Sunday, December 28, 2008
Monday, December 10, 2007
FRIENDSHIP FOR TODAY
FRIENDSHIP FOR TODAY
By Patricia C. Mckissack
Excerpt:
On a September day, the last day of summer vacation for the children of Camden Falls, Massachusetts, a chilly breeze blew through town.
“Good gravy, it’s cool this morning,” Min Read exclaimed to her granddaughters as they stepped outside. “I think I need to grab a sweater. Are you two going to be warm enough?”
“Yup,” Flora and Ruby answered. And Ruby added, “We don’t need sweaters.”
As Min hurried back inside, the girls danced through the carpet of acorns on the sidewalk in front of the Row Houses, where they lived with their grandmother.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” Flora asked her sister.
“About starting school?”
Flora nodded.
“A little,” admitted Ruby. She would be starting fourth grade and Flora would be starting sixth. “But I’m not going to think about that. I’m trying to memorize all the songs from Annie. That’s my goal."
“Your goal for what?” asked Flora.
”Just my goal. In case I’m ever asked to audition for a production of the show. It could happen, you know.” Then, seeing the expression on Flora’s face, she added hurriedly, “Well, it could.”
“I didn’t say it couldn’t.”
“You were thinking it.”
“How do you know what I was thinking?”
“Girls?” said their grandmother as she emerged from their house wearing a sweater she had knitted herself. “Do I hear squabbling?”
“No,” said Flora as she set off down the sidewalk.
“Yes,” said Ruby. “But not bad squabbling.” She kicked an acorn ahead of her as she ran after her grandmother and sister. For an old lady, Min was pretty quick. And busy, which was why, when Flora and Ruby were much smaller, they had begun to call her Min. It was short for Mindy, which was her name, and for “In a minute,” which she used to say all the time.
Ruby skipped along. “Send a flood, send the flu, anything that you can dooooo,” she sang, and she let her voice rise, “‘to little giiiiirls!”
Ahead of her, Min turned around. “What on earth is she singing?” she asked Flora,
It’s okay. It’s a song from Annie.
“Lord love a duck,” murmured Min.
Flora retreated into silence. She was cataloging the signs of fall that they passed on their way to Needle and Thread, the sewing store that Min owned with her friend Mrs. Walter. Above, the dry leaves in the oak trees rattled in the breeze. In the yard of a house on the other side of Aiken Avenue, one entire garden was now overrun with lavender autumn crocuses, their long leaves spilling over the rocky border and onto the lawn. On some of the fir trees, Flora could see tiny pinecones She thought of collecting a basketful of them and painting them gold and silver to use in Christmas decorations And with that one simple thought, which last year would have brought her such pleasure, a curtain fell across Flora’s brain. She drew in several deep breaths as she trotted along with Min.
Min glanced at her. “Everything all right, honey?”
“Yup,” said Flora. She loved Min, but she found herself unable to share her new worries with her. She willed herself to chase away the thoughts in her head and tried concentrating on the sounds behind her.
“. . . betcha they’re smart. Bet they collect things like ashtrays and aaaaart!”
Flora thought about the photo in her pocket, the one that had so frightened her the night before. She put her hand on it to make sure it was there. She planned to show it to her friend Olivia later that morning.
“Hurry up, girls!” Min called as she turned onto Main Street. ‘We’re late this morning, and it’s all my fault.”
Moments later, Min Read and her granddaughters reached Needle and Thread. Flora flung open the door, the bell jangling above her. Mrs. Walter, Olivia’s grandmother (called Gigi by her grandchildren and by Flora and Ruby), had already put the coffee on and was arranging new sewing and quilting magazines in the rack near the cash register.
“I’m sorry we’re late,” said Min breathlessly. “I had to go back for a sweater.”
“No worries,” replied Mrs. Walter. “I’ve only been here a few minutes myself.”
During the next hour, Flora and Ruby helped Min and Gigi get ready for the day, and then Flora plopped herself down on one of the couches at the front of Needle and Thread, the couches where customers sat when they dropped by for a chat-and-stitch. She gazed out the wide window and watched Main Street come to life.
Flora and Ruby had lived in Camden Falls for just over two months, so watching Main Street come to life was still interesting, at least to Flora. She wondered if it would always be interesting. Or would she one day be so used to this town that she wouldn’t notice the details anymore? She thought about her old home, the town in which she and Ruby had grownup. She didn’t remember many of the details. Was that because she had been so used to everything?
Flora stared moodily out the window at Stuff ‘n’ Nonsense across the street. Maybe she should have paid more attention to her old town, to her street, her house, her room, her parents. But how could she have known it would all be taken away from her? She was thankful, of course, that after her parents’ accident Min had been able to care for her and Ruby. And Flora liked Camden Falls. She did. She was making friends. There was Nikki, who’d recently started visiting Needle and Thread. And, of course, Olivia, who lived next door in the Row Houses. Although Olivia was a year younger than Flora, she had skipped second grade and would be in Mrs. Mandel’s sixth-grade class with Flora and Nikki when school started the next day.
Flora liked Needle and Thread, too. She liked her other neighbors in the Row Houses. She liked lots of things here. But here wasn’t home for Flora. Not yet. Now autumn was arriving. Ordinarily, this was Flora’s favorite time of the year. Ruby’s, too. Autumn meant pumpkins and new shoes and a fresh school year. And it meant that the holidays were on the way. Halloween first, then Thanksgiving and Christmas. This was what made the curtain fall across Flora’s brain: the holidays. How could she face them without her parents? How could Ruby and Min face them?
“Flora?” Flora felt her grandmother’s hands on her shoulders and turned to see Min standing behind the couch. “It’s your last day of vacation. Do you really want to sit here all morning? Soon enough you’ll be complaining that you don’t have any time for sewing or knitting or making cards.”
Flora heaved a great sigh. “I know,” she replied. She stood up wearily and looked around Needle and Thread. “Where’s Ruby?”
Running errands for Gigi and me.
Flora thought about strolling up and down Main Street until she found her sister. One of the best things about living in Camden Falls was being allowed freedom and independence. Her old home had been two miles from town — a town that was much bigger than Camden Falls. Flora and Ruby had never ever been allowed to roam it by themselves. But this new town was different. Main Street really was the main street, even though it was only a few blocks long. A person could walk from one end of downtown Camden Falls to the other in fifteen minutes. The Row Houses were a seven-minute walk, exactly, from Needle and Thread.
While Flora stood by the couch, deciding whether to find Ruby or to work on the patchwork quilt she had begun the week before, the bell over the door to the store jangled, and in walked Robby Edwards and his mother.
“Flora!” exclaimed Robby. “Good morning! We start school tomorrow. Are you excited? Are you scared?” Flora smiled. “Hi, Robby,” she said. Robby was seventeen years old and one of the most cheerful people Flora had ever met.
"I'm going to be in the high school", Robby went on.
Flora knew that Robby, who had Down syndrome, attended a special education class at Camden Falls Central High School.
“I’ll be at Camden Falls Elementary,” Flora said. “In sixth grade. Olivia and Nikki are going to be in my class. Ruby will be in fourth grade.”
“I have Mrs. Fulton,” said Robby. “I always have her. She’s very nice. She has lots of glue.”
Robby left Flora and began wandering around Needle and Thread. He let his hand graze bolts of fabric as he passed the racks of quilting cottons. He examined the displays of buttons and laces. He eyed with interest the small table near the back of the store where old Mary Woolsey sat when she took in mending. He passed his mother, who was leafing through pattern books. Finally, he returned to the front of the store and looked at the flyers by the register.
“Make a teddy bear,” he read aloud. “Learn to sew, have fun, and help a kid in need.’ Flora,” he said, “what is this?”
“It’s a class we’re going to have here at the store,” she explained.
“And it was all Flora’s idea,” a voice said. Flora turned around to see Olivia come jangling through the door. “Hi, everyone!” Olivia called. “Hi, Gigi. Hi, Min. Hi, Robby.”
“Hello, Olivia,” replied Robby.
Olivia peered at the flyer Robby was holding. “These came out really well,” she said.
“Camden Falls Art Supply printed them,” said Gigi. “I picked them up on my way to the store this morning. They did come out well, didn’t they?”
“But what do you mean, ‘Learn to sew and help a kid in need’?” asked Robby.
“It’s a really cool idea,” said Olivia. “You can take the class for free. You sign up ahead of time, and when you come to the store, we give you everything you need to make a teddy bear. We’ll help you make it — if you don’t already know how to sew — and then all the finished bears will be donated to kids who.. .“ (Olivia paused and glanced at Flora) “to kids who really need them.”
“That’s okay,” said Flora. “You can say it. Robby, after the car accident —“
“The one you and Ruby were in with your parents?”
“Yes. After the car accident, when the police officer came to tell Ruby and me that our parents had died, she gave each of us a teddy bear. And then I read about this organization that gives teddies to kids who need them — kids who are in the hospital, or who have lost their homes, or who are really sad.”
“Like you and Ruby,” said Robby.
Flora swallowed. “Well, yes.” Talking about the accident had become a little easier, but not much.
“I want to make a teddy bear,” said Robby.
“Great. You can be the first one to sign up for a class, said Olivia.
Robby grinned and shouted across the store, “Mom, I’m going to learn to sew, have fun, and help a kid in need!”
The bell over the door jangled again. . . and again and again as customers came and went.
“Land sakes, what a busy morning,” said Min.
Ruby returned from her errands, and she and Flora began assembling teddy bear kits for the classes. Olivia, who got paid to work at the store since her father had lost his job, rang up purchases while Min and Gigi helped customers. Olivia took her work very seriously.
It wasn’t until after lunch that things quieted down, and when they did, Nikki arrived. She stepped cautiously through the door, barely causing the bell to ring.
“Hi,” she said shyly.
“Nikki, dear,” said Gigi. “How nice that you could stop by.”
Nikki Sherman, scrawny and unkempt, lived on the outskirts of Camden Falls. Until her brother had found a bicycle at the dump and fixed it up for her, she hadn’t had a way to come into town on her own. And she had even fewer reasons to do so. She almost never had money to spend, and until recently she’d had no friends, either. But the summer — and Flora and Ruby’s arrival — had changed that.
Olivia, Ruby, Flora, and Nikki sprawled on the couches at the front of Needle and Thread. Min and Gigi sat behind the counter while a sole customer roamed the store. “I can’t believe summer’s over,” said Olivia, letting out a loud sigh. “It always goes by too fast.”
“I thought you liked school,” said Ruby.
“I do. But I like vacation just as much.”
“This summer seemed really long to me,” said Flora.
“Me, too,” said Nikki. “But I still don’t want to go back to school.”
‘Why not?” asked Ruby. “School’s fun. You get to be with your friends.”
“You don’t have friends yet,” Flora said to Ruby. “I mean, friends your own age.”
“I do, too. Lacey is my age. Almost. And I’ll have more friends soon. Nikki, how come you don’t want to go to school?”
Nikki shrugged. “I just don’t.”
“Not even if you and Flora and I will be in the same class?” asked Olivia, who knew why Nikki didn’t want to go to school. It must have been awful to be a Sherman in Camden Falls. The Shermans had an unfortunate reputation, mainly because Mr. and Mrs. Sherman drank too much and Mr. Sherman had a terrible temper. The three Sherman kids showed up at school in ill-fitting clothes and were able to bathe only when the plumbing in their little house was in working order. Olivia hoped school might improve for Nikki now that they were all friends.
“Well, that will make it better,” Nikki agreed. “Plus, we’ll have Mrs. Mandel.”
Every student at Camden Falls Elementary hoped to get Mrs. Mandel for sixth grade.
The girls lounged on the couches until Nikki looked at the Needle and Thread clock.
“Oh!” she cried. “I have to go! I promised Tobias I’d get home by three to take care of Mae so he can go to work, He got a part-time job at John’s.”
“John’s?” said Flora.
“That auto body place out by the new grocery store.” Nikki jumped to her feet. “Okay. I’ll see you guys at school tomorrow. Wish me luck on the bus.”
“Good luck,” said Flora and Ruby dutifully.
And Olivia said, “Stick with Mae. Maybe no one will bother you if you’re sitting with a first-grader.”
The door closed behind Nikki, and Flora felt in her pocket for the photograph. Then she glanced at her sister. “Hey, Ruby. If you’ll go to Ma Grand-mere to get chocolate chip cookies for you and Olivia and me, I’ll pay for the cookies.”
“Cool,” said Ruby, who grabbed the money from her sister and was out the door before Flora could change her mind.
Flora scooted down the couch to Olivia and thrust the photo in front of her. “Look. Look at this,” she said.
“What is it?” Olivia squinted at the picture of a young woman posing stiffly with a little girl.
“I found it in this box of papers that was in the attic,” Flora replied. “1 haven’t told anyone about the box yet,” she added, squirming slightly. “It’s old family stuff and I kind of want to keep it a secret.”
“Min’s stuff? How come you want to keep it a secret?”
“I just do.”
“Okay.... Who are these people?”
“That’s just the thing. I’ve been looking at the picture over and over, thinking the woman is familiar. The little girl is my mother when she was four years old. See?”
Flora turned over the photo to show Olivia the writing on the back. “It says ‘Frannie and Mary — nineteen-seventy.’ Frannie is my mother, and at first I thought Mary might be Min’s sister, Mary Elizabeth. A nice photo of my mother with her aunt. But take a look at the necklace Mary is wearing.”
Olivia brought the photo closer to her face and gazed at it for a moment. Then she screamed and dropped the picture to the floor.
“Shh!” hissed Flora. She grabbed for the photo and turned around to look at Min and Gigi, but they were busy talking with the UPS woman who had arrived at the back door with a delivery. Then she clasped Olivia’s hand. “It’s who I think it is, isn’t it?” she said quietly.
Scary Mary, whispered Olivia, wearing her star necklace.
“What was my mother doing with Mary Woolsey? I didn’t think Mary knew my family back then.”
“I have no idea,” Olivia croaked, and she cleared her throat.
“Really? You don’t have any idea at all? You’ve told me everything you know about Mary?”
“Cross my heart. She’s, like, eighty years old. She lives alone — you saw her house. She’s possibly a witch and definitely crazy. She’s buried some kind of treasure in her garden and she keeps a child hidden in her basement.”
Flora narrowed her eyes at Olivia.
“Okay, those are just rumors. But they might be true.”
“What else?”
“She catches rats in her attic and fries them up for dinner?” suggested Olivia.
“Come on. Tell me something that will help.”
“I don’t know anything more. I mean, anything more than you do. She comes here three times a week to take in people’s mending and stuff, and to return it to them when it’s finished. She’s been doing that ever since the store opened, I think, and that’s how she earns her money, thanks to Gigi and Min.” Olivia looked at the photo again and shuddered. “I really don’t know what she would have been doing with your mother.” She paused. “Maybe your mother had a secret past.”
Flora was about to reply when Ruby entered the store, holding aloft a paper bag from Ma Grand-mere. Flora stuffed the picture back in her pocket and whispered to Olivia, “Vie can discuss this later.”
Now she had even more questions. . . and no answers. Although she did like the idea of someone, anyone, having a secret past.
By Patricia C. Mckissack
Excerpt:
On a September day, the last day of summer vacation for the children of Camden Falls, Massachusetts, a chilly breeze blew through town.
“Good gravy, it’s cool this morning,” Min Read exclaimed to her granddaughters as they stepped outside. “I think I need to grab a sweater. Are you two going to be warm enough?”
“Yup,” Flora and Ruby answered. And Ruby added, “We don’t need sweaters.”
As Min hurried back inside, the girls danced through the carpet of acorns on the sidewalk in front of the Row Houses, where they lived with their grandmother.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” Flora asked her sister.
“About starting school?”
Flora nodded.
