagi Kohaku - First Years Kalgri Sicaria (Hufflepuff), Sallix Pegasus (Ravenclaw) and Dallas Orion (Ravenclaw) - Visitors Notes @William Ezra Huxley I approved you as a Slytherin visitor but the system says you canceled your registration.

Approved Aleksandra Alessa and Aria Katz - First year Rejected Isabella - Please try again with your full HOL name. Notes @Astrid Peters I edited your name so that the capitalisation and spacing matched your HOL name - you were also approved as a first year.

Approved Katelyn Heartfinder and Heather Morganson - first years

Approved Ereshkigal Csintalan - Slytherin Visitor

Welcome to another year at HOL! September is always a busy time around the castle and that means there are plenty of point earning opportunities to tell you about. Remember that every point you earn helps Gryffindor in the cup standings, so even if you can only do a little, it still makes a big difference! First things first though, have you signed up for classes? Aside from being magical, fascinating and fun, classes are the best way to earn house points. Remember to make a note of the quill requirements and deadlines for each class, so you don’t run out of time later on in the term. And now onto the extracurriculars! The Departments have kicked off the year with brand new projects! The Library Department is asking you to solve the problem of a missing professor and giving you the chance to attend another wizarding school. The Art Department are asking you to redesign a book cover in celebration of National Literacy Day and to show off the items you’ve brought with you to decorate your dormitory. Link: https://hol.org.uk/departments Art Deadline: 30th September Library Deadline: 1st October The school newspaper, The HOwLer, is open for submissions! This issue’s theme is ‘unexpected sunshine’ and you can interpret that in whatever way you’d like. You can submit articles, graphics, stories, puzzles and more. If you’re struggling to find inspiration for something to submit, stop by the idea bank and check out the suggested ideas there. You can earn up to 60 points! Link: https://hol.org.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=614 Deadline: 31st October Let’s get this school year off to a roaring start. Go go Gryffindor!

Approved Lacey Potter - First Year

Approved Abbey Potter - First Year Rejected Someone signed up using their email as their display name - please try again using your HOL name instead

8740

Welcome (back) to Gryffindor Tower! This is shaping up to be an exciting school year and I’m really looking forward to seeing what it brings. First of all, there are a few announcements to make…. We added two fabulous Junior Prefects over the summer: Reyyan Azkendra and Lorainia Riverrider (who is returning to the staff after an absence). They’re already hard at work and have created our ‘Bright Beginnings Bingo’ event. Get yourself over to the Current Activities area and sign up! I’d also like to welcome Prof. Maxim Trevelyan who is joining us from Ravenclaw. Maxim has been a regular in The Den for many years (in fact, he’s won the award for the visitor with the most rubies every term since we created it), so I think he’ll feel right at home. I’m very excited to have him on the team. We’re also gearing up for our annual Gryfftoberfest, a huge party in October that gives us the excuse to drink far too much butterbeer… *clears her throat* I mean the chance to celebrate everything that makes Gryffindor what it is. So, stay tuned for news on that very soon. As ever, we’d love to hear your ideas for Gryffindor, so whether you have a suggestion for an activity or want to tell us about a new forum you think would be a great addition, please let a JP know. Whatever your plans for the school year are, I hope you have a magical time. Let’s go, Gryffindor, let’s go!

Approved Jay Silverwood - Ravenclaw Visitor

You step off the Hogwarts Express and into a swirling mass of mist that obscures the platform almost completely. People are shouting and laughing all around you but it’s impossible to pick anyone out. The cold nips at your nose and fingers after hours of being cooped up on the stuffy train and you hurry forward, hoping it won’t be long before you can get into the warm. The Situation: It’s a chilly and foggy night and you’ve just disembarked at Hogsmeade Station, ready for the new school year. If you’re a first year, you’re probably wondering what’s going on. If you’ve done this before, you’re probably wondering how soon you can clamber into a carriage on your way to the cosy Great Hall. Unfortunately, the mist is making it very difficult to see what’s right in front of your nose, let alone your mode of transportation… The Location: You can roleplay in and around the Hogsmeade Station. Read the guidelines before diving in. Have fun!

