Calderon-Boot family• Character
A wizarding family. Notable members of the Calderon-Boot family include Chadwick Boot, one of the founders of Ilvermorny Wizarding School and author of Chadwick’s Charms Vols. I-VII. He married Josefina Calderon, a healer from Mexico. Their descendants in the Calderon-Boot family are among the most prominent in North America today. Read MoreWhat is Canon?• Page
Full list of the Lexicon’s canon sources The universe of Harry Potter was created by J. K. Rowling beginning in 1990. For five years, she worked on not only the first book but also the outline of the entire series of seven books and the development of the world… Read MoreCanon Celebration: Wizarding Life and Organizations• Article
What keeps the Wizarding World going? How does it work? The main organisation in the UK is the Ministry of Magic, but there are many more entities that keep things together and Muggle-free. Ready to discover more about these? Onwards we go! Podcasts: OP 7 The… Read More🎙️ "Canon" Musings• Article
Here at the Lexicon, we do our best to organize the information that has been presented to us by or with the express approval of J.K. Rowling. It’s an important job, because this fictional world of hers is an escape for many people, and in order to escape to… Read More🎙️ Canon Thoughts: Book Two• Article
Today I’m going to talk a little bit about book two, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. For me in the US, this book came out in 1999. Reading it firmly convinced me that I was going to fall in love with the Harry Potter series. I started taking… Read More🎙️ Canon Thoughts: Early Interviews• Article
Over the almost twenty years of the website’s existence, we have been challenged for our use of Rowling’s interviews as canon. That’s perfectly understandable, especially since we make a point of NOT including the Potter films. Why one and not the other? There is an obvious response, that those films… Read More🎙️ Canon Thoughts: Goblet of Fire• Article
In my last canon thoughts podcast, I talked about the amazing third book in the Potter series, The Prisoner of Azkaban. Now we move on the book four, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I’m always a bit surprised by how many people consider this to be their… Read MoreCantankerus Nott• Character
Cantankerus Nott was a member of the pure-blood Nott family, and widely believed to be the author of the infamous ‘Pure-Blood Directory’ in the 1930s. Read MoreCassandra Vablatsky• Character
Cassandra Vablatsky was a celebrated Seer and the author of Unfogging the Future (PA4). Read MoreNever seen a castle anywhere that looks like Hogwarts• Quote
People keep saying they know what I based Hogwarts on – but they’re all wrong. I have never seen a castle anywhere that looks the way I imagine Hogwarts. Read MoreCatullus Spangle• Character
Spangle was a renowned researcher of Charms in the eighteenth century, notable for his work on Patronuses (and, specifically, the forms which Patronuses take). The book Charms of Defence and Deterrence is considered his masterwork. Read MoreCBS• Source
Leslie Stahl’s “60 Minutes” interview with Rowling, 12 June 2003. Read MoreCC/b: Cursed Child (script)• Source
The script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, released in book form. Two editions of the play will be published, the initial script and, at a later day, the Definitive Collectors Edition, which will present the script in its final form after previews are finished. The Special Rehearsal Edition… Read MoreCelebrating the Canon Celebration and Looking Forward• Article
The Lexicon is 20 Years Old! To celebrate in true Lexicon fashion, we spent the second half of 2020 celebrating what many consider go be the truest form of Harry Potter canon: the Harry Potter novels. Every week from July through the end of the year we… Read MoreChadwick Boot• Character
Chadwick Boot, spellbook author and one of the founders of Ilvermorney wizarding school, was the elder son of wizard parents who foolishly wandered into the wilds of 17th century America and were killed by a Hidebehind. He and his younger brother Webster were rescued by Isolt Sayre, who taught them… Read MoreChadwick's Charms Vols I-VII
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Books and Literature
Chadwick’s Charms was a series of seven textbooks about charms written by Chadwick Boot. They were standard texts at Ilvermorny. Read MoreChallenges in Charming
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Books and Literature
One of the scholarly journals of the wizarding world; Albus Dumbledore had at least one paper published in it when he was still quite young (DH2). Read More🎙️ Chamber of Secrets 6-12 Canon Celebration• Article
Welcome to the fifth installment of our celebration series! We’ve been warned not to return to Hogwarts, met some new allies and foes, and accidentally broken one of the most fundamental rules of wizarding society. What a way to start the school year! Ready to… Read MoreChamber of Secrets: Chapter by Chapter• Article
by William Silvester Chapter 1 – The Worst Birthday In which we are reminded of the happenings during Harry’s first year at Hogwarts, uncle Vernon has a very important dinner guest coming, dinner plans are made, and Harry’s birthday is forgotten again. Chapter 2 – Dobby’s Warning In which Dobby,… Read MoreCharacter Quotes• Article
The editor for the Characters section of the Lexicon was Lisa Bunker who was also the founder of Accio Quote. So it was a natural fit for her to collect quotes by and about the main characters in the books as she worked to bring each character’s biography up to date. Read MoreCharity Burbage• Character
Charity Burbage was a professor of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts (DH2). She wrote an impassioned defense of Muggle-borns in the Daily Prophet during the summer of 1997; in retaliation, she was taken prisoner, then killed personally by Voldemort less than a week later at Malfoy Manor, at which point… Read MoreCharity Burbage is Abducted• Event
Muggle Studies Professor Charity Burbage is kidnapped by Death Eaters and taken to Malfoy Manor early in the summer of 1997, soon after writing an article for the Daily Prophet in favor of Muggle-borns (DH1). Read MoreCharm Your Own Cheese
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Books and Literature
Guide to making cheese with magic. Read MoreChocolate Frog cards
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Wizarding culture
