POTTERMORE is Harry Potter Forever

Intern Grace’s Team Pick: Pottermore

The end is nigh: The eighth Harry Potter movie is being released in less than a month. I bought my ticket to see it, found my wizarding robe and told myself I wouldn’t cry when the final credits roll. I was ready to say goodbye to the boy who lived. Autostraddle loves you, Harry Potter.

But what is this rumpus? It’s not really goodbye, after all!

Author J.K. Rowling made the announcement on YouTube, looking supermegafoxyawesomehot:

“Just as the experience of reading requires that the imaginations of the author and the reader work together to create the story, so Pottermore will be built in part by you, the reader.”

I could listen to her say the word “Pottermore” all day. “Pot-a-moor.”

So basically, the new website will let players live out the story as though they were a part of the books. Guys, I never got my letter from Hogwarts. This is a big deal to me.

Rowling explained that Pottermore will be “an online reading experience unlike any other” and told us to keep calm and “follow the owl,” whatever that means. There will also be eBooks and audio books available on the site.

Rowling also gave a press conference, and The Leaky Cauldron transcribed all the important things.

Anyone who’s interested can submit their email address on the website to be notified when registration will be open, but it keeps telling me that “due to overwhelming demand [they] cannot take [my] email address right now. Please be patient.” If by “be patient” they mean “keep hitting refresh,” then I am being extremely patient.

The first one million people to officially register will be allowed access on July 31 (Harry’s birthday), and everyone else will be admitted on October 1.

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Intern Grace

Grace Ellis has been writing and making hack-job graphics for Autostraddle since 2011 and is a co-creator and co-writer of the comic book series Lumberjanes. She is mostly an intern in name only. (Mostly.) She lives in Columbus, Ohio because why anything. Also, she wants to write the Black Widow movie and feels like if she just keeps telling people, eventually she will be allowed to do it. She has a Twitter and a Tumblr, both of which are pretty above average.

Grace has written 89 articles for us.

38 Comments

  3. A few years ago I would have been ALL OVER this. Now I can’t seem to care enough to register, or to figure out where the owl is going. Really cool animation, though. I will probablymaybe check out the site in October.

    • I always either get sorted into ravenclaw or hufflepuff. Everyone always seems to look down on hufflepuff but I wonder if it’s secretly this really awesome house full of really cool, interesting people. That idea kind of makes me want to be a hufflepuff but if it ended up just being what everyone thought it was and I was sorted there, that would really suck.

      • I’d have to agree, Hufflepuff is probably secretly awesome.

        Honestly, Hufflepuff reminds me of the queer community in that way. It’s kind of that umbrella house full of others that people don’t really get and so they find it off-putting. But it’s actually full of a lot of super amazing people I’d totally want to associate with.

        I don’t know if that analogy makes sense, but it works in my head.

        • I was thinking the same thing! And I always think of people like draco’s family who think they’re superior because they are purebloods and who calls others mudbloods as the homophobic people.

      • hufflepuff would definitely have the secretly awesome people. gryffindor would have some super proud activist gays though.

        • I usually get sorted either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, and on my Quidditch team (yes…I’m on a college team) I play with my Gryffindor gear. Most of my teammates are either hufflepuff or slytherin, oddly enough, so I’m in the minority! I’m definitely a big activist on campus, so it works out!

      • Hufflepuffs common room is right by the kitchens! nom nom nom. that’s all I need to know :P

  5. |Guys, I never got my letter from Hogwarts. This is a big deal to me.

    My soul was trying to say this, but I couldn’t find the words. I love HP and Autostraddle!

  6. I’m intrigued. Every time I put down a HP book and say “That’s it, I’m done! Moving on with my life!” Harry Potter kind of sucks me back in.

  7. I’m so excited.
    I keep saying “Pottermore” in a british accent, and it will always be said in this way.

  11. I thought I was the only one who thought JKR looked totallysupermegafoxyawesomehot! I’ve never really thought about her that way until this video.

    I’ve always thought of her as some all powerfulgraciousandmerciful being.

    Like God.

  12. I set my alarm for 5:55 am in order to wake up and see it, and had to watch it twice because the first time I was still trying to wrap my head around how hot Rowling is.

  14. I ended up being able to sign up! You just have to keep trying.

    Also, times that are late at night both here and in Europe help.

  15. From the Leaky Cauldron press conference http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2011/6/23/full-text-from-j-k-rowling-pottermore-press-conference about Sorting:

    “So, developing these vast pool of questions that are randomly selected for a user – so you wont get the same questions as your friend necessarily – I thought it was quite important that people didn’t get to second guess what meant Gryffindor, for example. But the exciting thing for me is that if you’re not sorted into Gryffindor, if you’re sorted into one of the other three houses you will effectively get an extra quarter chapter because you will go off to your on common room. If you are sorted into Gyrffindor you just follow Harry. But if you’re sorted into Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin, you go to your own common room, you meet your own prefect, who will tell you about famous people who were in your house and what the true nature of your house is.
    “In the main narrative you only ever see the other houses through the eyes of the three, my three heroes. What I’m basically saying is that it’s not a terrible thing to be in Slytherin. And in fact I have always seen Gryffindor and Slytherin as the two closest houses. I think that Harry himself could have goneeither way very easily. I don’t think it’s very guessable. Yo must be answering honestly. YOu just get one shot at this, it’s like a Mensa test, there’s no going back, you’ve got to do it properly the first time.”

    Since there’s no way in hell I’m ending up in Gryffindor I’m very excited about the stuff I’ll learn about one of the other three houses! (Which better be Ravenclaw, seriously. :P)

  16. i’m just glad that my college has a REAL FREAKIN QUIDDICH TEAM.and my team is going to kick comment award @kats teams butt.

      • “Unique online experience”…I didn’t realize how much she did not tell us. It’s probably because I am so excited for this. I guess we’ll just have to wait out the vagueness to see what it’s all about.

        • Yeah, I think that if I were really into Harry Potter I probably wouldn’t have realized either and gotten caught up in all the excitement. Maybe people are also imagining what it’ll be like, so they don’t really notice the fact that she didn’t reveal much? But I’m sure it’ll be awesome, whatever it is.

  18. ohhhh jo. i will get up at any time of day to hear you spout vague sweet nothings to me.

  19. Oh dear. Come July/October I see myself losing significant portions of time to this. But its ok. I never got my letter either, but I always assumed it was because they tried to send it via Pigwidgeon and he got distracted/lost along the way.

  21. Also, I want the person who made the animation to be my best friend and possibly make out with me.

  22. Finally mannaged to register last night after ages and ages of the sight being flooded. Can’t actually wait till october! although WTF is an ‘online reading experience’ ????

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