“A little,” admitted Ruby. She would be starting fourth grade and Flora would be starting sixth. “But I’m not going to think about that. I’m trying to memorize all the songs from Annie. That’s my goal."
“Your goal for what?” asked Flora.
”Just my goal. In case I’m ever asked to audition for a production of the show. It could happen, you know.” Then, seeing the expression on Flora’s face, she added hurriedly, “Well, it could.”
“I didn’t say it couldn’t.”
“You were thinking it.”
“How do you know what I was thinking?”
“Girls?” said their grandmother as she emerged from their house wearing a sweater she had knitted herself. “Do I hear squabbling?”
“No,” said Flora as she set off down the sidewalk.
“Yes,” said Ruby. “But not bad squabbling.” She kicked an acorn ahead of her as she ran after her grandmother and sister. For an old lady, Min was pretty quick. And busy, which was why, when Flora and Ruby were much smaller, they had begun to call her Min. It was short for Mindy, which was her name, and for “In a minute,” which she used to say all the time.
Ruby skipped along. “Send a flood, send the flu, anything that you can dooooo,” she sang, and she let her voice rise, “‘to little giiiiirls!”
Ahead of her, Min turned around. “What on earth is she singing?” she asked Flora,
It’s okay. It’s a song from Annie.
“Lord love a duck,” murmured Min.
Flora retreated into silence. She was cataloging the signs of fall that they passed on their way to Needle and Thread, the sewing store that Min owned with her friend Mrs. Walter. Above, the dry leaves in the oak trees rattled in the breeze. In the yard of a house on the other side of Aiken Avenue, one entire garden was now overrun with lavender autumn crocuses, their long leaves spilling over the rocky border and onto the lawn. On some of the fir trees, Flora could see tiny pinecones She thought of collecting a basketful of them and painting them gold and silver to use in Christmas decorations And with that one simple thought, which last year would have brought her such pleasure, a curtain fell across Flora’s brain. She drew in several deep breaths as she trotted along with Min.
Min glanced at her. “Everything all right, honey?”
“Yup,” said Flora. She loved Min, but she found herself unable to share her new worries with her. She willed herself to chase away the thoughts in her head and tried concentrating on the sounds behind her.
“. . . betcha they’re smart. Bet they collect things like ashtrays and aaaaart!”
Flora thought about the photo in her pocket, the one that had so frightened her the night before. She put her hand on it to make sure it was there. She planned to show it to her friend Olivia later that morning.
“Hurry up, girls!” Min called as she turned onto Main Street. ‘We’re late this morning, and it’s all my fault.”
Moments later, Min Read and her granddaughters reached Needle and Thread. Flora flung open the door, the bell jangling above her. Mrs. Walter, Olivia’s grandmother (called Gigi by her grandchildren and by Flora and Ruby), had already put the coffee on and was arranging new sewing and quilting magazines in the rack near the cash register.
“I’m sorry we’re late,” said Min breathlessly. “I had to go back for a sweater.”
“No worries,” replied Mrs. Walter. “I’ve only been here a few minutes myself.”
During the next hour, Flora and Ruby helped Min and Gigi get ready for the day, and then Flora plopped herself down on one of the couches at the front of Needle and Thread, the couches where customers sat when they dropped by for a chat-and-stitch. She gazed out the wide window and watched Main Street come to life.
Flora and Ruby had lived in Camden Falls for just over two months, so watching Main Street come to life was still interesting, at least to Flora. She wondered if it would always be interesting. Or would she one day be so used to this town that she wouldn’t notice the details anymore? She thought about her old home, the town in which she and Ruby had grownup. She didn’t remember many of the details. Was that because she had been so used to everything?
Flora stared moodily out the window at Stuff ‘n’ Nonsense across the street. Maybe she should have paid more attention to her old town, to her street, her house, her room, her parents. But how could she have known it would all be taken away from her? She was thankful, of course, that after her parents’ accident Min had been able to care for her and Ruby. And Flora liked Camden Falls. She did. She was making friends. There was Nikki, who’d recently started visiting Needle and Thread. And, of course, Olivia, who lived next door in the Row Houses. Although Olivia was a year younger than Flora, she had skipped second grade and would be in Mrs. Mandel’s sixth-grade class with Flora and Nikki when school started the next day.
Flora liked Needle and Thread, too. She liked her other neighbors in the Row Houses. She liked lots of things here. But here wasn’t home for Flora. Not yet. Now autumn was arriving. Ordinarily, this was Flora’s favorite time of the year. Ruby’s, too. Autumn meant pumpkins and new shoes and a fresh school year. And it meant that the holidays were on the way. Halloween first, then Thanksgiving and Christmas. This was what made the curtain fall across Flora’s brain: the holidays. How could she face them without her parents? How could Ruby and Min face them?
“Flora?” Flora felt her grandmother’s hands on her shoulders and turned to see Min standing behind the couch. “It’s your last day of vacation. Do you really want to sit here all morning? Soon enough you’ll be complaining that you don’t have any time for sewing or knitting or making cards.”
Flora heaved a great sigh. “I know,” she replied. She stood up wearily and looked around Needle and Thread. “Where’s Ruby?”
Running errands for Gigi and me.
Flora thought about strolling up and down Main Street until she found her sister. One of the best things about living in Camden Falls was being allowed freedom and independence. Her old home had been two miles from town — a town that was much bigger than Camden Falls. Flora and Ruby had never ever been allowed to roam it by themselves. But this new town was different. Main Street really was the main street, even though it was only a few blocks long. A person could walk from one end of downtown Camden Falls to the other in fifteen minutes. The Row Houses were a seven-minute walk, exactly, from Needle and Thread.
While Flora stood by the couch, deciding whether to find Ruby or to work on the patchwork quilt she had begun the week before, the bell over the door to the store jangled, and in walked Robby Edwards and his mother.
“Flora!” exclaimed Robby. “Good morning! We start school tomorrow. Are you excited? Are you scared?” Flora smiled. “Hi, Robby,” she said. Robby was seventeen years old and one of the most cheerful people Flora had ever met.
"I'm going to be in the high school", Robby went on.
Flora knew that Robby, who had Down syndrome, attended a special education class at Camden Falls Central High School.
“I’ll be at Camden Falls Elementary,” Flora said. “In sixth grade. Olivia and Nikki are going to be in my class. Ruby will be in fourth grade.”
“I have Mrs. Fulton,” said Robby. “I always have her. She’s very nice. She has lots of glue.”
Robby left Flora and began wandering around Needle and Thread. He let his hand graze bolts of fabric as he passed the racks of quilting cottons. He examined the displays of buttons and laces. He eyed with interest the small table near the back of the store where old Mary Woolsey sat when she took in mending. He passed his mother, who was leafing through pattern books. Finally, he returned to the front of the store and looked at the flyers by the register.
“Make a teddy bear,” he read aloud. “Learn to sew, have fun, and help a kid in need.’ Flora,” he said, “what is this?”
“It’s a class we’re going to have here at the store,” she explained.
“And it was all Flora’s idea,” a voice said. Flora turned around to see Olivia come jangling through the door. “Hi, everyone!” Olivia called. “Hi, Gigi. Hi, Min. Hi, Robby.”
“Hello, Olivia,” replied Robby.
Olivia peered at the flyer Robby was holding. “These came out really well,” she said.
“Camden Falls Art Supply printed them,” said Gigi. “I picked them up on my way to the store this morning. They did come out well, didn’t they?”
“But what do you mean, ‘Learn to sew and help a kid in need’?” asked Robby.
“It’s a really cool idea,” said Olivia. “You can take the class for free. You sign up ahead of time, and when you come to the store, we give you everything you need to make a teddy bear. We’ll help you make it — if you don’t already know how to sew — and then all the finished bears will be donated to kids who.. .“ (Olivia paused and glanced at Flora) “to kids who really need them.”
“That’s okay,” said Flora. “You can say it. Robby, after the car accident —“
“The one you and Ruby were in with your parents?”
“Yes. After the car accident, when the police officer came to tell Ruby and me that our parents had died, she gave each of us a teddy bear. And then I read about this organization that gives teddies to kids who need them — kids who are in the hospital, or who have lost their homes, or who are really sad.”
“Like you and Ruby,” said Robby.
Flora swallowed. “Well, yes.” Talking about the accident had become a little easier, but not much.
“I want to make a teddy bear,” said Robby.
“Great. You can be the first one to sign up for a class, said Olivia.
Robby grinned and shouted across the store, “Mom, I’m going to learn to sew, have fun, and help a kid in need!”
The bell over the door jangled again. . . and again and again as customers came and went.
“Land sakes, what a busy morning,” said Min.
Ruby returned from her errands, and she and Flora began assembling teddy bear kits for the classes. Olivia, who got paid to work at the store since her father had lost his job, rang up purchases while Min and Gigi helped customers. Olivia took her work very seriously.
It wasn’t until after lunch that things quieted down, and when they did, Nikki arrived. She stepped cautiously through the door, barely causing the bell to ring.
“Hi,” she said shyly.
“Nikki, dear,” said Gigi. “How nice that you could stop by.”
Nikki Sherman, scrawny and unkempt, lived on the outskirts of Camden Falls. Until her brother had found a bicycle at the dump and fixed it up for her, she hadn’t had a way to come into town on her own. And she had even fewer reasons to do so. She almost never had money to spend, and until recently she’d had no friends, either. But the summer — and Flora and Ruby’s arrival — had changed that.
Olivia, Ruby, Flora, and Nikki sprawled on the couches at the front of Needle and Thread. Min and Gigi sat behind the counter while a sole customer roamed the store. “I can’t believe summer’s over,” said Olivia, letting out a loud sigh. “It always goes by too fast.”
“I thought you liked school,” said Ruby.
“I do. But I like vacation just as much.”
“This summer seemed really long to me,” said Flora.
“Me, too,” said Nikki. “But I still don’t want to go back to school.”
‘Why not?” asked Ruby. “School’s fun. You get to be with your friends.”
“You don’t have friends yet,” Flora said to Ruby. “I mean, friends your own age.”
“I do, too. Lacey is my age. Almost. And I’ll have more friends soon. Nikki, how come you don’t want to go to school?”
Nikki shrugged. “I just don’t.”
“Not even if you and Flora and I will be in the same class?” asked Olivia, who knew why Nikki didn’t want to go to school. It must have been awful to be a Sherman in Camden Falls. The Shermans had an unfortunate reputation, mainly because Mr. and Mrs. Sherman drank too much and Mr. Sherman had a terrible temper. The three Sherman kids showed up at school in ill-fitting clothes and were able to bathe only when the plumbing in their little house was in working order. Olivia hoped school might improve for Nikki now that they were all friends.
“Well, that will make it better,” Nikki agreed. “Plus, we’ll have Mrs. Mandel.”
Every student at Camden Falls Elementary hoped to get Mrs. Mandel for sixth grade.
The girls lounged on the couches until Nikki looked at the Needle and Thread clock.
“Oh!” she cried. “I have to go! I promised Tobias I’d get home by three to take care of Mae so he can go to work, He got a part-time job at John’s.”
“John’s?” said Flora.
“That auto body place out by the new grocery store.” Nikki jumped to her feet. “Okay. I’ll see you guys at school tomorrow. Wish me luck on the bus.”
“Good luck,” said Flora and Ruby dutifully.
And Olivia said, “Stick with Mae. Maybe no one will bother you if you’re sitting with a first-grader.”
The door closed behind Nikki, and Flora felt in her pocket for the photograph. Then she glanced at her sister. “Hey, Ruby. If you’ll go to Ma Grand-mere to get chocolate chip cookies for you and Olivia and me, I’ll pay for the cookies.”
“Cool,” said Ruby, who grabbed the money from her sister and was out the door before Flora could change her mind.
Flora scooted down the couch to Olivia and thrust the photo in front of her. “Look. Look at this,” she said.
“What is it?” Olivia squinted at the picture of a young woman posing stiffly with a little girl.
“I found it in this box of papers that was in the attic,” Flora replied. “1 haven’t told anyone about the box yet,” she added, squirming slightly. “It’s old family stuff and I kind of want to keep it a secret.”
“Min’s stuff? How come you want to keep it a secret?”
“I just do.”
“Okay.... Who are these people?”
“That’s just the thing. I’ve been looking at the picture over and over, thinking the woman is familiar. The little girl is my mother when she was four years old. See?”
Flora turned over the photo to show Olivia the writing on the back. “It says ‘Frannie and Mary — nineteen-seventy.’ Frannie is my mother, and at first I thought Mary might be Min’s sister, Mary Elizabeth. A nice photo of my mother with her aunt. But take a look at the necklace Mary is wearing.”
Olivia brought the photo closer to her face and gazed at it for a moment. Then she screamed and dropped the picture to the floor.
“Shh!” hissed Flora. She grabbed for the photo and turned around to look at Min and Gigi, but they were busy talking with the UPS woman who had arrived at the back door with a delivery. Then she clasped Olivia’s hand. “It’s who I think it is, isn’t it?” she said quietly.
Scary Mary, whispered Olivia, wearing her star necklace.
“What was my mother doing with Mary Woolsey? I didn’t think Mary knew my family back then.”
“I have no idea,” Olivia croaked, and she cleared her throat.
“Really? You don’t have any idea at all? You’ve told me everything you know about Mary?”
“Cross my heart. She’s, like, eighty years old. She lives alone — you saw her house. She’s possibly a witch and definitely crazy. She’s buried some kind of treasure in her garden and she keeps a child hidden in her basement.”
Flora narrowed her eyes at Olivia.
“Okay, those are just rumors. But they might be true.”
“What else?”
“She catches rats in her attic and fries them up for dinner?” suggested Olivia.
“Come on. Tell me something that will help.”
“I don’t know anything more. I mean, anything more than you do. She comes here three times a week to take in people’s mending and stuff, and to return it to them when it’s finished. She’s been doing that ever since the store opened, I think, and that’s how she earns her money, thanks to Gigi and Min.” Olivia looked at the photo again and shuddered. “I really don’t know what she would have been doing with your mother.” She paused. “Maybe your mother had a secret past.”
Flora was about to reply when Ruby entered the store, holding aloft a paper bag from Ma Grand-mere. Flora stuffed the picture back in her pocket and whispered to Olivia, “Vie can discuss this later.”
Now she had even more questions. . . and no answers. Although she did like the idea of someone, anyone, having a secret past.
THE BOOK OF TIME
THE BOOK OF TIME
By Guillaume Prevost
Excerpt:
Samuel Faulkner’s trouble with time started at 9:48 Saturday morning.
“Sammy! Saaammy!”
His grandmother’s voice, calling him from downstairs.
“Is everything all right? Aren’t you going to your tournament?
Sam’s eyes snapped open. The tournament!
“If you don’t hurry, you’ll miss your bus!”
The bus came at 10:06. Sam threw himself out of bed. It was his birthday, and he’d thought he could sleep in – he’d completely forgotten about the tournament! He raced around his room, pulling on a T-shirt and jeans, sweeping up him gym bag, his judo uniform, his brown belt. The tournament, where he’d be facing Monk…
“Sammy, what are you doing? It’s almost ten o’clock.”
“It’s okay, Grandma. I’m coming down,” he shouted back.
In the room next door, a hysterical girl singer wailed on and on about a good-looking boy she just met at the beach:
He’s so cute,
He’s so sweet.
He makes my heart skip a beat.
Oh yes, the boy on the beeeaach!
The source of this racket would be his twelve-year-old cousin Lily, who gathered her friends every Saturday morning for long gossip sessions with lots of stupid pop music. Amazing how he slept through a noise like that!
I hope he’s not out of reach.
Oh yes, the boy on the beach!
“Sammy, it’s after ten o’clock!”
Sam slipped on his sneakers without tying them and looked around the room to be sure he had everything. His bus pass lay on the desk next to a framed photograph of his parents and Alicia at Thanksgiving. He gave the picture the briefest glance as he grabbed the pass, then opened the door.
