J.K. Rowling keeps spilling 'Harry Potter' secrets

First editions of
A collection of "Harry Potter" first editions in many a language: Finnish, Gaelic, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Welsh Turkish, Polish, Indonesian and more.
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Eight years after writing the last of her "Harry Potter" novels, J.K. Rowling is still adding to the boy wizard's story.

The author posted new information Tuesday about the Potter family, the background provided on a "newly imagined" and mobile friendly version of the Pottermore Web portal that Rowling established in 2012.

In a brief essay titled, "The Potter Family," Rowling traces Harry's roots to "the twelfth-century wizard Linfred of Stinchcombe, a locally well-beloved and eccentric man, whose nickname, 'the Potterer', became corrupted in time to 'Potter.'"

She also offers the backstory on the "Invisibility Cloak," a legacy made possible by a "beautiful young witch" named Iolanthe Peverell.

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