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Archive: 2003

"Ladies and gentlemen, what an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time!"
     -- Gilderoy Lockhart (CS4)

The Harry Potter Lexicon web site is constantly being revised, expanded, and edited. New information is added on a daily basis. It would be impossible to list every change here on this page. However, you will find listed here any new pages that have been added as well as major revisions. You'll also find any news about the Lexicon. Our goal is to make this web site the most complete and thorough resource about the Harry Potter universe available anywhere, in any format. You can help us reach that goal by filling out a feedback form. Let us know how we're doing and give us your suggestions for improvement.

Thanks for visiting the Harry Potter Lexicon!

22 November, 2003
After a busy few days, I finally got back to working on the Lexicon. Nik the Hermit's analyses of Little Whinging and of number four Privet Drive is complete and I've uploaded it all. He actually found a house of the type that the Dursleys' house would be and has drawn his floorplans accordingly. He's also made an interesting discovery about street names, which I've posted as a short essay. This is really good stuff, folks.

Just a personal note: Hello to Brian and Emma...yes, it is me.

15 November, 2003
New page added about the Hogwarts choir. Okay, okay, I know, there ISN'T a Hogwarts choir in the books, so this is definitely NOT CANON, but it's so interesting that I decided to add the page anyway. Included on the page are the lyrics and music for the song they are singing in the trailer, "Something Wicked This Way Comes." I also put a couple of images from the trailer onto that page. I don't usually use film images and if permission doesn't come through from Warner fairly quickly, I'll remove them.

15 November, 2003
People have been asking about this for years, and I've finally done it. I have spent the last couple of hours tracking down all the essays on the Lexicon and creating an index page. ("And there was great rejoicing") I am fairly certain I found them all, but if any more turn up I'll have to add them later. It's late...

12 November 12, 2003
Another wonderful essay has just been added, this one called "How Safe Is Privet Drive?", written by Jen Reese. To complement the essay I've included another beautiful drawing by Marta T. based on the first chapter of Order of the Phoenix.

11 November, 2003
In case anyone's interested, I've uploaded a page showing a scan of one of the pages of my research notebook about OP. I had a few requests for people who wondered what my notebooks looked like, so if that's you, here you go.

Nik the Hermit has added a whole new section to the essay on the location of Privet Drive, determining when the house was built and giving some of the details of what it must look like. Nik has promised detailed plans of an actual Surrey house of just this description...stay tuned!

9 November, 2003
New pages:

• information about the Chamber of Secrets film, edited by Marilyn Cole
• new page for the Atlas giving details of the location of Little Whinging in Surrey, carefully researched by Nik (who lives in that area and has been investigating homes and neighborhoods)

• "Those Unpredictable Defense Against the Dark Arts Professors" by Louis F. Badalament, II
• "A View of the Map: Understanding How The Marauder's Map Works" by Steven Beers

2 November, 2003
Most of the new spells have been added to the Spell Encyclopedia, which is a bit of a relief, since I do get a lot of email reminding me about them. I am still adding more, however. Tonight, for example, I added Permanent Sticking Charm. That's because I'm currently on Chapter 6.

Here's what that means. I am cataloging the new book chapter by chapter in my notebook. I am in the middle of chapter 18 at the moment, writing down every little detail. The process of getting that information from my notebook into the Lexicon takes a little longer, and in that I'm only on chapter 6. You can tell how far I am by checking out the page of chapter descriptions for OP: the entries for chapters 1-6 are much more detailed than the entries for the rest of the book. As I work on each chapter, I always find a huge number of new things to add to the Lexicon. For example, tonight I added:

• information about Doxies and Puffskeins to the Bestiary
• a whole new page about Buckbeak
• notes about Doxy eggs in the Potions ingredients list and about Doxycide and antidotes to the Potions Encyclopedia.
• added "shifty" to the British glossary and checked that "you lot," "pastilles," "fancies," "snogging," and "skiving" were on the list
• while I was adding Permanent Sticking Charm, I added information about Patronus (that Cho's was a swan and the phrase "corporeal Patronus")
• added Wartcap Powder to the Potions Encyclopedia

So why am I telling you this? I guess it's just to let you know that things are getting done around here. None of these additions would typically warrent an entry on this "What's New" page, but these kinds of edits are happening all the time. I just thought you'd like to know.

28 October, 2003
I am delighted to announce that a new essay has been added to the Lexicon, this one delving into the possible connections between Ginny and Harry. The author of this essay, Water Witch, emailed me the other day to point out, without rancor, that she had indeed submitted this essay to the Lexicon back in July, so my statement below that no one had submitted an essay to me about other relationships was in fact wrong. She was right...I discovered the emails of our conversation in my inbox, still waiting for me to do something with the link she'd provided. 

