My Thoughts on the New Harry Potter Short Story

the article on pottermore source: http://goo.gl/oPzecy

Hello! So as you may or may not know, earlier today, a new Harry Potter short story dropped, and at least to my knowledge, with no warning. It is an article, written by infamous wizard journalist Rita Skeeter. This was uploaded onto JK Rowling's interactive Harry Potter game site, Pottermore. I was rather shocked to find out that there was more content, especially since JK made it perfectly clear that she was done with Harry, Ron and Hermione- that their stories were over.

Anyways I don't know how I feel about this short story. Some of it made me want to throw my laptop out the window, but some of it was funny and/or nice to read. I'm so conflicted about it that I would appreciate a friendly discussion (at the end of this post there are several methods in which you can contact me :D). Let's start with things I did not like about this new content first.

Read the short story here.

Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione
Okay, earlier this year, JK made an announcement that she regretted putting Harry and Ginny together, and would've preferred placing Harry and Hermione together. This made me completely uncomfortable, because the whole series basically eludes to Ron and Hermione (Romione) being endgame (final pairing). It's quite obvious that these two pairings were clearly set up to be together. I'm not sure, and I say this hoping that you understand I have nothing but respect for Ms Rowling, but I think maybe, she might have done this for publicity, or just for the fun of it. I mean, can you imagine having that much power and being able to make millions of people all around the world go into a frenzy? But anyways, that really annoyed me. Like, you've written these two couples, they've been made endgame, please just leave them alone PLEASE PLEASE I WILL CRY.

Moving onto the point, in the article, Rita Skeeter eludes to their being problems in the Potter family, in this snippet-

"Are cracks beginning to show in a union that the Potters are determined to promote as happy? Should we read anything into the fact that his wife Ginevra has been perfectly happy to leave her husband and children behind in London whilst reporting on this tournament?"

And I mean, this could just be Rita Skeeter being Rita Skeeter. She's known for her ridiculous falsities and rumours that she spreads. But I can't help but feel that these two events are connected, and I'm really unhappy as a result. This makes Lily sad.

Neville and Luna
Okay so this broke my heart. Neville and Luna are clearly made for one another, and they clearly should have been endgame. I think the excuse JK gave for not having "Nuna" end up together was that it would be "too neat and perfect". But, if the protagonist (Harry) can end up with best friend's sister (Ginny), and best friend no. 2 (Hermione) can end up with best friend (Ron), the series end is already too neat. And plus, it is, after all, a children's series. I think this is something people often forget. It was written for children, so an incompetent villain and a pretty, neat, happy ending are completely understandable.

Neville ends up with Hannah Abbott, who I remember being a Hufflepuff, who, during Goblet of Fire, wore a "Potter Stinks" badge. And that's as much as I know about her. Luna ends up with Rolf Scamander, who no one has heard of or cares about. Rita describes him as "swarthy", and makes some assumptions about their family life, and guess what, they're all negative. This makes me so sad because if Luna deserves anything, it's a lovely life. She's an angel, always caring. SHE DESERVES NEVILLE AND I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THAT THEY ARE NOT IN LOVE AND MARRIED WITH CUTE LITTLE BABIES.

Ron's Later Life
So this will be brief I swear. In addressing everyone's favourite anti-hero, Mr Ron Weasley, there is mention of "mental illness" and "never being the same". Here's a direct quote-

"Was the work of the Auror Department too much for a man who has admitted that the destruction of He Who Could Not Be Named's Horcruxes 'took its toll' on him? He shows no obvious signs of mental illness from a distance, but the public is not allowed close enough to make a proper assessment."

Does this elude to Ron and Hermione's relationship also? I'm not sure, but this just seems uncharacteristically Ron for me, and all I want is for these characters to be happy okay?

Now onto some more positive things! There were some things that made this article a little lighter for me, and I shall discuss them now.

Teddy and Victoire
At the end of Deathly Hallows, we get mention of Teddy Lupin, son of Remus and Tonks, and Victoire Weasley, daughter of Bill and Fleur, being together. This was a perfect match for me, and it seems, according to this snippet, they're still together (well, it's not discussed whether it's official, but they seem to be an item??) and this brings joy to my broken shipper heart. (Yet again I'll just quickly bring up this- how is allowing these two together not being "too neat" with endgame couples? Just saying.)

Viktor Krum Being Seeker
I don't know why, but the fact that Krum was the Bulgarian seeker made me so happy. It was so cool to find out where he went as a character, because he was not really addressed in the later books. It just made the world seem even more real, that all the characters, even more minor ones, had realistic futures. It was also lovely to see that Harry and Viktor are still friends, and that Harry was introducing his sons to Viktor. New brotp? Maybe.

So in conclusion, I'm still undecided about this new article. There are some bits that I'm super happy I got to find out but there are multiple things that made me unhappy.

What are your thoughts on this new content? Pleased? Saddened? Wanting to sell all your emotions on eBay? Let me know with either a tweet to @lilypherondale, a tumblr ask to sherlockcrumpets or in the comments. Follow any of the above accounts or subscribe to my email alerts on the right of this column (under my popular posts section) to find out when I make a new post!

Have a lovely evening and I'll see you all very soon for a new recommendation :) xo