• Character Babayaga was a Russian hag who dwelt in a hut that stood on giant chicken legs. According to the legends about her, she ate children for breakfast – and presumably for lunch and tea (FW). Read More
• Creature The badger is a burrowing omnivore from the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels and otters. It is the mascot of Hufflepuff House. Read More
• Clothing S.P.E.W. badges were badges Hermione Granger made to promote her organisation, the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare (aka S.P.E.W.) (GF14, GF15, GF16). Read More
• Character Bathilda Bagshot was a famous magical historian and author of one of Hogwarts’ standard textbooks, A History of Magic. Her book is one of the books Hermione chose to store in her small pouch with the magically enlarged interior, in case it might prove useful during the quest to… Read More
• Towns Bandon is a small market town located in southern Ireland, roughly ten miles from the Celtic Sea, Bandon was presumably the home of the Bandon Banshee, which Gilderoy Lockhart claimed to have banished (CS6). This may have even been the inspiration for the title of his book, Break with… Read More
• Character The Bandon Banshee was a banshee defeated by a witch with a hairy chin, although Gilderoy Lockhart claimed credit for the defeat (CS6, CS16, CS – Edits and Changes to the Text). Read More
• Character Bane was a black-haired Centaur who dislikes and distrusts humans. He carried off Umbridge when she attacked Magorian. Read More
• Creature A Dark creature with the appearance of a woman with floor-length black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged face. Its screams will kill. Read More
• Character Barnabas the Barmy was a wizard who famously tried to teach ballet to trolls but was clubbed for his efforts. Barnabas is depicted on a moving tapestry on seventh floor of Hogwarts which shows his foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet. The tapestry hangs opposite the entrance to… Read More
• Event He does so after she is found holding the wand which had cast a Dark Mark above the World Cup campground. The Ministry officials realize it is very unlikely that the house-elf really cast the spell, but Winky’s possession of a wand violates the Code of Wand use. The wand is… Read More
• Character Basil Flack was the sixth Minister for Magic only two months in 1752, when he resigned (from fear?) due to a sudden Goblin-Werewolf alliance (Pm). Read More
• Creature A wizard-bred Dark creature of enormous power, this extremely poisonous giant serpent (up to 50 feet in length) is brilliant green in color with long thin saber-like fangs and bulbous yellow eyes. The first basilisk was created by Herpo the Foul thousands of years ago (FW). A basilisk… Read More
• Magical objects Fangs and venom from the dreaded giant serpent that once lived in the Chamber of Secrets have magical properties. Read More
• Event The Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff Quidditch game, to determine the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup, is cancelled abruptly by Professor McGonagall. She takes Ron Weasley and Harry Potter to the Hospital Wing where they find that Hermione Granger and Penelope Clearwater are the latest victims to be… Read More
• Potion ingredients Bat body parts are used as potions ingredients. Read More
• Creature Bats are nocturnal flying mammals that are found all over the world. Appearances Thousands of live bats were used to decorate the Great Hall for Hallowe’en (PS10, CS8, PA8, GF16). Harry told the Dursleys that Sirius Black might turn them all into bats if… Read More
• Event May 1-2, 1998 The climactic final showdown between the side of good and the side of evil. Hogwarts Castle was damaged in this battle and fifty people died defending it, including Fred Weasley, Tonks, Remus Lupin, and Colin Creevey. The Death Eaters enlisted… Read More
• Event While Dumbledore is away, a gang of Death Eaters, led by Draco Malfoy, sneaks into Hogwarts through the vanishing cabinet in the Room of Requirement. They battle the Order of the Phoenix, and when Dumbledore and Harry return, Dumbledore freezes Harry as Draco arrives to Disarm Dumbledore (HBP27). After a… Read More
• Character Barny the Fruitbat is the mascot of the Ballycastle Bats Quidditch team and a figure used in Butterbeer advertisements (QA7). Read More
• Ministry of Magic A division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, with responsibility for creatures defined as “beasts”… Read More
• Creature Bees are a flying insect which live in colonies called hives and collect nectar from flowers. Read More
• Creature Beetles and beetle parts are used in some potions. Rita Skeeter’s animagus form was a beetle. Read More
• Character Mr. Belby was the father of Marcus Belby and the estranged brother of Damocles Belby, inventor of the Wolfsbane Potion (HBP7). Read More
• Creature Horn of this creature is used as a potion ingredient (Pm, CS10, CS11). Read More
• Creature Bigfoot is another name for the Yeti; this variety lives in the Pacific Northwest of the United States (FB). Read More
