The HPA is participating in America's Giving Challenge, which gives $1000 to the organization that can get the most amount of people to give in a single day. The minimum donation is 10 dollars and it has to be given through this Facebook cause.

If you believe in blending the arts, literature, pop culture, and social change is something this world needs, while making the magic of Harry Potter real for so many of us - then please join us in this special 24 hours through making a ten dollar donation to show your love and support of the HPA.

Hurry, the contest only runs until 3 p.m. EST today, Oct. 29!

A single mother from the United Kingdom was planning to have a Harry Potter-themed party this weekend to celebrate Halloween. Instead Ms. Marmite Lover will have to change things up a bit.

Last Friday, she received a cease-and-desist letter from Warner Bros. suggesting that her "proposed use of the Harry Potter properties...without our consent would amount to an infringement of Warner's rights."

Ms. Lover was looking to charge a small entry fee (as she has for other themed parties), but says that no harm was intended. She set up a small site to purchase tickets online.

"My living room holds under 30 people, this is hardly some cynical money spinning exercise – at a maximum of 25 British pounds a head I won't make a profit, I'll be struggling to cover the costs of the ingredients and props I've shelled out on, such as dry ice and miracle berries."

Warner Bros. said they do not, of course, object to her holding a generic wizard/Halloween night and that is what Ms. Lover has been forced to do.

What do you think of this? Should Warner Bros. be shutting down Potter-themed Halloween parties? Or is Ms. Lover in the wrong?

Forget football Sunday, today is the Quidditch World Cup!

There will be 22 teams participating in the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association's tournament, so tune in here.

Thanks to Matt for the tip!

The HPA will stand up against Proposition One--a ballot that would repeal same-sex marriage in Maine--by "Wrock-ing 4 Equality" on Oct. 24.

The Harry Potter Alliance is bringing together thousands of Harry Potter fans across the world to fight Proposition One. The basic gist is one day of activism set in Portland, Maine at the North Star Cafe (225 Congress Street Portland, Maine 04101) featuring Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys. The concert will be live streamed for fans to watch online. After the first show is over, concert attendees in Portland will canvass and those watching online will phone bank in conjunction with both Mass and Maine Equality. At the end of the day, we'll be coming together for a second concert to close things out.

Click here for more information.

Middlebury College is set to host the Third Annual Quidditch World Cup later this month. As you may recall, Middlebury has made everyone's favorite sport from the Harry Potter series popular across college campuses.

The event will take place on October 25th from 9 am - 5 pm with 26 teams competing from around the United States. You can get all the information and latest updates on their Facebook page or by following them on Twitter.

Be sure to check out MTV's coverage of this up-and-coming college sport!

Thanks to Emily for sending this in!

Our friends at Magical Tours have let us know that their great Harry Potter themed tours in Britain are ready for reservations. Next summer, five tours are being offered. It’s a little soon to tell too much, but their 2010 tour season is slated to have some really amazing surprise events.

Magical Tours also revealed that there will be another Summer Intern Contest – soon to be announced right here on MuggleNet!

Visit Magical Tours to see what’s coming up next summer, and stay tuned to MuggleNet to get the details on the contest to determine who will win an all-expense paid summer internship to learn the travel biz while traveling to all the Harry Potter book and movie locations in England and Scotland!

"A Very Potter Musical," the popular musical parody, now has a website and a soundtrack!

The website crashed earlier this week when it was first announced, but it is up and running again with information about "A Very Potter Musical" and "Little White Lie."

The soundtrack is available for download for free right here, but Team Star Kid is asking for donations to fund any future projects.

Registration for Infinitus 2010 is officially open! The people who brought you Lumos, Prophecy, Portus and Azkatraz are back at it again! HPEF is offering an early bird registration price for $165.00 until midnight of September 7th, 2009. After that, registration will be $180.00 until March 31, 2010. It will then increase to $200.00 pending availability. Be sure to put "MuggleNet" in the referral box when signing up!

Please note that your registration will include all Formal Programming except Keynote Luncheons (which can be purchased at a later date). Information about tickets to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be available soon!

For complete information, head on over to Infinitus2010.org. Infinitus will take place in Orlando, Florida from July 15-18, 2010.

