Pottermore: Clue #7 Is Up!

UPDATE 5: Registration has closed…

Now the waiting for our Welcome Letters begins. :)

UPDATE 4: Clue 7 is still up! There is still time!

UPDATE 3: Screenshot of the Magic Quill

Remember, the Quill will not glow if you do not hover over it. Here’s what the screen should look like:

The banner ad is at the top (above Parseltongue Translator).

The Quill that will glow is the light brown/white striped Quill.

UPDATE 2: Help with the Magic Quill

The Magic Quill will not appear before the Warner Bros. promo finishes playing. When it does finish playing, you will see a banner ad.

The Magic Quill will not glow automatically. You will need to hover your mouse over the Quills to make the Magic Quill glow. Click on the Quill that turns into a sort of blue glowing Quill.

UPDATE: What to do with the Magic Quill

You will be redirected to the Warner Bros. website, where you will watch a promo for the Deathly Hallows 2 movie. Once the promo has finished playing, you will see a small banner ad at the top of your screen. It asks you to find the Magic Quill.

You will need to hover your mouse over the Quills. One of them will change to a blow glowing Quill when you hover over it. Click on that Quill, and it will redirect you to the Congratulations notice, from where you can get to Registration.

If you do not see the promo or the small banner ad, try turning off ad blockers.

Day 7 clue:

Can you find The Magical Quill?

How many Deathly Hallows are there?
Multiply this number by 7.

Here’s what you need to do once you’ve figured out the clue and multiplied by 7:

Put http://quill.pottermore.com/

in your address bar, put the number you’ve derived from multiplying the clue times 7 after the slash, and hit enter.

NOTE: This is NOT the Pottermore address. This is the Quill address. Copy and paste the Quill address given above into your browser address bar but DO NOT HIT ENTER BEFORE adding the solution after the slash at the end. Otherwise, you will end up on the Pottermore website.

DO NOT add www. to the beginning of the Quill address. Otherwise, you will (sadly) land nowhere.

DO HIT ENTER after you have put the solution at the end of the correct Quill address (after the slash).

Once you hit enter, with the correct solution at the end of the Quill address, you will be taken to the Magic Quill.

The Magic Quill will be on a 3rd party website. Do not panic when you see that you have been redirected.

I will go try the challenge myself right now (but not register), so that I can give you more information on what to do with the Magic Quill.

If you run into technical difficulties, TRY AGAIN!

Don’t have a book handy?

Here’s a good breakdown of Deathly Hallows.

If you are still unsure of the answer, you might try the last page of Chamber of Secrets forum’s Pottermore thread. Or, as the Last Muggle suggests, you can use hp_batsignal on Twitter.

Oh, and of course, there’s always the Comments thread below. Some people may just be kind enough to post the answer for you there. :)

Feel free to use the Comments thread to let us know how it is going so that we can help you troubleshoot if you run into difficulties. Comments by people new to the blog may be delayed a little bit, but I’ll work hard to release comments quickly from limbo. :)

GOOD LUCK!

Pottermore: Day 7 Hints (or… Hints for the Final Clue)

If you don’t want to read through the Day 6 debrief or the time conversions, you can easily scroll down the page for speculation on the final clue. :)

Well, Day 6 was pretty easy.

Even though the clue was not what we predicted, it was still pretty straightforward. And it was posted early enough in the time window that we didn’t have to do a lot of refreshing.

Registration lasted about 2 hours. The Orlando Universal website seemed well prepared to handle the demand, and I didn’t hear many rumblings about significant technical difficulties.

A few people on a fan site spoke of getting the “overwhelming demand” message, but I didn’t get that today. I found it pretty easy to get through, wait for the Magic Quill to settle down into the lower left corner of the Harry Potter World promo, and then click on it.

Demand actually may be growing less. There were fewer page views and comments here than there have been during the past couple of days… as there were fewer page views and comments on the Chamber of Secrets Pottermore thread. But we’ll see in about 7 hours if there’s going to be a big final push.

So now… On to Day 7!

