HM Meeting Y43 S1

[River Hopkins-Vance]

River was still rather in shock that she was made Editor of the Hogwarts Monthly. She knew she loved to write and had written quite a bit for the paper in her years at Hogwarts, but the title did still come as a shock to her. She was sure she could handle it, at least the writing part. The difficult part was holding the meetings. The last previous editors were very difficult to follow, not that River wasn't used to always being in someone's shadow anyway.

The Slytherin girl had sent an owl to all the members about the meeting. She arrived early to the Hogwarts Monthly area, setting up the area with tables full of snacks from the Kitchen. She began to sort the chairs around the room in a giant circle so they could all have a discussion. On each chair was a little notecard. Once the technical stuff was out of the way, River began to decorate the room in more colours. She added her favourite fake flowers about the room, filling it with a lively rainbow of colours. She added a few streamers and even a banner that said "Welcome (Back) Writers." In her mind, it looked good. She hoped the others would agree.

River was pacing a little bit as she waited for people to arrive. She tried to stand still and just go over her little notepad of notes, about what this would require, but she was rather nervous to be standing still. Her purple hair, waist length, moved back and forth as she walked around the area, checking to make sure everything was in place.

When everyone had arrived, she stood in the center of the circle, feeling like all eyes were one her, most friendly some not so much. "Welcome to the first Hogwarts Monthly Meeting of the year" She began trying to speak loudly enough for everyone to hear her. "For those who don't know me, I'm River" She began. "I'm the editor this year and I know we are going to create some amazing papers" She tried to keep her voice as bubbly as possible.

"Today I thought we would just kind of all get to know each other, discuss a few things about the paper, and basically have a good time" She said, knowing the last part sounded a bit lame. "Oh yeah, and you all probably see the notecards on your chair. Those are for suggestions about the paper. Anything you think can be changed, anything you are worried about if you are new, or if not, just something you enjoy about the Hogwarts Monthly" She said. "Please fill them out when you are ready. We can talk about them if you'd all like. Also don't miss out on some of the food over there" River pointed to the tables. "The house elves certainly worked hard." she ended with a smile. Was she doing okay already? Only time would tell really.

 

[Rhys Garner]

Rhys didn't really have any comments about the new editor. At least it wasn't someone like Celia who would probably turn the whole paper into some kind of dictatorship. Though he still had one more year to worry about something like that happening. As he walked into the meeting room, he did have to smile politely at River, his way of offering her congratulations on the new position before he took his seat, making sure to remove the little card before sitting down. He did have to wonder what a blank piece of card was going to be used for, though it seemed he didn't have to be curious for very long as River explained it was for writing down ideas. While Rhys didn't really have much to offer, he did have to side-long glance at Celia. Now he knew she was going to have many suggestions. But he didn't say anything, turning his attention back to his own card and thinking about what he was going to write on it.

 

[Riley Fisher]

Riley was excited to be a part of the Hogwarts Monthly. She had many ideas and things she wanted to add to the paper. During the club fair she had only met the leader of the club and now she was going to meet the rest of the club. Riley had received the meeting by owl and currently made her way to the meeting area. She was excited to start with the first issue. When she arrived at the meeting room she walked over to an empty seat and picked up the note card that was currently empty. Riley didn't know if it was time to introduce herself to everyone and thus she grabbed the card and waited for everyone to walk in. She listened to the leader who currently had purple hair that looked rather awesome. She then started on the assignment and wrote down things she wanted to change.

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie was sure he would enjoy the last year at school, enjoy his last year on the paper. It was like he couldn't be bothered with much of anything these days. Perhaps seeing the end of his stay here was helping him to just... let go of a lot of his negative feelings. Maybe he was just detached at this point. Still, he had to make it through the year. He walked to the meeting, smiling softly at the décor. He grabbed some food and settled in, listening to the editor talk and peeking at the card. He wasn't sure what he considered would improve the paper. He swallowed his bite of food before looking around the room. "So, any thoughts?" He asked, trying to spark up a conversation.

