Hogwarts Monthly Y51 S1

[Eoghan Blyth]

HERE FOR ANOTHER YEAR Fifty first for the record​ By Eoghan Blyth (Zephie)​

Welcome back to another issue of the Hogwarts Monthly, your one stop for all news from around the school, carefully curated by our upcoming writers and photographers from within the castle. As the year progresses, we'll be on the lookout throughout the school for events and news to you, our readers, in the loop! ​

OUTFITS OF THE DAY​ By Leo Ilves (Faye)​

___________________________​	___________________________​	___________________________​	___________________________​
Lilith Ilves Ravenclaw​	Juniper Veritas Hufflepuff​	Amory Raven Slytherin​	Mania Athanasiou Gryffindor​

PUMPKIN BREAD​ By Juniper Veritas (Faye)​

SPOOKY SCARY NIGHT​ By Rose Glass (Zephie)​

If you'd like to bake a tasty loaf of bread fitting for the autumn festivities such as Halloween then Pumpkin bread might be the one for you. The best part about this recipe is that it only needs one bowl and is quick and yummy! Ingredients: 1 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup light brown sugar 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree* 2 large eggs, beaten 1/2 cup flavorless oil 1/3 cup water 1 teaspoon vanilla Instructions: 1. Preheat the oven to 350, and spray a 9x5" bread loaf pan with cooking spray. Ensure a rack is in the center position of the oven. 2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars, flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. 3. Make a hole in the center of the mixture, and add all remaining ingredients: pumpkin, eggs, oil, water and vanilla. 4. Stir everything together very well, but try not to over-mix. 5. Scrape the batter into the pan, and place in the oven. Bake for 60 minutes, and then test the center of the bread for wetness with a long toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, the bread is done. If not, add another 5 minutes of baking time and test again. Ensure the bread is fully done before you remove it from the oven or it will sink as it cools! Source: Dessert for Two by Christina Lane __________________________________________________________

As is tradition here at school, the Great Hall was once again transformed for a scary celebration of Halloween. We had various activities around the hall too, a creepy old tent that lots of students seemed to want to walk through, scaring themselves for the fun of it. There was a dementor piñata, which in my opinion, some kids were getting way too heavy handed with (frankly those students belong on the pitch with a real bat in their hands) as well as the classic apple bobbing station. I didn't fancy dipping my head in a barrel of cold water and watching my make up slip straight off my face given how long it had taken me to apply it, but others were more than welcome to. There was another costume content too, with the following getting a reward for their efforts. Honestly it's a surprise sometimes to see what some people are capable of. Do you guys make your costumes at school, using whatever arts and crafts you can rummage for, or do you make it over the holidays and have an awkward train ride to school, hoping that no one questions the grey hair poking out from your suitcase? Overall it seemed to be a fun night, with not too many friendships lost over the course of the evening. Costume Winners: ​ Best Overall: Ares Zephyr as Edward Scissorhands (Zephie) Most Scary: Luke Lagowski (Zephie) as Billy Best Group/Pair: Professor Selene Le Fey (Mia) & Professor Kahurangi Josephs (Rowan) as a Selkie and a Mermaid Most Ridiculous: Leo Ilves as Banana (Faye) Most Traditional: Freddie Lagowski (Claire) as the Grim Reaper ​ __________________________________________________________

