Season 1 – Issue 1

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Contents:

• Meet the Headmistresses
• House Crests Competition
• Grammar School
• Great Book Review
• Aunt Molly
• League Table
• Trivia and Puzzles

The Opening Ceremony: The International Wizarding School Championship

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Meet Your Headmistresses

We asked each Headmistress to introduce herself:

I’m Verity Grahams, Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! I like to run Hogwarts like a few of my well-loved predecessors! I have a wacky, devil may care side, ready for fun and mischief, just like Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. I like to bring a bit of mystery and intrigue like our favourite Spy, Headmaster Severus Snape, and I will do anything to keep my students on their toes! And finally, protective, fair, yet strict like our beloved Headmistress Minerva McGonagall! I even have a feline sidekick to help me out – like Umbridge!

I am very competitive, and I want Hogwarts to win! Consider my inbox open, as Albus Dumbledore said:

“Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.”

Albus Dumbledore

Hello, everyone!

I am Carolare Scarletus, Headmistress of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I’ve been an avid reader all my life and only got my start in writing fanfiction in 2015. Before then, I didn’t know what it was. I wish I found out about it sooner because Harry Potter is such a large fandom, and not knowing about it until just three or so years ago is almost absurd! Writing and reading are so important to me that it sometimes exceeds the most essential things in my daily life. Almost. I’m generally shy in person, but I open up once I get to know someone.

As for the competition… remember, character is far greater than a person’s power.

I’m Headmistress Lun, and I have been taking care of my children at Mahoutokoro School of Magic since the love of my life tragically died in a potions accident. She was the greatest sorcerer on the Japanese archipelago, and her death drove me towards the islands in the south. Here I found a new lease of life as a teacher of young magical children. I have now dedicated my life to being the best Head of Mahoutokoro.

I have established a strict set of rules for the safety of my children, protecting them from the same fate as my dear Katsumi. I am willing to do anything to keep my children safe from all threats. I would fight and die for my school. I will not hesitate to punish those that seek to harm my children or mistreat them!

Quoi de neuf, everyone! That’s what’s up for you English speakers. It’s Madame Hope here, Headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic! I replaced Madame Olympe Maxime about five years ago when she decided to retire and live a quiet life with the Hogwarts Gamekeeper, Hagrid.

I have upheld Olympe’s high standards of respect and poise for all students who pass through my doors. As long as you don’t give any lip and behave yourselves, we shouldn’t have any problems. Fair warning, however, that any rule breaking will be severely punished. Au revoir!

My name is Professor Claire, and I’m the Headmistress of the Durmstrang Institute of Magical Learning. I have been Headmistress for the last twenty years since Professor Igor Karkaroff met his demise at the hands of a famous dark wizard.

Since taking over as Headmistress, I have abolished such a heavy emphasis on The Dark Arts, and I will not turn a blind eye to anyone attempting to use or learn any form of The Dark Arts on my watch. Nor will I tolerate any kind of bullying either, you will be in detention before you can blink, or worse EXPELLED!

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House Crests Competition

Hello students,

Unfortunately, there was an accident at the premiere of the International Wizarding School Championship. It’s rather embarrassing, to say the least, but here goes…

It happened when the School Crests were joined in a great display of unity, showing the cooperation and friendship between all wizarding schools that participate in this competition. There were fireworks, and it was majestic! That is until a rogue whizz-b*** collided with the ancient crests. Needless to say, they did not survive the collision, and we have been left with a mess of melted majesty — well they are not very majestic now. While we do welcome the intermingling of schools, this is not what we had in mind, we prefer our crests to show the unique glory of our various halls of ivy.

As all of our schools are now without an official crest and the teachers are still rattled — rumour has it that some have sought psychological support as they feel responsible for the great mess — we are now in desperate need of new crests.

As such the five great Headmistresses got together and hatched a plan! We are turning to our students for help! We are offering you the once-in-a-lifetime chance to design the greatest of Crests for your school. We are looking for originality mixed with tradition. Authentic styles melted in modern influences. Look up the history and mythology of your school, the culture of its country of origin, as well as its influences and present us with your very own version of your school’s Crest.

The winner will receive 5 points for their team and eternal glory. Entries are due before 9pm GMT on the 30th of January, and the winner will be announced in the next issue of the World Wizarding News. To enter, send a link (with spaces in between all punctuation) to WizardingSchoolChampionship, this can be to google docs or deviant art. The Headmistresses can then view the pieces, and a winner will be announced in the following issue.

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What is The Grammar School?

Rules

A drabble story should be 500 – 900 words long. There is a grace for your word count, 10% over or under, but in the instance, it is more than this your story will not be considered. There will be an article regarding the challenge in each issue of the Wizarding World News, which will give you the details along with hints and tips on making that technique work. There will also be a section on what this particular technique is used for.

