Memory Lane

[Nicolas King]

Do you have a fond memory of HNZ you'd like to share? A moment that was just too awesome for words or something that you still find yourself chuckling at? How about a trend that happened in HNZ you'd like to bring back to mind or an inside joke which you feel newer members might like to know about? I know I have several screen-captures of the board at various points over the last few years which I might share, and a few fond memories myself.

Share all those thoughts and memories here. It's been an amazing time so far on HNZ, and it's always fun to recollect. So if you can rummage through your mind for something that you might like to share we'd encourage you to do so!​

 

[Johannes Engel]

Okay, not gonna lie, HNZ and I have had a lot of rocky times, and many moments where we've felt like getting a divorce. But hey, we always work things out. And I know I'm far from being the most popular person here (in fact, I might go so far to say that I'm not well liked at all, and I know that), but I'm always happy to have my characters as my form of escapism, and I'm always intrigued to see what new crazy drama is going on in the world of HNZ.

I still find myself chuckling at the kissing booth thread. Way back in...Y5, wasn't it? Where Bruin set up the kissing booth and kissed Kingy, amongst all others. I could've kicked myself for having an 8 hour shift that day and missing all the fun, but I was laughing hysterically reading through it. I miss Bruin.

I was here from Y4, so back in the old days of the site. Some of the changes I would honestly say I dislike (*cough* the loss of animated emoticons *cough* interactive lessons *cough*), but a lot of things have changed for the better. I mean, for us busy folk, not having to do all those lessons means more characters and more time to RP (or in my case, slack off). I'm going to do lessons at certain times for certain characters, but not being expected to do so much gives me more time for RL stuff. Or lack thereof.

Admittedly, HNZ has caused some issues for me. I got too addicted in my first year here, and my grades in year 12 suffered. Last year I was a little estranged, but still did quite poorly at university. Now I'm trying to cope a little better. My RPing is still shaky and rather sporadic, but I hope I'm getting better.

Hmm, what else can I say? Related to the kissing booth, the whole first TWT was absolutely hilarious. The plots with the Durmstrang kids (I was one of them)...that made for a lot of fun. And it's good that I've been able to use my character again. I would hate to abandon one of my characters completely (which, I must admit, I do neglect a few but I couldn't completely abandon one).

For me, it's been a great 2 and a bit years, even if I don't show that at times, and I'm glad to have been part of such a great community. I'd like to give special thanks to KR and Beth, who have become some of my closest friends and been there to listen to me complaining about tough times. I hope I can do for you what you guys do for me. Thank you. ^^

There's so much more I could say but no words are coming to mind so I will leave it at that for now. But yeah. Thank you everyone for making these last two years fun. It's been tough at times, but I wouldn't be without HNZ.

 

[Sephora Finette]

I haven't been on HNZ for very long, but the moments I have here are very memorable.
But the most memorable moment (that some people may remember) would have been The Showdown between Sephora and Maria Madison.

((Confused? Read the Roleplay here))

I remember at the time, Rowan and I wanted to give our characters that "FIRST YEARS ARE FIESTY TOO!" Factor.
We discussed it at every single possible moment we had time to spare. Every single detail was discussed.
(of course, including a little bit of improvisation and quick thinking when things went a little haywire.)

I came up with the idea of a showdown because Maria and Sephora never really got along = Fact.
and there was always that point went tension bubbles over and a huge meltdown was going to occur.

I also thought it'd be awesome if we included the whole forum into it - we started making supporter banners and
tried to create some hype up. Of course, being too much into the moment we forgot to suggest it to Nick and the other Admins
to include it in the Weekly update = Ooopps >.<

anyway, if you follow the link above, that's the Roleplay it's self, I'm really proud of it actually.
It was a lot of fun, and of course a Massive thank you to everyone who participated or viewed it or even followed along with it.

It was Epic. Very. Very. Epic indeed :3

Now, It's more Samuel Skyes & Sephora Moments that are very, very squee worthy.

Also, Thanks to everyone who made me feel welcome :3 I was kinda questioning my stay at this website,
but y'know what? I think i'll stick around for a long time.

 

[Arianna Tipley]

I came on here over a year ago, January 17th 2009 to be exact. I was browsing through Bebo, having just discovered this strange business of 'Roleplaying'. I somehow stumbled across HNZ's page, and the New Zealand bit instantly made me interested. It's not often our little country down here get's a mention, or it's own Harry Potter site, so I had a look. After joining, with this character Arianna, I was utterly and completely lost. I was afraid to scroll down, and ended up having to ask Nick where Obsidian Harbour was. I also remember having a complete meltdown when I thought that doing no lessons meant that Arianna would be kept a First year, while her friends moved on to the second year. Viv assured me however, that things had changed.

