In anticipation of the upcoming movie "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," J.K. Rowling has been revealing new and exciting information about the wizarding world in America.

The only problem? There's a fairly huge plot hole in her latest stories that Rowling has ignored.

In the third installment of her "Magic in North America" series on "Harry Potter" fansite Pottermore, Rowling explained that wizards in America live in great fear of being discovered by No-Majs, people without any magical abilities or "Muggles" as they're known in the UK.

The magical community is underground in the United States and because of a wizarding rule called Rappaport's Law, witches and wizards are expressly forbidden from marrying — and even befriending — No-Majs.  

While the law sounds strict, it seems like it has the best interest of the wizarding community in mind. It was enacted after a near-miss with an evil No-Maj named Bartholomew Barebone who tried, and nearly succeeded in, bringing an end to all things magical in America. 

We just have one question for Rowling: Are No-Maj-born magical children allowed to tell their parents that they're wizards and witches, or must they keep it a secret?

In the "Harry Potter" series, characters like Lily Evans Potter and Hermione Granger were both born to Muggle parents who knew about their magical powers. Petunia Dursley, Lily's sister, even said her parents were "proud" to have a witch in the family. 

But that was in the United Kingdom, where the Muggle and wizarding communties interact more regularly, according to Rowling. What about in America, where wizards avoid being discovered by No-Majs at all costs? 

We do at least know No-Maj-born wizards and witches exist in America. In the final story from "Magic in North America," Rowling introduces a wandmaker named Johannes Jonker, who she describes as "a Muggle-born wizard whose No-Maj father was an accomplished cabinet maker."

Setting aside the confusing fact that Rowling uses both "Muggle" and "No-Maj" to describe non-magical people, we're left wondering whether or not Jonker was allowed to tell his No-Maj dad about his magic.

We'll be waiting for an answer. Until then, learn all about the American wizarding world here.

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"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child"— a new play from J.K. Rowling featuring the characters of "Harry Potter" 19 years after the events of the books took place — premieres in London on June 7. Ahead of the theatrical debut, a series of portraits by Charlie Gray have been released. 

Fans have already seen the new versions of Harry, Ginny, and little Albus, and now we just got our first look at Ron, Hermione, and their daughter, Rose, as they will appear onstage. 

Paul Thornley will be playing Ron Weasley, Harry's best friend and notorious comic relief in the series. 

"It's 19 years later when the play begins," Thornley explained in a Pottermore interview. "Ron is married to Hermione Granger and they're now the Granger-Weasleys. Our magnificent daughter Rose Granger-Weasley is about to start at Hogwarts, which is obviously a big day for everyone."

Hermione Granger will be played by award-winning actress Noma Dumezweni. 

Dumezweni has stepped into the role of Hermione seamlessly. "Being in full costume for the first time was stunning, because I went, 'Ahhh there you are,'" she said in a Pottermore interview.

Last but not least, their daughter Rose will be portrayed by Cherrelle Skeete. 

"I can’t think about how big [the play is] or I’ll just faint," Skeete told Pottermore. "Putting on my uniform, ready to go to Hogwarts, and seeing everyone else in their uniform was exciting. I’ve been looking at it every day in the wardrobe department, waiting for the day I can get on the Hogwarts Express."

Author J.K. Rowling gave fans a bit more information about Rose and her characteristics. "Rose is like her mother, but more secure, more grounded," she told Pottermore. "She was born to wizards and knows her place in the world. Cherrelle plays her perfectly: bossy but deeply loveable."

Read more about Ron, Hermione, and Rose on Pottermore, and for more information about "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" head to the play's website.

According to the Pottermore announcement, a third and final set of images from the play's cast will be released tomorrow. Stay tuned and follow along with our coverage on Tech Insider.

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Turns out, Ron Weasley isn't a Gryffindor. 

Rupert Grint, the actor who played Harry Potter's best friend for 10 years in the film franchise, was sorted along with a few of his costars into their real houses via a video for Pottermore, J.K. Rowling's website for fans to further their "Harry Potter" love.

For fans, the Sorting Hat quiz is of utmost importance. It either confirms your intellect and places you in Ravenclaw or puts you with the badgers in Hufflepuff.

After completing Pottermore's rigorous and personal quiz, Grint was sorted into Hufflepuff.

 Bonnie Wright, who played Ginny Weasley, carried on the Weasley legacy and is truly a Gryffindor.

Sporting sideburns and a mustache, Matthew Lewis, who played Neville Longbottom, grimaced as he was placed into Hufflepuff and then tried to pretend he wasn't devastated. What is a Hufflepuff, anyway? 

Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood, reacted in the way that a true fan would when she was sorted into Gryffindor.

Watch the full video here:

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At this point, everybody knows which house they would belong to at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Ravenclaw represent!), but now you can take a quiz to find out where you'd go if you were an American wizard. 

Pottermore, the site where author J.K. Rowling reveals new information about the beloved "Harry Potter" universe and shares new content, has been updated with a bevy of new details about Ilvermory, the American Wizarding School set to appear in the upcoming movie "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."

Registered users can take an official quiz to learn where they would be sorted. The houses are:

Horned Serpent

Horned Serpent, which favors scholars, was founded by the Irish witch Isolt Sayre, who also founded Ilvermory. She is said to have felt a kinship with the mythical creature.