Andrew Slack, founder of the Harry Potter Alliance, recently appeared on Australia's Today Show, where he talked about the importance of this unique organization, its message, and the impact it has had and will continue to have on so many around the world. You can check out the interview right here.

Book critic Lev Grossman made a hilarious blog post on TIME.com, describing his Azkatraz visit
for everyone who did not have the chance to attend the convention this past week.

Here are some of his comments:

Harry Potter fans are really nice and friendly and clever. They also stay up too late and drink way too much.

Chris Rankin was here, who plays Percy Weasley in the movies. He is in fact a nice and regular dude, who hung out in the evenings despite the incessant squeeing from fangirls. He also did a karaoke performance of "Summer Lovin'" from Grease.

UPDATE: Here's video of said performance. Thanks to Ronbon!

With just hours to go now before the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, our friends at The Harry Potter Alliance have put together a massive effort to remind the world that value of love that Dumbledore taught is what we need in our lives and this world right now. More on Dumbledore's message in the Potter series can be found on the HPA's What Would Dumbledore Do website.

How do you help out? Including "#Dumbledore" and "Harry Potter" in as many tweets as possible over the next 24 hours. The goal is to get the phrase "#Dumbledore" into the Twitter Trends list (the Trends list displays the Top 10 most-used phrases on Twitter at any given time).

So get tweeting! If we can get "#Dumbledore" in the Twitter Trends list we'll be showing the world how much we love Albus Dumbledore's messages in the series.

With the release of Half-Blood Prince just days away, the Harry Potter community is coming together behind an initiative from the Harry Potter Alliance. We're excited to let you know about WhatWouldDumbledoreDo.org - a way for all of us to show our loyalty to the spirit of Albus Dumbledore.

Although Dumbledore is a fictional character from a book series, for all of us who through the years have grown up with Harry, Dumbledore remains very real. Further, his message, if acted upon, has the power to transform our world.

The HPA is working with MuggleNet, The Leaky Cauldron, Azkatraz, Fiction Alley, and many Wizard Rock bands amongst others to promote the three-part campaign:

1) The Dumbledore Twitter Challenge: where you twitter #dumbledore with every tweet

2) The Dumbledore Movie Theater Challenge: on the night of the film's release

3) The Dumbledore Doctrine: where you can comment and help a living document that translates Dumbledore's lessons for us personally as well as a collective humanity.

Earlier this week, we told you about a group of talented actors who created their own Harry Potter Musical based on the plot of the entire series.

Since then, they've temporarily taken it down in order to make sure they're not breaking any rules in terms of legalities. They're also working on releasing a soundtrack - both will be back soon.

In the mean time, we've been in touch with one of its creators. University of Michigan Student Matt filled us in on his theater group, how they got the idea, and more:

How did your group come up with the idea to create a Potter musical?
We initially had the idea years ago when we read Goblet of Fire (possibly our favorite book in the series). We started getting a real strong hunch that Malfoy had a crush on Hermione. He's way too mean to her to not be hiding some secret feelings. Then we were joking around and made up an idea for a song called "I'm In Danger of Falling In Love... With Hermione Granger". We kind of made up a scenario where Ron and Draco shared a duet at the Yule Ball, both of them realizing how much they love Hermione when they see how beautiful she looks in her gown. Then the idea for a musical developed from there. It was originally supposed to be just of Book 4, and it was called "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Music". Then it just became a joke amongst our friends until after the seventh book came out and we decided to actually do it. Only now, since we knew how HP ends, we decided to do a show that kind of included the whole story. But the first act still remains mainly inspired by "Goblet of Fire". So we always knew that Draco and Ron would sing a song at the Yule Ball (that song became "Granger Danger") because it was the initial spark for the entire idea.

(Taking a break from all the Half-Blood Prince news for a moment) Do you like Harry Potter? Do you like musicals? An acting troupe has put together a fantastic Harry Potter musical that you can see on YouTube starting at this link.

While it's not the rumored official musical we told you about in August 2007, this musical runs through all of the major events in the Potter series and includes hilarious, well-written characters and songs. Please note that there is some language that may be inappropriate for younger views.

We want a soundtrack version of this! Thanks to everyone who sent in the links.

