• Food and drinks Bacon is a kind of meat popular with both Muggles and witches and wizards. Read More
• Food and drinks Bacon wrapped steak was served at the first Welcome Feast when Harry started his first year. He was completely floored at the amount of food, and that it was all things he liked (PS7). Read More
• Clothing S.P.E.W. badges were badges Hermione Granger made to promote her organisation, the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare (aka S.P.E.W.) (GF14, GF15, GF16). Read More
• Food and drinks The aroma of baking pumpkin permeated the air at Hogwarts on Halloween (PS10). Read More
• Clothing A woolly covering for the head and neck. The name comes from the site of a battle in the Crimean War; soldiers wore this kind of gear (NSOED). Read More
• Sports teams The Ballycastle Bats are a Quidditch team hailing from Ballycastle in Northern Ireland. They are considered to be Northern Ireland’s most celebrated team (QA7). Team notes robes: black with scarlet bat on the chest (QA7) hometown: Ballycastle, Northern Ireland (QA7) mascot: Barny the Fruitbat (QA7) Captain… Read More
• Sports teams The Banchory Bangers are a disbanded Quidditch team from Scotland. The Bangers were known for their appallingly awful Quidditch skills and wild after-match parties. Their extremely reckless shenanigans during a match against the Appleby Arrows included allowing the Bludgers to go free and an illegal hunt… Read More
• Glossary Crazy, but suggests a silly rather than a dangerous kind of craziness. … Read More
• Art and Culture A tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy and his attempts to teach trolls to do ballet. Situated on the 7th floor of Hogwarts, opposite the Room of Requirement. Read More
• Sports teams The Barnton Quidditch team is an amateur team which hails from the small village of Barnton in the county of Cheshire (located east of Liverpool) in North-West England. According to an article entitled “Bring Back our Baskets!” in the Daily Prophet, the Barnton team had goals made of… Read More
• Games, toys, and jokes One of the range of fireworks products offered by Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes (OP28). Read More
• Magical objects Fangs and venom from the dreaded giant serpent that once lived in the Chamber of Secrets have magical properties. Read More
• Sports and competitions Harry likens Quidditch to this Muggle Game when Oliver Wood explains it to him first (PS10)… Read More
• Potion ingredients Bat body parts are used as potions ingredients. Read More
• Headlines and advertisements Bats Survive the Tornados is an article published in the Sports section of the Daily Prophet (DP2). The Prophet reports on a Quidditch match where a surprise win by the Ballycastle Bats over former league leaders Tutshill Tornados was attributed to a suspicious bout of “sleeping sickness” which affected… Read More
• Architecture • Glossary The ‘teeth’ shaped parts on top of a castle, crennalations… Read More
• Timelines and calendars During the Second War, battles were fought between Death Eaters and allies of the Ministry, including Aurors and members of the Order of the Phoenix. Some of these battles were single combats, but others were pitched battles between small groups of combatants. In the end, the final defeat of Voldemort… Read More
• Glossary A shiny ball hung on a Christmas tree as decoration. Read More
• Magical objects Hermione had a small, magical, purple beaded bag prepared for the Horcrux hunt that carried everything she thought they would need, from books and clothes to a tent and even the portrait of Phineas Nigellus which had hung in number 12, Grimmauld Place. Read More
• Ministry of Magic A division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, with responsibility for creatures defined as “beasts”… Read More
• Headlines and advertisements “BEAST TAMER NEWT TO WED!” was a headline in an issue of the magazine Spellbound: Celebrity Secrets and Spell Tips of the Stars! erroneously reporting that Newt Scamander was engaged to be married to Leta Lestrange (CG). Leta was, in fact, actually engaged to Newt’s brother Theseus. This was unbeknownst to… Read More
• Quidditch The Beater is a Quidditch player who protects other players from Bludgers – while attempting to hit those Bludgers toward opposing players using a small bat. Background Originally, the Bludgers (or, aptly, Blooders) hit by the Beaters were flying rocks, which could be cracked by the Beaters’ bats. Read More
• Quidditch Beaters’ bats, which are also called “clubs”, are enchanted wooden bats used in the game of Quidditch by Beaters. Beaters hit the Bludgers with the bats in an effort to affect their flight (away from fellow team members and/or toward opposing team members). The enchantments are necessary because of… Read More
