Harry Potter enthusiasts united to participate in C.H. Booth Library's action-packed Quidditch game on Tuesday, August 2, in the library's meeting room. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 & 2. The book is a play by Jack Thorne, but is based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany. It is now available at the library.

Quidditch was originally a fictional sports game from the fantasy world of Harry Potter. The books and movies depicted it as a fast-paced magical ball game that involved two teams of players flying around on broomsticks. Due to the success of the Harry Potter franchise, Quidditch has become a sport in real life, just without certain magical elements, for muggles - which is a term used for people who are not witches and wizards.

Young Adult Librarian Kim Weber was inspired to have the Quidditch game in honor of the new Harry Potter book that was just released last month,

Also, Ms Weber added, the Booth Library's theme this summer is "Ready, Set, Read!" so she wanted to do an event that was active for the young people in the community.

The event's official Quidditch referee was volunteer Maryjo Siergiej, who is going to the University of Illinois to become a young adult librarian. She is on the Quidditch team at her school and loves the Harry Potter books. Since she has such a vast knowledge of the subject, she organized the event and acquired all the equipment, like the realistic golden hoops for goalposts.

Before the game officially started, she spoke to the players about the rules. There would be two teams of seven players; one team would be Slytherin and the other was Hufflepuff.

Each player wore a different colored headband to distinguish their role on the team. To represent the real game of Quidditch accurately, each team was comprised of three Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper, and one Seeker.

Regarding the equipment, at Booth Library, different colored balls represented the magical ones in the movie: the quaffle was represented by a white volleyball, the two bludgers were represented by blue kickballs, and the Golden Snitch was represented by a small ball wrapped in a sock.

In the Harry Potter books, the Chaser's job is to keep possession of the quaffle. They throw the ball through their opponent's hoops to score points.

The Keeper is like the group's goalie and has to prevent the quaffle from going through their team's hoops.

The Beater's job is to protect their teammates from getting hit with the bludgers. Lastly, the Seeker's job is the catch the Golden Snitch before the other team's Seeker. Catching the snitch usually amounts to so many points that the team wins the match.

When talking about the rules for their Quidditch game, Ms Siergiej emphasized, "Don't run. Don't push. Be kind to one another. Pick up your teammates if they fall."

She also mentioned that Beaters are only supposed to lightly touch their opponent with the bludger, instead of throwing it like in the books. When someone is touched by the bludger they will then be symbolically "knocked off their broom."

After her speech, one of the participants curiously asked her, "Are you Madam Hooch?" (who was the flying instructor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was the referee for the Hogwarts Quidditch games) to which she replied yes.

Pia Ledina, library media specialist at Reed Intermediate School, participated in the event and offered some helpful advice about "broom protocol." She explained that in order to help everyone remain safe, players must sit halfway on their broomsticks, so as to not jab into other players while moving.

At the beginning of each game, the team captains shook hands and returned to their side where everyone was lined up. Players would then kneel down on one knee with their broom on the ground and close their eyes so Ms Siergiej could tap the shoulder of each team's Seeker to begin searching for the Golden Snitch.

The game would start and players would dart towards the middle of the room to grab the bludgers and quaffle.

After each match, which lasted about three minutes, players would huddle with their team to discuss game strategy.

Not only did attendees get to play Quidditch, but they also got to watch the Harry Potter movies, which were being played during the event in the background. Snacks of authentic wizard cuisine from the Harry Potter universe, like cauldron cakes, butterbeer, Ollivander wands, and cockroach clusters, were served.

Ms Weber concluded the Quidditch festivities with Harry Potter trivia and an appearance from the sorting hat to place each attendee into their team house, which could be Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff.