Hogwarts saves the Queen's big party

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 154342

This might be a trifle OT but may be of interest and the source of
a little amusement to the group.

If you live outside the UK, you may not be aware that Queen 
Elizabeth II celebrated her 80th birthday in April. Her official 
birthday was marked as usual with the Trooping the Colour 
parade last weekend but, yesterday, she hosted a huge party 
extravaganza for several thousand children and parents 
in the grounds of Buckingham Palace. 

A huge stage plus giant screens had been erected for the  party 
programme which involved scenes using characters from story 
and film and TV, in which Hogwarts was involved.

The end of the programme involved a search for the Queen's 
Handbag which had been stolen. Perhaps it should be pointed 
out for non-UK readers that the Queen's handbag has always 
been a source of gentle fun as she almost invariably carries one. 
The search was carried out and then a white barn owl named 
Bronwen was despatched with a letter from the Prime Minister 
to Hogwarts requesting their help.

On screen, we saw Harry and Ron and Hermione receiving the 
letter and deciding what to do. They first tried "Accio stolen 
handbag" which produced a large pile of them in the Gryffindor 
common room. Neville came in and recognised one of them as 
his grandmother's. Ron looked inside and caught his hand 
in a mousetrap and there was some worry on his part about 
the circulation to his fingers being cut off(!)

The Trio then sent a message back to the party enclosing an 
"Accio" spell which all the huge audience had to shout and the 
burglar appeared clutching his Swag bag in which was the 
Queen's Handbag. 

Her Majesty was able to open the bag, flourish her reading 
glasses and speech to the great delight of all. 

So the day was saved by Gryffindor!