 

[Elara Chatelain]

Elara was excited about really making something memorable with each of her clubs this year. Even though Heta was taking up a lot of her time, she had committed to each group, and she loved being apart of them. Once she found herself in the Monthly room, she gave River a wave before taking a seat near Rhys. She wasn't really close to anyone in Hogwarts Monthly, but she was familiar enough with the older students. The decorations were cute, and she looked at the empty card as River spoke. She didn't have much to contribute, as it was a newspaper, and there wasn't much to change about it. And since she was graduating, even if she had feedback, it likely wouldn't have mattered much. All she planned on doing was her best and writing killer articles before graduation.

 

[Branson Archer]

Branson thought that picking River to be the leader of the Monthly was a smart choice. She was a good pick, someone he could definitely see her as the person who could easily lead them to publishing well. He arrived at the Hogwarts monthly room, ready to be able to engage in whatever first event that they would have in this semester. He stood around River as she brought them in. Branson nodded along as she introduced herself and then told them what they would be. He took a notecard and wondered what he could put on it, when he would be leaving anyway. He had enjoyed the work he had done on the monthly but it was nearing at an end, and he didn't what he could suggest for it. But he grabbed some food and just began thinking about what he might suggest. ​

 

[Celia Vu]

Celia had known that her chances of being named editor of the Monthly this year were slim to none. After all, she'd basically picked a fight with Estella in front of the entire staff. (Although in her defense, it wasn't her fault that Estella was a terrible "journalist" incapable of taking constructive criticism). Still, she'd been frustrated to find out that River had been named editor instead. The older Slytherin didn't seem to understand that the Monthly was a newspaper not a literary magazine.

The one redeeming quality about River was that she didn't seem to be quite as afraid of criticizing the school as the other staff (not that it was a high bar). She had written a somewhat critical poem a couple years ago, so maybe there was some hope for this year. Celia decided to keep her expectations in check, however, as she entered the newsroom. The flowers were nice, but she was less sure about the notecard resting on her chair. It was probably for a dumb icebreaker activity.

So Celia was pleasantly surprised to learn that River was taking suggestions on how to improve the Monthly (though whether she actually listened to those suggestions remained to be seen). She grabbed a quill from her bag and quickly started jotting down potential changes.

Eliminate the Poetry Corner. Eliminate Recipes. Expand the opinion section. Invite students and staff to submit op-eds. No more generic headlines. Better photos. No more articles that are just event summaries, find angles. Actually interview people for stories. Start interviewing the administration regularly. Ask difficult questions during interviews. All articles should be related to Hogwarts or student life. Stop describing the décor for special event stories, it's always the same. Start doing investigative pieces. No more

Celia frowned. She'd run out of room on her notecard. She was about to ask the person next to her if she could have their notecard since they clearly weren't using it when Charlie spoke up. Celia glanced at her list of ideas, trying to find the most inoffensive one possible to start out with. (She had a feeling that telling River of all people to get rid of the Poetry Corner was not the best opening move, and she needed to stay on River's good side to get the editorship next year.) "We should start by focusing on the point of the Monthly. We're a student newspaper, so that means our primary audience is students. We need to be writing about topics that are actually relevant to students' lives." Hopefully this was not a controversial statement though knowing some of the people in the room, she wouldn't be surprised it if it was. "A lot of our content doesn't do that, and we should cut any articles or sections that don't meet that goal."

 

[River Hopkins-Vance]

River knew her little assignment would be a lot, mostly criticism. She had nothing against that. Why else would she put those notecards out. She enjoyed it. She, at a twisted level, enjoyed it. She had always been nothing as great as Emmaline. Nothing could hurt as much as her mother's words. She wanted to get beyond that. Make this paper her own with her last year.

She watched as a few people entered. She was surprised who spoke up first. Only a grateful smile given. And then Celia. She had respect for the girl. But honestly River hated how outspoken she was. That wasn't okay. It would get a months worth of not talking too, not that River's mother talked to her anymore anyway. But still. It still hit River the wrong way. But at least it was conversation which the paper needed.

