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I heaved a sigh and glared at the thick, foul mixture eating through the bottom of my cauldron, aware that the other students were noisily packing up but mostly ignoring them. I was so sure I had followed the directions for Snot Sealing Potion exactly, but whatever mess had burbled up in my cauldron looked more like snot than the clear, refreshing lilac in the book. "Perhaps if you had paid attention to your homework, Elvenword," Professor Snape said languidly behind my head, making me jump and start cramming my books into my bag. "Yes sir, Professor," I stammered, and hissed "Scourgify!" as I hastily waved my wand over the vile mess. I'd have to review the instructions later and take better notes - exams were coming up and I felt hopeless in this class. Come to think of it, I felt a little hopeless in most of my classes, even though my marks were solidly average. Unlike most of the students who had arrived at Hogwarts as 11-year-old First Years, I had transferred in later. My parents were Muggles, and I hadn't even realized I could do magic until I was 15, much older than the average new student. So in addition to the history and literature classes that were appropriate for my Muggle grade level, I also took some classes with much younger students, like first-year Potions. As I scuttled out of Professor Snape's dungeon and headed back upstairs, I was startled by a faint, ghostly feminine whisper coming from somewhere behind the paneled wall: "Sky Elvenword ... Sky, do you hear me?" I froze in my tracks and the students behind me nearly slammed into me. "Watch where you're going," they snapped, and I melted against the wall to get out of the way, my skin prickling. "Peeves?" I whispered back, "is that you?" "No, Sky, listen to me. I need your help!" Other classes were letting out and it was getting too loud to hear. I pressed closer to the wall, uncertain whether I was being tricked or about to fall for a dreadful practical joke. "Who are you?" I said louder. "I can't tell you that now. After dinner, go to the northernmost corner of the Great Hall and use your wand to tap three times on the panel at your eye level. When you do that, a key will appear in your left hand. Use that key to unlock -" At that moment, someone crashed into my bookbag, knocking me off balance and sending two of my books flying off the staircase. I yelped and dashed down the stairs to retrieve them before the crowd of incoming Second Years trampled them; and by the time I had scrambled back to the panel where the voice had spoken from, it was silent. I gingerly tapped the wall. "Hello?" I squeaked. "Are you still there? What am I supposed to unlock?" But there was no answer, and the other students passing me were giving me strange looks. Reluctantly I tore myself away and hurried to get to my next class, but my heart was pounding. Who was the mysterious voice? Were they a good or bad witch? Why did they need my help, and what was I supposed to unlock with the mysterious key?

welcome Scouts ! I'm all out of fancy gifs for we're going simple. The Houses of Hogarts are Gryffindor - values the virtues of courage, bravery and determination Hufflepuff - values hard work, patience, justice, and loyalty Ravenclaw - values intelligence, creativity, learning, and wit Slytherin - values ambition, cunning, leadership, and resourcefulness I'll post what each house's mini on Monday/Tuesday of that week, and you pick which house you want to participate in ... its 4 weeks of challenge so you can go through all 4 houses. You can not pick the same house you picked the previous week (ie you can repeat a house after a week at another house but not two weeks at 1 house) Hopefully that makes sense Alight Scouts let's get to it!

