Welcome to the 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 Gibbous
5 GBP = 1 Galleon 
Bob Ogden returns to the Gaunt home with reinforcements, Marvolo and Morfin are arrested
Fifteen minutes after fleeing from Morfin Gaunt’s attack on him (for physically restraining Morfin from attacking Merope) and apparating back to the Ministry of Magic, Bob Ogden returns to the Gaunt cottage – this time with reinforcements who succeeded in overpowering the Gaunt men, although several are injured by Marvolo. After the arrests, the Wizengamot sentences Morfin to three years… 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
Cloak of Invisibility
The Cloak of Invisibility is a magical cloak which provides the wearer or wearers with complete invisibility. Originally owned by Ignotus Peverell, the Cloak of Invisibility has been passed down through the generations ending up with the Potter family. The weave is so fine that an Invisibility Cloak is “strange to the touch, like water woven into material” (PS12). Read More
Pyramids of Egypt
The famous pyramids in Egypt were protected largely by spells cast by ancient wizards – the Weasley family toured some of them when they visited the country in the summer of 1994, where they saw, among other things, mutant skeletons of Muggles who had broken in and “grown extra heads and stuff,” according to Ron (PA1). Fred and George… Read More
Offensive/Defensive Magic
Offensive magic is used to attack another witch or wizard, while defensive magic is used to repel or block a magical attack. A wide variety of spells can be used as an attack, depending on the creativity of the caster. For example, an Aguamenti spell could be used to send a jet of water at an attacker, knocking them off… Read More
Quotes and Mis-Quotes
We all know the quotes. They’re turned into memes, they’re spouted by cosplayers — they seem to define the characters who said them. Except DID they say them? In many cases, the answer is no. Yes, Quirrell did say “Troll — in the dungeons — thought you ought to know” (PS10) And Dumbledore did say “It does not do to dwell… Read More
There are about 320 students at Hogwarts. How do we know? In order to unravel this mystery, we need to step out of the stories themselves. We need to understand the way that Rowling thinks about the books. Read More
“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”… Read More
The Harry Potter Minute
🎙️ CC1.3: Rose, Rumors, and Role Reversals
Lexicon Podcast
🎙️ Episode 31: The Crimes of Grindelwald Trailer
Latest from the Lexicon Blog
Why Did Jacob Kowalski take so long to Return to America?
• Essay
How is Professor McGonagall in Crimes of Grindelwald?
• Essay
Though it is a charming bit of plot candy to throw out to eager Potterphiles, the mention of Professor McGonagall in the latest film “Fantastic Beats: The Crimes of Grindelwald” has caused a tidal wave of reaction all out of proportion to the size of the scene. The question… Read More
Where's the new canon?
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You might be here on the Lexicon looking for information about the characters, things, creatures, events, etc. from “Crimes of Grindelwald.” If so, you might have to have to wait a week or so for everything to appear. We have a spreadsheet of 143 entries which need to be added… Read More
The Fantastic Beasts Saga Timeline
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The dates for each of these events is derived from a close read of canon sources, including the scripts for Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. 1881 Albus Dumbledore is born c. 1883 Gellert Grindelwald is born c. Read More
Discussing The 'Crimes of Grindelwald' Reveal (MAJOR SPOILER WARNING)
• Essay
UPDATE: I’ve now read the screenplay for the film and some interesting new details have been revealed. It undoes some of my theories in this post, but I’ve keep my original theories and put my updated ones below them in the “UPDATE” section. Anyway… MAJOR SPOILERS for… Read More