Viv. She has been my closest friend on this site, and I still consider her to be, even though she doesn't seem to be around anymore. We talked about every little thing on msn, and I'm sure I annoyed her too at times As well as being my character's best friend, she was something like that on here too.

I've had many of those utterly dumb moments, where I haven't read the rules and made assumptions. There are too many to list, some rather embarrassing. Now however, I am committed to helping the site, not just being there to annoy Admins.

I think this site is really something special, and hope that we continue to have many good times on here.
Thank you to all that have made it so special.
Oh and a glop for Linda!
-Lizzy
This has made me strangely emotional.

 

[Imogen Day]

I joined on December 7th 2007. Which is over two years ago, I haven't been around for the entire 2 years. I have been back for over a year, and despite the fact that rejoining was both the worst and best decision I made of 2009. I have to say, HNZ has made things bareable.

I found the site randomly on Bebo, and thought why the he'll not. Never really thinking of what a forum would really be like. I had never written in my life. I had no clue how to do anything, and was very lost. It took me a while to gain any confidence for posting on the site. But I found my feet, and feel in love and obsessed with HNZ.
Of course I was playing a boy, which I had no clue whether or not it was allowed. So I told no one. I was going to have said when i left the site but, I was hurried, and didn't gain the courage.

I came back less than a year after leaving. Things had changed! I was once more lost. I was happy at least to have known a little about how to RP. I really enjoy coming onto HNZ after school, and being able to forget the school day. And relax.
On that note,

my most memorable moment, a personal one, and very silly. About a week into arriving coming to the realisation that I wasn't the only person who didn't actually live in New Zealand.

Anyway, going back to studying!
Thanks for all the memories HNZ, keep them coming!
Emzies

 

[Melodie Lowe]

I may not have been on this site the longest, but I am most certainly one of the people who has fallen the hardest for it. It only took me a few weeks to fall head over heels in love with HNZ and I haven't looked back since. I was intruiged to watch the way Livi "RPed" and was fascinated by the talks between Rowan and Lita regarding the showdown and just had to see what this was all about. So I made Melodie, I origanally made her to be Abathyn's (Livi's character) cousin, but she has come to be so much more than that. I look back now and laugh at how clueless I was. Honestly, I still have a PM in which Livi asked me if I wanted to RP, I replied "What's an RP"

HNZ soon enough became a huge chunk of my life. I got into the OOC section quite a bit, and got to know the amazing people behind the characters I had come to love. I have made so many more friends on HNZ than I have ever made in RL! Everyone accepted me, made me feel welcome, which is one of the greatest feelings in the world. I began to develop Melodie's character, and I must say that since alot of HNZers are my RL friends, we got a little carried away with the planning (hey it got us through the hard days at school!) and not even we fully understand what is going on with the Lowe family! So there were many more great and dramatic RPs surrounding that.

Then in the christmas holidays of 2009 I got sick, and I mean *really* sick. I had to post an absence notice which pained me quite a bit, because this was around the time I was on nearly all day and had begun to create more fantastic characters. I was so sick oneday that mum admitted me to hospital. She refused to believe I had glandular fever, and just as well, because that wasn't what it was at all. After three weeks in hospital, and every doctor had looked at me, I was diagnosed with graves disease, which rarely occurs in children but I had it. I managed to get back on HNZ and was overwhelmed to see the amount of PMs and posts in my absence wishing me well and offering support. Just having people to talk to made it so much easier for me. Even though you guys are half a world away from little old NZ, I feel like you're right next door. There is always somebody for me to talk to, to get me laughing when I'm upset, or even just to listen to me while I rant.

So thats my trip down memory lane. And my special memory was finding how many people cared for me and were there for me when I needed you all the most. I have made so many friends. I am also proud to say there are a few people I feel as close to as my RL friends, which I never thought could happen. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY HNZ and many more to come! This site is amazing and I hope it will keep going forever, because I am never leaving

Brittany ♥

 

[Nicolas King]

"Alright, Children! Gather 'round! Grandpaps Nicy-las has a story to share with you"

HNZ as from my memory:

Some of you have likely heard me talk about pieces of this, but here it all is at once.

