This table reserved for Dumbledore's Army

[starfishstar]

OMG you guys, I went to a meeting of my university's Harry Potter society, and it was so much fun.

I wasn't planning to go; I definitely didn't expect to enjoy it that much. I'd seen that a Harry Potter society existed, when I went to the start-of-the-year fair where all the sports and activities show their stuff to new students. And I had a moment of awww, of deep gladness that such a thing as a Harry Potter society exists.

But these university societies are mostly populated by students – you know, proper students, undergrads. Whereas I am a postgrad student and nearly twice their age. I would feel like the weird adult crashing the kids' party!

But my flatmate was going, so I said I would go with her. Just once to check it out.

OMG. They had us do a Sorting quiz with questions from the official Pottermore Sorting (though, I mean...why did they even ask? I already know I'm a Ravenclaw. I have always been a Ravenclaw...) and they had an actual Sorting Hat, and they made each person put it on and then they shouted out that person's house (based on their quiz result). They divided us up at tables by our respective Houses, which were decked out in the relevant House colors. They gave us food, a veritable Hogwarts feast. And we sat and talked to our hearts' content about our favorite characters, about what Sorting even means, about the Houses, about obscure points in canon... My Harry Potter geekdom usually all happens online, so it was quite novel to be in a physical context where it was not just okay but even expected that I could talk about Harry Potter absolutely without end. :-)

The pub where the group meets reserves tables for them, since it's quite a large gathering (about 40 people??) – and look who the "this table is reserved" cards are made out to:



Aw!! Isn't that delightful? 

They're having a "Deathday Party" for Halloween (à la Nearly Headless Nick in book 2) and I think I'm gonna go to it. :-)

Comments

[nerakrose]

that sounds like so much fun! you should definitely report back from the deathday party. :D

[starfishstar]

I can definitely report back! :D

[gilpin25]

I have many posts to catch up on, and I've started here after the first thing I spot is that reserved table card. Lol, how brilliant. (Am glad you're getting fun stuff amongst all the work.)

Love the Sorting quiz as well. Did you have a moment of doubt before they shouted out "Ravenclaw"? ;)

[starfishstar]

Hey, nice to see you here! :-)

Hmm, I think my only moment of doubt was because it did occur to me I'd been loudly proclaiming to my flatmate for days that there was no POINT in me even taking the Sorting quiz the society sent out, I've taken SO MANY Sorting quizzes, I KNOW I'm a Ravenclaw... So I was aware how stupid and obnoxious I would look if the quiz this time somehow spit out a different result for me! But all was well and of course I'm a Ravenclaw. ;-)

Btw, I CAN'T HELP NOTICING YOUR ICON. I've been hoping, but at this point it's probably late enough into December that I shouldn't hold out hope for any rt_morelove event, right? (I mean, I probably wouldn't even have time to write anything this year, so it's not like I can complain!)

[gilpin25]

Btw, I CAN'T HELP NOTICING YOUR ICON.

Ha! I didn't do it deliberately, but maybe my sub-conscious did! We're talking about it, to see if it's a possibility. I don't know if it is but it would be nice.

And I will be in touch over the weekend about you-know-what. I'm so sorry, it's been put to one side along with much else, and now I'm trying to catch up again and apparently it's almost Christmas. Are you staying put for the hols or on your travels again?

[starfishstar]

Ooh, I'm so happy to hear you're talking about it! I'd assumed it was off the table entirely, since I hadn't heard anything yet... so, happy just to hear it's a possibility. :-) (Would you folks consider doing a spring thing again, if it's gotten to be too much of a time crunch to do it now in the winter?)

Oh, yay! I've done most of my main edits and am basically ready to do the final-pass-through-before-posting-it, so I've been thinking about asking you at some point if you have any thoughts about my last few questions – but of course not wanting to bug you! (And believe me, it's not like I have free time to work on it myself right now! Next huge assignment is due in a week and I'm panicking...)

I actually *don't know yet* if I'm going anywhere over the break... I have so much coursework, I just don't think I can get away. And at this point it would probably be too late/expensive to book anything, even if I did decide I could spare a few days. Boo.

I hope you're not in too much holiday stress!