This Month's challenge is to write an anecdote about you and Harry Potter. It could be when you received any of the books, telling your friends about Harry Potter, or anything else, but it must be your personal, funny story involving Harry Potter.

* Write a funny story about a Harry Potter memory.
* Your story should be 300 words or less.
* All content must adhere to a strict PG-13 rating.
* There is a limit of one entry per person.
* All work must be original. Any entries found to contain the work of others will be disqualified.
* All stories MUST be of an exemplary quality; they must be organised, focused, coherent and not contain net speak. Spelling, grammar, and punctuation will be taken into consideration when judging.
* Please include a name to be used for authorship (e.g. Leaky Lounge name or real name).
* This Contest is open to all readers 13 years of age and over, as well as members of Leaky staff that are not involved in the adjudication process.
* There is no restriction on which Country you are from - we accept entries from all over the World.
* All decisions by the judges are final.
* Please submit entries as a document (.doc or .txt).
* E-mail all submissions to contests@the-leaky-cauldron.org by 11:59 pm of August 31 (EST).
* Please refer to our FAQ if you are not sure of something.
* If you have any questions, not answered on the FAQ, or would like to discuss this Contest, then please come to the Contest Corner Forum of The Leaky Lounge.

All of my life I've been a right brained person. I am an artist, a writer, and a musician. Slap a science or math book in front of me and I look as if I've been confunded.
I had this exciting idea one autumn night. Looking back I can see why I was struck with inspiration. It was close to halloween and that time of year brings out my inner witch.
Feeling creative, pen in hand, I began to write. After many scratch out's and crumpled paper balls on my floor I finally finished.
My story took the form of a childrens poem called 'Hennrietta Witch'. Sadly I have no idea where the story ever ended up, I can still see it in my mind eye, yellow lined paper, blue ink and at the bottom was my name and the date, October 23, 1996.
Four years had gone by and I had completley forgotten about my poem. I went to visit my Nana Quattrucci, I had just gotten married and had my first baby. I was proud and excited to show off my son, Liam.
Somewhere during that visit my Nana, who was 64 at the time, brought up this new book series called Harry Potter. She had been reading it and highly recomended it. I cracked open the first few pages on the ride home and immediatley my attena's went off. This looked like an interesting story.
I had been home for only a few hours before I was telling my husband to take care of the baby, I couldnt stop reading! The entire time I was reading about Harry and the brooms and the school, somthing was nagging at me. I couldnt put my finger on it until the chapter, "Quidditch".
A small childrens poem I had written four years ago snapped into my mind. I couldnt believe this amazing book called 'Sorcerers Stone' was basically the same idea as my poem.
My 'Henrietta Witch' was an orphan who attended a magic school for children similar to her. She was a trouble maker and the only person who could make her behave was a strict teacher with a tight black bun called, Miss Snitch. They flew on brooms and boiled potions in cauldrons.
Needless to say I was astounded that I had come up with somthing, no matter how lame in comparison to Jo Rowlings story, similar to this amazing author. I am proud to say that I, Kerri Hennebury, thought of this magical world before I even knew of Jo Rowling.
Im thankful she wrote the series because her world took shape for my half formed ideas about a magical community. Im going back to school because of Jo. She trully is my inspiration to do somthing with my creativity. Im just glad my family read the poem when I wrote it. They believe me!

i think i didn't start wanting to read the books until maybe 1st grade. I didn't really like HP until i watched the movie because my first grade teacher would read the books out loud.

Just a reminder, this forum is not for submitting your entries. Entries should be submitted to contests@the-leaky-cauldron.org by 11:59 pm of August 31 (EST). Thanks!

oh that's great.
Now we'll be able to see how Harry has related to all his fans.
I'm sure we'll hear some very awesome stories!!

These are supposed to be funny, right? There are many that are more inspirational than funny. Should those be submitted or not?

Cheers.
Carmen

Great question Carmen Black! We in the Contest Crew decided that many people would be feeling a bit down about the series coming to an end, so for this contest we are looking for a humorous story. This is not a fanfic contest, we are looking for real stories about your Harry Potter experience (like that time when I ran into a co-worker reading the book during lunch, and so I launched into a detailed analysis of chapter four, only to get a blank stare in response as said co-worker began to quickly clean up his lunch..only written funnier than that!).

A panel of four to six judges will be evaluating the entries, and humour is one of the judging criteria.

This 300 word limit is killing me. It's so hard to fit in everything I want to say!

Ah bummer. I wrote mine and it is more poignant than funny. Think you will do a contest on how Harry has touched your life??

do the 300 words include title and Author`s name?
If not I could manage to reduce my tale to 300 words. If it does, I have a problem.
I have been writing for half an hour, but trying to scretch words out for two more full hours...It's 313 now..

mugsisme, we'll definitely take that into consideration since there are many people who do have a story how Harry has touched their life in some way.

Mica, the title and author's name doesn't count in the overall word count. Hopefully that'll help you. Don't strain yourself if you're a couple of words over the word count. Though the word count is given as a rule and we do take it into consideration when reviewing the entries, a couple of words over won't kill us.

Did you get mine?