By Guillaume Prevost
Excerpt:
Samuel Faulkner’s trouble with time started at 9:48 Saturday morning.
“Sammy! Saaammy!”
His grandmother’s voice, calling him from downstairs.
“Is everything all right? Aren’t you going to your tournament?
Sam’s eyes snapped open. The tournament!
“If you don’t hurry, you’ll miss your bus!”
The bus came at 10:06. Sam threw himself out of bed. It was his birthday, and he’d thought he could sleep in – he’d completely forgotten about the tournament! He raced around his room, pulling on a T-shirt and jeans, sweeping up him gym bag, his judo uniform, his brown belt. The tournament, where he’d be facing Monk…
“Sammy, what are you doing? It’s almost ten o’clock.”
“It’s okay, Grandma. I’m coming down,” he shouted back.
In the room next door, a hysterical girl singer wailed on and on about a good-looking boy she just met at the beach:
He’s so cute,
He’s so sweet.
He makes my heart skip a beat.
Oh yes, the boy on the beeeaach!
The source of this racket would be his twelve-year-old cousin Lily, who gathered her friends every Saturday morning for long gossip sessions with lots of stupid pop music. Amazing how he slept through a noise like that!
I hope he’s not out of reach.
Oh yes, the boy on the beach!
“Sammy, it’s after ten o’clock!”
Sam slipped on his sneakers without tying them and looked around the room to be sure he had everything. His bus pass lay on the desk next to a framed photograph of his parents and Alicia at Thanksgiving. He gave the picture the briefest glance as he grabbed the pass, then opened the door.
IGRAINE THE BRAVE
IGRAINE THE BRAVE
By Cornelia Funke
Excerpt:
They had tried to destroy the Will, but that proved to be beyond their power. So they broke it, in two ways. It was broken physically, torn apart, with the fragments of heavy parchment scattered across both space and time. It was broken in spirit because not one clause of it had been fulfilled.
If the treacherous Trustees had their way, no clause of the Will would ever be executed. To make sure of this, all seven fragments of the Will had been hidden with great care.
The first and least of the fragments was fused inside a single clear crystal, harder than diamond. Then the crystal was encased in a box of unbreakable glass. The box was locked inside a cage of silver and malachite, and the cage was fixed in place on the surface of a dead sun at the very end of Time.
Around the cage, twelve metal Sentinels stood guard, each taking post upon one of the numbers of a clock face that had been carved with permanent light in the dark matter of the defunct star.
The Sentinels had been specially created as guardians of the fragment. They were vaguely human in appearance, though twice as tall, and their skins were luminous steel. Quick and flexible as cats, they had no hands, but single blades sprang from each wrist. Each Sentinel was responsible for the space between its own hour and the next, and their leader ruled them from the position between twelve and one.
The metal Sentinels were overseen by a carefully chosen corps of Inspectors, lesser beings who would not dare question the breakers of the Will. Once every hundred years one of these Inspectors would appear to make sure that all was well and that the fragment was safely locked away.
In recent aeons, the Inspectors had become lax, rarely doing more than appear, squint at the cage, box, and crystal, salute the Sentinels, and disappear again. The Sentinels, who had spent ten thousand years in faithful service marching between the chapters of the clock, did not approve of this slipshod attention to duty. But it was not in their nature to complain, nor was there any means to do so. They could raise the alarm if necessary, but no more than that.
By Cornelia Funke
Excerpt:
They had tried to destroy the Will, but that proved to be beyond their power. So they broke it, in two ways. It was broken physically, torn apart, with the fragments of heavy parchment scattered across both space and time. It was broken in spirit because not one clause of it had been fulfilled.
If the treacherous Trustees had their way, no clause of the Will would ever be executed. To make sure of this, all seven fragments of the Will had been hidden with great care.
The first and least of the fragments was fused inside a single clear crystal, harder than diamond. Then the crystal was encased in a box of unbreakable glass. The box was locked inside a cage of silver and malachite, and the cage was fixed in place on the surface of a dead sun at the very end of Time.
Around the cage, twelve metal Sentinels stood guard, each taking post upon one of the numbers of a clock face that had been carved with permanent light in the dark matter of the defunct star.
The Sentinels had been specially created as guardians of the fragment. They were vaguely human in appearance, though twice as tall, and their skins were luminous steel. Quick and flexible as cats, they had no hands, but single blades sprang from each wrist. Each Sentinel was responsible for the space between its own hour and the next, and their leader ruled them from the position between twelve and one.
The metal Sentinels were overseen by a carefully chosen corps of Inspectors, lesser beings who would not dare question the breakers of the Will. Once every hundred years one of these Inspectors would appear to make sure that all was well and that the fragment was safely locked away.
In recent aeons, the Inspectors had become lax, rarely doing more than appear, squint at the cage, box, and crystal, salute the Sentinels, and disappear again. The Sentinels, who had spent ten thousand years in faithful service marching between the chapters of the clock, did not approve of this slipshod attention to duty. But it was not in their nature to complain, nor was there any means to do so. They could raise the alarm if necessary, but no more than that.
You Recommend
You Recommend
Thanks for all your fantastic suggestions for books to read. Trilogies and series score highly yet again on your lists of must-reads.
If you would like the chance to win copies of Bloomsbury books visit our competitions page.
Eragon by Christopher Paolini has been a popular choice. The first book in the Inheritance trilogy, it is a thrilling story full of adventure, sword fighting, Elves and Dragons, nasty villains and of course a beautiful maiden who could easily fight her way around the world. When Eragon, a poor farm boy, finds a blue stone in the forest, he finds himself in a desperate race against time to save the empire… Astonishingly, Christopher Paolini was only 15 when he started to write this masterpiece. Eldest, the second book in the trilogy, came out in August 2005.
Many of you enjoyed Mary Hoffman’s Stravaganza Trilogy, which is set in an alternate Italy called Talia. In City of Masks, Lucien, who has cancer in our world, is given a marbled notebook which miraculously transports him to exciting, dangerous, 16th century Bellezza (our Venice), a city full of murky political intrigue... In City of Stars, Georgia buys a little dusty winged horse from a local antique shop, which transports her to Remora (our Siena) - right into the rivalries and high-octane excitement of the hugely competitive Stellata horse race… City of Flowers brings together plots and characters from the first two books, as well as introducing some exciting new developments, in the elegant and deadly city of Giglia (our Florence).
Several of you recommended Magyk by Angie Sage, the first book in the Septimus Heap Trilogy. A baby girl is rescued from a snowy path in the woods; a baby boy is stillborn; a young Queen is taken ill; an ExtraOrdinary Wizard mysteriously resigns from his post… and all on the same night! When the Heap family receives a knock at the door ten years later, this string of seemingly unconnected events comes together and life as they know it will change beyond recognition…
DJ McHale’s Pendragon series is another rollicking adventure of epic proportions. An ordinary teenager, Bobby’s life is turned upside down when he is swept into a daring quest that will decide the fate of humanity. He and his Uncle Press travel from territory to territory to save the world — and all other worlds — from Saint Dane, the ultimate evil. On his way Bobby discovers strange lands, stranger people, and searches for his long-lost family. Will he succeed in saving the world?
Another popular suggestion is Garth Nix’s Abhorsen Trilogy, starting with Sabriel. Sabriel's father is the Abhorsen, a unique type of necromancer, both feared and respected — he can see and defend against the undead. On the brink of death, he sends her a cryptic message meaning she must follow in his footsteps and journey across the border from Ancelstierre to the Old Kingdom, to calm an evil storm that is brewing there — a storm which will surely intensify when he dies…
Speaking of passing between worlds, another suggestion is The Secret of Platform 13 by Iva Ibottson: under Platform 13 at King's Cross Station is a gump, a door that leads to another world. A hag, an ogre, a wizard, and other creatures have been sent through the gump to rescue their young Prince — but he has become a horrible brat called Raymond Throttle, who is determined not to be rescued.
The Doomspell Trilogy by Cliff McNish has been highly recommended. In the first book, The Doomspell, Rachel and Eric are snatched through a wall into another world by Dragwena the evil witch. Dragwena has kidnapped thousands of children before, but in Rachel and Eric she has met her match; they discover that they have magical powers, powers that Dragwena will use for her own evil ends unless they can use them to thwart her and save the human race…
Other favourites include Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke, which follows a brave young dragon called Firedrake, his loyal brownie friend Sorrel and a lonely boy called Ben as they embark on a magical journey to find the legendary place where silver dragons can live in peace forever; The Stone and the Flute by Hans Bemmann, in which Listener sets out on with a rare and magical stone to search for the legendary Gentle Fluter, and for the woman whose eyes match the colours of the stone; The Saga of Darren Shan series by Darren Shan, about the adventures and misadventures of a young boy called Darren who strikes a deal with a vampire to save his friend’s life; Jurassic Park and The Lost World by Michael Crichton; the Night World and Vampire Diaries series by Lisa J Smith; and the Young Wizard series by Diane Duane.
Thanks for all your fantastic suggestions for books to read. Trilogies and series score highly yet again on your lists of must-reads.
If you would like the chance to win copies of Bloomsbury books visit our competitions page.
Eragon by Christopher Paolini has been a popular choice. The first book in the Inheritance trilogy, it is a thrilling story full of adventure, sword fighting, Elves and Dragons, nasty villains and of course a beautiful maiden who could easily fight her way around the world. When Eragon, a poor farm boy, finds a blue stone in the forest, he finds himself in a desperate race against time to save the empire… Astonishingly, Christopher Paolini was only 15 when he started to write this masterpiece. Eldest, the second book in the trilogy, came out in August 2005.
Many of you enjoyed Mary Hoffman’s Stravaganza Trilogy, which is set in an alternate Italy called Talia. In City of Masks, Lucien, who has cancer in our world, is given a marbled notebook which miraculously transports him to exciting, dangerous, 16th century Bellezza (our Venice), a city full of murky political intrigue... In City of Stars, Georgia buys a little dusty winged horse from a local antique shop, which transports her to Remora (our Siena) - right into the rivalries and high-octane excitement of the hugely competitive Stellata horse race… City of Flowers brings together plots and characters from the first two books, as well as introducing some exciting new developments, in the elegant and deadly city of Giglia (our Florence).
Several of you recommended Magyk by Angie Sage, the first book in the Septimus Heap Trilogy. A baby girl is rescued from a snowy path in the woods; a baby boy is stillborn; a young Queen is taken ill; an ExtraOrdinary Wizard mysteriously resigns from his post… and all on the same night! When the Heap family receives a knock at the door ten years later, this string of seemingly unconnected events comes together and life as they know it will change beyond recognition…
DJ McHale’s Pendragon series is another rollicking adventure of epic proportions. An ordinary teenager, Bobby’s life is turned upside down when he is swept into a daring quest that will decide the fate of humanity. He and his Uncle Press travel from territory to territory to save the world — and all other worlds — from Saint Dane, the ultimate evil. On his way Bobby discovers strange lands, stranger people, and searches for his long-lost family. Will he succeed in saving the world?
Another popular suggestion is Garth Nix’s Abhorsen Trilogy, starting with Sabriel. Sabriel's father is the Abhorsen, a unique type of necromancer, both feared and respected — he can see and defend against the undead. On the brink of death, he sends her a cryptic message meaning she must follow in his footsteps and journey across the border from Ancelstierre to the Old Kingdom, to calm an evil storm that is brewing there — a storm which will surely intensify when he dies…
Speaking of passing between worlds, another suggestion is The Secret of Platform 13 by Iva Ibottson: under Platform 13 at King's Cross Station is a gump, a door that leads to another world. A hag, an ogre, a wizard, and other creatures have been sent through the gump to rescue their young Prince — but he has become a horrible brat called Raymond Throttle, who is determined not to be rescued.
The Doomspell Trilogy by Cliff McNish has been highly recommended. In the first book, The Doomspell, Rachel and Eric are snatched through a wall into another world by Dragwena the evil witch. Dragwena has kidnapped thousands of children before, but in Rachel and Eric she has met her match; they discover that they have magical powers, powers that Dragwena will use for her own evil ends unless they can use them to thwart her and save the human race…
Other favourites include Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke, which follows a brave young dragon called Firedrake, his loyal brownie friend Sorrel and a lonely boy called Ben as they embark on a magical journey to find the legendary place where silver dragons can live in peace forever; The Stone and the Flute by Hans Bemmann, in which Listener sets out on with a rare and magical stone to search for the legendary Gentle Fluter, and for the woman whose eyes match the colours of the stone; The Saga of Darren Shan series by Darren Shan, about the adventures and misadventures of a young boy called Darren who strikes a deal with a vampire to save his friend’s life; Jurassic Park and The Lost World by Michael Crichton; the Night World and Vampire Diaries series by Lisa J Smith; and the Young Wizard series by Diane Duane.
Timeline
1990 Ideas for Harry Potter and the wizard world form in J.K. Rowling's mind while she is on an interminable train journey from Manchester to King's Cross.
1991 J.K. Rowling goes to Portugal to teach English as a foreign language. There, she writes 10 different first chapters for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
1993 J.K. Rowling returns from Portugal with a suitcase half full of Harry Potter stories.
1994 J.K. Rowling continues to write the books in Edinburgh cafes.
1995 J.K. Rowling finishes the first book and types it out on an old typewriter. She sends it to an agent and a publisher. Several publishers reject the novel.
1996 Bloomsbury accepts the manuscript for publication outright. The Scottish Arts Council gives J.K. Rowling a grant to work on her books.
June 1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone published by Bloomsbury.
November 1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone wins the Nestlé Smarties Gold Award 9-11 years.
February 1998 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone wins the Children's Book of the Year Award at the prestigious British Book Awards.
June 1998 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone wins the Children's Book Award.
July 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is published by Bloomsbury and goes straight into the no.1 slot in BookTrack bestseller list.
October 1998 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone published in the USA. Warner Bros. secures film rights to the first two books for a seven-figure sum.
December 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets wins the Nestlé Smarties Gold Award 9-11 years. J. K. Rowling becomes the first author to win the Nestlé Smarties Prize two years in a row.
January 1999 A time capsule is buried at King's Cross on publication of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in paperback. It contains predictions from children on what they think will happen in book 7.
February 1999 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets wins the Children's Book of the Year Award at the British Book Awards.
April 1999 J.K. Rowling wins The Booksellers Association/The Bookseller Author of the Year Award.
June 1999 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets wins one of the inaugural Scottish Arts Council Children's Book Awards. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets wins the Children's Book Award based on votes from 60,000 children.
July 1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is published by Bloomsbury at 3.45 pm, and it topples Thomas Harris's book Hannibal from the top of the bestseller list. It becomes the fastest selling book, with 64,000 being sold in the first 3 days.
December 1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban wins the Nestlé Smarties Gold Award 9-11 years and J.K. Rowling receives a special certificate to celebrate her winning of this prize for the third year running.
March 2000 J.K. Rowling reveals in a press conference that someone will die in the new book, that Harry's hormones will start to kick in and that the Quidditch World Cup will be featured.
April 2000 The paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is published, accompanied by cinema advertising with Pokemon and Tigger.
May 2000 J.K. Rowling wins the The Booksellers Association/The Bookseller Author of the Year Award for the second year in a row.
June2000 J.K. Rowling awarded an OBE.
July 2000 Publication date of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The book breaks all records to become the fastest selling book ever. The publication is accompanied by the Hogwarts Express UK tour.
March 2001 J.K. Rowling’s two little books in aid of Comic Relief go on sale. They are entitled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander and Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp. Printers, typesetters, paper merchants and retailers are asked to join the publishers in donating their services. And, in keeping with Comic Relief's 'Golden Pound' principle, for every pound raised by the books, a pound goes directly to projects tackling poverty and promoting social justice in some of the poorest countries in the world.
