Photograph: The Guardian
There are no wands, wizards or magic here. Take yourself out of the world of fantasy for a moment and immerse yourself in this realistic, relatable and thoroughly enjoyable novel about relationships, social divides, and real-life issues. Continue reading
DAY 1
Wow. How exciting has the past hour been? I’ve had my Australian friend keeping an eye on Pottermore whilst I slept, and I received a phone call at 9AM.
“GET ONLINE. I’M NOT EVEN JOKING!”
Naturally, I ran towards my laptop, stumbling due to not actually being fully awake yet. A question awaited me.
How many owls are on the Owl Emporium sign? Multiply this by 49.
The answer to the first part of the question being 5, multiplying this by 49 would give the answer 245. Rushing to add this to the end of the given URL, I was whisked away to the very magical… Sony homepage.
Here, I was told to find the magical quill. Panic set in. “There must be A THOUSAND keys (quills) in here”. Luckily, it wasn’t as hard as I first thought, and the magical, glowing quill drifted slowly downwards.
Clicking on the quill, I was told, “CONGRATULATIONS!”
My heart started pounding. My journey was about to begin…
Clicking the button from the screen above, I was taken to the following page.
With J.K. Rowling’s face beaming from the top left corner of my screen, I knew I was onto a winner. This was the first day of Pottermore, and I was one of the lucky few who was going to hold a spot right from the get go.
This page required that you fill out some simple details to be stored on the Pottermore database. Your date of birth was required first off, followed by your location, your real name, your e-mail, a password you will use for the site, and a checklist of which books and movies you have read and watched. (For most of us, I imagine we will be clicking the ‘All’ button).
For the purpose of this little blog, I signed up using the name Severus Snape. It’s also quite hilarious to see his name listed with the rest of the first years! Seeing your own (real) name listed with the likes of Harry, Ron and Hermione really is something special, so take it all in when you’re registering for your place at Hogwarts!
Not gonna lie to everyone, I was a little bit disappointed that we weren’t allowed to input our own chosen username. Being one of the first to register, I believed I was going to get some amazing name to use, (Severus being first on my list), but I ended up with NimbusSpirit100. Not too shabby when considering some of the names it’s putting forward to people. (NifflerPatronus38… really?). Hopefully, there will be a chance in the future to change our user names to something we choose ourselves, but I seriously am doubting that right now. Ah well, onwards and upwards!
After choosing a username, you are taken to this final page, where you are told to await an e-mail. The e-mail took around ten minutes to arrive, but when it did… WOW. I finally had my letter for Hogwarts.
My guess is that registered users now have to wait until all seven days of registration for Beta are complete before any of us can access the site, but I’m more excited than ever. Harry Potter’s over? I think not. Harry Potter’s just beginning…
UPDATE (00:44 01/08/2011)
Logging in to Pottermore, I received a different message to the last screen I saw earlier in the day. The message now assures me that I am one of the million who will be allowed into Pottermore before October, and that my email giving me access will be arriving within the next few weeks!
UPDATE #2 – DAY 2 (09:04 01/08/2011)
Looks like the rumours are true, and that the timing of each clue is going to be different each day to accommodate for all different time-zones. Make sure you keep an eye on the official Pottermore page, and keep up to date with the #Pottermore hash tag on Twitter! Potter fans seem friendly enough to help each other out. So long as they find their quill, that is.
09:30 - There are also rumours flying round that the clues will be released on an hour only. For example, 10:00, 11:00 etc. I must reiterate that this is merely a rumour, and may hold no substance or ground.
10:11 – I was flossing my teeth when it happened. 10AM GMT and the clue was released;
“What is the number of the chapter in which Professor McGonagall cancels the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff?
Multiply this number by 42.”
The answer was chapter 14. Multiplying 15 by 42 gives 588. Adding this answer to the end of the URL brought users to this page;
Clicking the quill would then tell users they were successful in finding day 2′s magical quill, and took them to the same registration page that users used yesterday.
Good luck, and I hope you are successful in getting into Pottermore!
11:33 – A quick check of Pottermore showed me that registration for day 2 has now finished! Congratulations if you got a place, and if not, good luck over the next 5 days. Come back tomorrow for more information and all things Pottermore, as and when it happens.
22:39 – Pottermore has released some insider information, the most interesting being the following;
Can you give me a hint as to when the next Pottermore clue will be released?
We know that many of you waited through the night for the first two clues to be posted on Pottermore.com. Although we can’t tell you exactly when the clues will be released – they will all be posted at different times – we can tell you that tomorrow’s clue (Clue 3) will be posted some time between 9.00am and 1.00pm BST.
BST is British time for anyone who doesn’t know! If it’s following the trend we all believe it to be doing so, it will be 11AM BST! I guess we’ll find out in the morning. Goodnight!
Day 3
09:47 – Morning, looks like it’s time for day 3! In between refreshing the Pottermore home page, I’m watching the season premiere of season 7 of the Bad Girls Club. Some of these girls should just take the time to read a book or something. Wow.
10:02 – Still no clue. What’s the betting it’s going to follow the pattern and be released at 11AM?
