• Character Ludovic “Ludo” Bagman was a celebrated Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps c. 1980. When his Quidditch days were over, he joined the Department of Magical Games and Sports and eventually (c. 1993) became its head. He served in that capacity until his somewhat informal departure from… Read More
• Character Otto Bagman was a wizard who got into trouble with the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office because of an unusual lawnmower which Arthur Weasley straightened out for him. Out of gratitude, Otto’s brother Ludo then arranged the Weasleys’ tickets to the Quidditch World Cup (GF5). Read More
• Character Millicent Bagnold was Minister of Magic before Cornelius Fudge, from 1980-1990 (OP5). She was a “highly able Minister. Had to answer to the International Confederation of Wizards for a number of breaches of International Statute of Secrecy on the day and night following Harry Potter’s survival of Lord Voldemort’s… Read More
• Character Ballyfumble Stranger is from Conundrum 5: The Miserable Ode of Quivering Quintus, part of Miranda Goshawk’s Book of Spells. He is a nervous and cowardly character, who flees from danger quickly and lacks bravery and daring. (BoS)… Read More
• Character Barnabas Deverill was a one-time possessor of the Elder Wand who was killed by Loxias (DH21). He lived in the early eighteenth century and was a notorious Dark wizard who, with the help of the Elder Wand, gained a fearsome reputation (TBB). Read More
• Character Barnabus Finkley was presumably a famously accomplished wizard, whom the Barnabus Finkley Prize for Exceptional Spell Casting was named after.  Albus Dumbledore received this award while he was a student at Hogwarts (DH18). Read More
• Character Baruffio was a wizard who mispronounced a charm and suffered for it (PS10). Lent his name to some patent medicine of dubious value called Baruffio’s Brain Elixir (OP31). 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
• Character Basil Horton played for the Falmouth Falcons, a Quidditch team from England, in the 1920s. Along with his Falcons teammate Randolph Keitch, he started the Comet Trading Company in 1929. He and Randolph are also the creators of the Horton-Keitch Braking Charm (QA9). Read More
• Houses and addresses Now filled with the “odor of old age, of dust, of unwashed clothes and stale food,” the Bagshot house has been home to Bathilda Bagshot for many years. The house is located in Godric’s Hollow, in between the town square and the Potter cottage (DH17). It was here that… Read More
• Character Beatrix Bloxam was the author of The Toadstool Tales series of children’s books. These books have been banned because they cause nausea and vomiting. Bloxam appears on a Famous Wizard card (FW) and is mentioned several times in Tales of Beedle the Bard (TBB). Bloxam’s stated ideas for children’s stories… Read More
• Character Beaumont Marjoribanks was a pioneer in the field of Herbology. He collected and classified many rare and magical plants. Marjoribanks is credited with discovering Gillyweed, although Elladora Ketteridge had discovered it about a century earlier (FW). Read More
• Schools Students at Beauxbatons come from many countries from Western Europe, including Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Belgium, and The Netherlands. Nicolas Flamel met his wife, Perenelle. A fountain in the school’s park is named for them. Beauxbatons has a larger student population than Hogwarts (Pm). Read More
• Character Beedle the Bard was the accredited author of wizarding children’s fairy tales. Read More
• Character Humphrey Belcher was a wizard who mistakenly thought a cheese cauldron would be a good idea (HBP10). Read More
• Character Bertie Bott is a wizard inventor who created the popular candy Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. While experimenting with ways to create tasty candies from food, Bott accidentally included a pair of dirty socks in one of his trials, and created the first of the many surprises found in Bertie… Read More
• Source   “The Noble and Most Ancient House of BLACK,” a hand-drawn tree that Rowling donated to Book Aid International in January of 2006 and auctioned February 22, 2006. The Lexicon’s image was made in 2006, based off of two partial pictures, and a description by Aberforth the Marauder,… Read More
• Character William Arthur Weasley (Bill) is the oldest child of the Weasley family and is an adventurous person who works for Gringotts. Bill is married to Fleur Delacour. The oldest son of Arthur and Molly Weasley, Bill is a caring, noble wizard who can’t resist a bit of “adventure and glamour” (… Read More
• Character Bellatrix Lestrange was one of Voldemort’s most devoted Death Eaters, a cruel and vicious woman who was guilty of torturing and murdering wizards and Muggles alike. Bella, as she was sometimes called, was the oldest daughter of Druella Rosier and Cygnus Black of the “Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.”… Read More
• Character An ancient elitist, pure-blood Wizarding family, the line of which extends back at least seven centuries (OP6). The line died out with the death of Sirius Black in 1996 (OP37). Ancestry: mostly pure-blood; descendants of mixed blood are not recognized by the family. Family in general: “The… Read More