Wampus

Wampus, which favors warriors, was founded by one of her adopted sons, Webster Boot. He is described as having been “argumentative but fiercely loyal.” Sounds like a little like Gryffindor

Thunderbird

Thunderbird, the house that favors adventurers, was founded by Webster's brother, Chadwick Boot. According to Pottermore, he was “intelligent but often temperamental.” 

Pukwudgie

Pukwudgie was founded by James Steward, who was a No-Maj (the American term for Muggle). He was the boys' adoptive father, and chose the Pukwudgie for his house sigil because he was inspired by funny stories Isolt had told him about the time that she had lived with one.

All of the houses are named after creatures from Native American myth, which could, potentially, be a little concerning, as Rowling has been criticized for appropriating the culture. 

You can take the quiz for yourself here.

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Since JK Rowling revealed yesterday that there are four different houses for Ilvermorny, the American wizarding school, some fans have been upset.

They've drawn an equivalence between the Ilvermorny houses (Thunderbird, Pukwudgie, Wampus, and Horned Serpent) and the Hogwarts houses (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw).

And since you can get sorted into a house on Pottermore, some fans are understandably upset that they got sorted into "the American Hufflepuff."

But according to Rowling, "there is no equivalence between Hogwarts and Ilvermorny houses." So there's no need to be upset you were sorted into the American Hufflepuff, because "American Hufflepuff" is a false concept. Hufflepuff is part of Hogwarts, and Hogwarts and Ilvermorny are two different places, even if Ilvermorny was modeled after the British school for witchcraft and wizardry.

It makes sense. The traits for the Ilvermorny houses and the Hogwarts houses don't really match up.

I, for example, was sorted into Slytherin back in the day, which means I'm "cunning, ambitious, resourceful, shrewd, determined." But I was also sorted into Ilvermorny's Pukwudgie, which "represents the heart" and "favours healers." Whatever that means, it doesn't sound very Slytherin-y.

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Well, it’s official.

We finally know the four house names of America's version of Hogwarts.

Tuesday, Harry Potter site Pottermore revealed the names of the houses that belong to Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. Are you ready?

Horned Serpent, Pukwudgie, Thunderbird, and Wampus.

Wampus! Really.

As a reminder, these are the four equivalent houses of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that were introduced to readers in the book series: Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffindor.

Here's what each of the new names signify, according to Pottermore:

• Horned Serpent – a 'great horned river serpent with a jewel set into its forehead'
• Pukwudgie – 'a short, grey-faced, large-eared creature'
• Thunderbird – a creature that 'can create storms as it flies'
• Wampus – 'a magical, panther-like creature that is fast, strong and almost impossible to kill'

Okay, maybe a Wampus doesn't sound so bad.

As to how these relate to the Hogwarts houses, a bit more information can be found in J.K. Rowling's history of Ilvermorny:

It is sometimes said of the Ilvermorny houses that they represent the whole witch or wizard: the mind is represented by Horned Serpent; the body, Wampus; the heart, Pukwudgie and the soul, Thunderbird. Others say that Horned Serpent favours scholars, Wampus, warriors, Pukwudgie, healers and Thunderbird, adventurers.

Fans of the series weren't too surprised by the new names. They were more of a confirmation of what many had already thought may be the four names of Ilvermorny. The four names originally leaked online back in early May after a software engine said he found some code on the site hinting toward the four Ilvermorny house names. That same source code was removed two weeks later.

As a longtime Potterhead, maybe this is just a gut reaction, but the new names seem a little less inspired and don't seem to capture the same magic and wonder as the original ones. While a thunderbird is a mythological creature, it automatically makes me think of a Pokémon or Mozilla software. Of course, there's also the car.

Horned Serpent sounds like the first draft of Slytherin house and pukwudgie sounds like a toy the tweens are fawning over. 

Maybe these new house names will grow on me over time. What do you think of them?

Check out the announcement video below: 

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JK Rowling just published 5,336 words about Ilvermorny, the North American wizarding school, on Pottermore.

For those not in the know, Ilvermorny is the American counterpart to Hogwarts. It was founded by a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, one of Hogwarts' founders. Like Hogwarts, Ilvermorny has four houses: Horned Serpent, Pukwudgie, Thunderbird, and Wampus. Rowling's update tells the story of Ilvermorny's founder and how she met the creatures that gave Ilvermorny's houses their names.

The background information is presumably important to "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Finding," JK Rowling's new movie, to be released November 18.

Here are the most important things we learned, and how they fit into the story.

1. Isolt Sayre founded Ilvermorny.

Isolt was witch who came to America from Europe in 1620 disguised as a muggle (or "no-maj" in the American parlance) boy named Elias Story on the Mayflower. Isolt was fleeing her aunt, Gormlaith Gaunt, who kept Isolt under a dark curse and refused to let her attend Hogwarts.

2. Isolt befriended an intelligent magical creature called a Pukwudgie.

Isolt met two magical creatures in America: The Hidebehind, a nocturnal creature that preys on humans and is able to disguise itself, and the Pukwudgie, a tricky "short, grey-faced, large-eared creature distantly related to the European goblin." Isolt named her new Pukwudgie friend "William."

3. A "great horned river serpent" is also essential to the story.

Since Isolt was a descendent of Salazar Slytherin, she was also a parseltongue, which means she could talk to snakes. She met a "great horned river serpent with a jewel set into its forehead" living in a nearby creek, Rowling writes. Behind William's back, the two become friends.