11:08 – The clue arrived at clockwork at 11AM! It read;
In the Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match, in Harry’s third year, how many points is Gryffindor leading by before Harry catches the Golden Snitch?
Multiply this number by 35.
The answer to this came to a total of 2,100. (Gryffindor led by 60 points).
Today, correct answers would take the user to a Guardian web page, where the magical quill was awaiting them.
Users were then told to ‘levitate’ the quill, which was done by rubbing their mouse underneath it.
I must say, I’m really liking the interactivity that Pottermore is displaying, even before actually opening to the public. Good luck on getting your quill!
12:07 – Looking back at Pottermore, it seems that registration has now closed for another day! All bets are on that registration will begin again at 12 noon tomorrow!
Day 4
11:01 – A quick look at the Pottermore Insider reveals that today, the fourth clue will be released between the times of 2PM and 6PM BST! Keep an eye out!
15:38 – Well looky what we have here! Another clue!
How many students take part in the Triwizard Tournament during Harry’s fourth year?
Multiply this number by 28.
As a member from each school participated, plus the unique entry from Harry, four students took part in total. Multiplying this by 28 gives 112.
There was no ‘game’ to catch the quill today. You were immediately taken to the registration page! PotterBORE!
15:49 – Pottermore Insiders have just released another statement, explaining why there is a lack of a challenge to find the quill today.
We have had a few difficulties with today’s Magical Quill challenge.
If you solve the clue, you may not see The Magical Quill but instead will be sent directly to the Pottermore early access registration page, where you will be able to register as normal.
So there we have it, Pottermore weren’t being lazy, it’s just a technical glitch!
17:12 – Day 4 registration has closed! We’re over half way to our million user limit! See you tomorrow (after my driving test! Eek!) for day 5!
Day 5
16:40 – So, I started refreshing around ten minutes ago, as Pottermore Insider explained on their updates that the next clue will be revealed between 4.30PM and 8PM BST! Nothing as of yet, but I will keep you all updated!
18:08 – Clue’s up! Oh Pottermore, you’re being far too easy to guess when and where, now. On to the clue!
What is the house number of the Headquarters for The Order of the Phoenix in Grimmauld Place?
Multiply this number by 21.
The HQ is located at number 12 Grimmauld Place. 12 multiplied by 21 gives 252. The quill link then took us to the following page;
It all looks very exciting, doesn’t it? After five minutes of clicking bubbles, wondering where the quill could possibly be, I noticed an advert at the top of the page…
A recycled challenge! Ah well, today was the first day in which I actually found it challenging to spot the quill! The clue will probably be live for about an hour, so make sure you register, as there’s only 2 chances left after today!
19:07 – The clue has vanished, and there is only an approximate 300,000 chances left to gain your early place at Pottermore!
Day 6
18:19 – Sorry about the late update, I’ve been working all day! Anyhow, onto things. The clue was released at 2PM BST. The clue read;
How many chapters are there in Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince? Multiply this number by 14.
The answer to this was 420, and adding this to the magical quill link took users to the following page;
The Universal Orlando ‘Harry Potter World’ homepage housed the quill today, which fluttered from the top of the screen and landed on the bottom left hand side of the map. Registration was open for around an hour, and there is now only one more chance to register early for Pottermore!
Day 7
01:06 – FINALLY. The final clue’s here! I’m so tired, I almost gave up waiting, but now I can finally sign off this mammoth blog the way I was supposed to! Our final clue, IS;
How many Deathly Hallows are there?
Multiply this number by 7.
There are 3 Deathly Hallows, as I’m sure we all know. The Elder Wand, the Cloak of Invisibility, and the Resurrection Stone. 3 multiplied by 7 gives 21! I commend Pottermore for such an easy maths problem this late at night. The final link took us to the Parseltongue Translator, where the magical quill for the last 150,000 or so lucky magical folk could begin their journey.
My work here is done! This blog has been absolutely fantastic to keep going along with, and I’m sure there will be follow up blogs of material actually inside Pottermore once I gain access! Thanks for all being so loyal and coming back to read every single day. It’s been great! Enjoy your time in Pottermore!
Harry Potter is a franchise that has now lived on for fourteen years, and is one that is poised to live forever. Today the premiere of the final Harry Potter film, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II’ aired to millions of fans worldwide, who watched through blurred, teary vision as they waved goodbye to some of the greats who helped bring the magical world of Hogwarts, and the wonderful characters of Harry, Hermione, Ron and the like to life, and the big screen.
It’s strange to think that at some point in the future, this fantastic piece of literature and motion picture will most likely be studied nationwide in schools, colleges and universities. Over 400 million copies of the series of books have been sold worldwide, with the figure still steadily creeping up. It is down to the wonderful and extraordinary writing talent of J.K.Rowling that this series has been such a successful one, and she will forever remain my Queen of Literature.
Potter fans have been told not to worry, however. It seems that the final installment of the film will not be the final building block for this gigantic creation, as the website Pottermore will be launched in October, with a select few being able to access the site early from the 31st July. An announcement was made by Rowling, hoping to provide some insight into what the site would actually be about, but it seemed to cause even more confusion than answer any questions.
One thing is for certain. Harry Potter has left it’s own lightning bolt scar on the world of today, and the future to come. Long live the boy who lived.
