• Publications The Daily Prophet is the newspaper of the Wizarding World. It has been in existence since at least 1883, since Quidditch Through the Ages cites its coverage of Quidditch from that time (QA6). Background The editor in the 1990s is Barnabas Cuffe (HBP4). It has offices… Read More
• Source In the late 1990s, Bloomsbury created an Official Harry Potter Fan Club and invited children from Britain to join. There was never a United States chapter of the Club. One of the perks for joining the Club was several issues of The Daily Prophet, a three-page newsletter detailing goings-on in the wizarding world. Each of these… Read More
• Character Daisy Dodderidge was the builder and first landlady of the Leaky Cauldron (WoM). Daisy wanted to create a gateway between the Muggle world and Diagon Alley. Her inn became famous for its welcoming atmosphere (and for the connection to Diagon Alley, of course) (FW). Read More
• Organizations The Dark Force Defence League (US: “Dark Force Defense League”) may or may not be directly affiliated with the Ministry of Magic. Gilderoy Lockhart was an honorary member (CS6, GF31, WW). One of the members was interviewed for an article of Rita Skeeter’s, where… Read More
• Lakes and marshes A hag by the name of Annis Black lives in a cave here. She wrote a letter to the Daily Prophet protesting the way they characterized hags in their articles (DP). Read More
• Rooms, chambers, and floors • Wizarding places A “pure white” room in MACUSA Headquarters that contains a pool of deadly potion with a chair hovering above it. Prisoners are led in shackles to the chamber by Executioners who extract happy memories from the accused with their wands and drop them into the pool. The mesmerized victims are… Read More
• Wizarding culture A Deathday Party is held on the anniversary of a witch’s or wizard’s death. Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington celebrated his 500th Deathday on Oct. 31, 1992. Harry, Ron and Hermione were the only living guests. The rest of the guest list were hundreds of Nick’s ghost friends including the… Read More
• Organizations The Death Eaters are those wizards who follow Voldemort. There seems to be a fairly small number of them, although those who Apparate to Voldemort’s side when the Dark Mark on their arms summons them may be the inner circle of his strongest supporters only. Some of the Death Eaters… Read More
• Symbols An artistic portrayal of the three Deathly Hallows: a line symbolizing the Elder Wand inside a triangle representing the Cloak of Invisibility, both inside a circle that stands for the Resurrection Stone. Read More
• Event Voldemort attempts to kill Harry Potter after murdering his parents, but the spell rebounds onto Voldemort. Harry is left alive with a scar on his forehead that hides an accidental Horcrux made of Voldemort’s shattered soul. Voldemort, nearly dead and without physical form, retreats into the forests of Albania where… Read More
• Thing Wizarding gardens have to be routinely “de-gnomed” or the gnarly little potato-head creatures will take over. Fantastic beast expert Newt Scamander wrote that gnomes should be caught and swung around in the air, then tossed over a fence or wall (FB). Read More
• Ministry of Magic The Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes is the department within the Ministry of Magic which has responsibility for being first on the scene when magical spells go wrong or Muggles become aware of wizarding activity. Read More
• Ministry of Magic The Department of Magical Equipment Control is a department or office in the Ministry of Magic which concerns itself with the many types of magical items and devices which exist in the wizarding world. This section regulates problems with equipment such as faulty wands and loose-bottomed cauldrons (DP1). Read More
• Ministry of Magic The Department of Magical Games and Sports in the Ministry of Magic is responsible for the regulation of Quidditch and other wizarding sports. History Thought to be formed in 1750 (QA6) in the wake of the signing of the Statute of Secrecy in 1692, this Ministry… Read More
• Ministry of Magic The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is a department of the Ministry of Magic which has responsibility for all types of magical creatures, including the difficulties arising from the definition of a “creature.” The Department creates laws and regulations, handles complaints, and manages the well-being and concelament of a… Read More
