POTTERMORE
I have finally joined the ranks of reverent J. K. Rowling lovers and logged in Pottermore!
Thus I bring this story to you my loyal followers, of my official entrance in the magical side of our world (admittedly, quite some years later than it is usually done).
It all started with a rather usual day. Wolfie White was doing her usual stuff after a long week back in College. You know… things like helping at home, visiting her daddy and half-brother,… things every (or at least most) children do after they are absent for some time and miss their family. And of course reading! She loves reading (though she is not as favourable to school-assigned literature, she does enjoy a rather wide range of preference). And what better way to relax after another exhausting day than to read updates to her chosen FanFiction stories.
She was going through the ones that accumulated over the week rather systematically as per usual and enjoyed quite some plot development in most of them. And then she heard the call again. It was cleverly concealed in the author's note at the beginning of the new chapter. Like they knew she'll take her time with that one in particular.
Oh, this wasn't the first time she had heard it. They were quite resourceful at finding different triggers to draw her to them, but she was usually rather good at ignoring it, to be honest. Don't get me wrong, she loves magic. What it represents and offers. Loves it with all her being, even. It's probably as much a part of her as any of you who read this story. Maybe even more.
But for some reason this one worked rather efficiently. They must've been researching her, for they baited her in with a quiz. And Wolfie loves quizzes! And any kind of puzzle, really. And what they offered her now was not just one, but four different quizzes based on her personality. And that is always interesting to do.
"Aw, screw it! I'm doing it." She declared and earned herself a funny look from her mother. That's what she gets for talking to herself. First sign of madness, they say. Then again, the Hatter and Alice both say all the best people are… "Nevermind." She mumbles to her mum flicking her hand to indicate the non-importance of it.
This is it. This is what they have been trying to get her to do for years now. A rather substantial part of her, the stubborn one, wanted to avoid it again just for the principle's sake. But what they say is true; curiosity killed the cat, and she did have some cat traits regarding her love of sleep (because with it there comes the dreaming) and her tendency to observe (from a high-ground if at all possible).
So she did it. She entered the virtual Diagon Alley. Thanks to whoever came up with the idea, for she would have to fly to London other ways. And that wasn't something she could afford right now. She entered the Pottermore.
Of course the first thing she did was to get the quizzes done, since that was the reason she was even there in the first place. And like all young (or maybe not so young anymore) witches and wizards she first went to Ollivander's.
"A wand chooses the wizard, Miss White." Mr Garrick Ollivander told her, excited to have a new customer. If only she could be one of the picky ones, he wished, only the time will tell. That was followed with a series of personal questions, which I will not be including in here because… well you do understand the term private, don't you?
"Ah I have just the one for you!" Mr Ollivander exclaimed triumphantly.
"Apple wood and Phoenix feather, 12 ½ inches. Slightly Springy flexibility." He declared, presenting her with the said wand. Wolfie accepted it tentatively. This could go either very well or very wrong. Luckily the wand seemed to accept her and she couldn't help but smile. Now she had her own wand! Who would've thought?
"So what does that mean for me?" She asked Mr Ollivander curiously.
"Well, aside from you being able to cast spells now and attend a magical school…" He paused.
"Well let me begin with apple wood. Apple wood wands are not made in great numbers. They are powerful and best suited to an owner of high aims and ideals, as this wood mixes poorly with Dark magic. It is said that the possessor of an apple wand will be well-loved and long-lived, and I have often noticed that customers of great personal charm find their perfect match in an apple wood wand. An unusual ability to converse with other magical beings in their native tongues is often found among apple wand owners, who include the celebrated author of Merpeople: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Language and Customs, Dylan Marwood."
"Then you have the phoenix feather core. This is the rarest core type. Phoenix feathers are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than either unicorn or dragon cores to reveal this. They show the most initiative, sometimes acting of their own accord, a quality that many witches and wizards dislike. Phoenix feather wands are always the pickiest when it comes to potential owners, for the creature from which they are taken is one of the most independent and detached in the world. These wands are the hardest to tame and to personalise, and their allegiance is usually hard won. You may have harder time than the others at the beginning, but it will be worth it afterwards."
"As for the length… Most wands will be in the range of between nine and fourteen inches. While I have sold extremely short wands (eight inches and under) and very long wands (over fifteen inches), these are exceptionally rare. In the latter case, a physical peculiarity demanded the excessive wand length. However, abnormally short wands usually select those in whose character something is lacking, rather than because they are physically undersized (many small witches and wizards are chosen by longer wands)."
"And last but not least, wand flexibility or rigidity denotes the degree of adaptability and willingness to change possessed by the wand-and-owner pair - although, again, this factor ought not to be considered separately from the wand wood, core and length, nor of the owner's life experience and style of magic, all of which will combine to make the wand in question unique. All in all I think this wand will suite you well."
"Thank you, Mr Ollivander. I really appreciate your time." Wolfie thanked the older wizard and left his shop. Now she had the sorting to get through, but… are there seriously two schools offered? Hogwarts in England and Ilvermorny in North America? Which to choose, which to choose?... Neh,… why not both?
