The Head Girl's Room

Hello,

My name is Lynne, and I'm Head Girl at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Some of you may not know that the Head Girl and Head Boy at Hogwarts get to have their own dormitory rooms with a small private bath as one of our perks.  After a long day of keeping first years out of trouble and reporting Peeves to Headmistress McGonagall, it's nice to be able to relax in my own space.

The decor changes based on the house of each Head Boy and Head Girl.  The prior Head Girl was in Slytherin House, but the castle had no trouble changing over the room once I received my letter with my Head Girl badge.  I will give you a peek into my room, so that you will know what to expect if you are chosen as Head Girl someday.

As you know, the Fat Lady's portrait guards the entrance to the Gryffindor Tower.  She also keeps a small portrait of herself on my door, which she likes to visit occasionally.  Professor Flitwick applied a charm to it so that even if she's not in her portrait, she will hear the password when I pronounce it at the door to my room, and she will let me in.

I truly love the Gryffindor common room, so I'm glad that the castle gave me some of the same tapestries for my room. My room has the same cozy feel as curling up in a soft armchair in front of the fire in the common room.

My family is an old wizarding family, and we are direct descendants of Godric Gryffindor, so it was no surprise that I was placed in Gryffindor, even though my mother was a Hufflepuff, and my father attended Durmstrang.  Most of my family members have been sorted into Gryffindor, thus our family crest contains elements which demonstrate that.

I have a portrait of Headmaster Dumbledore in my room, too.  He was a great man, and his time at Hogwarts was probably the most important period of history for the school.  He is mostly quiet, but he does sometimes keep me awake at night with his mumbling to himself.

You may also have heard of a legendary House Elf named Dobby.  He helped the Auror Harry Potter escape from a cruel Death Eater and lost his life in the battle.  I admire this elf, and I'm a member of S. P. E. W., so I have a memorial art piece to him in my room as well.  Dobby was lovingly handcrafted by Apryl Hopkirk, whose mother Mafalda works for the Ministry. If you've wondered, sculptures can move about like portraits do, such as turning their heads and moving their arms and legs, but they can't leave the spot into which they were placed.  My Dobby sculpture likes to make me laugh in the mornings with his silly poses.

I have quite a bit of stuff in my room, such as the Skiving Snack Box and the Decoy Detonator I confiscated from a rowdy fourth year last week.  At least I got to him before Filch could.

Here's my pet brown owl, Merriweather.  He's taking a nap.

I have potions ingredients, as well.

Some school books, and an extra quill and ink.

My Hogwarts trunk.

My nightstand.

I hang my robes and scarf on the back of my door for easy access.  You never know when a late night emergency may have the professors calling for assistance.

I'm an avid Quidditch fan.  I support our Gryffindor house team, of course, but I also adore the Chudley Cannons!  I just know they will win the League Cup this year!  I don't play Quidditch because I'm a rubbish flyer, but I love the excitement of the games.














I'm studying wandlore and wandmaking for my upcoming NEWT tests.  Here are some unfinished wands I've been working on.  I hope to open my own wand shop in Diagon Alley some day.  Ever since poor Mr. Ollivander passed on, the quality of wands available has been dismal, unless you want to travel to another country to get one.










I love this shelf next to my bed.  I keep a bunch of junk there, such as my set of keys to the wandmaking lab, my favorite Chocolate Frog cards, and a piece of mirror that was passed down to me from Harry Potter, himself (Harry is a distant relative of mine, as both of our families lived in Godric's Hollow for generations.).  He thought I could use it to let Aberforth know when the prefects and I were coming for a special mug of butterbeer after a long day of study.

Here is my time turner.  It was issued to me under extremely special circumstances.  Not since the famous Hermione Granger has a student been allowed to use one to attend more than the regular number of classes.  But, I really wanted to continue with potions and wandmaking in NEWT level, and the class times conflicted, so they made a super special exception for me.  None of the other students know, so please don't spread this around.  Thank you.  You can also see my snitch watch and the medal I earned for running in a race sponsored by the Ministry of Magic.

As you know, we have quite a few Muggle-born students at Hogwarts.  I was able to spend the Christmas holidays with one of them, my friend Alice Penningsworth.  She and her mum got me hooked on a Muggle hobby called scrapbooking.  I fell in love, and I started doing this hobby in all my spare time.  I asked the room to make a space for all my scrapbooking supplies, and it installed these shelves for me to keep all my paper, scissors, stamps, and other accessories.  So, whenever I feel like scrapbooking, I conjure up a table and chair, and open the curtains, and I'm ready to go.  It's amazing.  Sometimes I ask Alice if she'll print me some photos at one of those Muggle shops.  I enjoy seeing the people in them just standing so still.  It's funny.

