Your school probably sucked. Most of ours did. But what if you could do it all over again? What if you had the chance to go to the school you always wanted? Yes, that one. Thanks to a group of very dedicated fans, you can study Hogwarts courses online in much the same way you’d “go to” the University of Phoenix.
The creators of Hogwarts is Here decided that it was unfair that only fictional people got to attend the prestigious wizarding acadamy and did something about it, setting up what’s essentially a full-on online school, with classes in History of Magic, Herbology and, of course, Defense Against the Dark Arts, among others. And they’re not messing around, the courses come with textbooks, essays, midterms and final exams. You can even ask your fellow students for help if need you it, but you’d probably be better off contacting your professor first.
You see, in addition to being a school, there’s a bit of a social network-y MMO aspect to Hogwarts is Here. When you sign up (or enroll) you pick your House (sadly there’s no sorting, but it’s not like anyone who’d be joining doesn’t already know where they go) and then have access to your common room and even your dorm. You earn house points for completing assignments (unsurprisingly, Ravenclaw’s in the lead) and can even find Chocolate Frog cards. Your text books are paid for with money from your Gringotts account.
I picked History of Magic for my first course and so far it’s really interesting, if a little fan-ficcy. Though that’s to be expected, as it is, if we’re being honest, really well-researched fan-fiction presented in a wholly unique format It seems like something Harry Potter fans should check out, at least until WB and Scholastic shut it down. And it’s totally free so aside from the timesuck, there’s really no reason not to.
