Mock vampire hunt

On rare occasions (such as Halloween) if you have a willing vampire and/or enough interested witches, wizards, and other monstrous beings there will be a mock vampire hunt. The infamous Knockturn Alley mock vampire hunt may be held a few times a decade with ones in other locations happening in between.

Teams are formed between the humans and the vampire(s) plus any other monstrous beings present. The humans achieve victoring by 'killing' the vampire in a non-fatal way (no actual stakes or garlic laced weapons allowed), whereas team monster wins by tagging special patches onto 'victims' to show that they have turned them. Patched humans have to work on the monster team until 'incapacitated' in a similar non-fatal manner. Neither side is allowed to kill anybody.

Werewolves don't attend mock vampire hunts, given increased Ministry regulation of werewolf activity. A werewolf joining in on a mock hunt on a full moon is bound to draw attention from the Werewolf Capture Unit.

Recent hunts have tried to come up with more formalized rules as to what each player is allowed to do, with limited uses of special actions and talk of initiative. If the wizards knew of the associated muggle phenomena of LARP-ing (Live Action Roleplaying) they might feel rather embarrassed by what they did in the last mock hunt. Observers also frequently switch from a watching audience to active participators in an effort to bend the rules.

Advocates of Vampire rights, such as Eldred Worple, consider the practice of mock vampire hunts to be damaging to reformative efforts and perpetuating stereotypes of vampires. Mock hunts are also dangerously close to violating paragraph twelve of the Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans. The rowdy activity of the hunt can also draw ire and MLE intervention to break it up.

At Absit Omen

Anadotti Squiggs mentions being part of a mock vampire hunt in this thread