Welcome to the HPFT bulletin, where you can find all of our major monthly announcements and information about upcoming events!

We're very sad to announce that @Aphoride will be stepping down from her position as Auror on December 1. Laura was one of the first people to join our validator team, and she's done an amazing job in that capacity over the past year (as well as in her role as prefect before that). We'll miss her a lot, and her help was invaluable as we got the next event ready. We hope to continue to see her around the forums, even if RL gets busy. Thank you so much, Laura!

Our three current archive staffers feel like they have the queue under control, so we'll be holding off on replacing Laura for the moment.

Hufflepuff: 787

Slytherin: 740

Ravenclaw: 528

Gryffindor: 379

This month, we're all going to be taking a walk in a winter wonderland.

We've teased you a bit about this, and now it's time to lay (most of ) our cards on the table.

Last year, things got pretty hectic over the last few months of the house cup, which some of you mentioned in your responses to our end of year survey. To break things up a bit more, we shifted our events around. This year, we'll be having the FROGS in January... and that means doing our reviewing event in December! The holiday season in theoretically a time of togetherness, and we wanted to embrace that... and not just within our houses.  

You'll be teamed up with a different house for each of the first three weekends of December (Saturday-Tuesday), where you'll be working together to beat the other team in a snowball fight. Those teams will have special names, common rooms, and even some blinkies to show your team pride in your signature if you'd like. You'll have the chance to earn extra points and extra snowballs over the course of the fight... and even have the opportunity to block some of the other team's snowballs.  

We'll also be featuring our prefects' winter writing challenge (which will have some really awesome prizes!) and just playing a lot of fun, low-stress games.

The wonderland opens tonight, and the first reviewing snowball fight will start on December 1 at midnight, GMT. We hope you'll check it out!

Our first head student has been one of the most active and enthusiastic members of HPFT since the site opened a year and a half ago. We were thrilled to be able to bump them up to prefect last month, and this month has been no exception in their activity. Please join us in congratulating...

@BlackPixie!

Our second head student is also one of our new prefects. She's come back to the community fairly recently, but she's already made a huge impression with her unfailing friendliness, encouragement, and hard work - most recently, in the NaNo nests and in the Hufflepuff Common Room. A huge thank you to...

@Renacerá!

A huge congrats to you both - we're thrilled to have you on the team. Please PM me with your choice of what story of yours that you'd like to be featured on the archive, and thank you for everything you do for HPFT! 

With the chaos of the summer, perfect changes, and the House Cup events, we have missed a few months, but we are back and would like to congratulate this month’s recipient of the Order of Merlin…

@BellaLestrange87

Olivia has been an active and friendly presence on the site since it opened, first as a prefect and then as a member of the staff. She’s always willing to lend a helping hand and is always around to answer questions or participate in activities both site-wide and in the Ravenclaw common room.

Recently, she has been a commanding presence in the queue, helping validate numerous chapters since she became an Auror, as well as being a huge help in organizing many of the sites upcoming activities.

Congratulations once again to Olivia! 

(award to be edited in)

A huge congratulations to @FlamingQuilltips for winning December's SotM!

Is destiny determined by Chance or Choice?

If it is a bit of both, then, the story began years before that fateful Halloween night. It began before the Prophesy was made. It began when a small, puny boy chanced upon a bright, cheerful young girl.

Once Upon The Marauders: The Untold Story of their journey through seven years at Hogwarts.

~Canon Compliant~

banner by loveatfirstview @TDA

Every month, HPFT runs Fic Night, where a staff member reads a nominated fic from one of our members.   You can check out November's fic night +here if you haven't seen it yet - @TidalDragon read @clevernotbrilliant's  Inevitable (M), and she answered some questions about it!

Congratulations to all of our featured stories - to check them out, just click on the award. Please keep in mind that some stories may be rated M.

First, we'd like to draw everyone's attention to the winning stories for December's SotM and November's Fic Night...

 

Next, we'd like to feature the winners of our spring prefects' writing challenge...

 

And those of our FROG winners who haven't been featured yet!

 

Congrats to @abhorsen., @banshee, @clevernotbrilliant, @dreamgazer220, @esmeraude, @FlamingQuilltips, @melian, @sunshinedaisieswindmills, @TidalDragon!

November 30 - The Hogwarts AU Challenge by @cat!

December 14 - The Conjure Your Patronus Challenge by @MegGonagall

December 15 - The Dialogue or Description Challenge by @ShazaLupin

December 16 - The Totally Constraining Challenge by @Dojh167

December 21 - The Tanka Style Romance Poetry Challenge by @StarFeather

January 1 - The Character Vignette Challenge by @Rumpelstiltskin

March 1 - The Pettigrew Awareness Challenge by @Felpata_Lupin

March 2 - The Say Goodbye Challenge by @dreamgazer220

@AbraxanUnicorn (1)

@AlanaSibertelli (1)

@Lostmyheart (5)

@Crimson Quill (11)

@merlins beard (12)

@Pixileanin (14)

@Elenia (20)

@Jen25 (20)

@nott theodore (22)

@azimuth (24)

@Accio_Serpent (25)

@MegGonagall (27)

@SiriusAura92 (30)

 

OoM write-up by the prefects. header, promo image, awards, and the rest of the bulletin write-up by @abhorsen. - please remember to rehost & credit if you'd like to save your awards!