4. Isolt marries a no-maj.

In the next part of the story, Isolt ditches William and meets Chadwick and Webster, two wizard boys whom she saves from a Hidebehind. She also falls in love with and marries a no-maj named James Steward.

Over the years, the four become a family. They found a school and call it "Ilvermorny," after the cottage where Isolt was born.

5. Ilvermorny is modeled after Hogwarts, which Isolt wasn't able to attend.

Isolt and the crew give Ilvermorny four houses. Each person decided to model their house on an American magical creature:

"For Chadwick, an intelligent but often temperamental boy, it was the Thunderbird that can create storms as it flies. For argumentative but fiercely loyal Webster, it was the Wampus, a magical panther-like creature that was fast, strong and almost impossible to kill. For Isolt, it was, of course, the Horned Serpent that she still visited and with which she felt a strange sense of kinship.

When asked what his favourite creature was, James was at a loss. The only No-Maj in the family was unable to consort with the magical creatures the others had begun to know well. Finally, he named the Pukwudgie, because the stories his wife told of curmudgeonly William always made him laugh."

6. Isolt's evil, pure-blood-obsessed aunt tries to kill her.

By 1634, the America magical community grows substantially. Gormlaith — Isolt's evil aunt — hears news of Ilvermorny from across the ocean. She comes to America to kill everyone and steal Isolt's children.

7. William saves the day.

After Gormlaith corners Isolt — in a scene that's remarkably similar to when Voldemort killed Harry Potter's parents and tried to kill Harry himself — William, the Pukwudgie, appears. He shoots an arrow at Gormlaith and kills her. Then he becomes a security guard for Ilvermorny.

8. Isolt and James live happily ever after.

By the nineteenth century, the school gains international renown. Isolt and James were joint Headmaster and Headmistress. The woman who wasn't able to attend Hogwarts started her own school of witchcraft and wizardry.

9. The house-sorting process at Ilvermorny is nothing like it is at Hogwarts.

At Hogwarts, a magical sorting hat decides everyone's houses, taking the individual student's desires into account. At Ilvermorny, it works like this:

"While the rest of the school watches from the circular balcony overhead, new students file into the round entrance hall. They stand around the walls and, one by one, are called to stand on the symbol of the Gordian Knot set into the middle of the stone floor. In silence the school then waits for the enchanted carvings to react. If the Horned Serpent wants the student, the crystal set into its forehead will light up. If the Wampus wants the student, it roars. The Thunderbird signifies its approval by beating its wings, and the Pukwudgie will raise its arrow into the air.

Should more than one carving signify its wish to include the student in its house, the choice rests with the student. Very rarely – perhaps once a decade – a student is offered a place in all four houses. Seraphina Picquery, President of MACUSA 1920 - 1928, was the only witch of her generation so honoured, and she chose Horned Serpent." 

10. There's also a mysterious magical creature who might be centuries old.

He responds to "William," but he may not be the story's original William (he probably is): "He laughs at the idea that he is the original William who saved Isolt and James’s lives, rightly pointing out that the first William would be over 300 years old had he survived. However, nobody has ever found out exactly how long Pukwudgies live. William refuses to let anybody else polish the marble statue of Isolt at the entrance of the school, and on the anniversary of her death every year he may be seen laying mayflowers on her tomb."

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There's a lot to chew on from JK Rowling's new short story about Ilvermorny, the American wizarding school, but one thing stands out as a weird mystery.

Near the end of the story, Rowling writes about what happens to Salazar Slytherin's wand. Isolt, the story's main character, is a descendant of Slytherin, who is also one of the founders of Hogwarts. The wand is a family heirloom and Isolt steals it when she escapes her evil aunt in Europe to live in America.

Isolt's aunt eventually pursues her and "deactivates" the wand by speaking Parseltongue, the language of snakes. The wand is imbued with the horn of a basilisk, a type of magical snake, so it apparently takes Parseltongue commands.

What happens to the wand after that? Rowling gives it a curious epilogue in two paragraphs under the heading "Slytherin’s Legacy":

Slytherin’s wand remained inactive following Gormlaith’s command in Parseltongue. Isolt could not speak the language, but, in any case, she no longer wanted to touch the wand that was the last relic of her unhappy childhood. She and James buried it outside the grounds.

Within a year an unknown species of snakewood tree had grown out of the earth on the spot where the wand was buried. It resisted all attempts to prune or kill it, but after several years the leaves were found to contain powerful medicinal properties. This tree seemed testament to the fact that Slytherin’s wand, like his scattered descendants, encompassed both noble and ignoble. The very best of him seemed to have migrated to America. 

This is weird.

So the wand of Salazar Slytherin, one of the most powerful wizards of all time, turns into a tree? This raises a lot of questions:

1. Is the wand still intact, or is it usable? If you dig underneath the tree, will the wand still be there? Or has it entirely turned into a tree?
2. The basilisk is famously deadly: it instantly kills anyone who looks into its eyes and its venom is nearly incurable. What possible medicinal properties can come from the tree? Would they counteract basilisk venom?
3. Ilvermorny's Pukwudgie house is known to "favour healers," but not a lot about that is known just yet. Are the medicinal properties of the tree related to the Pukwudgie house?
4. What would happen if someone spoke Parseltongue to the tree?
5. When the story ends, all the Parseltongue speakers, as far as we know, are in Europe. Will "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," which takes place about 300 years later, introduce another Parseltongue speaker to America, who will find out if the tree responds to Parseltongue?
6. Hogwarts also has an iconic tree on its grounds: the Whomping Willow. Is this a trend among all magical school campuses?
7. A tree figures prominently in Ilvermorny's iconography, according to a Pottermore video. Is it the same tree as the Slytherin one?

