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Umm.... Does the Gryffindor welcome message seem a little... ostentatious to anyone else?[/FONT]

 

Fixed that for you. I want my fucking email dammit...

 

New welcome emails sent out within the last hour

 

So basically you posted this in an effort to gloat over me not receiving a second wave beta either? Fuck you.

 

Jump to conclussions much? Wound a little tight about this aren't you?

For the record, not that I think anybody really cares, I'm also still waiting on a welcome email.

 

Didn't get into Beta. Guess I'll have to wait for October...

 

So far the beta wave one and two have been sent out but really the content of the site takes about five hours max to go through and unless you like mindless Facebook like game version of making potions there isn't much else to do as of now. Those who get in later will have a better time of it because more of the information will be released and hopefully the dueling system will be up by then.

 

My sister got her Pottermore account today (lol, she wanted Ravenclaw too, like me) and she got Sorted into Hufflepuff. Here's their welcoming message:

Spoiler

Congratulations! I’m Prefect Gabriel Truman, and I’m delighted to welcome you to HUFFLEPUFF HOUSE. Our emblem is the badger, an animal that is often underestimated, because it lives quietly until attacked, but which, when provoked, can fight off animals much larger than itself, including wolves. Our house colours are yellow and black, and our common room lies one floor below the ground, on the same corridor as the kitchens.

Now, there are a few things you should know about Hufflepuff house. First of all, let’s deal with a perennial myth about the place, which is that we’re the least clever house. WRONG. Hufflepuff is certainly the least boastful house, but we’ve produced just as many brilliant witches and wizards as any other. Want proof? Look up Grogan Stump, one of the most popular Ministers for Magic of all time. He was a Hufflepuff – as were the successful Ministers Artemesia Lufkin and Dugald McPhail. Then there’s the world authority on magical creatures, Newt Scamander; Bridget Wenlock, the famous thirteenth-century Arithmancer who first discovered the magical properties of the number seven, and Hengist of Woodcroft, who founded the all-wizarding village of Hogsmeade, which lies very near Hogwarts School. Hufflepuffs all.

So, as you can see, we’ve produced more than our fair share of powerful, brilliant and daring witches and wizards, but, just because we don’t shout about it, we don’t get the credit we deserve. Ravenclaws, in particular, assume that any outstanding achiever must have come from their house. I got into big trouble during my third year for duelling a Ravenclaw prefect who insisted that Bridget Wenlock had come from his house, not mine. I should have got a week of detentions, but Professor Sprout let me off with a warning and a box of coconut ice.

Hufflepuffs are trustworthy and loyal. We don’t shoot our mouths off, but cross us at your peril; like our emblem, the badger, we will protect ourselves, our friends and our families against all-comers. Nobody intimidates us.

However, it’s true that Hufflepuff is a bit lacking in one area. We’ve produced the fewest Dark wizards of any house in this school. Of course, you’d expect Slytherin to churn out evil-doers, seeing as they’ve never heard of fair play and prefer cheating over hard work any day, but even Gryffindor (the house we get on best with) has produced a few dodgy characters.

What else do you need to know? Oh yes, the entrance to the common room is concealed in a stack of large barrels in a nook on the right hand side of the kitchen corridor. Tap the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, in the rhythm of ‘Helga Hufflepuff’, and the lid will swing open. We are the only house at Hogwarts that also has a repelling device for would-be intruders. If the wrong lid is tapped, or if the rhythm of the tapping is wrong, the illegal entrant is doused in vinegar.

You will hear other houses boast of their security arrangements, but it so happens that in more than a thousand years, the Hufflepuff common room and dormitories have never been seen by outsiders. Like badgers, we know exactly how to lie low – and how to defend ourselves.

Once you’ve opened the barrel, crawl inside and along the passageway behind it, and you will emerge into the cosiest common room of them all. It is round and earthy and low-ceilinged; it always feels sunny, and its circular windows have a view of rippling grass and dandelions.

There is a lot of burnished copper about the place, and many plants, which either hang from the ceiling or sit on the windowsills. Our Head of house, Professor Pomona Sprout, is Head of Herbology, and she brings the most interesting specimens (some of which dance and talk) to decorate our room – one reason why Hufflepuffs are often very good at Herbology. Our overstuffed sofas and chairs are upholstered in yellow and black, and our dormitories are reached through round doors in the walls of the common room. Copper lamps cast a warm light over our four-posters, all of which are covered in patchwork quilts, and copper bed warmers hang on the walls, should you have cold feet.

Our house ghost is the friendliest of them all: the Fat Friar. You’ll recognise him easily enough; he’s plump and wears monk’s robes, and he’s very helpful if you get lost or are in any kind of trouble.

I think that’s nearly everything. I must say, I hope some of you are good Quidditch players. Hufflepuff hasn’t done as well as I’d like in the Quidditch tournament lately.

You should sleep comfortably. We’re protected from storms and wind down in our dormitories; we never have the disturbed nights those in the towers sometimes experience.

And once again: congratulations on becoming a member of the friendliest, most decent and most tenacious house of them all.

 

Apparently they have sent out more mails. The twitter account will be updated whenever that happens. Wtb mail.

http://twitter.com/#!/pottermore

 

Here's a transcript of Ollivander's description of several types of magical wood. It doesn't cover all wand types, but is pretty interesting none the less. It's actually my favorite addition to canon at the moment. It not only shows some odd characteristics of some of the woodtypes (like Dogwood wanting playful owners), but also gives a little more insight in the loyalty of wands.

For example, Elder wands will only stay loyal to those that continuously conquer their opponents, Blackthorn becomes extremely loyal to those that carried it through battle and Laurel can easily be won from lazy wizards, but might actually defend itself from being stolen if it's truly loyal.

 

Daym prepz alwayz tryin' 2 keep us goffix down!

 

Cedar: Wand of choice for physicists everywhere.

 

So... all the house introductions I've seen here so far seem just like crappy fanfiction... Not too impressed, to be honest.

 

Lucky gal. Hufflepuffs grow the best weed.

 

Actually, Hufflepuffs like to smoke the Longbottom Leaf. Neville grows it and Hufflepuffs toke it.

 

I think it's just us.

If I was an asshole, I'd be gloating right now.

 

Nope, I still haven't gotten mine yet, though one is promised.

 

If you were an asshole, you'd be in Gryffindor right now.

Oh wait-

I'm curious how they pick their beta members though. A lot of us signed up on the first day after all.

Of course I wouldn't give a damn if I'd got my mail already.

 

So, Hufflepuffs are

Spoiler

Hobbits?

What's the deal with

Spoiler

it being both "low-ceilinged" and yet it still "feels sunny"?

And if the common room

Spoiler

"lies one floor below the ground" then the windows which "have a view of rippling grass and dandelions" are obviously an illusion.

Now, we've learned that

Spoiler

Voldemort making seven Horcruxes is the fault of a fucking Hufflepuff.

And the line

Spoiler

"barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row"

doesn't make much sense to me.

And

Spoiler

Dugald McPhail?

Really??

One more thing:

Spoiler

I generally hate spoiler tags

't'would be funny if Pers (were he to join Pottermore) really did get a cedar wand.