These new additions JK Rowling is making to the Potterverse are becoming dependable, but it’s still fun to see a master toymaker tinker around with her inventions. As a Halloween treat to the nations, she’s written several new short stories for Pottermore, the official Harry Potter fansite. Thus far, her stories have focused on bit players, and today’s additions are no exception. Dolores Umbridge is, with all due respect to Voldemort, possibly Rowling’s most hateable creation, and in today’s exploration of Umbridge’s past (excerpted here) we learn that she is no misunderstood victim, just a genuinely unpleasant person—though she is certainly not exactly all she seems. Other stories focus on the awesome flying thestrals, the eccentric Sibyll Trelawney, the sinister Ministry of Magic and other Potter-y things. Happy Halloween …