• Source Remus Lupin seeks out Harry, Ron and Hermione at Grimmauld Place and offers to accompany them on their quest, but Harry refuses, recognizing that Lupin is seeking escape from complications in his personal life. Kreacher returns with Mundungus Fletcher, who reveals that… Read More
• Source After weeks of planning, Harry, Ron and Hermione ambush three Ministry of Magic workers, assume their identities, and sneak into Ministry headquarters. To their horror, they learn that Ron has assumed the identity of a man whose wife is about to be interrogated about her blood status,… Read More
• Source Hermione accompanies Dolores Umbridge to court while Harry breaks into Umbridge’s office, to find Mad-Eye Moody’s eye mounted on her door. While inside, Harry sees she has a file on Arthur Weasley and a copy of Rita Skeeter’s book. Harry retrieves the eye and… Read More
• Source Harry, Ron and Hermione apparated to the old Quidditch World Cup campgrounds, Ron having been splinched in the process. Hermione treats Ron’s injuries and they set up camp, whereupon Harry has a vision of Lord Voldemort interrogating Gregorovitch. He realizes that Voldemort is searching for something Gregorovitch… Read More
• Source Hermione gives Harry the copy of The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore that she picked up in the Bathilda Bagshot’s house. They learn that the young man in the picture was Gellert Grindelwald who, according to Rita Skeeter, was very close to… Read More
• Source Hermione apparates with Harry to the Forest of Dean, where Harry, keeping watch late at night, sees and follows a Patronus in the form of a silver doe to a frozen pool in which the sword of Gryffindor lies. He is nearly strangled… Read More
• Source Harry and Ron bring each other up to date on their adventures, Hermione finds the triangular mark in a photograph of Dumbledore’s letters, and the trio seek out Xenophilius Lovegood at his home for further information about the mark. Read More
• Source Xenophilius Lovegood explains that the mark is the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. The origin of the story is The Tale of the Three Brothers, which Hermione then reads aloud. Xenophilius then explains the symbolism of the mark and discusses the Hallows. Harry, wandering around the… Read More
• Source Harry buries Dobby and regains perspective, putting the Horcrux hunt above the Hallows quest. He realizes where the Elder Wand is and that Lord Voldemort is about to obtain it. He also believes there is probably a Horcrux hidden in the Lestranges’ Gringotts… Read More
• Source Griphook agrees to help break into Gringotts Bank in exchange for the sword of Gryffindor, which he considers to be rightfully goblin property. Harry and Ron agree in bad faith, planning to retain it until the Horcrux hunt is over. Remus Lupin… Read More
• Source Harry, Ron and Hermione spend most of the day riding the dragon, only to get away from it near sunset. Harry has a vision of the theft being reported to Lord Voldemort, and realizes that they are running out of time – Voldemort now knows that they are… Read More
• Source Harry is preparing to leave Privet Drive, emptying his school trunk and packing a rucksack with the items most important to him. In the process, he also sorts through the newspapers of the past few weeks to re-read and save Dumbledore’s obituary. At the… Read More
• Source Alecto Carrow summons Lord Voldemort before she is stunned by Harry. Professor McGonagall and Amycus Carrow enter the Ravenclaw Common Room. When Amycus insults McGonagall and spits in her face, Harry attacks him. He tells McGonagall that Voldemort is on his way and Harry… Read More
• Source Professor McGonagall orders the evacuation of those underage or who do not wish to fight. Lord Voldemort delivers an ultimatum. Harry is told how Voldemort acquired the diadem of Ravenclaw by the Grey Lady, Ravenclaw’s ghost. She reveals that she is Helena Ravenclaw, Rowena’s… Read More
• Source Lord Voldemort tells his fighters to return to him. Voldemort asks Harry to meet him in the Forbidden Forest within the next hour or he will join the battle and kill everyone who tries to conceal Harry. While everyone goes to the Great Hall, to mourn… Read More
