It has been over 16 years since No. 4 Privet Drive was “perfectly normal, thank you very much.” J.K. Rowling’s first book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” hit bookshelves in 1997. Most of us don’t remember life before Harry Potter, and why would we want to? Thankfully J.K. Rowling will keep it that way.

Her highly anticipated release is set to hit Pottermore on Halloween. The interactive website allow users to interact with the wizarding world virtually and the update will be glimpse into the backstory of arguably the second most evil character in the series, Dolores Umbridge. Aside from Voldemort, the former professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts is the only person to leave permanent scars on Harry.

This is just the latest of her additions to the Potter canon. Rowling’s dedication to keeping the story alive and her fans voracious habits ensure that Hogwarts will always be ready when you need to call it home again.

Harry Potter is more than another reiteration of the hero’s journey — he’s a cultural icon. He is woven into the fabric of our collective childhood. We all felt the pang when an owl was absent at our 11th birthday party and sadly Muggledom would have to suffice. But perhaps in spite of that disappointment, or maybe because of it, the Harry Potter readers bounded together and took the story off the page.

The seven-book series crafted a world of wonder for readers who just couldn’t get enough. As a result, movies, musicals, a sporting league, a puppet show, an entire musical genre and most recently, an amusement park fashioned themselves in the image of Rowling’s reality. Pottermania bred legions of Potterheads that created fan art, fan fiction, sites dedicated to learning all things Harry Potter and even formed a community of activists, The Harry Potter Alliance, who do work in the line of the ethics addressed in Rowling’s series.

Unlike other authors who discourage readers from making the story their own, Rowling responded positively to her fans propensity to reimagine her work. And the author can’t seem to let go of the story either.

Rowling penned both “The Tales of Beedle and Bard” after “The Deathly Hallows.” Currently, she is working on the screenplay of “Fantastic Beasts,” the spin-off about the author the textbook “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” that fans hope will lead to a trilogy. Over the summer, Rowling returned on Pottermore in the voice of gossip columnist Rita Skeeter with an update from the World Cup. This week, we’ll get Rowling’s insight into Umbridge, learn about old toady’s back story and see how she became such a twisted witch.

These add-ons are a balancing act that gives readers just enough. Harry Potter’s journey is done. Voldemort is dead. That story has been told. Instead Rowling shows us bits of the wizarding world. These glimpses of Harry’s modern life are spied through a haze. Rowling won’t let us get too close.  Even the epilogue at the end of “The Deathly Hallows” that fast forwards the story 19 years is just one scene on Platform 9 ?. Aside from spilling the Bertie Bott’s Beans and revealing who married whom, a lot was left up to the imagination.

Rowling knows that the world she created lives on in the hearts of her fans. Her newest editions merely brush up against the boy who lived instead of focusing on him. By keeping the details of Harry’s life a mystery and building the world of witchcraft and wizardry, Rowling shares the story with her readers too. She gives them the opportunity to reimagine Harry Potter for themselves and lets them have a hand in the magic.

Erin G. Kelly is a senior broadcast and digital journalism major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at egkelly@syr.edu.

Published on October 27, 2014 at 12:01 am