It's strange. The very existence of the tree suggests unfinished business. There are just too many questions surrounding it. And, unlike much of the rest of the story, the fate of this particular element doesn't close quite neatly.

Rowling says the tree is Slytherin's "legacy"— that he had elements of both evil and good, and the tree embodies that. She concludes with the same lesson by the end of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," where Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape turn out to be morally complicated characters.

The story overall also serves as a precursor to "Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them," the movie about an English wizard in America, due for release in November and set around 300 years after the Ilvermorny story.

So will Newt Scamander, the star of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," visit Slytherin's tree? With his knowledge of magical animals, will he be able to figure out how the basilisk plays into this?

Hopefully, we'll find out in November.

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When JK Rowling published "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in the summer of 2007, it was the end of an era. For Harry Potter fans, there were a few movies left to look forward to, and then it looked like the deep well of the Harry Potter universe was about to run dry.

Fortunately, Rowling had a solution of her sleeve: a spin-off.

In November, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" will be released. It's the first in a trilogy of movies, and Rowling wrote the screenplay herself, unlike with the "Harry Potter" movies.

The story will center on Newt Scamander, a magizoologist who comes to New York. But Rowling isn't just telling the story with the movies, she's taking advantage of her formidable Twitter feed and of Pottermore to tell the story of American wizardry.

The most important thing Rowling did was to set the story in 1926 and in New York.

With this approach, Rowling nailed how to do the perfect spinoff: change the setting and focus on new characters. That way, the rich world of Harry Potter still exists. But Harry Potter himself— nor, for that matter, most of the other characters in the series — can show up to distract us.

To be sure, some characters might show up. Albus Dumbledore, for example, was born in 1881. He's like the oldest person ever, so he can very well show up in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." He was even Scamander's Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts before Scamander was expelled. But even though Michael Gambon, who played Dumbledore in most of the films, wants to be in the "Fantastic Beasts" movies, Rowling hasn't said anything about him showing up.

The connections between the original "Harry Potter" series and the American magical world still explicitly exist, though, and that's what makes it fun.

"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" is a textbook Harry uses in his Care of Magical Creatures class in his third year at Hogwarts, taught by Hagrid. The author of that textbook is: Newt Scamander.

Rowling published the book herself in 2001. It's an encyclopedia and guidebook about magical animals.

She a similar approach for her new short story about the history of Ilvermorny, the American wizarding school.

For years, Rowling released new information on Pottermore, a site she launched in 2011 that contained new information about her magical world, with more details about the characters we already knew.

But the story was over. Pottermore was originally like an encyclopedia, not a narrative. The details were interesting, but not gripping.

That's why the new story about Ilvermorny works so well: it's a story.

And the story clearly takes place in the same universe as the rest of the Harry Potter series. Some of the same names referenced in the Harry Potter series even take a role here, like Salazar Slytherin and the Gaunt family.

But instead of being set in the late 1900s like the original Harry Potter series, it takes place in the early 1600s. And like "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," it's set in America, not Britain.

Rowling is taking all the trivia and minutia she's had in her head and turned it into a narrative. But instead of using the same time and place as the original series, they're elsewhere. As fans, we'll be able to draw the connections between the original story and these new ones ourselves. Isn't that exciting?

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It's official — Pottermania is back.

The "Harry Potter" spinoff "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" is due at the box office this fall. The JK Rowling-approved play "The Cursed Child" opened in London Saturday to glowing reviews. Then the production's script hit shelves today — sparking record numbers of pre-orders in the US.

But then again, passion for this magical franchise never really went away, largely thanks to Pottermore. With former Sony exec CEO Susan Jurevics at the helm, the official "Harry Potter" site's dedication has kept the franchise's flame burning as brightly as the Goblet of Fire.

Everything little thing this exec does is magic — literally. That's why we're delighted she will be speaking at Business Insider's IGNITION conference in December about how to keep your audience enchanted.

Jurevics definitely has the magic touch when it comes to keeping "Harry Potter" fans engaged. Under her leadership, the website has garned some truly supernatural traffic lately. Big successes have included the staggered release of new stories about beloved characters and a new, monster hit quiz that sorted fans into the houses of America's recently revealed wizarding school.

That's why we can't wait to fall under Jurevics's spell this December.

Other IGNITION speakers include Airbnb cofounder Nathan Blecharczyk, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch, and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes. IGNITION takes place December 5-7 at the Time Warner Center in New York City.

Act now – early-bird tickets are available for a limited time!

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We're getting even more books in the "Harry Potter" universe! Pottermore, the site where J.K. Rowling writes additional information about all things related to the series, will be releasing three new e-books centered around the expanded "Potter" universe.

The e-books will have brand new, J.K. Rowling-written material as well as compile older information that already exists on Pottermore. They're organized by topic.

