Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was released in three installments on Pottermore: chapters 1-4, chapters 5-11, and chapters 12-18. I really only enjoy Pottermore for two reasons: the new content from J. K. Rowling and the really awesome artwork for each moment of each chapter. All the other interactivity really falls flat on me. Alright. I admit that I enjoy collecting items from each moment, but spells and potions? Not really. It’s not that I hate dueling or potion-making. It’s just that I’m not very good at it. Even with video games, as I’ve written before, I play for the aesthetic quality and the story, not for the challenge. As with Pottermore, I visit for the artwork, sounds, and new content, but not for the challenge of potion-making. (I don’t consider it a challenge anymore, but I am getting there.)
Therefore, when I discovered that I would have to brew Polyjuice Potion successfully, I became irritated, again for two reasons: momentarily irritated that I wasn’t a Slytherin in the first place, meaning that you already have access to the Slytherin Common Room, which would have meant that the Polyjuice Potion would have been rendered unnecessary (which you have to admit is very cool indeed); and irritated that I would have to learn to brew a potion successfully in order to continue the story. (Somehow, up until this point, I was unable to heat the cauldron correctly, but I finally figured out what I was doing wrong, so potion-making is rather easy for me now, however time consuming.)
After breaking through the Slytherin common room barrier in the story, I was free to breeze through the rest of the chapters. I still haven’t experienced Pottermore as it really should be experienced: alongside the re-reading of the novel. I suppose it is for this reason that I was disappointed, because I felt as though this installment was lacking in terms of new content. Granted, there are some chapters in which much information is revealed about magical items (I found the new information about the Chamber of Secrets especially enlightening). But there are also several chapters in which no new information is revealed to us at all. However, the content that we are given is truly great. And the moments are beautifully immersive. A combination of art and sound allows my imagination to suspend reality and for a few brief moments, I can make myself believe that I am a part of the story.
A year and a half later, Pottermore remains an experiment of something no author has even done before. And for me, it remains an incredible experience. I love the books, because they draw me into a magical world. I love the movies and video games for the same reason. However, among these, you follow Harry and the other main characters. You aren’t your own witch or wizard in this magical world. Pottermore is the closest we have to that right now. We have become our own witches and wizards who experience the magical world of Hogwarts for ourselves. Yes the story is the same. Events are the same, but we are living it for ourselves. I was able to make my own Polyjuice Potion. I didn’t need Hermione to do it for me. I snuck into the Slytherin Common Room on my own. And a million members in Slytherin house didn’t have to sneak in. They were in their own common room already.
I hope beyond hope that, eventually, video game makers produce an MMORPG in the Harry Potter universe, but until then, we have Pottermore.
