Scabbers Fleas.

I love Harry Potter.  I know it sounds geeky and I'm far too old for it, but whatever. My friend Erin is just as much of a Potterhead (some say Potterphiles, but that sounds really gross) as I am. 

Her husband Sean stumbled across a Harry Potter Trivia night fundraiser for the Winnipeg Whomping Willows which is a team in an actual Worldwide Quiddich  league.  Check out the video... it's glorious.  Full grown adults running around a field (whilst stradling a broom) trying to get a ball into one of three rings.  The snitch is a player dressed all in gold with a tennis ball in a sock hanging off the back of their shorts.  Game is over when the snitch is caught.  All of a sudden my Harry Potter obsession seems minor.

Anyways, the trivia night had a $10 cover charge and was held at the Garbonzo's at the U of W.  It was pretty awesome.   They had decorated the place to look like a Tavern in Hogsmeade complete with Butter Beer.  If you were in the mood for a Potter shot, you went up to the bar and a standard shot glass was put in front of you.  Vodka was poured into the shot glass which instantly changed color the second it hit the glass into one of three colors (which was random)  Blue, Red, Green or yellow representing the 4 houses.

Once you registered for the trivia tournament you had to come up with a name.  Our group of 6 couldn't decide between Dobby's B*tches or Scabbers Fleas.  In the end we opted for Scabbers  Fleas. The best team name scored a prize and Triviosa was the winner.

First off we felt the need to sort our own team into houses based on our personalities and skills.  Erin got Gryffindor, Sean got Slytherin, Brad was Hufflepuff (hee hee.  Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.  Match made in heaven) and I got Ravenclaw.  Erin's niece and her husband who were also on our team both got Gryffindor.  Sean getting Slytherin was pretty funny.  Sean is such a good friend of mine, but it can take a bit to get to know him properly as he's a big personality and can rub people the wrong way sometimes.  Once you do however, you'll know he is a fiercely loyal friend.  Case in point, when I met Sean, I hated him, with a visceral hatred.  We were on the daycare board of directors and he drove me crazy.  But over time he wore me down and I now consider him one of my closest friends.   To celebrate our sorting, we each had a shot that represented our house.  I got a Ravenclaw blue.  It tasted like blue raspberry cough syrup, but it's the thought that counts right?

The tournament was supposed to start at 7:30 pm, but for whatever reason it didn't.  They kept announcing that it was going to start and pumping everyone up on the mic.. "Everyone ready?  Let's do this!!!", only to have nothing happen.  Finally somewhere north of 8:30 we started.  The tournament had 3 rounds.  If you were caught using your phone you ran the risk of being killed or worse expelled (Bwahahahaha).    After each round, you switched your paper (they kept it old school with pen and parchment) with the team next to you for marking.  

Now Erin and I are pretty good at HP trivia.  She has a game at home and we play it sometimes, but the questions aren't too difficult.  The trivia night questions were pretty good.  What was the name of Hagrids Mother?  What was the score of the Quiddich World cup?  Who was the first student sorted in the Books (different from the movie)?  What is the motto of Hogwarts school?

It was a blast.   

The first three rounds were questions like the above and the last round was "name the quote".  Generally speaking we had consensus among our team before we wrote an answer.  However, one quote in particular caused a divide.  Here it was...

"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals"

Sean thought it was Dumbledor, whereas I was completely convinced it was Sirius.  What ensued was a debate which resulted in a bet between Sean and I.  If he won, I had to buy him a Potter shot.  If I won, he would buy me two drinks, because he was utterly convinced he was correct.

Ah... poor Sean.  Sirus it was.  The thing was the evening was nearing midnight and I had to work the next day, so I opted for a raincheck on the drinks.  Truly, the real prize was sitting across from Sean in a cloud of smug.

The total tournament score was out of 75 and I think we landed somewhere around 68 which put us in the top ten of 50 teams.

It was a really fun night and came at a time when I needed a break from year end at work.