Happy new year, everyone! Well, a new term. (: Just a few notices so everyone's on the same page with everything. <3

If you didn't do the exam, I am still accepting them until next Saturday. <3 If you don't want to, or miss that date, you can always buy moving up a year from Gringotts for 1000 Sickles. <3

The new term will officially start on May 5th, but you may post at Hogwarts now, as long as you know in character that it is September in your thread, not July. <

STUDENTS - If you go to Hogwarts, Firenze or Durmstrang, you will have classes to post in. At the end of the year, you will get awards for the grades you earn in classes, so posting in them is both fun and important. (:

PROFESSORS - You may post your lessons on/around May 5th. If you want to post a bit early, that's fine. <3 However, you must post your lessons by June 5th or your character will be fired. ): (This only applys to professors of Hogwarts, Firenze and Durmstrang.)

If you are a Club Leader or Quidditch Captain, you do have requirements to remain club leader/quidditch captain for the next year. For the majority of them, this includes posting at least one meeting (or one practice) per term. You may post more than one, of course. This is just a reminder so there's no confusion at the end of term. (:

I have recently been thinking about the plot and how we do have a pretty equal ratio of students to adults. So why would we only have one main plot that revolves around one and not the other? Of course there are many plots developing right now that will each play a part into the main plot at some point. However, for the next year, I believe we will have two main foci:

-- A plot within Hogwarts that can involve students from any year (yes, even first years!) and professors alike. I will post more in the Plotting thread soon, titled something along the lines of 'the rebuilding of Hogwarts'.

-- Clash of the Villains! Yes, this has already been in development for the past year, but has been developing slowly. Anyone can partake in it. The only catch is that you MUST roleplay out gaining allies/followers/etc. and the actions that happen. So, you can't just say that you gathered an army of 50 people overnight and took over the Ministry. You must roleplay the development of said army, including the first people you recruited, and it all must develop realistically in relation to time. Well, there's the catch, but what's it all about? Well, there are many villains about in various countries with various motivations and ideals. Without Voldemort taking the spotlight, they're bound to clash as they all try to make their mark in the world.

There are quite a few awards coming up soon for:

-- Most House Points earned last term.
-- Grades awards for classes last term.
-- Awards for the top places in the Dodecawizard Tournament (and 1000 Galleons (17,000 Sickles) to the winner!).

As per decided in the poll, Gringotts will be revamped like two terms ago, but in a more organized fashion. If you weren't here, this means that each member will have an inventory thread (if you want one) and you can buy items that get put in your inventory thread with the Sickles you get from posting. (: All the current features in Gringotts will stay - this will just be added on top of it. (: So you can still earn $$ from posting open threads, etc., you can still buy houses and OOC purchases as well. You'll just also be able to buy wands, brooms and school supplies for your characters.

Wonder what's the point? Well, it's a good way to spend those Sickles that might otherwise sit there, you get to have a big inventory of things to hold in your vault and it's a good way to track what wand & broom your character has. <3

-- Gringotts will be set up.
-- Awards will be posted.
-- Hogwarts Lottery to win custom titles, House Points and even more Sickles! <3
-- Firenze will be put back in its own category with sub-boards once someone has won the Third Task. <3