Chocolate Frog cards come in Chocolate Frogs candy (along with a chocolate frog). Hogwarts students collect and trade them. The faces on some of the cards are famous even to Muggles, although their magical abilities were not always recognized by the non-magical community. Read MoreClassified Advertisements
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Headlines and advertisements
Classified Advertisements is a regular page appearing in the Daily Prophet, of great utility to the wizarding community (DP2). This section includes columns listing recruitment opportunities, items for sale, dating/Lonely Hearts and family announcements. The listing on Page 2 of the Prophet included: Jobs “Hit-witch or wizard” for the Magical Law Enforcement Squad Assistant… Read MoreClassroom Eleven
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Hogwarts castle and grounds • Rooms, chambers, and floors
A classroom located down the corridor leading off the Entrance Hall on the side opposite the Great Hall. This is one of several unused classrooms on the ground floor. Dumbledore arranged for this room to look like the middle of a forest clearing; Firenze, who couldn’t easily negotiate the stairs,… Read MoreCommon Magical Ailments and Afflictions
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Books and Literature
Standard healing reference. Read MoreA Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions
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Books and Literature
A Compendium of Common Curses and their Counter-Actions is a reference book for Defence Against the Dark Arts. Read MoreConfiscated and Highly Dangerous
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Hogwarts
Filch has a drawer in his filing cabinet marked this. Naturally, the Weasley twins dove right in and discovered the Marauder’s Map (PA10). Remus Lupin told Harry he also found a Boggart for Patronus practice lurking in the filing cabinet (PA12). It’s possible he was looking for the Map… Read MoreConfronting the Faceless
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Books and Literature
Confronting the Faceless was the N.E.W.T.-level textbook for Defence Against the Dark Arts during Harry’s sixth year (HBP9). Read MoreCon: The Connection 1999• Source
J.K. Rowling interview transcript, The Connection (WBUR Radio), 12 October, 1999… Read MoreConv: Conversations with JK Rowling• Source
Conversations With J.K. Rowling by Lindsey Fraser. The book consists of 57 pages of questions and answers followed by descriptions of the first four books. Seven pages of quotes from interviews with Entertainment Weekly, Larry King, and others fill out the end of the book. The original English language publication… Read MoreBuckley Cooper• Character
Buckley Cooper was a wizard who wrote a letter to the Daily Prophet asking for legal advice on the running feud he’d been having with his brother (DP3)… Read MoreCornelius Agrippa• Character
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was scholar and author who wrote on many topics, including the occult. He appears on a Chocolate Frog trading card, which reads “celebrated wizard imprisoned by Muggles for his writing, because they thought his books were evil” (FW, PS6, CF). In September 1991, Ron… Read MoreCornelius Agrippa, the famous author, dies• Event
He was imprisoned by Muggles who believed his writings to be evil. Read MoreSelf-Correcting Ink
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Magical objects
Self-Correcting Ink, an ink that corrects errors, is banned from the examination hall at Hogwarts by the Wizarding Examinations Authority (OP31). Read MoreCR: Comic Relief 2001• Source
Comic Relief live chat, March 2001. [transcript] This interview coincided with the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages. These books were written to raise money for the charity Comic Relief. Read MoreCS13: The Very Secret Diary• Source
Myrtle’s toilet floods, Harry finds Tom Riddle’s diary which he shows to a now fur-free Hermione, and they begin a search to discover who the owner was. Lockhart stages a Valentine’s party complete with dwarfs as cupids. That night Harry learns the secret of the diary, goes… Read MoreCS17: The Heir of Slytherin• Source
Harry finds an unconscious Ginny, meets Tom Riddle (who has had Ginny in his power through the diary), and hears his story. Fawkes the phoenix arrives with the Sorting Hat. Riddle (Voldemort) calls the basilisk to kill Harry, but Fawkes intervenes and together they… Read MoreCS4: At Flourish and Blotts• Source
Harry and the Weasleys receive their required book lists from Hogwarts and go to Diagon Alley via Floo powder. There Harry arrives in Knockturn Alley, overhears the Malfoys, is found by Hagrid, meets author/teacher Gilderoy Lockhart, and Arthur Weasley comes to blows with Lucius Malfoy. Read MoreCS6: Gilderoy Lockhart• Source
Ron receives a Howler, they learn about mandrakes in Herbology, Colin Creevey asks for an autographed photo, Lockhart is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and they learn about Cornish pixies. Read MoreBarnabas Cuffe• Character
Barnabas Cuffe was editor of the Daily Prophet (HBP4). Read MoreCulpeper Complete Herbal• Source
Culpeper’s Complete Herbal, published in 1653, is a source Rowling used as a reference for herbs and other plants. She told “60 Minutes”: “I used to collect names of plants that sounded witchy, and then I found this, ‘Culpeper’s Complete Herbal,’ and it was the answer to my every prayer: flax… Read MoreGringotts Charms Breakers / Curse Breakers
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Occupations
A team of adventurous bankers from Gringotts who go out into the world breaking the protective Charms and Curses on old forgotten Wizarding treasure troves. Sometimes referred to as Curse-Breakers (PA1, OP29). Read More🎙️ Cursed Child: Introduction• Article
Going chapter by chapter through Chamber of Secrets was so much fun, I wanted to do another series just like it. I decided to tackle Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as my next book, for a couple of reasons. The first reason is I’m… Read MoreCurses and Countercurses
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Books and Literature
Curses and Countercurses is a handy reference book sold at Flourish and Blotts, useful both for those who wish to annoy others and those who need to defend against those people. The full title of the book is Curses and Countercurses: Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest… Read More