Accio Goblet!

Run the button, and please say hello to Sammy, who brings us Roger Davies (daviest)!

Sadly, we have lost Eve, and with her Phineas.

Last call for the December Activity Check! There's still 19 14 9 characters who need to confirm their presence - so go check out the list and see if it's one of yours.

As you can see from the latest notification, Apparition lessons will start on February. Sixth years from Hogwarts and Beauxbatons and seventh years from Durmstrang are eligible to attend, as are any seventh years from Hogwarts and Beauxbatons who were too young to get their licence last year - though in the case of Hogwarts students, they could have still attended the classes last year and take a later exam if they so wished.

Also, regarding Rita Skeeter's latest article, I would like to remind you that the wizarding world is almost as prejudiced about giants as they are about werewolves. For that reason, for the most part, it will make sense for only Gryffindors and some muggle-borns/muggle-raised to speak in defence of Hagrid - the former because Hagrid is theirs, and the latter because they're not as aware of how bad giants are. Well, possibly some Beauxbatons folk can too, for obvious reasons, depending on whether they buy Madam Maxime's "I've got big bones" excuse or not.

Thanks to the ever-awesome Katie, the prefect rounds have been updated, with the schedule extended to the end of June (the term ending later than usual this year because of Jo's mad maths skills the Tournament).


Also, I'd like to remind you to drop your comment at this month's Activity Check! As you're probably aware by now, we've extended the deadline because of the holidays, so you have until Jan 5 to reply this time.

Hey guys, so, I know I owe a lot of tags and I need to comment on like a billion journal entries but my family is, like, really into Christmas (my grandfather is a PRIEST, okay), and things are just insane around here because my mother abandoned us to go to England for the holidays and my dad is, to put this kindly, totally neurotic and mildly useless... so I'm kind of running the show here this year and it is just BATSHIT INSANE KINDS OF STRESSFUL AND CRAZY. And then two days after Christmas my best friend from college who I haven't seen in a year will be arriving for five days. He and I are really good at sitting together in companionable silence/on the computer so I won't be totally gone while he is here, but I do want to spend a lot of time with him since, yeah, it has been a year and he's my favorite person ever.

So... I'll just be insane/busy until the new year. I intend to get to my threads when I can, I promise. And I know there is lots of Christmas/Yule Ball stuff to go up and be tagged too (AHHHH).

So. Email me. Please, everyone, just email me. Tell me what threads I'm supposed to be putting up and when. Better yet, email me and say you want to put them up. Even BETTER email me and tell me that you love me and this will all be over soon. (It's the email address listed on the contact list that is NOT gmail.)

Happy Christmas, girls. And as they say in my hometown: Don't Forget To Be Awesome.

Here is Barney in his dress robes. Nothing can tame the hair.

Here is Yakov in his - doesn't he scrub up nice?

Lee has no photos in suits, so here is another black kid with cool hair wearing Lee's robes and Lee's nonchalant stance.

This doesn't look anything like Mel, but she tells me she is wearing this dress. There are no photos of Mel in dresses that are even remotely decent for a school affair!

Hello,

Technically I should have put this hiatus note up way earlier, considering I moved house a week ago, but I thought my lack of internet wasn't going to last long. Turns out my ISP can't get me connected till the 27th, so consider this my hiatus until then.

I'll still have internet on my phone, but it's a pain for anything other than email. Free feel to email, though, if you want to plan anything plots. (Or we could even tag via email.)

Run the button and please welcome Lindsey, who brings us Natasha Erickson (natashajane)!

Also, we have sadly lost Gina, but keep your fingers crossed, as we might get a new Fleur pretty soon!

Hi guys - this isn't a hiatus notice, more of a "I'm feeling like utter crap this week and don't have the energy to think out many well thought out replies" notice. This is the second time in three weeks that I've succumbed to various strains of a bug going around (the joys of working with small children!) and now my body's paying the price. Even sitting upright in the computer chair is kind of painful (thank you, pulled muscles) and I'm a bit zonked most of the time. It isn't pretty.

In essence, I'll be around but mostly reading the game and popping up every now and again when the mental fog clears. I'm hoping that I'll be able to have a fairly restful week as our schools finish for the Christmas holidays on Thursday, so after that I'll have more time to be around and actually do stuff.