Here they are, from the press release:

• Short Stories from Hogwarts: Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists — This collection features exclusive new writing about Horace Slughorn, Harry Potter’s portly Potions Master together with writing published on pottermore.com. It also includes writing about other important characters like Dolores Umbridge and Quirinus Quirrell. The stories are linked by themes of temptation, power, mischief and villainy, and provide a window into the darker side of the wizarding world.
• Short Stories from Hogwarts: Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies— These stories profile two of the Harry Potter stories’ most courageous and iconic characters: Minerva McGonagall and Remus Lupin. It also offers never-before-published writing by J.K. Rowling about Professor McGonagall’s role in the second wizarding war together with writing featured on pottermore.com.
• Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide— Entries are focused on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a place of almost boundless mystery and magic. Readers will venture to the Hogwarts grounds, become better acquainted with its more permanent residents, discover its secrets, its hidden rooms and corridors… all at the turn of a page.

It looks like we're getting a substantial amount of new material in addition to preexisting Pottermore content. Rowling previously wrote a long backstory for Professor McGonagall on Pottermore, for example, but now we're going to learn more about her involvement in the second wizarding war. We'll also learn new information about Professor Slughorn, who always seemed like he was hiding something, and Silvanus Kettleburn, a Hogwarts Care of Magical Creatures professor.

The e-books, curated by Pottermore's editorial team, will be available in less than a month, on September 6. They'll each be about 10,000 words long, which makes them more convenient to read than jumping around on the Pottermore website.

Pottermore's press release also says that these are the "first three titles" they're publishing, which means they might be planning even more in the future.

The books' covers are designed by MinaLima, the London-based graphic design firm that designs everything in the "Harry Potter" movies, including the upcoming "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." We've interviewed them extensively at INSIDER and written about how they spent six month designing everything in Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, made the Marauder's Map, the Black Family tapestry, and the cover for a book inside the "Harry Potter" universe: "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore."

These three new books further cement 2016 as the year of Harry Potter. "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," Rowling's play about what happens 19 years after the events of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," is on stage in London now and was released last month in book form.

This November, we're getting "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," which is set a few decades before the original series and in the United States and was written by Rowling herself. 

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J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" universe has come a long way since "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was released way back in 1997.

Right now, there are ten books, eight movies, and one play (also published as a book) — and it's getting even more complicated.

By the end of 2016, we'll have four new books and a movie. There's also been a steady stream of new stories coming out of Pottermore.

To help you out, here's a handy guide to all the material in the Harry Potter universe. The release years are included to give you an idea of how everything unfolded.

Over the next several years, we'll be getting a new trilogy of movies centered around J.K. Rowling's expanded "Harry Potter" wizarding world.

Five years after the debut of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," a trilogy of movies centered around Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), the author of the "Fantastic Beasts" book from the original Harry Potter series is on its way.

 The films will kick off November 18 with "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." The movie will follow Scamander as he arrives in New York City in 1926 with a briefcase full of magical creatures. Things go awry when some of them go amok in the Big Apple.

The film's two untitled sequels are currently set for 2018 and 2020 releases.

A stage play following the events of the last "Harry Potter" book debuted in London July 31.

"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," which can be watched over the course of two days or one long day, opened July 31 at London's West End.

The play takes place 19 years after the events of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" and is centered around the sons of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, Albus Severus and Scorpius, respectively as they learn an important lesson about the dangers of time travel. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and more characters from the original series are in the play, too, but it's all new actors who play the roles of the beloved characters.

You can read more about the play's plot here.

A few new books and stories are also joining the "Harry Potter" universe. This summer we received "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."

In addition to the stage play in London, the script of the play, referred to as a "Special Rehearsal Edition," written by Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany was released in stores July 31, 2016.

A "Definitive Edition" with more stage direction is set for release in early 2017.

Since J.K. Rowling wrapped up "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in 2007, she hasn't let the series go.

And though many of her fans wish she’d just leave the series alone, Rowling’s frequent tinkering with the “Harry Potter” universe is only making it better.

Just months after the final book was released, she told us that Albus Dumbledore was gay. It sent tremors across the fanverse. We knew that J.K. Rowling had untold piles of notes and ideas about every goblin and ghost in the "Harry Potter" universe, but could she still reveal things from — or add things to — the canon once the series was over?

It was just the beginning.

Next came Pottermore, a sort of interactive web game that also fulfilled the rumor that Rowling would release an encyclopedia of everything in the "Harry Potter" universe. Since then, Pottermore has grown, turning into a hub for additional Rowling-written material. It has everything from tiny details, to in-depth profiles of characters with fresh backstories, to a whole new short story about American wizardry that raises even more questionsabout the magical universe. This September, Rowling will even publish three "Pottermore Presents" ebooks, collecting the site's information and adding new stories.

After Pottermore, the floodgates were open. Rowling co-created a play, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," about what happens 19 years after the end of the original series and debuted on Harry's birthday, July 31, 2016. A lot of "Harry Potter" fans don't like it.

She's also writing a trilogy of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" screenplays about the adventures of Newt Scamander, a minor character in the "Harry Potter" series. The first movie comes out in November. 

And then there's her Twitter account, where she tells us even more trivia, like that Anthony Goldstein is a Jewish wizard. Okay!

The deluge of new information has exhausted people. Telling J.K. Rowling to shut up is a subgenre of the think piece now. The Atlantic, Slate, the New York Post, the Boston Globe, Time, the Sydney Morning Herald, Elle, and thousands of people have asked Rowling to please just give it a rest.

I used to agree. I know a lot of random Harry Potter trivia, and I'm proud of it. But Rowling's additional information became mildly annoying. If I don't care that Hesphaestus Gore's tenure as the Minister for Magic between 1752 and 1770 has a mixed record among magical historians, am I not a true Harry Potter fan?

