Students in Harry Potter-themed clothing and clutching magic wands assembled in the basement of Woodburn Hall on Sunday evening for a Horcrux scavenger hunt.
The event was organized by the Harry Potter Society of IU, a group meant to appreciate and further the culture of the Harry Potter universe.
“You don’t need to be a huge fan of Harry Potter to be in the club,” IU junior and club member Cynthia Moreno said. “The people are really nice.”
Moreno joined the club last year but said she hasn’t read the popular book series by J.K. Rowling as extensively as other members. Her favorite part of being in the organization is how friendly and laid back the members are, she said.
The scavenger hunt followed a set of rules that awarded groups points for finding each horcrux, a magical object from the series, and posing in a photo with it. The antagonist of the series, Lord Voldemort, hid pieces of his soul in the original objects featured in the story.
Teams were separated by the house every member is associated with. Hogwarts, the school in Harry Potter, has four houses that students are divided into based on personality: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.
The organization’s vice president, Taylor Boswell, said people can take a quiz to find out what house they are online, or they can just choose which house they want to be a part of. A popular site for the book’s universe is Pottermore, where a quiz shows what percentage of each house a person belongs to.
“That’s really nice if you’re on the edge because you can choose or you can just pick the one you identify with and go with it,” Boswell said.
The clues to finding the items were relayed through text message to a member of each team. Once each group found the item they were looking for, they sent the photo of their team to the organizers, who then sent the next clue.
The objects were hidden in places like a bathroom in Woodburn Hall, the Ernie Pyle statue in front of Franklin Hall, and the staircase of Ballantine Hall. The organizers tried to replicate the original objects, which include a diary, a ring and a crown.
Boswell said the group has no dues and finances itself mainly through the Yule Ball, an event it throws every December on campus. Boswell said she joined the club due to her interest in the book series but has stayed the past three years because of how much she likes the people.
“It’s cool because you read it when you were younger, then you come here, and you’re basically an adult, and people are still into it,” she said.
