• Source Harry, Ron and Hermione start back to the castle, Crookshanks chases Scabbers, and a big black dog drags Ron into a tunnel under the Whomping Willow. Crookshanks stops the tree from attacking Harry and Hermione, and they follow the cat down the tunnel to… Read More
• Source Severus Snape threatens Remus Lupin and Sirius Black with the Dementors, Harry, Ron and Hermione disarm Snape with a spell, Lupin and Black tell the truth about Harry’s parents’ deaths, Scabbers reverts back to Peter Pettigrew, the truth comes out… Read More
• Source They go back through the tunnel towards the castle, Sirius Black invites Harry to live with him, Remus Lupin becomes a werewolf when the moon comes out and Black transforms into a dog to prevent him from attacking Harry, Ron and Hermione,… Read More
• Source Harry awakens in hospital, desperately tries to tell Sirius Black’s side of the story but is not believed until Albus Dumbledore arrives, who tells Hermione to use her Time-Turner (which she had been using to increase the amount of classes she could attend) to go… Read More
• Source Harry and Hermione safely return to the Hospital Wing, where Professor Snape arrives to blame them for Sirius Black’s escape but cannot prove it. Professor Lupin resigns, returning the invisibility cloak and Marauder’s Map to Harry. Term ends, Harry, Ron and… Read More
• Source Harry tries to decide what to do, the Knight Bus arrives, and he asks to be taken to London. En route Harry learns about Sirius Black. He is met by Cornelius Fudge at Diagon Alley and installed in a room at the Leaky… Read More
• Source The students leave the Leaky Cauldron for Hogwarts, board the train, discuss Hogsmeade and a sleeping Professor Remus Lupin prevents a fight with Malfoy. The train is boarded by Dementors, Harry passes out, Professor McGonagall wants a word with Harry and… Read More
• Source Students begin the new year of classes, Hermione is taking a very full course load and in Divination, Professor Trelawney predicts Harry’s death. Hagrid introduces Hippogriffs at his first class, Buckbeak is insulted, Malfoy is injured, and Harry, Ron and Hermione… Read More
• Character Paracelsus was a “secretive wizard” about whom little is known (FW). Read More
• Character A wizarding family from Wigtown, Scotland. In 1422, the seven Parkin siblings founded the Wigtown Wanderers Quidditch team (QA7). Notable members: Walter Parkin: the father of the founding members of the Wigtown Wanderers, he would intimidate their opponents by waving his wand and meat cleaver. Read More
• Character Perseus Parkinson was the third Minister for Magic, in office from 1726 to 1733. He was known for his anti-Muggle stance and wanting to make it illegal to marry one. This idea was unpopular and he was voted out of office (Pm). Read More
• Character Walter Parkin is the father of the seven siblings who founded the Wigtown Wanderers Quidditch team in 1422. He comes from Wigtown in Scotland. He would stand on the sidelines of the Quidditch pitch with a wand on one hand and a meat cleaver in the… Read More
• Character Abraham Peasegood was an American wizard who invented the game of Quodpot (QA8). Peasegood immigrated to North America in the 1700s, intending to form a Quidditch team when he got there. The story goes that the Quaffle he had packed in his luggage came into contact with… Read More
• Character Daisy Pennifold came up with the idea of bewitching a Quaffle to fall slowly through the air to allow Chasers to keep it in play more easily. This redesigned Quaffle is known as the Pennifold Quaffle (QA6). Pennifold came up with her Quaffle ideas in… Read More
• Communication Memories can be physically removed from a wizard’s mind with a wand and placed in a container or the Pensieve. Pensieve Memories: Dumbledore’s memory of the Death Eater Trials, including those of Igor Karkaroff, Bellatrix, the Lestrange Brothers, and Barty Crouch Jr. (GF30) Dumbledore’s memory of 16-year-old Bertha Jorkins… Read More
• Character Percival Dumbledore was the father of Albus, Aberforth, and Ariana Dumbledore.  When Ariana was attacked by three muggle boys, Percival went after them in “a savage and well-publicized attack.” (DH2)  He was convicted and sent to Azkaban in 1891, where he would later die. (DH2)  Neither Percival… Read More
• Character Percival Graves was an exceptionally skilled wizard and an auror who worked for MACUSA. In the 1920s, Graves was tasked with tracking down whatever creature was terrorizing New York City. For some time, the suspicion fell on Newt Scamander and his escaped fantastic beasts (WFT). Percival Graves was a descendant of… Read More
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Posted by in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
Percival is a suspiciously common name in the Harry Potter universe, and I’m inclined to read way into that. Probably the most well-known of these is Percy Weasley, who is not actually a confirmed “Percival.” As the Lexicon’s entry for Percy notes, “In Arthurian legend, Percival was a chivalrous knight… Read More
• Character Percy Weasley, an ambitious and rather pompous young man, is unquestionably the black sheep of the Weasley family. He works hard and has always taken great pride in becoming Prefect (PS5) and Head Boy (PA1), earning twelve O.W.L.s (CS4), and… Read More
• Character Perenelle Flamel was Nicolas Flamel’s wife (PS17). She and her future husband met while attending Beauxbatons Academy (Pm). Read More
• Character Peter Pettigrew entered Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at the same time as Sirius Black, James Potter, and Remus Lupin, a group of friends who came to call themselves the “Marauders.” Although he was sorted into Gryffindor House with the other Marauders, he was initially a… Read More
• Character Antioch Peverell was the oldest of the three brothers in The Tale of the Three Brothers, and owner of the Elder Wand. Read More
