Closed Group Brainstorm | HM Meeting S1/Y38

[Nell Night]

Throwing herself into school life was much easier than facing her problems, and Nell was eager to get things moving on the Monthly. Once she had an entire paper to run it would be much harder to dwell on her issues with Jasper and Selene, so Nell had busied herself with setting up for the first meeting. There were a few new faces to welcome to the club, but mostly she was looking forward to working with her familiar team for another year. She had arranged all of the seats around a large table and taken a seat at the head of it, plenty of snacks and spare paper and quills in the center. She had a few fun ideas for ways they could get going this semester and the way she wanted to leave the paper off when she graduated, and Nell couldn't wait for her clubmates to arrive so they could get to work on this semester's issue.

 

[River Hopkins-Vance]

River had really enjoyed being part of the Hogwarts Monthly last year. It finally gave her a chance to work on her writing skills and improve. Even though she loved to write, she knew she could always use some improvement. It was also a bonus that she was able to spend some time with her older sister. It wasn't often the young Slytherin saw her since they were in both different houses and years. This definitely gave them sort of a common ground.

River entered the Hogwarts Monthly meeting room, seeing that she was one of the first to arrive. She smiled brightly as she saw the editor Neil already there. "Heya" She said happily as she tucked a piece of her long green hair behind her ear. "I guess I'm a little early" River noted looking around the room. Normally she was quite early for everything; it really wasn't a surprise. She could not help but wonder what they would be discussing today, which article she would choose to write for this issue. The young Slytherin was ready to get a little out of her comfort zone in the off chance she could expand her writing skills.

 

[Cyzarine Haden]

Cyzarine would be sad to no longer write for the monthly, it had been such a fundamental part of her school life and when she graduated she was sure she wouldn't do much more with it. When she'd join the school she'd thought she'd either do something in charms like her dad or do something with writing. But she knew now that her life wouldn't follow either of those paths. Instead she would be doing something that she was interested in as much as she had been in those. She was excited for her life and excited to give her all to the monthly. She arrived at the room and greeted the pair that were already there. "Hi girls!" she said warmly. She knew that in recent years she'd become closer to Selene than she now was to Nell, but she still appreciated and liked Nell. ​

 

[Branson Archer]

Branson had thought his articles in the monthly were going pretty well. It was an good outlet for his reading and he knew his dad had little cut outs of them on the fridge at home, so of course he wasn't going to stop, instead he was quite eager to get to writing another one. He had done a little reading of it already, having gone over it a few times to be sure that he had it right in his head. but there was a meeting for the club first. he arrived at the room noting he was one of the few to have arrived and waved at them and then found a spot to just wait for things to get started. ​

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

Adorah was glad she had joined the school publication and wished she had spent even more time earlier on. But it wasn't until she had actually connected with Nadia that her musings into the writer world actually made sense. Entering the room, she noticed a few familiar faces and waved to Cyzarine and Nell. She was a little sad to see the seventh years go, as she was more familiar with the graduates than she had been other years. Taking a seat, she pulled out her journal and started to jot down some ideas as she waited for the meeting to start.

 

[Elara Chatelain]

Elara's dads weren't too happy with her joining yet another club, but as long as she kept her grades up, she knew she'd show them it was worth it. As she entered the newspaper room, she noticed a familiar face. "Hi, Branson," she said as she took a seat next to him. "Read any good books lately?" she said with a smile, recalling their conversation on the train earlier. She wasn't sure what exactly working for the paper meant, but she was sure it would be fun. @Branson Archer

 

[Rhys Garner]

Rhys was incredibly eager for his first Hogwarts Monthly meeting, having already told his dad all about the fact he had joined the school newspaper and was closer to following his dream of being a journalist. He had made sure to bring his notebook along, already having written some stories about things he had found around Hogwarts since being here in the hopes that it might be interesting. When it arrived he was thankful he was not the first one there, hugging his notebook a little closer to his chest as he glanced around the room at the other members as he waited for the meeting to properly start.