• Source Having learned that he must die, Harry heads towards in the Forbidden Forest to meet Lord Voldemort. Along the way, he makes sure that Neville Longbottom knows that Nagini has to be killed, in case Hermione and Ron are unable to kill her. When… Read More
• Source Harry awakens in what seems to him to be King’s Cross station. Harry encounters what remains of the fragment of Lord Voldemort’s soul (now powerless) that was attached to Harry. Albus Dumbledore appears, celebrating Harry’s bravery. Dumbledore tells Harry that he doesn’t believe that Harry is… Read More
• Source Both Harry and Lord Voldemort regain consciousness in the Forbidden Forest. Harry pretends to be dead. Narcissa Malfoy is ordered to check on Harry. She sees that he is alive, but quietly asks him if Draco is alive. Harry tells her that her son is… Read More
• Source Vernon Dursley is reluctant for the family to flee Privet Drive. Harry explains to the Dursleys why they are in danger, and Dudley then tells his parents he wants to leave with Hestia Jones and Dedalus Diggle from the Order of the… Read More
• Source Harry celebrates his seventeenth birthday and his coming of age. Rufus Scrimgeour arrives with Arthur Weasley to deliver the bequests of Albus Dumbledore to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Scrimgeour attempts to get information from them about why Dumbledore remembered them in his will. Scrimgeour and… Read More
• Source Harry, disguised by Polyjuice Potion, attends Bill’s and Fleur’s wedding, where he meets Xenophilius Lovegood and Ron’s Great Aunt Muriel, and re-encounters Viktor Krum and Elphias Doge. Thanks to Krum, Harry remembers who Gregorovitch is and learns that Xenophilius is wearing a symbol… Read More
• Source Harry, Ron and Hermione flee the Death Eaters by Apparating to Tottenham Court Road. Hermione’s handbag turns out to have hidden depths (undetectable extension charm), and they go to a Muggle café to plan their next move. Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle arrive, they… Read More
• Source Harry and Ginny bring their three children to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and the Hogwarts Express. They meet up with Ron and Hermione and their two children. Harry and Ginny’s second son, Albus Severus Potter, along with Hermione and Ron’s oldest child, Rose… Read More
• Businesses, merchants, and shops • Streets, alleys, and lanes • Wizarding places Diagon Alley is a magically-hidden, wizarding shopping street located behind the Leaky Cauldron in central London, just off Charing Cross Road. Tapping just the right brick in the wall behind the Leaky Cauldron in London (“Three up…two across…”) will reveal an archway which is a portal into Diagon… Read More
• Towns Didsbury is a suburb of Manchester, in northwest England. It is (or was) also the home of warlock D.J. Prod, a satisfied Kwikspell customer quoted on their packaging in CS8. See also the Muggle Encyclopedia entry for Didsbury. Read More
• Quote It was a strange thing, but when you are dreading something, and would give anything to slow down time, it has a disobliging habit of speeding up. Read More
• Ministry of Magic A division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures with responsibility for the higher-order creatures defined as “beings”… Read More
• Furniture and household items • Security Sometimes semi-sentient, doors in the Wizarding World may be more protective of that which lies on the other side than those found in the Muggle world. Read More
• Event After putting the entire magical community in danger by spilling its secrets to a descendent of scourers, the daughter of Aristotle Twelvetrees is imprisoned for one year. Many in the magical community wish to see Dorcus killed or locked away for the rest of her life for her foolishness. Wizarding… Read More
• Source July 31st 1998 The Daily Prophet Price: 7 Knuts Headlines (Front Page) MUGGLES NOT AS STUPID AS WE THINK, SAYS MINISTRY REPORT FAULTY WANDS RECALLED Advertisement: Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions – Summer Sale on Now. Sports Quidditch League Table and… Read More
• Source Feb 8th 1999The Daily ProphetPrice: 7 Knuts Headlines (Front Page) ENQUIRY AT THE IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OFFICE CELESTINA WARBECK CONCERT CAUSES BROOM SMASH OVER LIVERPOOL TROLL RIGHTS MOVEMENT OUT OF CONTROL Editorial reference box to  WHY THE JOKE’S ON THE MINISTRY, NOT THE MUGGLES… Read More
