First Year – an introduction to your character and Hogwarts school

Disclaimer: This guide was written for the Taiwanese version of the game. We are currently working on updating all our guides for the Global Release.

In Harry Potter: Magic Awakened story missions are called “Year Records” and Year Records are grouped into larger sections called “Years”. By completing each Year’s Record, you will get significant rewards. You can check your story mission progress in the “Yearbook”.

The story begins

The story begins in your room. You were doing homework, on a usual day, and had a relatively normal life. You recall that sometimes strange things happened when you were alone. You told your parents, but they just laughed every time.

Some of the strange things that happened were the wooden figure of a boat floating in the air, pages of your notebook turning, and candles suddenly lighting up! Maybe you got used to these odd happenings, but today was different. Today, you’ve heard a loud knocking on the door. A very tall and wide man appeared, with bushy black hair and a beard that hid most of his face. He was very clumsy and hit his head against the wall.

It was of course Hagrid, and you know what that means! He gave you an invitation to Hogwarts (although he had difficulty finding in which pocket he tucked the invitation). You need to sign the letter (type your Player Name and then press Confirm Button).

Character Customization

After this, you will have Character Customization, On the right side of the screen, you can choose your sex (male or female). Below these two options, you will have a button with the face and a question mark. Pressing the button will generate a random look for your character.

On the left side, you will find a mirror where you can see the look of your character. At this stage, you can only randomize your appearance, but you can change it later in more detail when you visit Madam Malkin’s shop in Diagon Alley. (This is in the second Beta version. In the Chinese version of the game, you can customize your character in more detail once you create the character at the beginning of the game).

Once you go to Platform 9 3/4, and you catch the train to Hogwarts, you will meet other First-year Students: Cassandra Vole, Fischer Frey, Colby Frey, Lottie Turner, Daniel Page, Kevin Farrell, Ivy Warrington, and Robyn Thistlethwaite.

Hogwarts School

After you arrive at Hogwarts, you’ll witness floating candles, a ceiling that looks like a night sky, and wandering ghosts in the Main Hall. Not long after, the Sorting Ceremony will start. You will meet the headmistress of Hogwarts and head of Gryffindor Minerva McGonagall, Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch, professor of herbology Neville Longbottom, head of Hufflepuff Pomona Sprout, head of Ravenclaw Filius Flitwick, and head of Slytherin Horace Slughorn.

The Sorting Hat

After Daniel Page, it will be your turn to have a Sorting Hat on your head. Sorting Hat will give its best to evaluate which Hogwarts House you belong to. Houses in the Harry Potter: Magic Awakened don’t have any influence on the gameplay: they will not give you any buffs or debuffs, and they will not change the questlines. Your house will only affect some minor customization options, such as uniforms and decorations in your Dormitory. You can also access your House’s Common Room whenever you wish, while for other Common Rooms you will need to drink Potion of Invisibility to sneak in.

When the Sorting Hat offers its opinion on which House you belong to, you can accept it or you can choose the option “Reconsider”. After the “Reconsider” Option, you can choose between all the Houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. For each House, you can see their Crest, the head of their House, the Traits they value most in their members, and some famous members of their House. Once you wish to choose, click on the golden Seal below the House description.

Congratulations! You are now a First-Year student at Hogwarts! After the exciting evening, you will go to sleep (only cutscenes, without gameplay). Tomorrow the new life begins.

Diagon Alley in the Taiwanese version

In the Taiwanese version of the game, instead of a rather shallow initial customization of your character, you will go to Diagon Valley before Hogwarts, the same as any wizard/witch in the books or movies. In the Leaky Cauldron, you will tap with Hagrid’s umbrella on the bricks that hide the Diagon Valley and you’ll arrive there. First destination: Madam Malkin’s shop.

In Madam Malkin’s you can choose your initial character’s look and a few starting Outfits. The Outfit will also give you Collection Points and you can collect more of them during the game. First, you’ll get to choose if your character is a Witch or a Wizard. After that, you can customize the hair color, hairstyle (although only 4 options in this intro), type of eyes, the color of your skin, and type of glasses if you wish. These options won’t grant you any Collection Points, but next is Scarfs and Outfits that do. You can choose between 4 scarves and between two pairs of Outfits. Outfits are in pairs here, so you can have 1 casual outfit and 1 more formal which you’ll use when you play the Ball section of the game, but you can roam the other locations in that formal outfit. Lastly, you’ll choose your character name and you’ll go to another shop in Diagon Valley.

Next, you will visit Ollivanders Shop to buy a new Wand. You won’t have many options here in the intro. Ollivander will give you one Wand, and he’ll ask you to try it. The Wand will react very wildly, so he will give you another one, and that one will suit you. You’ll receive a random initial wand that will grant you some exploration bonus and collection power.

The next stop is the Owl Post Office (Eeylops Owl Emporium). You can pick 1 Owl of Common Rarity for free this time. There’s no difference in gameplay between them. Any of them will give you +88 collection points. Pick the one you find the cutest to you.

When you arrive at the platform “9 and 3/4” your character will be confused. Luckily, Harry Potter will arrive, right behind you. He will explain that you need to run ahead of the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Click and hold the screen to start running to the barrier. And puff, you will reach platform 9 and 3/4, where the train for Hogwarts awaits. The rest of the intro story is the same as in the beta version of the game.