"Thank you all" she said her hair dimming a bit with her confidence fading. River closed her eyes. forcing herself to calm, forcing her appearance to be what she wanted. Her hair spiked bright again. Taking a deep breath. " I appreciate everyone's input. I do feel like our paper covers various aspects of student life. That is a great suggestion" River dared to look at the Slytherin girl who mentioned it before looking away. "I want to hear all suggestions and I want stories that matter. This is a newspaper for the students here. They want everything." she said added an extra mention on the last word, "But we are a team. We are what people read" River continued. "So I will take all suggestions. I personally wanted to make this paper more interactive this year. So how can we make this more relevant to our readers. I know we do so much. I love our paper but can we improve? maybe. Maybe not. "

 

[Aine Thompson]

Aine felt terrible this year. Opening her mouth always felt like it was inviting trouble, or more importantly inviting notice. And at the moment, notice was the last thing she wanted. Everything about her just felt like it was wrong. Even getting good grades felt like a source of humiliation more than something to be proud of. She slunk into the paper meeting, knowing that if she opened her mouth she was probably going to get into some sort of altercation. Most likely with Celia. She had a notecard between her fingers, flicking it backwards and forwards as she pondered, her arms wrapped across her chest as though pre-emptively defending herself despite not having done anything as yet.

"It, uh..." And yet still her mouth opened and words started to appear, even as she was mentally screaming at herself to stop. Maybe people would be too focused on River's hair to worry about her, though - she was sure the editor's hair just changed shade, though maybe she was just over tired already. "It kind of feels like there could be more news about what is happening generally around the school? Like if there's new stuff coming into the library or if staff or students have anything planned, not just like, the standard events. Though...not to the point of, y'know, just gossip. I dunno, I'm just talking out of my...well, you know." She trailed off, feeling embarrassed that she'd even bothered to speak at all. What do you know about anything?

 

[Hugo Stark-West]

Hugo tentatively entered the Hogwarts monthly office. he had signed up for the club at fair day and was looking forward to being part of the yearbook. but the meeting would mean being on his own with a lot of older students. it had taken him longer than expected to find the monthly so he was a few minutes late. he just made it in as the girl with purple hair said they were going to work on how to make the newspaper better. he hadn't seen the newspaper yet so he didn't know what to suggest. so he just sat and listened to the ideas.
a little while later another question came up. how could they make it more interactive? he quietly raised his hand not wanting to interrupt anyone's idea. when it was his turn he made a suggestion. "is there like a quiz or a crossword or a puzzle or something in there? that might make it more interactive" he suggested hoping that it was a good idea, and the kind of idea that would make the older students laugh at him.

 

[Rhys Garner]

One thing he always thought he was quite good at was writing articles for the target audience and understanding what sort of paper he was writing for. This was just a school newspaper. It was for talking about school events and fluff pieces. "The Monthly is just a school paper, the whole point of it is to talk about school events and highlight occasional achievements while adding in all the fluff bits about book clubs or poems or the Aunt Meg section. A lot of members of the paper are doing this for fun, we're not here to dive into controversial topics or start calling out things about the school we're not a fan of." Not like a certain someone seemed quite intent on doing every single article. And sure, Rhys had dreams of being a proper journalist and making it big in the field in the future, but what he did understand was right then and now he didn't need to be focusing on the real issues. Not for some school paper. "Aine has some good suggestions though. We could have some highlights of new things going on so long as it's not just pure gossip."

 

[Marnie Frogg]

Marnie had been unsure about joining the paper last year, writing wasn't exactly her strong point, but she did have a lot of ideas all the time and it had been a lot of fun in the end getting to work together with a team to put something together.

She was pleased to see River had been named their new editor after Estella; Marnie had always thought River was cool and mysterious, though with good taste she thought, noting River's purple hair and the cute rainbow decorations raound the room. Not to mention River was miles more approachable than someone like Celia, who lowkey scared Marnie with her intensity sometimes.

She tried to pay attention to the discussion around her, doodling a little flower on her own note card as the others spoke. "I mean we're all students aren't so if it's stuff that's relevant to us then doesn't that technically mean it's relevant to students especially since I figure people reading the paper are probably looking for a break from all the intense stuff they normally read like classes and studying I mean i spent like two whole hours reading about werewolves I'd rather read a fun quiz or book review after that if I had the choice though I guess it is nice to know school stuff too I totally forgot the new librarians name the other day and someone told me she'd been a student before and I could not remember so maybe a mix of things would be good for everyone?" Marnie offered, looking up from where she'd been colouring in the petals of the flower she'd drawn.