That brings up a rather important point. I do get a a LOT of email. I have a feeling that during the last few months, since Order of the Phoenix was released, I likely misplaced or forgot about other conversations I've had. There are currently something like 680 items in my inbox and 200 in my Lexicon folder. If you've been wondering why I haven't emailed back or, worse yet, why I never published something that I told you I would, and if you're now harboring nasty, angry thoughts about me, I apologize profusely. You can wait it out and hope I somehow find myself back to your emails, stewing all the while, or you can forgive me and send another email to gently remind me. Your choice.

I suppose there's always the chance that your next email will just become number 681, but the volume of messages coming into my inbox has dropped quite a bit in the last two months and there is a pretty darn good chance that I won't forget you a second time. And if you want to email me and tell me how wrong I am to put "shipping" essays on the Lexicon, go right ahead and do so. I have a file for those too.

24 October, 2003
Well, this has been interesting. You'd think that I would have been familiar enough with the, uh, fervency of fans when it comes to "shipping," but I have to admit that I was surprised by the reactions in email to Penny's essay. Some accused the Lexicon of no longer being impartial. Some have pointed out that Rowling's statements seem to indicate that Hermione and Ron have a budding relationship and that Harry doesn't enter in to it, so speculation on that score is "against canon." Others have criticized the Lexicon for joining the shipping debate at all because they find the whole thing distasteful or even inappropriate.

Let me remind everyone of a couple of things. First of all, since relationships have become a part of the canon in books four and five, it is perfectly reasonable for the Lexicon to include information on the subject. Secondly, since virtually nothing is actually told to us about any relationship between any main characters except that of Harry and Cho, pretty much anything put forward is going to be speculation.

Put those facts together and that means that the Lexicon should and will publish well-researched, thought-provoking essays on the subject of relationships ("shipping"), and that these essays will speculate and draw conclusions from hints in or interpretations of the text. You don't have to read them if you don't want to.

One other point needs to be made. The Lexicon has never really been completely impartial. Pretty much every essay, for example, involves speculation and drawn conclusions. Even the more factual parts of the Lexicon include a few "facts" which have only been deduced or assumed, not proven. This is unavoidable. We try desperately hard to research away the uncertainty, but sometimes we just have to go with our assumptions and hope for the best. Take the day-by-day calendars, for example. You can read in the explanatory text on the pages the level of research that was done to try to put those calendars together. Even with that kind of careful work, the day-by-day calendars are filled with speculation, assumption, and guesses. They're pretty darn good guesses, but they are nevertheless guesses.

So why don't I have a Harry/Ginny or a Ron/Hermione essay? Because so far, no one has submitted one. Rather than complain about Penny's piece, why don't some of you fire up your word processors and write me an essay? I can't promise that I'll publish it, but I'll certainly consider it.

And what "side" am I on in this debate? I'm not telling.

On the subject of artwork, however, some valid objections have been raised. I chose the pieces I did because they represented some of the scenes which Penny referenced in her essay. However, as a few folks pointed out, the scenes depicted almost seemed to show Harry's relationships with characters other than Hermione. I think that's a good point. With no disrespect intended to Marta at all, I will be looking for suitable replacement artwork for that page. I'll place Marta's work elsewhere in the Lexicon. I haven't heard from her specifically about this issue, but I don't think she'll be offended if I move her artwork off that page.

19 October, 2003
I finally got around to editing and publishing an essay from my dear friend Penny Linsenmayer, who was in many ways the person most responsible for Harry Potter for Grown Ups being what it is today. Penny's essay is entitled "Partners and Friends: The Evolving Relationship Between Harry and Hermione." I used several of Marta T.'s wonderful drawings as illustrations for Penny's essay. Considering the author and artist, then, this is a Lexicon page you won't want to miss. I am very honored that both of these amazing people have given me permission to showcase their work.

I have been adding more of Cassie Songer and Vic Xntric's illustrations to the Bestiary. Look for the shrinking Moke!

Quite a few folks have written to remind me that there are still a few spells missing from the Encyclopedia. I promise you I haven't forgotten. I've been adding them as I get time. Last night I added Colloportus and Protego. Just hang in there, I'll get them all. I'm actually still cataloging the fifth book, so I split my time between researching and adding information.

