Dudley House's Stacy Rush has always dreamed of playing Quidditch.

"I’m pretty sure I came to Harvard to play Quidditch. I've heard all about the teams in America. I hear it is the fastest-growing college sport in America. But I was disappointed that Harvard did not have a team. So I had to make one."

Now, Rush—a visiting undergraduate from Toronto—and her Co-Captain Alana Biden '11 are actually starting a team at Harvard—years after students at Middlebury College pioneered the real-life adaptation of author J.K. Rowling's fictional sport from the Harry Potter series.

Hoping to score at least a few physics concentrators at their intro meeting this Thursday at 8:30 p.m. in the Rabe Room Rabb Hall at Harvard Hillel, Rush and Biden seek to tackle what even Georgi's next pset won't prepare you for: the reason why your broomstick, no matter which model Firebolt you own, still won't fly. With this small impasse, for the time being, College Quidditch remains grounded: official rules state that you must have physical grasp of your broomstick at all times. This means one hand, two hands, or that awkward feeling of clenching a broomstick between your legs. Go ahead and try it. More after the jump.

How else do you adapt a wizard sport for the Muggle world? Take the Snitch, who is actually "a guy running around all dressed in yellow." Tackle him, catch him, beat the sh*t out of him, and it is 150 points for your team and the end of the game!

So next time you are headed to the MAC and see a bunch of kids running around on broomsticks, never fear—it isn't some Dorm Crew hazing ritual, but just your friendly Harvard Harry Potter Quidditch team out for practice.

Perhaps its not totally surprising. Harvard has already had a long history of being confused with Rowling's fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And the Folklore and Mythology concentration probably only has that one thing going for them. At Harvard, we have our own algorithmic sorting hat known as Housing Day. And when you think about it, who hasn't told their friends back home that their dining hall looks like the "Great Hall"? Back in 2008, Harvard Square was temporarily renamed "Hogwarts Square," when Rowling was invited as Class Day speaker. And as FlyBy understands it, far more college essays are actually about Harry Potter than Dostoyevsky or Proust.

So could Quidditch be what Harvard-Yale is to the Ivy League Muggles? Doubtful. Before you Rush off with your butterbeer helmet and Gryffindor body paint, keep in mind that it is going to take a lot more than Felix Felicis to get this team off the ground. Still interested in joining? Well, at the very least, come Halloween time, you'll have a cool costume...errr, well at least you'll have a costume?

Photo -- Wikimedia Commons/Diego Goergen