Judging Criteria
Spelling – ?/2
Punctuation – ?/2
Grammar – ?/2
(Chosen Technique – ?/2)
Plot – ?/2

Spelling – ?/2
Punctuation – ?/2
Grammar – ?/2
(Chosen Technique – ?/2)
Plot – ?/2

The Present Perfect Tense

The present perfect tense is a style of writing that refers to ‘action’ or ‘state’ that happened in an undefined time in the past;

‘we have spoken before’.

This ‘action’ or ‘state’ may also have begun in the past but has continued into the present; ‘she has grown unsettled over the past week’. The Present perfect tense is formed of have/has, plus the past participle.

A past participle indicates past or completed action or time. It is often called the ‘ed’ form as it is formed by adding d or ed, to the base form of regular verbs; however it is also formed in various other ways for irregular verbs. The construction of this verb tense is actually reasonably straightforward:

The first element is ‘have’ or ‘has’; although this would depend on the subject, the verb is conjugated with. (Conjugated verbs are verbs which have been changed to communicate one or more of the following: person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, or voice.)

The second element is the past participle of the verb, this is usually formed by adding -ed or -d to the verb’s root. An example of this might be;

walk, which becomes walked.

The English language, however, does have quite a few irregular verbs, and these would have irregular past participles: done, said, gone, known, won, thought, felt, eaten.

Sentence structure in the Present Perfect Tense:

Subject (I/You/We/They) – (v3) – Past Particle (Have met or Has lived) – Rest of the sentence (him before or here for three years)

(V3) Past particle

Walk – Walked, Study – Studied, Stop – Stopped, Create – Created

Time expressions in the present perfect tense:-

• Use ‘since’ with a specific year or period of time in the past: ‘since 2002’ or ‘since I was a child.’
• Use ‘for’ with a number of years; ‘for twenty years’
• Use ‘ever’ and ‘yet’ in questions and negatives; ‘have you ever’ or ‘hasn’t been yet.’
• Use ‘already’ and ‘never’ just between have/has and their verb; ‘has already finished’ and ‘have just been.’
• Use ‘before’, ‘since’, ‘for’, ‘already’, ‘many times’, ‘so far’, ‘yet’, at the end of a sentence or question; ‘Have you been there before?’
• Describe actions from the past, but are still relevant to the present:
• “Daniel has broken her arm” – She broke it in the past and can’t use her arm now.
• Describe the action that started in the past, but is still happening on a regular or habitual basis (like the present simple):
• “The girls have played tennis at the club since 2005” – They started to play tennis there in 2005 and still play there today. This does not mean they are playing tennis at the moment
• Describe actions that were repeated several times in the past:
• “I’ve already made several calls.” (Up till now) The specific time in the past is unimportant.

Never use the same time expressions that you use in the past simple tense;

• Yesterday
• A week ago
• Last night
• You may use unspecified time expressions;
• Ever
• Never
• Since
• For
• Already
• Many times
• Before
• So far
• Yet

To enter your story into the Grammar school, merely submit to the WWN thread with your school and year details, along with a link to your story which has been submitted to Fanfiction.net.

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The Great Book Review

Each round a member of each school will gain the title of Judges Pick. These will be extraordinary stories that stood out within their school. These stories will be featured within the Great Book Review. We encourage everyone to read these stories and show appreciation for a job well done, after all, you want everyone to review yours when you get JP, right?

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Dear Aunt Molly

We have decided to revisit an old column from the Wizarding World News: Dear Aunt Molly. She is the perfect Mama Witch who can help you deal with the trials of day to day life and a stressful international wizarding school competition! Molly has picked a few of her favourites from times gone by for your enjoyment, and anyone who is in need of some sage advice can send us a quick owl to the WizardingSchoolChampionship account, or my personal account below. Your subject line should be: ‘Dear Aunt Molly’.

Molly will publish those most essential letters in her next column. Feel free to write some creative, amusing and fictional agony aunt letters too because we all know that sometimes we just need a little light-hearted humour.

Question:

Mrs M,

I find myself in a slightly sticky situation. See, I was out with my acquaintances, and we decided to indulge in some activities Muggle seem to find entertaining. To be more specific: We discovered the joys of chewing gum.

Unfortunately, I have it sticking to my hair now. My wife has tried to force me cutting my hair for some time, and I don’t wish to give her more leverage in this ongoing argument. I also don’t know how I am to face my son as I strongly forbid all kinds of Muggle activities to keep him from harm like the one that has now befallen me.

Do you happen to know a charm that can get rid of it without ruining my hair?

Answer:

Hello dear. Have you tried getting one of your acquaintances to do a freeze charm on the piece of gum? I asked a Muggle friend of mine how they would deal with such a thing, and I was advised that ice is good. So try freezing it, if that doesn’t work, I maybe suggest you listen to your wife and get your haircut! Might I also add, don’t be a hypocrite! If you try to stop your son from indulging in Muggle repasts, he will only do it behind your back anyway.

Question:

Dear Aunt Molly,

I have written a brilliant essay for Professor Flitwick’s Charms class, but last time I lost so many marks because I am not great at spelling, punctuation or grammar! I have no idea what to do about this? How can I make sure my essays are ready and s good as can be before handing it in?

