Australian Rivalry

By Nick Shwimmer

Hello Everyone! Since there’s not much more Quidditch News here at Hogwarts, we’re going to travel close to 9,000 miles to see an Australian Rivalry that played out recently! This past week, the Woollongong Warriors and the Thundelarra Thunderers vied for the chance to represent Australia against the Moutohora Macaws of New Zealand. In this article you’ll find information on the teams and of course, the results.
For your convenience, here is a map of the Teams’ locations. HERE

The Teams
Just south of Sydney, Woollongong is a city on the Eastern Coast of Australia that is the home to the Woollongong Warriors. This Australian team is known for being rivals with the Moutohora Macaws of New Zealand; this was the driving force in the game for them. Nevertheless, they are even more known for their rivalry with the Thunderlarra Thunderers, another Australian Team. This Australian Team is said to have the advantage here as they live in the Australian Outback, where a Quidditch Stadium easily fits into place. With extra practice, some say that they are more skilled than their fiercest rivals, but others disagree. As tension rises for this match, many people are supporting their favorite teams to a much higher extent than normal.

The Game
This game was an extremely long game which lasted almost four hours! Both teams were forced to constantly switch off their tired players. Instead of doing the usual Play-By-Play, since that would take a long time, below is a Hour-By-Hour Report on the Game!
Hour 1: The Game Begins! As the Snitch, Quaffles, and Bludgers are released, the Australian seekers waste no time in pursuing the snitch. Unfortunately, it also doesn’t take long for them to lose track of it. Meanwhile, 70 Points were scored, 50 for the Woollongong Warriors and 20 for the Thunderlarra Thunderers. No notable casualties occurred in this hour.
Hour 2: In the second hour, after a ten minute time-out called by the coach of the Thunderers, game continued in all haste to avoid the oncoming rain storm. An observer of the game reported that during this hour, the seeker for the Thunderers came no more than inches away from the snitch when he was hit in the head by a bludger. He was immediately knocked out and attended to by a group of Medi-Wizards. He was later admitted to a nearby Wizarding Hospital. Meanwhile, no points were scored this hour leaving the score 50:20 in favor of the Warriors.

Hour 3: The replacement seeker for Thunderlarra appeared incapable of keeping up with the other seeker, but surprised everyone by performing a very skilled Wronski Defensive Feint. This move included him diving down almost ninety feet, effectively tricking the opposing seeker. Nevertheless, neither seeker was harmed. As this happened, the Thunderers were able to make an amazing comeback with five goals scored while the Warriors only scored one. By the end of the third hour, the score was then 80:60 in favor of the Thunderers.
Hour 4: The final hour was surprisingly quick. The whistle blew after a timeout called by the Warriors and the Thunderlarra Seeker zoomed out onto the pitch. Within moments he touched back down to the ground holding the snitch in his hand.

The Results
THUNDERLARRA THUNDERERS WIN 230-60!
They will go on to compete against New Zealand’s Moutohora Macaws next week.

Dear HO:

Greetings! It’s that very special time of year again and I’d like to take a moment to wish you all Happy Holidays, whether this be for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or anything else you might celebrate now, even if it’s just New Years. This time of year is all about tradition, both old and new; it’s about generosity and appreciation as well as family and faith. For this reason I encourage you all to seize the moment. Take the time to thank someone for something they have done, take the time to give to a local cause. Take the time to give back. Regardless of how you do this or on what level, the person receiving it will think it’s priceless. Receiving something at this time of year, especially a donation to a cause or even just a Thank You, is always a great feeling.
Now, I realize that it’s well after the time for some of the holidays like Hanukkah and slightly after Christmas and Kwanzaa, but we still have the New Year to look forward to. 2010 isn’t just a number. It’s a new year full of opportunities, a new decade packed with progress, and a chance to start over. The year will bring many new things both good and bad. Certainly there will be turmoil, but by this time next year, it will seem like it had all been very much worth it.
To show the true value of this year, I encourage everyone to PM me with acts of generosity that you have done this season – even if you didn’t like doing it. Also place your New Years Resolutions in it too if you have them! Finally, add your favorite moments of 2009, because as we say good bye to this year, we want something to hold onto it by. These events or moments can be global things or just something as simple as a great day with your friends. Later, I will put together the Top Ten Moments of 2009 as well as the Top Ten Hopes for 2010.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Christmas News

While many witches and wizards are cleaning up wrappings and other holiday debris, some witches and wizards are trying to figure out how to get gifts to their children still residing at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Since the school was taken over by dark wizards, students have had little to no contact with their families. This was already a strain on students, but with Christmas, the strain was much more obvious.

