• Character The Ollivanders are a famous wizarding family of wandmakers whose wands have been sold since Roman times. They are one of the so-called ‘Sacred Twenty-Eight’ families listed in the Pure-Blood Directory of the early 1930s. Notable Members of this family include: Gervaise Ollivander Geraint Ollivander Gerbold Octavius Ollivander… Read More
• Event According to Garrick Ollivander, the current wandmaker, “his earliest forebears in this country arrived with the Romans, and set up stall (subsequently shop) to sell to ancient British wizards whose wands were crude of construction and unreliable in performance” (Pm). Read More
• Character Oona was an innkeeper in Yorkshire in the 1100s. She provided the local “Kwidditch” team with the barrels they used for goals and afterwards, gave free mead all night to celebrate the team’s victory over Ilkley (QA3). Read More
• Source The start-of-term feast takes place, the Sorting Hat gives warning in its new song, Harry recognizes Dolores Umbridge as she is introduced as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Harry learns that not everyone believes that Lord Voldemort is back. Read More
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Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
In this chapter, things really start heading downhill. Umbridge is appointed to be Hogwarts High Inquisitor — a name reminiscent of the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition. She begins harassing and demeaning the rest of the teaching staff immediately. These scenes where she stalks the classrooms of various… Read More
• Source Dolores Umbridge replaces Albus Dumbledore as Head of Hogwarts, the students (with the help of Fred and George’s inventions) rebel while the staff sit back and watch, and Umbridge tries to get Harry to tell her where Dumbledore is hiding.  Harry confronts Cho Chang… Read More
• Source Harry has his final outburst in anguish over Sirius’ death, and Dumbledore tells him everything – about why he must return to the Dursleys every year, about the prophecy, about how Voldemort marked him as his equal, about how it could as easily have been Neville, and about how either… Read More
• Source Harry, Hermione, Ron, Sirius and the rest of the Weasleys clean the Black house; Kreacher, the Black family house-elf, shows another darker side to house-elves; Harry is shown the Black Family Tree tapestry; and we learn that Sirius is not only related… Read More
• Event The Order of the Phoenix arose in the 1970s to fight the first rise of Lord Voldemort. At a dinner at the Burrow before Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts, Mad-Eye Moody shows Harry an early photograph of the members of the Order of the Phoenix, including his dead… Read More
• Character Ortiz O’Flaherty was an American and the author of Bigfoot’s Last Stand, a book about the Great Sasquatch Rebellion of 1892 (Pm). Read More
• Character Ottaline Gambol was Minister for Magic from 1827 to 1835. She was more appreciative of Muggles and their technology than many wizards of the time, and thus introduced the Hogwarts Express as the method of transport to Hogwarts (Pm). Read More
• Event Logistical difficulties plague efforts to get students to and from Hogwarts while adhering to the Statute of Secrecy. Minister for Magic Ottaline Gambol, who appreciates Muggle innovation, comes up with the idea of using a steam engine. The exact origin of the Hogwarts Express is uncertain, but it is rumoured… Read More
• Timelines and calendars Ancient Egypt and Greece – 3000 BC through 100 AD This is an era of Muggle/Wizard cooperation; many political and religious leaders were witches and wizards. Growing distrust and prejudice – 100 – 1692 AD Muggles begin to fear wizards. Some try to manipulate their magical bretheren for their own… Read More