Run Straight at Instagram, Between Platforms 9 and 10
It’s probably time to ask yourself this important and perhaps inevitable question: If you haven’t permanently deleted your personal Instagram account and replaced it with a super-secret wizarding profile that you carefully hide from all of your friends, relatives, and coworkers, are you even living?
Let’s be honest. Your personal Instagram stopped bringing you any joy about two years ago. Sure. It started out as a creative endeavor – a nifty online journal of sorts.
But now, it’s just… Well, it’s an ad-smeared time toilet, a place where you scroll endlessly, roll your eyes at that one dude’s mid-pandemic trip to Cancun, and wonder why you ever connected with that person who never liked you from three workplaces ago. Oh, and let’s not forget that former friend who totally ghosted you but uses Instagram to sorta normalize the ghosting by still “liking” your cat photos every few months. Flush.
Yet, like Dumbledore’s phoenix, you can rise again. You can delete your emotionally pointless personal Instagram account and embrace your inner witch or wizard instead. Create a new profile! With a name like “MandrakeFarmer82” or “MFSnapesOnAPlane.” And then? Don’t tell anyone.
You know your best friend in real life? Block her. You know those people you call your parents and siblings? Block them, too. Coworkers? Block, block, block.
Don’t share your secret wizard life with anyone you really know. It would only hold you back. Don your Internet invisibility cloak, run through Instagram’s wall at platform nine and three-quarters, and join the Pottergram. Immerse yourself!
Wait, what’s the Pottergram, you wonder. The Pottergram is a group of folks on Instagram who post pretty much nothing but wizarding content. It’s a place where you can post a photo of yourself, wand aloft and fully decked in your Hogwarts House robes, and the community simply cheers you on. Sure, the artificial components of followers and likes are still present in full force; but the freedom to post what you love, be as dorky as you really are, and connect with other super-fans outweighs the negatives for most of us.
The element of adventure is reason enough to join. While everyone else listlessly scrolls their muggle Instagram pages, vaguely wondering why they’re seeing so many butt-lifting stretchy-pant ads (and meanwhile liking a relentless stream of Kardashian photos), Pottergrammers are in the woods. We’re on long walks to explore fields of flowers, climbing trees, and alarming hikers on forest trails as we pass by with our broomsticks.
We’re out there with our tripods, our timers, our prop cauldrons, and our wands. Are the neighbors concerned? Sure they are. But we’re making as many nerdy fan photos as we can, and that’s what really counts.
For example, meet Ronja, a Slytherin who goes by @Just_a_SlytherPuff and spends her free time creating total magic for the Pottergram. She takes every opportunity to pick up her camera and explore the outdoors. Here’s one of her creations from last winter:
Photo credit: @Just_A_SlytherPuff
Or Cecilia, a classy vintage witch called @Cece_Bombshell who explores beautiful locations and bewitches everyone with her head-turning pinup ensembles:
Photo Credit: @CeCe_Bombshell
Of course, we can make total magic even from our own living rooms. This Three Broomsticks-inspired post by Briona of @StitchesAndSpells gives me all the magical feels:
Photo credit: @StitchesAndSpells
Photography and adventure aside, the Pottergram is pure gold for a good laugh, too. There’s no one quite like Eric from @Wizarding_World_Style to give me a spirited snort-laugh and a hearty knee slap. His fan edit from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire makes me belly laugh so hard:
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Or Paula, who goes by @Unpensieveable. Her wig and voiceover videos get me every time!
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Whether you’re a collector of wizarding fan merch, a cosplayer who loves to dress as wizarding characters, or just an easy-going fan, the Pottergram has something for every Harry Potter enthusiast.
Don’t be shy. The community is largely a welcoming place where we can come together, be ourselves, and have a laugh.
Not sure where to start? I recommend checking out the #MasterfulMagicalMinorities hashtag to find witches and wizards celebrating inclusivity and diversity. It’s an awesome crowd and the perfect counter-charm to the negativity of the Internet at large.
#MasterfulMagicalMinorities was founded by @TheMagicalLatina, @IamBlackHarry, @MagicalFoodDepartment, @Allonsze, @ElymentsofMagic, and @DapperMinisterofMagic.
Or join the #MeetThePotterHead challenge, which a lovely Hufflepuff named Bailey (@MagicWandBlonde) started in 2019 so that witches and wizards could get to know each other.
And of course, come find me and say hello any time @RobesForAllOccasions. Unless you know me in real life, in which case, please never mention this article to me and pretend you never saw it. I was never here. Okay?
