• Character Dai Llewellyn was the Caerphilly Catapults’ most famous Quidditch player, known for his reckless and foolhardy style of play (QA7). His biography, He Flew Like a Madman, was written by Kennilworthy Whisp (QA). Tragically, he was eaten by a Chimaera while on holiday in Mykonos,… Read More
• Timelines and calendars Life at Hogwarts revolves around classes, naturally. However, as the castle is also the students’ home for most of the year, daily life consists of far more than just academics. The students arrive at Hogwarts on September 1 by Hogwarts Express. For the next nine or ten months they eat, sleep,… Read More
• Publications The Daily Prophet is the newspaper of the Wizarding World. It has been in existence since at least 1883, since Quidditch Through the Ages cites its coverage of Quidditch from that time (QA6). Background The editor in the 1990s is Barnabas Cuffe (HBP4). It has offices… Read More
• Source In the late 1990s, Bloomsbury created an Official Harry Potter Fan Club and invited children from Britain to join. There was never a United States chapter of the Club. One of the perks for joining the Club was several issues of The Daily Prophet, a three-page newsletter detailing goings-on in the wizarding world. Each of these… Read More
• Businesses, merchants, and shops The offices of the Daily Prophet are located in Diagon Alley (Pm). The newspaper instructs that letters to the editor should be sent there by owl (DP1). Read More
• Character Daisy Hookum wrote bestseller My Life as a Muggle after giving up magic for a year. She was married to celebrity gardener Tilden Toots. Read More
• Event She later marries celebrity gardener Tilden Toots and writes the best-selling book My Life as a Muggle after giving up magic for a year (JKR). Read More
• Books and Literature Like anything else, books can be enchanted or even cursed with dire results for anyone who reads them. Read More
• Spells Another name for curses, hexes and jinxes (Pm). These are not taught in Charms class, but in Defence Against the Dark Arts as defensive spells. The dark charms are also used for duelling (CS11). Read More
• Character Death personified, wearing a black hood. In the “Tale of the Three Brothers,” he was angry that the three Peverells had cheated him by building a bridge over a raging river. But Death was cunning and patient, so he flattered them and offered gifts that would eventually lead them… Read More
• Books and Literature Death Omens: What To Do When You Know The Worst Is Coming is a Divination book. Harry saw a copy of this book on display at Flourish and Blotts while buying his Divination textbook. It has a picture of a Grim on the front cover and Harry… Read More
• Books and Literature Defensive Magical Theory was a guide which focused only on the theory of defensive magic, not on the actual practice. Its approach seemed to be that a good defense consists of not fighting back and trying to talk about it instead. Read More
• Source Is “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay” really the Original Screenplay? Or is the widely available version actually “The Original Screenplay 2.0”? Every film has a screenplay or script. In Great Britain the norm is double-hole-punched A4 paper which is slightly taller and narrower than the North American… Read More
• Quote And the child that has been protected from the Dementors in fiction, I would argue, is much more likely to fall prey to them later in life in reality. Read More
• Character Dempster Wiggleswade was an employee of the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and one of a team of experts answering reader questions for the Daily Prophet‘s problem page (DP3)… Read More
• Character Bertrand de Pensées Profondes was a renowned wizarding philosopher and author of A Study into the Possibility of Reversing the Actual and Metaphysical Effects of Natural Death, with Particular Regard to the Reintegration of Essence and Matter (TBB). Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
Most authors expend substantial effort on description, describing scenes, events or characters so that readers will be able to visualise them. The best descriptions often offer no more than hints, keywords, a trained butler’s unobtrusive opening of a particular door. The reader goes through that door himself or herself. Rowling,… Read More
• Source Hermione gives Harry the copy of The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore that she picked up in the Bathilda Bagshot’s house. They learn that the young man in the picture was Gellert Grindelwald who, according to Rita Skeeter, was very close to… Read More
