J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore Launches Hogwarts Experience

Sept. 1 is a very important day in the wizarding world of Harry Potter: it’s the first day of the Hogwarts term, and this year in particular happens to be the actual date of the “Nineteen Years Later” epilogue of The Deathly Hallows when Harry, Ron and Hermione watch their children board the Hogwarts Express.

To commemorate that, J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore website launched a platform called Hogwarts Experience, because getting sorted into a house and discovering your wand and Patronus is simply not immersive enough. The new feature allows fans to interactively explore the exterior of the castle, the Forbidden Forest and the Quidditch pitch through a virtual representation of the school.

Many iconic locations will be included, such as Hagrid’s hut and Professor Sprout’s greenhouses, and the platform will be littered with clickable golden hotspots that explain significant events and share fun facts and quotes from Harry’s time at Hogwarts.

Any registered user on Pottermore is free to virtually explore the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry via most smartphones, tablets and computers. Watch a preview of the interactive platform below, and partake in the full experience here.