Good old JK Rowling is keeping us on our toes this summer. As reported by Time, only weeks after she made the exciting announcement that three new Harry Potter short story collections would be released through Pottermore, personal illustrations from Rowling’s earliest days creating everyone’s favorite magical world began appearing on the website.
You can see the entire collection of illustrations that have been found in the gallery below, but let me tell you that in this witch’s opinion, perhaps Rowling had a bit of foresight herself. The drawings that she created include glimpses into her personal ideas of what Harry, Ron, Fred and George, and even Professors McGonagall and Snape looked like in the flesh when she was still writing the books. You can see she had a very distinct idea even of what Peeves, that wily poltergeist, looked like, and frankly, I’d have been a little intimidated to run into him in the halls of Hogwarts myself if he looked the way she drew him. I say she had foresight because you can’t deny that there are some striking similarities between her doodles and the actors and actresses who eventually would play her characters.
The details Rowling gives her characters are stunning. Snape’s monstrous nose is perfect for glaring at students down. McGonagall looks like she is completely done taking any kind of sass from Peeves. And Harry is taller than Ron and the other Weasleys! That one was a detail I was not expecting. As someone who read all the accounts of Quidditch games with some doubt, it was also rewarding to see that the game itself looks just as chaotic as I imagined in my head all these years.
This isn’t the first time early illustrations of Rowling’s have appeared on the internet. In 2013, the illustration below surfaced and lead to the discovery that Dean Thomas had originally been called Gary (after a boy Rowling knew). Well, the illustration surfaced in 2013, but it definitely sounds like the internet did not put Gary and Dean Thomas together for a few years. It’s okay. We weren’t paying as much attention back then as we were still reeling from the idea that we would never have more Harry Potter. We were so wrong.
Drawing by JK Rowling from The Midnight Duel chapter of PS. Dean originally joined the gang, and was called Gary. pic.twitter.com/2XCPIugkam
— Harry Potter World (@PotterWorldUK) June 22, 2013
The question you may be asking yourself right now is, does the world really need more Harry Potter? Especially considering we got a whole new story in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and we’re getting these three new short story collections that will dive into more of Harry’s world in only a matter of days at this point. But when you look at these drawings done by Rowling’s own hand, can you deny that you feel just a tingle of that magic that you’ve been feeling about Harry Potter and his friends all along? The wizarding world seems to truly be the gift that keeps on giving, and if we can anticipate small surprises like this coming to surface through Pottermore in the future, I for one am not complaining. Are you? Let us know in comments below.
Images via Pottermore & Warner Brothers Entertainment
