Pottermore Facts

*****Spoiler Alert******   *****Spoiler Alert*****  ****Spoiler Alert*****

Pottermore is a website where (among other things) J.K. Rowling posts extra stories/information about characters from the Harry Potter series.  Here are some of the most interesting things I learned from exploring this site.  There is a link in each paragraph that leads to the location of the information by J.K. Rowling.  (By the way, most of these links probably won't work unless you have a Pottermore account...sorry.)  If you don't like Harry Potter or you haven't read the books/don't want spoilers, please feel free to skip this post!

1.  Professor McGonagall was married but her husband died.

2.  Gilderoy Lockheart was sorted into Ravenclaw House, but almost went into Slytherin.  (!!!!!) The reason that Dumbledor invited him to teach as Hogwarts was so he could be exposed as a fraud.  

3.  Every day at the Diagon Alley in Universal Orlando Resort there is a performance by Celestina Warbeck.  Listen to a recording of that here. 

4.  Petunia did not allow Lilly to be a bridesmaid at her wedding reception.  Also, a hilarious back story of the relationship between Vernon and James.  

5.  The weird/gross fact that wizards did not use a bathroom/outhouse until after the 18th century.  They would just wave their wands to remove the...yeah you get it.  She also addresses how the chamber of secrets was still accessible after the plumbing was installed in Hogwarts (Slytherin's direct descendant fixed the entrance).

6.  Hogwarts headmasters had to spend quality time with their portraits in order for them to pass their knowledge on to future headmasters.  They would update them about their life and teach them nuggets of wisdom.  Normal portraits could only carry on conversations and would not know much about the personal life of the subject they were painted from.

7.  Albus Dumbledore allowed a pack of wolves that were the offspring of two werewolves live in the Forbidden Forest.  (They were conceived under a full moon while the werewolves were in wolf form.)  They are exactly like normal wolves, except that they are abnormally smart.  (The birth of these type of cubs has only happened twice).

8.  Finally, finally, finally the time-turner conundrum is solved!  The reason that Harry couldn't just go back in time and fix everything was because time travel can only go back 5 hours in the wizarding world without disastrous consequences.

9.  A lot more details about Lupin's life, including why he was attacked by Fenir Greyback.  His Patronus is a wolf, which I suppose should have been obvious to me but wasn't.  Also, his lycanthropy (werewolfism) was a metaphor for deadly blood-borne conditions such as HIV and AIDS that have a stigma attached.

10.  Why Hedwig was able to find Harry no matter where he was.  There is a trace on wizard names that allows owls to locate them.  If you don't want to receive mail, you have to use a repelling spell.

11.  A complete history of all the Ministers of Magic.  Also, Kingsley Shacklebolt was the MoM after the Harry Potter books.  (That may have been in the books, but I don't remember.)

12.  Dolores Umbridge is from the Slytherin House (!!!!!!!!!)  This explains so much!  She was convicted of imprisonment, torture and death after the books were over.  She was based on a teacher that Rowling had in the past.  The horrifying quill that she used on Harry was of her own making.

13.  Azkaban was still used as a prison but the dementors no longer linger there as guards.  Instead, they use Aurors.




It has been a fair amount of time since I read these books, so this may be old news to all of you.  If that's the case, I apologize!  The Pottermore website is really cool, but kind of time-consuming.  Save yourself a lot of time and only bother with the moments that actually have new writing in them!  (These sections are marked with a little red quill.)