‘Harry Potter’: You Can Take Real Hogwarts Classes Online
It’s been over two decades since J.K. Rowling first introduced us to her magical Wizarding Wizard in her novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Since then, the world has exploded into an entire film franchise, a Broadway play, parodies, and an entire Wizarding World at Universal Studios.
Though the books and film series have been completed for years, through Wizarding World (formally Pottermore) and interactions with her fans, Rowling has given us more and more details about the Wizarding World and some of its most iconic characters.
We’ve also learned more about the world before Harry Potter in, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and in his adult life through Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Now, Potter fans can even attend Hogwarts themselves.
Inside Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Hogwarts was founded by two witches and two wizards. According to Wizarding World, “Their names were Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin. As The Sorting Hat told us, their reason for doing so was because they had the ‘selfsame yearning, to make the world’s best magic school’, and once they did, each created their own house to represent a personality and skill that they wanted to nurture. Gryffindor students embodied bravery and chivalry; Ravenclaw, intelligence and wit; Hufflepuff, loyalty and fair play; and Slytherin, the values of being sly and cunning.”
The massive and complex school is hidden from the Muggle eye, located somewhere in the Scottish Highlands.
‘Hogwarts Is Here’ allows fans to take classes at Hogwarts online
Though it’s been around since 2014, Hogwarts Is Here has been invigorated due to self-isolation and social distancing among the coronavirus (COVID-19) virus pandemic. The tagline for the site reads, “A group of creative, passionate Harry Potter fans got together and built an online wizarding world social network where thousands of fans can come together online. It’s Real for Us – and it’ll feel real to you, too. Welcome to Hogwarts is Here.”
The platform lets you take a deep-dive into what it means to be a First-Year student at Hogwarts and beyond. You can take classes like Astronomy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, and Transfiguration and you can even enter into the Head Boy or Head Girl.
Unfortunately, there is no Sorting Hat, but since most of us know our Houses already, you will be free to choose Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Slytherin. You will then be able to hang out in the respective House common room and sign up for classes.
This how ‘Hogwarts Is Here’ works
Once you sign up for Hogwarts Is Here and choose your Hogwarts house, you can purchase your textbooks and sign up for classes. It’s super legit and hard too. In order to qualify for Head Boy or Head Girl, you will have to take your course, each comprised of nine lessons. They involve reading, writing essays, and taking tests.
If you really want to dive into Hogwarts Is Here, now is the time, the courses go up to the Seventh-Year and there are even, Alchemy and O.W.L.S. prep lessons.