Our friends at the Harry Potter Alliance have announced a new campaign titled "What Would Dumbledore Do" that asks you that question:

The HP Alliance would like to invite the entire Harry Potter fandom in a project to honor and stay loyal to the spirit of Albus Dumbledore in the
real world. This summer, after watching Dumbledore's death millions of
people will be exiting theaters having just heard Harry say that Dumbledore
will live on so long as there are those that are loyal to him.

In these dark and difficult times that our world currently faces, we need a visionary like Dumbledore to live on in each of our hearts as well as in the heart of our world. And so we are very excited to have you join us in presenting these millions of theater goers with a list of 100 ways that we can all be loyal to Dumbledore, both as individuals and as a society.

We have just begun writing that list together and we need your help! So please join our What Would Dumbledore campaign by going right here to learn more and then to our Common Room so that you can add your voice on what we can learn from the world's greatest Wizard.

Our friends at FanTrips.Travel have announced a magical evening on July 18 in London, England, featuring Legends from Britain and the World, past and present.

Stanislav Ianevski, the actor who portrayed Viktor Krum in Goblet of Fire, will be on hand along with international storyteller, Debbie Guneratne, to enchant guests. Fans participating in HP Fan Trips will be joining the event this evening.

Click here for more details!

HPEF has made some updated and announcements about Azkatraz 2009, and cleared up a rumor that could have impacted Infinitus 2010. The rumor stated that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter would not be opening until late 2010. However, Infinitus 2010 chair Jenn Clack confirmed with Universal this week that it will be open in time for Infinitus in July of 2010.

But before that, we'll be at Azkatraz, and we hope to see you there! At Azkatraz, the main feature of each day (other than Friday - more about that below) will be their formal programming. The schedules for each day have been uploaded to their website - click here for the details!

Friday, there's no formal programming - instead, you can explore San Francisco, recuperate from the HBP showing and Leaky Mug and/or head down to Golden Gate Park on the Official Azkatraz Bus for a day of fantastic Quidditch play. The Quidditch Tournament details are up right here. There are still spaces on all eight teams, so sign up soon!

Tickets are still available for Wrock Around the Rock, and if you have friends who'd like to go without registering for Azkatraz, tickets are now available to the general public right here. If you've already registered, you can add tickets by modifying your registration at this link.

When you register or modify your registration, don't forget to put MUGGLENET as the site that referred you to Azkatraz. More news will be out in early June about a special MuggleNet meet-up, as well as special activities with Emerson and Ben as they promote their new book: Harry Potter Should Have Died.

See you in a few weeks!

Our friends at Alivans, Master Wandmakers have informed us of a charity drive their running to benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Any time a customer purchases a Holly/Ebony wand (original Hermione design), Alivans will donate 100% of the profits to Ronald McDonald House Charities. After the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Alivans hosted a similar charity drive and earned over $9,000 for victims. They hope to have the same successful run Ronald McDonald!

You can see the product right here, and browse the rest of their site at this link.

On Thursday April 30th at 9:30am CDT, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, IL will open its doors to Harry Potter: The Exhibition for the public!

Our website was one of few to get a preview Wednesday afternoon of the exhibit, followed by a roundtable discussion with its creators. I was on location and have compiled this report of events and sights to behold within.

Over 3,000 man-hours have been put into the setup and transfer of all original artifacts from the Harry Potter films, straight from the studios at Leavesden. The exhibition will remain in Chicago until the end of September where it will then move on to another, as-of-yet kept secret location somewhere on the globe. The exhibit was created by Exhibitgroup/Giltspur in association with Warner Bros. Consumer Products and is a definite must-see for all Harry Potter fans.

If you check out the exhibit, we hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Just in case you weren’t able to make it to the United Kingdom this year for the worldwide release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, HP Fan Trips has brought the UK to you to create a very authentic School of Wizardry experience at affordable prices starting at $799.

Chris Rankin, the actor portraying Percy Weasley, will be your host at the Farewell Banquet. Award-winning storyteller, Amy Douglas, and top-ranked guide, Heather Davies, will be coming to Chicago this year to create a magical place for Harry Potter fans. Click here for more information and to make a reservation!