On the upside, some sources say the issue with the dark wizards will be resolved soon. However, they refuse to give any type of estimate on when that will be. I guess all we can do is wait, and hope that things end soon. I have heard rumors of students pulling pranks on dark wizards and those students silly enough to follow them. If these rumors are true, those students have the support of the Pensieve behind them!

Lyra,
Theres this girl, and i’m already dating her, and i feel like she wants to pursue our relationship further, but i’m afraid it might just end up hurting us. What should i do.
- Hopeless Romantic

Hopeless Romantic,
If you’re not comfortable with advancing your relationship too far this soon, I think you should talk to your girlfriend about slowing things down a bit. Sometimes moving too fast does cause loads of problems in relationships. Simply explain to her that you’re not ready for the relationship to move to that level.
Best of Luck,
Lyra

**********

Lyra,
So, yesterday patroling the gounds, i had the sudden urge to go to professor kanes office and put dungbombs in his drawer, But once i got inside i got scared and fled, is there something wrong with me?
Confused

Confused,
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you. I’m sure plenty of other students have felt the urge to put dungbombs in a professor’s office at one time or another. I also think they ended up scared and left without doing what they intended. Perhaps it was only your conscious guiding you.

Lyra

By Vincent G. Goyle

Alright you curious other houses, I told you I’d let you know who made wreaths from the Sly house and Im keeping my word. Ginger Wadsworth, Scorpius Malfoy and Zahara Zabini all participated in the wreath making. Im told they added snakes and spikes for “added holiday cheer.” Im making this a three week event so look forward to my next writing when I interview them about it.

And thats it for the going on in the Slytherin House. Hopefully there will be more action next week! So have a Sly Christmas and a Cunning New Year!

By: Lorinda Swansong

• All the staff of the Pensieve would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
• Student and Professor Superlatives have been announced! Check out who got first or second place in the Trophy room. You know it’s true, because I said so!

• Shannon Harrison and Diana Brown will both be absent from 24th to 31st December.
• Lillian Percast is on vacation from December 27th to January 3rd.

The Sorting Hat worked it magic, and welcomed the following folks to Hogwarts -

• Aiden Volkov into Gryffindor.
• Veronica Papalera, Brooklynn Cooper, Kraven Corvinus, Ming LeBlanc into Hufflepuff.
• Cruz Everard, Bridget Woods into Ravenclaw.
• Sely Poynter into Slytherin.

• Catherine Clover sends birthday wishes to her friend, Canry Joseph on the 27th December.

Please contact Lorinda Swansong to add a personal message.

Banner Club - This month’s challenge is to make a banner depicting New Years. Due by 31st December, so get cracking, graphics folk!
Ideas for clubs - If you think there’s a club missing from the wide variety of clubs on offer, start a new one! Info can be found in the clubs forum.

If you have any announcements for the Pensieve, Owl ((i.e. PM)) me, Lorinda Swansong ASAP. Club notices by the Professor and Student Mods only. Birthday, absences and other announcements welcome. Special thanks to Lyra Elani for the headings.

I know you’ve all been missing those questions asked to your writer of the week, so here’s not one, but two!

My name is Darla Greer
I am in Ravenclaw house
I am 13 years old
An interesting fact about me is I have no idea
My favorite subject at Hogwarts is Charms
My worst subject at Hogwarts is Divinations
Outside of class, my favorite pass time is Having fun
Three words I would use to describe myself are small, confused and hopeful
Three words my friends would use to describe me areI don’t know.

My name isNoah Tavish
I am in Ravenclaw house
I am 11 years old
An interesting fact about me is To disclose such intimate information would be both frivolous and pointless.
My favorite subject at Hogwarts is Creatures…natural sciences
My worst subject at Hogwarts is There is no such thing. I take great pains in mastering all my subjects to fail in my scholastic endeavors would be going against my genetic and moral fiber.
Outside of class, my favorite pass time is Reading the Philosopher’s Dictionary and compiling anthropological data on the inner workings of pre and pubescent social circles as they self-construct familiar units of connection while displaced. Aka. Finishing my second data novel/book.
Three words I would use to describe myself are Efficient, Pensive, and Enigmatic.
Three words my friends would use to describe me are This assuming I have a great many friends…which I don’t. I’ve only just started my exploits in sociability. However if I am forced to speculate, I would assume they regard me as- Reserved, Awkward, and Strange.

By: Lyra Elani

By: Lily Potter

Emma Felton stepped up and announced she wants to make a house video for Gryffindor! I think this is going to be a lot of fun and way over due! To make sure you aren’t overlooked in the video post your information here!!