What is Pottermore: 5 top theories

Where is Harry Potter’s divination crystal ball when you need it?

Guesses are flying about J.K. Rowling’s mysterious new website, Pottermore.com, but even the likes of Severus Snape couldn’t divine what’s bubbling away in the cauldron of Ms. Rowling’s mind.

Here’s what we know so far: The website features only a pink background, a pair of staring owls, and the words “Pottermore” and “coming soon…”

(We also know Pottermore is not another book. A representative of Rowling told The Guardian, “All we can say is that Pottermore is the name of J.K. Rowling’s new project. It will be announced soon, and it is not a new book.”)

Rowling is stirring the cauldron with a YouTube announcement page counting down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds to her June 23 announcement. It proclaims, “The owls are gathering. Find out why soon.”

We couldn’t wait. Here are five guesses as to what Pottermore might be:

1. Our best guess: Pottermore stands for Potter Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Experience and is a sophisticated online MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game). That’s an online game in which users assume characters and virtually live, play, and interact in Harry Potter’s universe: (the most popular MMORPG today is “World of Warcraft,” with more than 11 million people playing.) “I bet there are millions of people out there who would want to live inside the world of all things Harry Potter with J.K. Rowling or those in charge able to add new elements to the game all the time,” says David Sztypuljak on his blog HeyUGuys. There is strong evidence to suggest that this most closely depicts the trademark description filed by Warner Bros. in 2009 for an interactive website called “Pottermore.”

2. Since we’re going for acronyms, how about this: Pottermore stands for Potter Massive Online Reference Encyclopedia. Rowling has said her fans want many more character details and backstory than she could write into her monumentally popular (and already lengthy) books. Rowling has suggested on her website that she would like to use extra material from her books to compile a reference book of sorts for fans. “I might do an eighth book for charity, a kind of encyclopedia of the world so that I could use all the extra material that's not in the books ... we'll see!”

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