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie was nervous about his first meeting, but he was sure it would turn out alright. Right? He snuck down to the room, slipping inside quietly. He didn't know anyone, and didn't want to make a big scene. He settled down in the back of his room, opening up his journal and immediately starting to scribble down his thoughts about everyone he saw, wanting to remember them. He just hoped this went well, and he could make his dad proud of him.

 

[Samantha Jacobs]

Samantha was always eager for the club activities. She liked the clubs that she participated in, and this meeting was no different for Samantha. The young Hufflepuff walked into the Hogwarts Monthly room, where the meeting had been held. She noticed a few familiar faces. "Hello everyone," Samantha says with a small smile and wave before taking a seat with everyone else. The young Hufflepuff had always enjoyed writing for the paper, and was happy that she was doing it for another year.

 

[Thalia Pourroulis]

Joining the Hogwarts Monthly had helped Thalia improve her writing skills, something she had always enjoyed doing. It made her realise what she wanted to do after school, potentially, and she was really excited for this year. They seemed to have recruited a few newbies, though the fourth year knew she was going to focus on her own writing if she wanted to be even better. She couldn't afford to worry about anyone else possibly being better than her - though it wouldn't surprise her if they were. She smiled softly at the room full of people when she entered, noticing new faces and recognising the same members from last year, and took a seat as she waited for the meeting to start.​

 

[Sydney Townsend]

Sydney found it strange how much she’d seen the staff of the school paper change and yet stay the same year after year. She knew it was Nell’s last year as their editor, and while she’d miss her slightly less than she’d missed Sophie, it would still be a shame to see her leave. Not that Sydney would say as much. It was still weird to talk to Nell one on one since they’d kissed last year, and Sydney wasn’t about to make her discomfort obvious. She also wasn’t going to give another member of the club the satisfaction of showing she was uncomfortable either, making the effort to pointedly avoid Samantha as she made it to the club room for their meeting.

The club was already chatting quietly amongst themselves and Sydney slumped in her chair, already pulling out her notebook and scribbling down a few ideas. “I hope you all have some actually interesting ideas to work on this year,” she said mildly, eyes focused on her own writing. Sydney wanted to try something a bit different this semester, already jotting down some article ideas she could cover. She was glad Nell had approved Violet publishing poetry in the Monthly, annoyed she hadn’t thought of it herself, but she wanted to stretch her own writing muscles more than just doing advice columns or reports on the duelling tournament.

 

[Poppy Perkins]

Poppy couldn't believe she had almost forgotten about the Monthly meeting. She had been so caught up with everything else it slipped her mind and now she found herself walking quickly towards the club room. She opened the door with more force than she intended and froze when she saw just how many people were already inside. She smiled at all of them and tucked her hair behind her ears as she ducked inside and took a seat next to Nell. She wasn't making a very good impression on the new students and she hoped the heat in her cheeks wasn't as bad as she feared. If she was supposed to take over next year she needed to keep her cool. "Hello everyone." she greeted enthusiastically before pulling out her notebook.

 

[Nell Night]

Nell was pleased to see so many familiar and new faces filling in the clubroom as members began arriving for their first meeting of the year. "Alright everyone, let's get started!" She said cheerfully, once it looked like the room had filled up about as much as it was going to. "Obviously one of the main things we need to sort out is article assignments, but we'll get to that in a bit. Firstly I'd like to start the year off with a bit of a brainstorm. Obviously it's our job to cover subjects that relate to school life around Hogwarts, but as a newspaper I think we could be expanding our scope a bit. We've all got interests and questions that stretch beyond these walls, so I thought it would be a nice idea to brainstorm some articles for the future, thinking about things that relate more about the magical world at large than our own lives at Hogwarts. Violet had a really good idea last year, with her article about the stress of choosing a career, and I'd love to hear more ideas like that. It could be absolutely anything - Werewolf rights, the history of magical-muggle relations, secrets of international Quidditch teams, whatever interests you guys. I just want this to be an open pitch session, where you guys can bring up any ideas you find interesting to write about, so that when future issues roll around we've got loads of material to pull from, beyond just... who had the prettiest Yule Ball dress." Nell smiled encouragingly, looking around the table at her fellow writers. "Does anyone have any ideas they'd like to start us off with?"