May 2001 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire wins Scottish Arts Council Book Award.
June 2001 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire awarded the 2001 Children's Book Award in the 9-11 category.
July 2001 Paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire released in U.K.
November 2001 Film of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone released in U.K. and U.S.
November 2002 Film of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets released in U.K and U.S.
January 2003 Publication Date for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix announced.
June 2003 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix published in the UK and US.
July 2004 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix published in paperback.
December 2004 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Princepublication date announced.
16 July 2005 Publication date of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
23 June 2006 Publication date of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in paperback.
January 2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows publication date announced.
21 July 2007 Publication date of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
1991 J.K. Rowling goes to Portugal to teach English as a foreign language. There, she writes 10 different first chapters for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
1993 J.K. Rowling returns from Portugal with a suitcase half full of Harry Potter stories.
1994 J.K. Rowling continues to write the books in Edinburgh cafes.
1995 J.K. Rowling finishes the first book and types it out on an old typewriter. She sends it to an agent and a publisher. Several publishers reject the novel.
1996 Bloomsbury accepts the manuscript for publication outright. The Scottish Arts Council gives J.K. Rowling a grant to work on her books.
June 1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone published by Bloomsbury.
November 1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone wins the Nestlé Smarties Gold Award 9-11 years.
February 1998 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone wins the Children's Book of the Year Award at the prestigious British Book Awards.
June 1998 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone wins the Children's Book Award.
July 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is published by Bloomsbury and goes straight into the no.1 slot in BookTrack bestseller list.
October 1998 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone published in the USA. Warner Bros. secures film rights to the first two books for a seven-figure sum.
December 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets wins the Nestlé Smarties Gold Award 9-11 years. J. K. Rowling becomes the first author to win the Nestlé Smarties Prize two years in a row.
January 1999 A time capsule is buried at King's Cross on publication of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in paperback. It contains predictions from children on what they think will happen in book 7.
February 1999 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets wins the Children's Book of the Year Award at the British Book Awards.
April 1999 J.K. Rowling wins The Booksellers Association/The Bookseller Author of the Year Award.
June 1999 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets wins one of the inaugural Scottish Arts Council Children's Book Awards. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets wins the Children's Book Award based on votes from 60,000 children.
July 1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is published by Bloomsbury at 3.45 pm, and it topples Thomas Harris's book Hannibal from the top of the bestseller list. It becomes the fastest selling book, with 64,000 being sold in the first 3 days.
December 1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban wins the Nestlé Smarties Gold Award 9-11 years and J.K. Rowling receives a special certificate to celebrate her winning of this prize for the third year running.
March 2000 J.K. Rowling reveals in a press conference that someone will die in the new book, that Harry's hormones will start to kick in and that the Quidditch World Cup will be featured.
April 2000 The paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is published, accompanied by cinema advertising with Pokemon and Tigger.
May 2000 J.K. Rowling wins the The Booksellers Association/The Bookseller Author of the Year Award for the second year in a row.
June2000 J.K. Rowling awarded an OBE.
July 2000 Publication date of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The book breaks all records to become the fastest selling book ever. The publication is accompanied by the Hogwarts Express UK tour.
March 2001 J.K. Rowling’s two little books in aid of Comic Relief go on sale. They are entitled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander and Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp. Printers, typesetters, paper merchants and retailers are asked to join the publishers in donating their services. And, in keeping with Comic Relief's 'Golden Pound' principle, for every pound raised by the books, a pound goes directly to projects tackling poverty and promoting social justice in some of the poorest countries in the world.
May 2001 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire wins Scottish Arts Council Book Award.
June 2001 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire awarded the 2001 Children's Book Award in the 9-11 category.
July 2001 Paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire released in U.K.
November 2001 Film of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone released in U.K. and U.S.
November 2002 Film of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets released in U.K and U.S.
January 2003 Publication Date for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix announced.
June 2003 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix published in the UK and US.
July 2004 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix published in paperback.
December 2004 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Princepublication date announced.
16 July 2005 Publication date of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
23 June 2006 Publication date of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in paperback.
January 2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows publication date announced.
21 July 2007 Publication date of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Glossary
Accio!
Incantation of the Summoning Charm. For example, the incantation Accio Firebolt would cause the broomstick to fly into the hand of the person using the charm.
Acid pops
Wizarding sweets that burn holes in your tongue. Available at Honeydukes in Hogsmeade.
aconite
Plant used in potions. Also known as Monkshood or Wolfsbane.
Acromantula
Monstrous eight-eyed, hairy spiders capable of human speech. Carthorse-sized and carnivorous, they have eight legs and sharp pincers. When excited or angry, they make a distinctive clicking sound and secrete poison. They fear Basilisks.
Agrippa
Name of a wizard depicted on a wizard trading card.
alchemy
A medieval forerunner of chemistry, alchemy developed out of experiments to find a method of turning base metals into gold, and of making an elixir of life that would prolong life indefinitely.
Alohomora
Incantation of the spell that unlocks doors and windows.
Alphard, Uncle
Sirius Black's uncle who died when Sirius was seventeen, leaving him 'a decent bit of gold'.
Animagus (plural...magi)
A witch or wizard who can at will transform into a specific animal. All Animagi must register with the Ministry of Magic, stating what animal they become and its distinguishing features.
Anit-venom
An antivenin or anti-poison that counteracts a specific venom, especially that of a snake.
Aparecium
Spell to make invisible ink visible.
Apparate
To transport oneself instantly to any destination. It is accompanied by a loud crack sound, and there is always a risk of Splinching. Because it is difficult and dangerous Apparation requries a licence from the Department of Magical Transportation, which can only be issued to those of 17 and over. it is impossible to Apparate or Disapparate within Hogwarts.
Apparator
A person or creature who Apparates.
Aragog
Name of a huge spider that lives in the Forbidden Forest.
Arithmancy
Ancient study of the magical properties of numbers.
Astronomy
Study of the stars and planets.
Atrium
Reception area on Level Eight of the Ministry of Magic.
Aunt Marge
Dudley Dursley's dreadful aunt, sister to Vernon Dursley and no friend of Harry's.
Auror
Professional Dark-wizard catcher. To become an Auror, a witch or wizard must gain at least five NEWTs with grades no lower than 'Exceeds Expectations' in subjects including: Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration, and Charms; pass stringent character and aptitude tests at the Ministy of Magic's Auror office, then do three years of Auror training. By their fifth year at Hogwarts Harry and Ron both want to be Aurors.
Avada Kedavra Curse
One of the three Unforgivable Curses. It is delivered with the incantation Avada Kedavra! and a flash of green light from the wand-tip to cause instant death. There is no way of blocking it.
Azkaban
Prison fortress where wizarding criminals are sent. Guarded day and night by the terrifying Dementors, who drain peace, hope and happiness out of any human who comes too close to them.
Bagman, Ludo
Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports at the Ministry of Magic. A former Quidditch player, he was a Beater on the Wimbourne Wasps team and played for England. He is large and blond, with a round, pink face.
Bagnold, Millicent
Retired Minister for Magic, a position next taken by Cornelius Fudge.
Bagshot, Bathilda
Author of A History of Magic.
Bane
Name of a centaur in the Forbidden Forest.
Barnabus the Barmy
Figure on a tapestry on the seventh floor of Hogwarts, opposite the usually concealed entrance to the Room of Requirement.
Basilisk
Snake like creature whose eyes will turn you to stone.
Bat-Bogey Hex
It covers the hexed person in great flapping bat-bogeys.
Beater
Quidditch player who tries to knock the Bludgers towards the opposing team.
Beauxbatons Academy of Magic
School of witchcraft and wizardry somewhere in Europe.
Bell, Katie
Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Berti Botts' Every Flavour Beans
Wizarding jellybeans. Come in every flavour, including spinach, liver, tripe, sprout, curry, grass, and even bogey and vomit flavours.
Bezoar
Stone taken from the stomach of a goat. A bexoar will counteract the majority of poisons.
Binns, Professor
History of Magic teacher at Hogwarts. The only ghost teacher at the school. He fell asleep in front of the fire and forgot to wake up.
Black Forest
Place in Germany where Professor Quirrel was rumoured to have encountered vampires.
Black, Mrs
Sirius's deeply unpleasant mother (deceased) was nastily prejudiced against anyone who was not a pure-blood wizard or witch. Her life-size portrait hangs in the hall of number twelve Grimmauld Place and shrieks vile insults whenever she's disturbed. A Permanent Sticking Charm prevents its removal.
Black, Regulus
Younger brother of Sirius, who was more favoured by his parents. He joined Voldemort's Death-eaters and was killed, probably because he realised the true horror of Voldemort's plans and tried to pull out.
Black, Sirius
Imprisoned for mass murder but escaped from Azkaban. Nicknamed Padfoot when at aschool with Harry's father. Also known as Snuffles, from his Animagus form as a big black dog. Harry's godfather. See also, Grimmauld Place.
Blast-Ended Skrewt
Cross between a manticore and a fire crab. They have no recognisable head or eyes, but they explode intermittently at one end. Males have a sting like a scorpion and females have suckers on their bellies. Adult Skrewts have thick grey armour and may grow to be ten feet long.
Blood Blisterpod
Causes bleeding when swallowed.
Blood-flavoured Lollipops
Lollipops for vampires.
Bloody Baron, the
Resident ghost of Slytherin Tower.
Bludgers
Black balls that try to knock players off their brooms in Quidditch.
Boardman, Stubby
Apparently a pop singer, who a Doris Purkiss claims is the real identity of Sirius Black.
Bode, Broderick
A sallow-skinned wizard with a mournful face and sepulchral voice, who works in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic.
Body-Bind Curse
Anyone jinxed by the incantation Petrificus Totalus becomes completely rigid as if turned to stone.
Boggart
Shape-shifter that takes on the likeness of your worst fear.
Bones, Amelia Susan
Aunt to Susan Bones. Also known as Madam Bones. Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and a member of the Wizengamot. One of the interrogators at Harry's disciplinary hearing that takes place just before the start of his fifth year at Hogwarts.
Bones, Edgar
Brother to Amelia Susan Bones. A great wizard, and a founder member of the Order of the Phoenix. Killed by Death-Eaters.
Bones, Susan
A Hogwarts Hufflepuff student in the same year as Harry. Niece of Amelia Susan Bones.
Borgin and Burkes
Dark Arts shop in Knockturn Alley.
Bouncing Bulb
Plant used in Herbology.
Bowtruckle
Tree guardian. These tiny pixieish creatures are made of wood and usually live in wand-trees. They have knobbly brown arms and legs, two twiglike fingers at the end of each hand and a flat barklike face with beetle-brown eyes. Eat woodlice.
Bozo
Photographer for the Daily Prophet.
Broomstick Servicing Kit
Thirteenth birthday present for Harry from Hermione Granger. A black leather case containing a jar of Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle Polish, Tail-Twig Clippers, brass compass and a Handbook of Do-it-Yourself Broomcare.
Brown, Lavender
Hogwarts pupil in the same year as Harry. She is in Gryffindor house and her best friend is Parvati Patil.
Bryce, Frank
Muggle killed by Voldemort. Frank worked as a gardener at Riddle House in the village of Little Hangleton.
Bubble-Head Charm
Puts a protective globe like an upside-down goldfish bowl over the head to ensure a supply of fresh air in the presence of Stink Pellets and Dungbombs, and to allow the charmed person to breathe under water.
Bubotuber
Plant that resembles a black slug with swellings that contain a yellowish green liquid. Bubotuber pus is used to cure acne, but undiluted it causes sores and boils.
Buckbeak
Name of a Hippogriff: a large flying creature that is half-bird and half-horse.
Bulbadox Powder
Causes boils.
Bulstrode, Millicent
Hermione Granger's duelling partner in the second year dueling club. Millicent is in Slytherin house, in Harry's year.
Burrow, the
Home of the Weasley family.
Butterbeer
Frothy, buttery drink served in Hogsmeade.
Cadogan, Sir
Knight from a portrait in the North Tower. Temporary guardian of Gryffindor Tower while the Fat Lady was being repaired.
Canary Creams
Trick custard-cream biscuits that turn the eater briefly into a canary. Invented by Fred and George Weasley.
Care of Magical Creatures
Class taken at Hogwarts that teaches students how to look after magical creatures.
Centaurs
Half-man, half-horse creatures. Centaurs live in the Forbidden Forest.
Chamber of Secrets, the
Concealed room created by Salazar Slytherin wherein he sealed an unknown horror that could only be freed by his true heir to purge the school of those unworthy to study magic.
Chang, Cho
Seeker of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. A year above Harry.
Charm
Spell that adds properties to an object or person.
Chaser
Quidditch player who tries to score using Quaffle.
Chimaera
A rare greek monster with a lion's head, a goat's body and a dragon's tail. Vicious and bloodthirsty.
Chocoballs
Wizarding sweets full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream.
Chocolate Frogs
Wizard confectionery that contains collector's cards of famous witches and wizards.
Chudley Cannons, the
Ron Weasley's favourite professional Quidditch team. They wear bright orange and black robes and are ninth in the League at the start of Harry's second year.
Circe
Name of a witch depicted on a wizard trading card.
Cleansweep 7
Type of broomstick used by Fred and George Weasley.
Cleansweep Eleven
Broomstick with Spanish oak handle, anti-jinx varnish and in-built vibration control. It accelerates from nought to seventy in ten seconds.
Clearwater, Penelope
Percy Weasley's girlfriend.
Cliodna
Name of a witch depicted on a wizard trading card.
Cockroach Clusters
Wizarding sweets made from cockroaches.
Colloportus
Magical incantation that seals doors.
Come and Go Room
Also known as the Room of Requirement, it is on the seventh floor of Hogwarts, opposite the Barnabus the Barmy tapestry. The room is sometimes there, sometimes not. It can only be entered by people with a real need, who must walk past the part of wall three times while concentrating on what they need. The room will then appear fully equipped with all their inanimate requirements
Comet
Type of broomstick flown by Cho Chang.
common room
Meeting room for each Hogwarts house.
Common Welsh Green
Type of dragon found in Britain.
Cornish Pixies
Naughty little fairies that create havoc
Crabbe, Vincent
One of Draco Malfoy's stupid henchman. Thickset and looks very mean. Has a pudding-basin haircut and a very thick neck. He is in Slytherin house.
Creevey, Colin
Admirer of Harry who follows him constantly and is always taking his picture. A year below Harry in Gryffindor house.
Creevey, Dennis
Hogwarts pupil, younger brother of Colin Creevey. Dennis is three years below Harry in Gryffindor.
Cribbages Wizarding Crackers
Snack food.
Crockford, Doris
Witch Harry meets in the Leaky Cauldron.
Crookshanks
Hermione Granger's pet cat. Ginger with thick and fluffy fur, it is a little bow-legged with a slightly crumpled face.
Crouch, Bartemius
Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation at the Ministry of Magic. He looks like a bank manager, with a toothbrush moustache, and is a great believer in rules.
Crouch, Bartemius, Junior
Son of the above. He was imprisoned in Azkaban as a follower of Voldemort.
Cruciatus Curse
Inflicts torture with the command Crucio. One of the three Unforgivable Curses.
Crumple-Horned Snorkacks
Creatures believed to exist in Sweden by Luna Lovegood and her father who is editor of The Quibbler.
Crup
Almost certainly a wizard-created dog that closely resembles a Jack Russell terrier but with a forked tail. Intensely loyal to wizards and ferocious towards Muggles.
DA
Dumbledore's Army: a group of 28 Hogwarts students who, in Harry's fifth year, meet secretly to develop their skills in Defence Against the Dark Arts.
Daily Prophet, the
The national wizarding newspaper.
