Events kick off at 8:00. The Great Eagle and the magic sorting platform will be present to sort your friends and family (and you, if you haven’t already done it online).

Around 9:30, we will draw contestants for the ever-popular Wizard Jeopardy, with prizes for the winners. At 10:30, we will judge the entries for the costume contest, for the best Harry Potter-inspired costume. We will have winners in the under 12 category and the over 12 category. Stay tuned for more details.

The Southlands Barnes and Noble is at 6300 S. Main Street Suite N101, Aurora, CO 80016 (Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps Broadband, Dial-Up). You can reserve a copy of the book by calling the store at (303) 766-3069.

If you are already a member of our Forums, the sorting will automatically give you access to your house’s common room. If you get sorted first, just email the faculty after you register for the Forums!

Please email Professor Aberfoyle with any problems with the sorting.

The festival has moved this year. We will now be located at the Hyatt Regency DTC, 7800 East Tufts Avenue, Denver (Google Maps, MapQuest, Yahoo! Maps).

Schedule

Students will be sorted on Friday night into one of Avistrum’s four houses, and will enjoy a special dessert buffet, with a chance to meet and mingle with your fellow students and the faculty and staff.

Beginning Saturday morning, you will take several classes throughout the weekend in topics to include Divination, Charms, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Beasts, Potions, and Defense Against Dark Magic. You can qualify to be your house’s champion in the Quidditch Tournament finals Saturday evening. Saturday night, our castle is taken over by the Death Eaters for a Dark Wizards’ Ball.

Sunday, classes resume, and you will continue to earn (or lose) points to help your house win the House Cup. The Cup will be awarded at a special close-of-term ceremony Sunday evening.

Be alert! The dark witch Persephone’s minions have been lurking, and you never know when strange things might happen in the castle! The professors are always vigilant, but you might be called upon to help defend the wizarding world!

Registration

Registration is for the entire weekend, and includes full admission to OPUSFest, a student ID badge, tuition for all classes, dessert Friday evening, and admission to Saturday’s Dark Wizards’ Ball. The price for adults is $70, and $60 for children ages 5-12. There is a special $5 discount for online registration (via Mollyguard) before May 18, 2006.

Children under 13 must be acompanied by a registered adult. Children under 5 may attend free of charge when accompanied by a paid adult.

If you cannot register online, you can send your registration by mail. Please include your real name, the number of adults and children registering, and check or money order (do not send cash) to:

Avistrum registration inlcudes OPUS registration! If you’ve already registered for OPUS 2006, please don’t pay twice! Contact us by email and we will give you instructions on how to register with us.

Special Workshop

There is a special robe-making workshop Saturday morning with Mistress Craefter, where you can make your own set of school robes! Registration for this special event is limited to 20 students. You must register separately for the workshop.

Congratulations to our winner, Jessica, who chose as her prize a double-sided movie poster for the upcoming Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, courtesy of Sage Moon. Our runner up, Tricia, walked away with a very handsome 11″ holly wand from Alivan’s. Our third contestant, Anjali, won one of Alivan’s new Phantom Phlyer brooms. All of our contestants also won some other terrific prizes from Sage Moon.

Overall turnout for the Borders event was around 1000 people. We hope most of you who were there are reading this, and welcome to the Avistrum community! We will try and post pictures from the event soon!

A Special Note for Potential Students

We at Avistrum recognize that not all witches and wizards discover their talents at a young age. Therefore we accept students of all ages, young and old.

The Schedule

(All Times Subject to Change)

Friday, May 20

• 7:00 PM – Sorting Ceremony (followed immediately by the Start of Term Announcements, and The Feast)

Saturday, May 21

• 10:00-11:30 AM – Charms
• 1:00-2:30 PM – Divination
• 3:00-4:30 PM – Defense Against Dark Magic
• 5:00-6:30 PM – Transfiguration
• 7:00-8:30 PM – Quidditch Tournament (on Sony PlayStation2)
• 9:00 PM-??? – Dark Wizards’ Masquerade Ball

Sunday, May 22

• 10:00-11:30 AM – Potions
• 1:00-2:30 PM – Care of Magical Beasts
• 5:00 PM – End of Term Ceremony