• Books and Literature The Beaters’ Bible is a Quidditch handbook written by Brutus Scrimgeour (QA). Kennilworthy Whisp cited this book in Quidditch Through the Ages, and Scrimgeour in turn provided a favourable blurb for Whisp’s book in the front section (QA). According to Whisp, the first rule… Read More
• Schools Students at Beauxbatons come from many countries from Western Europe, including Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Belgium, and The Netherlands. Nicolas Flamel met his wife, Perenelle. A fountain in the school’s park is named for them. Beauxbatons has a larger student population than Hogwarts (Pm). Read More
• Food and drinks One of Hagrid’s more dubious concoctions. Allegedly beef casserole, but contained a “large talon” (GF16). Read More
• Games, toys, and jokes Belch Powder is a substance which presumably causes the target creature to belch. Read More
• Plants • Potion ingredients Belladonna is a mundane (but toxic) plant with magical uses (DP2, JKR-W1). Read More
• Glossary A cord inside a house which, when pulled, causes a bell to ring in another part of the house to get someone else’s attention. Read More
• Art and Culture The Bent-Winged Snitches is a controversial American wizarding band. The Snitches were VIP guests at the 2014 Quidditch World Cup (Pm). Read More
• Food and drinks Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans are a popular sweet for kids at Hogwarts. They buy them from the lunch trolley on the Hogwarts Express and from Honeydukes in Hogsmeade. They give them for Christmas gifts and as gifts when someone is ill and in the hospital wing. Bertie Bott’s Beans… Read More
• Glossary Derogatory British term for a woman or a girl… Read More
• Potion ingredients A shriveled, kidney-like “stone”that comes from the stomach of a goat, protects from most poisons Professor Snape quizzed Harry on the bezoar during the very first Potions Class. In his fourth year, while distracted by thoughts of Cho Chang and the Yule Ball, Harry forgot to add a bezoar during… Read More
• Books and Literature Big Foot’s Last Stand was a book by Ortiz O’Flaherty detailing the Great Sasquatch Rebellion of 1892, which caused the Magical Congress of the United States (MACUSA) to relocate for the fifth time (Pm). Read More
• Sports teams The Bigonville Bombers are a European Quidditch team from Bigonville in Luxembourg. The Bombers are known for their team’s offensive strategies and high scoring (QA8). Read More
• Rules and laws The Bill of Goblin Rights is the name of proposed legislation to codify and extend the rights of goblins in the wizarding world. Members of the goblin rights group The Brotherhood of Goblins (B.O.G.) met with representatives from the Ministry of Magic to try and set out the clauses… Read More
• Potion ingredients Bird entrails, or the intestines or other interior organs of a bird, are sometimes used in divination (PA4). The manager at Flourish and Blotts names bird entrail divination as one of the “basic fortune-telling methods” covered in Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky (PA4). Read More
• Magical objects Enchanted object which looks like an ordinary teakettle until an unwary person attempts to use it, in which case it bites the user. Read More
• Magical artifacts The Black Family Tree tapestry is a large tapestry which hangs at number twelve Grimmauld Place. It has, according to Kreacher, been in the Black family for seven centuries (OP6). On it the family’s births, marriages and deaths are embroidered with gold thread; family members who have been disowned… Read More
• Dark magic items On the night when Harry and Hermione sought the Philosopher’s Stone, they crossed the threshold into the room with the Potions Riddle and black flames appeared in the doorway ahead of them (PS16). Read More
• Food and drinks A sausage-shaped dish made with blood and suet (animal fat) enclosed in a wrapper made from floury batter (NSOED). Read More
• Wandmaking A wand wood, known for its dark bark, large sharp thorns, and dense, stiff, spiny branches (Pm). Read More
• Quidditch Blagging is the Quidditch foul of grabbing onto the broom tail of another player (QA6). Every known foul was committed at the first Quidditch World Cup in 1473 (QA6). Although it is not specifically labelled as “blagging”, Draco Malfoy commits this foul on Harry Potter by… Read More
