On the night of Monday , October 26th, 2020, at 7 P.M. Hogwarts time, the Hogwarts Planning Club convened for a general meeting.

James, Hugo, Devon, Albus, Fred, Roxanne and Lily all met up in the History of Magic classroom at 7 p.m. Hogwarts time.

"Good evening Hogwarts Planning Club!" said James eagerly, "As you know, we previously planned Halloween at Hogwarts for this year and we will get to see that come to fruition this Saturday. Tonight's meeting is of a more generic sense. Professor McGonagall has asked us to come up with some general ideas for Hogwarts. So, let's get to it. As president of the Hogwarts Planning Club, I am the one who will present your ideas to McGonagall if I think they have merit. McGonagall has asked for at least three and up to six ideas so if all goes well, I will not be making any suggestions myself as I hope all six of you will present me with suitable ideas. Devon, you first as always."

"I know!" piped up Devon instantly, "You remember how, last year, before the Hogwarts Writing Competition winners were announced, we had a big BBQ feast with BBQ chicken, hot dogs, and hamburgers?"

"Yes!" answered James, Hugo, Fred, Albus, Roxanne and Lily together.

"Well," smiled Devon, "That night was the Friday before Easter and I really enjoyed that feast. I think it would be awesome if we were to make the Friday before Easter a BBQ feast night every year."

"Devon. that's completely brilliant! Take an idea that was awesome but overshadowed and bring it back. Of course, I will take this idea to McGonagall and of course she will approve it!" said James in a supremely confident voice.

"Great call, Devon" agreed Lily, "Hogwarts has had many feasts in its illustrious history but that was the first ever BBQ feast ever hosted at Hogwarts."

"It made for an enjoyable change of pace from the typical Hogwarts feasts," said Hugo happily.

"To keep it unique at Hogwarts, it should just be that one time per year," said Albus crisply.

"Albus is right here," agreed Fred, "Do anything too often and it fades into ordinariness."

"James should make that point clear to McGonagall when he presents this idea to her," said Lily.

"I will," promised James, "Next idea?"

"I have a bit of a concern regarding the library," said Albus in a businesslike voice.

"What is your concern, Albus," asked James seriously.

"Well, some Ravenclaw students are book hogs," explained Albus, "Here's the deal; some Ravenclaws circumvent the due date system for returning library books by simply checking the book out again on the due date. There is no rule against this. As long as a student takes a book into the library on its due date, he or she reserves the right to check it out again. This process is currently allowed to be repeated an innumerable number of times. The overwhelming majority of Hogwarts students are very respectful of the spirit that library books are meant to shared. However, there are times and cases where the handful of Ravenclaws who are greedy about library books cause certain library books to become unavailable to the general student population for unreasonably long periods of time. I suggest that a stricter enforcement of the due date policy be set. Students should be required to return library books on their due date and once a student has checked out a library book once he or she should be ineligible to check the same book out again for the rest of the semester. That would cap the number of times any specific student could check out any specific book to two times per school year."

"That's not the only problem with the due date system," offered Lily, "Students are currently able to pick their own due dates to begin with. Even if James were to take Albus's idea to McGonagall and she were to approve it, students could still circumvent the system by choosing far out due dates. A firm guideline for the length of time a student may take out a library book must also be established for Albus's idea to do any good."

"I don't think book hogging is an epidemic," said Roxanne matter of factly, "But for some less common books that are in shorter supply it doesn't have to be widespread to be problematic. The stricter due date policy should be adopted."

"Besides," added Devon reasonably, "How much more can you gain by reading the same book over and over and over again. At some point you've learned all you can learn from that book so let others have a chance to read it."

"Exactly," agreed Hugo, "And even with books that are stories, how many times can you read the same story?"

"That's an excellent point, Devon, Hugo," said Lily crisply, "No one should be hurt by establishing a strict due date policy for library books."

"I think McGonagall will have a "why didn't I think about that before" type reaction to this idea" suggested James, "I know library books are considered first come first serve. But Albus, Lily, you guys just hit on some notable points about students circumventing the system. In the New Era of Hogwarts, everyone gets a fair shake. Next idea."

"My idea," offered up Hugo, "Relates to students who do not perform as they would like on their end of year exams. I believe students should be allowed one opportunity to retake any or all of their exams in early August."

"There are some cases in which that would be only fair due to extenuating circumstances," said Lily matter of factly.

"Sometimes people need a second chance and the results of these exams do have significant consequences," observed Devon, "We're not talking about giving students an unlimited number of chances. We are talking about an opportunity for one redo."