Another Two sets of personal questions and her place in both schools was known. Slytherin for Hogwarts and Horned Serpent for Ilvermorny… Well there appears to be a snake theme today or something. I'm sure you all know Slytherin stands for wit and cunning, but you might not be familiar with Horned Serpents, which were named by the founder of Ilvermorny school for Witchcraft and Wizardry, Isolt Sayre after the great horned river serpent that has a jewel set into its forehead and represents the mind as well as favours scholars.
Well… Alright. I suppose they know best.
And now the hardest of them all; the patronus charm! Her happy memory? Heh, Personal ;) You should know better by now! But seriously, she had some trouble finding the one. Not because she had so many or so little, but because she wasn't sure which one would be strong enough… in the books it always seems like a character can draw on their happy memory that is distinctly the opposite of their worst one. She does not have any such bad experience and lives quite a normal life, so her emotional scale doesn't have extremes that could guarantee a corporeal patronus.
Never the les she tried, and after some thought and a lot of practice succeeded.
"Expecto Patronum!" She incanted and a silvery mist finally took a distinctive shape and soared into the sky and then circled back looking for attackers. She did it! She finally did it! Ladies and gentlemen, her patronus is a magpie!
Curious at what her patronus is she searched google of course.
As it turns out magpies are birds of the Corvidae (crow) family, including the black and white Eurasian magpie, which is considered one of the most intelligent animals in the world, and the only non-mammal species able to recognize itself in a mirror test[1] (though a recent study suggests that giant manta rays can also recognize their own reflection).
That's a really good start.
Furthermore, magpie symbolic meanings are numerous and varied. This stands to reason because the magpie herself is a varied creature. Her colourful character is a delight to observe with symbolic eyes because she is so unpredictable, high-spirited and expressive. When we observe the magpie's behaviours in nature, we can pick out many strong symbolic messages.
The magpie's speech is symbolic of communication and creative expression. When we hear the magpie speak it is a message to us that we might need to listen to what is being spoken to us - listen with more attention. The chatter of the magpie is also a symbolic message that we may need to speak our minds more clearly...speak up, express our opinions, and be creative with our spoken words.
The magpie's obsession with shiny things is symbolic of our tendency to chase after false ideas or perceptions. When the magpie comes into our lives it is often a reminder that we may have to re-evaluate our priorities. Are we chasing after unsuitable desires? Are we serving a false ideal? Are we putting materialism ahead of matters of the soul?
The magpie builds its home in the thickest "V" of trees. Forks or V's in nature are symbolic of gateways or paths into the spirit realm. In this fashion, the magpie asks us about our level of spiritual perception. Specifically, the magpie asks to keep an open mind in matters of the spirit. She also asks us where our spiritual foundation is and encourages us to open the gateways of higher (spiritual) vision.
Her plumage is also symbolic. With striking colouration, the magpie is symbolic of flamboyance, expression, and glamour. When we see her, we do a double-take because her appearance commands our attention. This is a message for us to not hide ourselves away from the world. The magpie beckons us to reveal our brilliance (physical and otherwise) to the world. We are each composed of incredible beauty and grace - the magpie is a reminder that we must express these attributes outwardly in a glamorous display just as she does.
And just when we get to know the symbolic meaning of the magpie, she eludes us and leaves us guessing what she's all about. In nature she has been known to be shy and reclusive - yet in cities she is noted to be extremely sociable with humans. Typically, she is a scavenger...but she has also been witnessed taking down small birds and rodents - acting as a bird of prey (which is not her classification).
These and other oddities in her behaviour are symbolic of illusion and perception. The magpie's message is that not all things are what they appear to be, and we should not set our judgements in stone. Further, this aspect of the magpie is a message that we do not have to be bound to perceptions. In other words, we may want to consider departing from our habitual behaviours and avoid being type-caste into a specific role.
In ancient European cultures the magpie is said to predict omens, and there is a type of divination based on the magpie according to an old riddle.
Magpie symbolic meanings take on a brighter note in the East, where the Chinese regard the magpie as a good luck symbol, joy, marital bliss, sexual happiness, and long lasting fortune. When the Chinese hear the cry of a magpie it is said to be an announcement of the arrival of friends and family.
The ancient Roman's viewed the magpie as a creature of high intellect and reasoning powers. She is also an attribute of Bacchus, the God of wine.
In Native American animal lore, the magpie was also viewed as having intellect. However, more often than not she was faulted for trickery and her intelligence was typically used in deceptive schemes. She cannot be judged too harshly thought because her tricks are always played out with a light-hearted, good-natured intention.
Hmm… maybe there's something in all this after all. It's a nicely rounded whole and, frankly, Wolfie likes her odds. Maybe she can give living in the wizarding society a shot… They finally did it, she's a witch now. Let's just hope the dark ages don't come again, she'd hate to end up burned on a stake!
Like it, hate it? Let me know in reviews below…
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, I don't own Pottermore, I don't own descriptions of properties (apple wood, phoenix feather, length, flexibility), I don't own any magical school (or mundane one for that matter), I don't own the description of spiritual meaning of a magpie,… Basically I own nothing, except for a new wand and ability to cast magic. And a really cute black kitty :3 I think I can live with that.