​Alex Benepe is not a wizard, but the 25 year-old is nonetheless the first ever Commissioner of Quidditch and the founder of the International Quidditch Association. The Muggle version of Quidditch is an adaptation of the game played in the Harry Potter novels where players fly around on brooms. Obviously, Benepe's version doesn't involve flying, but it stays as true to the original game as possible without the aid of magic. Benepe is currently working on promoting the fifth annual Quidditch World Cup, which will be hosted on Randall's Island on November 12th and 13th. He took some time to speak with us about the game and the upcoming tournament. The interview is after the jump.

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​As we all know, the release of the final Harry Potter film tonight marks the end of an era. For many children and young adults around the world, this will be an even more dramatic moment than turning eleven and not receiving a Hogwarts acceptance letter. After the jump, we've put together a list of the best ways to ring in this post-Voldemort world.

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Willis Plummer

Two Seekers Search for the Elusive Snitch

​In anticipation of the final Harry Potter film, which comes out tonight at midnight, the International Quidditch Association hosted a Deathly Hollows Round-Robin Tournament at De Witt Clinton Park on 53rd Street yesterday. Three teams were in attendance, and every team played at least four games. While we were there, a crew from the Daily Show walked over from their studio across the street to get some footage for a sketch.

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Esther Zuckerman

​A group of six girls have become the celebrities within the encampment of Harry Potter fans awaiting tonight's premiere of the final film, across the street from Lincoln Center in Manhattan. They do not go to Hogwarts -- in fact, they hail from Florida, New Jersey and upstate New York -- but they have had choice encounters with Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom. They are known as the "Wednesday Group" and others in the crowd want to meet them. Why? They have been waiting in that same location for six days. Muggles, meet the NYC Potterheads.

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via Lauren Johnston, Daily News

​ in its opening weekend, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I is on track for a pretty great Thanksgiving weekend. Meanwhile, some New York fans have taken it upon themselves to integrate the world of Hogwarts into our own everyday lives in Manhattan. Through the magic of stickers, Union Square station has gotten its own platform 9 & 3/4, the portal to Hogwarts from the Potter books.

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​Last night was the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. Curious about the pointy hat/bathrobe/nerdliness count in this first of the last book in the series, we sent intern Myles to go check things out. What he found, however, was actually kinda fun, and even a little bit...touching. (Not in that way.)

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​Perhaps one of the dorkiest things to hit college campuses since the first physics club, Quidditch, the mythical sport from the Harry Potter series, is now an actual mainstream event, apparently. This years' fourth annual Quidditch World Cup will be held in New York in November, with 50 teams from schools including Harvard, BU, and Yale participating. A piece in the Wall Street Journal today tackles the growing pains of the young "sport."

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