This December, J.K. Rowling has basically added a new title to her resume: honorary Santa Claus.
Yeah, you read that right. Since Dec. 12, the famed Harry Potter author has been bringing us all kinds of goodies with the #PottermoreChristmas promotion for members of the online Harry Potter community. Just like clockwork, Old Saint Rowling gave us a new piece of writing today, and it's one of the most intriguing yet.
Today's #PottermoreChristmas riddle went a little something like this: "Death eaters gather on the astronomy tower/Keen to rid Dumbledore of his life and power/But which student masterminded this plot with precision/In order to fulfil the Dark Lord's terrible mission?"
If you guessed "Draco Malfoy," you'd be right! Ding ding ding! Good job, everyone.
And once you entered the correct answer, you would unlock a new, revelatory piece of writing by Rowling that gives us greater insight into the Slytherin. From the piece, we learn more about Draco's backstory, which perhaps helps explain why he's such a meanie, such as issues with his father Lucius and his family's disappointment with his marriage to fellow Slytherin Astoria Greengrass.
But perhaps most interesting are Rowling's own thoughts on Draco and how fans feel about him. As The Huffington Post reports, though Rowling acknowledges that Draco does mature and becomes more tolerant, he still doesn't have a "heart of gold." It's that fact that makes Rowling surprised that readers are so fond of Draco.
"Draco remains a person of dubious morality," Rowling wrote in the piece for Pottermore. "Draco has all the dark glamour of the anti-hero; girls are very apt to romanticise such people. All of this has left me in the very unenviable position of pouring cold common sense on ardent readers' daydreams."
In addition to spilling some secrets about Harry Potter and the gang for #PottermoreChristmas, Rowling has been quite chatty this month, hasn't she? Earlier this month, she also answered some fan inquiries into the makeup of the Hogwarts student body on Twitter. Rowling confirmed that there were both Jewish and LGBT students at Hogwarts, The only religion or beliefs system probably not represented at the fictional school for witchcraft and wizardry was, strangely enough, Wicca. So now you know.
