Books

What's J.K. Rowling's Patronus?

by Emma Oulton

On Thursday morning, Pottermore launched a quiz to finally answer the one burning question we've been asking for a decade: "What's my Patronus?". Even J.K. Rowling has taken it, though the mystery of J.K. Rowling's Patronus is a little more complicated than it seems. When she first took the Pottermore Patronus test, back when it was still in development, she got a pine marten Patronus — but when she retook it after its official launch, her Patronus had changed. Now, J.K. Rowling's Patronus is a heron — and she says she likes it even better than her last one.

We all know that a witch or wizard's Patronus can change — often to reflect their strong feelings towards a loved one. It's probably no coincidence that Lily and James Potter have a doe and a stag respectively; their love for each other most likely transformed their Patronuses into this perfect pair. We also know that Tonks's Patronus changed to a werewolf once she fell in love with Lupin. So I wonder what significant event happened in J.K.'s life lately to bring about her own change of Patronus? She did say on Twitter that the heron holds "personal associations" for her — but for now, only she knows the secret of what these are.

As someone who was revealed to have a stoat Patronus, I was pretty thrilled to see J.K. Rowling say she has a "fondness for weaselly creatures." (It was almost as exciting as when she said Hufflepuff was her favorite house.) So I am sad to see her move on from us weasels, but if J.K. Rowling's Patronus has changed because she's found something new, significant, and heron-like in her life — well, I can only be happy for her.