• Quidditch Blatching is the Quidditch foul of flying to intentionally collide with another player (QA6). It will have been one of the fouls committed at the first Quidditch World Cup in 1473, where an instance of every known foul occurred (QA6). During their Round of 16 match in the Quidditch World… Read More
• Glossary British slang term for a stupid, unpleasant, or contemptible person or thing (NSOED). Read More
• Glossary A British slang exclamation, usually used by Ron Weasley. Read More
• Magical identities A witch or wizard with at least one wizarding parent but at least one Muggle parent or grandparent. Read More
• Wizarding culture The Blood Ball, in the alternate timeline where Lord Voldemort killed Harry Potter (due to the use of an Experimental Time Turner), is a formal dance held at Hogwarts School, much like the Yule Ball. From its name, however, the implication is that only pure-blood students are allowed to… Read More
• Games, toys, and jokes The Blood Blisterpod is a small purple sweet, invented by Fred and George. Half of it causes a nosebleed. The other half of the sweet stops the bleeding. Read More
• Quidditch Blooder is an early Quidditch term for the “ball” that evolved into the modern Bludger. They were likely to have been flying rocks (QA3, QA6). The term was first used in Goodwin Kneen‘s twelfth century letter to his cousin Olaf in Norway to describe the object that… Read More
• Food and drinks Sold in the “Unusual Tastes” section at Honeydukes in Hogsmeade, apparently for vampires (PA10). Found near the Cockroach Clusters. Read More
• Titles, nicknames, and honorifics A title claimed in handwriting in the margins by the mysterious owner of the book Advanced Potion Making some 20 years in the past. Since there is no royalty in the Wizarding world, this presumptive title was a bit of a mystery. Read More
• Wizarding culture One of the underlying problems in the wizarding world is intolerance and prejudice based on the “purity” of a person’s wizarding blood. Wizards distinguish between purebloods (no Muggle ancestry), half-blood (at least one wizarding parent but at least one Muggle parent or grandparent) and Muggle-borns (both parents were Muggles). Read More
• Quidditch A Bludger is a round jet-black iron ball, 10 inches in diameter – that is, slightly smaller than a Quaffle – one of the four balls used in playing the game of Quidditch (in which two Bludgers are used at any one time). A Bludger always attacks and attempts… Read More
• Quidditch Bludger Backbeat is a method of hitting the Bludger backwards, difficult to pull off with any precision but very effective for disorienting opponents, who don’t expect a Bludger to come at them in that way (QA10). Read More
• Broomsticks The Bluebottle is a type of broom, aimed at the general transport market rather than for sports or racing use (GF8). It was advertised at the Quidditch World Cup final in 1994 on the blackboard. Marketed as a safe and reliable broom for families, it includes a built-in… Read More
• Quidditch Blurting is the Quidditch foul of locking broom handles with another player to pull him or her off course (QA6). It will have been one of the 700 fouls committed during the very first Quidditch World Cup match in 1473 (QA6). Read More
• Glossary A flat-topped straw hat with a brim. Part of the uniform at Smeltings, Dudley Dursley’s secondary school (PS2)… Read More
• Glossary Bog-standard is a British slang term meaning “common, ordinary, with no frills”. Read More
• Food and drinks Boiled potatoes were served at Harry’s first start-of-term Hogwarts feast and by Mrs. Weasley at the Burrow (PS7, GF5). Read More
• Transportation Ship taken by the witch Gormlaith to cross the Atlantic in search of her niece Isolt, founder of Ilvermorny School of Wizardry (Pm). Read More
• Glossary A witch or wizard who administers the Unbreakable Vow is called the Bonder (HBP2). Read More
• Glossary On 5th November every year, Britain commemorates the Gunpowder Plot, in which Guy (Guido) Fawkes and other extremist Catholics plotted (but failed) to blow up James I and his Parliament. People have firework parties or attend organized displays, and effigies of Guy Fawkes (known as “the guy”) are burned on… Read More
• Glossary (referring to part of an automobile) hood (U.S.); can also mean a hat… Read More
• Books and Literature The Book of Potions is a definitive study of the subtle art of potion-making by Zygmunt Budge. Read More
• Books and Literature A Achievements in Charming spell book Has quite sharp edges, as Harry learnt when Hermione kept snatching it away from him to “check that she had got the answer completely right” while he was testing her the day before their Theory of Charms O.W.L. (OP31). Advanced Potion-Making… Read More
