Welcome to the Harry Potter Lexicon
The most compleat and amazing reference to the wonderful world of Harry Potter
est. 2000 A.D.
Phase of the Moon: Waning Crescent
5 GBP = 1 Galleon 
DH20: Xenophilius Lovegood
Harry and Ron bring each other up to date on their adventures, Hermione finds the triangular mark in a photograph of Dumbledore’s letters, and the trio seek out Xenophilius Lovegood at his home for further information about the mark. Read More
Playing Strixhaven as Hogwarts
One of the latest books to come out for Dungeons and Dragons is called Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos. The book is designed to provide D&D players with the opportunity to play as students at a magical school. It’s pretty easy to see the connections to the adventures of Harry and his friends at Hogwarts. I think a lot of Harry… Read More
Snape meets Dumbledore on the Windy Hilltop
Death Eater Severus Snape sent a message to Albus Dumbledore to meet him on a lonely windswept hilltop in late 1980 so he could warn him that Lily Evans Potter and her child were in danger of being attacked by Voldemort (DH33). When the Headmaster arrived he found a frightened and overwrought Snape who shouted “Don’t kill me” because… Read More
Draco’s Six
So much has been made of how seven is “the most powerfully magical number” (HBP23) in Harry Potter, with it serving as something of a motif throughout the series… to the point where my podcast, The Three Broomsticks, has a recurring segment about the “seven ingredients of today’s special.” But considering how much has been written about… Read More
Aragog the Acromantula is released into the Forbidden Forest
Hagrid has been raising the baby Acromantula in a cupboard in the Hogwarts dungeons, but his arrangement is revealed to the teachers by Tom Riddle, suggesting to them that the Acromantula was responsible for the death of Myrtle Warren. Hagrid is expelled from Hogwarts for supposedly causing the death of a student. Hagrid will later find Aragog a wife, Mosag,… Read More
The Russian Philosopher’s Stone
It’s a process familiar to most of us trying to brush up on a foreign language – get the Harry Potter books in one of the 85 languages they’ve been translated into, and read the story you know backwards and forwards in a language you may not. My first language was Russian, but the Russian translation of Harry Potter has… Read More
There are 142 staircases in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Read More
A Patronus is a magical charm, a projection of all your most positive feelings, and takes the shape of the animal with whom you share the deepest affinity. It is a gift of light. Read More
Latest from the Lexicon Blog
Draco’s Six
• Article
So much has been made of how seven is “the most powerfully magical number” (HBP23) in Harry Potter, with it serving as something of a motif throughout the series… to the point where my podcast, The Three Broomsticks, has a recurring segment about the “seven ingredients of today’s… Read More
The Fallen Fathers of Goblet of Fire
• Article
Jo’s portrayal of mothers in the HP books is fairly straight-forward: mother’s love is the be-all end-all of the series, so we can move right along. But her portrayal of fathers, on the other hand, is incredibly nuanced and intriguing. The turning point appears to be the middle book of… Read More
The Book of Prophecies: How "Order of the Phoenix" Predicts the Plot of "Deathly Hallows" - Part 2
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In Part I of this series, I delved into specific chapter-level comparisons between Order of the Phoenix and Deathly Hallows, and how the events in the former predict or foreshadow those in the latter. In this article, I will… Read More
The Book of Prophecies: How "Order of the Phoenix" Predicts the Plot of "Deathly Hallows" - Part 1
• Article
The Harry Potter series is masterfully plotted, both as individual books and across the series as a whole. Within the fandom, there is a large focus on ring theory for understanding how the series is structured. In ring theory, each book has its… Read More
The Russian Philosopher’s Stone
• Article
It’s a process familiar to most of us trying to brush up on a foreign language – get the Harry Potter books in one of the 85 languages they’ve been translated into, and read the story you know backwards and forwards in a language you may not. My first language… Read More
Mapping the Wizarding World
• Article
Making the Calendar Fit
• Article
I recently received two comments on two different entries in the Lexicon which brought up the same problem: the real world calendar doesn’t always agree with the days and dates in the books. I’m sure some of you are saying “Of course, we know that, this has been discussed in… Read More
The Secrets of Dumbledore ... still a secret?
• Article