Answer:

Hello dear, Can you not ask one of your classmates or a friend to check your work over for you? I’m sure there would be someone who will be able to help you with this task if you just ask 🙂 If you can’t find a friend to check your work, I am sure a teacher can point you in the right direction.

Question:

Dear Aunt Molly,

Other students in my school, and in some of the other schools are being really mean, and I don’t know what to do! I feel so alone and like there is no one for me to talk to! I get messages privately that are making me really upset, and I have even thought about dropping out of the championship. Is there anything else that I can do?

Answer:

Hello dear, Please contact your headmistress/headmaster immediately! No one deserves to feel that way. It is important not to take this into your own hands, but leave those in charge to deal with it appropriately. Your Headmistress will be there for you and ensure that this is sorted.

Question:

Dear Aunt Molly,

I wrote a lovely story for the first round, and my team all said that it was perfect, I even got a high mark! But then I got a negative review, and I do not feel so good about my writing anymore. I know it’s silly for something like this to hurt so much, but they made me feel like I should stop writing altogether as they said it was rubbish – though maybe they were a little more coarse than that!

Answer:

Hello dear, I am so sorry to hear this, I too know the heartbreak of receiving such horrible reviews. My only suggestion is to ignore these people; I know it’s easier said than done, and I get that, but in my opinion, they are nothing more than cowards, whom in real life, wouldn’t say boo to a dragon! Unfortunately, as writers, we have to develop a thick skin, because there will ALWAYS be someone who will come along and be really nasty. If it is a guest review, you can just delete the review. However, if the review is a signed-in review, then maybe contact the reviewer and see why they were so harsh – or get a friend to message them and get to the bottom of why they were so mean. But for the most part, I suggest ignoring it, and carry on because you are amazing!

Question:

Dear Aunt Molly,

My friends keep asking me about the stories that I write and the forum that I am on. I am frightened to tell them the truth, and I think that they will laugh at me if they find out that they are stories based on Harry Potter characters, and that I am writing them for a forum. What can I do, to be honest, but not have my friends laugh at me?

Answer:

Hello dear, surely if they’re your friends they won’t laugh at you? If they do, then they’re not really your friends. Well, at least that is my experience. A true friend will support you, and maybe even ask to look at your work, and give you the praise you deserve for the hard work you put into your writing. You never know, you could be the catalyst that inspires them to try it out too!

Question:

Dear Aunt Molly,

I handed my work into Professor Moonheart. I worked really hard on it, and my friend even checked it for errors, but the mark I got did not reflect the effort that I put in! What can I do? Do I have to accept this mark or can something be done about it?

Answer:

Hello dear, have you tried contacting your Headteacher? Perhaps you should talk to them and get a full rundown of why you got the score that you did. I know sometimes getting critique can be hard, but how do we otherwise learn? And if there is anything unfair about your scoring, a headteacher can arrange for it to be looked over again.

Hello Dears, if you have a problem, or you want to ask a question, send an owl over to my personal account. I will do my best to answer them all. You can ask a question about the competition, personal issues, or maybe you would like to send a fictional problem in from any of the Wizarding World characters? All are welcome!

Dear Aunt Molly

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The International Wizarding School Competition League Table

Beauxbatons	0
Durmstrang	0
Hogwarts	0
Ilvermourny	0
Mahoutokoro	0

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Trivia and Puzzles

How Well Do You Know Harry?

1. When is Harry Potter’s Birthday? (day month and year)
2. What is Harry’s middle name?
3. Which of the following potions are believed to have been invented by the Potter Family?
   1. Skele-gro
   2. Sleekeazy’s Hair Potion
   3. Polyjuice Potion
   4. Pepper up Potion
   5. Felix Felicis
4. Which Book does Harry think about to distract himself from Aunt Marge’s insults?
5. Who is called as a witness in Harry’s Wizengamot Trial?
6. Which sweet treat can Harry smell in Amortentia?
7. Which Creatures does Harry face in the maze?
   1. Blast ended skrewt
   2. Dementor
   3. Hinkypunk
   4. Boggart
   5. Grindylow
   6. Sphynx
8. Where does Harry first conjure his corporeal Patronus?
9. Which Colour does the Polyjuice Potion turn when Harry’s hair is added?
10. According to Ollivander, what is the flexibility of Harry’s wand?

The first to send all the correct answers to the competition account will gain an extra 5 points for their school! Some of them might be tricky, so work together to get those answers in quick! Feel free to contribute to other aspects of the paper by sending a private message to WizardingSchoolChampionship. We are always looking for pieces of fanart, and even your thoughts or recommendations. In the Subject should be Wizarding World News: [Name the section of the paper you are writing about] depending on what you’re messaging about.

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MagiWords Puzzle

The letters in the purple squares are an anagram for a Wizarding World word. Work out what the word is and PM it to WizardingSchoolChampionship.
First to get it right earns 5 points!