QUIDDITCH Y51 S2 AN INTERVIEW WITH A CAPTAIN (OR 4)​ By Eoghan Blyth (Zephie)​

I've decided to do things a little differently this year for our Quidditch news. Back in October, I spoke to each of the four Quidditch Captains one on one to find out more about how they found it working as part of a team, and their predictions for the upcoming year. Please let me introduce Susie Lagowski, Ivy Cullen, Sybil St. James and Lucy Holland! Eoghan: Thank you for taking the time to talk to me today, I understand your schedule must be quite packed at the moment as you have the upcoming house games beginning later this month. How do you find it, managing your school work and finding the time to be training with your team? Susie: It's OK. But you have to be real committed. End of a long day - you just wanna chill out with your friends, but you can't. You gotta get down to the pitch two, three nights a week, you know? For me, it's pretty much worth it. Ivy: I'm lucky I don't have a huge class schedule this semester so I can work around others schedules to work with the team both individually and as a whole. Sybil: Oh well it is a big responsibility to be captain of the Slytherin team. It can be quite challenging to find the time to do it all but when it's as important as upholding the reputation of the team you find a way. Lucy: It's a lot! This is my first year captaining solo, and balancing it with NEWTs is pretty overwhelming. I really miss having Lucy - the other Lucy - doing half the work. By the sounds of it, Quidditch takes up a lot of time but if it's something you really enjoy then you can make it work and the results are worth it! Eoghan: Do you feel as though you're allowed sufficient time to practise? It's October at the time of our conversation, and I imagine if you have a team member who has never flown as part of a group before, does this add pressure to how much can be done before your first match of the year? Susie: Well, it's my first year as captain, so I don't know too much, but I think it's OK. We're a team, and that means we look after each other. Especially the new players. It's just about having fun and being a part of something, you know? Ivy: It has always been an issue getting pitch time with four teams looking to book it. I don't deny that we have a few new members to the team. thankfully we also have some well experienced players and have all worked together to ensure that we are match ready. Sybil: We do have a few new faces on the team this year but we did get lucky playing a little later in the season. But Slytherin is a very determined team and I think everyone will be up to speed in no time! Of course having more time to practice wouldn't hurt but it's the challenges that help us grow the most. Lucy: Usually it's a real squish, but this year thankfully the first match is a bit later than usual. It's given us some more wiggle room to make sure our newer alternates can get really confident in the sky. I think if you're playing later in the semester it's not too bad, but Ravenclaw often tends to get put into the first match, and we never have time for a proper practice beforehand. Eoghan: This year, we have three Captains that are new to the role; Susie, Ivy and Sybil. Lucy of course has been Captain for a while now but I believe this is the first year you've been without a Co. How have you found it, moving into your new responsibility for the team? Lucy: It's been a lot of pressure! Like I said I'm balancing it with NEWTs as well as all my Prefect duties, so it's gonna be a reeeeeeally stressful year. I miss Lucy heaps, it was so nice having someone to talk about everything with. Plus it's my last year, and the same for our keeper Violet, so it's really kind of now or never for us getting to win the cup, you know? It's really stressful, but all I can really do is give it my best and trust the team! Susie: It's cool. I was surprised they asked me. I've been on the team since second year, so I guess I should've seen it coming, but... I don't know. It's a lot of responsibility - in a good way. I feel like people are relying on me. But it's hard, feeling like I'm gonna let people down. So there's good and bad. Ivy: It has been an enjoyable challenge so far. Sybil: It was a great honor to be named captain of course. I've been on the team for years now and I learned a lot watching Vanity last year, so I felt fairly confident stepping into the role. Eoghan: Quidditch can be a very rewarding part of the Hogwarts experience for a number of students, and as I understand it there have been a number of players that have gone on to have professional careers, too. Do you have any league inspirations or perhaps any former students that you looked up to before you are where you are now? Ivy: Absolutely. I have wanted to play professionally since I was a kid. I guess people I look up to the pros my siblings grew up playing with on house teams, Lizzie Taylor, Lucas Fletcher. and my brother-in-law, Basil. Sybil: Oh, that's a hard question to answer right now. I guess it just depends on how my OWLS go. But, more seriously, I never really considered it for myself until recently. As I've grown as a player I can see more opportunities presenting themselves. Lucy: I'm not planning to play professionally after school, I don't really think I'm good enough! I wanted to play at school for a lot of personal reasons, but it's never been my life plan. There are professional players I look up to though, like, one of my sisters is friends with Lizzie Parker-Taylor from the Kaikōura Kea and she's awesome! Susie: Oh, I always looked up to Marley. And my family. Almost everyone in my family likes to play. Not professionally - we just wanna have fun, that's all. Eoghan: I feel like I have to ask this because I'm sure there are students reading this who would have tried out for the team, but haven't quite made it on yet, which I imagine can be a disappointment. Is it worth them pursuing the tryouts and returning in future years? Susie: Yeah - and I hope they will. Not making the team doesn't mean