Dark detectors
A range of instruments, such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors and Foe-Glasses, that warn when Dark wizards or enemies are around. Not completely reliable as they can be fooled.
Dark Mark, the
Sign of the Death Eaters: a skull with a serpent in its mouth.
Davies, Roger
Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.
Dawlish, ...
A Ministry of Magic Auror.
Death Eaters
Witches and wizards known to be loyal to Lord Voldemort and to enjoy killing.
Death Room
A circular room like an amphitheatre in the Department of Mysteries with circular tiers of stone steps surrounding and leading down to a dais on which a stone arch stands with a veil or curtain swaying continously in it.
Deathday Party
Celebration held by the ghosts at Hogwarts to commemorate the day they died.
Decree
A law made by someone in authority. In Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, Professor Umbridge initiates a number of increasingly restrictive Ministy of Magic decrees.
Defence Against the Dark Arts
Subject taught at Hogwarts to teach young witches and wizards how to defend themselves against harmful hexes, jinxes, and spells, as well as against witches and wizards who use the Dark Arts.
Deflating Draft
Potion that counteracts a swelling solution. Causes swelled body parts to return to normal size.
Delacour, Fleur
Pupil at Beauxbatons. Beautiful, with long, silvery blonde hair; her grandmother was a Veela.
Delaney-Podmore, Patrick
Leader of the Headless Hunt.
Deletrius
Spell to make something disintegrate.
Dementor
Creature who feeds on the happy emotions of humans. Dementors are employed as guards at Azkaban. The kiss of a Dementor will suck out a human's soul, leaving an emotionless shell.
Dementor's kiss
To be kissed by a Dementor is to have one's soul sucked out, a worse fate than death.
Densuageo
Spell causing teeth to grow.
Dervish and Banges
Wizarding equipment shop in Hogsmeade.
Derwent, Dilys
Healer at St Mungo's Hospital (1722-1741) where her portrait now hangs. Headmistress of Hogwarts (1741-1768) where another portrait of her hangs in Dumbledore's room.
Devil's Snare
A carnivorous plant that reaches out its tendrils to strangle anyone who touches it.
Diagon Alley
A long cobbled street filled with the most fascinating wizarding shops in the world. Accessible through the Leaky Cauldron pub in London.
Diffindo!
Incantation of a spell that splits or severs something.
Diggle, Dedalus
Wizard who Harry met in the Leaky Cauldron. He also once bowed to Harry in a shop. A founder member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Diggory, Amos
Father of Cedric. He is tall and has a brown beard.
Diggory, Cedric
Student two years ahead of Harry. Captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. In Harry's fourth year, the Goblet of Fire selects Cedric and Harry to be Triwizard champions.
Dippet, Armando
A wizard, one of the previous headmasters of Hogwarts.
Disapparate
To disappear at will.
Disillusionment Charm
Camouflages a person by making them the exact colour and texture of the surrounding environment. The accompanying wand tap causes a curious sensation as if a smashed egg is trickling down coldy from where the wand struck.
Dissendium
Spell that opens entrance to secret passage to Hogsmeade.
Divination
Magical art of telling the future using tea-leaves, crystal balls and so forth. Professor Trelawney is Divination teacher at Hogwarts.
Dobby
Name of a House-Elf who idolises Harry but gets him into lots of trouble.
Doge, Elphias
A wheezy-voiced wizard who was a founder member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Doxy
Also known as a Biting Fairy, a Doxy looks like a tiny human covered in black hair, but has four arms and four legs and thick curved and shiny wings like a beetle. They multiply rapidly by laying up to five hundred eggs at a time. Infestations can be treated with Doxycide spray. A Doxy bite is poisonous and must be treated with an antidote.
Dr Filibuster's Fabulous No-Heat-Wet-Start Fireworks
Wizarding fireworks and one of Fred and George Weasley's favourite jokes. They fill the room with red and gold stars that last for about half an hour.
Dr Ubbly's Oblivious Unction
Magically curative and soothing ointment.
Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus
The Hogwarts motto. It means "Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon".
Dragon
Mythical reptilian creature who can fly and breathe fire. Hagrid is particularly fond of dragons and has a Norwegian Ridgeback called Norbert for a while.
Draught of Living Death, the
Powerful sleeping draught.
Draught of Peace
A potion to calm anxiety and sooth agitation, but heavy-handedness with the ingredients could put the drinker into a deep and sometimes irreversible sleep.
Drooble's Best Blowing Gum.
Wizarding sweet. Fills the room with blue bubbles that last for about half an hour.
Duelling CLub
Club started by Professor Lockhart to teach students how to duel with spells.
Dumbledore, Aberforth
Dumbledore's brother. A founder member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Dumbledore, Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian
Headmaster of Hogwarts and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. The finest wizard of his generation, Dumbledore is the only one Voldemort is afraid of. Tall, thin, and very old, he has blue eyes, a crooked nose and a long silver beard. He wears half-moon spectacles and a long purple cloak. As a schoolboy, he was in Gryffindor house. Dumbledore is an Old English word for bumblebee.
Dungbomb
Stinkbomb.
Durmstrang Institute
School of witchcraft and wizardry somewhere in the far north of Europe. It is smaller than Hogwarts but has more extensive grounds.
Dursley, Dudley
Harry's horrible non-magical and slightly older cousin. Muggle son of Vernon and Petunia, he is fat, blond, stupid and bullies Harry whenever he can. By age 15, Dudley has become Junior Heavyweight Inter-School Boxing Champion of the Southeast.
Edgecombe, Marietta
A Hogwart's pupil and friend of Cho Chang. In Ravenclaw house. Her mother works in the Department of Magical Transport Floo Network office at the Ministry of Magic.
Eeylops Owl Emporium
Owl shop in Diagon Alley where Harry bought Hedwig.
Elixir of Life, the
Potion produced by the Philosopher's Stone that will make the drinker immortal.
Enervate
Reviving spell. In non-magic usage 'enervate' means to make someone weaker.
Engorgio
Swelling charm.
Errol
Name of the Weasley family owl.
Evanesco!
Incantation of the Vanishing Spell.
Evans, Lily
Maiden name of Harry Potter's mother.
Expecto patronum!
Incantation of the Patronus Charm, which works only if said while thinking about something happy. It produces a witch or wizard's Patronus from the tip of their wand.
Expelliarmus!
Incantation of the Disarming Charm, a basic spell to disarm an opponent by making their wand fly out of their hand.
Exploding Bonbons
Wizarding sweets available from Honeydukes in Hogsmeade.
Exploding Snap
Card game.
Extendable Ears
Invented by the Weasley twins, Fred and George, these spying devices look like long pieces of flesh-coloured string. They can slither under doors to enable the owner to overhear conversations from a distance, but they can't get past an Imperturbable Charm.
Fainting Fancy
One of the double-ended chews invented by Fred and George Weasley in their seventh year at Hogwarts. Eating one half causes you to faint, but someone else must administer the remaining half to restore you.
Fang
Name of Hagrid's boarhound.
Fat Friar, the
Resident ghost of the Hufflepuff Tower.
Fat Lady, the
The portrait that guards the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. She requires a password before she will reveal the hole behind the painting and allow students to enter the tower.
Fawkes
Dumbledore's phoenix is a powerfully magical bird with red and gold plumage, a long golden tail and plumed head. Fully grown it is as big as a swan, and periodically goes up in flames and rises from the ashes as a chick to live again. Would give its life to protect Dumbledore.
Ferula
Spell to conjure a sling for a broken limb.
Fidelius Charm
A charm that conceals a secret within a person (Secret-Keeper) so that no one will know about it unless the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it.
Figg, Mrs Arabella Doreen
Elderly Muggle neighbour and Squib, who lives two streets away from the Dursleys. She keeps cats. Used to baby-sit Harry and watches out for him when he's at Privet Drive.
Filch, Argos
Caretaker at Hogwarts, Filch is a Squib and a failed wizard. He loathes the students, especially Harry and his friends. His cat Mrs Norris spies for him.
Finch-Fletchley, Justin
Hogwarts pupil in the same year as Harry. Justin is in Hufflepuff house.
Finite Incantatem
This incantation causes the effect of a preceding spell to cease. Sometimes it is enough to just say Finite.
Finnigan, Seamus
Hogwarts pupil in the same year as Harry. Seamus is in Gryffindor house. His best friend is Dean Thomas.
Firebolt
Fastest, most technologically advanced broomstick. Can accelerate from 0--150 miles per hour in ten seconds.
Firenze
Name of one of the centaurs that live in the Forbidden Forest.
Fizzing Whizbee
Password to gain entry into Dumbledore's rooms at Hogwarts via a moving stone staircase like a spiral escalator. Dumbledore can override the password when he doesn't want it to work.
Fizzing Whizbees
Wizarding sweets. Sherbert balls that make you levitate several feet in the air when you eat them.
Flagrate
Incantation that causes a fiery mark to appear.
Flamel, Nicholas
Albus Dumbledore's alchemy partner and the holder of the only known Philosopher's Stone in existence.
Fletcher, Mundungus
Also known to his friends as Dung, this old wizard has ginger hair, baggy bloodshot eyes, the doleful look of a bloodhound, and short bandy legs. He dresses in rags and mixes with criminals. A useful but not always reliable member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Flint, Marcus
Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team.
Flitwick, Professor
Charms teacher at Hogwarts. Tiny little wizard who has to stand on piles of books to see over his desk.
Flobberworm
Species of worm that Harry and his friends have to keep alive to pass the Care of Magical Creatures course.
Floo Network
Magical network whereby witches and wizards can travel long distances between different fireplaces. They can go whole or just have their head travel to a fireplace elsewhere in order to talk to someone.
Floo Powder
Glittering powder that allows witches and wizards to travel magically via the Floo Network by throwing the powder into a fireplace, naming their destination, and stepping into the flames.
Florean Fortesque's Ice-Cream Parlour
Wizarding ice-cream shop on Diagon Alley.
Flourish and Blotts
Wizarding bookshop in Diagon Alley.
Flutterby Bush
Plant used in Herbology.
Foe-glass
Magic mirror in which you can see your enemies.
Forbidden Forest, the
The dark woods surrounding the Hogwarts grounds. Students are not allowed to go there unless accompanied by a teacher.
Ford Anglia
Make of Mr Weasley's bewitched car.
Fountain of Magical Breathren
This group of larger than life-size golden statues (a witch, wizard, centaur, goblin and a house-elf) stands as a water fountain in a round pool in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic.
Four-Point Spell
Say Point me to make your wand function as a compass.
Fudge Flies
Wizarding sweets.
Fudge, Cornelius Oswald
Minister for Magic. Short, portly wizard with grey hair, he comes to enjoy the power of his job but fears wrongly that Dumbledore wants it. He refuses to believe that Voldemort could return.
Furnunculus
Curse that causes boils.
Galleon
Gold wizarding money. There is currently no exchange rate for Galleons to pound, dollar or euro.
Gambol and Japes
Wizarding joke shop on Diagon Alley.
Garrotting Gas
A gas that catches people by the neck if they pass through it. Ginny Weasley says it's invisible.
Ghoul
Ghostly creature that lives in the attic and bangs on pipes. The Weasleys have one living in their attic.
Giant
Huge humanoid. Giants can grow to a height of 20 feet. They have a history of violence and warring among themselves. Many giants allied themselves with Voldemort and massacred Muggles. Others withdrew to remote mountain ranges. Their numbers are in decline and in Britain they are believed to be extinct.
Gillyweed
Water plant. If you eat it, you temporarily grow gills and fins.
Gnomes
Very small creatures with leathery skin and large, bald heads like knobbly potatoes. They have horny feet and razor-sharp teeth. They live in holes in gardens and aren't very bright. To de-gnome a garden, grab the gnome by the ankles, swing it round your head and throw!
Goblet of Fire
Wooden cup full of flames, used as an impartial selector for the contenders in the Triwizard Tournament.
Goblins
Small creatures with swarthy faces, pointed beards and very long hands and feet. Goblins staff Gringotts Bank.
Gobstones
The wizarding version of marbles. The pieces squirt a stinky substance into other players' faces when they lose a point.
Godric's Hollow
Home where Harry's parents, Lily and James Potter, lived.
Golden Snitch
Small, golden ball with silver wings used in Quidditch. Must be caught by a Seeker to end the match.
Goldstein, Anthony
Hogwarts student in Harry's year. In their fifth year he becomes on of the two Ravenclaw prefects and a member of the DA.
Golgomath
Becomes Gurg (or chief) of the giants during Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts.
Goshawk, Miranda
Author of The Standard Book of Spells.
Goyle, Gergory
One of Draco Malfoy's stupid henchmen. Thickset and looks mean. Has short, bristly hair and long, gorilla-like arms. Also in Slytherin house.
Granger, Hermione
Smart know-it-all at Hogwarts in Gryffindor house. She has bushy, brown hair, large front teeth and a loud, rather bossy voice. Hermione works very hard and always gets the best marks in her exams. Hearry's next best friend after Ron Weasley. Her parents are Muggle dentists.
Grawp
Hagrid's younger half-brother who is a giant.
Great Hall, the
The main hall in Hogwarts where Sorting takes place, where meals are served and meetings takes place. The ceiling is bewitched to look like the sky outside.
Gregory the Smarmy
Statue at Hogwarts
Grey Lady, the
Resident ghost of Ravenclaw Tower.
Grim
A giant black dog taken to be a death omen.
Grimmauld Place
A small square in London. Number twelve is Sirius Black's family house, and Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix which no one can enter unless Dumbledore has personally told them its whereabouts. Usually invisible from outside, it materialises with a shabby black door, a silver twisted-serpent doorknocker but with no keyhole or letterbox. Sirius Black's father put every known security measure and sealing jinx on the house and Dumbledore added his own protection to make it a safe house. Inside, it looks like the house of the Darkest of wizards.
Grindylow
Water demon. Sickly green with sharp horns and very long fingers
Gringotts
The wizard bank in London, with vaults far below the streets, run by goblins.
Griphook
Goblin at Gringotts Bank.
Grubbly-Plank, Professor Wilhemina
Elderly supply teacher who takes Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures classes when he is unable to. A brisk and hearty witch with severly chopped grey hair and a prominent chin. She smokes a pipe.
Grunnings
Firm where Harry's uncle Vernon Dursley is a director. Grunnings make drills.
Grunnion, Alberic
Name of a wizard depicted on a wizard trading card.
Gryffindor house
One of the four houses in Hogwarts. Harry, Hermione Granger and the Weasleys are all in Gryffindor house. It was founded by Godric Gryffindor and the Gryffindor symbol is a lion. The resident ghost is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, aslo known as Nearly Headless Nick. Professor McGonagal is the head of Gryffindor house and Professor Dumbledore was in Gryffindor in his youth.
Gryffindor, Godric
One of the four founders of Hogwarts. Gryffindor house was named after him.
Gubraithian fire
Everlasting fire. Dumbledore bewitches a branch to burn forever as a gift for the giant Gurg.
Gurg
Giants call their chief the Gurg.
Hagrid, Rubeus
Son of a giantess and a wizard. Keeper of Keys and Grounds and teacher of Care of Magical Creatures class at Hogwarts from Harry's third year. He was a student at Hogwarts but was expelled for unknown reasons. Professor Dumbledore allowed Hagrid to stay as gamekeeper. Hagrid is almost twice as tall as any other person and seems five times as wide. He has masses of bushy, black hair and a huge tangled beard. Has a liking for strange and dangerous creatures -- especially dragons.
half-breed
Person or creature of mixed race, such as a centaur or a merperson; or someone taken over by another breed, such as a werewolf. Hagrid, part-giant, part-wizard, is insultingly referred to as a half-breed by Professor Umbridge.
Hand of Glory
Withered hand on a cushion that gives light to the person holding it when a candle is inserted.
