Pottermore is the official Harry Potter site launched by Rowling in 2012. It began as an interactive site that allowed users to follow each chapter of the books from beginning to end. You also could be placed into a house and were given a wand. Originally it had games and a chance to cast spells and make potions which earned points for your house and contributed to getting the House Cup. It also had a wealth of knowledge that was revealed about Hogwarts, characters, and other aspects of the wizarding world outside of the novels and films. This all changed, however, when the site was relaunched in 2016. Now it’s more like a blog that focuses on Rowling’s writings with feature articles and related news about upcoming movies etc. It’s not like I don’t like getting new information about the wizarding world, but I loved what it was before, though I can see how it would have been hard to maintain.
The new site still allows you to find your Hogwarts house (I’m still in Ravenclaw), get a wand (Spruce wood, phoenix feather core, 10 ¾” in length, slightly Yielding flexibility), and now, find your Patronus (mine’s a St Bernard, thank you for asking). Also, with the addition of the American magic school being revealed you can find out what your Ilvermorny House would be (I would be in Pukwudgie, though I’m not growing to that idea as of yet). If you love learning about the history of characters, more about creatures or locations it’s a good resource. The illustrations are beautiful as well and there are feature articles which may interest you as well as a few quizzes about chapters, books, and characters.
The history of Pottermore is really interesting though, you can read all about how it launched and developed in the links below, it’s quite detailed. There are also entries on the Harry Potter Wiki which is an innumerable source in its own right. As a whole, Pottermore is worth checking out if you’re interested in Harry Potter; even just to get yourself sorted into a house because it is a much better system than using Buzzfeed quizzes. Also, the information on there is as near canon as it’s going to get, it’s straight from Rowling’s quill so it’s a great resource to learn more about the wizarding world and those that reside in it. I didn’t use Pottermore as much after that first couple of years because I didn’t have much time, which I regret because of course, I thought it’d stay the same and would have time to return, but I will keep an eye on this new site, see what else develops on it.
Lost in a Good Book 