I joined HNZ one night when I saw a link on Facebook. I read "RPG" and thought it was something along the lines of Runescape, or at least some sort of Flash game - something to keep me occupied for a few minutes, or even hours, that night and then I could go to sleep and move on. Hahaha. Wasn't I a dreamer.
The whole 'type out what your character does' thing mystified me. I was like "lolwut? How could that possibly be exciting?" I used to mock friends who went to sites like Gaia Online and then I was swept up in HNZ. An ode to irony, I say.
I registered with the username cedric_diggs and was promptly helped to change it. Sorting for Y1 was closing (supposedly... but it was later extended) that night but I somehow failed at reading the date and thought I'd missed the deadline, so I applied to have a professor. I applied for Charms, to be precise, as the application was still up. I was then told the position had actually been filled, and offered DADA. I took the post. Then I was offered Gryffindor HoH. I accepted that post, too.
Then enter Nick being a n00bey RPer (that's right, not much has changed ). I used chat speak and emoticons in posts (though never too much chat speak, really). Lots of emoticons, too. (Not much has changed there, either, except it's seldom in roleplays now). I decided my character would be the cool professor all the students loved - so I got myself involved in a roleplay with Bruin (you all know him), Heath Lambert (account deleted, I fear =( 'twas an old practise to delete inactive users - but he was awesome, Hufflepuff, and Canadian... but I repeat myself ) and Sophia Stark (many of you should know her, too). Heath and Bruin had done something (found the Slytherin common room password, I believe... both IC and OOC) and Sophia was not happy. ENTER KINGY! "HAVE NO FEAR, CHILDRENZ! I TOLD BRUIN AND HEATH TO DO THAT FOR... SEKRET... REASONS!" Sophia then got rather, shall we say, irked at Kingy IC and quite, I'll be blunt, pissed with me OOC. I then received a nasty PM which I responded to nastily. This continue on for a few hours until I finally gave up, admitted that it was too late and too hot in my room to function, and that I was sorry. We later became good friends and shortly after that she admitted to being both Sophia Stark and Kaela McIlvoy to me (which, at the time, was the biggest secret in the world of HNZ).

This RP was the followed with a series of excursions (for my character and student characters) to the Borely Mansion. I then started dropping hints that Kingy was also an Auror and finally I had to request approval to make the plot legit - which I received. That was a good idea, and likely the start of Kingy's real character development, however, looking back at it, it was quite a n00by move.

I've seen most of the big changes on HNZ, and have been the catalyst/mover/shaker of most of the biggest ones. HNZ has become a third home to me, and it was through this board that I got to know forum softwares, HTML, CSS, a little bit of Javascript, and eventually become support staff for IF/ZB. HNZ has helped me as much as I've helped it, because through my trying to help out here I've learned so much that I wouldn't have bothered with otherwise.

I've seen plenty of drama here, too much, and have oft' considered when and how I should leave the board. I think I've only come to a point where I was truly prepared to leave once. I've met so many great, amazing, awesome, people here and lost contact with a few too many of them when they left this site for greener pastures in their lives.

I remember:
- Alicia posting a poll with generic skin options for us to vote on for a new skin, which never happened. * le sigh*
- Requesting to become a global mod to help Alicia out (and being denied because she felt it'd be confusing)
- Every spam since the first one (before "Spam" was originally posted, by the way, the OOC was a desert... people used to... RP here. )
- Being in a mad race with Courtney to have and maintain the top poster role (this was summer of 2007, I do believe - perhaps even summer 2008. Definitely one summer, because I remember having to go away to camp for a week and fearing she'd overtake me.)
- Reading every single RP on the board (back when that was possible).
- Crazy Amanda/Elizabeth (Estrella and Elizabeth Malfoy) RPs/plots/etc.
- Athene's creation of the skin
- Athene buying http://hogwartsrp.com for us
- Becoming an Admin
- Creating my first and only student character, and having to abandon him before his second year. (I now regret that I had him deleted.)
- Reading about the release of ZetaBoards and thinking it was dumb
- Converting to ZB and converting the skin to a ZB theme (which was how I learned CSS)
- Setting up our first fully functioning domain http://hogwartsnewzealand.com
- TWT V1
- Other random st00f

I think it's been a good time, so far, despite my n00biness.

And now I'm too stuffed up to even try to think of more to type out. @_@

 

[Alexis Richarde]

Okay taking a momentary break from my break to type this up...

I found HNZ through Hogwarts Scotland actually. I was Nina Patrokov and very much a n00b. She was my first character and I had to send her over here for the TriWizard Tournament. I didn't actually understand roleplaying too much but I did know that somehow it had made me feel a little better about my situation in life, which at that point was rather suckish. Um a day after I think I made Aiden's character but didn't actually do anything with him until sorting when he was made into a gryffindor and I was all embarrassed that I had made a boy character. Really I didn't understand that it was okay and most of the male characters were OOC females.

