• 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
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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
• Magic The flying motorbike was equipped with a device which, when activated with a green button near the fuel guage, emitted a huge solid brick wall in the path of pursuers. The device was added to the bike by Arthur Weasley before the Battle of the Seven Potters and was used to good… Read More
• Furniture and household items A photographer at Flourish and Blotts was taking pictures of Gilderoy Lockhart for the Daily Prophet. Colin Creevey’s camera is apparently a Muggle device, although since it works at Hogwarts, it must not have any electrical parts. Read More
• Magical effects This spell causes magical chains to snake out of a chair and bind a person to it.  … Read More
• Communication • Magical objects High above the MACUSA Lobby there is a giant dial with multiple clock-like faces and hands pointing to the present threat-level to the secret wizarding world. The color-coded levels include “Severe: Unexplained Activity” and “Emergency” (WFT). Read More
• Magical artifacts Artificial eyes in the wizarding world seem to have unusual powers, as a rule. Read More
• Magical objects Maps that possess magical qualities, such as the Marauder’s Map. Read More
• Magic The flying motorbike was equipped with a device which, when activated with a button, emitted a magical net to entangle pursuers. The magical net was added to the bike by Arthur Weasley before the Battle of the Seven Potters (DH4). Read More
• Magical objects For Christmas in 1994 [Y14], Sirius gave Harry a handy penknife with attachments to unlock any lock and undo any knot (GF23). Read More
• Transportation • Wizarding culture Witches and wizards use magical means to move from place to place. They can use spells, specifically Apparition, and personal devices such as brooms. However, various forms of public transit are also available. All forms of magical transportation, both personal and public, are regulated and controlled by the Department of Magical Transportation. Read More
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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
• Headlines and advertisements Making sure the purchaser of your old wand is human is a public information article in the Daily Prophet, following a report about goblin riots (DP3). A handy guide to species identification was included on page 11 of the Prophet after the goblins rioted in Chipping Clodbury using illegally obtained wands. Read More
• Character Lucius Malfoy is the patriarch of the prestigious pure-blood Malfoy family, father of Draco Malfoy and one of Voldemort’s top Death Eaters. Lucius was a Death Eater during Voldemort’s first “reign of terror.” However after the Dark Lord disappeared, Malfoy “came back saying he’d never meant any of it” (… Read More
• Titles, nicknames, and honorifics Nickname Scorpius Malfoy gives himself after viewing the alternate universe in which Voldemort and The Augurey ruled the Wizarding World (CC3.14). Read More
• Atlas of the Wizarding World • Hogwarts castle and grounds Fourth Floor Places of Interest The Library, particularly the Restricted Section Room containing the Mirror of Erised Mirror, behind which is a “roomy passageway” Note: Except for the numbered areas of the library, numbers are added to indicate possible classrooms but those rooms are not further… Read More
• Magical objects • Security The metallic Map of Magical Activity used a light display to help Aurors in the MACUSA Major Investigation Department to view magic occurring around New York City (WFT). Read More
• Atlas of the Wizarding World • Businesses, merchants, and shops • Wizarding places While there is no official map of Diagon Alley, the books describe some of the shops in a general relationship to each other. Using this information, I created the following map in 2001 (before OP). The most important shop not included is Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes which didn’t appear until book… Read More
• Magical objects This magical map of Hogwarts Castle shows the entire castle and grounds of Hogwarts, including seven secret passages out of Hogwarts and into Hogsmeade. However, it does not show the Room of Requirement or the Chamber of Secrets. The map also shows the location of people. It would seem that… Read More
• Dark magic items Marvolo Gaunt’s ring is a large finger ring, clumsily made out of what appeared to be gold, set with a black stone engraved with the symbol for the Deathly Hallows, which Gaunt took to be the Peverell coat of arms. According to Marvolo Gaunt, the ring had been in the… Read More
• Magical effects The Masking Fog is a special magical fog used by the Ministry of Magic to hide the location of a Quidditch stadium in Exmoor National Park. Spectators for a Quidditch match between the Wimbourne Wasps and the Holyhead Harpies were advised to arrive early before… 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
• Insults, Curses, and Interjections “Merlin’s Pants” is a mild and slightly naughty slang exclamation, similar to the more frequently used epithet “Merlin’s Beard“. Appearances In the his room in the Burrow, before Bill and Fleur’s wedding and while she is packing, Ron asks Hermione: “How in the name… Read More
• Character Merope Gaunt was the daughter of Marvolo Gaunt and mother of Tom Riddle. Eighteen-year-old Merope’s hair is lank and dull and she has a “plain, pale, rather heavy face.” Her eyes also gaze in opposite directions. Merope’s father is extremely abusive to her and derisively calls her a “Squib” (and other… Read More
• Games, toys, and jokes If you believe the advertising, one of these will give the wearer some of the abilities of a Metamorphmagus for only ten Galleons. In fact, the changes in the wearer’s appearance aren’t under his or her control, and not only make the victim more rather than less conspicuous but can… Read More
• Ministry of Magic • Wizarding culture Ministry of Magic licenses are issued for a number of activities which are deemed dangerous, which could be misused for nefarious purposes, or which require special training or actions to keep the wizarding world hidden from the Muggles. These include: Ownership of Crups (FB, JKR-W1) Sale of magical artifacts… 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
