“Congratulations! You are magical!”
Never were words so welcome. They marked the release of Pottermore, the long-awaited interactive website created by J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series.
I had just finished typing in my information to Pottermore when I was rewarded those magical words and a picture of a scroll with my name on it followed by the names of the Hogwarts students we know and love. It was my digital acceptance letter to Hogwarts, 10 years late.
The release of Pottermore comes as a welcome development to Harry Potter fans, such as I, who have greatly missed the world of Harry, Ron and Hermione. Pottermore, which is partnered with Sony, was open to a lucky few users in Beta during the summer. Its release to the public was supposed to be in October, but it was pushed back, until one fine April day—the 14th to be exact—Hogwarts opened its gates to all. Pottermore is now the online home for Harry Potter; it’s an excellent hybrid: a social network/fan site/ appendix. Although the website does include a forum for fan fiction, I was more excited about what J.K. Rowling had to say about her own universe.
On the website, she supplies more than 18,000 words of additional and explanatory content as well as other text not included in the book. So far I have uncovered the backstory of Professor McGonagall (Spoiler Alert: Romance!), the history of the Hogwarts Express and the sorting hat, as well as the tale of how exactly Voldemort came to stick out of the back of Professor Quirrell’s head in Sorcerer’s Stone. One of my favorite tidbits was the conversation the sorting hat had with Neville Longbottom. It turns out, Neville asked for Hufflepuff, but the hat insisted Gryffindor–it saw the courage inside Neville that he could never see for himself.
In order to fully explore the majesty of J.K. Rowling’s online universe, I will take you through the experience step-by-step, but I promise not to give away any of the magic.
After you’ve registered, you will receive a choice of five usernames for the website. Some are great, but I, unfortunately, received a medley of subpar names. Henceforth and forevermore I am to be known at Hogwarts as NimbusQueen9983. Oh dear.
You then receive a confirmation email which will take you backs to the website where you can finally enter the world of Harry Potter.
Once there, you follow Harry’s journey through each chapter, which is split into three parts. J.K Rowling, in her infinite brilliance, does not just let you just skip to what some might see as the “good stuff” i.e. getting your wand and getting sorted. She lets you follow in Harry’s footsteps as you start out on Privet Drive, work your way through Diagon Alley until you finally arrive at Hogwarts. During this journey, you collect chocolate frog cards and other tidbits to go in your “trunk,” and discover new things about the wizarding world just as Harry did.
In chapter 1, there’s the story of how Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon first met. In chapter 5 you will go to Gringott’s, open a bank account and shop in Diagon Alley. At Ollivander’s Wand Shop you receive your wand after answering a carefully designed set of questions formulated by J.K. Rowling herself. They are not straightforward queries that allow you to steer yourself in the direction of desired results. In other words, if you want a certain wand, you cannot gear your responses towards getting it. J.K. Rowling is too clever for that. You muggle, you should know—the wand chooses the wizard. In Diagon alley you will also uncover the various qualities of the many, MANY types of wand wood, as well as the meaning behind wand length, and wand core.
Once you get to Hogwarts, the sorting begins! Again, J.K. Rowling tests you with a set of questions to determine whether you belong in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. For some questions, you can guess what responses will land you in what houses, but others are inscrutable. When I got my results, I was sure that the test was foolproof. I am a Ravenclaw and was happy to believe I belonged to the kooky, clever house of Luna Lovegood. Later that night, however, I received a rude awakening. One of my best friends, and sweetest girl you can imagine, was sorted into Slytherin, home of Harry’s three nemeses Lord Voldemort, Severus Snape, and Draco Malfoy. My poor, devastated friend, whose username (adding insult to injury) is MugwumpRain, was exiled to the dungeons.
Yet, when you are sorted into your houses, J.K. Rowling greets you with a welcome letter detailing the history of your house and its most famous graduates. As it turns out, Slytherin, is not that bad, its just “cool and edgy,” according to the site, and very misunderstood. The famous wizard Merlin was a graduate of Slytherin himself, you know.
In my acceptance letter, I discovered Ravenclaw was home to Millicent Bagnold, the Minister for Magic when the infant Harry first vanquished Lord Voldemort. His response to the mass wizarding celebrations that violated the international statute of secrecy? ‘I assert our inalienable right to party’.
Only the first book of the Harry Potter series is currently available for exploration; the other six are soon to be released, which is just fine. Each page is so richly detailed, with great illustrations straight from J.K. Rowling’s imagination, each embellished with exclusive detail about Harry’s world that it’s impossible to get bored. Plus, there’s always the potion brewing and spell-casting to keep you busy. It’s so addicting, i’ve started doing homework for Charms class instead of, you know, real world school.
J.K. Rowling is one of those rare and wonderful fantasy writers, like J.R.R. Tolkien or C.S. Lewis, who not only writes an involving story but also creates a fully fleshed-out, magical yet believable world. Pottermore is her 21st century appendixes, an online template onto which she can share the full extent of her imagination. And all I have to say is, Thank you J.K.Rowling, for starting the magic and now, fourteen years later, ensuring it lives on.
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