• Books and Literature The Book of Spells is a venerable school textbook written 200 years ago by Miranda Goshawk, now kept in the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts library. For the first time, Goshawk’s book clarified instructions for spellwork and made magic more understandable to the student witch or wizard (BoS). She undertook… Read More
• Glossary (referring to part of an automobile) trunk (U.S.)… Read More
• Quidditch The Bottom-of-the-Table is the position of last place in the standings. This term can be used at the end of a sports tournament or competition, or at the end of the season on the League Table. In the 1990s, the bottom of the British and Irish Quidditch League was… Read More
• Food and drinks • Hogwarts A traditional french fish stew, served when Beauxbatons visit Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament. (GF)… Read More
• Plants The bouncing bulb is the very active, moving root of a magical plant. Repotted during Herbology class; one wriggled free from Harry’s grasp and banged him in the face (GF18).  Mentioned in the Rumours advert for the Toots, Shoots ‘n’ Roots radio program (JKR). Read More
• Clothing A small hat with a round top, used to be popular business wear in London (accompanied by umbrella)    … Read More
• Titles, nicknames, and honorifics When Harry Potter’s parents were attacked and killed by Voldemort on Halloween night in 1981, he not only survived but miraculously vanquished the Dark Lord. Within 24 hours, he had been nicknamed “The Boy Who Lived” (PS1). Read More
• Sports teams Braga Broomfleet are a European Quidditch team from Portugal. Broomfleet use a unique Beater-marking system, which has made them one of the best teams in the world (QA8). Read More
• Ministry of Magic The Brain Room is located in the Department of Mysteries on Level Nine of the Ministry of Magic (OP34). This long, rectangular room is lit by lamps hanging low on golden chains from the ceiling. It is quite empty except for a few desks surrounding an enormous… Read More
• Headlines and advertisements Brand New Harpy Saves the Day is an article about the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team appearing in the Sports section of the Daily Prophet (DP3). This report records the views of Holyhead Harpies team captain Gwenog Jones, following the Quidditch match during which the new Chaser for their team, Valmai… Read More
• Food and drinks Brandy is a variety of alcohol. It is also a staple for anyone caring for a young dragon. Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit instructs readers to feed newly hatched dragons a bucket of brandy mixed with chicken blood every thirty minutes (PS14). And Hagrid packed some brandy for Norbert(a)… Read More
• Thing Brass scales are used in Hogwarts potions class for measuring ingredients (PS5, CS11). They are one of the supplies on first-year shopping lists (PS5). Draco gets Crabbe and Goyle to carry scales when they are look outs for him outside… Read More
• Sports teams The Brazilian National Teams are from the South American country of Brazil. Quidditch The national team had won the Quidditch World Cup five times prior to the 1990s (QWC), reaching the quarter-final stages of the tournament during the last century (QA8). The Brazilian team mascots… Read More
• Titles, nicknames, and honorifics Bread Head is what Rose Granger-Weasley calls Scorpius Malfoy in their Potions Class (CC3.14). She is referring back to an earlier time, when he had said that she smelled like bread (CC1.10). Then she had thought he was making fun of her, although he was actually trying to say something… Read More
• Books and Literature Thrilling autobiographical accounts of adventures dealing with various exotic and dangerous beasts, none of which, as it turns out, actually involved the author. Read More
• Food and drinks The first meal of the day, eaten in the morning. Read More
• Thing The students take a break during the school day. Typically they are required to go outside and they usually use the courtyard (PS11, CS6, OP12, OP17, OP18, HBP18, HBP22). When the weather is chilly, they tend to huddle in a sheltered corner. A… Read More
• Magical identities Half-breed is a derrogatory term usually used to refer to individuals whose ancestry include both humans and another kind of magical being, such as a giant or a veela. The term is also applied to centaurs, however. Read More
• Headlines and advertisements Bring Back Our Baskets! is an article about Quidditch published in the Daily Prophet on 12 February 1883, recording the unhappiness of the fans who preferred baskets (which were unregulated as to size) to the new standardised goal hoops brought in by the Department of Magical Games and… Read More