But who are we to criticize J.K. Rowling for doing what she loves? It's literally her world — she created everything form Harry to Hogwarts. She can do whatever she wants. Rowling's former Twitter cover image says it best.

And once you've mastered the original material and talked about it to death, it's fun to get new information. It repositions aspects of the original series. Now that we know Dumbledore is gay, his friendship with Gellert Grindelwald is totally different. And knowing that a descendant of Salazar Slytherin escaped to America and started a new wizarding school further complicates the Slytherin legacy.

The way Rowling reveals the information also makes it fun. It unfolds kind of like the news cycle, in bits and pieces that dominate a certain sector of cultural conversation. The "Harry Potter" universe is just so comprehensive, it's almost like we're getting news reports. It's a fun distraction to take part in that conversation instead of discussing whatever Donald Trump just tweeted.

As we've found out, all of Rowling's trivia has become a bridge to bigger, newer projects. I enjoy her "Cormoran Strike" novels, which she writes under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, but they aren't as fun as her magical world. If years of tweeting about who she regrets killing at the Battle of Hogwarts is a way of keeping "Harry Potter" fans engaged until she comes out with a grand and enchanting "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" movie, then it will have all been worth it.

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Pottermore just released three new ebooks with new information about the "Harry Potter" universe.

Under the "Pottermore Presents" banner, these new books are mostly filled with entries and information that we've seen before on the site — but there are some interesting new nuggets.

Here are the most important things we learned about the "Harry Potter" universe from "Short Stories From Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies," "Short Stories From Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists," and "Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide."

McGonagall didn't join the Order of the Phoenix at first because she was spying for the Ministry of Magic.

While we know in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" that Minerva McGonagall was new to the Order, we didn't know why she didn't join during Voldemort's first rise to power.

"Short Stories From Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies" reveals that McGonagall was a spy for the Ministry of Magic during that time. Though she was a teacher at Hogwarts, she previously worked at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and it looks like they called in a favor and had her use her Animagus powers to transform into a cat, collect information about Voldemort's followers, and bring that information to the Ministry's Aurors.

The Ministry saw the Order as a renegade outfit — ministers were still cagey about Dumbledore possibly wanting their job — so it wouldn't be possible for McGonagall to work for both the Ministry and the Order.

Death Eaters killed Professor McGonagall's first love.

During Lord Voldemort's first attempt to take over the world, Death Eaters went on random anti-Muggle killing sprees. During one of these sprees, they killed McGonagall's first love, Dougal McGregor.

McGonagall never married him because she knew it would be difficult for them to have a life together: she was a witch, he was a muggle looking forward to inheriting his dad's farm. But after his death, she wondered if she could have saved him if she married him.

After the Battle of Hogwarts, McGonagall appeared on chocolate frog cards.

Appearing on chocolate frog cards is a fairly big deal in the wizarding world. The cards are collectible items and show history's greatest wizards and their accomplishments.

"Harry Potter" fans know that discovering your Patronus is one of the most personal moments of magic a wizard can experience. A Patronus — specifically a corporeal Patronus — is a sort of guardian animal charm. Made of pure light and happiness, the Patronus will guard its creator from Dementors and drive the evil creatures away. 

Now even us non-magic folk can discover what our Patronus would be in the wizarding world. On September 22, a new quiz went live on "Harry Potter" site Pottermore that allows users with an account to find out which animal most suits them.

After signing in on Pottermore, fans are asked a series of cryptic questions. But first, the interactive page reminds you of the magic a Patronus carries.

Then, you're prompted to think of your happiest memory — a key part in casting the spell ("Expecto Patronum!")

Next comes the questions — which are actually more like word association games. Two or three words will appear on the screen, and you must select one as quickly as possible. Users may receive different word associations to choose between

"Leaf, Blade, Thorn" ... how mysterious. Others are straightforward, like "warm" or "cold."

The test is set in a digital rendering of what we guess is the Forest of Dean — a signficant location in the seventh book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." This forest is the place where Harry follows a doe Patronus (later revealed to belong to Severus Snape), until he finds the Sword of Gryffindor.

There are about 5 total questions (at least, there were for me). At the end of the quiz, your Patronus is revealed. Mine was a dolphin.

My fellow INSIDER reporters were assigned a "Dapple Grey Mare,""Blackbird,""Shrew,""Wolf," and "Rottweiler."

Fans on Twitter report that "Stoat,""Red Squirrel," and many more creatures are all options.

J.K. Rowling even took the quiz herself, though she received two different results when the quiz was still being developed. 

It's a heron! 

To discover your Patronus, head to the Pottermore website and think your happiest thoughts.

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Pottermore finally released an interactive quiz allowing "Harry Potter" fans to discover what their Patronus would be in the wizarding world. Patronuses (the corporeal ones, anyway) are animal-shaped guardians that protect a witch or wizard from Dementors. Each one is unique to its conjuror, according to J.K. Rowling's novels. 

Fans had high expectations when it came to learning about their "Harry Potter" spirit animals, and unfortunately some Patronus results left people disappointed or confused.

People are demanding an explanation.

Since people are taking their assigned Patronus rather personally. An easy way for Pottermore to combat the disappointment would be to offer an explanation of each animal's qualities and how they might relate back to the person conjuring it. Plenty of fans have pointed this out. 

The discussion about Pottermore's Patronus quiz on the "Harry Potter" subreddit generated similar comments about wanting an explanation. 

