Lesson 2
Submitting Projects
Rating Projects
HOL Library Book Writing Project
Art Department
Submitting Projects
HOL Trading Cards
Rating Projects and Questions or Comments
HOL Blog
Hogsmeade
Gringotts
Dervish and Banges
The Hogsmeade Herald
Pet Shop
Wand Shop
Flourish and Blotts
Thrift Shop
Honeydukes
HOL-wide Clubs
HOLLERS
First Friend
The Book Club
The Tolkien Society
Greenhouse
Picking a Plant
Maintaining Your Plant
Harvesting
HOL Library Department
Submitting Projects
Once you read everything and keep them in mind, write your submission, and when you’re done, click on “Post your Submission”. It is always a great idea to write your work in a Word document, and then copy-paste your writing in the submission box. After you have your submission in the text box, click on “Preview Formatting” first to see how it would look and do one final edit. Then, finally click on “Post Submission” to launch it for the whole HOL public to see! Now all you have to do is wait for the ratings and comments to come in and see how many points you get in the end, which is decided depending on your overall rating once the rating period ended. It’s an easy way to earn points!
“Getting into Harry Potter” is a library project that is open year-round. It never closes, you can edit it as many times as you would like, and it shows up in your profile. However, you will only get 10 points the first time you write it.
Rating Projects
Comments are mandatory for all ratings. And they should at least be 8 words as well, otherwise your rating will be considered invalid and will be deleted by the library heads. When you make your comment, remember that just because the submission isn’t something that you like, doesn’t mean it’s bad. Try to take an objective view and be as constructive as possible. Rather than saying “I don’t like the ending, I’m sorry”, how about saying “I wish you had made the ending [insert your preference here], I think it would have been more interesting in my opinion!” Sounds much better, right? Not everyone in HOL is a professional writer, so remember that we’re all here to have fun and try to make your comments brighten someone’s day instead of possibly upsetting them. Everyone took a lot of time to come up with their own submissions, after all.
HOL Library Book Writing Project
Most books already have several chapters written for them, so click on a title that interests you and see for yourself what others have written for the earlier chapters. This is important, because you want your chapter to be in sync with the earlier ones as normal book chapters would. Then, once you familiarize yourself with the existing contents, you can go back to the main list of books and click on “Claim Chapter” for the books you want to write for. You can only claim 3 chapters at a time maximum. “Locked” books mean someone else has currently claimed a chapter for them.
Once you claim your chapters, click on the “Submit” button above. It will list your currently claimed books. Click “Submit Chapter” when you’re done writing, copy-paste your chapter into the box and Submit. Your claimed list will now tell you your chapter is “Under Review”. Unlike regular Library projects, Book Writing Project chapters will have to go through an approval stage first before they are published. The editors will approve your chapters if they fit the criteria in the rules. Once that’s done, you will be free to claim a new chapter and you’ll also find 10 House Points awarded to you for each chapter approved.
HOL Art Department
Important: due to problems, the Art Department has been temporarily moved to the Ravenclaw Common Room.
Currently, Prof. Rorey Padfoot is the Head of the Department and Prof. Kyrie Adderholt is the Deputy Head of the Department. And they plan on being here for the long haul! On the left you can find the showcase of past art projects.
Submitting Projects
You can use whatever program you want to use (Photoshop, paint, Gimp, or noncomputerized art mediums) to create your masterpiece, but please do not plagiarize. Once you perfect it, click on the project you are working on. Then click post your submission, upload your image, and hit send. However, unlike the library, assignments are reviewed before they are posted.
HOL Trading Cards
Rating Projects and Questions or Comments
If you have a question or comment to ask the art department, then head here. You will also find other information about assignments and reminders from the department heads there. Plus, if you have an art project you would like to see, submit your ideas!
(This goes for the HOL Library as well. The discussion board for HOL Library can be found here.)
HOL Blog
The HOL Blog is also used by each house as a way to get in touch with students about any projects, downtime for the forums, or general information for those who may not be part of their forums. It is a great way to communicate with HOL as a whole entity and it is nice and easy to view.