The easiest way to help out your house and show your lion’s pride is to earn points! There are lots of ways you can do this so you’re bound to find some that play to your strengths. In this post, I’ll give you a brief run-down of the regular point earning opportunities available to you. Whenever a new one opens up throughout the term, we’ll post it as a reply so keep checking back! The first and most obvious is to take part in classes. All classes will give you the chance to earn 300 points in a term through homework and extra credit. If you take several classes (even if you don’t have the time for the maximum of 5 every term), those homework points soon mount up to quite a tidy haul. Class sign-up opens on the 1st of September 2022 and will remain open until the 20th of December, so remember to put your name down for the classes that interest you and get sending in that homework! (It’s always a good idea to keep an eye on the individual assignment deadlines so that you don’t run out of time or put too much pressure on yourself) The next are the creative projects offered each month by the Library and art departments. If you enjoy getting artsy or brushing up on your writing, visit the 'Departments' tab on the main website. Don't be shy: your submissions are anonymous during the rating period. You can get started by going to your profile and telling everyone 'How you Got Into Harry Potter' in the designated section - that will earn you a cool 10 points! Finally there's the HOL Newspaper, the HOwLer. This is a great chance to earn plenty of points by writing about what interests you. If articles and reviews aren’t your thing, it will also offer creative prompts and the chance to submit your own puzzles, graphics and more. Keep an eye on the Newspaper section of the main HOL Forum for updates about the latest issue. https://hol.org.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=612 Throughout the term, there will be unique and exciting activities to take part in which will give you the chance to earn points along the way. Remember to check the replies to this thread for announcements and reminders about anything that might be occurring!

To make sure that members of this forum are genuine students of hol.org.uk, new accounts have to be approved by an administrator before being given full access to the Common Room (think of it like having to be given the password to open the portrait hole). This can take a few days. Every time registration approvals are done, I will post here with a list of the accounts that have been approved. I will also mention the names of accounts I have had to reject along with the reason why I had to do so. Common reasons for rejection are: You’re not registered on HOL You didn’t use your HOL name as your username If your account is rejected, please fix the highlighted issue and try again. Note as of October 2022: We're aware that validation emails don't seem to be getting through in some cases. We're looking into it. If you need help, please email me at sky.alton @hol.org.uk (without the space).

Approved Rheaven Trickster - First Year

Approved Caius Magnusson - Slytherin Visitor Beezus Maloy - First Year

Well, what a spell-binding summer that was! Mr. Ollivander would like to extend his heartfelt gratitude to everyone who helped out. He hopes some of you will choose to pursue wand-making in the future. Here are the total number of rubies earned by each person. I'll be awarding them once term begins and the ruby system reopens. If you spot any problems with your total, please let me know so I can look into it for you. Kudos to Harry and Louis for earning the maximum available! Andromedia Delacour: 44 Arco Bardalles: 36 Astor Arensin: 78 Aura Nightmoon: 86 Aurelia West: 2 Elizabeth Hermione: 2 Emerald Wolvenhowl: 80 Emily Spencer: 68 Gregor Lee: 127 Harry Walles: 160 (+40 bonus, total 200) Kandren Lea: 32 Louis Walles: 160 (+40 bonus, total 200) Luna Lemongrass: 136 Maxim Trevelyan: 40 Patrick James: 30 Prof. Felicia Hartwick: 14 Prof. Scarlet Leslie-Lewis: 10 Prof. Sindor Aloyarc: 20 Prof. Tarma Amelia Black: 108 Prof. Will Lestrange: 154 Raevia Ward: 12 Reyyan Azkendra: 14 Rory Devany: 34 Silvana Mandeville: 40 Thank you all for your sterling efforts. It's been a pleasure to see your responses (and I know Mr. Ollivander quite agrees).