• Magical objects A time-traveling device the use of which was strictly regulated by the Ministry (PA21). Inside the hourglass-shaped device there is a single One-Hour Reversal Charm (Pm). All of them were thought to be destroyed during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries (OP35, HBP11, BP), but in… Read More
• Quote “I was conscious that when I looked in the mirror, I would see exactly what Harry saw. But it was only when I’d written it that I fully realised where it had all come from. It is an enormous regret to me that my mother never knew about any of… Read More
• Magical artifacts The Mirror of Erised is a magnificent mirror, as high as a classroom ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. The inscription carved around the top read “Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi,” which is “I show not your face but your heart’s… Read More
• Furniture and household items Ordinary mirrors are found in bathrooms, dormotories and on corridors in Hogwarts. Read More
• Communication The two-way mirrors were a pair of small, square, old-looking mirrors which allowed secret communication between the two owners. They belonged to Sirius Black in the 1970s. He and James used to use them when they were in separate detentions (OP38). Sirius gives one of them to Harry at… Read More
• Incantations Mischief Managed is the incantation which closes or “wipes” clean the Marauders Map (PA10). Read More
• Ministry of Magic The Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office is a small division of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the Ministry of Magic. Arthur Weasley was the Head of the Office (until July 1996), which is meant to keep enchanted items out of the hands of Muggles. His son Ron called it “the… Read More
• Source MNA refers to a series of essays written by Rowling originally for Pottermore detailing the history of magic on the North American continent as well as the background of the Magical Congress of the United States and of Ilvermorny, the North American school of magic. The Magical Congress of… Read More
• Games, toys, and jokes Harry and the other Triwizard champions drew small model dragons out of a silk bag. The type of model indicated which dragon thay had to face. Harry drew the Hungarian Horntail. (GF20). Each tiny model moved its wings and snarled; Harry’s even curled up and went to sleep the… Read More
• Magical objects For Christmas in 1995, Nymphadora Tonks gave Harry a working model of his beloved Firebolt broomstick, which had been confiscated by Dolores Umbridge, the Hogwarts High Inquisitor (OP23). Read More
• Magical objects A small, slightly furry pouch worn round the neck for holding possessions, made from the skin of the moke.  Items stored in a mokeskin pouch can only be retrieved by the owner. Read More
• Character Montague was a Hogwarts student in Slytherin House c. 1989-1996. He played on the Slytherin Quidditch Team as a Chaser (PA15) and later became their team’s Captain (OP19). He was also appointed by Professor Dolores Umbridge to be a member of her Inquisitorial Squad (… Read More
• Magical objects Mad-Eye Moody was well-known to drink only from a hip flask he always carried because he feared being poisoned by Dark Wizards even while among friends (GF12). Read More
• Magical objects After losing his eye while battling Death Eaters (Pm), Alastor Moody received a magical replacement that could swivel around in all directions (GF14) and even see through Harry’s Invisibility Cloak (GF25). Read More
• Event After Harry and Cedric were abducted and returned from Voldemort and the graveyard after the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament, an apparently sympathetic Mad-Eye Moody pulled Harry away from the dead Cedric and took him back to the castle. As they talked, Harry realized that Moody was asking many… Read More
• Broomsticks The Moontrimmer is a broom model created in 1901 by Gladys Boothby. It was a slender, ash-handled broom (QA9). For its time it was the first to achieve record-breaking heights (at least, record-breaking while the flyer maintained control at such an altitude). Its maximum speed was less than seventy miles… Read More
• Titles, nicknames, and honorifics Nickname given to the dead Voldemort by Scorpius Malfoy (CC3.14). Scorpius and Albus Potter traveled back in time using an Experimental Time-Turner and ended up in a timeline where Voldemort and The Augurey ruled the Wizarding World because Harry Potter had died (CC3.4). After viewing… Read More
• Magical artifacts Muggle objects which are specifically not allowed to have magical spells applied to them. Read More
• Magical artifacts Magical device that acts as an alarm when touched by a non-magical hand (DP2)… Read More
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Posted by in Essays
The quotation above was coined by Arthur C. Clarke as his Third Law, in Report on Planet Three (1972). This essay compares the different technologies available to the magical and muggle worlds. Magical Artifacts Artifacts with magical properties are quite common in the magical world described in the books of J.K. Rowling. Some of them are similar to… Read More
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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 objects Newt Scamander’s magical suitcase had a brass dial that could be turned to “MUGGLEWORTHY” so the No-Maj customs inspectors would not see the dangerous magical creatures inside. With a turn of the dial, Muggles would only see common objects such as maps, an alarm clock, and a Hufflepuff scarf (WFT). Read More
• Magical effects Music is a powerful magic often associated with healing and lifting the spirit. Read More
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Posted by in Canon discussion
Today I received an interesting question in email from Katty Geltmeyer, a great fan friend of the Lexicon: "In PA, Lupin told Harry, Ron, and Hermione that he found out they were in the Shrieking Shack by using the marauders Map. But Harry and Hermione traveled back in time and were lurking around the Willow. How is it possible that Lupin didn't see the extra Harry and Hermione on the map?" Here's my opinion, based on canon. Read More