Only select people can make topics/start posts on the HOL blog. Most usually these include Head of Houses, Deputy Heads of Houses, Professors, and HOL Administrators and Project Leads. However, while only they can start a topic, everyone can reply to it. It is important to note that if the HOL blog starts getting spammed by one or more students (posting one or two word comments that don’t contribute to the topic) then their comments will be deleted and they could possibly lose points. So that means if you want to respond, please make sure you do so in a manner that is not considered spam and follow all HOL rules.
As for some technical aspects of the HOL Blog, you’ll notice a picture below. Areas have been numbered so that you will be able to see exactly what is being talked about in order, so that it won’t be too confusing.
Blue box with #2: This box indicates the date and time that the original blog post was created. In this case, it was done on August 19th, 2009 at 2:54 am HOL time. This box is not clickable.
Green box with #3: This box (that says read) is exactly the same as clicking the title in the first example. It will open the blog post, so that the entire post, including comments are viewable. For many people, it’s just a preference as to how they wish to read the entry.
Pink box with #4: This box (in this case it says News) determines where and what the category for the post is. There are many different categories: News, Events, Routine, Arts, Library, Hogsmeade, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. The adminstrator will select a specific category to enter their blog post under. For example, if the HOL Library is announcing a contest, the category they will select is Library. If you click on this box, it will pull up the most recent blog posts in that category. It’s a good way to search for information that may no longer be on the main HOL page.
Purple box with #5: This box is the comments box. When clicked, it will open the blog post and skip past all the text, going directly to a box where you can enter your comments. All comments will also be displayed on the right-hand side of the page. Remember, it is very important to not spam the HOL blog in the comments section, so post responsibly!
Hogsmeade
Enter Hogsmeade here
There are various things to do and places to visit while in Hogsmeade. It should be known that not everything is open quite yet, but hopefully in the future we will be able to roam all over Hogsmeade (and you don’t have to be a third year or above!).
The map of Hogsmeade was created by Aidan Argent, a past Slytherin Prefect. We are going to start from the right side of the map, and work our way back to HOL.
In the upper right hand corner, we have two parts of Hogsmeade that have not been open. (Nor do I know if they will be open.)
Gringotts
Business
The Business section of Gringotts shows how many beans each business has collected. You can tell that some have not opened yet, but hopefully will in the future. The Greenhouse has collected quite a few beans, wouldn’t you agree? If you click on the “view” button, you can see a list of the most recent transactions. Here, you can get a feel for who is buying what.
Private
The “Private” button shows a list of Gringotts’ fifty best customers, how many bags they have, and how many beans they have stored up. There isn’t much for you to do here, except ooh and aww at how nicely some people are keeping their beans stored. Although, we all must agree- Professor Kimil needs to share his beans all around!
My Vault
“My vault” is where you personally keep all of your beans. Remember, Gringotts is a bank, and you can hold your beans for safe keeping there. The minimum balance you can keep in Gringotts is 50 beans. You get 2% interest a week (1 bean per 50 beans) and you can only insert beans in the bank in multiples of 50.
However, when you take back out your beans, you will be charged a service fee of 4% (2 beans per 50 beans) so don’t put any beans in that you will need in less than 2 weeks time. Also, what you put in is what you take out! For example, if you put a bag of 100 beans into the bank, you cannot take out 50 beans. You have to take out all 100 of them.
Dervish and Banges
The Hogsmeade Herald
The Pet Shop
Pets can not be sold, traded, or given away, so make sure that if you buy a pet you are committed to taking care of it. Caring for your pet consists of feeding it, petting it, and being active in HOL. Your pet’s diet consists of beans from your bean pouch. You pet your pet by clicking the “pet” button on your pet’s profile. Being active in HOL raises your pet’s level of happiness and makes it proud of you. Pets who are underfed, neglected, or unhappy with their owner run away. If a pet runs away, there is no way of getting it back.
Toads tend to be cheap, costing less than 100 beans. However, they tend to be hungry for a bean every few days. They are usually happier, but they run away very easily.
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Cats are more expensive than toads on average. They don’t need to be fed nearly as often- about once every 2 weeks on average- and they tend to be the hardest to find in the pet shop.