After I had Aiden sorted I didn't actually use him for months afterwards when my first RP, I think was with Mike Goulding but I was busy with Nina who had become the HS champion. She was so n00balicious and I totally love her character.

Um... after a little while I got a tad bit better but I was still doing barely a paragraph each post with chat speak and I sucked. Anyway, I remember:
-TWT v1.
-Alicia leaving.
-HS closing and a flood of us HS'ers coming on over to HNZ.
-Having Aiden leave HNZ to go to Durmstrang then back then leave again because I found another site to be a little bit more interesting. (It eventually closed (see two points ahead).)
-Making way TOO many characters.
-Figuring out that Linda was Saks (yeah it was a fail but I was shoooooooooooooocked).
-Learning more of the phrases and st00f for RPing.
-HWA coming on over.
-CRAZY Izaak and Alexis plottage.
-Making graphics.
-Zats itttt.

 

[Eden Silverback]

This is kind of OOC but at the same time it relates to here as well. I joined around the end of the summer of 2008 because my dear friend Ana begged me for months and months. I agreed and I liked it but soon found my self on the wrong end of an argument and felt like everyone was teaming up against me and also my husband got deployed 3 months early and I was fed up so I left HNZ. For the 9 months that I was gone I missed HNZ so much but I was not willing to admit that I could be wrong its the Army wife in me. But Ana once again begged me to come back because needed me to take on Hoshi's mother Haruhi I agreed and soon Ana talked me into taking Tohoru as well. To make a long story short Tohoru needed a girlfriend and so I sent old Sir Nicksalot a PM and Eden was back. Since I have been back I have laughed so hard at so many of the things that have gone on here. I have also cried when people have died. I know it seems crazy to cry over a char but I cant help it. I really love HNZ and I am glad to be apart of it. I hope it stays around another 5 yrs and longer so that my child can see what it is all about. And by the way if I had my way everyone here on HNZ would be my childs Godmommy or Goddaddy when they are born which should be sometime around the middle of Jan.

 

[Abathyn Dalmoir]

Wow. I joined on the 10th September 2009, leaving me feeling very much a n00b

I joined after searching through twitter for ages on my cellphone, and while I was getting used to the novelty I found Rowan's account, and then I found the Hogwarts NZ account. I was immediately entranced, and joined the site with the username 'moppet44' (same as my twitter). I wasn't even able to see the full site then, I was still on my phone and it wasn't until I got on the computer that I realized I needed a full name! My RPs where somewhat.. crap back then, and I'm quite pleased that they've improved.

By my second week I was hooked. Just reading through the RPs was awesome, and I didn't have so many RPs for a while.. ish.

I pretty much filled out sorting forms as soon as I joined (being sorting time and all) and was happy to see that Aroha was a Gryffindor. I took ideas from my depressive mood and Aroha almost threw herself off the cliff. I have to admit I prefer her happy, but it's hard not to let everything happen to her! So far she's been depressed and she has leukemia yet she's only 12.. how nice am I

Now I have worked out what the site actually is, I try and write okay RPs without killing any characters, and yeah. Suddenly too tired to write anymore.

HNZ has been there for my really bad times and my great times. I'm so greatful for everyone keeping me from going completely insane and doing anything stupid (I distinctly remember coming online after having a (secret) nightmare and Nick telling me not to do anything stupid.. ahh good times )

There's also been those crack-up times that are funny on GD/spam/SRL but no-one else gets when I try and explain why I'm laughing. Prime example is when Brittany and I were discussing some exciting news but doing it very cryptically...

Me; 'I'm excited now!'
Brittany; 'What about? Oh, is it that thing that's happening in Vegas when you're old enough?'
Zach; 'WHAT!!!!!!'
Me and Brittany; 'It isn't what you think! Honest!'

You might notice that I spilled that secret just before on SRL , should explain a lot.

Right, that's enough writing for now.

Happy birthday HNZ!

Olivia

 

[Brian Getathorn XIX]

So my turn with memory lane wow it's been two years but there are definitely alot of things,

I remember when I first joined back in 2008, my friend had got me to join Gaia Online even though it's not really something I use and on one of the Forums Athene was showing off the site so I came over here and I read many things, I was definitely a noob at RPing sites as this was the first one I ever joined. my member name was Brigeta19 which was a nicknamed I used and the age I was... I soon changed it to Brian Getathorn XIX though Brian itself is my real name. I remembered not understanding somethings when I first joined such as the difference between OOC and IC, I thought that the whole site was supposed to be IC and that PM's were like Owls flying to each other, I know stupid....the school year hadn't started yet and Knockturn Alley (At the time we had Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley, and Hogsmede it was later voted to change the names.) had only one shop... so I decided to create a shop keeper, enter Luxen.