Day 7 Time Window

In the UK, the final clue will arrive early Saturday morning. In the Western Hemisphere, it will arrive on Friday night… i.e., on the same day that we got Clue 6.

Here (once again) is the notice from Pottermore Insider:

UPDATED: So far, all the clues have appeared in the early hours of the morning in my time zone. Will this continue for the remainder of The Magical Quill challenge?

We know that Harry Potter fans around the world are taking part in the challenge, so we will be varying the times that the clues are revealed. We can tell you that tomorrow’s clue (Day 6) will be released between 1:30pm and 4.00pm BST, and the final clue (Day 7) will be released between 12:30am and 3:00am BST on Saturday 6 August.

For your convenience, here is the current time BST.

Day 7: Here is a short time conversion for those in the US:

7:30-10:00pm (US Eastern)
6:30-9:00pm (US Central)
5:30-8:00pm (US Mountain)
4:30-7:00pm (US Pacific)

Some Possible Day 7 Clues

I think most people were expecting a question about horcruxes for the 6th book. Pottermore threw a bit of a curve by asking about number of chapters. (Maybe horcruxes was too tricky… a possibility we discussed in the Day 6 Hints comments thread).

The next book is Deathly Hallows (DH). And here are the most obvious numbers I can think of:

• How many Hallows comprise the “Deathly Hallows”?
• How many students lead Dumbledore’s Army in Harry’s absence?
• How many prisoners do Harry and Ron find held in the Malfoy Manor Cellar?
• In what chapter do we learn the truth about Severus Snape?
• How many years after the Battle of Hogwarts (or the death of Voldemort) does the Epilogue take place?
• Possibly too tricky: How many horcuxes do Harry and the Trio set out to find?
• Probably too difficult: How many people are in the party that arrive to escort Harry from Privet Drive to the Burrow?

Based on today’s clue (and the fact that the Grimmauld Place clue could also be solved just by looking in the ToC), I think we may well get another Table of Contents question… and I think it would be kind of nice if it’s the Snape question I mentioned above, since his backstory is one of the biggest reveals in the series.

But if they’re doing Table of Contents, the question could just as easily focus on one of the big Dumbledore backstory chapters – such as “The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore” or “King’s Cross.” Or we could get the chapter in which Ron destroys the Locket horcrux (“The Silver Doe” – which also happens to be the chapter in which Harry follows Snape’s Patronus). Actually, Pottermore could pick any one of many memorable chapters.

I think there’s a good chance, though, that our number will be the number of years to the Epilogue. The Epilogue is the final resolution. Plus, the number of Hallows just might be too easy (though that didn’t seem to stop Pottermore from asking the TriWizard question!).

If anyone else has additional suggestions for numbers to focus on, please share them in the Comments thread.

Based on the already-established pattern (7 books * number of days/chances remaining), once you have the solution to the clue, the number you will multiply by is 7… except, of course, in the extremely unlikely chance that Pottermore breaks the pattern!

For those who are still working at getting early access into Pottermore: Good luck on the Final Clue!

I do intend to live blog the Final Clue, so I’ll see you then.

Note about the Comments thread: If you’re new to the blog and have never commented before, there may be a small delay in getting your comment posted.

Pottermore: Clue #6 Is Up!

UPDATE 3: Day 6 registration has closed.

And it took about 2 hours to close this time. :) Just one more challenge to go…

UPDATE 2: The Quill is still up! There is still time!

UPDATE 1: What to do with the Magic Quill…

You will be redirected to Universal Orlando (where Harry Potter World is located). Music will play. You’ll see a promotional for the theme park. A map will ultimately come up.

Within that map, you will find the Magic Quill. Click on the Magic Quill and it will take you to the Congratulations page from where you can then register.

You can’t really miss the Magic Quill. It has a blue glow. :)

Day 6 clue:

Can you find The Magical Quill?

How many chapters are there in HARRY POTTER and the Half-Blood Prince?
Multiply this number by 14.

Here’s what you need to do once you’ve figured out the clue and multiplied by 14:

Put http://quill.pottermore.com/

in your address bar, put the number you’ve derived from multiplying the clue times 14 after the slash, and hit enter.

