When Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone came to the US in 1998, the intended audience was children. As the books series progressed, readers grew older with the eponymous boy wizard. Nine years later, people lined up for hours to get the seventh and final installment of his adventures. Even though the final book was released in 2007, Harry Potter mania has yet to die down. Judging the excitement from J.K. Rowling’s announcement that she’s working on a new film in the Potter universe (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) and a play (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, scheduled to debut in London’s West End in 2016), fans of Harry Potter are as dedicated as ever.
Why wouldn’t they be? The same little kids who first read Harry Potter when they were eleven years old are now twenty-eight. They’re old enough to have families of their own, but in the case of PotterCon, they’re old enough to drink.
On the first of August, witches and wizards of drinking age lined up around the Bell House to get into the hottest Harry Potter day-drinking event in all of New York. Even if the humidity got to them, these die-hard Potterheads were willing to wait in the heat with their Hogwarts robes. Nothing can get in the way of a good time and mingling with fellow fans.
Once the fans made it inside the (air-conditioned!) Bell House, they were greeted with several opportunities to spend their money (Galleons not accepted as legitimate currency — a limitation of the Muggle world). Brooklyn-based and eco-friendly Jordan Dene sold Harry Potter-themed apparel, which included shirts, aprons, and underwear. Trust In Sam had Hogwarts-themed jewellery for sale. The drinks that the Bell House offered, specifically the specialty cocktails, garnered the most attention. Fans could buy the hot sauce-laden Firewhiskey, the fruity Phoenix Tears, and — an all-time favorite at the Three Broomsticks Pub — Butterbeer, a very sweet drink which was tempered by the vodka.
For every drink bought, attendees would earn house points for their preferred Hogwarts house: Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Gryffindor. Naturally, people were eager to help their house win, but the House Cup was far from the only competition at PotterCon. The costume competition featured competitors who showed off their dedication and originality by bringing their favorite characters to life.
One of the biggest events of the night, however, was the Trivia Contest, hosted by last year’s winning team, The Remembralls. Every team was determined to prove themselves the most knowledgeable of Harry Potter lore, but ultimately, only one team reigned as champion: the Hinkypunk Rockers. The winners, Elizabeth Neveu, Melanie Iglesias, Christine Hung, Nina Guttapalle, and Priya Srinivasan were ecstatic as they were presented with their prize: a Harry Potter edition of Trivial Pursuit. After all, not only did they win the contest, but they now have bragging rights as the biggest Harry Potter fans in all of Brooklyn. When asked about her elation of answering the winning question for her team, Neveu replied, “I feel like Viktor Krum, Oliver Wood, Cedric Diggory, and both Weasley twins asked me to the Yule Ball!”
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