you're not good enough. It's just bad luck. Lucy: Absolutely! I think most people try out at least once before they get onto the team, especially if you start trying out young. We've got one player who didn't make the team last year, but this year she's one of our new alternates! If you don't make it on your first try it could be any number of things - there might be older players who were prioritised, or maybe there just weren't enough open spots, or maybe tryouts just weren't your day! Just take the year to practice, maybe even ask the captain for some pointers! Or you could ask Professor Ayers, or maybe even Reeve if you can find him! If you spend the time working on your skills, you'll be able to blow them away at your next tryout! Sybil: Of course! It's always worth trying out and hoping for the best! You never know if this year might be your time to shine! Ivy: Absolutely. Teams only have a limited number of spots. Eoghan: So as we know, our first upcoming match is between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, do you have any predictions of how this will go? Ivy: I have always had Hufflepuff as my second preferred team so I will say them. but both teams have some great players so it should be a good match and could go either way. Sybil: Oh, it's hard to know for sure. The snitch is tricky like that. Hufflepuff has the slightly more experienced seeker but Ravenclaw has a more experienced captain, so I'd say its anybody's game. Lucy: I dunno! I'm really hopeful, we had a really good practice, but you can never predict how things are gonna go during the match. Like I said it's my last chance to win the cup, so I've gotta believe we can do it! Lilith's a really strong Seeker, so I trust her to give it everything she's got! Susie: All I'm saying is, we've been training hard. We've got a good team. I'm feeling it, honestly. I think we're gonna win. Don't publish that though, okay? Hey, stop! Why are you still writing this down? Eoghan: Of course we also have Gryffindor and Slytherin in a few weeks too. Do you think Gryffindor will be holding on to their winning streak this year or will Slytherin show them there's a new home for the Quidditch Cup at the end of this season? Ivy: Gryffindor will absolutely be holding onto the cup. Sybil: I am biased of course. But I think we have just as good of a shot as Gryffindor to take home the cup and we will be hard at work to make it happen! Lucy: It's hard to say! Ignatius and Aroha are both really good Seekers, but it's not just about them! Slytherin has a really young team all around this year, lots of players in second and third year. That puts them at a bit of a disadvantage, when most of the Gryffindors are older and more experienced. Age isn't everything though, at the end of the day anything can happen on the pitch so don't make any assumptions until the match is underway! Susie: Honestly? I think Slytherin are gonna crush 'em. Yeah. Yeah! Go on, Slytherin! Are you reading this? No mercy! Beat their a**es! A passionate display from Hufflepuff there. Eoghan: And finally, if you could give a piece of advice to anyone finding themselves in a similar leadership role, whether that be Quidditch or even another club, what do you think that would be, and do you think leading takes any specific personality traits? Have you found that you've maybe had to adapt too in your new role? Sybil: Well I am still new to the role but I think the best thing you can do is try your best! I think good leaders need to be able to make hard decisions when they need to and also be there for the people depending on you and set a good example for them! Ivy: Get to know your team and your players strengths and weaknesses play to your strengths and build on the weaknesses .. and of course remember it is okay to not win (especially if you are playing against Gryffindor) Susie: Well, don't do what I do. Whatever I do, do the opposite. No - anyone can be a leader. Of course they can. You just have to believe people are gonna take you seriously. So confidence, I guess. But if you don't have confidence, you can still fake it. Ask me how I know. Lucy: Oh gosh, I really don't know! I think you have to remember to make time for yourself as well - as much as it feels like you have the responsibility to make leadership your priority, you can't be a good leader if you're just tearing your hair out constantly. Remember to recharge and do things just for you! I think being a good leader is about being able to see the strength in other people, and help them make the best of that that they can. And you're included in that too! See your strengths and trust yourself! I think everyone could learn to trust themselves in whatever area they've decided to pursue! From my own perspective leading the Hogwarts Monthly, I can also agree that sometimes you have to just jump head first into what you're doing and hope for the best. Even if you don't have all the answers at first, you can grow the confidence that you're able to seek out the answers you need. Thank you to our four Captains for joining us for this discussion! Since October we've now had our first two matches of the year. Ravenclaw took home the victory in their match against Hufflepuff, with Lilith shining as their seeker, and during the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, Slytherin didn't quite "beat their a**es", as Felix managed to score the win for the lions. Next semester will see Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor, and perhaps the latter will be able to hold onto the Quidditch Cup.

By Eoghan Blyth (Zephie)​

Thank you for joining us for another issue of Hogwarts Monthly! We have another semester coming up soon and I would like to take this moment to let you know that from January we will have a new Assistant Editor on board for the team. We're always open to working with other students and staff around the school, so if you would like to be involved next semester please do reach out to me and we can work something out. Until then, have a lovely Christmas! - Eoghan​