The Triwizard Tournament began early Sunday evening in Woodburn Hall when the Harry Potter Society at IU met for the first task of the competition.
The tournament, in the “Harry Potter” book and movie series, is a competition between three schools — Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang — in the wizard world. Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang champions compete against the others in a set of potentially deadly tasks.
The Harry Potter Society at IU is replicating the tournament, albeit without the potentially deadly parts.
The club’s Promotional Officer, Daniel Gayda or “Danieldore,” said he knew the idea wouldn’t be easy but was going to be amazing if they could do it.
In Woodburn Hall, Gayda and others sat in desks while they were waiting on other students to enter. The room eventually began to fill as people, most with wands in their hands, arrived.
There was a quick attendance and wand check, and the house points were read aloud: Gryffindor was in fourth place with 1193 points, Slytherin was in third with 1348 points, Ravenclaw was in second with 1577 points, and Hufflepuff was in the lead with 2058 points.
When Wesley Corey, the champion for Beauxbatons, entered the room, Gayda asked if he was ready for the event.
“Oh, I’m always ready,” Corey said.
The other champions were Amna Yaqub for Hogwarts and Keely Mizell for Durmstrang. After a few minutes, Gayda stood up to begin.
“Welcome to the first task of the Triwizard Tournament,” he said. “So, this is going to be awesome.”
He explained the rules: The champion would be blindfolded and walked up to the field behind Woodburn. In the field, there would be a dragon egg the champion is tasked with locating. In order to do this, the champion would be guided audibly by another person from their school.
The catch, though, was that the person speaking was also not allowed to see the field. She or he would be looking the opposite direction at other members of the team who could mime orders for him or her to shout to the champion.
Gayda drew a description of the game on the chalkboard so it would be clear. The task would be timed, and the champion who found their egg first would be the victor.
The groups deliberated amongst themselves to assign the position of a verbal communicator, and the champions donned their blindfolds. Gayda waved his hand in front of Yaqub, the Hogwarts champion. She didn’t notice, and the others in the room laughed.
After these matters, the students were allowed to leave the classroom and head to the field. They walked through Woodburn with wands brandished, causing some others to regard them with confusion, but they didn’t seem to notice.
Once they were outside, the event could begin. Gayda made sure the eggs were placed, and he counted down from three.
Corey, the Beauxbatons champion, took large steps forward and immediately took the lead while the other champions moved with more hesitance.
“Left,” a verbal communicator said.
“Right,” another said.
“No no no, spin around,” another one said.
The champions had to walk about 50 yards while avoiding trees and passersby to arrive at their eggs.
Eventually Corey was able to reach his bright silver egg and took first place for Beauxbatons. Following him was Yaqub, who stood next to her egg for more than a minute while facing the wrong direction. Eventually she was able to grasp her black egg decorated with stripes of the Hogwarts houses.
Mizell took third place after being within feet of her egg for minutes but unable to accurately hear her verbal communicator. When she did find the red egg, she thrust it into the air to applause.
After the champions returned to their respective schools, Gayda asked if anyone else wanted to try out the game in their place. Some raised their hands, so they were allowed to play. However, the win for the first task went to Beauxbatons.
Unlike the movie and book, where champions represent the school throughout the tournament, a new champion will be chosen for each task to allow for the most participation.
The next task of the tournament will be March 26.
