Pottermore's Pioneers: Exploring J.K. Rowling's New Site

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Me: Interesting.

Plum: It's very interesting. But also kind of boring.

[Icons start appearing in the left-hand margin, which yield clickable menus.]

Me: Professor Dumbledore. Let's learn more about him.

Plum: Oh, come on. I already know every single thing about him. [She wanders away to play with her baby sister, then comes back.] I want to see other pictures of other places.

Me: Let me see if there are some. [I start clicking through more scenes.]

Plum: There had better be. I thought we were going to learn more about Dumbledore.

Me: I thought you said it was boring.

Plum: [Indignant] I did not!

Me: O.K., we can learn about him in a sec, but look what's happening.

Plum: This is Hagrid delivering Harry.

Me: Here's Harry's room.

Plum: A tiny little place under the cupboard. What a nice place. That's the most disgusting place in the world. I want something to happen.

Me: Let's see the zoo.

Plum: There's the python!

Me: [Beginning to show signs of impatience] We already know what happens in the story.

Plum: You always get bored. [She reads the title of Chapter 3 in a grand voice.] The Letters from No One!

[I'm beginning to get the hang of navigating in Pottermore. You can move around within an individual scene, sort of, by clicking, which moves you deeper into the picture. You can cycle through three different depths of field: foreground, middle ground, background — they come into focus in turn, and each one highlights different details. You can bring up informational panes dealing with specific topics. Though sometimes you do so inadvertently.]

Me: Hang on, I want to get this thing out of the way. I want to see.

Plum: The Dursleys' kitchen! That's what you want to see.

Me: There's the letters from Hogwarts floating around.

Plum: Hahahahaha! [Laughs delightedly and starts to sing.] Letters are floating around the Dursleys' kitchen! The washing machine is on, because it's moving around! And that's kind of boring, kind of boring, kind of boring ... [A pop-up informs me that we have noticed the salt-and-pepper shakers on the Dursleys' table, and we have the option of collecting them.] Why do I want them?

Me: I don't know. Maybe we should get sorted or something.

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