• Character A legendary wizarding family connected to the Deathly Hallows and said to be the origin of the Tale of the Three Brothers by Beedle the Bard. The family became extinct through the male line, but survived through Iolanthe Peverell who married Hardwin, son of Linfred of Stinchcombe, and passed down… Read More
• Character The eldest granddaughter of Ignotus Peverell, Iolanthe was from Godric’s Hollow. As the eldest in an all-female generation, she inherited the Cloak of Invisibility (Pm). Read More
• Character Phyllida Spore was a famous herbologist and the author of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi (PS5). Read More
• Character Pierre Bonaccord was the first Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, a position later held by none other than Albus Dumbledore. Bonaccord wanted to ban troll-hunting and grant trolls rights, possibly full “being” status, but since a tribe of Mountain Trolls had been causing a lot of trouble… Read More
• Character Carlotta Pinkstone was an activist famous for campaigning to lift the Statute of Secrecy, revealing the wizarding world to Muggles. She has been imprisoned multiple times for defying the Statute. JKR’s Wizard of the Month for November 2005. Read More
• Character Pius Thicknesse was the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (DH1) until the death of Rufus Scrimgeour, after which he became Minister for Magic (DH13). Unfortunately, he had been placed under the Imperius Curse by the Death Eater Yaxley earlier in the summer (DH1), which… Read More
• Character Wizard of the 16th century who had been persecuted by a village, so for revenge he poured Shrinking Solution down their well and spent the day chasing tiny villagers while wearing hobnail boots (BoP)… Read More
• Character The Hogwarts school matron (U.S.: “nurse”), who is very adept with curing spells, potions, herbs, and other remedies. Harry thinks of her as “a nice woman, but very strict” (PS17). Among other things we’ve seen her regrow bones (CS10), cure a poisonous dragon bite (PS14), fix Eloise… Read More
• Character A Chinese dragonologist, Quong Po studied Liondragons (Chinese Fireballs) and discovered the uses of their powdered eggs (FW). Read More
• Character The Potter family is a wizarding family from Godric’s Hollow in Devon, although the family originated in the small village of Stinchcombe in Gloucestershire (WW). Notable members of the Potter family Linfred of Stinchcombe Hardwin, son of Linfred Ralston Potter… Read More
• Historical events A memorial statue of the Potter family found in Godric’s Hollow to commemorate the deaths of James and Lily, and the survival of baby Harry. Read More
• Character Fleamont Potter was the father of James Potter and the inventor of Sleekeazy’s hair potion, the sale of which added to the family’s already vast wealth. When he retired, he sold the company for an enormous profit (Pm). Fleamont Potter inherited the Cloak of Invisibility from his father, a direct… Read More
• Character Harry Potter is the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, the hero of the Wizarding world. He grew up with Muggles, and then came to Hogwarts where he faced dangers and terrors beyond his years. He, along with his friends Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom, destroyed Voldemort’s Horcruxes. Read More
• Character Henry “Harry” Potter was a member of the Wizengamot from 1913 to 1921 and great-grandfather of Harry James Potter (Pm). Read More
• Character James Potter is a young wizard who fought against Voldemort in the 1970s, only to be killed along with his wife Lily while trying to protect their 15-month-old son Harry. James is the father of Harry Potter, and nearly identical to him in appearance except with hazel eyes (OP28). Read More
• Character Lily Potter is the mother of Harry Potter, who shared with Harry the most striking aspect of her appearance, her brilliant green, almond-shaped eyes (OP28). Lily was born to a Muggle family and grew up with her sister, Petunia, not far from Spinner’s End in the town of Cokeworth… Read More
• Magical objects A wooden sign with golden letters found in front of the ruined cottage where James and Lily Potter died, commemorating their sacrifice. When Harry and Hermione visitied Godric’s Hollow, a touch of the gate made the sign rise out of the ground. Many witches and wizards had visited the site… Read More
• Communication Potterwatch was a rebel radio programme broadcast during the Second Wizarding War, hosted by Lee Jordan and featuring members of the Order of the Phoenix. During the Second Wizarding War, after Lord Voldemort, his Death Eaters and other followers had taken over the Ministry of Magic, all magical media were rigidly… Read More
• Books and Literature The Prince’s copy of Advanced Potion-Making by Libatius Borage was given to Harry Potter out of a cabinet by Professor Horace Slughorn on the first day of N.E.W.T. level Potions class in his sixth year. Appearances Unlike Ron Weasley’s copy from the same cabinet,… Read More
• Character Quirinus Quirrel was a young wizard with a “brilliant mind,” was a professor of Muggle Studies, and later of Defence Against the Dark Arts, at Hogwarts (PS5, BLC). In between holding these two posts he took a year off to gain experience dealing with Dark Arts… Read More
• Character Claudius Ptolemy was a Greco-Roman Egyptian geographer and astronomer. On their first train-ride to Hogwarts, Ron was hoping to get a Ptolemy Chocolate Frog Card (PS6).    … Read More
• Magical identities A witch or wizard who supposedly has magical blood on both sides of the family going back generations. Read More
• Publications The Pure-Blood Directory is an infamous publication from the 1930s which listed the so-called ‘Sacred Twenty-Eight’ families who have maintained a pure bloodline through history. The stated goal of the directory was to help pure-blood families keep their bloodlines pure by knowing with which families to intermarry. Some of these… Read More