NOTE: This is NOT the Pottermore address. This is the Quill address. Copy and paste the Quill address into your browser address bar but DO NOT HIT ENTER BEFORE adding the solution after the slash at the end. Otherwise, you will end up on the Pottermore website.

DO HIT ENTER after you have put the solution at the end of the address (after the slash).

Once you hit enter, with the correct solution at the end of the Quill address, you will be taken to the  Magic Quill.

The Magic Quill will be on a 3rd party website. Do not panic when you see that you have been redirected.

I will go try the challenge myself right now (but not register), so that I can give you more information on what to do with the Magic Quill.

If you run into technical difficulties, TRY AGAIN!

Don’t have a book handy?

Here’s a good breakdown of HBP.

If you are still unsure of the answer, you might try the last page of Chamber of Secrets forum’s Pottermore thread. Or, as the Last Muggle suggests, you can use hp_batsignal on Twitter.

Feel free to use the Comments thread to let us know how it is going so that we can help you troubleshoot if you run into difficulties. Comments by folks new to the blog may be delayed a little bit, but I’ll work hard to release comments quickly from limbo. :)

GOOD LUCK!

Pottermore: Day 6 Hints

Well, there was a bit of trouble with the Magic Quill for a second day in a row! And yet, Pottermore Insider has chosen to post significant advance warning for the time windows in which Clues 6 and 7 will appear.

Day 6 and Day 7 Time Window

In the UK, the clues will arrive on Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning. In the Western Hemisphere, the clues will arrive on Friday morning and Friday night.

There is, I believe, a maximum of of 13.5 hours between the times the start time of each clue. So tomorrow is going to be a very big, and very hectic, day.

Questions I’ve been asked

Before we get on with possibilities for clues on Day 6, let me answer a few questions that I’ve paraphrased from the Comments section:

Q. Do you have inside information on the clue?

A. No. Aside from information that comes from the Pottermore Insider website, everything I say about clues is speculation.

Let me add: the reason I’m doing this is that I got in to Pottermore on Day 1, thanks to some great help from people on the Chamber of Secrets forum. I am just trying to return the favor out here on the Web and to help other people navigate the whole registration process for early access into Pottermore.

Q. What is the answer to the clue?(usually asked frantically, while the clue is live)

A. Even though I’m not giving answers personally (my job is to help people prepare for the clues and understand the process for getting in to the Beta test group at Pottermore), I do know some places you can go to get help with the clue.

One place you might look is in the Chamber of Secrets forum, on the last page of the Pottermore thread. It’s a good forum, with smart people who are willing to help out. The only drawback is that most of the people on Chamber of Secrets who want early Pottermore access have already successfully completed the challenge. So the traffic on the Pottermore thread seems to be dying down a bit.

But more help is on the way…

Here is a repeat posting here a helpful note that Jess (the Last Muggle) wrote in the comments to an earlier post:

I’ve been telling folks who are interested in registering and haven’t had success yet to follow hp_batsignal on Twitter and set it up for only those tweets to come to your phone. Today, I received a tweet with when the clue went live and a follow-up tweet with the answer.

That’s one way for fans to save themselves a sleepless night at the computer. :-)

Now, without further ado, here are my suggestions for…

Some Possible Day 6 Clues

The next book is Half-Blood Prince (HBP). But if the clues are going to remain super-easy – as they have for the past couple of days – then here are the most obvious numbers I can think of:

• At what age are students allowed to get their license to apparate?
• Into how many pieces does Tom Riddle intend to split his soul? (or, to word it another way… what is the number of horcruxes Riddle mentions in Slughorn’s untampered memory?)
• How many Death Eaters come through the Vanishing Cabinet into Hogwarts on the night Dumbledore is killed?
• What is the number of the chapter in which Snape kills Dumbledore?
• What is the number of the chapter for Dumbledore’s funeral?
• Probably too difficult: how many memories does Dumbledore share with Harry?

In one of the earlier rounds, you needed a chapter number, so I added the chapter number clues, just in case.