• Source Harry and Ron bring each other up to date on their adventures, Hermione finds the triangular mark in a photograph of Dumbledore’s letters, and the trio seek out Xenophilius Lovegood at his home for further information about the mark. Read More
• Source Xenophilius Lovegood explains that the mark is the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. The origin of the story is The Tale of the Three Brothers, which Hermione then reads aloud. Xenophilius then explains the symbolism of the mark and discusses the Hallows. Harry, wandering around the… Read More
• Source Harry is preparing to leave Privet Drive, emptying his school trunk and packing a rucksack with the items most important to him. In the process, he also sorts through the newspapers of the past few weeks to re-read and save Dumbledore’s obituary. At the… Read More
• Source Lord Voldemort tells his fighters to return to him. Voldemort asks Harry to meet him in the Forbidden Forest within the next hour or he will join the battle and kill everyone who tries to conceal Harry. While everyone goes to the Great Hall, to mourn… Read More
• Source Molly Weasley loads H.R.H. up with wedding-preparation chores in an attempt to stop them from making plans to leave. Ron and Hermione prove to Harry that they understand what’s involved in accompanying him and have taken steps to protect their families from retaliation. Hermione reveals that she has researched the… Read More
• Source Harry celebrates his seventeenth birthday and his coming of age. Rufus Scrimgeour arrives with Arthur Weasley to deliver the bequests of Albus Dumbledore to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Scrimgeour attempts to get information from them about why Dumbledore remembered them in his will. Scrimgeour and… Read More
• Source Harry, disguised by Polyjuice Potion, attends Bill’s and Fleur’s wedding, where he meets Xenophilius Lovegood and Ron’s Great Aunt Muriel, and re-encounters Viktor Krum and Elphias Doge. Thanks to Krum, Harry remembers who Gregorovitch is and learns that Xenophilius is wearing a symbol… Read More
• Character Diadema is mentioned as a sister to the famous Miranda Goshawk, who used the Bat-Bogey Hex on Diadema to get her to return clothes she took without Miranda’s permission. (BoS)… Read More
• Books and Literature Why I Didn’t Die When the Augurey Cried was an investigative book on the effects of the Augurey cry. Published in 1824 by Little Red Books, this book contained the results of patient research revealing that far from being a death omen, the cry of the Augurey merely indicates the approach… Read More
• Event The book was written by Gulliver Pokeby and published by Little Red Books. The book contains the results of patient research revealing that – far from being a death omen, as widely believed – the cry of the Augurey merely indicates the approach of rain. (FB)… Read More
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This page indicates all differences between the U.K. and U.S. editions of the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.   pp. U.K. Edition U.S. Edition pp. 8 top-of-the-range top-of-the-line 3 10 fortnight two weeks 5 12 ice-creams ice cream 10 13 joint loin 10 21 was hard-done-by… Read More
• Page This page indicates all the differences between the British and the US versions of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. pp. U.K. Edition U.S. Edition pp. 7 torch flashlight 1 7 Adalbert Waffling Bathilda Bagshot 1 8 whilst while 3 9 row fight 4 9 he’d got Harry he’d… Read More
• Page The text of the Harry Potter novels stayed almost the same over the ten years it took Rowling to write the saga. However, some variations and changes were made. A number of differences exist between the Bloomsbury and the Scholastic editions of the Harry Potter books. Most of these differences… Read More
• Page Editor: Edward Olsen Special thanks to Phyllis D. Morris for her work as well First occurs on page: US UK Page 1 yellowing; the use yellowing – for the use 7 2 around round 8 5 Mrs. Number Seven Mrs Number Seven opposite 10… Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
The name “Dobby” appears in A Fine Old Conflict, 1 Jessica Mitford’s memoir of her radical youth in 1950s America—and a book J K Rowling has almost certainly read. Rowling, as we know from interviews, admires Jessica Mitford—she even named her daughter after the left-wing political campaigner and journalist. “Dobby” Walker (no other… Read More