Luxen was originally designed to not be a Death Eater but instead work for them, however I quickly discovered that Luxen didn't get along well with others and had numerous trouble with him when we first started (Such as the infamous Dragon Incident). Luxen was a character that was indeed fun to RP with as he was definitely a different breed of evil at the time however I after meeting Linda we talked and decided that Luxen and Maeve O'Brien should get together. Brian my first character met Andromeda and Zazuka and together the three were very good friends, For a long while when I first joined I was very active however things in real life often stess me out and slow I become semi inactive quite frequently,

Important Events for my Characters:

Brian:
Meeting Andromeda and Zazuka
Not being good at flying/ Asking the HOH Professor Ana to help him learn so he could play Seeker
Astolye and seeing the Dreaded Nargles (he still believes in them)
Numerous Fights with Andromeda!
Destroying his Grandfather's journal and kissing Andromeda
Revealing his feelings to Zazuka
Giving up his friendship with Andromeda and getting it back (Though it's never been truly the same as before)
Fighting Luxen in France with Zazuka
Playing Quidditch!!!
Kissing Zura...

and more....

Luxen:
Fighting Thanatos inside the Leaky Cauldron, killing Giovanni Fiorelli
Meeting Mauve
Attacking various children...
Being a real douche in the beginning..
numerous arguments
Luthor being born
Luxen dissapearing and reappearing
Dying, coming back as the DP (though there's more to that than meets the eyes)

Tin and the Tripod along with that Witch Cynthia:

Tin was created as a somewhat companion for Luxen, Tin is very child like though definately insane. I've loved beating people up with Tin and anything that involves Tin's friend Mr. Twitchy, I like how Tin changes alot though has always remained the same...

The Tripod were originally shop keepers on HS (the now dead site XD) however I always liked them, all three plus Cynthia are based off of characters from Smallville since I love that show however shortly before HS was done Chloe Mack ended up in a Coma (never revealed who did it) ever since that story has continued...

Erica moved over to New Zealand first and got a job at the Daily Prophet where she continued her work though was quickly disliked. I didn't like that so I decided to bring another one over that people would definitely dislike the Rita Skeeter of New Zealand Cynthia Vandervoort, took me a moment to get her Pureblood status transferred XD I remembered that James Potter was on this site and for some reason (Actually I wanted him to get back together with Isabella Ormonde someone he dated for a while on HS) I began playing as him and decided to complete him by bring Raven over as his Gryffindor BFF. James met and messed around with a few girls at HS and Raven got a job as a Quidditch Player something James was giving up for a year before he graduated.

The Year after he graduated he began dating Kiera even though she was already dating someone else... they consumated their love and were married shortly after where up until recently they've both been enjoying the married life and playing Quidditch...

yeah that was a lot and theres more that I remember....

I miss many of the people that were on the site before including,

Alicia, Athene, Lemina, Bruin (Though I never RP'd with him XD) and even Sophia whom many of you know I've gotten into it with a few times... though we settled our differences shortly before she left and we still talk every now and then...

I may update this if I remember anything else and decide to post it...

 

[Aleyha Snow]

I do think that I should start with my own memory lane... May 17, 2008. Point Bulletin form!

- Kelsey showed me HNZ, knowing I loved HP and all
- Decided to join said day, creating Hadan Johnson (character from a book I was writing )
- Was a total n00b
- I RPed out lessons, but was too shy to RP with anyone else
- I didn't know you could have multiple accounts, so I made Hadan inactive and created Jaken.
- Let alone a guy character
- Got him as a Durmstrang transfer and became a fifth year in Y5.
- Finally told someone (Amanda) that I was a girl
- Joined Spam at the time
- Started talking more and getting to know the others
- Stopped fearing Livvy as an Admin
- Became a professor with Styx, also my first DE
- I started making graphics
- Made Hadan active again
- Had a ton of characters
- I don't think I realized just how much better the board was when it was upgraded to ZB. XD
- Got my first ever Parselmouth!
- And werewolf
- Stopped thinking Nick was a robot.
- Started skyping/crazy plotting with Livvy, Amanda, Julie, Katie, Jessye, etc..
- Started getting closer to people on HNZ
- Dramaz...
- Became a GM
- Realized Jessye was my cousin
- Became good friends with Nickles.
- Became HoH
- And now sharing my memories.