What do you win?

An all expense paid trip to...oh wait, that offer has expired. Actually if you win, you get a contest winner button added to your profile.

In order to keep submissions confidential, and judging impartial, only one member of the Contest Crew checks the email account, and generally does not share who has submitted an entry. We have looked at sending confirmation emails, but have been unable to find an option that would work without personally sending an email to every entrant, which is just not feasible.

So, the best I can say is that if you have sent your email and did not receive notification from your email account that it wasn't delivered, then we most likely got your submission.

Thanks for your entry and good luck!

I sent mine to you.

Yep! Mine went in via Owl-Mail Excellent contest! I enjoyed writing it!

The winning entries have been picked! We received many excellent entries that were funny and many that were sentimental. For this contest, we were specifically looking for entries that were funny. For anyone who accidentally submitted a more serious or sentimental entry or thought their story was on the border, please save them! You may be able to resubmit them for a future contest.

Congratulations to everyone who won!

Winning Entries!

First Place - bibs the S.P.E.W supporter

The Snape/ Hermione make over

I sit on my sun bed. Quiet, not harming or bothering any one – being a complete angel (depending on your definition of the word.) It’s a getaway in Florida, a sunny escape. Unfortunately – your visions of a relaxing day by the pool with your copy of “prisoner of Azkaban” are ruined – a family of about 9 come bounding down the steps. 7 children, all under 10, all eager to get in the water, splashing around and getting your book wet.

“It’s like the Von traps,” I mutter to my mum, who is sitting beside me.

“Well,” she whispers back, “here come the Weasleys.”

Sure enough, a family of red heads (who were equally as young and loud) come jumping into the pool. I try to read; ignoring the constant screaming and splashing. Somewhere between Harry getting on the knight bus and him getting to the leaky cauldron, your mum says something about drinks – I just nod my head and say, “ok” every so often, not paying attention.

The children get louder and louder until I turn to my mum and say, “you’d think their parents would say something to them, wouldn’t you? They’ve totally just messed up one of Fred’s one liners!”

I then stare in horror as you notice that my mum is sitting at the bar getting a drink and Mr Von trap is sitting in my mums seat.

To top it all of, I go to the bath room and notice that my hair is frizzy at the bottom and greasy on the top – I look like Snape and Hermione’s offspring! Every time I read “Prisoner of Azkaban” I either run my hand down my hair to make sure it still looks normal or start singing “doe, a dear.” Cyclonically scared!

Second Place – AnnaK

I remember the night of 7 July 2000 very clearly, for I spent most of it scoffing. The entire world seemed beside itself over the midnight release of Goblet of Fire, and I could hardly think of anything more absurd or frankly odious. I had what I considered a principled objection to all things Potter: the series was obviously nothing but overhyped pop culture rubbish (I had, of course, arrived at this conclusion without ever cracking the spine of any of the books), and I was far above that. I was eighteen and fancied myself an intellectual.

And then I was stung by a Portuguese Man o’ War.

It happened early into a weeklong vacation. After being dragged out of the ocean and de-tentacled, I spent the rest of my holiday languishing on the sofa, drowning my sorrows in Haagen-Dazs. I couldn’t even move: that nefarious cnidarian had put the equivalent of a Leg-Locker Curse on me. Literally the only printed material within arm’s reach was Philosopher’s Stone, and so, out of sheer desperation, I started to read.

I had to do so stealthily at first: my family had been besotted with Potter for ages and, in true Percy Weasley form, I couldn’t let them know they’d been right. But, perhaps needless to say, I was hooked. I finished all four books within three days and, three years later, found myself in a midnight throng at Waterstone’s in Piccadilly, awaiting the release of Phoenix.

While I can’t say I’m sorry that none of my other Potter experiences have involved venomous sea creatures, I like to think that my love of Harry is made a little cooler by the fact that it was so hard-won. After all, scars, be they shaped like lightning bolts or tentacles, can be very useful…

Third Place - Lily Frei

A Butterbeer Brewing

My sister and I were the cutest preteens,
And silly as a bucket of Bertie-Bott's Beans.
The Sorcerer's Stone would soon be in theaters
And we were the self-proclaimed BEST Potter readers.
One night we sat huddled at the computer with glee,
Fanfiction, fanart and what? A BUTTERBEER RECIPE?!
We grabbed cash and coats, and raced out the door
To buy tons of cream soda at the old corner store.
Mom helped us mix up the hot syrup and butter,
And soon the drinks were all bubble and sputter.
Oh, nothing could make our Potter-loving careers
Like sipping a couple of warm butterbeers.
Bouncing in front of our mugs, glad indeed,
We imagined the trio in a snowy Hogsmeade,
But as we took our first gulps, the smiles soon faded,
And we saw the whipped cream we had used was quite dated.
My sister and I choked and spat in the sink,
Our "bitterbeer" was spoiled and made quite a stink.
But we weren't defeated, we were tough as big men,
So we gargled some mouthwash and started again.
One hour later we young girls found success
And had sipped our sweet brews in somewhat excess.
Now as far as we knew about the word "beer",
The more of it drunk, the more strange you appear.
So we guzzled away, became very "merry",
And practiced our kissing on a poster of Harry.
We raced out to the woods and plucked wands from the trees,
Casting jinxes and spells, left and right as we pleased.
We laughed and ran circles and then laughed some more,
Then collapsed in a heap of fits on the floor.
But soon as it came, our giddy zip was expended,
And down from atop Sugar High we descended.
My sister and I crawled into bed (more or less),
And dreamt of jumping aboard the great Hogwarts Express.

