by Stone Marshall | Dec 14, 2014 | Awesome Book News |
J.K. Rowling‘s first Harry Potter #PottermoreChristmas surprise has been revealed, and it’s a little heartbreaking.
The creator of the hit book and film series on Friday (Charlie Weasley’s birthday, in case you forgot) published on the community site Pottermore the first of several new pieces of bonus material related to her wizard world. She reveals something about the past of Severus Snape, the greasy-haired, grumpy Hogwarts professor, Slytherin house leader and spy who loves to give Harry Potter a hard time. In the movies, he is played by Alan Rickman.
Rowling has shared new Harry Potter content on the website in the past. Pottermore was established after the last movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, was released in 2011. The website had teased that starting on Friday, fans could “unwrap” a “daily surprise” on the site in the days leading up to Christmas eve and that some of the material would be new pieces of writing by Rowling.
VIDEO: What does Harry Potter Butterbeer ice cream taste like?
The new material is a relatively short piece of text in which Rowling reveals that the street Spinner’s End is located in the “dilapidated,” industrial English town of Cokeworth (that, by the way, doesn’t actually exist).
We already knew that the street was located near Snape’s family’s house and that the town was once home to his late childhood crush, Harry’s mother Lily, and her Muggle (non-magical) sister Petunia. Now it is confirmed that Snape and Lily grew up in the same area, suggesting his love for her spans back even further than many of us thought originally.
In the first book (but not in its film adaptation), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (also titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone), Petunia and her husband Vernon, who raised Potter after Voldemort murdered his parents, and their son Dudley escape to a hotel in Cokeworth after receiving at their home a barrage of Hogwarts admission letters for Potter.
In the sixth novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Narcissa, the mother of Harry’s school nemesis Draco Malfoy, and her sister Bellatrix speak with Snape at his parent’s old home in the town, which is unnamed and which the latter woman calls “a Muggle dunghill.” Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow to protect Draco.
To read Rowling’s new piece of writing on Pottermore, you must answer a riddle: “In a house on Spinner’s End, a meeting takes place, a mother begs help for her son, tears on her face. Agreeing to help, though he doesn’t know how. Which potions master performs an unbreakable vow?”
The answer is “Professor Snape.”
Past new Harry Potter content posted on Pottermore includes a story about a little-known sorceress named Celestina Warbeck and a reunion of Harry Potter and his friends at the Quidditch World Cup Finals.
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 14, 2014 | Awesome Book News |
Pottermore, an interactive website from J.K. Rowling for fans of the Harry Potter books, is releasing surprises everyday between December 12 to December 23 at 8 am EST. The surprises are offered to readers after answering a rhyming riddle and include new “moments” (illustrated scenes), ”potions” (online games), and most importantly new stories by Rowling. The Telegraph reported that the new pieces of writing include a piece on Potter’s blonde nemesis Draco Malfoy. Rowling fueled the Potter cult by releasing several new stories on Halloween, including an essay on the book’s witchy character Dolores Umbridge.
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 12, 2014 | Awesome Book News, parent-news |
THERE’S some bad new for fans of Harry Potter, who were rejoicing across the world when reports emerged that 12 short stories would be published by author JK Rowling before Christmas.
Rowling has now denied reports that she is releasing the 12 ‘Harry Potter’ short stories this month via her popular site Pottermore.
A message to fans on the Pottermore’s Facebook page confirmed the talk of short stories was untrue.
Sorry Potterheads … J.K. Rowling has bad news for you. Picture: AP
The post stated: “Just to put everyone straight on the misleading media reports of ‘Twelve New Stories for Christmas’ As true Potter fans worked out straight away, our 12 days of festive surprises and accompanying rhyming riddles refer to new potions and Moments in addition to several new entries by JK Rowling that will be posted on pottermore.com between 12th and 23rd December.
“Sorry to disappoint fans, but there will not be a set of 12 new short stories, one for each day of Christmas. Even Pottermore wouldn’t be that generous.”
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 12, 2014 | Awesome Book News, parent-news |
Remember the Daily Prophet newspaper from the “Harry Potter” movies? You know, the publication that has images that move around a bit, like GIFs embedded in paper? Well, that style of photo may soon be coming to digital driver’s licenses in Iowa.
The Iowa Gazette reports that the department of transportation there is experimenting with licenses that could be stored on a smartphone and would feature a rotating headshot, just like in the articles penned by Potter’s not-so-favorite journalist, Rita Skeeter.
The licenses would be optional and available in addition to a normal physical license you carry around in your wallet. Having a digital license would help out if you leave the house without your wallet or purse and get pulled over. At least if you get stopped for distracted driving, you could just tell the officer that you were looking at your phone to get your license ready for him.
The Gazette reports that the licenses could be available as early as next year and that Iowa could very well be the first state to offer them to drivers. There would be no cost for the digital version of the license.
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