• Character Theseus Scamander was the older brother of Newt Scamander, a well-known hero of World War One, and an Auror for the Ministry of Magic in the 1920s. When Newt Scamander appeared before MACUSA in 1926 after creatures escaped from his case, the British Envoy recognized his last name, as did… Read More
• Titles, nicknames, and honorifics Nickname Scorpius Malfoy gives himself after viewing the alternate universe in which The Augurey and the Dark Lord ruled the Wizarding World together (CC3.14). Read More
• Caves and vaults Inaccessible except by magic, this cave complex on the coast was visited by young Tom Riddle while he was on an outing to the coast with children from the orphanage (circa 1930). While there he terrorized two of his classmates, Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop (HBP13). Many years later,… 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
• 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
• Event After an encounter with Harry during which Snape admits he was the Half-Blood Prince and shouts that Harry should not call him a coward, Buckbeak the hippogriff attacks Snape and chases him back towards the Hogwarts gates. Snape, along with several other Death Eaters including the Carrows, Thorfinn Rowle and… 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
• Article
Posted by in Essays
Note: This piece is not about the class Charms, and I’ve left aside the vexing question of the difference between Charms and Transfiguration (e.g., why are winged keys a Charm and giant moving chess pieces are a Transfiguration?). Rather, I’m looking at Charms in the general sense, as a synonym for spells, that is,… 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
• Mountains, hills, and landforms Located outside Ottery St. Catchpole, this is a nondescript hill with a few pieces of trash littered around it. It is where Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys met up with Amos and Cedric Diggory and caught a Portkey – an old boot – to the Quidditch World Cup (GF6). Read More
• Spells The Summoning Charm causes an object to fly to the caster, even over quite some distance; the target object is said to have been Summoned. It would seem that the caster must know at least the general location of the object Summoned. 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