Yours disgustingly,

Heather

(crossposted)

PS - Regarding the Yule Ball, there's only Anzelm and Vicky left of mine to officially pair up (or not, as I haven't decided yet) - Larissa's going with Hamish, Leon is going to ask Samantha at some point (or the other way around, Sarah and I haven't decided yet), and I'm pairing off Anais with one of the 7th Year Hufflepuff boys, so let me know if you're interested in any matchmaking :)

Julie dared me to post this here. (Okay, so it might have been my idea in the first place, but she was the enabler. *halo*)

Anyway, for your enjoyment, and to follow up on recent events for Samir and Rémy, have their PBs in a similar situation:



(By the way, that girl is "The Gaymaker" because, in the previous season, this happened.)

And this gives me an idea for a meme. What about links to clips and pictures of our PBs meeting? If you can think of any, feel free to share!

So this was something I was talking to Patricia about and was kind of supposed to post after she'd done the modly post about the Ball... but things got in the way and it got waylaid.

Anyway...

This post is two-fold.

1. I wanted to show off the dress I chose for Allegra.
   
2. And I figured (and Patricia agreed) that having a resource post could be helpful.

Sooo in showing off this is what Allegra shall be wearing (with her hair possible like this).

So resources links.

1) M Label: has quite a few pretty dresses that could be considered dress robes. Best option is to click shop and look through there, since many of the dresses in that section ahve photos from different angles giving you a better idea of the dress.

2) Polyvore: is a pretty good site if you're willing to spend the time searching. The thing that makes this one good is that if you click on create, you can make a set that includes everything from the dress to the shoes and everything else. But like I said it can be a little time intensive trying to find the right thing, but it can work.

At the moment they're the only two off the top of my head... so hope it can be helpful... and if you have any links or want to show off your character's dressw robes please do. XD

- Julie

don't worry this isn't a hiatus note. just a quick note to apologise for being somewhat absentee this week. had big physio on monday which involved going up/down these steps outside where i take physio... and that was done about 5 or 6 times, so safe to say i was sore for the rest of the day. only problem is it's also meant i've been spectacularly sore in my right leg (the one I broke about 7 months back) since then too... and well it hasn't exactly put me in the best of moods... especially since it's still hurting when i go to bed and so haven't gotten much in the way of proper sleep. so have been somewhat cranky and stuff, and haven't wanted to push that onto anyone else (...i'm an emotional bottler :/).

anyway will be back to proper now hopefully... especially since a certain someone has to ask another to the ball.

....only this someone won't get turned down. luckily.

Someone needs to comment to Yakov asking him if dreidel is a euphemism for penis. Pleeeeeease. I guess I should say that although Jews make up 0.5% of the UK population, Judaism doesn't seem to have as large a profile here as it does in the US. Until I was 22, I had met a grand total of 2 Jews in my life, and knew more about Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism than Judaism. I actually learned about dreidels from watching South Park. So... other people may have different experiences based on their backgrounds but it would be totally plausible for people to not know what the hell Yakov is talking about, because I wouldn't have at that age. JUST SAYING.

Anyway, that actually wasn't what I wanted to post about. Here is Lee. He says hi, especially to the girls. I am going to do a post for him in a minute about who he is thinking of asking to the ball, but first I just wanted to say that as part of his being unable to say no to pretty girls thing, any girl who wanted to ask Lee first would get a yes. So if that is plot you want, just let me know. Also let me know if you want any of mine for anything at all :-)

Barney will ask Audrey, and presumably this will fall through at some point because of Adrian, and then he will ask Allegra.
Yakov will ask Alexa, and if she won't go, he will likely not try anyone else because he is not very confident. If anyone wants to ask him, go ahead. He will likely say yes.
Lee is open.
Mel is going to ask Cormac, but not yet. She will wait to be asked by someone and then be like WAIT I AM A STRONG INDEPENDENT WOMAN I DON'T NEED TO WAIT FOR BOYS TO ASK ME.

Who are you asking to the ball?

Today, the students will find out about the Yule Ball. Unlike with previous events, this announcement will be made by the heads of houses/foreign schools - which, in the case of Slytherin and Durmstrang, is bound to be interesting, I'm sure.

So that you can remember the basic information on the Ball, I give you a direct quote of McGonagall's explanation to the fourth year Gryffs: ( Under the cut. )
After the announcement, the four champions will be called aside and told that they're meant to open the ball - which means that going stag is not an option for them.