I know there is a ton more but I forget. Very easily.

 

[Bruin Dumbledez]

Hello all!!!

To those who know me, I hope this note finds you well. To those who have joined more recently, please consider this as an introductory message from an old dog who saw firsthand the development of pretty much all that makes this site great. I suppose that you might call me a bit of an overachiever in some respects (check the Trophy Room if you don't believe me ), but please believe me when I say that I never put as much thought and energy into real life assignments as I did to the lessons and roleplays that I did on this site.

I began as a complete and total noob to RP'ing, but quickly adapted with my main character Bruin. For a guy who teaches 12 year olds everyday in RL and was quite familiar with the Harry Potter books, well, it was easy for me to get into character. Bruin rapidly developed into an energetic, fun-loving big goof who just happened to have a strong desire to be the best at everything. He was pushed early on by little friendly rivalries with Courtney, Sophia, Ford, and Estrella, a natural friendship with Cyndi, and a number of run-ins with the infamous Unforgivable spewing Bellatrix Green.

Being one of the early arrivals, Bruin soon started working in Gladrags where he pretty much flirted with every new girl who joined the school for the next four years, not always successfully, but usually with a good laugh generated at some point. He also began to torment his many teachers during lessons, occasionally taking things a little too far and often using little loopholes in instructions to his own amusement. If you ever wondered why we went through so many profs, well, you probably needn't look any further than Bruin.

Of course, as there weren't many early active RP'ers, the need to take on additional roles and responsibilities finally became too much to ignore and I created a shopkeeper (Hudson Bay) who pretty much didn't do anything interesting, a spur-of-the-moment joke character in Groundskeeper Willie who actually turned into something better, and finally, the complete and total opposite of Bruin, the strict and menacing Professor Arithmos Manteia. Keeping him a secret was very difficult and I made the odd mistake in RP's that fortunately were not seen by many. I tried to spell things using the american spelling of everything, used different fonts (when it wasn't quite so easy to code), and even tried to vary sentence structure and banners to try and create some mystery. I was mainly successful, aside from fooling the people who would snoop things like photobucket accounts, but at least they had the good sense to stay quiet about it.

My latter years as a student were lots of fun as I took on leadership roles, tried to help bring Quidditch to life (sorry about that, but it is better now than it was in my opinion), had some awesome RP's, and even managed to help orchestrate some of the more interesting site-wide RP's (think Brotherhood-Sized Bet and Njord's Not-So-Accidental Death/Re-Birth). As you are likely aware, I am no longer an active member of the site, but would be if I were a millionaire and had more time to devote to it AND didn't have a wonderful RL family who deserved more of my attention than I gave them when I was active.

I received the email about the 5th anniversary and couldn't let the opportunity to post something pass me by. BTW, thanks to all who posted something in the various threads about enjoying/missing Bruin... it is nice to know that others enjoyed reading some of my stuff as much as I enjoyed writing it. Kudo's to Alicia, Cecily, Nick, Andy and all of the others for getting this site up and running, keeping it going, and improving it with input from all of the awesome members. It is great to see good writing and creativity... there is so much garbage on the internet and HNZ is certainly an incredible departure from it.

Happy 5th HNZ.

Cheers, Paul

 

[Leah Winters]

I feel a bit foolish because my post isn't nearly as good as the others... but here we go.

:: Steals Kaitlyn's bullet points idea::

-Was an active member of HWA, and was very shocked when it shut down. Completely unexpected on my part but as time went on I realized that it made sense because of the inactivity. :/
When we were directed towards HNZ at first I was very rebellious an absolutely refused to come over here because I felt betrayed, and wanted to start somewhere else. After a few days of thinking though I eventually decided that I would give HNZ a shot and made a random character(Evie Brennan) and I was told that I couldn't be sorted unless I was a transfer, so I had my characters name changed to Leah Winters who entered HNZ as a sixth year. I originally had Leah and Malynne, but I was finished with Malynne and decided not to transfer her. Leah, however had many exciting possibilities. I'm really glad I did transfer over because after a few days of RPing I was hooked.

-I was shy at first, but luckily a lot of awesome members here helped me out of my shell. Alexander Fields who transferred when I did RPed with me which made me feel not quite as alone, Maddiie also stepped up. There were various other people, but Alex and Maddiie stick out the most because they were the very first people who I RPed with.

-Decided Leah needed to pursue interests outside of school, and thanks to the Nickator for giving her the oppurtunity to become a Death Eater.