Here's a link to a wizard scrapbook that I made.  I love using Muggle computers, too.  Maybe I should ask McGonagall if I can add a NEWT in Muggle Studies, too. Hmm.  I don't think she'll let me use the time turner for yet another class.


Another friend of mine, Kim Weasley, has really learned how to knit well from her Granny Molly.  She made me this tribute to Hedwig, the most famous owl to ever live.  We mostly learn about witches and wizards in History of Magic, so once you hear the story of Hedwig, you know just how important she was.

Check out this dragon painting.  One of my favorite wizard artists, Mad McQuill, made it.  It startles me when it lets out a fiery breath.  It's so cool.  I keep it above my miniature dragons that are replicas of the dragons used in the first task of the last Triwizard Tournament to be held at Hogwarts.  That was a sad tournament, which my Hufflepuff mother still tears up over.

My young cousin Lexie Longbottom (Yes, she is related to Professor Neville Longbottom) made this portrait of some of our family members.  

My bed is so comfy.  I have a stuffed dog whom I've named Padfoot, after Sirius Black, the notorious Animagus who died in the great battle at the Ministry.

One of the best things about being Head Girl is my own loo!  I have a lovely shower in there, and a sink with a dragon head faucet.  Moaning Myrtle comes to visit occasionally, but she prefers to float about in the bathroom for the other prefects. The mermaid from the prefects' bathroom comes to her portrait here now and again, too.

I hope you have enjoyed the little look about of my room.  Don't forget to look for my wand shop in Diagon Alley in a year or so!

Lynne

Head Girl 2015-2016 school year

A Very Harry Christmas

It all started with a Halloween desk decorating contest at work.  I got the brilliant idea to make my desk look like Harry Potter's desk at Hogwarts.  I was amused by it, even though most of the people I worked with had no idea what any of it was.  Then, I quit my job before the contest even ended, so it was all for naught, anyway.  

I put a lot of thought and preparation into this desk. It sure made being in a call center a lot more fun.

This would have been my costume for the contest had I remained employed, so I just wore it to pass out candy to the trick or treaters.  The teens who came to the door were especially impressed.

So, I packed up my desk and took all my HP goodies home.  I was gazing at the box of wizardy goodness, when suddenly, I thought, "Why not have a Harry Potter themed Christmas?"  I informed the hubby (who grunted and gave me a 'whatever' look) and the kids.  The kids were fairly excited about it.


The first thing I did, of course, was to scan Pinterest for Harry Potter Christmas ideas, and there were plenty!  I made a board for ideas, and got to work almost immediately.  My first craft project was to paint mini HP character ornaments.  These turned out to be my favorite ornaments out of everything I made:

Then I found these awesome, sparkly quills in a clearance bin at Michaels and thought they would be a perfect addition to a wizard tree.

I shopped the Halloween sales for things that would work, like a giant Aragog and a Crookshanks.

Clear glass ornaments went on sale next, so I snatched up a whole bunch of them and went to work filling them up with all kinds of magical mixtures.

Red mesh ribbon made for great Remembralls

Green glitter for Floo Powder

Black glitter for Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder

No HP event would be complete without Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.

I even was daring and filled some of them with liquid potions.

Polyjuice potion

Veritaserum

Love Potions from Weasley Wizard Wheezes

Harry, Ron, & Hermione's school trunks

Felix Felicis

Harry's glasses

Hogwarts school books

S.P.E.W. Button and bulbs with lines from the books in them

The Mirror of Erised

And, of course, the Golden Snitch

We had a couple of specialty ornaments, like Hedwig 

and the original Visitor's Entrance to the Ministry of Magic.

We also had some mini-themed areas on the tree. This area represented the end of Book 1 where Harry, Ron, and Hermione get through the enchantments guarding the Philosopher's Stone.  Here, the trio is trapped in the Devil's Snare. We also had Fluffy, winged keys, Snape's potions, wizard chess pieces and a Mirror of Erised.

This section represented Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.  There were kissing concoctions and Pygmy Puffs.

In addition to all the unique and hand made ornaments on the tree, I also added traditional round Christmas bulb ornaments in the colors of all four Hogwarts houses.  Below you see the blue and bronze of Ravenclaw and the crimson and gold of Gryffindor.  I made paper chains in each house's colors, as well.  You can see Hufflepuff's yellow and black chain and Slytherin's green and silver chain in the bottom picture.

The Sorting Hat as the tree topper was absolutely perfect.  A few snowflakes, candy canes, and plastic icicles made the whole tree look magical.  

After completing the tree, it was time to add some decorations to the rest of the living room.

Here we had some quills, wizard candy and potions bottles.

These were to represent the 12 trees that are traditionally placed in the  Great Hall at Hogwarts each year.