What better analogy for going to grad school after being out of college for several years than a school that is simultaneously wonderful, confounding, and possibly deadly? I’ve recently accepted a new main quest: Make it through my master’s degree without taking on debt. I started off thinking about all of the things I don’t want to do to get to that end point: I don’t want to lose all my progress in health and fitness. I don’t want to become a shut in. I don’t want to feel deprived and angry. But I decided that a better way to look at it is what I do want out of this time. Once I had my “do†list, I realized that there are three loose categories present, and I’ve picked a goal from each. Fitness Goal: Track calories eaten, everyday. (+4 CON) Last challenge I completed most of a Whole30 before finances got in the way, and I loved how it made me feel. Right now I’m eating what I’ve already purchased in my pantry/fridge/freezer, so I’m more a “freegan†than anything else. But it’s still important that I fall into the right range for calories consumed, so I need to track this every. single. day. Better to go over calories and be able to see it in the data than not track it and have no idea how much over I went. It should be noted that I will also be exercising during this challenge and posting about the workouts, but since I’m already averaging 4-5 workouts a week I don’t see a need to make a goal for it. Best case scenario, I’d keep doing what I’m doing; worst case scenario, I’d exercise just enough to make my numbers and then slack off. Grading: Days completed A = 40, B = 35, C = 28, D = 14, F = 7 Learning Goal: Spend 15 minutes a day learning. (+4 DEX - I’m calling this dexterity of the mind ) This one is intentionally vague. It might be listening to a TED talk, working on my French skills, doing some math at Khan Academy, whatever. I want to get my brain back into “learning†mode. Grading: Days completed 15 minutes (can not makeup days, to avoid fudging the numbers and making up all my hours in one fell swoop) A = 40, B = 35, C = 28, D = 14, F = 7 Confidence Goal: Complete full oral and facial hygiene routine everyday. (+2 CHA) http://i116.piczo.com/view/4/c/c/t/t/h/m/m/c/f/8/9/img/i252360260_70073_7.jpg I’m in my mid twenties and still have acne, and years of chugging energy drinks have left a bit of yellow in my teeth. I can earn ten points a day (one point for each part of the routine), with a bonus point available for not picking at my skin. I tested this one out during our week off, and it was really hard for me to keep up with. So instead of grading this, I'm going to take baseline data this challenge to see where I'm at. So if I'm only able to average, say, four points a day, I can grade myself on a curve based on that to slowly work up to doing all of the routine. Ungraded I loved my “mini-challenge†format last challenge, so I’m leaving a few points open for me to earn from those. A few ideas off the top of my head: master a new hairstyle (master = do not need to view instructions before being able to complete hairstyle within 15 minutes) (CHA) write down something positive about myself every day (WIS) try not to say “sorry†unless I actually mean it (e.g. instead of my boss saying, “Could you hand me that?†and me saying “Ooh, sorry!†just saying “Sureâ€) (CHA) finish lesson 10 of Coffee Break French while answering the questions before the “student†(format is teacher asks question, pause for me to respond, then student responds) (WIS) fill up a Pinterest board with at least 20 outfits I like (CHA) use ^ to put together a thrifted outfit suitable for work for under $15 (DEX - flexible thinking!) work up to a 60 second plank (first step to doing a handstand) Complete Zombies, Run! 5k training app (STA/DEX) Run three miles at 10 minutes per mile (STA/DEX)

Looks like we have some second years and hopefully a few freshly sorted people here as well. As the portrait of the Fat Lady swings forward (this challenges password is "pudding") we welcome you all to House Gryffindor. In honor of tradition I'll do a little summary of our members once people have introduced themselves.

So I've been around NF for a while but never joined the forums and never got on board with the challenges. I lift very regularly but I need to railroad tie this stuff into submission and get my snacking under control. I'm not sure what I'm really supposed to put on here.... I'm 28, 205lbs, 5'8". Bodyfat around 28 (ish ??? I don't really know). 1RM lifts: Squat 415 Deads: 455 Bench: 255 Snatch: 165 Clean: 235 OHP: 225 Goals: 1. Hit the garage 4x per week. I love to lift but at the end of a long day I'm more than often very willing to not go into my garage. I work out at home so it can be very tempting to quit early or make excuses. 2. Squat or Deadlift at least 2x per week. Fairly self explanatory. Deadlift is my absolute favorite lift but such big movements seem daunting at the end of a 10hr work day. I need to be resolute (CONSTANT VIGILANCE!) 3. Snatch and over head squat at least 1x per week. Snatch is my least favorite lift (hence the smallest numbers). I'm begging to love the hang snatch but nevertheless I don't do this as often as I should. 4. Eliminate processed sugars entirely for 1 month. I work in a church ministry office that is constantly stocked with cookies, snacks and junk food. Sometimes I do an okay job at resisting that stuff but more often than not I just go with it. I need to work back into the habit of saying no to easy snacks and junk non-foods. Uh.... I guess that is it. I've been lifting for about 2-3 years now. I'm not an expert but I have learned quite a bit so if anyone has a question that I might be able to help with let me know.... and if anyone has some more information to learn certainly let me know!