 

[Lorenzo Vero]

Enzo had been excited to join the paper to give him something to do this year, as well as explore his creative side. So, when he entered the first meeting of the year, he was thoroughly surprised by all intense energy that took over the room as they discussed the paper, something the boy didn't expect. He tried not to stare at whoever was talking, because that seemed rude, but he also wanted to understand the dynamics of those at the paper and made discreet notes in his journal. Maybe he could use all this in a book one day.

 

[Michael Watson]

Michael felt a bit anxious about joining the paper, he wasn't exactly a prolific writer but he wanted to be more involved in the school and this would at least probably help him with his classwork. Still, it was at least somewhat intimidating actually being in the room. It was a bit different to a team environment, though he didn't think it should have been too different considering they were a team of sorts - just not a team united in getting hit by bludgers. Unless Celia, the cool but kind of terrifying Slytherin beater, brought them into the meeting room. Which could've been possible, but hopefully unlikely.

The discussion started and already seemed pretty icy, and Michael had to admit there were some good points. He'd always ignored articles about fashion and what not which meant he skimmed through a lot of the paper. He didn't really care about what people wore to the events, everyone usually looked nice anyway. He smiled when he saw Marnie speak up, though, she was always cheerful and interesting. "I didn't even know we had a new librarian," he admitted. He probably should've gone to the library more, but he hadn't seen it announced. Though he supposed that was their job. He nodded at the younger Ravenclaw boy. "A crossword seems like a neat idea." Quizzes might be a bit too much like being in class. Crosswords might too, but at least it gave people reason to stop and look at the paper for a bit longer.

 

[Giulia Alcott]

Although the arts club and yearbook had interested her, Giulia had decided she wanted to focus her energy on the newspaper, keeping it as her only school club. Having a reason to make sure her spelling and grammar were right had been great incentive to keep practicing her English, and she felt fairly fluent these days. It did mean she didn't have all that many club meetings in her calendar, and it was exciting getting to head to the clubroom and meet with her fellow writers. She was pleased that River was running things this year, though she hadn't spoken with the older girl much. She took her notecard and listened as River began the meeting, pleased they were mostly just having a catch up for today. That happiness dissolved quickly as her clubmates started arguing about what a newspaper was and wasn't, some of them speaking too fast for her to fully keep up. While she enjoyed the fun segments of the paper she didn't think more focus on news would go astray, but the conversation was moving far too fast for her to feel confident saying anything, so she sank slightly in her seat, staying silent.

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo really liked writing for the newspaper and found herself being more comfortable in the writers room that most places in the castle. She had been a bit surprised to hear that River was promoted to editor. Not that she thought the older girl would do a bad job, she just didn't know her very well. She smiled as she walked into the Monthly room and noticed the welcome sign and snacks. She waved to Aine and looked around for Abigail before getting something to drink and taking a seat in one of the open chairs. She listened to River as she started the meeting and started to ask for feedback. Considering how well that had gone in the past, Margo's eyes darted back and forth waiting for someone to speak up first. She wasn't about to be the one to do that but thankfully the wait wasn't that long before Celia and the others started to speak up. She listed and agreed with most of it. She didn't think it was a bad thing that some of the articles were just recaps of school events. But she did think things could be a bit more focused to the student body as a whole. "Maybe we can open up an announcement section? Like the classified section in muggle papers. If anyone needs help with something, or is looking for something, or just wants to make an announcement...." she let her sentence fade out but she was proud of herself for speaking up.

 

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery had joined Hogwarts Monthly last year, but had barely done anything in the club. It had been a little bit overwhelming, but he did think it would be kind of fun to have something in the paper this year. He headed to the meeting, feeling a bit nervous about it. The leader was different than last year, and she told them they would have to get to know each other. Emery grabbed a snack instead, watching the other students, a lot of them were silent. A Slytherin girl eventually spoke up and seemed pretty critical of the paper. Emery wondered why she was in it then. A few other people spoke, and Emery felt a bit out of his depth. He rolled his eyes when Marnie spoke. She was so annoying. He didn't say anything, though, as he had no real ideas.