One shivering second of silence, the shock of the moment suspended: and then the tumult broke around Harry as the screams and the cheers and the roars of the watchers rent the air. The fierce new sun dazzled the windows as they thundered towards him, and the first to reach him were Ron and Hermione, and it was their arms that were wrapped around him, their incomprehensible shouts that deafened him. Then Ginny, Neville, and Luna were there, and then all the Weasleys and Hagrid, and Kingsley and McGonagall and Flitwick and Sprout, and Harry could not hear a word that anyone was shouting, nor tell whose hands were seizing him, pulling him, trying to hug some part of him, hundreds of them pressing in, all of them determined to touch the Boy Who Lived, the reason it was over at last —

My favorite paragraph from all of Harry Potter, and as I clicked on the last Pottermore moment, there it was: the audible “bang like a cannon blast”, then Jim Dale reading this passage, over the image of Voldemort falling “with mundane finality”, the two surrounded by everyone in the Great Hall. This is the scene as it should have been, rather than the monstrosity that it was in the film. I almost cried, to be honest. The Pottermore journey that began just four years ago has ended.

With Mundane Finality

But is this really the end? One would have thought that Pottermore would have finished with a bigger “bang” than this. Usually there are days–even weeks–of hype surrounding Harry Potter, but these last few moments were simply released yesterday. I can’t recall hearing an announcement or reading any warning to say that the end was coming soon. But maybe this was done on purpose to reflect the mundane finality of the end of an era? Or maybe this isn’t really the end?

We were promised a Patronus Quiz. That hasn’t come yet, so my guess is that they’re waiting to release it at another time. There have been times when the Pottermore team has released new items within previously released moments. This may be one of those items. Not to mention that a few months ago, Pottermore took down the comments and the Insider, because they were, in part, gearing up for other changes in the future. We’ll have to wait and see what those changes are.

There’s also the simple fact that the last three Pottermore releases (books five through seven) have paled in comparison to the first four books. Let’s take a look at the average numbers (shown in full on the Pottermore Index):

• Books 1-4 Average Chapters: 23.5
• Books 5-7 Average Chapters: 35
• Books 1-4 Average Moments: 41.5
• Books 5-7 Average Moments: 12.7
• Books 1-4 Avg. New Articles: 17.5
• Books 5-7 Avg. New Articles: 6.7

As you can see, the bigger the books, the fewer the moments and new articles. But I suppose that makes sense. JKR has revealed so much information in the bigger books already, so we probably don’t need as many new articles. But to go from two-three moments per chapter in the first few books to one moment every few chapters in the last few books? That’s almost unacceptable, especially for those who were actually treating Pottermore as an illustrated “re-reading companion”, which I definitely didn’t do, even from the beginning, though I have some friends who had planned to do that.

Maybe more moments will be added to the last three books in the future? You never know!

New (Repetitious) Writing

I was a little disappointed with the new articles released with the Deathly Hallows moments. Of the five new articles, three were almost repeat articles, in that they talked about the same things as three other articles in the first and second books: Vernon and Petunia Dursley, Hatstall, and the Sword of Gryffindor. In the first, JKR reveals more about her most hated Muggle characters: Petunia’s jealousy over her “perfect” sister, her attraction to the Muggle-est Muggle she could find, her regrets over not making up with her estranged sister before she died. In the second, JKR reveals (in addition to McGonagall, who she has said revealed that she experienced a Gryffindor-Ravenclaw hatstall in the article about her) that Peter Pettigrew was a Gryffindor-Slytherin hatstall. I mean, that’s obvious, but how did he make it into Gryffindor instead? In the third, more on the history of the sword was revealed, including the explanation as to why goblins everywhere believe that the sword was stolen from them (because they think that making=owning, whereas wizards believe that buying=owning).

The two other new articles include a fascinating explanation about extension charms and their regulation by the Ministry, as well as a beautiful re-explanation of Harry’s two very opposite father figures: Rubeus (red), who is warm, practical and wild, and Albus (white), who is impassive, intellectual, and somewhat detached–as well as why Hermione didn’t pursue alchemy (the Sorcerer’s Stone) as an area of study when she had every opportunity to do so when she was older.

Timeline of the Wizarding World

Lastly, this was released on Pottermore a few days ago (so not with the other Deathly Hallows items): a truly fascinating timeline of all the notable witches and wizards throughout history. You can find it by clicking on the link on the header, but it’s also posted under the “History of Magic” class on the Pottermore map. It starts with those who lived in Ancient Greece and it ends, obviously, with Harry Potter (present day), who became the head of the Auror Department in 2007.

I’m excited to see what else Pottermore has in store! Hopefully the Patronus Quiz is next!

Which was your favorite new article? Share in the comments below!