DeKALB | Five dollars doesn’t buy a lot these days, but this weekend it can get you all the Harry Potter experience you want.

Dubbed the “Muggle Ball,” on Dec. 2 at 7 p.m., the auditorium in Altgeld Hall will be transformed to look more like a learning place of wizardry than of higher education. Tickets are available at the door. The event promises to immerse fans in an authentic Potter atmosphere, complete with refreshments of “butterbeer” and “pumpkin juice,” and music provided by the Remus Lupins, progenitors of a genre known as wizard rock. A silent auction is also scheduled.

In addition to the festivities, there will be a “Muggle Academy” earlier in the day. The event will mirror a day at the Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witchcraft, including sorting participants into “houses” via the Sorting Hat. Students will discuss the books, play Harry Potter-themed games and have the chance to get autographs from the Remus Lupins before their performance.

For education majors, the day also offers a workshop titled “Bringing the Magic of Harry Potter to Your Classroom,” led by English graduate assistant Karley Adney and English professor John Knapp.

“I use the novels in my own Teaching of Literature class,” said Knapp. “The teacher-to-be can learn as easily from the Harry Potter books as they can from another more sophisticated piece of literature. Ideally, they then transfer that knowledge to more sophisticated works.”

Knapp’s feelings on the books indicate their multi-generational appeal.

“[Rowling’s books] are fascinating and fun. If I’m having fun, no wonder these 11 and 12-year-olds are,” Knapp said.

In the end, the continued success of Harry Potter may be due to its merging of learning and entertainment.

“People read because it’s fun to read literature,” Knapp said. “Reading literature is both to delight and to instruct. And that’s what Harry Potter does.”