Harry Potter Fanaticism

In all honesty, the Harry Potter Fever that grips our house is completely Mommy's doing and obsession. That said, the children bear it, and sometimes have fun. We have been listening to the books on tape since this summer and are now listening to book 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

For Halloween, we decided on a Harry Potter theme and a much smaller Halloween gathering than in previous years. Initially, we invited only 3 of our closest friends and their families, but the gathering grew in the days leading up to it, much to our enjoyment. Mommy went temporarily insane with the details.

First, everyone was sorted. Each would take a turn sitting on the stool, having the Sorting Hat placed on their heads, and picking a house from the pumpkin bag.
The choices were badges I'd made, to aid in determining House Points for trivia.
There were four banners hung about the house. Slytherin was in Aleks' room:

Ravenclaw was Mama & Papa's bedroom:

Hufflepuff was, of course, by the kitchen:

And Gryffindor got a place of prominence in the dining room. Seated here are our upmoststairs neighbor, Jo, and next door neighbor, Chris, dressed as a witch and a Montrose Magpies quidditch captain, respectively.


Here is Harry Potter, aka Brad from next door, who boasts a real lightning bolt scar in the center of his forehead. Aleks insists he was Goyle, but the blond hair really suggests a young Master Malfoy.
This is him shouting, "Expelliarmus!" one of three spells he knows. The first spell he ever remembered was unfortunately the unforgivable killing curse, Avada Kedavra. He really belongs to the dark side.

Aleks insisted that we get him a Monster Book of Monsters to go with his costume. Mostly it spends its time attacking people, who in turn attempt to stroke its spine to calm it in order for use as a book.
This is the beautiful Dobby costume I made that Bastian refused to wear.
This is our lovely new friend, Heather, ("HQ"), dressed as a Slytherin student. Heather is a die-hard Harry Potter fan who was at JK Rowling's reading at Carnegie Hall when she announced the juicy info on Dumbledore's sexuality.
Mama, dressed as Professor Trelawney. Everyone knew immediately who I was.
This is Joy as Luna Lovegood, Danielle as Fleur Delacour, and Barbara as Madame Maxime.

Here's Lavinia as "Hermione Cat," which is when Hermione turned into a cat via the Polyjuice Potion in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Anna, dressed as Bellatrix Lestrange.

Aunt Natty, dressed as Luna Lovegood, eating cockroach clutsters:
Heather dressed as Ron, complete with knapsack, set for hiding in the woods in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Dan as a member of the Weird Sisters.
Papa as Godric Gryffindor:

The bathroom was done up to resemble the prefects' bathroom on the fifth floor of Hogwarts, complete with Moaning Myrtle and mermaid painting.

There were lots of games and activities available, including making a Charms bracelet, with letter beads and a list of spells.
On the left, "Expelliarmus!" and on the right, "Crucio!"
Our plants were labeled with canon-appropriate botanical tags. Here, Venomous Tentacula:
We had wands available for those who came without them at Ollivander's Wand Shop:
Care of Magical Creatures offered Pygmy Puffs from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes:
There were lots of sweets available at Honeydukes:
In addition to Chocolate Frogs and Blood Pops, we had Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Cockroach Clusters, Cauldron Cakes, and Jelly Slugs.We had a rousing game of trivia for House Points:
Hufflpuff won:Gryffindor was 2nd. Slytherin came in 3rd. And Ravenclaw was in 4th place.
For the House Cup, bookmarks were awarded to all the kids, and a poster and two books about the world of Harry Potter were given to top scoring families.
More plants with their labels, Mimblus Mimbletonia and Bubotuber (though no one had to squeeze out the pus), with Pigwidgeon sitting alongside them.
Our table was very festive, set with lights and candles:
Above the table were our Potions, again labeled from canon:
Amortentia and Murtlap Essence:
Wolfsbane, Polyjuice Potion, Skele-Grow, and Scintillation Solution:
At the end of the night, some of us got a little rowdy dancing:Where most folks remove parts of their costume as the night wears on, Anna added Jonas' Dumbledore costume on top of her own.
And we rounded everything off with some LolCats: