2:54 pm - 07/11/2012
lol Pottermore
Chamber of Secrets goes up on Pottermore
Pottermore, the online Harry Potter experience, has begun adding depth to its virtual world with the release of chapters from book two in the seven-strong series.
The first chapters of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets are now available to explore. The rest of the book will be released in two further instalments, with the next due within weeks.
Pottermore allows users to work their way through the books sequentially, while engaging in wizard duels and potio-making.
The site opened for all in April this year, having been in closed beta since last year, with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone the first book to go live. It was immediately inundated with demand.
At the time chief executive Charlie Redmayne said the next books would begin coming on stream in the "weeks and months" ahead. "What we've been working on is getting a platform and infrastructure, which can cope with this unique challenge, but that technical team is now going to be all about getting the new content pulled through. It has all been about the platform up to now, but the content comes next."
Pottermore said today: "There’s plenty to discover and enjoy: read more exclusive writing from J K Rowling; view The Burrow for the first time, de-gnome the garden and collect your second-year shopping list, along with more Galleons, for another visit to Diagon Alley."
Source
Pottermore, the online Harry Potter experience, has begun adding depth to its virtual world with the release of chapters from book two in the seven-strong series.
The first chapters of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets are now available to explore. The rest of the book will be released in two further instalments, with the next due within weeks.
Pottermore allows users to work their way through the books sequentially, while engaging in wizard duels and potio-making.
The site opened for all in April this year, having been in closed beta since last year, with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone the first book to go live. It was immediately inundated with demand.
At the time chief executive Charlie Redmayne said the next books would begin coming on stream in the "weeks and months" ahead. "What we've been working on is getting a platform and infrastructure, which can cope with this unique challenge, but that technical team is now going to be all about getting the new content pulled through. It has all been about the platform up to now, but the content comes next."
Pottermore said today: "There’s plenty to discover and enjoy: read more exclusive writing from J K Rowling; view The Burrow for the first time, de-gnome the garden and collect your second-year shopping list, along with more Galleons, for another visit to Diagon Alley."
Source
The Malfoy Family:
The Malfoy name comes from old French and translates as 'bad faith'. Like many other progenitors of noble English families, the wizard Armand Malfoy arrived in Britain with William the Conqueror as part of the invading Norman army. Having rendered unknown, shady (and almost certainly magical) services to King William I, Malfoy was given a prime piece of land in Wiltshire, seized from local landowners, upon which his descendants have lived for ten consecutive centuries.
Their wily ancestor Armand encapsulated many of the qualities that have distinguished the Malfoy family to the present day. The Malfoys have always had the reputation, hinted at by their not altogether complimentary surname, of being a slippery bunch, to be found courting power and riches wherever they might be found. In spite of their espousal of pure-blood values and their undoubtedly genuine belief in wizards' superiority over Muggles, the Malfoys have never been above ingratiating themselves with the non-magical community when it suits them. The result is that they are one of the richest wizarding families in Britain, and it has been rumoured for many years (though never proven) that over the centuries the family has dabbled successfully in Muggle currency and assets. Over hundreds of years, they have managed to add to their lands in Wiltshire by annexing those of neighbouring Muggles, and the favour they curried with royalty added Muggle treasures and works of art to an ever-expanding collection.
Historically, the Malfoys drew a sharp distinction between poor Muggles and those with wealth and authority. Until the imposition of the Statute of Secrecy in 1692, the Malfoy family was active within high-born Muggle circles, and it is said that their fervent opposition to the imposition of the Statute was due, in part, to the fact that they would have to withdraw from this enjoyable sphere of social life. Though hotly denied by subsequent generations, there is ample evidence to suggest that the first Lucius Malfoy was an unsuccessful aspirant to the hand of Elizabeth I, and some wizarding historians allege that the Queen's subsequent opposition to marriage was due to a jinx placed upon her by the thwarted Malfoy.
With that healthy degree of self-preservation that has characterised most of their actions over the centuries, once the Statute of Secrecy had passed into law the Malfoys ceased fraternising with Muggles, however well-born, and accepted that further opposition and protests could only distance them from the new heart of power: the newly created Ministry of Magic. They performed an abrupt volte-face, and became as vocally supportive of the Statute as any of those who had championed it from the beginning, hastening to deny that they had ever been on speaking (or marrying) terms with Muggles.
Edited at 2012-07-13 06:07 pm (UTC)