"I just wish I could read more about it's meaning or what it represents," Redditor PecheMode said about their swan Patronus. 

"I wish we could've gotten a little something about what our patronuses say about our personalities, " Redditor Gnisms wrote. "Though I also think that would've probably been too much."

The reason fans are so insistent on having an explanation goes back to Pottermore's other quiz features. After creating an account, people are encouraged to "get a wand" and be sorted into a Hogwarts or Ilvermorny (the American wizard school) House. 

Both of those quizzes feature explanations about the results given. For example — my "chosen" wand is 13 ¾" long, made of Cypress wood, has a Phoenix feather core, and it's "quite bendy."

Pottermore provides a full paragraph of explanation for each of those attributes. Cypress is associated with nobility, and is often matched with "brave, bold, and self-sacrificing" witches or wizards. Phoenix feather wands are "hardest to tame," and its flexibility indicates a "degrees of adaptability."

So why is there no reasoning provided by Pottermore when it comes to the Patronus?

Pottermore has yet to respond to INSIDER's request for comment regarding the lack of explanations, but we have one guess. The sheer volume of Patronus options may have stopped Pottermore from writing up the reasoning behind each. We don't know how many varieties there are (Pottermore isn't planning on releasing that information right now) but based on our research it's certainly in the high dozens. Creating a backstory for each one would have added a layer of complication to the quiz process. 

If you've already selected your Patronus and found yourself disappointed, know you are not alone. And if you still haven't chosen one, you can do so now on Pottermore— but know you could come face to face with a critter that disappoints you. 

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"Harry Potter" fans can finally take the long-promised Pottermore quiz to find out their Patronus. 

A Patronus is a charm in the "Harry Potter" universe that's used to drive away soul-sucking Dementors. It's very difficult to conjure a corporeal Patronus ("It’s the only spell she ever has trouble with," Harry says when Hermione struggles to make one), but if you can do it, it takes the form of your very own guardian animal.

So ... which animal did you get?

If it's something small, your Patronus is probably really lame.

People seem especially upset if they got a salmon — like Luna Lovegood actress Evanna Lynch. In the series, Lovegood's Patronus is a hare, but Lynch wanted a cat.

The thing about Patronuses is that we don't really know much about them. We know that they can only be conjured when the wizard or witch is thinking of a very happy memory. But they also seem to kind of have a life of their own. They tap into some deep part of you: Harry's Patronus is a stag, for instance, which is the same animal his father could transform into.

What we do know is that, in the Manichean world of J.K. Rowling, Patronuses are a good form of magic that serves partly as a foil to the bad magic of dementors. Patronuses are, in other words, a type of magic used for good to fight evil.

But how is your Patronus supposed to fight the bad guys if it's super tiny?

Look no further than a passage in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" that illustrates this point. When Harry and Hermione sneak into the Ministry of Magic in their quest to steal one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, they find Dolores Umbridge sentencing Muggle-born wizards — those who were born to non-magical parents — to Azkaban. The "courtroom" is filled with dementors, and Umbridge keeps herself safe with her own Patronus cat:

The moment he had passed the place where the Patronus cat patrolled, he felt the change in temperature: It was warm and comfortable here. The Patronus, he was sure, was Umbridge’s, and it glowed brightly because she was so happy here, in her element, upholding the twisted laws she had helped to write.

Later on, Harry stuns Umbridge, and her Patronus disappears. Harry casts his own Patronus — a big, badass stag — to keep back the dementors and escape from the courtroom.

And here's where "Harry Potter" fans should be disappointed in their smaller Patronuses. Harry's bigger stag warms up the entire room much better than Umbridge's Patronus cat:

The silver stag soared from the tip of Harry's wand and leapt toward the dementors, which fell back and melted into the dark shadows again. The stag's light, more powerful and more warming than the cat's protection, filled the whole dungeon as it cantered around and around the room.

Now, it's possible Rowling might explain away Harry's powerful Patronus by arguing that he either is more pure of heart than Umbridge or that he is a more powerful wizard.

Still, the more obvious solution is that the size of the Patronus — and thus the animal in question — matters.

Rowling's preference in Patronuses may even prove this point. At first, she got a pine marten (a kind of lame badger), but she decided the quiz wasn't finished. In the final version, she got a huge heron.

Meanwhile, I'm happy to say that I have a badass wolf.

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"Harry Potter" site Pottermore unveiled a new quiz Thursday that allows fans to discover their Patronus. If you're not familiar, the magical conjurings take the form of spirit animals which protect a witch or wizard from the soul-sucking dementors.

In the book series, some pretty cool ones are revealed. Harry has a stag, Hermione's is an otter, and there are other characters who have a fox and woolly mammoth as their own. Naturally, fans were eager to find out what mighty animals would be assigned as their protector.

And there were some cool ones. Among those we've seen revealed are unicorns, dragons, and even Hippogriffs! A colleague of mine even got a wolf.

However, some fans were quickly disappointed that they were getting animals that, well, weren't as exciting. In fact, some of them sounded downright lame.

If you're embarrassed by your Patronus, we hear you! Here are some of the worst Patronuses we've seen so far.

Sure, a Nightjar is cute, but I'm not sure if this little bird is up for a fight.

Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/778991002266767360
I got…a bird. It’s a bird. #pottermore#patronuspic.twitter.com/iPtDBicIPS

Scary dementor coming your way? How about you fend it off with a wood mouse.

