About two years ago, the popular Harry Potter Club was disbanded.  All hope was lost since no one wanted to be in charge of it. Recently, Junior Maria Massad has brought the Harry Potter Club back to life.

Massad, the president of the club, restarted the club for many reasons.

“I have always been passionate about the Harry Potter books, and I knew others at school love Harry Potter as well,” said Massad.

Learning Center teacher Laurie Schulte, and also the sponsor of the Harry Potter Club, said Massad began asking friends if they were interested in restarting the club.

“There was so much positive feedback that she decided to go ahead and start the club for real,” Schulte said.

Schulte wanted to sponsor the club because it sounded like a fun opportunity.

“I jumped at the opportunity to be sponsor for this club because it sounded like a fun group that couldn’t possibly take itself too seriously,” Schulte said. “It’s just a cool way to get to know students in a non-academic setting while sharing a common passion: a passion for Potter.”

Massad and Schulte all agree that the first few meetings of the club have been a success.

First, students were sorted into one of the houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. They have watched the first Harry Potter movie and played the Harry Potter Scene-It game.  The club has meets almost every Wednesday after school until 4 p.m., in room 10.

“A lot of people have shown up to the meetings,” Massad said. “I hope students will continue to come to the meetings, since the more people that we have the more fun the club could be.”

The club has approximately 10 to 15 students attending the meetings.

“I didn’t really know how many fellow muggles were here at Clayton until that first meeting,” Schulte said.

Members have a variety of reasons to join the club.

“I started reading the Harry Potter books in Kindergarten, and I’ve been keeping up with the series ever since,” junior Caitlin Kropp said. “The Harry Potter series is such a defining aspect of our generation, I think it would be hard to find anyone who actually didn’t know about the books or the movies. It’s just too large to not to know and love.”

Caitlin Kropp said her favorite thing so far was playing Harry Potter Scene-It.

“I love any Scene-It games, and a lot of people showed up that day, so we actually had a legitimate competition going,” Caitlin Kropp said.

Caitlin Kropp’s sister, freshman Chandler Kropp, is also in the club.

“I’ve enjoyed watching the movies and discussing the aspects of the book,” Chandler Kropp said.

Massad said she doesn’t really have a favorite aspect.

“Basically, this is just because anything about Harry Potter is ridiculously and equally spectacular,” Massad said. “Everything we have done has been great.”

Members have various reasons for thinking the club is unique.

“Harry Potter club is a unique place where ordinary, non-wizard humans (Muggles) can pretend to be magically-endowed wizarding geniuses,” Schulte said. “It’s a place for friends to pretend and to have fun.”

Massad said Harry Potter Club is unique because they talk only about Harry Potter.

“No other club really does it as in depth as we will, I don’t think any other club is going to play a Quidditch match any time soon,” Massad said.

Caitlin Kropp said the club has a wide variety of activities.

“There are so many Harry Potter spin-offs, games and events; I seriously doubt that we will ever run out of new things to do,” she said. “With people who come to the meetings, the people who are really invested in this series, it’s impossible to not have a good time.  We’ll always find something to do.”

Schulte said the purpose of the group is to simply socialize and share.

The club now is planning their own big Harry Potter inspired Halloween costume contest and party. Also, they plan their own trip to see the movie “Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part I.”

Schulte is looking forward to one event in particular.

“I’m really looking forward to our own Quidditch match,” Schulte said. “Even though we can’t fly around on brooms, we’ll do our best to pass the ball around on the ground.” ⎫