GRYFFINDORS IN TRAINING:

A Quest for Greatness

My dear first year Gryffindors, you have the privilege, honour and pleasure of being part of the greatest house of them all, congratulations!

By now, you surely are aware of the status that precede us: courageous, audacious, daring and modest (if not, the list would be endless).

A great power comes with a great responsibility: you have a reputation to uphold. Here, we do things a little bit different than other houses. Instead of wasting our time in the library, in the common room knitting, or in the dungeons complaining, we live life, and nothing can stop us from doing so.

Rules are meant to be broken and limits are meant to be tested and surpassed.

For the next seven years, you will all be representatives of this glorious house. It's going to be hard, but completely worth it. Make the most of each day, enjoy the present and let the future worry for itself. Make it memorable. Live with no regrets. Don't make it so that at the end of your seventh year you realise you have not lived; no time-turner can help you recover that much.

Worry not. The following list is meant to guide and inspire you as you try to make the most of your time here. As everyone knows, we are the house of the One and Only, The Boy Who Lived (twice), the Triwizard Champion, the saviour of the Wizarding World, Harry James Potter. After an extensive recollection of his adventures in Hogwarts, this list was created. As you can see, he is not one of the greatest wizards in history for nothing. Feel free to try and achieve each and every one of his feats.

Warning: in doing so, make sure you don't make us lose points. Great mischievous minds must also be great at strategic thinking.

Now, I'm sure some sneaky members of other houses are reading this too. I have a warning for you: Slytherins, we all know you don't have the guts to even one third of the things listed here, not that you are even able to count that high either; Ravenclaws, you are clever and you might find an ingenious little plan to accomplish some of these tasks, but your snobbish ways won't be enough; Hufflepuffs, we appreciate you, we really do, but you honestly are biologically, mentally, spiritually or whatever, unqualified, just don't.

Without further ado, I present to you the ultimate Harry Potter Manifesto.

- Attend a ghost's Deathday Party, but make sure to eat before going.

- Use a non-conventional means of transportation to arrive at Hogwarts (a.k.a The Hogwarts Express, the boats and carriages). The longer you take to arrive, the more notorious your absence will be, so don't rush it.

- Find, open and enter to the Chamber of Secrets- don't worry, the basilisk inside is most definitely dead. If proven wrong, close your eyes.

- Have Peeves perform a song about you.

- Have Peeves perform a song about you with without insulting you. Good luck.

- Swim in the Black Lake and, if you dare, reach the bottom, Merepeople live there! Beware, they are not very friendly.

- Wander around the out-of-bounds third floor corridor, its pretty fun.

- Also wander around the Forbidden Forest but stay away from the spiders… Plus, the Forbidden Forest is the perfect location to offer a field trip to your least favourite professor, especially if you go near the centaurs.

- Fly on a Thestral.

- Fly on a Hippogriff.

- Find the entrance to the kitchens! You will most certainly never regret doing this one, house-elves will give you any meal you want if you visit them.

- Use Polyjuice potion and pretend to be a student from a different house. If you make them lose some points, we won't judge you.

- Find the secret passages inside Hogwarts and also the ones that lead you outside.

- Sneak into Hogsmeade.

- Form a secret society, preferably a duelling club.

- Use Felix Felicis in a quidditch related event– yes, I'm stretching it here as technically Harry didn't use it. But we do need to win the Cup every year (How are going to make the others remember we are the best at it if not?), so if you or one of the players ever need and extra push and you happen to have Felix Felicis, put it to use.

- Skip every single class for one whole year. I know, I know, Harry was fighting Voldemort during his seventh year, so he had a 'reasonable' excuse. If you can't do this one, go for the Weasley's prodigious firework show. If you have no idea what that is, I pity you.

C'est fini-

THANKS FOR READING!

Reviews are highly appreciated :)

This idea just came to my mind today and I couldn't help but write it down. I hope no member of the other houses gets offended… I obviously don't own anything of J.K Rowling's magnificent work.