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Owls are the most expensive, but they only need to be fed once every three to four weeks. You can see every all the owls in HOL at the Owlery but remember that if you click on the owl, you will feed it a bean.
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Most students do not realize the origin of their pets’ names. Pets for sale in the Hogsmeade Pets Store are named after literary, television, film, and other popular culture characters of the same species. Some examples of recent adoptees from the Hogsmeade Pets Store are: Freddo, a toad named after the popular Cadbury chocolate frog in Australia; Cosmic Creepers, a cat named after the cat in the book Bedknob and Broomstick; and Archimedes, an owl named after Merlin’s owl in the Disney Movie “The Sword in the Stone.” If a student does not know where the name of a pet in the Hogsmeade Pets Store comes from, they should Google the name, and they will be pleasantly surprised! You can also rename your pet to any appropriate name you want to. Pick wisely though, as it cost 10 beans every time you rename a pet.
Catnip balls are often rewarded to students as random prizes for visiting certain sections of HOL, and they are available for sale periodically at the Hogsmeade Thrift Shop. If a catnip ball is awarded, it is automatically transferred to the “Treasures” section of a student’s profile. Feeding a catnip ball to a depressed or starving pet that is threatening to run away will bring the pet out of its funk and make it well-fed, happy, and proud again.
Students can feed the pets of other students whose profiles they visit. Pets enjoy getting this attention from visitors, and it will raise their happiness and prestige levels. Therefore, students are encouraged to help take care of each other’s pets as well as their own.
The Wand Shop
When is your birthday?
How much are do you take or are willing to take risks?
Finish the sentence: “How Many…”
Then after you answer the questions, you are given your dueling stats. The dueling club is not open yet, so I can’t give you any details on it unfortunately. However, there will be posts on the HOL Blog when it does open!
Flourish and Blotts
The Thrift Shop
Honeydukes
That’s all there is to do in Hogsmeade! Keep an eye on the HOL Blog in case anything new opens up. Click on to go back to HOL!
HOL Wide Clubs
HOLLERS
There are two awards. The HOLLERS award is given monthly to a club member. The Hoot Award is given at the end of the term to the top 3 Hoot earners.
HOLLERS is for everyone. It's headed by Kim Alting and Polaris Black, and you can find out more about it HERE.
First Friend
The Book Club
The Tolkien Society
The Greenhouse
Enter the Greenhouse!
Upon going into the greenhouse, you’ll see a 10 by 10 grid of plants. At this time, we have two of these 100 units (known as Greenhouses 1 and 2), and they are all we have been allotted by the Ministry of Magic to have. A student can use up to 2 of the units at a time. But how do you get a unit for yourself? You’ll want to look for an empty unit.
Empty Units
With such a limited number of units, these empty units don’t come along all that often. So just continue to check back as often as you can and be patient until you get your chance. When you finally do see an empty unit, just click on it and a box will appear on the right side of the page that gives you the option to claim this unit. Click this link to be taken to a page where you can choose what plant you would like to grow.
Picking a Plant
Knotgrass
Price: 1 Bean
- ready to harvest after 5 days
- needs water every 54 hours
- gives 3 unites of Knotgrass (value: 1 bean each)
- ready to harvest after 7 days
- needs water every 36 hours
- gives 2 units of Aconite (value: 5 beans each)
- ready to harvest after days
- needs water ever 24 hours
- gives 3 unites of Daisy Root (value: 3 beans each)
- ready to harvest after 8 days
- needs water every 36 hours
- gives 4 units of Fluxweed (value: 2 Beans each)
- ready to harvest after 21 days
- needs water every 48 hours
- gives 1 unit of Ginger (value: 12 beans)
- ready to harvest after 14 days
- needs water every 30 hours
- gives 3 unites of Alihotsy (value: 4 Beans each)
- ready to harvest after 28 days
- needs water every 48 hours
- gives 3 units of Nettle (value: 4 beans each)
- ready to harvest after 14 days
- needs water every 24 hours
- gives 2 units of Shredded Dittany (value: 6 Beans each)
- ready to harvest after 10 days
- needs water every 36 hours
- gives 2 unites of powdered Asphodel Root (value: 10 Beans each)
- ready to harvest after 17 days
- needs water every 24 hours
- gives 2 units of Gurdyroot (value: 8 beans each)
- ready to harvest after 14 days
- needs water every 18 hours
- gives 2 units of powdered sneezewort leaves (value: 15 beans each)
- ready to harvest after 26 days 16 hours
- needs water every 73 hours
- gives 4 units of Belladonna fluid (value: 10 beans each)
- ready to harvest after 42 days
- needs water every 48 hours
- gives 1 unit of Mandrake (value: 60 Beans)
- ready to harvest after 365 days
- needs water every 336 hours
- gives 1 unit of Mimbulus Mimbletonia (value: 200 beans)
Maintaining Your Plant
From the time you first buy your seeds and put them into the ground until your plant is maturing, your unit will just look like a sprout. Regardless of what plant you are growing, all plants in the greenhouse look this way. They will begin looking like the final product once it starts maturing.
