The treasures in Gringotts cannot compare to this.
For Harry Potter fanatics, the release of the last film came as a bittersweet moment. But with the opening of Pottermore, an interactive site with content from author J.K. Rowling herself, fans of all ages can relive their fondest memories with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger.
After the site launched on July 31, Potter lovers competed in an online challenge for early access. While the rest of the world will have to wait until October to register, those who won get to experience Harry’s journey as he grows from the young Boy-Who-Lived to the wizarding world’s hero.
Pottermore is essentially a miniature Harry Potter world—it takes you on a journey mirroring Harry’s. Users are sorted into a House upon activation of their account and can access different locations in the Harry Potter world such as the Great Hall. There are also supplemental materials that are meant to enhance the books, filling in little but crucial details about the characters.
Sophomore Marina Nguyen is looking forward most to the Sorting, where users will be assigned Houses. Through tests written by Rowling herself, users will find themselves in one of the four Houses in the novels: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.
“I always expect to be in Slytherin [House of the evil Lord Voldemort],” Nguyen, who grew up with Harry Potter, said. “When I was young, my brother brought home a Slytherin cup for me.”
Sophomore Katie Yoon looks forward to Pottermore mainly for its social aspect.
“I wanted to join because everyone else wants to,” Yoon said. “I feel included and get to have lots of fun.”
Potter fans include not just those who have fallen in love with the novels, but those who were introduced to it through the films.
For senior Sophia Dinh, getting into Pottermore was a much different experience. By the time she was informed about the process through the blog site Tumblr, all the spaces had already been filled. And so in the spirit of a true blogger, Dinh wrote about her sadness and within ten minutes, seven people emailed her asking her if she wanted an account. It turns out that many fans created more than one account, and many were willing to share.
At the moment, Dinh is very limited to what she can experience on Pottermore, because her account will be activated sometime in August or September. Until that time, she will continue to wait to see what lies behind the magical walls of the website like many others.