Honorable Mention – Shauna

About two months ago, my husband informed me that he needed to schedule his flights for the house hunting trip he needed to take. Mind you, he needed to fly from Hawaii (where we currently live) to Washington, DC (where we’re going), and there are not a lot of convenient flights available. Such is the depth of my addiction to Harry Potter that as soon as he said “…and I’ll fly back July 21st” that I dropped the phone (I was at work) and let out a long and horrifying wail upon realization that this would keep me from attending the midnight release party at my local Borders store.

Me: “What do you mean, the 21st? Do you realize what happens at midnight on the 20th/21st?”

Helpless husband: “Huh? What on earth are you…. Ohhhhhhh. That’s the Harry Potter thing, isn’t it?”

Me: “YES! You need to change your flight!! Come in on the 20th, I’ll never be able to get a babysitter!! I can take the older two, but there’s no way the youngest will be able to handle hours of waiting! Pleeeeeeease!!!”

Helpless husband: “Are you serious? You actually want me to schedule my flight around the release of a Harry Potter book?”

Me: “Uh, YEAH!”

Helpless husband: “Fine, I’ll call you back when I’ve made my reservations…”

An hour later, my husband became the world’s-most-incredible-and-fabulous-husband-EVER when he informed me that he had indeed scheduled his flight so that he could baby sit the kids while I went to the release party with a friend. And yes, my coworkers are still teasing me about it.

Honorable Mention - prav1

I love Harry Potter and have spent years either advocating its utter coolness (to boys I just mention Quidditch and that’s all it takes) or cursing Laura Mallory to an eternity locked in the Harry Potter theme park, surrounded by Potter fans. So obviously I, like anyone who didn’t live under a rock, was waiting in front of a bookstore in anticipation for the release of Deathly Hallows with 400 others. These were my people; the ones who knew or guessed exactly what a Crumple Horned-Snorcack looked like. There’s always something that makes a release worth coming to and that time, it was a group of boys and judging by their immature comments to some of the girls (the tamest and lamest of which was “I can show you how to use a wand if you’d like.”) they had mentalities which were a cross between Crabbe and Austin Powers. The bookstore assistant didn’t hear them over the bustling of the other fans but for those in the immediate vicinity, it was utter hell. After an hour, I informed them, politely I might add, that unless they wanted to taste the sole of my high heeled boots (they shouldn’t be used that way but this was a worthy cause) they would keep their idiotic comments to themselves. One retort after another led to a full scale HP trivia war between those boys and us girls, a battle that would have made Emerson and Melissa proud. Surprisingly, the boys kept up with us to the very end and we were all applauded by everyone, including the bookstore staff. We left that day with our books, respect for each other (ok, so I think the girls answered a bit better but it ended ok.) and I left with one of their phone numbers.

Honorable Mention – babiigrl

Well, when I heard there was a contest for the funniest story...I was thrilled. These books have affected my whole family, although I am the only one who reads them. I remember starting the first book in third grade, I took it to my dad's house to read over the weekend, and I settled down on the couch. After only a few moments I came across a word that was strange to me.
You see, I was hardly an avid reader up to this point and many of the words in this series would baffle me, so I simply asked my father what the word was, and he looked at me strangely. He asked me, "You don't know what that word is? You don't even have a guess?"
When I told him that no I didn't even have a guess he told me what the word was, I was simply astounded, "It doesn't sound the same way it's spelled," I said angrily. My three sisters and two brothers heard my angry voice, and, me being a very calm child, came running.
"What's going on?" my eldest sister asked, worried. After my father explained the situation, my brother asked what the word was. I turned to look out the window as my father simply said,
"Motorcycle."
For nearly eight years now, every time any of us hears the word motorcycle, we laugh, and remember the first time I ever saw it written down. And still, I get ridiculed by my siblings for the word I never knew.

I missed this? Man, my story about the irony of dropping my GoF copy in the lake while reading the second task chapter would've won! Or come close.

Congratulations bibs!!!
You deserve it--your story is hilarious!

Congrats to the other winners too! Great job!

thanks - i buzzing - i didnt think id win! all the others rock!

Wonderful story Bibs. Congratulations you deserve it!

Well done to all the others too!

Well done everyone, especially Bibs!

all hail bibs the brill!

Awesome! Congrats, bibs!

IM SO DEPRESSED

Oh Well Congratulations Everyone! ( )

Fabulous entries all!!!

I have to say that I relate to AnnaK's entry! Although it wasn't a stinging incident that brought me to HP, I was also one of those who scoffed at the idea of people lining up at midnight to get a book, and like her I was in line eagerly awaiting the release of OOTP just a few short years later! Great stories everyone!