Yesterday, "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling announced that she would publish a new series of writing on the website Pottermore called "Magic in North America." Throughout the entire seven "Harry Potter" book, Rowling never mentions what the wizarding world in North America is like, but thanks to the first installment in the series called "History of Magic in North America," fans will no longer have to wonder.
"This new writing promises to enlighten readers about a previously unexplored corner of the wizarding world, taking us into the lives of North American witches and wizards; their history and their magic, and introduces audiences to a new era of the world that J.K. Rowling has created," a press release reads.
"History of Magic in North America" will include four new pieces of writing by Rowling, the first of which was released Tuesday morning. The first of the four new writings explores the 14th century to the 17th century and explores the origins of the magical community of North America. The piece reveals the truth about the legend of the "skin walkers," a group of wizards within the Native American community, and how wizards used magic before they had wands.
For the next three days, Rowling will roll out three more new stories that will be titled "Seventeenth Century and Beyond," "Rappaport's Law" and "1920s Wizarding America." The "Seventeenth Century and Beyond" story will divulge the dangers of being a witch or wizard in North America and will include the Salem Witch Trials. The third story, which will debut on Thursday, will explore why the wizarding community was forced to go even deeper into hiding while the final installment called "1920s Wizarding America" will explore North American wand makers.
The four new pieces of information will fill in the history and set the scene for the upcoming wizarding-world movie "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." The film was written by Rowling and tells the story of a wizard named Newt Scamander arriving in New York City in 1926. It stars Academy Award-winner Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Jon Voight and Colin Farrell, and comes out in November.
"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens in 1926 as Newt Scamander has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures," the synopsis of the film reads. "Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident...were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt's fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds."
The next piece of "History of Magic in North America" will be released March 9 at 9 a.m. EST.