This grey squirrel already has the right idea. He's running away. Far away.

"Harry Potter" fans were thrilled to learn they could finally take a quiz and discover their Patronus on Pottermore — but that bubble of excitement quickly burst. Some people were disappointed by their assigned Patronus, especially when given a type of rodent or bird. 

Since the Patronus quiz premiered on September 22, the official Pottermore account (and now J.K. Rowling herself) have started replying to tweets from upset Patronus owners. The message is often the same: "Your Patronus is rarely what you expect."

Pottermore even addressed the concerns about size when people expressed doubt that a small Patronus can truly battle Dementors.

J.K. Rowling has addressed two fans directly about their Patronuses.

"I literally got a rat for a patronus ... I don't know how you can make me feel better about that haha," Twitter user @DerrellPayne wrote to the "Harry Potter" author. 

"Clever, resourceful and (according to the Chinese) lucky!" Rowling quoted back to the fan.

When another disappointed fan was told their Patronus was a mole, and expressed hope that it was secretly awesome, Rowling replied: "You got the Lord of the underworld who brings light to darkness. Of course it's awesome."

Those in charge of the Pottermore Twitter account seem to have realized that people really wanted an explanation for each Patronus animal. The question on nearly everyone's mind after taking the quiz was simple — "What does that say about me?" 

Though repeating the response of "your Patronus is rarely what you expect" stops short of truly explaining each animal's qualities and how they relate to their "owner," it might help people accept animals they find less than exciting. 

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J.K. Rowling, has a new short story out on Pottermore that tells us about the early years of The Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA), the governing body for witches and wizards in the United States.

It's the third Rowling story about magic in North America, following an overarching history of magic over six centuries and a detailed backstory on Ilvermorny, the North American wizarding school.

It's also the last story we'll get before the release of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" on November 18, a movie written by Rowling about the adventures of a wizard named Newt Scamander in 1920s New York.

What does Rowling's new story tell us about the movie? Here's what we learned:

Newt Scamander will be breaking the law — a wizard befriending a "No-Maj" is illegal in America

Throughout its history, MACUSA has been all about keeping wizards and witches away from No-Majs (American English for "Muggle"). The government's first home base was in the Appalachian Mountains, far from most No-Majs, and didn't move to the cities until the wizarding population there grew. MACUSA also took no official position in the Revolutionary War.

And in 1790, MACUSA passed Rappaport’s Law, one of the most significant laws in its history. It totally segregated magical folk and No-Majs, making even intermarriage and friendship with No-Majs illegal. The law remained intact in the 1920s, during Scamander's arrival in New York.

So the overriding tension of "Fantastic Beasts" seems to be about hiding the magical world from the No-Maj community. Newt Scamander, a British wizard played by Eddie Redmayne, will not be making that easy after he befriends a No-Maj in his quest to find the magical creatures that escaped from his suitcase.

Serious breaches of MACUSA law in America are punishable by death

Scamander, given his earlier expulsion from Hogwarts, is prone to getting into trouble. Based on the latest trailer, it looks like Scamander unleashed a few magical animals in New York, and American magical law enforcement has to crack down on them before they cause too much havoc.

Rowling's backstory tells us just how severe Scamander's punishment could be. Unlike other countries, the magical government and the non-magical government in America simply haven't collaborated historically. If Scamander unleashed magical animals in America's biggest city that would reveal the magical world to No-Majs, it's a huge deal.

How big a deal? Rowling explains, "Whereas British witches and wizards were sent to Azkaban [for committing a serious crime], the worst criminals in America were executed."

Things are not looking good for Scamander.

Newt Scamander will be running from one of the best aurors in the country

Percival Graves (Colin Farrell), the head auror or magical law enforcement officer of MACUSA during Scamander's time there, was a descendant of Gondulphus Graves, one of the first dozen aurors in the United States. Those original twelve wizards are revered for risking their lives to protect the magical community and tracking down dangerous Scourers, basically helping establish a legal order for American wizardry.

"The descendants of these witches and wizards have been given particular respect in the US ever since," Rowling writes. 

So Scamander is dealing with someone serious with a reputation to lose — it's likely Graves will be passionate about catching Scamander before he accidentally exposes the magical community with his creatures. Who knows to what lengths he'll go?

Scamander will also be battling against people who want to expose (and wipe out) the magical community

MACUSA's first challenge after it was inaugurated was to rid the continent of Scourers, "corrupt wizards who had hunted their fellow magical beings for personal gain." They were kind of like wizard bounty hunters that trafficked in other wizards, and sentenced some of them to death while serving as judges in the Salem Witch Trials. Because of the Scourers, North America was a dangerous place for wizards.

MACUSA largely succeeded in its goal, but several Scourers eluded justice, hiding within the No-Maj community. "The vengeful Scourers, cast out from their people, passed on to their descendants an absolute conviction that magic was real, and the belief that witches and wizards ought to be exterminated wherever they were found,"Rowling writes. Scourer descendants who buy into that philosophy are on the lookout for magic, and occasionally threaten to reveal magic to the world.

In "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," we know that two characters, Mary Lou Barebone and her son Credence, are members of the Second Salemers, a No-Maj group that wants to destroy witches and wizards. Sounds like they're descendants of Scourers, and could throw a major wrench into the plot, especially if Scamander's actions are threatening to expose the magical world at large.

"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" hits theaters November 18.

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