• Source The numbers following some descriptions are chapter/page references: DH29/628 means chapter 29, page 628 of the first hardcover US edition (like all good purists, we embrace the UK edition as the standard, but we’re working from the first hardcover US edition at the moment, so bear with us). Please… Read More
• Source The calendars which follow were carefully researched and are based on various references in the canon. Harry Potter was born on July 31, 1980. Therefore the events of the first chapter of this book take place on November 1, 1981, the day after Harry’s parents were killed. The second chapter… Read More
• Source Rowling has revealed information and stories about the wizarding world in other formats besides the novels. All (or most) of the information from these sources can be verified as being created by Rowling, so we consider such information to be canon. The other sources used by the Lexicon are: The Daily… Read More
• Source CBBC’s interview with Alfonso Cuaron, the director of Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he tells what it’s like collaborating with Rowling and what she told him about the Hogwarts grounds. Read More
• Source Interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Co. Read More
• Source Leslie Stahl’s “60 Minutes” interview with Rowling, 12 June 2003. Read More
• Source The first act of the play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” Harry and Ginny bring their children to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters to board the train to Hogwarts. Aboard the train, Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy become friends. Albus and Harry’s relationship becomes difficult over the next three years. Read More
• Source The second act of the play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” Synopsis. Scene One – Harry’s Dream – Cupboard under the Stairs, Privet Drive, changes to Albus in Durmstrang robes Scene Two – Harry and Ginny Potter’s House Harry wakes up from his dream, discusses it with Ginny, and guesses where… Read More
• Source The script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, released in book form. Two editions of the play will be published, the initial script and, at a later day, the Definitive Collectors Edition, which will present the script in its final form after previews are finished. The Special Rehearsal Edition… Read More
• Source The Class List, also known as “The Original Forty,” is a list of forty students in Harry’s year from Rowling’s notes from the early 1990s as she was creating her world. During the BBC television interview “Harry Potter and Me,” Rowling showed a page from her notebooks which details every… Read More
• Source CMB refers to a series of essays Rowling wrote about various creatures and other magical beings associated with the Wizarding world. The essays appeared first on Pottermore. Boggart Dementors and Chocolate Dementors fact file… Read More
• Source Conversations With J.K. Rowling by Lindsey Fraser. The book consists of 57 pages of questions and answers followed by descriptions of the first four books. Seven pages of quotes from interviews with Entertainment Weekly, Larry King, and others fill out the end of the book. The original English language publication… Read More
• Source Comic Relief live chat, March 2001. [transcript] This interview coincided with the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages. These books were written to raise money for the charity Comic Relief. Read More
• Source A note from Professor Lockhart gets Harry, Ron and Hermione into the Restricted Section and a book on making Polyjuice Potion. At the Quidditch match a rogue Bludger chases Harry, breaking his arm but not stopping him from getting the Snitch. Read More
• Source Harry, cured, goes looking for Ron and Hermione in the girls’ toilet where they are brewing the Polyjuice Potion. Hermione steals boomslang skin from Snape’s office while Harry creates a diversion in class. A duelling club is formed by Lockhart and Snape, and during the first… Read More
• Source Harry is hauled before Professor Dumbledore, witnesses the phoenix burning, and learns Dumbledore does not suspect him of wrongdoing. Christmas Day, presents are opened, the Polyjuice Potion is ready, Crabbe and Goyle are drugged and hair stolen and the potion drunk by Harry,… Read More
• Source Myrtle’s toilet floods, Harry finds Tom Riddle’s diary which he shows to a now fur-free Hermione, and they begin a search to discover who the owner was. Lockhart stages a Valentine’s party complete with dwarfs as cupids. That night Harry learns the secret of the diary, goes… Read More
• Source Harry, Ron and Hermione decide not to confront Hagrid, as time passes and there are no more attacks. Second-year students choose their courses for the next year, Quidditch practice becomes more frequent, Harry returns to his dormitory to find his belongings ransacked and the… Read More
• Source Tension mounts in Hogwarts as everyone fears another attack – except Draco Malfoy, who is enjoying the situation. Acting on Hagrid’s hint about following spiders, Harry and Ron go into the Forbidden Forest, find the Ford Anglia, are captured by acromantulas, learn more about the… Read More
• Source The students learn that exams will be held as usual, Ginny acts strangely, Harry and Ron visit Hermione in hospital, find she has the answer to the Chamber’s secret (a basilisk), eavesdrop on the teachers, and learn Ginny has been taken by the monster. Lockhart attempts… Read More
• Source Harry finds an unconscious Ginny, meets Tom Riddle (who has had Ginny in his power through the diary), and hears his story. Fawkes the phoenix arrives with the Sorting Hat. Riddle (Voldemort) calls the basilisk to kill Harry, but Fawkes intervenes and together they… Read More
• Source Harry tells his story to Dumbledore, McGonagall, Arthur Weasley, and Molly Weasley, Ginny and Lockhart are sent to hospital, Lucius Malfoy arrives with Dobby, and Harry tricks Lucius into freeing Dobby. Read More
• Source We are reminded of the happenings during Harry’s first year at Hogwarts, Uncle Vernon has a very important dinner guest coming, dinner plans are made, and Harry’s birthday is forgotten again. Read More
• Source Dobby, a house-elf, arrives in Harry’s room to warn him not to return to Hogwarts, the Dursleys’ dinner party is ruined by Dobby’s antics, and Harry is locked securely in his room. Read More
• Source Ron, Fred, and George Weasley break Harry out of his room with the car and whisk him away to the Burrow. Harry helps de-gnome the garden after Mrs. Weasley speaks her mind. Read More
• Source Harry and the Weasleys receive their required book lists from Hogwarts and go to Diagon Alley via Floo powder. There Harry arrives in Knockturn Alley, overhears the Malfoys, is found by Hagrid, meets author/teacher Gilderoy Lockhart, and Arthur Weasley comes to blows with Lucius Malfoy. Read More
• Source The entire Weasley family and Harry cram into the Ford Anglia and drive to King’s Cross Station. Harry and Ron cannot get through to the train and decide to fly the car to Hogwarts. The trip is uneventful until the end, when they lose… Read More
• Source Ron receives a Howler, they learn about mandrakes in Herbology, Colin Creevey asks for an autographed photo, Lockhart is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and they learn about Cornish pixies. Read More
• Source Harry begins Quidditch practice, words are exchanged with the Slytherin team, Ron’s spell backfires, Harry and Ron serve detention, and Harry hears a voice. Read More
• Source Harry is caught dripping mud on the carpet by Filch, is taken to Filch’s office, discovers that Filch is not a wizard, and Nearly Headless Nick invites him to his Deathday Party, which Harry, Ron and Hermione attend on Hallowe’en night. Leaving… Read More
• Source Harry, Ron and Hermione are questioned about the Petrified cat, Hermione asks Professor Binns about the Chamber of Secrets, Harry, Ron and Hermione return to the scene of the crime, consult Moaning Myrtle, and speculate about the mystery. Read More
• Source Mzimba, Lizo, moderator. Chamber of Secrets DVD interview with Steve Kloves and J.K. Rowling, February 2003. Read More
• Source Culpeper’s Complete Herbal, published in 1653, is a source Rowling used as a reference for herbs and other plants. She told “60 Minutes”: “I used to collect names of plants that sounded witchy, and then I found this, ‘Culpeper’s Complete Herbal,’ and it was the answer to my every prayer: flax… Read More