• Event Scorpius Malfoy boards the Hogwarts Express on Platform Nine and Three-quarters at King’s Cross and starts his third year at Hogwarts. This is soon after the death of his mother Astoria Greengrass Malfoy, as the funeral has not yet taken place (CC1.4). Read More
• Article
Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
Where is the Burrow—Harry’s second home (his first is Hogwarts, of course, not Privet Drive!)? Ottery St. Catchpole The books give the Burrow’s location as just outside the village of Ottery St. Catchpole, but give no direct clues as to where this is. The similarity of the name to Ottery St. Mary, in Devon has… Read More
• Article
Posted by in Canon discussion / Essays
The Hut-on-the-Rock holds a key place in the life story of Harry Potter.  It was here, on his eleventh birthday, that he encountered the world of wizardry for the first time since infancy. But where was it? The address on the letter brought by Hagrid in PS4 is not very helpful: Harry Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock,… Read More
• Creature The Selma is a large serpent found in icy Norwegian lakes. They eat fish and human flesh. The Norwegian Quidditch team brought one as their team mascot in 2014, were it caused a conflict that eventually included many of the other mascots. Read More
• Broomsticks The Shooting Star is a racing broom manufactured by Universal Brooms Ltd. They were a very popular broom when introduced in 1955, as they were then the most inexpensive racing broom on the market. However, as the broom got older, it had a unfortunate tendency to lose height and speed,… Read More
• Broomsticks The Silver Arrow was a popular broom produced by Leonard Jewkes, developed sometime after the Moontrimmer of 1901 and before the advent of the Cleansweep One in 1926. The good-looking Silver Arrow broom achieved higher speeds than either the Moontrimmer or the Oakshaft 79. Its maximum… Read More
• Character Silvio Astolfi was a wizard who participated in a broom race that resulted in the destruction of the Colosseum in Rome. Astolfi flew an incredibly close race from Aberdeen to Rome with his bitter rival, Scottish wizard Torquil McTavish. Astolfi was transfigured into a chicken in the confusion and explosion… Read More
• Titles, nicknames, and honorifics Rude nickname given to Albus Potter by fellow-First Year Karl Jenkins during their first flying lesson when Potter’s broomstick refused to rise from the ground when ordered “Up!”  (CC1.4). Karl was implying that Albus did not have magical ability, like a Squib. Read More
• Battles A solid brick wall erupted from the exhaust pipe behind the flying motorcycle during the Battle of the Seven Potters to thwart the Death Eaters following Harry and Hagrid (DH4). Read More
• Magical effects When apparition goes wrong, a body part (or two) might be left behind. Read More
• Character Able Spudmore was one of the founders and owners of Ellerby and Spudmore, makers of racing brooms in the mid-twentieth century. Able’s son Randolph Spudmore was the designer of the famous Firebolt racing broom (c. 1993) (Pm). Read More
• Character Randolph Spudmore is the innovative designer of the popular Firebolt broom. He is the son of Able Spudmore of Ellerby & Spudmore, broom manufacturers of the Swiftstick and Tinderblast models (MagSp). The design and manufacture of the Firebolt broom was his secret project, released in 1993. Even now… Read More
• Character Young, pimply conductor of the Knight Bus. He wears a purple uniform, has large protruding ears, and a Cockney accent. Stan is only about 5 years older than Harry (PA3). He was the first wizard to tell Harry the history of Sirius Black’s arrest for murder and his escape… Read More
• Broomsticks Starsweeper XXIs are the brooms ridden by the United States National Team during the Quidditch World Cup tournament of 2014 (Pm). Read More
• Article
Posted by in Essays
There are actually about three hundred, it would seem, although there is plenty of debate on the subject. Here’s the evidence from the books themselves: There are more or less ten students (depending on the vagarities of the Sorting) in each House per year, five boys and five girls. There were twenty broomsticks lying… Read More
• Character Square-jawed wizard with thick straw-colored hair. Member of the Order of the Phoenix and part of the Advance Guard that helped Harry escape from number four Privet Drive (OP3). Podmore was on guard duty at entrance of the Department of Mysteries on August 31, 1995 when he was apprehended… Read More
• Broomsticks The Swiftstick was a broom produced by Ellerby and Spudmore in Germany, who had earlier released the Tinderblast, in 1952. It was never used for Quidditch because of its inability to ascend powerfully (QA9). Read More
• Character Jocunda Sykes was the first person to ride a broom across the Atlantic Ocean (QA9, JKR, FW). Read More