Last Friday, I had dinner at Hogwarts.
No, I was not at the Wizarding World in Florida or at the new one in California, and I was not at the Warner Brothers studio tour in England. I was, surprisingly, right here at Cornell. As an avid lifelong fan of the Harry Potter books and movies (seriously, I was Harry for Halloween in first grade), I was thrilled in my freshman year to discover that one of the program residence halls at Cornell, Risley Hall, not only has a dining room that looks just like the Great Hall in Hogwarts, but they put on a whole Harry Potter night every Spring. I was disappointed I was not able to go last year, and when my friend invited me to this year’s, I simply couldn't resist.
I just had to go, at least once. So on Friday, April 15, I got ready and walked over to Risley for “A Night at Hogwarts.”
Walking up to the building was an experience in and of itself. The line was out the door, down the driveway, and onto the sidewalk, and there was a quidditch game on the grass in front. Part of the experience consisted of a number of those involved in full character as the most well-known of the characters in the series, and waiting on line was made significantly less boring due to interaction with the characters. And a nice cup of “butterbeer” didn’t hurt, either.
At the doors, we were greeted by Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, who directed us down a path that went through rooms on the main floor of the building each designed as a different well-known location from the series. While waiting to enter the first room, Luna Lovegood asked my friend and myself if our minds were fuzzy, before wandering off again. Many of the characters were milling around, interacting not only with those in line but with each other. At one point, an over-eager Draco Malfoy nervously asked Voldemort for a summer internship as a Death Eater – I got a pretty good laugh out of that one.
The rooms themselves were impeccably planned, from the Weasleys’ house (where we got chocolate frogs, of course) filled with all kinds of interesting things to the Forbidden Forest (watched over by Hagrid) in which we got to see actual live owls. We encountered Gilderoy Lockhart in the last room as he sat a desk giving away signed pictures of himself; my friend asked him what his favorite thing about himself was, and he responded with a simple “how can I choose just one thing?”
Finally, we made it to the dining room, which looked even more like Hogwarts than usual. There were four long tables with the house crest on each one, just as in the books and movies, with a table in front for the “professors.” All the food was themed to the series, and music from the films played in the background to really set the scene. It did kind of feel like being in Hogwarts, and I loved every second of it. The highlight of dinner was shockingly not the very good food but was Professor Quirrell running in screaming “troll in the dungeon!” – just as he did in the first book/movie.
Perhaps the greatest part of the entire evening for me was seeing everyone come together, from both Cornell and the Ithaca community. There were people of all ages, from older people to college students to little kids in full Hogwarts garb. Despite all the differences, here were tons of people all coming together for a love of this story, these characters and this world. It reminded me of just how much I love Harry Potter, the community it has created, and the passion it has inspired in its fans.
Now all I want to do is re-watch the movies. Guess I know how I will be procrastinating my work this week. “A Night at Hogwarts” was an incredibly enjoyable experience and I am so glad I was able to go this year. And I know that the answer to the question “how long will you be obsessed with Harry Potter?” only has one answer, always.
