Welcome to the first issue of Gryffindor's Owl Post! This is your biweekly news source for all things Gryffindor (with the occassional HOL update on the side). The issue today is more of an orientation issue. I hope you are all as excited about this school year as we are! We have many wonderful things planned, and this is just a glimpse of what is to come.

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Contents:
1. Letter from the DHoH
2. Den Messages
A. Mountain Den
B. Jungle Cub Den
C. Desert Kitten Den
D. Safari Den
E. Savanna Den
3. SPD Update
4. Clubs and Activities
A. Drama Club
B. SUN
C. Pawprint
D. GQT
8. Spiritful Closing

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1. Letter from the DHoH
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To start off, here is a letter from our esteemed deputy Head of House, Prof. Hatshepsut Nahyan:

"Welcome, ickle firsties and returning Gryffindor House students! The professors, staff and prefects of Gryffindor House have been working dilligently this summer to prepare for this upcoming term, cleaning the common room, polishing the silver (it builds character) and trying to decide whether or not to serve butterbeer during quidditch matches. It has been a long summer, but we think you'll be pleased.

This will be the year the tide turns. This is the year that HOL Gryffindor House rises to a new high, to become the leaders and model students of HOL. Gryffindor students will be held to higher standards, will be expected to enjoy themselves more and to be more respectful and helpful than ever before. And who will hold you to this? I will. Gryffindor House Prefects will. And you will hold each other to these new standards. Let's do more than take a big step forward this year, let's take a step up, shall we?"

Professor Nahyan is right on the dot. We will be making giant steps this year. Speaking of giant, has anyone noticed our big our house is? All of us at the OP have noticed; we can't walk 5 feet without bumping into an ickle firstie! We have been the biggest house in HOL since the school started. To help keep the students informed and having fun, we have a den system set up that organizes everyone into smaller groups. Here are the den leaders for the 2005-2006 school year:

Aelita-chan - Savanna Den
Jessie Barren - Savanna Den
Jonathan Rico - Desert Kitten Den
Mia Phoenixfeather - Safari Den
Mirabella Nevlome - Jungle Den
Missa Matz - Mountain Den
Lizzie Watson - Desert Kitten Den

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2. Den Messages
Each den has prepared a letter for their students:
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A. Mountain Den
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"I'm Missa Matz, and I will be running the Moutain Den this year, which will contain 2nd year students and above. My hope for my den this year is a good amount of activity. We will of course be participating in Den challenges as they come our way, but I am also hoping for interaction between my den members when there's not just a challenge involved.

I prize work above all else, and I will always acknowledge my den members who give not just our den, but Gryffindor and HOL their all. The moutain lion is considered an important member of the natural community and I look forward to seeing my Mountain Lions prove that. Mountain Lions live in many different types of habitats, which makes them very adaptable. I am looking forward to seeing that adaptability prosper in Mountain Den this year. I wish everyone a good year and I look forward to seeing my lions in the near future."

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B. Jungle Cub Den
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"Hello, I’m Mirabella Nevlómë and I will be heading the Jungle Cub Den, which consists of new first year Gryffindors! As this may be your first den experience, I hope to make it an enjoyable one through getting to know your fellow Gryffs and participating in the monthly den challenges.

The key to this is to understand and follow all rules! The HOL Handbook and the Gryff FAQ are two key elements that will help you succeed here. Aside from that, the best thing is meeting new people and creating lasting friendships! I am greatly looking forward to meeting and working with you all in the coming year, and to make Gryffindor the best it can be!"

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C. Desert Kitten Den
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"Hello Kittens, I'm Lizzie Watson and I will be heading the Desert Kitten Den along with my partner Jonathan Rico. Together, we hope to make your first den experience an unforgetable one, with monthly den challeneges as well as other den activites!

We cannot wait for the year to begin, however we do hope you have all read the HOL Handbook as well as the new Gryffindor FAQ. Both Jon and I are looking forward to working with you year. We hope that you are as excitied as we are!"

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D. Safari Den
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"Hello! *waves* I'm Mia Phoenixfeather and I'd like to welcome you all to the best den in Gryffindor, the Safari Den! That is, I'd like to welcome all of you that have been fortunate enough to have been put here. The rest of you... Well, Gryffindor's great no matter what, right? (To Safari Den members: I hope they bought that, I don't want them to try and crash the Butterbeer Bash I have planned for tonight...)

As your den leader I'll be here to answer any questions you may have, take any suggestions you dish out and give you a little shove in the right direction whenever you may need it. Make sure you check out your class websites now that term is starting and don't be a stranger in our den! Strangers WILL be dragged into the den no matter how hard they kick or loud they scream, so check for new topics there regularly.

SAFARI FOR DEN CUP!"

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E. Savanna Den
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"Hello :)

I’m Jessie Barren, and I’ll be leading the Savanna Den this year with my partner Aelita-chan. First of all, a hearty “welcome aboard” to all our returning students, second years and above! As a den, we will be working together in the prefect group challenges; meeting fellow students and interacting with each other, contributing our best to the house and the school, and of course, having fun in the midst of it all. I’m hoping for the utmost levels in activity and interaction from my den members, and I believe that I won’t be disappointed.

