• Character Madam Z. Nettles was a witch from Topsham, England, who used Kwikspell in order to improve her magical abilities. Nettles claimed to have struggled with potion-making and remembering spells before taking a Kwikspell course. On Kwikspell promotional literature, Nettles attributed a rise in her popularity to the course (CS8). Read More
• Page Magic is what sets folks in the wizarding world apart from their Muggle neighbors. Magic is the heart and soul of the wizarding culture in the same way that science and technology are the heart and soul of Muggle culture. Where a Muggle would pound a stake into the ground… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Canon discussion
Magic is what sets folks in the wizarding world apart from their Muggle neighbors. Magic is the heart and soul of the wizarding culture in the same way that science and technology are the heart and soul of Muggle culture. Where a Muggle would pound a stake into the ground… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
On this page: Related information: What Magical Ability Is Canon Examples The Philosopher’s Labyrinth What Wands Are Stuff From Canon: Wand Idiosyncrasy and Power Harry as Focal Point There’s Something About Harry blood status wands   What Magical Ability Is Canon Examples What is magical ability? The wizards… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
We are just two years or less from reaching the end of the Harry Potter series and many essential questions have been answered, either by the books themselves, by J.K. Rowling, or by cunning readers who have racked their brains to work out even the finest details of the universe she has created. Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Essays
The way that witches and wizards think about everything, including spells, is completely different from the way we Muggles think about it. When we consider the mechanics of, say, aiming a spell at something, we ask “Muggle” questions like “Do you have to have line of sight?” that they would… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
As a fan of the world JK Rowling created, I’m sure I’m not alone in wondering how it could happen in real life. Recently I was studying the adolescent brain, and was fascinated to find that when kids reach 11/12 their brains are essentially wiped to prepare for adult development. Read More
• Magical effects Wizards can do math without calculators. They don’t mind difficult and complicated mathematical calculations because they can work them out magically, with virtually no effort (Pm). For example, they have not trouble managing a complicated system of money while shopping in Diagon Alley (PS5). https://media.blubrry.com/hplex/media.hp-lexicon.org/podcasts/archive/hplm-202107-op36-of-duels-and-magic-part-2.mp3… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Essays
Magic in the Harry Potter universe is as far as we know considered to be supernatural, and has as little to do with science as ghosts and flying broomsticks. However, the fact that magic runs in families means that it is a hereditary trait. Add to that the exceptions of half-bloods, Muggle-borns and Squibs and the temptation to analyze… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
From the start of the Harry Potter series, our hero finds himself a stranger in a very strange land. He discovers that the world he grew up in hides a secret wizarding world. This is no Oz or Wonderland that exists separate from the normal world and can only be entered through extraordinary means. Read More
• Source “MagSp” refers to a series of essays written by Rowling describing various aspects of magic in the Wizarding world, including alchemy, magical items and artifacts, potions, and Time-Turners. Alchemy Extension Charms Firebolt The Marauder’s… Read More
• Plants Mahogany is a wand wood also used to make broom handles (PS5). Background According to Mr. Ollivander, James Potter had a mahogany wand, eleven inches, pliable, and “excellent for transfiguration” (PS5). It makes sense that a wand good for transfiguration would be “pliable,”… Read More
• Wandmaking A wand wood (Pm). https://media.blubrry.com/hplex/media.hp-lexicon.org/podcasts/archive/hplm-202107-op36-of-duels-and-magic-part-2.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:06 — 11.1MB)Subscribe: RSS… Read More
• Atlas of the Wizarding World • Government places • Mysterious places • Rooms, chambers, and floors It’s likely impossible to map the Department of Mysteries; after all, the revolving walls sure make it seem like the rooms move around a lot. But once inside, even though there are a heck of a lot of doors, space still seems pretty linear. Also, we’re missing at least… Read More
• Thing Memories can be removed from the head of a witch or wizard and placed into a vessels known as a Pensieve to be viewed and studied. After removal, memories can be tampered with, as Horace Slughorn did when he tried to revise and conceal his own memory of teaching Tom… Read More
• Wizarding culture Charms used to modify or erase a (portion of a) person’s memory. The spell used is “obliviate”. https://media.blubrry.com/hplex/media.hp-lexicon.org/podcasts/archive/hplm-202107-op36-of-duels-and-magic-part-2.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:06 — 11.1MB)… Read More
• Spells This unnamed messenger spell sends the caster’s corporeal Patronus to bring a message to others. https://media.blubrry.com/hplex/media.hp-lexicon.org/podcasts/archive/hplm-202107-op36-of-duels-and-magic-part-2.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:06 — 11.1MB)Subscribe:… Read More
• Magical identities Metamorphmagi are born with the ability to change their appearance at will. The ability cannot be learned, and seems to be fairly uncommon, as the only known Metamorphmagi are Nymphadora Tonks and her son, Teddy Lupin.  The ability also manifests itself right away – both Tonks’s and Teddy’s hair began… Read More
• Rules and laws Ban on Experimental Breeding 1965 written by Newt Scamander (FB) Code of Wand Use clause 3: no non-human creature permitted a wand (GF9) Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery 1875 (CS2, CS5, PA3, OP2, OP8) Violation under paragraph… Read More
• Character Famous author of the Standard Book of Spells series of books (Standard Book of Spells Grade One through [known] Grade Six) which are required textbooks for students at Hogwarts (PS5, PA4, GF10, OP9, HBP9). https://media.blubrry.com/hplex/media.hp-lexicon.org/podcasts/archive/hplm-202107-op36-of-duels-and-magic-part-2.mp3… Read More
• Character Miranda Goshawk, who lived some two hundred years ago, grew up searching for a good, simple book of spells. Goshawk had a lot of older sisters who teased her by telling her the wrong incantations for spells as they were growing up. As Miranda put it, “Hand me down robes are merely… Read More
• Furniture and household items Ordinary mirrors are found in bathrooms, dormotories and on corridors in Hogwarts. https://media.blubrry.com/hplex/media.hp-lexicon.org/podcasts/archive/hplm-202107-op36-of-duels-and-magic-part-2.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:06 — 11.1MB)Subscribe:… Read More
• Incantations Mischief Managed is the incantation which closes or “wipes” clean the Marauders Map (PA10). https://media.blubrry.com/hplex/media.hp-lexicon.org/podcasts/archive/hplm-202107-op36-of-duels-and-magic-part-2.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:06 — 11.1MB)Subscribe:… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Essays
Charms magic can be used to move objects in various ways. Locomotion Magic The basic spell for moving an object is Locomotor, which comes from two Latin words meaning roughly “move from its place.” First years learn to move objects by magic; the practical part of Flitwick’s exam for the first years… Read More
• Source 17 October 2007 ‘Harry Potter Author J.K. Rowling Opens Up About Books’ Christian Imagery’ MTV.com https://media.blubrry.com/hplex/media.hp-lexicon.org/podcasts/archive/hplm-202107-op36-of-duels-and-magic-part-2.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:06 — 11.1MB)Subscribe:… Read More
• Podcast Episode
Posted by in Essays
Wizards don’t use electricity for a very good reason—they don’t need it, in fact they don’t need our technology at all (except maybe for sherbet lemons). Modern Muggle technology, according to wizards, is a poor substitute for magic. And modern Muggle technology is largely based on the availability of cheap,… Read More
• Magical effects Music is a powerful magic often associated with healing and lifting the spirit. https://media.blubrry.com/hplex/media.hp-lexicon.org/podcasts/archive/hplm-202107-op36-of-duels-and-magic-part-2.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:06 — 11.1MB)Subscribe:… Read More