And the winner is....
Option 1 - SmartWitchSarah

Option 2 - Hera

Thank you again to everyone who participated! Winners will be contacted shortly by staff.
Alpha Testers Needed
Yes, this was an april fools day joke, we have not written a blatant rip-off of Angry Birds, and when and if we decide to branch into mobile gaming, you can be sure we won't target platforms like Blackberry or WebOS first. What wasn't a joke? The Bean Raffle of course! Congratulations to AmberWood who wins the Stuffed Pygmy Puff.
Also, it seems that Peeves was in on the April Fools day fun. He broke into the hall of records and somehow made everyone a Hufflepuff. We have unsorted everyone, report to Hogwarts and you can be sorted into your respective houses once again.
We hope you enjoyed our April Fools day fun as much as we did
Over the years we've received the same criticism over and over again "Why isn't HogwartsLive a graphical game? Text is boring!" Well we've been listening, and we've been working for many months now on a brand new graphical game exclusively for the BlackBerry Playbook and HP Touchpad platforms. We are currently seeking Alpha testers for the new HogwartsLive Pygmy Puff Toss!In our first graphical game, our completely original gameplay consists of using a catapult to toss pygmy puffs from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes at Dudley Dursley, who has inexplicably regained his pig tail. In order to protect himself from the onslaught, Dudley has used household furniture items from Number 4 Privet Drive to construct barricades.
We are sure you've never played any games like this at all and will agree it is very original and engaging.
If you are interested in testing out the HogwartsLive Pygmy Puff Toss, and have a BlackBerry Playbook or HP Touchpad, please leave a message in the comments and we'll get back to you soon. We have a highly limited number of beta test slots available, please post your interest today only.
Please note that the details of the game are highly secret, and if you are approved to be an Alpha Tester, you will be required to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement.
UPDATE: In celebration of the announcement of the Alpha Test of the HogwartsLive Pygmy Puff toss, we are Giving away a stuffed Pygmy Puff just like the one shown above. Head on over to the Candy Raffle and trade in those Bertie Botts Every Flavoured Beans for your raffle tickets. But hurry, this raffle is for today only, ending at Midnight tonight Pacific time!
The Stuffed Pygmy puff comes to you straight from Zonkos at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando Florida (we purchased this, WWoHP and Universal Orlando are not sponsors of this raffle)
March Meme Madness
In honor of March Madness here on HL we are putting our own twist on it.
March Meme Madness
If you choose to participate, you need to make a meme about HL. The top 8 entries (selected by staff) will be placed in brackets, two memes going head to head for your votes. There will be three rounds, the first round there were be 4 face-offs, the 4 winners will then move onto round 3 which will work the same as the first round, but with 2 face -offs. The Winners of round 3 will go head to head in the final around.
Submissions should be sent to OR . (Please do not submit them to both of us.)
Guidelines:
1.) It must be appropriate! Not appropriate entries will not make it to the poll.
2.) It must be original, do not copy ones already done.
3.) It needs to be based off Hogwarts Live, NOT Harry Potter.
4.) MAKE SURE YOU INCLUDE YOUR HL NAME IN YOUR EMAIL. Make sure the subject of the email is "Meme".
5.) There is a maximum of 3 entries per person, but only ONE of your entries is eligible for one for the 8 spots available.
What is a Meme? Memes, or more specifically internet memes, refer to any concept that spreads across the Internet.
Here is one made by HL Staff member Calypso:

