A Weekend at Hogwarts

So for those of you who aren't familiar with the magical little town of Staunton, Virginia, I am about to learn you a thing.

First off, every second week of September is officially "Queen City Magic and Mayhem" weekend, where the entire downtown area becomes freaking HOGSMEAD FROM HARRY POTTER, along with a few other locations/made-up places based loosely on J.K. Rowling's Potter universe.

This is the town I live in. It's pretty awesome.

Because of the kind of person I am, I knew I would probably enjoy the event the most if I could volunteer at it. Luckily a local fiber shop was turning itself into "Hagrid's Hut" and was in need of some tour guides.

We were encouraged to dress up. I didn't need encouragement tbh

I made a character for myself named Margot (a Beauxbatons alumn). The older gentleman who co-owned the fiber shop kept forgetting my name and eventually began introducing me as "Lady Morgan, Lady of the Lake" so I just went with it (even though Morgan Le Fay and the fairy who gave King Arthur Excalibur which he seemed to be referencing are very different entities... aren't they? Does he know something I don't know? Does he know something he doesn't know? Do any of you know?)

The shop was absolutely beautiful, and the owners had created a "life size" paper dragon which they hand painted with reflective paint and bathed in UV light for an appropriately magical glow. He was a rakish fellow who managed to freak out more than a few small children. My kind of man.

large scaly boi, breathy fire boi, my good green boi

I did manage to steal some time and walk around town, of course. There were a LOT of people who attended (roughly 20,000 in a town whose population is only 24,416 according to Google) and it was kind of overwhelming, but the decorations and cosplays were on point.

There was even a 3D sidewalk chalk artist who made this in the middle of Beverly St.

There was a lot more that I didn't get pictures of but rest assured, it was such a fun and CRAZY weekend. It was like Halloween in September and even with the overwhelming crowds, I loved it and it went by much too quickly. Ya girl has to return to the muggle world now.