-I haven't made any enemies and don't plan too, I feel like I've always gotten along with everyone on this board. There may be people who dislike me, but they've never shown it.

-I've recently stepped more and more out of my shell. I've RPed with more...elite members of the board, like Sir Kaitlyn(Yes, I consider you elite), and I feel like I'm becoming a bit more noticeable. Kiera Potter has always been a welcoming RP as well.

-Also, I managed to have one of my characters accepted as a Professor. YAY.

Anyhoo, that's really about it. I don't know if it follows along with this thread, because it was more of a shoutout.... but honestly I appreciate everyone who has ever RPed with me, and everyone who has made me beautiful banners(Bella, mostly), Nick for giving me chances to do stuff... like helping me out a bit when I rashly posted a breaking into the ministry post. Foolish me. Instead of locking it, he pmed me and helped me figure out another way, and for that I am the slave of Nick. Anyhow, I also appreciate all the students for posting in my lessons. You are all wonderful.

Thanks for making this HWA transfer a HNZ family member.

 

[Maddiie Holland]

So I fail

Anyways I've been here for a long time, going on 3 years

What I remember, lets see::..

Well being Maddiie as my main it was very difficult to develop her

What I really wanted was for her to be related to the Weasley than that part of her history drop immeadlity, and I was a bit blah at first when I first started up at HNZ. You could say I hardly had peronsality excpet she came off the wrong way. Proving herself worthy of pure bloods and such yeah I didn't want that to happen. But it stood out for a while, Maddiie story been sad for the moment she first started, but like I said I was new to rp and had to develop her slowly as I went along. Though she did enjoy some good times here, so I'm not saying its all negative! Hmmm seriousley I lost all my memory hee hee but I do say this, being on hnz made me a better writer. Not alot may know this but I really have bad grammar issues and such. My professor in RL says I writ egood just my wording and flowing is never on point, so I'm really greatful for that


Okay what I do remember is::..

::...My rps with Kasey Carla and her family
That sort of just happen right after I kill off my mother who I rp with Athene as her uncle
That was a bit sad but I like the fact when it started off sad it became happily ever after. I didn't have no intention of ROswald getting married but he did and that I thank Nishma for

:::..My rps with Raziel as a few others of my characters
Yeah Brandon fun to rp as well, I didn't know at first that he was Seer! And that is how he foretell CHristina (Tina)
dying but yeah, Brandon was alot of fun to rp with though I neve rtold him of my other characters

::Maddiie as a student::..
Well she was good student just never made Perfetcs like I had wanted her to be
Still she had loads of fun with Ginny, Crystal, Lemina, Grande, Bailey, Alex, Liberty, Alexander , Professor Kings Bellatrix, I did a few with everyone else in my younger year but because I kept leaving it was hard for me coming up with plot lines

My Rp with Link::..

Link was my friend character who only use him for like a month or two than he left him to me
Playing Link more dramatic but in both ways evens out with Maddiie rp. He the evil version of Maddiie if she was a boy and insane LOL My rps with Kiera are always fun But I also like my rps with Leah, Razieland a few others. And the one that I like the most is the rp with Luxen! Anyways I think that's about it I hope

 

[Katalina Harker]

Okay so I'm finally getting around to doing this. Better late than never, eh?

So I've been a member a little over 2 years now and have to say that I've loved every second of it.

I found the site through Facebook and thought I'd check it out. Once I had looked around a bit I registered (with the username: iwannaweasleytwin ). So yes, I started out in uber n00b mode. About a week later I had already forgotten about the site when I got an e-mail from Alicia saying that sorting had opened. So when I logged back in I had 2 PMs...one stating that the sorting ceremony was open and another stating that I would need a change of name (hence the birth of my baby...Katalina Vanderhol). So after filling out the sorting form and posting in the sorting ceremony I simply waited to see where Kat would be placed and VOILA!! She got Gryffindor!!

I remember not knowing what in the hell I was doing because I'd never even heard of an RP site before this so I struggled horribly. Going back through and reading threads from when I first started makes me laugh hysterically and are always good for a few chuckles.

So here are just a few things that I remember fondly about being on HNZ:

~Being excited about Kat being sorted into Gryffindor!!

~Kat having such a huge crush on Bruin (but hey...which girl hasn't )

~Kat and Makato; Makato leaving and Kat being broken hearted; Makato coming back and getting back together

~The first TWT!

~The creation of the dreaded Durmstrang boys and the drama that ensued from the two of them (they have been and still are the original Durmstrang Bad Boys)

~Kissing booth...'nuff said!!

