JK Rowling

Back in the day before the release of the final Harry Potter book: The Deathly Hallows, J. K. Rowling frequently updated her site JKRowling.com. Since then, many other Harry Potter sites have sustained fandom interest, from Pottermore to Hogwarts is Here. In the last couple of months Rowling decided that she wanted her own site updated, so on the 20th of December, 2016 she released a post about her shiny updated site, along with some answers to fan questions about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

When speaking about the design of the new site, Rowling states that she “wanted to bring [her] website back to what it used to be: something real and personal.” The website is meant to be a slightly tidier [in order to be welcoming for guests], but able to mimic the space on Rowling’s writing desk. For example, when scrolling down the home page of her websites you might notice notebooks with words like no-maj visible, but you also might find a pink candle, a child’s drawing of Hedwig, or a Victini pin (which comes in a special addition Pokémon set released for the 20th Anniversary of Pokémon).

Now, for the most interesting part of Rowling’s post: answers to fan questions about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The first question was “Why couldn’t Newt just Apparate to the USA? Why did he go by boat?” Rowling gives two answers to this. The simple answer is that not all magical creatures can be Apparated with, and of course Newt would have been unwilling to leave some of his beloved beasts behind. J. K. Rowling states that the ability of the magical creatures to withstand Apparation is due to their “varying magical natures.” The more detailed answer is related to the complexities of Apparation. Rowing explains that since Newt was traveling to somewhere he had never been, he did not have a deep knowledge of the place he needed to go, and therefore could not Appararate there. Furthermore, the farther a person Apparates the more dangerous it becomes. Basically, Apparating across an ocean causes fatal, or at least severe injuries.

The next question Rowling answered was “Why did Newt go in through No-Maj customs?” Rowling explains that Newt wanted to avoid the detection of his magical creatures by Wizarding authorities, so it was much simpler for Newt to get by the Muggle authorities.

The next three questions also had quick answers. [3. Why couldn’t Newt use ‘Accio’ to retrieve all his beasts? 4. Why isn’t Veritaserum used in interrogations 5. Why did ‘revelio’ undo the effects of Polyjuice Potion?] First of all, when you use Accio to summon an inanimate object it travels towards you almost at the speed of light. This clearly presents an issue when applied to living beings. It is too risky the summon people or creatures. As for Veritaserum, it is used in interrogations, but charms, antidotes, and a skilled Occlumens would all render the potion useless. Finally, with Grindelwald, he wasn’t using polyjuice potion “to take on the appearance of Percival Graves.” Grindelwald utilized his Transfiguration skills in order transform.

The last two questions have been answered over hundreds of other articles. “Why didn’t Harry Potter develop an Obscurus [and] Why wasn’t the Horcrux inside Harry destroyed when he was bitten by the Basilisk.” So, if you want to hear the answers from J. K. Rowling herself check them out on her website, along with the rest of her article on the updated site.