I should also add, due to some people asking about it recently, that while the foreign students have to spend Christmas at Hogwarts due to transportation matters, attendance to the Yule Ball by Hogwarts students (or, indeed, having to spend the holidays in the castle) is not mandatory, even if the mention of the dress robes to the supplies list seems to suggest otherwise. This quote (by Molly Weasley in chapter 5) gives the impression that older students are free to go home if they so wish: "I'd invite you for Christmas, but... well, I expect you're all going to want to stay at Hogwarts, what with... one thing and another."

Like Molly, I expect most students will want to stay at Hogwarts to enjoy the festivities, but if your character is not the partying type or sees no reason to stay, they are free to catch the Hogwarts Express with the younger years. This doesn't mean that a certain long-haired Scot is off the hook, though...

GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! LEND ME YOUR EARS.

Fresh meat right here. Hello! I'm Eve and I am being most unprofessional at work in bringing you Phineas Bradley, 6th year miscellaneous Ravenclaw.

You may remember Phineas from such films as getting-kicked-out-Divination-for-telling-Trelawney-she-didn't-know-constellations or getting-hexed-by-Millicent-Bulstrode-for-asking-her-on-a-date. If you live in the Ravenclaw boys dorm you may recognize him from the bed in the corner, who knows! He's a chill dude though, so even if you don't remember his name he'll be friendly.

Phineas is a half blood and the son of Daily Prophet advice columnist Grizel Hurtz and a muggle psychologist. Translation? He grew up as a freakishly well adjusted child. Get upset and he will invite you to talk about your feelings until you either do or tell him to piss off (no hard feelings). He's laidback, dry-humored, and makes having a lack of direction into an art form. On the side he likes quidditch, metal crafting, history, and random facts that he'll never actually use for anything.

So, Friends/enemies/frenemies, let's do it!
HAMISH FRASER, WHERE U AT BRO!?

Run the button, and please welcome Eve, who brings us Phineas Bradley (phinley)!

Also, sadly, we have lost Megtoo, and with her Keegan.

...the icon seems oddly appropriate to use. o.O

okay so I know alison is aware of the situation... mostly cause she's had two of her characters comment. but I figured i'd post this note here so that any one else in their houses and those who are aware that Cormac and Allegra are close friends, are aware of said situation.

so with the first task, Allegra was naturally super-worried (ie: FREAKING OUT!) about her cousin Cedric, even after the event and knowing that he was going to be okay. everyone was pretty okay about it... except y'know Cormac who just had to go and be an arse about it. it got to the point where Allegra was that upset that she said she doesn't want to talk to Cormac anymore. [Evidence here]

as consequence, she hasn't talked to him since and prolly won't for a while, so any friends or whatever are bound to notice something is up. especially since Allegra is particularly mopish, since for the longest time she's had a crush on Cormac but never told him, so she's got all these conflicting feelings...

and um yeah... since i'm not the best person when it comes to explaining (i tend to ramble), feel free to ask any questions if you want something clarified.

Well, my dears, at the arse crack of dawn tomorrow morning I am off to Elena's hometown of Berlin, Germany. I will be back on the 10th. I'll likely be keeping tabs on the game on my iPhone when I collapse in the hostel lobby at night, but don't expect tagging from me (unless I absolutely cannot help myself). I'll miss you! Be safe! Make good choices!

(And also feel free to email me! I like emails.)

Last call for November's Activity Check! There's still nine eight five three characters who need to confirm their presence - so go check out the list and see if it's one of yours.

One:
For those of you who are interested to know, we'll be keeping the canon date (the 24th of February) for the second task, which will fall on a Sunday. Since Ludo Bagman has mentioned it to the champions after today's task and it's clear it's not going to be made a secret, you can feel free to use it as a reference if you need it.

Two:
And now it's party time! We know from the book that the Gryffindors will hold a party for Harry, and you can be sure Samir (at least) will make sure there's enough food in the Hufflepuff common room for one as well. You can feel free to use the comments for this post to discuss whether Beauxbatons or Durmstrang will do something for their champions.

Three:
Also, it's from this point on that the amount of "Potter stinks" badges starts to shrink, at least among the Hufflepuffs. We can't be sure whether it's because they changed their minds about Harry after seeing him face the Hungarian Horntail or because Cedric asked them to cut him some slack (Harry seems to believe it's the latter, but he can't be sure), so if you're playing a badge-wearer feel free choose the option you feel suits their personality better - or you can choose to have them keep the badge.

Four:
On a different note, I'm sorry to announce that Alex has left the game, so no more Kathryn. :( Please run the button.

Five:
And finally, don't forget to comment in this month's Activity Check. Only three days left!
And stay tuned, as our new plot post will come very soon...