• Character A pure-blood wizarding family, listed in the ‘Pure-Blood Directory’ (c. 1930) as one of the ‘Sacred Twenty-Eight’ families (Pm). According to Ernie, his family has been pureblood for at least nine generations (CS11). Notable Members of the Macmillan family include: Melania Macmillan (BFT) (Sirius Black’s grandmother) Ernie… Read More
• Event In 1693 after the International Statute of Secrecy was passed, American witches and wizards set up their own government known as the Magical Congress of the United States. This underground government totally separate from the No-Maj included representatives from magical groups all over North America, and was set up in… Read More
• Event The Magical Congress of the United States  was housed in a secret edifice somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains until 1760, when it was relocated to Williamsburg, Virginia, the home of Thornton Harkaway, then President of MACUSA (Pm). Unfortunately for the local No-Maj population, President Harkaway raised Crups, a type of… Read More
• Event Both boys get fitted for their Hogwarts robes at the same time. But Draco talks about Quidditch, being spoiled by his parents, his confidence in being sorted into Slytherin, unkind things he’s heard about Hagrid (who is waiting outside with ice cream), and his belief that Muggle-borns shouldn’t be allowed… Read More
• Character Non-canon Weasley cousin. Rowling had created the character of a female cousin to the Weasleys for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; however, that character disappeared in rewrites. On her website, Jo gives some more insight into the character: Her name is Mafalda, she is the daughter of the… Read More
• Communication • Magical objects High above the MACUSA Lobby there is a giant dial with multiple clock-like faces and hands pointing to the present threat-level to the secret wizarding world. The color-coded levels include “Severe: Unexplained Activity” and “Emergency” (WFT). Read More
• Article
Posted by in Essays
Magic in the Harry Potter universe is as far as we know considered to be supernatural, and has as little to do with science as ghosts and flying broomsticks. However, the fact that magic runs in families means that it is a hereditary trait. Add to that the exceptions of half-bloods, Muggle-borns and Squibs and the temptation to analyze… Read More
• Ministry of Magic A massive black-stone statue in the Atrium at the Ministry of Magic added during the regime of Voldemort, carved with the motto “MAGIC IS MIGHT” in foot-tall letters (DH12). Read More
• Glossary • Titles, nicknames, and honorifics Shortened term for “No Magic” – American Wizarding slang for Muggles, or non-magical humans (Pm, WFT). Read More
• Character Brutus Malfoy was an influential wizard and the editor of the anti-muggle periodical Warlock at War (TBB/WHP). Read More
• Character Draco Malfoy is the son and only child of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy and was a student at Hogwarts in the same year as Harry Potter. He is a rival of Harry, actively trying to undermine him in any way he can. Draco has white-blond hair and a pale,… Read More
• Character The Malfoy family is an old, aristocratic pure-blood wizarding family. They are one of the “Sacred Twenty-eight” pre-eminent pure-blood families listed in the Pure-Blood Directory published in the 1930s. Despite their promotion of pure-blood ideologies, the Malfoy family have been known to ingratiate themselves with non-magical society when… Read More
• Character Lucius Malfoy is the patriarch of the prestigious pure-blood Malfoy family, father of Draco Malfoy and one of Voldemort’s top Death Eaters. Lucius was a Death Eater during Voldemort’s first “reign of terror.” However after the Dark Lord disappeared, Malfoy “came back saying he’d never meant any of it” (… Read More
• Character Narcissa Malfoy is Lucius’ wife and Draco’s mother, a blonde with blue eyes and a look on her face as if there were something smelly under her nose (GF8). She is fiercely protective of her son. Draco wanted to go to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts but Narcissa nixed this… Read More
• Character Scorpius Malfoy is the son of Draco Malfoy and Astoria Greengrass. Scorpius greatly resembles his father Draco (DH/e, CC). An only child, Scorpius, along with his mother and father, lives apart from the wizarding world due to Astoria’s illness (CC4.4). To the disapproval of his grandparents,… Read More
• Titles, nicknames, and honorifics Nickname Scorpius Malfoy gives himself after viewing the alternate universe in which Voldemort and The Augurey ruled the Wizarding World (CC3.14). Read More
• Atlas of the Wizarding World • Government places • Rooms, chambers, and floors Ministry of Magic Headquarters, London Level 10 This level does not have lift access, so it must be entered through level nine. The Wizengamot sits in the raised benches above the accused, who sits in the chair. The corridor of level ten is stone walled and lit with… Read More