• Books and Literature Big Foot’s Last Stand was a book by Ortiz O’Flaherty detailing the Great Sasquatch Rebellion of 1892, which caused the Magical Congress of the United States (MACUSA) to relocate for the fifth time (Pm). Read More
• Rules and laws The Bill of Goblin Rights is the name of proposed legislation to codify and extend the rights of goblins in the wizarding world. Members of the goblin rights group The Brotherhood of Goblins (B.O.G.) met with representatives from the Ministry of Magic to try and set out the clauses… Read More
• Event During the Battle of the Tower in June of 1997, Bill Weasley is attacked by the werewolf Fenrir Greyback. It is not the full moon, so the wounds do not lead to full-blown lycanthropy, but Bill’s face is terribly scarred and he develops a yen for raw meat (HBP29)… Read More
• Creature The Billywig is a magical insect, about a half-inch long and vivid blue in color, with a large stinger that causes levitation and laughter in victims. The Billywig is native to Australia (FB). Dried Billywig stings are used in several potions and are allegedly a component in Fizzing Whizzbees (FB). They… Read More
• Character Binky was a young pet rabbit owned by Lavender Brown. Binky was killed by a fox in the fall of 1993. Lavender was convinced this was, as Professor Trelawney had predicted, “the thing she was dreading,” though Hermione pointed out that this didn’t make much logical sense (PA8). Read More
• Creature A small fairy-like creature that is covered with black hair. Another name for the Doxy. Read More
• Character Annis Black was a hag whose letter is published in the Daily Prophet (DP1). Read More
• Forests Shortly after Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys travelled via Portkey to the Quidditch World Cup, Basil told them that they needed to move out of the way because a big party would arrive from the Black Forest in a few minutes (GF7). This party was travelling via Portkey, then,… Read More
• Oceans and seas The Black Sea, sandwiched between Ukraine and Turkey in eastern Europe, was the site of a near-tragic accident in 1799 when a Ukrainian Ironbelly Dragon carried off a sailing ship. Thankfully, the ship was empty at the time (FB). Read More
• Creature The Blast-Ended Skrewt is a strange hybrid creature bred by crossing Manticores and Fire-Crabs. Newly-hatched skrewts looked like pale, slimy, deformed, shell-less lobsters. They had no heads but had legs sticking out at odd angles. The creatures were about six inches long and smelled strongly of rotten fish. Sparks flew… Read More
• Source Bloomsbury Live Chat (Bloomsbury.com, 30 July 2007, 2.00-3.00pm BST) with J K Rowling nine days after the release of Deathly Hallows. Read More
• Food and drinks Sold in the “Unusual Tastes” section at Honeydukes in Hogsmeade, apparently for vampires (PA10). Found near the Cockroach Clusters. Read More
• Creature The Blood-Sucking Bugbear is a dangerous magical creature sometimes found in the vicinity of Hogwarts (CS11). Read More
• Character Blodwyn Bludd was a famous Vampire known as the “Vampire from the Valleys.” Famous for singing to his victims in a sonorous bass baritone, before biting their necks (FW). Read More
• Creature The boarhound is another name for a Great Dane, a large German breed of domestic dog known for its giant size, which is bred for hunting deer, boar, and bears.  … Read More
• Creature Boggarts are shape shifters that prefer to live in dark, confined spaces, taking the form of the thing most feared by the person it encounters; nobody knows what a Boggart looks like in its natural state. Read More
• Spells The Boggart Banishing Spell requires the caster to visualize his or her worst fear in an amusing form while reciting the incantation “Riddikulus!” When performed correctly, this forces the boggart to take on an appearance which will inspire the laughter that overwhelms and banishes the creature. Read More
• Character The Old Boggle of Canterbury was a tiny Boggart who lived in a cave near the town of Canterbury. The Boggart tricked the Muggles of the area into believing he was a mad, cannibalistic hermit by using echos (Pm:Boggart). Read More
• Character Bogrod was an old Goblin who worked at Gringotts. He was placed under the Imperius Curse by Harry Potter while Harry, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Griphook attempted to break into the Lestrange vault deep within Gringotts (DH26). Read More
• Glossary Bog-standard is a British slang term meaning “common, ordinary, with no frills”. Read More
• Books and Literature The Book of Potions is a definitive study of the subtle art of potion-making by Zygmunt Budge. Read More
• Creature The boomslang (Dispholidus typus) is a large, venomous snake, found in Africa. Snape keeps boomslang skin in his private stores (CS11). Read More
• Character Mr. Boot was a wizard who took his family to America in the early 1600s in search of adventure. On the journey across the Atlantic, Mr. Boot and his family became friends with a Muggle man named James Steward. Once in America, the Boots encountered a Hidebehind in the woods. Read More
• Character Mrs. Boot was a witch who took her family to America in the early 1600s in search of adventure. On the journey across the Atlantic, Mrs. Boot and her family became friends with a Muggle man named James Steward. Once in America, the Boots encountered a Hidebehind in the woods. Read More