So, does anyone else have additional suggestions for numbers to focus on? If so, please share them in the Comments thread. Oh, and here’s a good breakdown to refresh your memory of HBP.

Based on the already-established pattern (7 books * number of days/chances remaining), once you have the solution to the clue, the number you will multiply by is 14… except, of course, in the unlikely chance that Pottermore breaks the pattern!

For those who are still working at getting early access into Pottermore: Good luck on the Day 6 Clue!

I do intend to live blog the 6th Clue. See you then.

Note about the Comments thread: If you’re new to the blog and have never commented before, there may be a small delay in getting your comment posted.

Pottermore Update: Clue #6 (and Clue #7) Time Windows Given

Well, Pottermore Insider has decided to go for broke on the last couple days of clues. Despite trouble with the Magic Quill during the past couple of days, they have already provided the time windows for Days 6 and 7 of the challenge:

UPDATED: So far, all the clues have appeared in the early hours of the morning in my time zone. Will this continue for the remainder of The Magical Quill challenge?

We know that Harry Potter fans around the world are taking part in the challenge, so we will be varying the times that the clues are revealed. We can tell you that tomorrow’s clue (Day 6) will be released between 1:30pm and 4.00pm BST, and the final clue (Day 7) will be released between 12:30am and 3:00am BST on Saturday 6 August.

For your convenience, here is the current time BST.

Day 6: Here is a short time conversion for those in the US:

8:30-11:00am (US Eastern)
7:30-10:00am (US Central)
6:30-9:00am (US Mountain)
5:30-8:00am (US Pacific)

Day 7: Here is a short time conversion for those in the US:

7:30-10:00pm (US Eastern)
6:30-9:00pm (US Central)
5:30-8:00pm (US Mountain)
4:30-7:00pm (US Pacific)

If I’m reading these times correctly, then this means that the final two challenges will take place in time windows starting 11 hours apart. For folks in the Western Hemisphere, this means that they will have two separate opportunities to get into Pottermore on Friday.

Registration times have lasted so far from 40-90 minutes. When you figure out the solution to the clue, you will need to type it into your browser address bar (after the slash in the following URL – http://quill.pottermore.com/ ) and hit Enter. This should redirect you to a 3rd party site, where you will be asked to do something with the Magic Quill.

You will also need to complete the registration process during the time that registration is open. Finding the Magic Quill is not enough. Fortunately, the registration process is pretty simple.

A little bit later, I will provide analysis of some possible clues for Day 6… or should I say Clue 6?

ETA: Need hints for Clue 7? Try the Day 7 Hints…

Pottermore: Clue #5 Is Up!

UPDATE 4: DAY 5 REGISTRATION IS CLOSED

Registration just closed a moment ago. It was open today for nearly 60 minutes. I hope you got through. If not, I’ll be providing more hints and tips for Clue #6.

Good luck everybody!

UPDATE 3 on Magic Quill:

The clue is still posted, so there is still time!

One thing to be aware of. You are NOT typing in the Pottermore address. You are typing in the address for the magic quill. I wrote this in the Comments thread and thought I’d post it here:

The address for the solution is

http://quill.pottermore.com/

NOT

http://www.pottermore.com

HOWEVER, be sure to put the solution after the slash in the Quill address before hitting ENTER. Otherwise, you will find yourself directed to the Pottermore website.

UPDATE 2 on Magic Quill:
I decided to try it again, after reading the Comments from people having trouble finding the Quill.

The clue is at the top of the page, in a small banner ad. You will hear music playing. You will see a bunch of quills floating by. You need to click on the Quill that has a blue light surrounding it. Once you have clicked on the quill, it will tell you Congratulations and give you a link to click on so that your journey into Pottermore can begin.

If you do not see the banner ad, it took a moment for it to start for me. When it started, I heard music. If nothing happens, turn off ad blockers.

The Clue is still up! So there is still time!

UPDATE on Magic Quill:

hp_batsignal Bat Signal
The clue should take you to Scholastic’s website. The Quill is in an ad at the very top of the page.

I’ve read that if you can’t see the quill, you should turn off your ad block.