Your main goal when maintaining a plant in the greenhouse is to obviously keep your plant from dying. When its growth status displays dead there is absolutely nothing you can do to make it start growing again. Dead sprouts will be cleared out after 24 hours. Killing plants is unfortunately very easy to do. I have definitely killed several plants in my lifetime! One day of forgetting to take care of them is sometimes all it takes for them to die. In order to avoid dead plants, we’ll be discussing the steps that can be taken to prevent your plant from dying.
You can click on any unit in the greenhouse to find out the unit number, who is currently using the unit, the name of the plant being grown, when the seed was planted, the growth status of the plant, the state of the soil, and when the plant can be harvested. There are four different growth statuses that can be displayed: dead, sprouting, maturing, or mature. The soil can be in number of states, from freshly watered to bone dry.
Greenhouse units you’re currently using will have a red line beneath them. If you click on a unit in use by you, all of the same information will be displayed, but you will also have a list of actions you can take listed below that information. These actions include pull up this plant, add more water, add fertilizer, and harvest now.
Pull Up this Plant: If you are unhappy with the plant you’re currently growing, you can choose to pull up the plant and start over. However, there is no compensation for the beans you have already spent on the seeds and any fertilizer that has been added. In addition, the unit will not be reserved for you and someone else may claim it before you are able to yourself. So if you choose this option, act quickly to reclaim your the unit and be fully aware of the risk.
Add more water: Watering your plant is essential for keeping it alive. Watering is free of charge and the option is available whenever your soil is not freshly watered. If you don’t water your plant often enough the soil becomes too dry and your sprout will die. The plant list above has information on how often you must add water to keep your plant healthy.
Add Fertilizer: Fertilizing your plants is not necessary to keep them alive, but it will speed up how quickly they mature. There are a couple of different dung varieties available to fertilize your plant. If you have two plants ready to be fertilized at the same time, both will be fertilized for the same cost. It is forbidden by HOL rules to take dung out of the greenhouse, it is quite smelly after all. All dung you buy here will be used instantly on all available units that you own. The amount of dung is enough for all your units. Units which hold ripe or dead plants will not be fertilized, and neither will those that have been fertilized in the last 24 hours — too much dung is not good for your plants!
Harvesting
Harvest now: After you have successfully cared for your plant from when it was a seed to when it is fully grown, the option to harvest your plant will become available. You must harvest your plant yourself within a week of it becoming mature, otherwise the Greenhouse Keeper may clear out your spot. Once you harvest your plant, a set number of units of the product will be added to your treasures.
That is the end of using the greenhouse, but wait, what about those beans listed above? To obtain the value listed in the plant section, you will need to sell your plant at the Thrift Shop. This is a very simple process. All you have to do is head over to the shop, click the Sell Items button at the top of the shop, select the quantity of the plant you want to sell from the drop down box in the Sell column, and click the Sell These Items button at the bottom of the page. Then your plant will be added to the Thrift Shop’s inventory and in exchange beans will be added to your bean pouch.
And that’s all there is to know about growing plants in the HOL Greenhouse! Be on the lookout for an available unit so you can test out your green thumb!