I have Hufflepuff robes now, and I am sooo excited.
Well, they’re not official Hogwarts robes, they’re more like graduation robes, really similar to graduation robes actually, University of Maryland robes to be exact, but they’re Hufflepuff to me!
Those are the most Hufflepuffing hufflepuff robes that I have ever hufflepuffed seen in my hufflepuffing life.
Actually, they belong to my brother who just graduated from UMCP this past week, and the yellow represents the college of computer, mathematical and physical sciences, not Hufflepuff. Sadly. But, when while he’s in Alabama for the summer and Cornell for grad school, I plan on stealing them and wearing them to the HBP movie release, and the Breaking Dawn book release. More on that later, maybe.
So yes, one of the main reasons I so greatly enjoyed the graduation festivities of the past two days besides the very well-organized ceremonies, Carl Bernstein, the pleasant reception thrown by the astronomy department, sitting in the Comcast center, and my brother’s amazing speech, was the fact that I felt like I was attending the Hogwarts opening feast.
Here we have the students entering the Great Hall, dressed in their colors and sitting according to house. You can see the prefects leading them in and showing them where to sit (Curran was luck enough to have this job).
And this was the staff table with the house flags in the background.
Ah! And here’s the staff now, standing proudly in their wizarding robes. Curran, as head boy, was granted the honor of sitting among them for this opening feast (second from the left). You can also see Dumbledore himself in his red Gryffindor robes second from the right, although he looks a bit tired. He’d just gotten his beard cut before the feast and it took a lot out of him.
So much so, in fact, that he did not have enough energy to make the opening speech! Luckily, Curran stood up without a moment’s hesitation and said, “Excuse me, I’m head boy!” and made the speech instead.
Oh, look! There he is now! What a fine lad.
Somehow, Trelawny predicted that Dumbledore would fall short, so Curran made sure to reserve us front row seats for his speech.
After the feast, we attended a reception in the astronomy tower held by Professor Sinistra. There I saw a different version of the famous Weasley clock:
I also saw someone sporting the brand-new ravenclaw robes, and I must say, they are classy:
And did you know that Jim Henson was a wizard? I didn’t, but I guess it makes sense. I mean, how else could have gotten a frog and a pig to talk and fall in love? Hogwarts is very proud of Mr. Henson. So much so that a “Special Services to the School” award could not suffice. They gave him and Kermie an entire statue!
That said, I quite enjoyed my visit to Hogwarts, and I plan on returning soon.
On a side note, here is a photo that Alex requested I post. My brother told me that this one guy at the reception was wearing Cambridge robes, so I tried to be sneaky and snag a picture from far across the room. I was sure he didn’t notice, but this picture shows him looking right at the camera, and it’s kind of creepy… especially since he’s giving me one of those weird side looks. weird.
Forever a Hufflepuff,
Kyla
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