If you are freaked out about being redirected to the Scholastic site, don’t be. This is where you need to go in order to click on the Magic Quill.

Day 5 clue

Can you find The Magical Quill?

What is the house number of the Headquarters for The Order of the Phoenix in Grimmauld Place?
Multiply this number by 21.

Here’s what you need to do once you’ve figured out the clue and multiplied by 21:

Put http://quill.pottermore.com/

in your address bar, put the number you’ve derived from multiplying the clue times 21 after the slash, and hit enter.

This will take you to the Magic Quill.

I will go try the challenge myself right now (but not register), so that I can give you more information on what to do with the Magic Quill.

Good luck with the challenge!

ETA:

There is overwhelming demand. I’m not going to work on this challenge in order not to take up bandwidth from people who need to get through. I will, however, go to a favorite fan forum though and see if I can give you additional information as it becomes available.

If you can’t get through, TRY AGAIN!

If you DO get through, please let us know in the Comments below what you had to do in order to fulfill the challenge.

Pottermore Update: Clue #5 Time Window

I know I’m a bit late on this, but just as soon as I saw the information on the Pottermore Insider, the lights went out! No worries, though. Just utilities doing routine maintenance in the neighborhood. But anyway, I’ve got Internet access again, so here’s the information you’ve been waiting for:

UPDATED: So far, all the clues have appeared in the early hours of the morning in my time zone. Will this continue for the remainder of The Magical Quill challenge?

We know that Harry Potter fans around the world are taking part in the challenge, so we will be varying the times that the clues are revealed. We can tell you that today’s clue (Day 5) will be released between 4.30pm and 8.00pm BST.

For your convenience, here is the current time BST.

Here is a short time conversion for those in the US:

11:30-3:00pm (US Eastern)
10:30-2:00pm (US Central)
9:30-1:00pm (US Mountain)
8:30-12:00pm (US Pacific)

Registration times have lasted so far from 40-90 minutes. When you figure out the solution to the clue, you will need to type it into your browser address bar (after the slash in the following URL – http://quill.pottermore.com/ ) and hit Enter. This should redirect you to a 3rd party site, where you will be asked to do something with the Magic Quill.

As we learned yesterday, if there are technical difficulties with the Magic Quill, the Pottermore Tech Team will redirect you to a “Congratulations” notice that will allow you to click the “Register now” button. But do not count on technical difficulties occurring! You will most likely need to do something with the Magic Quill before you are accepted as “Magical.”

You will also need to complete the registration process during the time that registration is open. Finding the Magic Quill is not enough. Fortunately, the registration process is pretty simple.

Remember that Clue 5 will involve Order of the Phoenix. It will involve a number. And if the pattern from previous rounds holds, (i.e., 7 books * number of days/chances remaining), you will need to multiply the number by 21… so be sure to have a calculator handy.

For complete details on the process, see this post on my own experience of getting in to the Pottermore Beta test group.

You might also check out the post called Day 5 Hints for speculation on good potential clues. Basically, I think you would do well to brush up on numbers concerning the year in which students take their O.W.L. exams, the street address of Order Headquarters, a certain infamous Educational Decree, the number of students who fly to the Department of Mysteries on thestrals, and the number of Order members in the old Order photograph.

The time window for Clue 5 opens 2 hours from the time of this post. For those braving the Day 5 challenge: Good luck with Clue 5 and with gaining early access to Pottermore. Now, let’s just hope we don’t have the technical difficulties we had yesterday!

Pottermore: Day 5 Hints

Well, it appears that we broke the Magic Quill this morning:

Q. I solved the clue for Day 4 but I couldn’t find The Magical Quill. What happened?

A. Due to huge demand today, not everyone who solved the Day 4 clue was able to find The Magical Quill. To ensure no one missed out on the chance to register for early access to Pottermore, we decided to direct people who successfully solved the clue straight to the Pottermore registration page, where they were able to register as normal.