5 October, 2003
New stuff:

• beautiful new illustration called "Mourning" by Marta T., on the page for the fifth book.
• new artwork added to the Bestiary, thanks to Cassie Songer and Vic Xntric
• outline of the details of the life of a Wizard, from infancy through old age
• new page, edited by Marilyn Cole, compiling all the essential information about the first Harry Potter film, including changes from the book
• a very nifty Wizard money converter which was programmed for me by Niklas Åkerlund

7 September, 2003
A couple of new things to mention:

• Sandra Diersing has given me permission to include on the Dumbledore page a very perceptive short essay of hers about socks.
• I've posted a page which details some of the more interesting facts and speculations about the whole timeline question. This page will answer some of the commonly-asked questions about things like the Playstation and Nicolas Flamel's birthdate. I want to make sure I think Shaun Hately, the map wiz, for his comments which appear on that page.

Michele has been editing pages left and right, so many that I can't even begin to list them all. She's added name origins and much more information to the Wizards lists, the new song to the Sorting Hat page, OP information to the pages for Snape and Lupin, details to the timeline of Harry's life, and she's done a brilliant job of listing and analzying all the detentions and House Points for the latest book. She's also added a list of all the incidents of Transfiguration in the books. You'll find major updates on many pages, including:

• Strictly British
• Weasley's Wizard Wheezes
• main timelines
• each of the house pages
• listing of plants

And to top it all off, the Lexicon Forum is back up and better than ever, thanks to some amazing work by Kip and Denise.

Stick around, the Lexicon is just getting better and better.

17 August, 2003
Before I get to the latest updates and new pages, I need to take the opportunity to officially welcome Michele Worley to the staff of The Lexicon. Until now, the staff of the Lexicon has consisted of just one person. A lot of folks have contributed over the years, but no one has actually become a staff member. No one but me has ever had hands-on access to the 450+ pages of the Lexicon. I was and still am very protective of this website.

When Michele first started sending me notes and information, I wasn't looking for an assistant editor. As her emails kept coming, however, and as I realized the quality of research she was doing and more importantly, the care with which she wrote about the Harry Potter canon, it dawned on me that what she was sending me was virtually identical to what I was doing myself.

Michele agreed to become the assistant editor and has been busy adding information and doing a lot of editing that has been sorely needed. She's doing a spectacularly great job, and I am delighted to have her aboard. If you get a chance, you can email her at michele@hp-lexicon.info and welcome her and thank her yourself. She's really the one responsible for all the information from the new book making it into the Lexicon so soon.

And because she's been hard at work adding that new information, I've had a chance to create some new pages:

• The Complete Guide to Magic is an index that incorporates spells, potions, magic items, and other terms into one nice list.
• The Hogwarts pages have been updated with new information about the locations of various rooms. We now can place every known room on a floor of the castle except the Transfiguration classroom.
• The map of the ground floor of Hogwarts has been updated to include the corridor of classrooms and also an entrance to the courtyard that is mentioned in CS.
• Madam Pince's page has been given an update including a beautiful drawing by Marta T. of Harry and Ginny being thrown out of the library ("Chocolate in the LIBRARY?!"). I've reduced the image to make it load faster, but if you click on it you'll be able to see the picture in all its glory. Believe me, it's worth the download time.
• Two new magic pages have been added, one about Vanishing Magic and the other about Movement Magic. These pages discuss the various levels of these general categories of  magic and list the various spells and items which create the magical effects. I'm hoping to add more of these kinds of pages covering other types of spells.
• A new chart has been added to the Timelines section. This is a master chart of classes from 1965 through the present, with a seven-year block for each class at Hogwarts. You can tell who is at school with whom very easily. I've added several staff members to the chart too, indicating when they began teaching at Hogwarts.

• Blood Status
• Rita Skeeter
• Michele did a wonderful update of the page about Harry's dreams
• Divination (okay, it's not new, but it's much improved...check out that amazing artwork!)

4 August, 2003
Added a couple more facts to the Fantastical Facts page, including another bona fide error.

Phyllis Morris has been working on a list of the differences between the UK and US editions of The Order of the Phoenix. Her list is now complete and has been uploaded. It's surprising, really, how few differences there are. Just a reminder, if you're curious about the meanings of some of the British phrases and terms, slide on over to the Strictly British page. You should be able to find the meaning of any thing that has you puzzled.

3 August, 2003
More editing. I've uploaded one of the images from my History of the Wizarding World presentation from Nimbus 2003, a chart that shows who was at Hogwarts during the time that James and his friends were there. I've also added a new website to the Resources page, Visualizing Harry Potter, and Amy Z. has updated the Order of the Phoenix day-by-day calendar.