• Character Marcus Flint was a Slytherin, Chaser and captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team for Harry’s first three years at Hogwarts. Harry thought he looked like he had troll blood. He wasn’t beyond a bit of cheating to win a match (PS11, CS7, CS10,… Read More
• Character Marius Black was the great uncle of Sirius Black and a Squib. Marius, the son of Cygnus and Violetta Black, was born between 1915 and 1920 (probably 1917 or 1918). He was the brother of Pollux Black, the father of Walburga Black, Sirius and Regulus’s mother. Further details of his… Read More
• Event Marius is the third child of Cygnus and Violetta Black. Over the following years, it is discovered that the poor child is a Squib. How he fares within is immediate family is unknown, but as far as his niece Walburga is concerned, he was a complete disgrace. Years later she… Read More
• Character Marvolo was the patriarch of the Gaunt family, such as it is. He was belligerent and violent, with a paranoid streak. He shorter than his son Morfin, with odd proportions. He has “bright brown eyes, short scrubby hair, and wrinkled face.” Harry think he looks like a powerful, aged monkey. Read More
• Dark magic items Marvolo Gaunt’s ring is a large finger ring, clumsily made out of what appeared to be gold, set with a black stone engraved with the symbol for the Deathly Hallows, which Gaunt took to be the Peverell coat of arms. According to Marvolo Gaunt, the ring had been in the… Read More
• Character Alleged muggle-born brought before the Muggle-born Registration Commission for questioning because her parents were greengrocers. Escaped from the Ministry with the aid of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger (all Polyjuiced). Married to Reginald “Reg” Cattermole of the Magical Maintenance Department and mother to three children: Alfred, Ellied and… Read More
• Character Mary Lou Barebone was the fanatical leader of the New Salem Philanthropic Society, an anti-magic group active in New York during the 1920s. A “handsome” woman who wore Puritanical clothing like her Scourer ancestors, Mary Lou was also mother to three adopted children whom she raised inside the New Salem… Read More
• Page Timeline of Events Select the range of years for the timeline you wish to view. Ancient Egypt and Greece – 3000 B.C. – 100 A.D. This is an era of Muggle/Wizard cooperation; many political and religious leaders were witches and wizards. Growing distrust and prejudice – 100 – 1692 AD… Read More
• Timelines and calendars Timeline of Events Select the range of years for the timeline you wish to view. Ancient Egypt and Greece – Before 100 A.D. This is an era of Muggle/Wizard cooperation; many political and religious leaders were witches and wizards. The Medieval Era – 100 – 1400 AD… Read More
• Character Olympe Maxime was the headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy in France. She was respected both for her work at her job (GF29) and for her wizarding power (OP20). Though she was a half-giant with the height to prove it, she publicly denied her giant ancestry (… Read More
• Character The Reverend Robert McGonagall was a Scottish Presbyterian minister. He married Isobel Ross, an 18-year-old, high-spirited witch after they eloped. The pair brought forth three children, Minerva, named after Isobel’s grandmother, Malcolm and Robert Jr. They lived in the manse just outside Caithness, Scotland. It was… Read More
• Character Tarquin McTavish was a wizard who imprisoned his Muggle neighbour inside a tea kettle. He was sent to prison for this act (JKR, WoM). Read More
• Character Melania Macmillan, a member of the pure-blood Macmillan family, married Arcturus Black and had two children, Lucretia and Orion. She was grandmother to Sirius and Regulus Black. Read More
• Character Araminta Meliflua was a cousin of Sirius Black’s mother. Meliflua tried to force through a Ministry bill to make Muggle-hunting legal (OP6). Read More
• Art and Culture In the middle of the vast atrium of the MACUSA building in New York City stands a memorial to the witches and wizards killed as a result of the Salem witch trials (WFT). Read More
• Character Merope Gaunt was the daughter of Marvolo Gaunt and mother of Tom Riddle. Eighteen-year-old Merope’s hair is lank and dull and she has a “plain, pale, rather heavy face.” Her eyes also gaze in opposite directions. Merope’s father is extremely abusive to her and derisively calls her a “Squib” (and other… Read More
• Character Luc Millefeuille was a Beauxbatons student and later a baker who became notorious for poisoning Muggles (Pm). Read More
• Event Leach contracts a mysterious illness and steps down. His illness has been the subject of conspiracy theories ever since. Abraxas Malfoy is widely believed to have been part of the plot to get rid of the first Muggle-born Minister. Read More