• Character Albert Boot was the fifth Minister for Magic, in office 1747-1752. He couldn’t handle a goblin rebellion and resigned (Pm). Read More
• Countries An island near the Phillipines and the South China Sea, Borneo was once covered in rainforests, though many have been destroyed through logging and farming. Acromantulas are native to Borneo (FB). Read More
• Creature A small (maximum height 8 inches) insect-eating tree-dweller with long sharp fingers (two on each hand), brown eyes, and a general appearance of a flat-faced little stickman made of bark and twigs, which serves well as camouflage in its native habitat. Found in western England, southern Germany, and Scandinavia, a… Read More
• Source Interview with J K Rowling on Blue Peter (CBBC), March 12, 2001. Read More
• Character Bran the Bloodthirsty was a giant who was fond of eating bread made with ground bones and washed down with the blood of an Englishman. Was slain by a boy named Jack. Read More
• Source “Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump” is a wizarding world fairy tale, part of the collection The Tales of Beedle the Bard. In the story, a foolish king decided to claim all magic for himself. He banished all true witches and wizards and hired a charlatan to teach him… Read More
• Books and Literature Thrilling autobiographical accounts of adventures dealing with various exotic and dangerous beasts, none of which, as it turns out, actually involved the author. Read More
• Magical identities Half-breed is a derrogatory term usually used to refer to individuals whose ancestry include both humans and another kind of magical being, such as a giant or a veela. The term is also applied to centaurs, however. Read More
• Organizations The Brotherhood of Goblins (B.O.G.) is group pressing for goblin rights, including the right to carry and use wands. Appearances Members of the B.O.G. were meeting with Ministry of Magic representatives in Chipping Clodbury when a small riot broke out. Some goblins got hold of… Read More
• Character Bruno Schmidt was a six-year-old German wizard who hit an Erkling over the head with his father’s collapsible cauldron and killed it, which was fortunate because Erklings eat children (FB). Read More
• Character Buckbeak is a grey hippogriff, one of the group of the creatures Hagrid brought to his first Care of Magical Creatures lesson with the third year students in the fall of 1993. Harry Potter was the first student to attempt to befriend a hippogriff in that class, and Buckbeak was the… Read More
• Event Harry and Hermione lead the hippogriff away while the execution party – an elderly member of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures, Walden Macnair (the executioner), Dumbledore, and Hagrid – is busy inside Hagrid’s hut. Prompted by Dumbledore, Harry and Hermione used Hermione’s Time-Turner to return to the time… Read More
• Event Hagrid takes Buckbeak on the Knight Bus to appear before the Committee of the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. Hermione helps Hagrid prepare a defense but it’s not enough. Lucius Malfoy bullies the Committee into condemning Buckbeak to be executed. Hagrid writes a tear-stained letter back to Hermione at… Read More
• Creature A small parrot-like bird kept as a pet, which in the U.S. is called a parakeet. See also Budgerigar Society. Read More
• Creature Bundimuns are household pests that are found worldwide. They look like a greenish fungus with eyes and have an unknown number of spindly legs which they will use if alarmed. Read More
• Character Bungy the Budgie was a budgerigar, or budgie, that could water-ski. He resided at the Five Feathers in Barnsley (OP1). Read More
• Event Muldoon struggled to find a working legal definition for “beast” and “being” during a summit on the subject. His simplistic idea for calling anything that walked on two legs a “being” and therefore to be given full rights backfired spectacularly when goblins introduced trolls, hags, and a number of other… Read More
• Countries Burkina Faso is a tiny country in western Africa. We know that it has a Ministry of Magic and that the runespoor is native to here (FB). We also hear in CS9 about one of Gilderoy Lockhart’s supposed adventures that took place in Burkina Faso, specifically in… Read More
• Magizoology Burning Day is the day on which a phoenix bursts into flames and is reborn from the ashes (CS12). Read More
• Creatures' homes, lairs, and territories • Gardens and farms • Houses and addresses The Burrow’s garden is full of weeds, overgrown grass, gnarled trees, various magical and non-magical plants, a big green pond full of frogs, a broom cupboard and an infestation of garden gnomes that the Weasley’s can’t get rid of because Mr. Weasley is too soft on them; he finds them funny. Read More
• Event At 11 am, the Hogwarts Express departs King’s Cross Station. Ginny introduces Harry and Neville to Luna Lovegood (OP10). After the train arrives at Hogwarts, Harry sees Thestrals for the first time (OP10). At the feast, the Sorting Hat sings a song of warning, and Dolores Umbridge is introduced (OP11). Read More