Pottermore
(4 of 5)
Plum: [Reflecting] I'm surprised that I chose the silver dagger, and I'm in Hufflepuff. I think that was even kind of a Slytherin choice. But more Gryffindor. Because Gryffindor's for brave people.
Me: True. And Gryffindor's the silver sword.
Plum: And Hufflepuff is a cup. That means that people in Hufflepuff are good at making things that go in cups, and that is liquid, and that is potions.
Me: All right, all right.
Plum: That means that you have to make a decent potion.
Me: I get it.
[I attempt to brew a sleeping draught, but I run out of time. My potion fails.]
Me: I was too slow. Well, we got one House point for trying.
[We zip forward through several more scenes. We collect the Remembrall, which seems a little unfair to Neville. We wind up in the Forbidden Corridor. It requires a spell to open it: Alohomora. Casting spells is also a big deal in Pottermore. When you want to cast a spell, Pottermore shows you some of the letters from the spell's name. The instructions are as follows: "Click or press the first letter of the spell using your mouse or keyboard. Then click or press the letter AGAIN when the circle around it starts pulsing at its largest." It sounds simple enough, but I have trouble with it.]
Me: When it's at its largest — come on!
Plum: Are you making the letters fall?
Me: I need to go back and read the instructions again.
Plum: Why can't you just take out your wand and yell Alohomora! Go back and click on our wand and bring it to the corridor. Alohomora! I'd like to do this tomorrow!
[Just as I did during our last session, I get stuck. The thing I haven't figured out is that you don't just click the first letter — duh — you have to click all the letters in sequence. It just doesn't say that in the instructions. I go to the spell-practice area and practice casting Incendio and failing.]
Plum: [Still thinking about our Sorting] If we'd chosen the silver dagger, and that we wanted to be feared, and, um, maybe the box with Merlin's sigil on it, maybe we would have gotten Slytherin. What did we do that made us go in Hufflepuff, that's what I want to know.
Me: Maybe it's because we wanted to talk to the animals.
Plum: Animals are cute!
Me: They are cute. I don't regret our choices. I think they were the right choices.
Plum: Wanting to be trusted should have at least gotten us into Ravenclaw though.
Me: And choosing wanting to be wise. I would have thought that was a Ravenclaw choice. [I try the spell again; it's pretty unbelievable that I haven't figured it out yet.] It's not working.