He Who Must Not Be Named
The evil Lord Voldemort, Dark Wizard. Also referred to as 'You-Know-Who'.
Headless Hat
A Fred and George Weasley invention. The head of anyone who puts one on vanishes along with the hat until it is removed or the spell eventually wears off.
Headless Hunt, the
Team of ghosts whose heads have been completely cut off. Activities include Horseback Head-Juggling and Head Polo. Nearly Headless Nick is keen to join the hunt but can't because his head has not been completely severed.
Healer
The wizarding equivalent of a Muggle doctor. In St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries the Healers wear lime-green robes with a crossed wand and bone emblem embroidered on the front.
Hebridean Black
A breed of wild Dragon found in Britain.
Hedwig
Harry's owl and mail courier. Hagrid bought Hedwig from Eeylops Owl Emporium for Harry's 11th birthday. Wizards use owls to deliver mail. Hedwig was also the name of a medieval saint.
Heir of Slytherin
True heir to Salazar Slytherin who can open the Chamber of Secrets to release the horror within.
Heliopath
According to Luna Lovegood in...Order of the Phoenix, Cornelius Fudge, Minster for Magic has an army of these tall, flaming, spirits of fire that gallop across the ground, burning everything in their path. But Hermione says they don't exist.
hellebore
A flower. Syrup of hellebore is used as an ingredient in potions such as the Draught of Peace.
Hengist of Woodcroft
Name of a Wizard depicted on a wizard trading card.
heptomology
A branch of divination.
Herbology
Study of plants. Professor Sprout is the Herbology teacher at Hogwarts.
Hermes
Name of Percy Weasley's owl.
Higgs, Terence
Seeker on the Slytherin Quidditch team in Harry's first year.
Hinkypunk
Small creatures that live in bogs and swamps, they wander about at night with a lantern to lure lost travellers into the swamps.
Hippogriff
Magical creature that has the front legs, wings and head of an eagle, and the body, hind legs and tail of a horse. Buckbeak is a Hippogriff.
Hit Wizards
Wizard police from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad who are specially trained to deal with powerful criminals.
Hog's Head, the
Pub in Hogsmeade where Hagrid once won a dragon's egg.
Hogsmeade
The only completely magical village in Britain. Hogsmeade is not far from Hogwarts and has an array of wonderful shops including Honeydukes sweet shop, the Three Broomsticks pub and Zonko's joke shop.
Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The best school of its kind in the world. The greatest witches and wizards of the age founded Hogwarts more than a thousand years ago: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. They built a remote castle, far away so that witches and wizards could train in safety. Pupils attend from age eleven for seven years of rigorous training in the art of witchcraft and wizardry. There are a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts and everything keeps moving around, so things are not always in the same place. Hogwarts is in a secret location somewhere in the North.
Honeydukes
Wizarding sweet shop in Hogsmeade.
Hooch, Madam
Broomstick and flying teacher at Hogwarts.
Hopkirk, Mafalda
A witch who works in the Improper Use of Magic Office at the Ministry of Magic.
House Cup, the
Trophy awarded to the Hogwarts house with the most points at the end of the school year.
house-elf
Small creature that works as a servant in some wizarding houses. A house-elf can only be set free when its master or mistress gives the elf a piece of clothing.
Howler
Wizarding letter which, when opened, shrieks and howls at the reader in an extremely loud voice. Comes in a red envelope and is usually sent by someone who is very angry. Ron Weasley received one from his mother after crashing the Ford Anglia into the Whomping Willow.
Hufflepuff house
One of the four houses in Hogwarts. It was founded by Helga Hufflepuff and the Hufflepuff symbol is a badger. The resident ghost is the Fat Friar.
Hufflepuff, Helga
One of the four founders of Hogwarts. Hufflepuff house is named after her.
Ice Mice
Wizarding sweets available from Honeydukes in Hogsmeade. Make your teeth squeak and chatter.
Impediment Jinx
Spell to slow down and obstruct attackers. Say Impedimenta!
Imperius Curse
One of the three Unforgivable Curses. Imposed with the incantation Imperio! it gives a witch or wizard complete control over another one. It can be resisted but only with great mental effort.
Imperturbable Charm
Creates an invisible barrier that prevents anything making contact with it. For example, Dungbombs flicked at an Imperturbed door will just soar away from it.
Impervius!
Incantation that repells water and mist.
Incarcerous!
Incantation of a restraining spell that magically binds a person tightly with rope.
Incendio
Fire-lighting spell.
Inquisitorial Squad
During Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, Professor Umbridge enlists a group of 'trustworthy' students, including Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Millicent Bulstrode, to spy on and help her crush and control any rebellious students. Unlike prefects, the squad has the authority to dock house points, and to check the content of other students' mail before it is delivered to them.
inter-departmental memos
Letters sent between employees of the Ministry of Magic fly around the building like paper aeroplanes, which is much less messy than using owls.
Invisibility Cloak
Magic cloak granting the wearer invisibility.
Jelly Slugs
Wizarding sweets available from Honeydukes in Hogsmeade.
Jelly-Legs Jinx
Makes your adversary's legs wobbly.
Jigger, Arsenius
Author of Magical Drafts and Potions.
Johnson, Angelina
Hogwarts student, two years ahead of Harry, she's a tall black girl with long braided hair. Chaser on the Quidditch team, she becomes Gryffindor Captain in Harry's fifth year.
Jones, Hestia
A pink-cheeked, black-haired witch among the advance guard who escort Harry on broomsticks from Privet Drive to the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
Jordan Lee
Pupil at Hogwarts. Has dreadlocks and is famed for his commentaries at Quidditch matches. Lee is in Gryffindor house, in the same year as Fred and George Weasley.
Jorkins, Bertha
Witch employed by the Ministry of Magic. She was abducted in Albania and suffered a terrible fate.
Kappa
Monkey-like creatures that live in water and strangle people who invade their territory.
Karkaroff, Igor
Headmaster of the Durmstrang Institute. Knows a lot about the Dark Arts. He is tall and thin with white hair and a beard.
Karkus
In Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, Karkus is the Gurg of the few remaining giant tribes who live in the mountains of Eastern Europe. He's the biggest (22-23 feet tall and the size of two bull elephants), laziest giant with skin like a rhinoceros.
Keeper
Quidditch player who guards the goalposts
Kettleburn, Professor
Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts. Retired at the end of Harry's second year.
King's Cross Station
The station in London where the Hogwarts Express leaves from platform nine and three-quarters.
Knarl
Indistinguishable from a hedgehog but if offered food it assumes it is being poisoned or lured into a trap and will savage the person's garden plants and ornaments.
Kneazle
A small cat-like creature with flecked, speckled or spotted fur, outsize ears and a tail like a lion's. Intelligent, independent and occasionally aggressive, they make a loyal pet to a witch or wizard they like. They can detect unsavory or suspicious characters.
Knight bus, the
Emergency bus that transports witches and wizards to any destination. Stick our your wand to stop the bus. Sometimes has brass bedsteads instead of seats.
Knockturn Alley
Street of wizard shops devoted totally to the Dark Arts. Shops include Borgin and Burkes.
Knut
Bronze wizarding money. Twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle.
Kreacher
Very old house-elf to the Black family and loyal to Mrs Black. In residence with Sirius Black, whom he detests, at number twelve Grimmauld Place, Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
Krum, Viktor
Seeker for the Bulgarian national Quidditch team. Pupil at the Durmstrang Institute. Dark, with a large curved nose and thick eyebrows; walks duck-footed! and round-shouldered but is in his element on a broomstick.
Kwikspell
Correspondence course in beginner's magic for Squibs (magicians who have little magical powers).
Leaky Cauldron, the
The wizarding pub and boarding house through which witches and wizards gain access to Diagon Alley.
Legilimency
The magical ability to extract thoughts, feelings and memories from another person's mind. Eye contact is often essential to Legilimency. Dumbledore, Snape and Voldemort are all skilled Legilimens. See also, Occlumency.
Legilimens
A witch or wizard skilled at Legilimency.
Legilimens!
Magical incantation used in the practice of Legilimency.
Leprechaun
Irish elf or pixie. Small and able to fly.
Lestrange [née Black], Bellatrix
Sirius black's cousin married Rodolphus Lestrange, a pure-blood wizard and Death-Eater. Both were imprisoned in Azkaban.
Lockhart, Gilderoy
Teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts in Harry's second year. Author of self-glorifying autobiographies and five times winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award.
Locomotor ...
Used together with the name of an object that needs to be moved, this incantation magically mobilises inanimate objects without physical effort. For example, Locomotor trunk.
Longbottom, Neville
Forgetful and rather clumsy friend of Harry's. Neville has a round face and thinks he is not very good at magic. He comes from a magical family but was a late starter. In Gryffindor house and in Harry's year.
Lovegood, Luna
A Ravenclaw student in the year below Harry at Hogwarts. Unfairly referred to as 'Loony' by some students, she is a strangely imperturbable and dreamy-eyed girl who dresses weirdly and appears to be rather vague. Hermione says she only believes in things for which there is absolutely no proof. Her father is the editor of The Quibbler. She is able to see Thestrals. A member of DA.
Lumos
Incantation of the spell that causes a wand-tip to flare with magical light.
Lupin, Remus J.
Wizard, Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry's third year at Hogwarts. Member of the Order of the Phoenix. Lupin's best friends at school were James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew.
Lynch, Aidan
Seeker for the Irish national Quidditch team.
Macmillan, Ernie
Hogwarts student in Harry's year. In Hufflepuff house. He and his family always loyal to Dumbledore. Member of the DA in his fifth year.
Macnair, Walden
A Ministry of Magic executioner of dangerous creatures. A Death Eater.
Madam Malkin's
Shop in Diagon Alley selling wizarding robes for all occasions.
magical eye
Large, round, electric-blue, false eye that spins to provide all-round vision -- as worn by Mad-Eye Moody to see through walls, doors and even through the back of his own head.
Magical Law Enforcement Squad
Wizard police or Hit Wizards who are specially trained to deal with powerful criminals.
Magical Menagerie
Wizarding pet shop in Diagon Alley.
Magorian
Chestnut-coloured centaur who lives in the Forbidden Forest.
Malfoy [née Black], Narcissa
Sirius Black's cousin who married Lucius Malfoy, a pure-blood wizard. A tall, slim, snooty blonde.
Malfoy, Draco
Harry's arch-enemy at Hogwarts. A thin boy with a pale, pointed face and a sneering expression. He has a bored, drawling voice and looks with contempt upon everyone else. Malfoy believes himself to be superior to Harry and hates Harry and all his friends. Malfoy is in the Slytherin house.
Malfoy, Lucius
Draco Malfoy's father. Former supporter of You-Know-Who.
Mandragora
Another name for the Mandrake plant.
Mandrake
Powerful restorative used to return cursed or transfigured people to their natural state. The cry of the Mandrake plant is fatal to anyone who hears it. Also known as Mandragora.
Marauder's Map
A map that shows all the secret passageways and the current wherabouts of everyone in Hogwarts. Harry and Ron use it to get to Hogsmeade.
Marchbanks, Griselda
A witch, and a Wizengamot elder. She oversees OWL exams at Hogwarts in Harry's fifth year.
Maxime, Olympe
Head of Beauxbatons Academy. Because of her size, Madame Maxime is believed to be half giant. She has black eyes and olive skin.
McGonagall, Professor Minerva
Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. She is a rather serious-looking woman, with jet-black hair scraped back into a tight bun on her head. She wears square glasses and an emerald-green cloak. Professor McGonagall is Head of Gryffindor house and is Transfiguration teacher.
Merlin
Name of a wizard depicted on a wizard trading card.
Merpeople
Underwater dwellers who build cities at the bottom of lakes. They have fishtails, green hair and grey skin, and they fish with spears. Above water their voices are unintelligible.
Metamorphmagus (plural: ...magi)
A witch or wizard who can change their appearance at will. Metamorphmagi are rare and are usually born, but with hard work it is possible to learn the skill.
Midgeon, Eloise
Hogwarts pupil who accidentally removed her nose when trying to cure her acne.
Mimbulus mimbletonia
A rare and sinister-looking, grey cactus plant that pulsates slightly. If prodded it squirts out thick, slimy, dark-green jets of non-poisonous Stinksap which smells like rancid manure. The cactus grows fast and by the time it is a year old it makes soft crooning noises when stroked. Neville Longbottom's Great Uncle Algie got him one from Assyria for his fifteenth birthday.
Mimsy-Porpington, Sir Nicholas de
Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower. Also know as Nearly Headless Nick.
Ministry of Magic
Government agency that tries to keep witches and wizards secret from non-magical people.
Minsk
Capital city of Byelorussia.
Mirror of Erised
Magical mirror that shows the onlooker their heart's desire.
Moaning Myrtle
Ghost girl at Hogwarts who hides in an S-bend in the first-floor girls' toilets.
Mobilarbus
Spell to move objects.
Mobilicorpus
Spell to move someone who can't walk.
monkshood
Plant used in potions. Also known as aconite or wolfsbane.
Monster Book of Monsters
Large green book of monsters. Required reading for third-years. Must be stroked down the spine or it will bite your fingers.
Moody, Alastor
Retired Auror hired to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts in Harry's fourth year. Known as Mad-Eye Moody since he lost an eye in the fight against Voldemort and his supporters, and replaced it with a magical eye. Badly scarred and has a wooden leg.
Moony
Professor Lupin's boyhood nickname at Hogwarts.
Morgana
Name of a witch depicted on a wizard trading card.
Morsmordre
Spell to conjure up the Dark Mark.
Mostafa, Hassan
Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch. He is Egyptian, small and bald with a huge moustache.
Mudblood
Term used to describe a person of non-magic parents. Considered a great insult.
Muggle
Person totally without magical powers. Most Muggles live in ignorance of the world of wizards and witches.
Muggle duelling
A non-magical physical fight.
Muggle Studies
Class taken by wizarding folk to study non-magical people.
Murtlap
Ratlike, shore-dwelling creature with tentacles.
Murtlap essence
A yellow solution of strained and pickled Murtlap tentacles relieves the pain of magical wounds, and cures magically induces boils.
Nagini
Name of a very large, venomous snake kept by Voldemort.
Nargles
Unknown creatures that Luna Lovegood believes often infest mistletoe.
Nearly Headless Nick
Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower. So called because his beheading was not completely successful. Full name is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington.
NEWTs
Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. Higher level examinations taken at the end of the seventh year at Hogwarts.
Niffler
Magical creatures that can find buried treasure. Nifflers are black and fluffy with long snouts and spadelike feet.
Nigellus, Phineas
Sirius Black's great-great-grandfather, and the least popular Headmaster Hogwarts ever had.
Nimbus 2000
Type of broomstick. Harry's first broomstick.
Nimbus 2001
The successor to the Nimbus 2000 broomstick.
Norbert
Name of Hagrid's Norwegian Ridgeback dragon.
Norris, Mrs
Name of Filch's cat. She is a scrawny-looking, dust-coloured cat with bulging eyes. Students must be wary not to break rules in front of her for she will run to Filch and report them.
Norwegian Ridgeback
Breed of dragon that is very rare. Hagrid had one as a pet for a while.
Nosebleed Nougat
A double-ended chew invented by Fred an George Weasley for their Skiving Snackboxesd. Eating one half makes your nose bleed, eating the other half stops it.
Nott, Theodore
A weedy-looking Slytherin student in Harry's year at Hogwarts. Son of a Death-Eater, and a friend of Draco Malfoy.
Nox
Spell to extinguish light on your wand.
Obliviate
Memory spell that makes the subject forget.
Obliviator
Member of Accidental Magic Reversal Squad. They work for the Improper Use of Magic Office.