"A key point here," said Fred briskly, "Is that it is not all or nothing. A student could choose to let most of his or her grades stand but only redo his or her Charms exam."

"I think a fair number of students would take advantage of this opportunity if it were offered," said Roxanne simply.

"I do not know what McGonagall would think of such an idea," said James honestly, "As students are expected to take preparing for their exams seriously and are fully aware of their potential consequences due to either stellar or stinky results, I would guess McGonagall would say that the onus is on the student to do what he or she needs to do to achieve a successful result at the time the test is administered. Nevertheless, I will inform McGonagall of your suggestion and ask what she thinks. I do think the idea deserves to be heard. Fred, any ideas?"

"Absolutely," smiled Fred, "I know the Hogwarts Writing Competition was a smash hit last year, "Well I think that Hogwarts could hold a different type of competition this year. In fact, I think it would be super cool and super exciting if Hogwarts were to hold a different type of competition every year."

"YES!" chorused James, Albus, and Lily eagerly.

"You know," said Hugo thoughtfully, "The idea for the Hogwarts Writing Competition was announced last Thanksgiving. Perhaps it could become an annual Thanksgiving tradition at Hogwarts to announce that year's competition."

"The Hogwarts Planning Club probably doesn't have much planning to do for Thanksgivings," noted Devon, "We could decide in our meetings what the year's competition is going to be and McGonagall could then announce it on Thanksgiving."

"We could all provide suggestions for the year's competition and we could then vote on which one wins, just like how we voted to have Scary Halloween this year," added Devon.

"When the winners would be announced could be varied by year depending on how much time each competition could reasonably expected to take," said Lily simply.

"My belief is that McGonagall will be receptive to this idea as long as the amount of the teachers' time it takes up is limited," said James crisply, "Roxy, your turn."

"Actually," said Roxanne bluntly, "I'd like to expand on Hugo's idea. You see, I think too much weight is given to end of year exams as it now stands at Hogwarts. In the muggle world, students can still pass a course if they had a bad day on finals because homework and midterm exam grades are counted towards a final course grade. It is my view that if a student can demonstrate throughout the school that he or she is proficient in a subject that he or she should be able to pass the course even if he or she didn't have the greatest final in the world. I would still require students to pass an O.W.L. to gain entry into N.E.W.T level courses. But a bad day on a final exam should not cause a consistently good student to fail a course. If a first year displays quality Charms assignments throughout the year that student should pass first year Charms. We shouldn't put all our eggs in the finals basket."

"The end of year exams need to be kept important," said Albus firmly, "But it wouldn't be a bad thing to have students' grades be less weighted towards the final exams."

"That's the idea," replied Hugo, "Finals should be a significant piece of the pie but they shouldn't be the only piece of the pie."

"Maybe recommend that 20% weight be given to finals and the other 80% of the student's grades be decided by how well they perform on homework/assignments," suggested Devon.

"I think 20% is still too much, maybe 15% would more appropriate," offered Fred.

"I think McGonagall herself would be the best judge of that if she approves of this idea," said Lily calmly.

"I will inform McGonagall of this suggestion and see what she thinks. The basis for this suggestion is good but determining the right balance could be tricky," said James, "Lily?"

"There needs to be more interhouse friendship or at least interhouse cooperation at Hogwarts," said Lily fiercely, "To achieve this, I propose that in classes where teachers have students "pair up", if the class is shared by two houses, assign people from different houses to be partners."

"NO!" screamed Albus, "I DO NOT WANT TO EVER HAVE TO PARTNER A DAMN SLYTHERIN!"

"Sadly, the predictable reaction from Albus," said Fred simply.

"Albus is precisely the kind of person who could benefit from Lily's idea," piped up Hugo, "Coming into direct exposure with a decent Slytherin would finally force Albus to change his tune."

"Hugo is exactly right!" squeaked Devon, "Sometimes, if people refuse to open their hearts and minds themselves, they've got to have them pried open to see the truth."

"All true," agreed Lily, "But this is not just about Gryffindor-Slytherin relations. This applies to all relationships between all four houses. There is simply too little opportunity for contact for students from different houses. While this idea is limited, it is a good start."

"Oftentimes," said James clearly, "A small start leads to bigger things so I will give McGonagall this idea and see what she has to say about it."

James went quiet for a minute and a nanosecond and then said, "Good job, Hogwarts Planning Club, I will be meeting with Professor McGonagall in her office tonight and I will let you all know she says. All of your ideas be shared with McGonagall. It's now a wait and see to find out what reactions to and opinions of your ideas are."