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The most compleat and amazing reference to the wonderful world of Harry Potter
est. 2000 A.D.
Phase of the Moon: Waxing Gibbous
5 GBP = 1 Galleon 
Hagrid buys Harry his owl, Hedwig
While shopping in Diagon Alley for Harry’s school things, Hagrid purchases a snowy owl at Eeylops and presents her to Harry as his birthday gift (PS5). Harry later names her Hedwig, a name he finds in A History of Magic (PS6). Read More
A very exciting trip to the zoo for Dudley’s eleventh birthday
Harry accompanies Dudley, Piers Polkiss, Aunt Petunia, and Uncle Vernon to the zoo, where he unknowingly uses Parseltongue to speak with a boa constrictor. When Dudley notices and comes running, the glass of the snake’s enclosure mysteriously disappears and the snake escapes. Read More
OP21: The Eye of the Snake
Hagrid’s class is observed by Umbridge, Ginny Weasley replaces Harry as Gryffindor’s Seeker, Dumbledore’s Army meets again, and Harry and Cho kiss. In a dream, Harry witnesses Arthur Weasley being bitten by a huge snake. Read More
Letters begin arriving at Number Four, Privet Drive, inviting Harry to Hogwarts
24 July 1991 — Harry receives his first letter from Hogwarts, which Uncle Vernon burns. After he boards up the letter box, letters begin to appear rolled up inside eggs and down the chimney. Read More
Just after midnight, Hagrid arrives at the hut-on-the-rock
He brings Harry a birthday cake, tells him the truth about his parents, and invites him to Hogwarts (PS4). Read More
Harry’s first visit to Diagon Alley
31 July 1991 — Harry and Hagrid visit Diagon Alley. Harry realizes how famous he is when he is recognized at the Leaky Cauldron. At Gringotts, Harry learns of his parents’ fortune and Hagrid retrieves the Philosopher’s Stone. Harry meets Draco Malfoy for the first time at Madame Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions. Harry buys… Read More
After Voldemort’s return to power, Horace Slughorn found himself the unwilling host of Corban Yaxley. However, Yaxley left without discovering Slughorn’s hiding place; Slughorn had transfigured himself into an armchair. Slughorn attempted the same trick… Read More
“I remember every wand I’ve ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather–just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should… Read More
Latest from the Lexicon Blog
Draco’s Six
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Making the Calendar Fit
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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?
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