Hedwig sat perched above the living room, ready to carry our invitations to all our guests.

The Monster Book of Monsters, the Triwizard Cup, a snitch, Harry's glasses, the Marauder's Map, the Elder Wand, and a roll of parchment decorated the coffee table.

I ordered these adorable House stockings from this etsy shop.  A couple of brooms and a cauldron that was missing its floo powder completed the decor.

Our little Gryffindor couldn't resist flying on the Firebolt, and he even managed to catch a snitch.

I rearranged a couple of rooms in my house and made my dining room into the Gryffindor Common Room.

Then, I turned my living room into the Great Hall.  I had to find a way to enchant the ceiling to look like the night sky for the feast.  Then, thanks to my friend Holly's suggestion, I managed to get some floating candles to levitate around the ceiling.

We mailed out invitations to our guests for our Christmas Feast in the Great Hall. Each invitation was personally addressed to highlight the recipient's location.  Then they were sealed with a Hogwarts crest stamp, and marked for Owl Post.

We also sent out our family holiday cards in similar fashion.  Here was the photo we used for our cards.  Notice how my husband looks like I used the Imperious curse on him to get him to pose for this picture.

Once the decorations and invitations were out of the way, I started baking and never stopped until Christmas Eve!  I started with the cookies:

Then I made a replica of Hogwarts Castle entirely out of Rice Krispie Treats, ice cream cones, and frosting.  By the time Christmas came, it wasn't quite edible anymore, but it did look cool.

Hagrid's hut was my favorite part of the grounds.

Then, we had Harry's favorite Hogwarts dessert- treacle tarts.

Couldn't forget the pumpkin pasties.

Cauldron cakes with swirling potion.

And just because every magical Christmas needs one- a yule log cake with meringue mushrooms.

Here is Honeyduke's Sweet Shop being prepped for set up.   We had chocolate frogs, licorice wands, ton tongue toffee, jelly slugs, crystallized pineapple (Slughorn's favorite), crystallized ginger, sugar hexes, and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

I even made  two Hogwart's Express Cakes to be centerpieces for the tables.

I really don't think Hogwarts has ever had a better feast!

 On Christmas Day, we prepared the appetizers:

Monster Book of Monster sandwiches

Cheese tray with Cheese Snitch (thanks to my other friend, Kel!)

Oh, Pinterest! What would I do without you?

The table was all set for the Christmas Feast in the Great Hall.  Everyone was sorted into his or her respective houses and each place had Wizard Crackers to pop.

The kids were impressed with the roiling cauldron, and everybody liked the butter beer!

Professor Sprout (a.k.a. Grandma) was ready for the feast.

 We all sat down for a feast of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, peas, corn, cranberry sauce, and dinner rolls. I think even Ron would have found enough to eat at this table!

Christmas Day was lovely. I have about 8 million pictures of the kids opening their gifts, but I'll save those for the lucky devils who get to look at my IRL scrapbooks.  However, I did want to share my two favorite gifts here, because they are related to the theme.

My sister made me this totally fabulous HP charm bracelet.  I cannot tell you how deliriously happy it makes me to wear this.

My cousin's daughter is a very talented young artist, and she made this caricature of our family's Christmas card.  I framed and hung it almost immediately!  I laughed myself silly at it when I first opened it.  I adore this!

Following the Christmas Day festivities, our family had its 3rd annual Harrathon.  That's where we watch all eight Harry Potter movies in a row.  With breaks to eat, sleep, and do Harry related activities, it takes us about 3 days to get through all the movies.

For some reason, on the first day of the Harrathon, all of Harry's Hogwarts letters ended up coming out of our fireplace.  Some Ministry owl had a lot of explaining to do!

Here are hubby and the boys, all ready to watch the first film.  Note, they are all wearing HP t-shirts.  We have  Undesirable No. 1 on the left, Dumbledore's Army in the middle, and the Hogwarts crest on the right.

Here I am holding a mini Hedwig and wearing my "You have the emotional range of a teaspoon." shirt.

My god daughter joins us for the Harrathon, and she's wearing her Ravenclaw shirt, so I don't know why she has a Dark Mark.

Grandma's wearing her Hufflepuff scarf, Andrew has his Gryffindor scarf.  God daughter is eating a cauldron cake.

Selfie in my Gryffindor robes on Day 3.  I think I'm just about Harry'ed out at this point.

We did have a penseive this year, but I don't seem to have a photo of anyone sticking their face in it, although I know some people did.  I do have a few snaps of our wizard duels, though.

I don't know that I'll ever have the energy to do something like this again, but it was totally worth it.  We all enjoyed it and it will be a memory my kids (and god daughter) will never forget.  I think we got about as close as any Muggles can to Christmas at Hogwarts.