Occlumency
The sealing of the mind against magical intrusion and influence by a witch or wizard skilled at Legilimency. Occlumency, an obscure branch of magic, is the skill of clearing one's mind of emotion, thoughts and memories in order to protect them against external intrusion, and focusing the brain so as to repell, even without a wand, invasion by a Legilimens. Professor Snape is a superb Occlumens and Legilimens.
Ollivanders
Diagon Alley wand shop. 'Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC'.
Omnioculars
Binoculars with slow-motion and replay settings.
Order of the Phoenix
Dumbledore founded this Order of witches and wizards to fight against Voldemort. Founder members included: Sirius Black, Edgar Bones (deceased), Caradoc Dearborn (vanished), Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Doge, Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore, Benjy Fenwick, Rubeus Hagrid, Frank and Alice Longbottom (tortured into madness), Remus Lupin, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadowes (killed by Voldemort), Sturgis Podmore, James and Lily Potter (deceased), brothers Gideon and Fabian Prewett (deceased), and Emmeline Vance. In Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts, Dumbledore recalls members of the Order about an hour after Voldemort's return. The Order then includes those founder members who are still alive (except Peter Pettigrew), plus: Kingsley Shacklebolt, Professor Snape, Nymphadora Tonks, Mr and Mrs Weasley and their sons Bill and Charlie. Members of the Order must be over 17 and have left school. Its Headquarters is in Grimmauld Place.
ornithomancy
A branch of divination.
OWLs
Ordinary Wizarding Levels. Hogwarts standard-level examinations which are sat at the end of fifth year.
Padfoot
Sirius Black's nickname at Hogwarts.
Paracelsus
Name of wizard depicted on a wizard trading card.
Parkinson, Pansy
A Slytherin student in Harry's year. She has a hard puglike face and hangs around with Draco Malfoy. She becomes a prefect in Harry's fifth year.
Parselmouth
Wizard who can talk to snakes--very rare. Thought to be the sign of a Dark wizard.
Parseltongue
Language spoken by a Parselmouth.
Patil, Padma
Hogwarts pupil in the same year as Harry, in Ravenclaw house. Twin sister of Parvati Patil.
Patil, Parvati
Hogwarts pupil in the same year as Harry, in Gryffindor house. Twin sister of Padma Patil and best friend of Lavender Brown.
Patronus
A positive force that protects against Dementors. The form of each Patronus is particular to an individual witch or wizard, each of whom produces theirs with the Patronus Charm by saying the incantation Expecto Patronum! while thinking a really happy thought. Harry's Patronus is a silver stag.
Peeves
Hogwarts' resident poltergeist. Tries to get students in trouble and loves causing havoc at any opportunity.
Pensieve
Storage device for thoughts and memories. When in use it looks like a stone basin holding a silvery liquid.
Pepper Imps
Wizarding sweets available from Honeydukes in Hogsmeade. They make you smoke at the mouth.
Pepper-Up Potion
Magical restorative.
Peppermint Toads
Toad-shaped peppermint sweets that hop about in the stomach after they've been eaten.
Petrificus Totalus!
Incantation of the Body-Bind Curse that completely immobilises anyone jinxed by it.
Pettigrew, Peter
Schoolfriend of James Potter. Sirius Black is imprisoned in Azkaban for Pettigrew's murder but escapes after twelve years.
Philosopher's Stone
Legendary stone which will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal. The only known stone belongs to Nicholas Flamel, Albus Dumbledore's alchemy partner.
Phoenix
Rare bird that bursts into flames and rises from its ashes. Their tears can heal wounds. Albus Dumbledore has a pet phoenix, Fawkes.
Pigwidgeon
Name of a young grey owl belonging to Ron Weasley. Often called Pig for short.
Pince, Madam
Librarian at Hogwarts.
Platform nine and three-quarters
The platform at King's Cross Station where students gather to board the Hogwarts Express.
Pocket Sneakoscope
Small wizarding toy--a spinning glass top that lights up when there is somebody or something suspicious around.
Podmore, Sturgis
Wizard with square-jaw and thick straw-coloured hair. One of the founder members of the Order of the Phoenix. In Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, Podmore is sentenced to six months in Azkaban for trespass and attempted robbery at the Ministry of Magic.
poltergeist
A mischievous spirit.
Polyjuice potion
Potion that will turn the drinker into another person for one hour.
pomegranate
The round, tough-skinned fruit of this semitropical shrub is filled with many seeds, each of which is surrounded by fleshy red pulp. Its juice can be drunk or used in potions.
Pomfrey, Madam Poppy
Matron at Hogwarts.
Porlock
A horse-guardian. About two feet tall, they are shy, east grass and live to guard horses. They walk on two cloved feet, are covered in shaggy fur with a lot of rough hair on their head, have an execptionally large nose, and two small arms that end in four stubby fingers.
Portkey
Any object can be bewitched for use as a Portkey to whisk witches and wizards away to a prearranged destination the instant they touch it. Use of a Portkey should be authorised by the Ministry of Magic.
Portus!
Incantation used to transform an object into a Portkey.
possession
The taking over of another person to direct their actions for one's own motives. The possessed person is left with blank periods for which they have no memory of what they did.
Potions
Class at Hogwarts to learn how to make potions. Professor Snape is Potions master at Hogwarts.
Potter [née Evans], Lily
Harry's mother had Muggle parents. She had long, dark-red hair and green eyes. Lily married James Potter, a wizard. She was killed by Voldemort, but her dying to save Harry gave him magical protection. Her sister Petunia married a Muggle, Vernon Dursley.
Potter, Harry
Student at Hogwarts. Famous for having survived an attack by Lord Voldemort in infancy.
Potter, James
Harry's father, who was killed by Voldemort. He was in the same year as Snape, was an excellent Quidditch player, became Hogwarts Head Boy.
Prang, Ernie
Driver of the Knight bus.
Prior Incantato
Command that reveals the most recent spell or spells a wand has performed.
Privet Drive
The street where Harry lives with the Dursleys.
Prongs
James Potter's nickname at Hogwarts.
Protean Charm
Puts a magical mark on a person or object so they can receive messages.
Protego
Incantation of the Shield Charm that usually deflects only minor curses. In Harry's fifth year, Professor Snape is surprised when Harry uses this charm to successfully repel Snape's Legilimency invasion of his mind.
Ptolemy
Name of a wizard depicted on a wizard trading card.
Puddifoot, Madam
A stout woman with a shiny black bun. Proprietress of Madam Puddifoot's Teashop in Hogsmeade where Harry goes on his first date with Cho.
Puking Pastilles
Double-ended chews invented by Fred and George Weasley. The orange half makes you throw up, the purple half makes you better.
Pumpkin juice
Wizarding drink.
Pumpkin pasty
Wizarding food.
Purge & Dowse Ltd
Disused Muggle department store in heart of London. It serves as the magical entrance to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
Purkiss, Doris
An article in The Quibbler reported her as saying that Sirius Black was wrongly imprisoned in Azkaban for mass murder because, she claimed, he was actually a pop singer called Stubby Boardman who had been having dinner with her on the night of the murders.
Put-Outer
Device resembling cigarette lighter, used to turn street-lamps on and off. Used by Albus Dumbledore.
Quaffle
Red ball used for scoring in Quidditch
Quality Quidditch Supplies
Quidditch shop in Diagon Alley.
Quibbler, The
A magazine with a reputation for publishing 'rubbish': far-fetched stories, often about outlandish creatures that Hermione is sure do not exist. The editor is Luna Lovegood's father.
Quick-Quotes Quill
Pen that writes tabloid journalism by itself.
Quidditch
The wizarding national sport. Played on broomsticks by seven players: three Chasers, one Keeper, two Beaters, one Seeker. Played with four balls: the Quaffle (red) is used for scoring; two Bludgers (black) which try to knock players off their brooms; one Golden Snitch (bright gold with silver wings). The Chasers throw the Quaffle to each other and try to score by throwing the Quaffle through one of the six hoops. Ten points every time a player scores. The Keeper guards the goalposts and tries to prevent the Chasers from scoring. The Beaters try to keep the Bludgers away from their team and knock them towards the opposing team. The Seeker tries to catch the Golden Snitch. Whichever team catches the Golden Snitch earns 150 points. The game ends when the Snitch is caught.
Quietus
Command that reverses the charm Sonorus.
Quirrell, Professor
Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts in Harry's first year.
Ravenclaw house
One of the four school houses in Hogwarts. Founded by Rowena Ravenclaw. The Ravenclaw symbol is an eagle. The resident ghost is the Grey Lady.
Ravenclaw, Rowena
One of the four founders of Hogwarts. Ravenclaw house was named after her.
Red Cap
Goblin-like creature found in places where bloodshed has occurred. They lie in wait to bludgeon the lost.
Reducio
Shrinking charm.
Reductor Curse
Its incantation Reducto reduces a solid object to dust.
Relashio
Spell to make someone let go of something.
Remembrall
Magical glass ball, the size of a large marble, filled with white smoke. The smoke turns red to tell you that there is something you have forgotten to do.
Reparo
Incantation of the Repairing Charm.
Rictusempra
Tickling spell.
Riddikulus!
Incantation of the spell that should make a Boggart vanish but sometimes it only causes it to change its shape to another of the witch or wizard's worse fears.
Riddle House
Deserted former home of Voldemort's father, in the village of Little Hangleton.
Riddle, Tom Marvolo
The young Lord Voldemort, who attended Hogwarts
Ripper
Aunt Marge's dog.
Ronon
Name of a centaur in the Forbidden Forest.
Rookwood, Augustus
Worked in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic.
Room of Requirement
See Come and Go Room.
Rosmerta, Madam
Publican of the Three Broomsticks pub in Hogsmeade.
Salamander
A white fire-dwelling lizard that feeds on flame, and appears to be blue or scarlet depending on the heat of the fire it's in. Its blood has powerfully curative and restorative properties.
Scabbers
Ron Weasley's pet rat. He once belonged to Ron's older brother Percy Weasley.
Scamander, Newt
Author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Scourgify
Magical incantation that causes cleaning up to be done without physical effort.
Salamander
A white fire-dwelling lizard that feeds on flame, and appears to be blue or scarlet depending on the heat of the fire it's in. Its blood has powerfully curative and restorative properties.
Scabbers
Ron Weasley's pet rat. He once belonged to Ron's older brother Percy Weasley.
Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop
Located in Hight Street, Hogsmeade, it sells writing implements such as copper inkpots and pheasant feather quills.
Secrecy Sensor
Aerial that vibrates when it detects concealment and lies.
Secret-Keeper
Someone who has had a secret concealed within them by the Fidelius Charm to keep it safe until they choose to reveal it.
Seeing Eye
Possessed by a Seer who is born with the supernatural ability to divine or predict the future. Also known as the Inner Eye or Second Sight.
Seeker
Quidditch player who tries to catch the Golden Snitch.
Seer
Someone born with the ability to predict, or See, future events. See also, Trelawney.
Self-shuffling Playing Cards
Wizarding playing cards which shuffle themselves.
Shacklebolt, Kingsley
Tall black wizard with deep calming voice who thinks and acts fast. He is the Ministry of Magic Auror in charge of the hunt for Sirius Black but, as a loyal member of the Order of the Phoenix, he reports false sightings to the Ministry to divert their attention.
Shield Charm
Casts a temporary invisible wall around you to deflect minor curses.
Shrieking Shack
Supposed to be the most haunted building in Britain. Situated in the town of Hogsmeade.
Shunpike, Stan
Conductor on the Knight Bus.
Sickle
Silver wizarding money. Seventeen Sickles to a Galleon.
Silencio
Incantation of the Silencing Charm.
Sinistra, Professor
Teacher of Astronomy at Hogwarts.
Skeeter, Rita
Journalist who, until Hermione finds a way to stop her, writes mostly mean-spirited stores for the Daily Prophet. She is nosy and malicious, has stiff blonde curls, and is an unregistered animagus.
Skele-Gro
Potion used to re-grow bones after they have been removed.
Skiving Snackboxes
In their seventh year at Hogwarts, Fred and George Weasley develop this range of sweets to make you just ill enough to get out of class. One end of a double-ended chew makes you ill, the other restores you to full fitness. See also, Fainting Fancies, Puking Pastilles, Nosebleed Nougat.
Sleekeazy's Hair Potion
Tames bushy hair.
Sloth Grip Roll
A Quidditch manoeuvre by which a player avoids a Bludger by hanging upside-down from his or her broom while gripping it tightly with both hands and feet.
Slytherin house
One of the school houses in Hogwarts. Founded by Salazar Slytherin. The Slytherin symbol is a snake. The resident ghost is the Bloody Baron. Harry's arch-enemy, Draco Malfoy, is in Slytherin. Professor Snape is head of Slytherin house.
Slytherin, Salazar
One of the four founders of Hogwarts. Slytherin house is named after him. Created the Chamber of Secrets.
Smeltings
Dudley Dursley's private school. Uncle Vernon also attended.
Snape, Severus
Potions master at Hogwarts. He is tall and thin with sallow skin, greasy black hair and a hooked nose. He hates Harry Potter. Head of Slytherin house.
Sneakoscope
This Dark detector has a glass top which lights up and spins when someone untrustworthy is close by.
Snivellus
Nickname given to Professor Snape by Harry's father and his friends when they were at school with him at Hogwarts.
Snuffles
Nickname. See, Black, Sirius.
Sonorous
Charm to magnify one's voice.
Sorting Hat
The hat that decides which house students shall be in while at Hogwarts.
Spellotape
Wizarding repair tape. It was used by Ron Weasley to mend his broken wand.
SPEW
Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, pressure group organised by Hermione in her fourth year at Hogwarts. You must not call it Spew.
Spinnet, Alicia
One of the Chasers on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She is two years above Harry at Hogwarts.
Splinching
Injury caused by careless Apparating: part of the Apparating person's body is left behind.
Spore, Phyllida
Author of One Thousand Magical Herbs.
Sprout, Professor
Herbology lecturer at Hogwarts. Uses Mandrakes to cure petrified creatures.
Squib
Someone who despite being born into a wizarding family has litle or no magical ability. However, they are able to see Dementors.
Stealth Sensoring Spell
A spell put on an area, such as a door or window, to monitor any suspicious movement.
Stupefy
Incantation of the Stunning spell.
Sunday Prophet, the
The national weekly wizarding newspaper.
Swelling Solution
Potion that causes body parts to swell to enormous proportions.
Switch, Emeric
Author of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.
Tarantallegra
Dancing spell.
Tenebrus
Hagrid's favourite Thestral, the first one born in the Forbidden Forest herd.
Thestral
Breed of winged horse, skeletal with black coat and pupil-less white eyes in a dragonish head; visible only to those who have witnessed a death. They have an excellent sense of direction. Classified as 'dangerous' by the Ministry of Magic.
Thomas, Dean
Hogwarts pupil in the same year as Harry, in Gryffindor house. His beast friend is Seamus Finnigan. Dean comes from a Muggle background.
Three Broomsticks, the
Pub in Hogsmeade.
Time-Turner
Hour-glass that allows the wearer to travel back in time.
Ton-Tongue Toffee
Trick sweet that causes the tongue to swell. Invented by Fred and George Weasley.
Tonks, Nymphadora
Prefers to be called by her surname, Tonks. Young and clumsy witch who is a Metamorphmagus, a Ministry of Magic Auror, and a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Daughter of Sirius Black's favourite cousin, Andromeda and muggle-born Ted Tonks. She rides a Comet Two Sixty broomstick.
Toothflossing Stringmints
Wizarding sweets that floss your teeth while you suck them.
Toujours pur
Pure always. The family motto of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black reflects the belief held by most members of the Black family that the wizarding race should be kept pure, that Muggle-borns and 'half-breeds' should be got rid of so that pure-bloods can take charge.
Transfiguration
The art of turning one thing into another.