• Source June 1st 1999The Daily ProphetPrice: 7 Knuts Headlines (Front Page) GOBLIN RIOTS ERUPT IN CHIPPING CLODBURY Making sure the purchaser of your old wand is human (page 11) Why can’t goblins be more like elves? (page 32) Advertisement: TerrorTours Problem Page HOW MUCH REVENGE… Read More
• Source Oct 1st 1999The Daily ProphetPrice: 7 Knuts Headlines MINISTRY IMPOSES RESTRICTIONS NEW POTION GIVES HOPE FOR HAGS Advertisement: Poor memory? Sports Quidditch League Table & Match Information Ballycastle Bats lead the league with 820 points and the Falmouth Falcons are still at the… Read More
• Occupations A magizoologist who studies dragons.  Known dragonologists include Harvey Ridgebit (WoM) and Quong Po (FW); Charlie Weasley is an aspiring dragonologist (PS6). Read More
• Areas of knowledge A field of study focusing on dragons, part of the larger field of magizoology.  Significant contributions to the field were made by Quong Po (FW) and Harvey Ridgebit (WoM). Read More
• Diseases and healing Dragon Pox is a disease which afflicts wizarding folk. While the disease can be very serious, even deadly, lesser cases can clear up by themselves. Symptoms of Dragon Pox In its initial stages, sufferers notice a “nasty green and purple rash” between the toes and begin sneezing sparks (DP3). At… Read More
• Diseases and healing The Dragon Pox cure treats the alarming, disfiguring, contagious and sometimes fatal wizarding disease of Dragon Pox. The talented and much-loved healer Gunhilda of Gorsemoor developed a cure for Dragon Pox in the 16th century (FW). Professor Helbert Spleen, however, replies to Howland Coopey’s letter about his symptoms in the… Read More
• Schools Sent by the Head of the magical African school Uagadou to children who have been accepted as pupils (Pm). Read More
• Clothing Dress robes are a formal style of robe that witches and wizards wear for special occasions. At Hogwarts, students in their fourth year and above are required to have dress robes to wear to formal events. In the books, this is exemplified at the Yule Ball. Read More
• Article
Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
This is no moot point. Quite contrary to what many a reader may think, duels such as those in the Harry Potter books are not frequent in fantasy literature. That is so because it’s very difficult to convey to the audience or to the readers the precise impression of a… Read More
• Books and Literature Dumbledore’s Army: The Dark Side of the Demob is a tell-all book by Rita Skeeter about Dumbledore’s Army. In this book, published on July 31st 2014, Rita described the imperfections of the Dumbledore’s Army members. She promoted it during the 2014 Quidditch World Cup in her article “Dumbledore’s… Read More
• Headlines and advertisements Dumbledore’s Army Reunites at Quidditch World Cup Final is a feature article that appeared in the Daily Prophet on 8 July 2014. Background Wasp-penned gossip journalist Rita Skeeter reports on the loves, lives and rivalries of the former members of Dumbledore’s Army when they got together in Argentina to… Read More
• Event Classes and exams were put off for the funeral, but some parents took their children home soon after learning of Dumbledore’s death. Many witches and wizards come to bid farewell to the “greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had.” A chorus of merpeople sing a tribute from below the lake’s surface. Dumbledore’s… Read More
• Houses and addresses We’ve actually known the Dumbledore family to live in two houses: the first was in Mould-on-the-Wold, and was where Ariana was found and tortured by Muggles as a small child. After this happened, and Percival was sent to Azkaban for taking revenge on the Muggle children, Kendra moved the family… Read More
• Schools Durmstrang Institute is a Northern European school of witchcraft and wizardry, one of at least three wizarding schools in Europe, along with Hogwarts and Beauxbatons. Headmasters: Nerida Vulchanova (founder), Harfang Munter, Igor Karkaroff (until fleeing in 1995) Location: a castle in northern Europe, far enough north… Read More
• Headlines and advertisements Why Dustbins Weren’t Meant to Kick is an article appearing in the Daily Prophet (DP1). Published in the Prophet on 28 June, Ethelbald Mordaunt refers to this article in his “Star Letter” of 31 July. He commended the paper for pointing out the unpleasant consequences of those types of… Read More