In some ways, the breakage was to be expected. Pottermore gave us about 18.5 hours advance warning on when to expect the clue, and the time window was favorable to the Americas. It was like finally, folks in the Western Hemisphere did not have to get up in the middle of the night in order to get early access to Pottermore!

Now they know what happens when you let two densely-populated continents know too far in advance when to expect the clue. ;)

Day 5 Time Window

After what happened this morning, I did suspect that we would not see a specific time window for Day 5. And sure enough, this is as much as the Pottermore Insider will say about the timing for tomorrow’s clue:

Q. So far, all the clues have appeared in the early hours of the morning in my time zone. Will this continue for the remainder of The Magical Quill challenge?

A. We know that Harry Potter fans around the world are taking part in the challenge, so we will be varying the times that the clues are revealed.

So, it looks like we’re on our own again… which means that some of us (not me!) will probably be staying up all night next to the computer, hitting the refresh button every few minutes. However, I personally suspect that the next clue will come at a time when folks in North and South America don’t have to stay up all night.

The notice from Pottermore Insider indicates that they will be varying the times to accommodate different parts of the world. All the clues for Days 1-3 came at times when folks on my side of the world would normally be asleep. So I think they’ll provide more clues at times when the Western Hemisphere is awake… though I have no idea exactly when. :)

And don’t forget… I could be completely wrong! (though I was definitely right about that TriWizard Tournament clue! LOL)

Day 5 Clues

So, that brings us to the most important things for Day 5: What are some possible numbers to consider?

The next book is Order of the Phoenix (OotP)… and it is huge. OotP is the biggest book of the series, coming in at 870 pages of more densely packed (and smaller) print. This is why, I think, the clues are supposed to be getting easier.

So let’s think about some easy numbers from OotP:

• In what year do students take their O.W.L. exams?
• What’s the street number of Order of the Phoenix Headquarters?
• How many dementors attack Harry and his cousin Dudley in the alleyway in Little Whinging?
• What is the number of the Educational Decree banning all student organizations, societies, teams, groups, and clubs?
• How many students fly on thestrals to the Department of Mysteries to try to save Sirius?
• Probably too hard: How many members of the Order of the Phoenix arrive at Privet Drive to escort Harry to Order Headquarters?

Okay, aside from that last one, most of those are probably easy enough to be usable.

The street number for Order of the Phoenix Headquarters is in the title of one of the book’s chapters. So is the Educational Decree. The names of the students (and hence, the number) can be easily found in both the “Fight or Flight” and “Department of Mysteries” chapters, towards the end of the book.

So, does anyone else have suggestions for numbers to focus on? If so, please share them in the Comments thread. Oh, and here’s a good chapter-by-chapter breakdown to refresh your memory of OotP.

Based on the already-established pattern (7 books * number of days/chances remaining), once you have the solution to the clue, the number you will multiply by is 21… except, of course, in the unlikely chance that Pottermore breaks the pattern!

I will live blog the 5th Clue if it comes at a time when I’m at my computer.

For those who are still working at getting early access into Pottermore: Good luck on the Day 5 Clue!

Note about the Comments thread: If you’re new to the blog and have never commented before, there may be a small delay in getting your comment posted.

ETA:

Here is a note that Jess (the Last Muggle) wrote in the comments that might prove useful to people trying to get in to Pottermore:

I’ve been telling folks who are interested in registering and haven’t had success yet to follow hp_batsignal on Twitter and set it up for only those tweets to come to your phone. Today, I received a tweet with when the clue went live and a follow-up tweet with the answer.

That’s one way for fans to save themselves a sleepless night at the computer. :-)

In the comments, Scott asks:

Do you think they could also ask how many members are in OoP? original or
revived? I just thought of that possibility.

That’s a good question!

I would focus more on the photo of the members of the original Order of the Phoenix – (i.e., the photo that serves as inspiration for Dumbledore’s Army). I think it’s too difficult to find a precise count for the members of the revived Order, so I don’t think they’d use that. But yes, I do think the photo is a possibility.

Thanks for the suggestion!

ETA 2:

Additional clues suggested by readers:

Haley:
Some other numbers I thought of were the row number of the prophecy and number of members in Dumbledore’s Army.

