Magic for muggles! Soul-searching fun in Harry Potter extravaganza

The Queen’s Library ran its own Hunt the Horcruxes event – a Harry Potter extravaganza held as part of the national celebrations surrounding the annual Harry Potter World Book Night.

Twenty-four boys from Years 7–9 who scored top marks in a recent trivia quiz held on eQE – the School’s online portal – were invited to take part in the lunchtime event, together with the Hogwarts Prefects, aka QE’s pupil librarians.

“It was great to have an opportunity for inter-year competition between boys who all share a love of JK Rowling’s magical world,” said Librarian Ciara Murray, who hosted the event together with her fellow Magic for Muggles Administrator, Library Assistant Leena Shah.  “There was lots of excitement and competitive spirit – and I think they found the clues more challenging than they expected!”

Boys were sorted into houses by the Sorting Hat (pupil librarian Saifullah Shah, of Year 10) and competed as Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. These houses then competed to be the first to find and destroy six horcruxes – parts of Voldemort’s soul – that were each hidden inside a book. To find the books, boys had to solve a riddle or clue, giving them the title and author.

“Gryffindor were the apparent winners, but it later emerged that they had failed to destroy all their horcruxes – and some suspected foul play! – meaning that, contrary to all expectation, Slytherin were the moral victors!” said Ms Murray.

Boys also had the opportunity to try creating a wand and to borrow mystery books from the Flourish & Blotts bookstore (proprietor: pupil librarian Des Ganeshamoorthy, of Year 9) that had been carefully selected to appeal to Harry Potter fans.

They then competed in their year groups in another fiendish quiz, in which Years 8 and 9 tied for first place, showing impressive knowledge of even the most obscure Harry Potter trivia.

The Hogwarts Prefects with their respective houses were: Gryffindor – Charan Kumararuban (Year 9) and Ciaran Price (Year 8); Ravenclaw – Ethan Solanki (Year 8) and Rishi Shah (Year 10): Hufflepuff –Janison Jeyaventhan (Year 8) and Arjun Patel (Year 8), and Slytherin – Kritik Pant (Year 8) and Sultan Khokhar (Year 8), while Hector Cooper (Year 10) was Mr Ollivander.

“A special thank you to the pupil librarians who helped out, and congratulations to Slytherin (aided by the Sorting Hat) for being the only team to solve every clue,” Ms Murray concluded.