Memes are easy to make, first you will need a picture, there are generators such as http://memegenerator.net/ www.quickmeme.com and many others. (Making your own original picture is encouraged.)
If you are making a meme for the first time, you can find images on memegenerator by clicking on generate an image, you may select one of those meme characters and there is also a bar above with different tiers based on popularity. Once you get more comfortable, you can click on create a new character and be able to google an image, upload an image or enter an image url to use and you are able to better editing tools.
When you generate an image there is going to be a box with the picture and underneath will be two text boxes, one for top text and one for bottom text. Write your text here, select a language and click on generate to create your image, if it didn't come out the way you wanted, you can re-enter the text. Make sure to save the image once you are done. You don't have to use a memegenerator, simply using photoshop or paint works too, just have fun and make it humorous and entertaining.
Submissions will be accepted for the next week.
Kony 2012 - Help Increase Public Outcry
I'd recommend signing the pledge to condemn these atrocities--public outcry has helped get the US Government involved in human rights violations before and it'll work again. On the other hand I wouldn't recommend giving Invisible Children any money.
If you want to help out in Africa please donate to UNICEF. With UNICEF over 90% of your donation actually goes to help those in need. Other charities aren't nearly as careful or effective with the funds they raise.
I would also suggest writing your representatives concerning this matter.
If you're concerned about the controversy this video and the organization behind it has stirred up read this New York Times editorial: Viral Video, Vicious Warlord
For another view read: Kony 2012: Causing More Harm Than Good
Happy Valentine's Day!
To donate on behalf of your friends and loved ones click on their name in chat and then click on the PayPal Contribute button that appears on their bio page.
Also, thanks to WitchyWoman and SpinalRemains you can now buy your sweetheart a sweet gift from the Valentine's Gift Shoppe. They'll be able to open these gifts in the Lovers Lounge, which is accessible via everyone's respective Common Rooms.
This is Headmaster Danilo wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day!
Schoharie High School
Samsung is holding a contest and is donating $1,000,000 worth of technology to the winning school. This will help in the long run to help some of the business, math, and science classes pay for new equipment. School cuts have already reached an all time low and another handful of teachers are being cut including some of the business and science teachers.
Because of the flood, the budget was affected even more because students have to move out of the district and find a new home. All school taxes from that family will be lost and the school will lose money.
All you have to do is click on the link, register really quick, and scroll down to Schoharie Central School, and vote for it.
https://pages.samsung.com/us/sft/video/index.jsp
Thank you to anyone who chooses to vote. :)
End Piracy, Not Liberty
The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.
https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/
You may notice a lot of players have filtered names, this is in protest of PIPA and SOPA.
If your name has been changed owl me, SpinalRemains, to get it changed back NOT WitchyWoman.
House Christmas Tree Contest
Since it's once again getting to be that time of year, we have started our annual House Christmas Tree Contest!
All Houses have been given a small Christmas Tree in their Common Room which you can help decorate by spending gems, gold, and turns. In return, you will receive a small Holiday Buff.
In the past, the House with the Best Tree on December 31 has been awarded the House Cup for the entire month of January. This is still the Grand Prize, but this year, we are also adding in a weekly prize- the House Cup/Buff for the following week. So instead of going by House Points, the Cup will be determined by Tree Points until Christmas. This weekly contest will be awarded Saturdays at 8 pm, Eastern time (so about this time every week).
The costumes in the Haunter's Lodge are also being switched out for Holiday ones as I'm writing this, and we will be adding some more holiday modules over the next couple days.
Enjoy and good luck!
Advent Calendar
We have decided to add a little extra to the mix this holiday season and have an Advent calendar of sorts.
Every evening from now until Christmas, we will be choosing, at random, one player to receive 50 gems as we count down the days until the THE BIG DAY.
At 8:30pm Eastern, we will see how many players are online at that time and then use that information to pick a completely random number on random.org. Then we will count down from the top of the list and award the 50 gems to whomever is in that slot.
So, in order to be eligible for each day's drawing, you HAVE TO BE ONLINE AT 8:30PM EASTERN.
MAESTRO BUGSY! (Dec. 1)
BAH HUMBUG HAJI! (Dec. 2)
VALKYRIE VAMPIRESSBABY! (Dec. 3)
GINGERBREAD ARDAREL! (Dec. 4)
BARBARIAN XERAN! (Dec. 5)
GIFT WRAPPED PURPLEANGEL! (Dec. 6)
MAESTRO NOVASKY! (Dec. 7)
MISTLEOTIE ZEUS! (Dec. 8)
FIRSTYEARBOY REDUCTO! (Dec. 9)
SIXTHYEARBOY JULIAPOTTER! (Dec. 10)
MISTLTOE SHERRYSNAPE (Dec. 12)
SUPREME GOD THEQUiBBLERJACK! (Dec. 12)
GLADIATRIX SIDGALAXY! (Dec. 13)
FOURTHYEAR LONGBOW!!! (Dec. 14)
FIRSTYEARBOY DOMINICGLINKA!!!! (Dec. 15)
FIRSTYEARBOY JACKALOFBANE! (Dec. 16)
SEVENTHYEARGIRL JENIRE!!! (Dec. 17)
ULTIMATE GODDESS CBGKITTEN!!! (Dec. 18)
SUPREME ELF GNOME SOULRISER!!! (Dec. 19)
PROFESSOR SILVERROSE!!! (Dec. 20)
SECONDYEARBOY JAKEWRUBEL!!! (Dec. 21)
ICICLE CHELSEABLACK!!! (Dec. 22)
AMAZON AMYPOND!!! (Dec. 23)
OOGIE BOOGIE AMBERWOOD!!! (Dec. 24)
THIRDYEARBOY BLAIKEROYDE!!! (Dec. 25)
UNDERGOD TRENTRADKE!!! (Dec.26)
DEMIGODDESS HALLYPOTTER!!! (Dec. 27)
ITSAWONDERFUL MARLEE!! (Dec. 28)
FOURTHYEARGIRL ETTIEMINTY!!! (Dec. 29)
GODDESS SCARLETTGINGER!!! (Dec. 30)
Congratulations! Your gems have already been awarded to you!
December 31:
The winner is...
PRIESTESS NAVYGIRL!!!
(#33 out of 79)
Congrats, NavyGirl!