Welcome to the Harry Potter Lexicon
The most compleat and amazing reference to the wonderful world of Harry Potter
est. 2000 A.D.
Phase of the Moon: Waning Crescent
5 GBP = 1 Galleon 
Ariana Dumbledore
Ariana Dumbledore was the younger sister of Albus and Aberforth – Albus’s junior by four years, Aberforth’s by one. At six years old, she was attacked by three muggle boys and was severely traumatized by the event. Her father, Percival, was imprisoned for seeking revenge on the boys. As a result of the attack, Ariana’s magic was too unstable to… Read More
Albus Dumbledore sits his N.E.W.T.s
June 1899 — He is examined in Transfiguration and Charms by Griselda Marchbanks, who later says that he did things with a wand she’d never seen before. Read More
OP21: The Eye of the Snake
Hagrid’s class is observed by Umbridge, Ginny Weasley replaces Harry as Gryffindor’s Seeker, Dumbledore’s Army meets again, and Harry and Cho kiss. In a dream, Harry witnesses Arthur Weasley being bitten by a huge snake. Read More
The Fallen Fathers of Goblet of Fire
Jo’s portrayal of mothers in the HP books is fairly straight-forward: mother’s love is the be-all end-all of the series, so we can move right along. But her portrayal of fathers, on the other hand, is incredibly nuanced and intriguing. The turning point appears to be the middle book of the series, Goblet of Fire, where we trade in… Read More
Making the Calendar Fit
I recently received two comments on two different entries in the Lexicon which brought up the same problem: the real world calendar doesn’t always agree with the days and dates in the books. I’m sure some of you are saying “Of course, we know that, this has been discussed in fandom for years and years.” That’s because you’ve been in… Read More
A very exciting trip to the zoo for Dudley’s eleventh birthday
Harry accompanies Dudley, Piers Polkiss, Aunt Petunia, and Uncle Vernon to the zoo, where he unknowingly uses Parseltongue to speak with a boa constrictor. When Dudley notices and comes running, the glass of the snake’s enclosure mysteriously disappears and the snake escapes. Read More
Ron tells us that “… when I was three, Fred turned my teddy bear into a great big filthy spider because I broke his toy broomstick …” That means that Fred Weasley at age five was able to transfigure a… Read More
“Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin. There’s not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn’t in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one.” — Rubeus Hagrid, exaggerating slightly (PS5)… Read More
Latest from the Lexicon Blog
Draco’s Six
• Article
So much has been made of how seven is “the most powerfully magical number” (HBP23) in Harry Potter, with it serving as something of a motif throughout the series… to the point where my podcast, The Three Broomsticks, has a recurring segment about the “seven ingredients of today’s… Read More
The Fallen Fathers of Goblet of Fire
• Article
Jo’s portrayal of mothers in the HP books is fairly straight-forward: mother’s love is the be-all end-all of the series, so we can move right along. But her portrayal of fathers, on the other hand, is incredibly nuanced and intriguing. The turning point appears to be the middle book of… Read More
The Book of Prophecies: How "Order of the Phoenix" Predicts the Plot of "Deathly Hallows" - Part 2
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In Part I of this series, I delved into specific chapter-level comparisons between Order of the Phoenix and Deathly Hallows, and how the events in the former predict or foreshadow those in the latter. In this article, I will… Read More
The Book of Prophecies: How "Order of the Phoenix" Predicts the Plot of "Deathly Hallows" - Part 1
• Article
The Harry Potter series is masterfully plotted, both as individual books and across the series as a whole. Within the fandom, there is a large focus on ring theory for understanding how the series is structured. In ring theory, each book has its… Read More
The Russian Philosopher’s Stone
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It’s a process familiar to most of us trying to brush up on a foreign language – get the Harry Potter books in one of the 85 languages they’ve been translated into, and read the story you know backwards and forwards in a language you may not. My first language… Read More
Mapping the Wizarding World
• Article
Making the Calendar Fit
• Article
I recently received two comments on two different entries in the Lexicon which brought up the same problem: the real world calendar doesn’t always agree with the days and dates in the books. I’m sure some of you are saying “Of course, we know that, this has been discussed in… Read More
The Secrets of Dumbledore ... still a secret?
• Article