• Event With the fall of the Ministry to the Death Eaters on August 1, 1997 (DH9), the attitude of the bureaucracy changed immediately toward the persecution of Muggle-born witches and wizards. A leader in this effort was Dolores Umbridge, who headed up the Muggle-Born Registration Commission which was tasked with imprisoning Muggle-borns… Read More
• Rules and laws Ban on Experimental Breeding 1965 written by Newt Scamander (FB) Code of Wand Use clause 3: no non-human creature permitted a wand (GF9) Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery 1875 (CS2, CS5, PA3, OP2, OP8) Violation under paragraph… Read More
• Source MNA refers to a series of essays written by Rowling originally for Pottermore detailing the history of magic on the North American continent as well as the background of the Magical Congress of the United States and of Ilvermorny, the North American school of magic. The Magical Congress of… Read More
• Character Molly Weasley is a middle-aged witch, wife of Arthur Weasley and mother of seven, who puts her family first in everything she does. Molly is a very capable witch in her own right. She is one of the “old crowd,” a group of witches and wizards who are faithful and… Read More
• Event Merope Gaunt liked to wait by the window for a glimpse of handsome Tom Riddle Sr., a rich Muggle boy. Morfin Gaunt, Merope’s brother, mocked her for it and late one night he caught her at it. Just for spite, he hit Tom Riddle Sr. with a Hives Jinx. This… Read More
• Character Morfin Gaunt was the son of Marvolo Gaunt. He is first seen dressed in rags, his thick hair so matted with dirt the color was indistinguishable. He was missing several teeth, and his eyes, like those of his father and sister, looked in opposite directions. Morfin is a Parselmouth and… Read More
• Titles, nicknames, and honorifics Nickname given to the dead Voldemort by Scorpius Malfoy (CC3.14). Scorpius and Albus Potter traveled back in time using an Experimental Time-Turner and ended up in a timeline where Voldemort and The Augurey ruled the Wizarding World because Harry Potter had died (CC3.4). After viewing… Read More
• Insults, Curses, and Interjections Mudblood is a foul, nasty name for a witch or wizard who is Muggle-born (literally “dirty blood”). It is not a term used in polite company (CS7). Draco Malfoy loved using the word “Mudblood,”especially when the Chamber of Secrets opened in second year. Referring to Hermione as a “filthy… Read More
• Organizations In the alternate timeline where Harry Potter lost the Battle of Hogwarts (caused by the use of the Experimental Time Turner), the incarceration of Muggle-borns is sanctioned by the Ministry of Magic (CC3.3). Read More
• Insults, Curses, and Interjections Mudwallower is an insulting term for a “Muggle-lover” that Albus Dumbledore notes in his commentary on “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot” in The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Read More
• Magical identities Muggles, as non-magical folk are called by wizards, are “not as stupid as we think,” or so a report recently published in the Daily Prophet proclaimed (DP). Many witches and wizards find this concept hard to accept; Muggles are for the most part oblivious to the entire society of magical… Read More
• Magical identities Muggle-born is the term used to describe a wizard or witch born of two Muggle parents. (Sometimes spelled Muggleborn with no hyphen)… Read More
• Titles, nicknames, and honorifics Term used around 1000 A.D. to refer to Muggle-born witches and wizards. The origin of the term is obscure, but may refer to those magic-using persons “bobbing up” in a Muggle family unexpectedly. Muggle-born witches and wizards were completely accepted and even treated as special at that time, which makes… Read More
• Ministry of Magic After Voldemort took hold of the Ministry for Magic, a Muggle-Born Registration Commission was appointed. The purpose of this Commission was to interview all Muggle-borns (DH11). Read More
• Event Soon after the Ministry of Magic falls to Death Eaters (DH8), a commission is set up to keep tabs on Muggle-born witches and wizards. It’s purported mission is to learn about how Muggle-borns came to be magic-users. It requires witches and wizards to prove that they have at… Read More
• Hogwarts academics Muggle Studies is a course in the history, culture, and psychology of non-magical people. The class attempts to help young witches and wizards understand the difference between the way Muggles think and the way wizards think. When Ron calls a telephone a “fellytone,” Hermione tells him she should consider taking… Read More
• Character Moaning Myrtle is a ghost who haunts a toilet in a girls’ bathroom on the first or second floor of Hogwarts castle. She is a squat ghost with lank hair, pimples, and thick glasses. She seldom smiles and takes offense at the least excuse, crying rivers of tears and wailing. Read More