Harry Potter Lexicon Minute Cover ArtThe Harry Potter Lexicon website has been in existence for almost two decades. Over that time, J.K Rowling thrilled us with her magical creation — in novels, interviews, on her websites, on Twitter, and more.

And here at the Lexicon, a small group of dedicated fans have worked very hard over all those years to catalogue all the magical details she revealed. The Lexicon website has always been seen as the gold standard for careful research and faithfulness to Rowling’s created world, all because of these amazing fans.

Now we editors of the Lexicon would like share some of what we’re so passionate about in a new way. So we’ve creating this podcast as a way for you to hear from us. It’s called the Harry Potter Minute, and in it you’ll hear the voices of our editors sharing a few of the many little things which delight us about the Wizarding World. We are fans from all over the globe who love to spend our time keeping track of the interesting details and obscure references which make Rowling’s work so rich and wonderful.

In each podcast, one to two minutes in length, we’ll talk about anything from cool trivia and interesting canon passages to the latest Wizarding World news. We might share something that’s stuck in our heads as we researched the books or maybe recall some event from the history of Harry Potter fandom.

The podcasts will come out a couple of times a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We hope you’ll join us! And we’d love to hear from you as well. Feel free to use the comment section on the blogpost for each podcast to post your thoughts.

Special thanks go to Felicia Cano who gave us permission to use her amazing artwork of Hermione reading a book for the logo, which was brilliantly created by Kim B.

• Podcast Episode
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Have you ever wondered why an all-wizard rock band would call itself The Weird Sisters? Shakespeare fans may recognize the term “weird sisters” as a name applied to the witches in Macbeth. You might know that all roles in Shakespeare’s plays were played by male… Read More
• Podcast Episode
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In China the number four is considered unlucky, presumably because the Chinese word for four is very similar to the word for death. This association with bad luck seems to have followed the number four into the wizarding world. Four is sometimes seen as a source… Read More
• Podcast Episode
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I wrote an essay recently about the timing of the attack on Neville’s parents, talking about how he must have been around five years old when it happened (give or take a year or two). This means he has an awareness of what happened and remembers his parents… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Characters / Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
When classes start in Harry’s fifth year, O.W.L.s are all anyone wants to talk about. At lunch on the first day, the Weasley twins offer some sage advice about how “it’s a nightmare of a year, the fifth, if you care about exam results, anyway.” Ron then comments, “Yeah…… Read More
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Previously we talked about how often prime numbers feature in the Harry Potter books. Another number that crops up a lot is the number 12. 12 Grimmauld Place might be the first one that springs to mind, but we also have 12 uses of dragon’s blood;… Read More
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Let’s just take a moment to talk about the richness of Rowling’s imagination. In chapter six of Order of the Phoenix, we’re introduced to the weird and wonderful drawing room of number twelve Grimmauld Place, with it’s curtains filled with Doxies, the nest of dead Puffskeins… Read More
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Arithmancy is a branch of magic which deals with the magical properties of numbers, and Hermione tells us it’s her favourite subject. In previous episodes we’ve already talked about some of the interesting ways that J.K. Rowling uses numbers in the books, and if we look through an arithmancy lens… Read More
• Podcast Episode
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Narcissa Malfoy is a rude and racist witch, but there are several moments in the series that I think show Narcissa’s better side. In Spinner’s End, chapter 2 of Half Blood Prince, Narcissa is desperate to keep her son safe. Despite her sister’s warnings and Voldemort’s instructions to… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Birthdays / Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
In today’s minute I’ll be discussing Chamber of Secrets Chapter 1 The Worst Birthday. Here are some of my thoughts: I wonder what birthdays were like for Harry the nine years between being dropped off on his aunt and uncle’s doorstep and finding out he was a wizard. Harry would… Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion / Characters / Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
In a recent Harry Potter Minute, we discussed instances in the books where two seemingly unrelated characters have the same last name. We’ve already covered two of the three instances, the Smiths and the Gudgeons. But a third set caused quite the fuss back in the day, and is the… Read More