~The cuteness that was Kat and Sumner (and everything in between)...and then the nastiness that came from kissing that Slytherin that we all know and love.

~Kat's eating disorder

~Kat and Chace FINALLY getting together!!

~Kat's recruitment for a pro quidditch team...

~And I'm sure that they're are going to be a great many more things to come on HNZ!!

I ♥ this site and the friends that I've made along the way. You've all been here for me through good times and bad...always with words of encouragement or something to make me smile.

Thank you all for a wonderful 2 years and I'm looking forward to more

 

[Sophia Stark]

HNZ, oh where do I start with you? We have such a past you and I.

HNZ was my first RP site ever. I joined it right when it opened up in Y1 and registered with the name KaeMac. We were all such n00blets back then. I knew nothing about RPing on forums, so when asked to change my name I changed it to my own: Kaela McIlvoy. The character I created was based mostly on myself, with a few changes like being from Ireland and having a brother and oh, being a witch. XD

Then Steve made Ford and I got all excited and went "I want a fun character too!" And that was when Sophia was born. I basically made a female Snape with golden eyes. Oh the golden eyes. And for whatever reason I decided I didn't want to tell anyone I was Sophia. It became an epic secret for some time that caused me much fun and some grief as well.

I remember my beginning RPs and how sad they were. My very first ones weren't in the past tense, they were all "She walks into the store and looks around." I think most of them are somehow deleted by now, which makes me feel a little better. XD

My first encounters with Nickles were...epic. I feel like I use that word a lot, but it is so true in regards to HNZ for me. That topic was awesome. No one knew what a closed topic was, so we all just hopped into each other's. Ford and Sophia saw Bruin and Heath talking about breaking into the Slytherin common room and of course had to intervene. Then Nick popped in (literally) and stuff went down. We really did have a huge argument via PM and it was intense. I disliked Nick very VERY much for some time. I'm glad I got over that. =]

I, like Nick, remember times when there was no spam and you could easily read every topic on the board. Everyone knew what everyone was doing and was in each other's business. We all waited with anticipation for the next installment of Malfoy Manor to come out and read it and gossiped about it and had the best time. No one had celebrity avatars. Heck I remember when me and Courtney and Manders and some others used ourselves as our characters. Slowly we all integrated into celebrities, but for the longest time Sophia was just a drawing of Jaina Solo (yes from Star Wars):

I still cannot believe Sophia and Estrella had powers. I remember when we randomly decided to be related and connected our characters and jumped into the whole prophecy thing. Liz Malfoy and Sophia had an epic dream charm encounter with some Death Eaters and Sophia, Estrella, and Liz were all kidnapped, and so so much drama. I still remember the night where I sat up in my old bedroom in Cincinnati trying to decide what to name Sophia's parents and what their backgrounds were so she could be tied into the prophecy. I had so much fun with that.

The best things I ever did with the pyrokinesis were setting Bruin on fire, twice, and getting rid of it. It was fitting that Bruin was the only one to get set on fire by Sophia, for he irked her so. I remember the awesomeness that was those two and their love hate relationship. Bruin would smile, Sophia would let her guard down, Bruin would accidently say something he didn't realize was stupid, and Sophia would turn around and smack him with her hair as it whipped behind her. So much fun.

I remember the Sophia and Ford drama and then having Ford date Kaela and try so hard not to reveal myself as Sophia as I RPed with myself. I cannot believe I even pretended to be a different person OOC. I was so mean as Sophia! I'm so sorry to anyone I was mean to back then as Sophia. I took that secret thing a little too far. I still feel bad about that.

I also remember a lot of fun Kaela memories, like her and Courtney visiting her house in Ireland and going swimming and that one time Courtney and Liz took gender fudge.

HNZ holds a lot of great memories for me. I was so sad to leave it behind. I don't think I could ever rightly explain how hard that was and how much it hurt, because it would involve sharing things I'd rather stayed buried in the ground. It hurt though because I had so many amazing friends here who I never wanted to let go of. I miss all of you so much and the awesome times we had together. Plotting and gossiping and skyping at 3 in the morning, talking about the craziest things.

HNZ is where everything began for me. I'm on other sites now, I'm even staff. I still use Sophia as a character, although she has grown and changed a lot. I still make graphics, and they look much much better than when I first started I must say. And every once in a while I love to come back on HNZ and look at just how this place has grown and think "I was there at the beginning. I saw this all happen." It's just such an awesome feeling.

I heart all of you so much. For fear of forgetting someone I'm not going to try and name names. Just know that I remember our times fondly and I do still think about all of you guys.

-Kaela