Shaun Hately has been working on maps of various Harry Potter locations. I'll be posting them on the Lexicon as he gets them ready. The first one, which is based on my sketch map, is of Hogsmeade. Shaun has added the OP locations and made the whole thing look very nice indeed. I image-mapped it so it's clickable, too.

2 August, 2003
I have to say again how much I am indebted to Michele Worley. The page about Legilimency just shows what excellent research Michele is doing.

Major new material:

• Page with nice description of Legilimency, including an outstanding assessment of where Legilimency may have occurred elsewhere in the books.
• A similar page about occlumency
• Thanks to Isabel Nunes of the team working to translate Order of the Phoenix into Portugese, we now know for sure that Professor Sinistra is a woman. Isabel emailed me and told me that the translators were using the Lexicon as a reference as they worked, which was a real kick for me. She asked whether Sinistra was a man or a woman and I told her that we weren't sure, since it never says in the books. So Isabel contacted Rowling's representatives and was assured that Sinistra is in fact female. So that's one little mystery solved.
• A couple of new items were added to the Fantastical Facts page for Order of the Phoenix. One is an error in the book--an honest to goodness error, probably a typo that slipped by editors who don't know the books as well as we do. The other is a weird moment in the book that I noticed and thought I'd throw out for you all to think about.

• The Ministry of Magic Departments page has been extensively updated
• new names have been added all through the Which Wizard section
• map of Ministry of Magic Headquarters Level 10 (although I think the proportions are off and I plan to redo it...)
• new details have been added to the list of what's on which floor in Hogwarts castle
• a page has been added for the Room of Requirement...
• ...and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.
• Cho Chang's page has been updated
• new paintings, tapestries, and statues have been added
• ...and there are more changes, scattered throughout the entire site

9 July, 2003
Lots more new stuff. Here's a partial list:

• fantastic artwork added to the Malfoy Mansion page, by Angela West
• updated the page about Trelawney, including details of her two correct prophesies
• new terms added to the Strictly British glossary, including "budgerigar" and "titchy."

6 July, 2003

• I've finished adding all of the Famous Witches and Wizards to the Master List. I added some icons and things to that list too.
• the calendar of OP has been updated with new and adjusted information
• new details about Dragon Pox on the Medical Magic page
• updated and corrected the page about The Order of the Phoenix
• added page about Dumbledore's Army
• created a new map for the Atlas, this one of Level 2 of the Ministry of Magic. Maps are still being created for other levels.
• added more terms to the Strictly British glossary
• updated pages about Arthur, Ron, Dudley, and Harry, among others
• new page about the Bones family added
• uploaded new and improved Black Family Tree information
• added some new spells
• there's a ton more, but that's the most important stuff

• Thestrals
• added new spells to the Spell Encyclopedia from chapters 1-3

Some are easy--Lumos, for example, is already entered in the encyclopedia, so all I have to do is add the new references. But then again, there's the whole thing about Harry being able to cast that Lumos spell without actually having his wand in his hand. So maybe that isn't so simple--how do I enter that exactly? And do I need to add that little tidbit to any other pages while I'm at it? What have we just learned about doing magic in the Harry Potter universe? Or what have we just learned about Harry?

Other references are more difficult to place in the encyclopedia. For example, Harry's locked bedroom door opens up all by itself in chapter 3. Someone obviously cast a spell, but which one? Alohomora? The door opening spell Lupin cast on the wardrobe in PA? Or is this some brand new spell that needs to be included somehow? Then what do I call it? Or do I create a new entry for "door magic," and include references to doors from the Magical Items section too?

I will be going through this process for every magical reference in the entire book, and you know what? It's going to take a while. But in the long run, that's what makes the Lexicon something special. So please be patient. It's worth it.

1 July, 2003
Lots of new information added. The section on the Ministry of Magic used to be one page, now it's, I dunno, about six. I'm adding names to the Witch Wizard section a little at a time, too. I can't list every single change here, there are way too many. I have just received a beautiful drawing of a Thestral, so I'm eager to create a page for those weird, amazing creatures. I'm also keen to start adding spells to the Spell Encycopedia. Stay tuned, I'll get to that later today...

