Harry Potter on the Web: The best sites

Harry Potter may be able to travel instantaneously from one place to another via Floo powder, but you can do the same via the World Wide Web. The theatrical release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Nov. 18 has only sparked an upsurge in witchy and wizardly Web activity in the Potterverse. There’s a Harry Potter site for almost everyone, from Web wizards to multimedia Muggles. See which site suits you.

FOR GAMERS: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: The Official Site
Details about the newest movie, plus online games, contests, and sweepstakes.

FOR SPOILER HUNTERS: J.K. Rowling’s official site
Want to know what’s going to happen to Harry in the next book? The author herself will be the first to tell you, as she often offers little clues, usually hidden like a sorcerer’s stone behind elaborate visual puzzles on this site.

FOR NEWS HOUNDS: Harry Potter Automatic News Aggregator
If news about the Potter books or movies appears anywhere on the Web, it’ll end up here.

FOR FANS OF THE STARS: Veritaserum
This is the place for multimedia clips of the latest interviews and media appearances by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and other stars of the film series.

FOR NEWBIES: The Floo Network
Don’t know your Gringotts from your Gryffindor? Visit this webring, which includes a lexicon, an archive of indexed J.K. Rowling interview quotes, a gallery of illustrations and still photos, and a news page called The Leaky Cauldron.

FOR INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED POTTERPHILES: MuggleNet
If you know as much about the wizarding world as a Hogwarts upperclassman, this is the site for you. Here, fans nitpick mistakes, write fan fiction, and hold literary discussions about the characters on a weekly podcast.

FOR SHOPPERS: Whimsic Alley
On a Muggle map, you would find this store, designed to look like Diagon Alley, in Santa Monica, Calif. But through the magic of e-commerce, you can order online from the store’s collection of wands, wizardwear, candy, and other Potterabilia.

FOR PERVS: The Harry Potter Legal Age Countdown Clock
Sauce for the gander: If the Olsens and Hilary Duff could inspire countdown clocks, why not Daniel Radcliffe? The actor who plays Harry will turn 18 on July 23, 2007. If you’d rather not read blogger Michelle Collins’ Mrs. Robinson-esque musings on the future Hogwarts graduate, you can get the counter alone here.