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie watched as people wandered into the room, keeping his pen ready in case he needed to take any notes. He looked up as Nell started to speak, thinking over everything she said. After a moment, he raised his hand nervously. "Um, Miss Editor?" He asked softly, before clearing his throat and trying to be louder. "I've always found it odd how shut off the school is. I grew up with a mix of magical and muggle life, it seems weird to me that the school doesn't expects us to blend into the muggle world seamlessly but all they offer is one optional class. I mean, we can grow horns on each other and fly but we rely on birds to talk to each other?" He looked around, a little nervous. Was he being ridiculous?

 

[Estella Fuentes]

Estella admittedly was running a little late to the Hogwarts Monthly meeting. She had a knack for being late to things it seemed as she pretty much almost missed the train to the school as well. The only thing it seemed she was on time for was classes, but even then, Estella still found herself rushing to them. The girl slipped in as Nell began her speech, asking the group what they had to offer to make the issues more interesting. As she sat down, she listened as a younger Hufflepuff began talking about how the muggle world was shut off from everyone at the school. Estella wanted to say something, so she began speaking as soon as he was done. "I agree that there are opportunities that we are missing when it comes to that in terms of what we write about in these issues, however some people aren't comfortable learning about the muggle world or having anything to do with it, for many different reasons personal to them. Personally I have nothing against it, but Muggle Studies is an optional class for a reason as many people have different views on that subject and I think that needs to be taken into account when entertaining our readers. That being said however, perhaps we could try doing a short article this year and see how the audience reacts?"

 

[Rhys Garner]

Rhys perked up as the editor started the meeting off, quietly listening to what she had to say. Already his brain was thinking hard about what sort of things they might be able to add to the paper, though he was beaten to it by another first year. Rhys frowned a little, thinking about his own opinion carefully. "It could sort of be... a mix of muggle and magical? Maybe like... a guide to help Muggleborn students adjust to Hogwarts and magic." He knew something like that would have helped him out a lot when he had first arrived at Hogwarts. "Some people don't have any contact at all with the muggle world even outside of Hogwarts and don't really want to so it seems a bit pointless to write about it...." He trailed off, quieting down to let someone else speak up.

 

[Nell Night]

Nell listened to the discussion between her writers, considering the perspectives for a long moment before speaking. "I don't think comfort of readers with prejudices is something we should be prioritising." She said first, addressing the concerns raised. "I understand where you're coming from, but if people who hold that kind of wrongful belief aren't ever challenged or presented with worldviews other than their own, they'll carry right on believing they're the ones who are right. As journalists, it's our job to present the truth of the world, not pander to worldviews based on bigotry." She explained, considering the other suggestions as she spoke. "As far as the actual shape of an article, I do think that a beginner's guide kind of thing is a good idea, but I do think that it should go both ways. We want to present balanced information, so it's only right to give both sides of the coin. Maybe it could take the form of comparisions - one thing that would be familiar to someone who grew up in the magical world, owls for example, followed by the muggle equivalent, texting. So people could go down the list and spot things that are familiar to them, and then see how it's done by people with different upbringings. That way it's not being presented as one group educating the other, but a showcase of how we all have the same needs in life, and the different kinds of innovation used by both groups to meet those needs. Is that the kind of thing you were thinking of, Charlie?" She asked, giving the young boy an encouraging smile.

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie listened to the discussion, thinking for a moment that it was going to be dismissed and feeling guilty for bringing it up, when the editor turned it back to him. He blinked in surprise, slightly pleased with everything she said, before swallowing nervously. "I, um- I think that would be really helpful, y'know, and neutral, like it's just a comparison, and it's not like we're forcing kids to read it, it's just an option, like the class, one how to article for first years won't really be like a negative thing that older students should have a problem with?" He offered, glancing around nervously.