27 June, 2003
New pages uploaded:

• St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries
• Malfoy Mansion
• 12 Grimmauld Place
• The Order of the Phoenix
• new definitions added to the Strictly British glossary of British terms

• the Black Family Tree
• fantastic facts from OP (a place for us to put some of the most exciting new tidbits of information we've turned up which we just haven't had time to get into the Lexicon itself yet)

Here's a good example of how this works. A couple of months ago, I was contacted by Electronic Arts about the Famous Wizards cards they feature in their games. With confirmation from them that Rowling herself created the cards, I started working on adding the information from the cards to the Lexicon. B. K. Delong of the Leaky Cauldron, another Floo Network member site, asked me if I had a complete list of the information from those cards and I forwarded him my text file with all of the card details, compiled from the different sources where those cards appear. He and Melissa Anelli, also of TLC, then contacted people they knew at Wizards of the Coast to get verification that Trading Card and Chocolate Frog card  information was also created by Rowling. B. K. also acquired permission for me to reprint card images on the Lexicon site! As a result of the Floo Network editors working together, you will be treated to in incredibly complete and detailed set of pages about the Famous Wizards cards. That section of the Lexicon is in the works and should be finished in the next few days.

Now jump ahead a week from now. As of next Saturday, The Order of the Phoenix will have changed everything. You will be glad to know that a team of editors, not just little ol' me, will be working hard to update and revise and expand the Lexicon to bring you all the new information as quickly and accurately as possible.

What's new? Everything. The Harry Potter Lexicon, as part of the Floo Network, is more than ever your best place for Harry Potter information.

13 April, 2003
The DVD of Chamber of Secrets is out and it includes the Official Timeline of Hogwarts. Read this important note about the timelines of the Lexicon... thanks!

13 April, 2003
I've been editing and adding to pages left and right. I just uploaded about thirty revised pages, including one or two new ones. I'm not going to list all the changes here, but you will want to take a look at the new essay, entitled Harry Potter: The Truest Gryffindor of All?

I have also added some new information to the book five page, but this information includes spoilers of the plot. I have taken steps to prevent anyone from accidentally reading it, but even so, be careful.

Some have asked what will happen with the Lexicon when Order of the Phoenix comes out. Obviously, I'll be adding the new information as fast as I can, but it will take some time. I'll be looking for new artwork and essays to add and writing plenty of new pages myself. Good thing I'll be on summer break and will have time to put into it!

5 March, 2003
In my last entry, I mentioned that Disney Adventures magazine stated that the 101 Wizard cards in the video games were designed by Rowling. I said that I was trying to find out if that were true, but in the meantime I was going to start including that information in the Lexicon. Since then I have been informed by a source in the know that everything in the games is indeed either designed by or approved by Rowling.

So what, you say? Well, for canon purists like me, that's a pretty big deal. That means that there are a lot of new things which must be included into the Lexicon, sure, but it also strongly suggests that other official products, the trading card game for example, are canon as well, if Rowling has the same relationship with them as she has with the game designers.

I don't have any word yet from Wizards--and they have ignored my emails asking for more information--so we can't be sure. But I am starting to rethink my position on what is and isn't canon and what will and won't be included in this website.

And that means that I may have just set myself up for a LOT more work! I suppose I needed something to do between now and June 21...

22 February, 2003
I know some of you have decided that I must have given up on the Lexicon, what with the lack of entries here. It's true that I haven't been spending as much time on the site as I did before, partly because I'm getting closer and closer to being "done" until the next book comes out, and partly because I'm working on a book which is taking a lot of my time. But there have been changes and additions happening over the last two months, mostly small changes rather than whole new pages. I've updated the Order of the Phoenix page to include the new release date. I've also been editing the pages for some of the other books (although I seem to have misplaced my copy of Quidditch Through The Ages!). If you wander through the Lexicon, you'll discover new information here and there.

Of course, when June 21 rolls around, I'll be extremely busy. What fun it will be to have a whole new book's worth of material to write about! In the meantime, there are new facts turning up every so often. For example, the latest edition of Disney Adventures magazine includes a complete list of all 101 Famous Wizards cards from the Chamber of Secrets game. In the introduction to the list, the magazine states that these were invented by Rowling herself, which means that they must be considered canon. I am working on verifying that this is true, but in the meantime, I've started adding the considerable amount of information from those cards into the Lexicon. This will take quite some time, since almost every card includes information which applies to more than one Lexicon page. Also, there are some inconsistencies between the cards and the information given in other places in the canon.

All of this will keep me happily working as we all wait for June 21.

Oh, one more thing. I have finally found a picture of Snape that I like well enough to include on the Snape page. The other one that's there has bothered some people because they think it makes the Potions Master look too nasty and gross. Personally, I think a lot of people romanticize that character too  much, but I will agree that the picture that was there made him look very bad. So I've added an alternative picture, a beautiful drawing by Bridget Haines called The Dark Mark.

[Monty Python and the Holy Grail, of course...]