• Ministry of Magic The British and Irish Quidditch League is the professional league of Quidditch teams for England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (QA7). History The British and Irish Quidditch League was established in 1674. At that time the Department of Magical Games and Sports decided to limit… Read More
• Transportation A Broom Compass is a useful broomstick accessory, invaluable for long journeys. Read More
• Broomsticks Broom Racing against another witch or wizard on broomsticks has probably existed as long as they have had brooms to ride on (QA2). Read More
• Broomsticks Brooms are a magical mode of transportation in the Wizarding World. About Broomsticks A flying broomstick is not simply a “normal” broomstick pressed into service as a mode of transportation. The flying broomstick is a magical item with built-in charms. The earliest known evidence of a broomstick enchanted to fly… Read More
• Hogwarts grounds Located near the Quidditch pitch, the broomshed is where the school brooms are kept. Also, students may keep their private brooms there. It has a wooden door (PS13). Read More
• Publications Which Broomstick is a wizarding magazine which contains articles comparing the various types of brooms available, new brooms and other features. Appearances Harry Potter borrowed a copy from Oliver Wood to read up on the different makes of broom when he needed to replace his Nimbus 2000 (… Read More
• Broomsticks Broomsticks is an alternate word for “brooms,” a common means of transportation for witches and wizards. Read More
• Broomsticks A Broomstick Servicing Kit is a collection of items to help keep a racing broom in good condition. Kit contents The black leather case includes a Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broomcare, a tin of Fleetwood’s High-Finish Handle Polish, a clip-on brass broom compass and Tail-Twig Clippers (PA1). Appearances Hermione… Read More
• Organizations The Brotherhood of Goblins (B.O.G.) is group pressing for goblin rights, including the right to carry and use wands. Appearances Members of the B.O.G. were meeting with Ministry of Magic representatives in Chipping Clodbury when a small riot broke out. Some goblins got hold of… Read More
• Plants The Bubotuber is a magical plant full of stinky pus. Bubotuber pus is used for healing potions (GF13). A bubotuber looks like a thick, black, giant slug (it even squirms slightly, although it sticks vertically out of the soil) with many large shiny swellings on it that are filled with a… Read More
• Potion ingredients The stinky pus of a magical bubotuber plant, used diluted as a cure for acne. Undiluted it can burn the skin, and smells strongly of petrol (GF13). Read More
• Games, toys, and jokes Bulbadox Powder is a substance which causes the skin of a person who touches it to break out in boils. Read More
• Sports teams The Bulgarian National Teams are from the European country of Bulgaria. Quidditch robes: scarlet/red (GF8, QWC) mascot: Veela (GF8, QWC) The Bulgaria Quidditch Team have played in the final of a Quidditch World Cup three times (QWC). Quidditch World Cup 1994 The… Read More
• Quidditch Bumphing is a Quidditch foul where the Beater intentionally hits a Bludger towards the crowd in order to halt the game momentarily, thereby denying an opposing Chaser a score (QA6). This would have been one of the many fouls committed at the first Quidditch World Cup in… Read More
• Sports teams The Burkina Faso National Teams are from the African country of Burkina Faso. Quidditch Led by their Seeker, Joshua Sankara, the national side played in the final of the 2006 Quidditch World Cup tournament against France, winning by 300 points to 220 (QWC). Read More
• Magizoology Burning Day is the day on which a phoenix bursts into flames and is reborn from the ashes (CS12). Read More
• Hogwarts Peeves the poltergeist was lurking in a hallway hoping to drop a bust of Paracelsus on someone’s head, according to Nearly Headless Nick who warned Harry about it (OP14). Read More
• Food and drinks Butter is a dairy product used by both wizards and Muggles. Read More
• Food and drinks • Wizarding culture Butterbeer is a very popular drink in the Wizarding world. It is served both hot and cold, on draft in pubs like the Three Broomsticks and bottled as well. Read More
• Headlines and advertisements Buy Your Second-Hand Brooms at Splinter & Kreeks is an advertisement for brooms appearing in the Daily Prophet (DP4). This advertisement offers the cost-conscious purchaser low pricing for secondhand brooms such as the Cleansweep Five, Comet 220 and Shooting Star (DP4). Read More