• Character Dodgy Dirk was one of the Muggles present fort he Ilfracombe Incident of 1932.  All the other Muggles present had their memories wiped by Tilly Toke and her family.  However, “Dodgy Dirk” is known to tell tales of a “dirty great flying lizard” that attacked him way back when. His… Read More
• Character In the summer of 1995, The Quibbler prints an interview with Doris Purkiss, who claims that Sirius Black is really Stubby Boardman, and that Stubby had been enjoying a romantic dinner with her the day of the murder of the Potters and therefore had an alibi (OP10). Read More
• Source July 31st 1998 The Daily Prophet Price: 7 Knuts Headlines (Front Page) MUGGLES NOT AS STUPID AS WE THINK, SAYS MINISTRY REPORT FAULTY WANDS RECALLED Advertisement: Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions – Summer Sale on Now. Sports Quidditch League Table and… Read More
• Source Feb 8th 1999The Daily ProphetPrice: 7 Knuts Headlines (Front Page) ENQUIRY AT THE IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OFFICE CELESTINA WARBECK CONCERT CAUSES BROOM SMASH OVER LIVERPOOL TROLL RIGHTS MOVEMENT OUT OF CONTROL Editorial reference box to  WHY THE JOKE’S ON THE MINISTRY, NOT THE MUGGLES… Read More
• Source June 1st 1999The Daily ProphetPrice: 7 Knuts Headlines (Front Page) GOBLIN RIOTS ERUPT IN CHIPPING CLODBURY Making sure the purchaser of your old wand is human (page 11) Why can’t goblins be more like elves? (page 32) Advertisement: TerrorTours Problem Page HOW MUCH REVENGE… Read More
• Source Oct 1st 1999The Daily ProphetPrice: 7 Knuts Headlines MINISTRY IMPOSES RESTRICTIONS NEW POTION GIVES HOPE FOR HAGS Advertisement: Poor memory? Sports Quidditch League Table & Match Information Ballycastle Bats lead the league with 820 points and the Falmouth Falcons are still at the… Read More
• Source Rowling shared small portions of her notes on her original website as rewards for solving puzzles. One of the rewards was an illustration she drew showing a collage of pages from the book Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit: … Read More
• Books and Literature Dreadful Denizens of the Deep was a guide to sea creatures. It was one of the books that Harry, Ron, and Hermione examined while preparing for the second task (GF26). Read More
• Books and Literature Dream Oracle was a guide to dream interpretation, which included a dictionary of symbols and their meanings. Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
This is no moot point. Quite contrary to what many a reader may think, duels such as those in the Harry Potter books are not frequent in fantasy literature. That is so because it’s very difficult to convey to the audience or to the readers the precise impression of a… Read More
• Magical objects Dumbledore’s will contained three surprising legacies. On Harry’s seventeenth birthday, Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour unexpectedly showed up at the Burrow with Albus Dumbledore’s last will and testament in which Dumbledore had bequeathed items to Harry, Ron and Hermione (DH7). Most of Dumbledore’s possessions, including his… Read More
• Books and Literature Dumbledore’s Army: The Dark Side of the Demob is a tell-all book by Rita Skeeter about Dumbledore’s Army. In this book, published on July 31st 2014, Rita described the imperfections of the Dumbledore’s Army members. She promoted it during the 2014 Quidditch World Cup in her article “Dumbledore’s… Read More
• Headlines and advertisements Dumbledore’s Army Reunites at Quidditch World Cup Final is a feature article that appeared in the Daily Prophet on 8 July 2014. Background Wasp-penned gossip journalist Rita Skeeter reports on the loves, lives and rivalries of the former members of Dumbledore’s Army when they got together in Argentina to… Read More
• Quote Some of [the names] are invented. Voldemort is an invented name. Malfoy is an invented name. Quiddich is invented. But I also collect them from all kinds of places, maps, street names, names of people I meet, old books on saints. Mrs. Norris, people will recognize comes from Jane Austen. Dumbledore… Read More
• Businesses Publisher of The Philosophy of the Mundane: Why the Muggles Prefer Not To Know by Mordicus Egg, 1963. (FB)… Read More
• Character Dylan Marwood was the author of the book Merpeople: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Language and Customs. He carries a wand made of apple wood, a material which shows an affinity for wizards who can converse with creatures in their native tongues. Read More