Steph:
Another possible clue could be the number of members in DA.

More great suggestions! Thanks!!!

ETA 3:
Something interesting I just noticed: the number of members of Dumbledore’s Army and the number of named original members of the Order of the Phoenix is the same, assuming that we count Severus Snape as a member of the original Order after he turned spy.

But this is why I think it’s unlikely for the clue to ask for the number of members of the original Order. Some people might not think to count Snape.

If you’re looking for the photo of the original members of the Order, it’s in the chapter “The Woes of Mrs. Weasley.” I was looking in the wrong place (focusing on the Dumbledore’s Army chapters). :)

But as someone pointed out, if the clue is supposed to be really easy, it is likely to be the street number for Order HQ (i.e., where Sirius lives). I would also add that it could be the year students take their O.W.L. exams. Those seem to be the easiest numbers out there for OotP.

Good luck!

Pottermore: Day 4 Debrief… and Share Your Pottermore Username!

Wow. That was intense. :)

This is the first time I’ve blogged live during the registration period, and wouldn’t you know that the Magic Quill site would have technical difficulties?

Here’s what we learned today:

They weren’t kidding when they said the clues would start to get easier on Day 4!

• How many students take part in the Triwizard Tournament during Harry’s fourth year? It’s the same number as the Clue number! (My theory is that the reason they are making the clues easy is that now the books get so much longer).

The pattern of 7 books * number of days/chances remaining holds!

• As predicted, we needed to multiply by 28. This means that tomorrow’s number will almost certainly be 21.

Pottermore seems to be partnering with a limited number of third party sites.

• Today, we were supposed to be redirected to the Sony website (again), to click on the Magic Quill (again).

Pottermore does have a backup plan if something goes wrong with the Magic Quill.

• This is the best news of all. The Magic Quill didn’t work – just as email verification didn’t work very well on Day 1. But this time, the Pottermore team was on top of the situation and quickly started redirecting people who solved the clue to the Congratulations page so that they could register. The Pottermore Tech team even posted information about the problem about 15 minutes into the registration period. I wonder if we’ll learn more about this technical glitch on the Pottermore Insider website this afternoon.

Catching the Magic Quill is fun. But what people really want to do is get registered.  And the Pottermore Tech Team made that possible. So Kudos to them for quick thinking in a high-profile crisis management situation.

So… now that the Day 4 challenge is complete, let’s share some usernames in the Comments thread! I’ll go first. :)

Note about the Comments thread: If you’re new to the blog and have never commented before, there may be a small delay in getting your comment posted.

Pottermore: Clue #4 Is Up!

UPDATE:
Registration is closed.

Man! North and South America took only about 40 minutes to close down Registration. But congratulations to everybody who got in on Day 4. :)

UPDATE:
The Quill is apparently not loading. I entered the number again, and this time it directed me to a Pottermore page saying “Congratulations, You have found the Magic Quill.”

So basically: TRY AGAIN. If you get a page telling you that you found the Magic Quill, click on the “Register Now” button.

Additional info: If you do get to the Quill page (someone did and showed it to me), it’s the same as the first day’s challenge. You’ll see a bunch of brown quills floating by. You need to click on the magic quill (it’s pretty obvious which quill this is).

If you don’t get to the Quill page, you should just be redirected to the page congratulating you and allowing you to register.

Day 4 clue
Can you find The Magical Quill?

• How many students take part in the Triwizard Tournament during Harry’s fourth year?
  Multiply this number by 28.

I won’t give you the answer, but I will give you a clue: It’s one more than it should be.

Here’s what you need to do once you’ve figured out the clue and multiplied by 28:

Put http://quill.pottermore.com/

in your address bar, put the number you’ve derived from multiplying the clue times 28 after the slash, and hit enter.

This will take you to the Magic Quill.

I will go try the challenge myself right now (but not register), so that I can give you more information on what to do with the Magic Quill.

ETA:
This clue redirects to the Sony site. Apparently you need to find the Quill. I’m looking. If anybody has any hints, please add them to the Comments section.

Good luck!