• Magical artifacts The Black Family Tree tapestry is a large tapestry which hangs at number twelve Grimmauld Place. It has, according to Kreacher, been in the Black family for seven centuries (OP6). On it the family’s births, marriages and deaths are embroidered with gold thread; family members who have been disowned… Read More
• Character Regulus Black was the younger brother of Sirius Black. Unlike Sirius, Regulus was favored by their parents because he shared their overweening pride in their heritage and their belief in pure-blood supremacy; indeed, Regulus became one of Voldemort’s Death Eaters around 1977 at the age of sixteen. Sirius… Read More
• Character Sirius Black was James Potter’s closest friend, Harry Potter’s godfather, and an Animagus, who was falsely accused of betrayal and murder and imprisoned in Azkaban. History Sirius Black was the elder of two boys born to an aristocratic family that was fiercely proud of its pureblood status and… Read More
• Character Blaise Zabini’s mother was a “famously beautiful witch” who “married seven times.” Each of her wealthy husbands died a mysterious death, leaving her a lot of gold (HBP7). She is the mother of Blaise Zabini, a Slytherin in Harry’s year. Read More
• Character Blenheim Stalk is a well-known expert on Muggles and the author of several books, including Muggles Who Notice (FB, FW). Read More
• Magical identities A witch or wizard with at least one wizarding parent but at least one Muggle parent or grandparent. Read More
• Titles, nicknames, and honorifics A title claimed in handwriting in the margins by the mysterious owner of the book Advanced Potion Making some 20 years in the past. Since there is no royalty in the Wizarding world, this presumptive title was a bit of a mystery. Read More
• Wizarding culture One of the underlying problems in the wizarding world is intolerance and prejudice based on the “purity” of a person’s wizarding blood. Wizards distinguish between purebloods (no Muggle ancestry), half-blood (at least one wizarding parent but at least one Muggle parent or grandparent) and Muggle-borns (both parents were Muggles). Read More
• Source The first of three Barnes & Noble chats. Read More
• Source Second online chat with JK Rowling for the Barnes & Noble website. Read More
• Character Edgar Bones Edgar was a member of the Order of the Phoenix in the 1970s; Moody said “he was a great wizard.” Killed, with his wife and children, by a Death Eater before Voldemort fell (OP9). Brother of Amelia Susan Bones, uncle of Susan Bones. Mr. and… Read More
• Character Amelia Susan Bones was the sister of Edgar Bones and the aunt of Susan Bones. Before her murder by Death Eaters, Amelia was the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (OP6) and presided over the Wizengamot (OP8), including Harry’s disciplinary hearing on August 12, 1995. She… Read More
• 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 More
• Character Webster Boot was the younger son of Mr. and Mrs. Boot who was taken care of by Isolt Sayre after his parents were attacked by a Hidebehind in Massachusetts. Webster and his brother Chadwick were taught by Isolt Sayre, and eventually adopted by her and… Read More
• Character Proprietor of Borgin and Burkes of Knockturn Alley; an oily, smooth-talking fellow who fawned on Lucius Malfoy during the summer of 1992 but was less than impressed after his customers’ departure (CS4). Draco visited his shop again in late July 1996 to force the shopkeeper to help him repair… Read More
• Titles, nicknames, and honorifics When Harry Potter’s parents were attacked and killed by Voldemort on Halloween night in 1981, he not only survived but miraculously vanquished the Dark Lord. Within 24 hours, he had been nicknamed “The Boy Who Lived” (PS1). Read More
• Character Barberus Bragge was Chief of the Wizards’ Council in 1269. Bragge attended a Quidditch match in 1269 and offered 150 Galleons to whomever caught the tiny Golden Snidget bird which he released onto the pitch. At that time, 150 Galleons was the equivalent of over a million… 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
• Character Bridget Wenlock was a famous arithmancer, noted for her groundbreaking theories on the magical properties of the number seven (FW). Wenlock was very protective of her work and used a variety of methods to prevent anyone from seeing her writing, including invisible ink. Unfortunately, Wenlock was also… Read More
• Character Brutus Scrimgeour is the author of The Beaters’ Bible (QA6). He also wrote a promotional blurb for the front of Quidditch Through the Ages (QA). Read More
• Character Zygmunt Budge is considered to be one of the most accomplished Potioneers the world has ever known (according to him). He is the author of The Book of Potions.  Budge was a student at Hogwarts in the 1500s and excelled at potion making. He was rather boastful and proud, and… Read More
• Character Burdock Muldoon was Chief of Wizards’ Council in the mid-14th century. Muldoon tried to define the difference between a “being” and a “beast.” He decreed that any creature that had two legs was a “being,” and therefore deserving of better representation and treatment. When he called a summit meeting to discuss… Read More
• Character One of the founders of Borgin and Burkes, a shop in Knockturn Alley. The man behind the counter when Lucius Malfoy came in (CS4), however, was Mr. Borgin. Read More
• Character A Wizarding Pure-blood family, listed in the ‘Pure-Blood Directory’ (c. 1930) as one of the ‘Sacred Twenty-Eight’ families (Pm:Pure-Blood). Notable family members include: Caractacus Burke Herbert Burke… Read More