The Lions of the Savanna are the famed kings of all other species, and that is what we want you to be. Work hard, be respectful and helpful, make friends and enjoy yourselves. And be proud of all that you achieve. I look forward to your success as the Savanna lions, and in it, our own.

A reminder; please be sure to read the HOL Handbook http://hol.org.uk/handbook.php and the Gryffindor FAQ http://gryff.net/faq.htm These are the key factors which are indispensable in your life as a Gryffindor. Read them, and it makes your life a lot easier, and enjoyable smile.gif Wishing everyone best of luck for the term.

Jessie Barren
Aelita-chan"

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3. SPD Update
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Our team of prefects are divided into two groups: den prefects and SPD prefects. Here is a letter from the SPD:

"The Gryffindor Special Projects Division would like to say "Welcome!" to all new students and "Welcome back!" to all returning students. For new students, we'd like to introduce the concept of den challenges. To all students, we'd like to talk about the new structure of den challenges and upcoming events.

Den challenges are activities where your den gets to work together to complete a set task each month. In the past, these activities have ranged from writing Valentine's to one of our House Guardians to creating a passport for your den's summer vacation. There will be instructions posted at the beginning of the month for each task. The den who completes the task best will win that month.

The new bit to add on to this is that we will be keeping track of which dens have the most participation as well as which months they win. This way, we will have an ultimately winning den at the end of the year. So don't let a single loss of a challenge get you down, there's plenty of time to catch up!

Finally, the good stuff! September is going to be full of activities leading up to October's grand festival--Gryfftoberfest! In September, there will be three individual contests--the motto contest, the mascot contest, and the signature/avatar contest, as well as a den scavenger hunt challenge. It should all be loads of fun, and we look forward to exciting contests that will happen throughout the year! Good luck to you all!"

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4. Clubs and Activities
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There's a lot going on just in the dens! If you want to get involved even more, we have plenty of other groups that you can participate in. There's a lot to do just around our Common Room. We have great RPGs area, a library and places for general discussion. We have clubs/organizations like the Drama Club, SUN, Paw Print and, of course, our wonderful Gryffindor Quidditch Team.

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A. Drama Club
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The Drama Club was founded in a dark mysterious unwelcoming place, i.e the library, by a group of very dramatic people. The aim of the club is too have fun whether that be by, script writing, discussing drama stuff, playing games or producing a performance for all to see on IRC. They have their very own stage which you can find at #godricshollow, which any Gryffindor is more than welcome to visit, and you never know what you might see.

Membership is constantly open, simply PM one of the directors (Wylie Weasley, Ilona Littrell or Aelita-Chan), on the common room. Their very top secret nobody knows about forum is called Humfreys Hollow. Well, it's not really top secret. It's simply protected by the magical power of Humfrey. Hope to see you there!

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B. SUN
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The Studious Un-Relenting Nerds (SUN) is a Gryffindor study group organization made to help those students in Gryffindor study better, understand better, and perform better in their classes, plus giving us a better chance in the house points race! Now, I know all the first years would love to see Gryffindor win that big and shiny house cup, so participate and it may just happen! You can findout everything you wanted to know about SUN and more here

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C. Paw Print
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Paw Print is Gryffindor's newspaper/magazine type thing which revolves around activities and randomness going on inside the Gryffindor House. Shortly, Paw Print will be going under a renaming of some of the sections (which has already been voted on) and possibly a new layout design. We have many different sections in Paw Print, ranging from the all important Announcements, to News and even a Gossip column. At this time, Paw Print is not running any new editions, as the first edition is due out at the end of September. Around the beginning of September we will be selecting a few new writers from Gryffindor for the paper itself, so if you are interested please keep checking the Announcements Forum.
The paper is located at http://pawprint.gryff.net

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D. GQT
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Our Quidditch team is one of the biggest and brightest gems of Gryffindor house. Here is a letter from Missa Matz, one of the team captains:

"GQT is planning on winning back our Quidditch cup this year in a repeat of our first three years in existence. At this time, we have nine returning members from previous years and a lot of really good newbies trying out for the team. If you are interested in joining GQT or would like to find out more about it, check out this post in the Announcements section on the Gryffindor forum. If you plan to try out be cautious of the information in the tryout thread and adhere to the rules and information inside of it. We also plan on having a reserve team this year which is explained in more detail in the Quidditch post in the Gryffindor announcements. We look forward to having a successful and insane year, and we hope that everyone will enjoy watching us win the cup."

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5. Spiritful Closing
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And that concludes the first issue of the Owl Post! The OP staff wishes all of the students a happy and successful year.

"Hey, hey Let‘s all be Bold,
Everybody yell red & gold.
Hey, Hey let's do it again,
Everybody yell go fight win!"