Transfiguration Today
Specialist wizarding magazine about Transfiguration.
Trelawney, Professor Sybil Phyllis
Great-great-granddaughter of the celebrated Seer Cassandra Trelawney. Divination teacher at Hogwarts who speaks in an ethereal voice and is given to (wrongly) predicting student deaths. Very thin, her large glasses magnify her eyes so much she looks like a giant insect.
Trevor
Name of Neville Longbottom's pet toad.
Trimble, Quentin
Author of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection.
Triwizard Tournament
Competition between the three largest European shools of witchcraft and wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Each school selects a champion, and the champions compete in three magical tasks. The prize money is 1000 Galleons. The Triwizard Tournament was first established some 700 years ago.
Trueblood
Someone born to pure magical parents. Also called pure-blood.
two-way mirrors
These come in pairs and are the size of a paperback book. By looking into one mirror and saying the name of the witch or wizard who has the other one of the pair it is possible to speak to them no matter where they are.
Umbridge, Professor Dolores Jane
A short, toadlike witch with a cruel and arrogant nature, who is stupidly prejudiced against 'half-breeds' and 'part-humans'. She is Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic, and is Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry's fifth year, during which she also becomes Hogwarts High Inquisitor and Headmistress. Umbridge takes the Ministry of Magic view that Voldemort has 'not returned from the dead'.
Umbridge-itis
The explanation students give to Professor Umbridge for the 'mysteriously incurable' maladies (fevers, vomiting, nosebleeds, fainting) they have induced in themselves by eating sweets from Fred and George Weasley's Skiving Snackboxes.
Unforgivable Curses
The three Unforgivable Curses are the Avada Kedavra Curse (Avada Kedavra!) that kills instantly; the Imperius Curse (Imperio!) which takes complete control of another person; and the Cruciatus Curse (Crucio!) which inflicts torture. It is illegal to use these curses.
Unicorn
Mythical white horse-like creature with golden mane and a golden horn sprouting from the head. Innocent, beautiful creatures. Tail hair and horn can be used in magic. Dark wizards have been known to kill unicorns and drink their blood; this will sustain the life of the drinker but at a grave price.
Unspeakable
Epmloyee of the Deparment of Mysteries. No one knows what they do.
Vablatsky, Cassandra
Author of Unfogging the Future, a guide to basic fortune-telling methods.
Vampire
Evil creature that roams the night feeding on the blood of living beings. Cannot go out in the daylight.
Vance, Emmeline
Stately looking witch, and a founder member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Vector, Professor
Arithmancy teacher at Hogwarts.
Veela
Beautiful women with white-gold hair. Men are hypnotically fascinated by them. When enraged, Veela grow beaks and scaly wings.
veil, the
A tattered black curtain that flutters continously in a crumbling stone archway on a dais in the Death Room of the Department of Mysteries.
Venomous Tentacula seeds
Seeds from the shrivelled black pods of this spiky, dark red and apparently carnivourous plant. Despite them being a Class C Non-Tradeable Substance, Mundungus sells some seeds to Fred and George Weasley who want to include them in their Skiving Snackboxes.
Veritaserum
Powerful Truth Potion. Its use is restricted by the Ministry of Magic.
Vindictus, Viridian
Author of Curse and Countercurse (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More).
Violet
Name of a wizened witch, a friend of the Fat Lady. Violet lives in a painting in a room next to the Great Hall in Hogwarts.
Voldemort, Lord
Son of a witch and a Muggle (See also, Riddle), Voldemort probably has a more extensive knowledge of magic than any wizard alive. At full power this Dark Lord could be invincible and is rightly feared by wizarding folk, most of whom only dare to refer to him as 'He Who Must Not Be Named' or 'You-Know-Who'. He disappeared after the death of James and Lily Potter in a battle that left the baby Harry with the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. A master of spreading discord, Voldemort is regaining his lost power and is recruiting followers. To defend themselves, the wizarding community must unite with the strongest possible bonds of friendship and trust. As a skilled Legilimens, Voldemort always knows if someone is lying to him.
Waffling, Adalbert
Author of Magical Theory.
Wand
Implement used by wizards to perform magic. Available from Ollivanders in Diagon Alley.
wand-tree
The wood of wand-trees is used to make wands.
Wartcap powder
Causes an unpleasant tough brown encrustation to form on the skin.
watchwizard
A security guard, such as Eric Munch at the Ministry of Magic who registers every wand brought into the building.
Weasley's Wildfire Whiz-bangs
Enchanted fireworks that cause even more mayhem if anyone tries a Stunning Spell on them. Fred and George's joke shop range of fireworks include boxes such as the Basic Blaze and Deflagration Deluxe.
Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes
A joke shop at number ninety-three Diagon Alley, opened by Fred and George during their seventh year at Hogwarts.
Weasley, Arthur
Ron Weasley's father. Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office at the Ministry of Magic.
Weasley, Bill
Ron's eldest brother wears his long hair in a ponytail. Works for Gringotts Bank in Africa, but returns from Egypt to help the Order of the Phoenix.
Weasley, Charlie
One of Ron's older brothers. Studying dragons in Romania, where he also recruits witches and wizards to join the Order of the Phoenix.
Weasley, Fred
One of Ron Weasley's older brothers. Twin to George. In Gryffindor house.
Weasley, George
One of Ron Weasley's older brothers. Twin to Fred. In Gryffindor house.
Weasley, Ginny
Ron's younger sister is one year below Ron and Harry at Hogwarts. Until her fourth year Ginny fancies Harry, but finally gives up on him and starts seeing Michael Corner. She plays for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Weasley, Molly
Ron Weasley's mother.
Weasley, Percy
The pompous one of Ron's older brothers. Was a Gryffindor prefect, and in his last year was Head Boy at Hogwarts. Thinks he's terribly grown up and important, especially after going to work at the Ministry of Magic and becoming Junior Assistant to the Minister.
Weasley, Ron
Harry's best friend at Hogwarts. Ron has flaming red hair and freckles, like all his brothers. Has a pet rat called Scabbers. In Gryffindor house. When Ron is made prefect in his fifth year at Hogwarts his parents reward him with a new Cleansweep Eleven broomstick.
Weird Sisters, the
Popular music group. The line-up includes guitars, drums, lute, cello and bagpipes.
welcomewitch
A receptionist, such as at St Mungo's Hospital, who deal with visitors' enquiries.
werewolf
A human (wizard or Muggle) who, as a result of being bitten by another werewolf, takes the form of a wolf during every full moon. Transition is painful. Werewolves are dangerous only to people but the disability can be managed to avoid passing on the condition to others.
Which Broomstick?
Broomstick consumer magazine. Test-rides all makes of broom and reviews them.
Whomping Willow
Large tree in the grounds of Hogwarts that hits anything that comes too close.
Widdershins, Willy
Wizard and petty criminal.
Wingardium Leviosa
Magical incantation said together with a swish and flick of the wand to make an object rise into the air.
Winky
Name of a house-elf.
Wizarding Examinations Authority
Sets and oversees wizarding examinations. Head of the WEA is an old witch called Griselda Marchbanks.
Wizengamot
The Wizard High Court, consisting of about fifty witches and wizards who wear plum-coloured robes with a silver 'W' worked on the left-hand chest. In Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, Dumbledore is demoted from his position as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot; and Harry is brought before the full Wizengamot for a Disciplinary Hearing for using magic outside of school while under the age of seventeen.
Wizengamot Administration Services
A department in the Ministry of Magic, located on Level Two.
wolfsbane
Plant used in potions. Also known as monkshood or aconite.
Wood, Oliver
Captain and Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team until leaving school at the end of Harry's third year.
Wormtail
Nickname of Peter Pettigrew.
WWN
The Wizarding Wireless Network.
You-Know-Who
The evil Lord Voldemort, a Dark wizard who killed Harry's parents. Also referred to as 'He Who Must Not Be Named'.
Zonko's
Wizard joke shop in Hogsmeade.
Incantation of the Summoning Charm. For example, the incantation Accio Firebolt would cause the broomstick to fly into the hand of the person using the charm.
Acid pops
Wizarding sweets that burn holes in your tongue. Available at Honeydukes in Hogsmeade.
aconite
Plant used in potions. Also known as Monkshood or Wolfsbane.
Acromantula
Monstrous eight-eyed, hairy spiders capable of human speech. Carthorse-sized and carnivorous, they have eight legs and sharp pincers. When excited or angry, they make a distinctive clicking sound and secrete poison. They fear Basilisks.
Agrippa
Name of a wizard depicted on a wizard trading card.
alchemy
A medieval forerunner of chemistry, alchemy developed out of experiments to find a method of turning base metals into gold, and of making an elixir of life that would prolong life indefinitely.
Alohomora
Incantation of the spell that unlocks doors and windows.
Alphard, Uncle
Sirius Black's uncle who died when Sirius was seventeen, leaving him 'a decent bit of gold'.
Animagus (plural...magi)
A witch or wizard who can at will transform into a specific animal. All Animagi must register with the Ministry of Magic, stating what animal they become and its distinguishing features.
Anit-venom
An antivenin or anti-poison that counteracts a specific venom, especially that of a snake.
Aparecium
Spell to make invisible ink visible.
Apparate
To transport oneself instantly to any destination. It is accompanied by a loud crack sound, and there is always a risk of Splinching. Because it is difficult and dangerous Apparation requries a licence from the Department of Magical Transportation, which can only be issued to those of 17 and over. it is impossible to Apparate or Disapparate within Hogwarts.
Apparator
A person or creature who Apparates.
Aragog
Name of a huge spider that lives in the Forbidden Forest.
Arithmancy
Ancient study of the magical properties of numbers.
Astronomy
Study of the stars and planets.
Atrium
Reception area on Level Eight of the Ministry of Magic.
Aunt Marge
Dudley Dursley's dreadful aunt, sister to Vernon Dursley and no friend of Harry's.
Auror
Professional Dark-wizard catcher. To become an Auror, a witch or wizard must gain at least five NEWTs with grades no lower than 'Exceeds Expectations' in subjects including: Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration, and Charms; pass stringent character and aptitude tests at the Ministy of Magic's Auror office, then do three years of Auror training. By their fifth year at Hogwarts Harry and Ron both want to be Aurors.
Avada Kedavra Curse
One of the three Unforgivable Curses. It is delivered with the incantation Avada Kedavra! and a flash of green light from the wand-tip to cause instant death. There is no way of blocking it.
Azkaban
Prison fortress where wizarding criminals are sent. Guarded day and night by the terrifying Dementors, who drain peace, hope and happiness out of any human who comes too close to them.
Bagman, Ludo
Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports at the Ministry of Magic. A former Quidditch player, he was a Beater on the Wimbourne Wasps team and played for England. He is large and blond, with a round, pink face.
Bagnold, Millicent
Retired Minister for Magic, a position next taken by Cornelius Fudge.
Bagshot, Bathilda
Author of A History of Magic.
Bane
Name of a centaur in the Forbidden Forest.
Barnabus the Barmy
Figure on a tapestry on the seventh floor of Hogwarts, opposite the usually concealed entrance to the Room of Requirement.
Basilisk
Snake like creature whose eyes will turn you to stone.
Bat-Bogey Hex
It covers the hexed person in great flapping bat-bogeys.
Beater
Quidditch player who tries to knock the Bludgers towards the opposing team.
Beauxbatons Academy of Magic
School of witchcraft and wizardry somewhere in Europe.
Bell, Katie
Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Berti Botts' Every Flavour Beans
Wizarding jellybeans. Come in every flavour, including spinach, liver, tripe, sprout, curry, grass, and even bogey and vomit flavours.
Bezoar
Stone taken from the stomach of a goat. A bexoar will counteract the majority of poisons.
Binns, Professor
History of Magic teacher at Hogwarts. The only ghost teacher at the school. He fell asleep in front of the fire and forgot to wake up.
Black Forest
Place in Germany where Professor Quirrel was rumoured to have encountered vampires.
Black, Mrs
Sirius's deeply unpleasant mother (deceased) was nastily prejudiced against anyone who was not a pure-blood wizard or witch. Her life-size portrait hangs in the hall of number twelve Grimmauld Place and shrieks vile insults whenever she's disturbed. A Permanent Sticking Charm prevents its removal.
Black, Regulus
Younger brother of Sirius, who was more favoured by his parents. He joined Voldemort's Death-eaters and was killed, probably because he realised the true horror of Voldemort's plans and tried to pull out.
Black, Sirius
Imprisoned for mass murder but escaped from Azkaban. Nicknamed Padfoot when at aschool with Harry's father. Also known as Snuffles, from his Animagus form as a big black dog. Harry's godfather. See also, Grimmauld Place.
Blast-Ended Skrewt
Cross between a manticore and a fire crab. They have no recognisable head or eyes, but they explode intermittently at one end. Males have a sting like a scorpion and females have suckers on their bellies. Adult Skrewts have thick grey armour and may grow to be ten feet long.
Blood Blisterpod
Causes bleeding when swallowed.
Blood-flavoured Lollipops
Lollipops for vampires.
Bloody Baron, the
Resident ghost of Slytherin Tower.
Bludgers
Black balls that try to knock players off their brooms in Quidditch.
Boardman, Stubby
Apparently a pop singer, who a Doris Purkiss claims is the real identity of Sirius Black.
Bode, Broderick
A sallow-skinned wizard with a mournful face and sepulchral voice, who works in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic.
Body-Bind Curse
Anyone jinxed by the incantation Petrificus Totalus becomes completely rigid as if turned to stone.
Boggart
Shape-shifter that takes on the likeness of your worst fear.
Bones, Amelia Susan
Aunt to Susan Bones. Also known as Madam Bones. Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and a member of the Wizengamot. One of the interrogators at Harry's disciplinary hearing that takes place just before the start of his fifth year at Hogwarts.
Bones, Edgar
Brother to Amelia Susan Bones. A great wizard, and a founder member of the Order of the Phoenix. Killed by Death-Eaters.
Bones, Susan
A Hogwarts Hufflepuff student in the same year as Harry. Niece of Amelia Susan Bones.
Borgin and Burkes
Dark Arts shop in Knockturn Alley.
Bouncing Bulb
Plant used in Herbology.
Bowtruckle
Tree guardian. These tiny pixieish creatures are made of wood and usually live in wand-trees. They have knobbly brown arms and legs, two twiglike fingers at the end of each hand and a flat barklike face with beetle-brown eyes. Eat woodlice.
Bozo
Photographer for the Daily Prophet.
Broomstick Servicing Kit
Thirteenth birthday present for Harry from Hermione Granger. A black leather case containing a jar of Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle Polish, Tail-Twig Clippers, brass compass and a Handbook of Do-it-Yourself Broomcare.
Brown, Lavender
Hogwarts pupil in the same year as Harry. She is in Gryffindor house and her best friend is Parvati Patil.
Bryce, Frank
Muggle killed by Voldemort. Frank worked as a gardener at Riddle House in the village of Little Hangleton.
Bubble-Head Charm
Puts a protective globe like an upside-down goldfish bowl over the head to ensure a supply of fresh air in the presence of Stink Pellets and Dungbombs, and to allow the charmed person to breathe under water.
Bubotuber
Plant that resembles a black slug with swellings that contain a yellowish green liquid. Bubotuber pus is used to cure acne, but undiluted it causes sores and boils.
Buckbeak
Name of a Hippogriff: a large flying creature that is half-bird and half-horse.
Bulbadox Powder
Causes boils.
Bulstrode, Millicent
Hermione Granger's duelling partner in the second year dueling club. Millicent is in Slytherin house, in Harry's year.
Burrow, the
Home of the Weasley family.
Butterbeer
Frothy, buttery drink served in Hogsmeade.
Cadogan, Sir
Knight from a portrait in the North Tower. Temporary guardian of Gryffindor Tower while the Fat Lady was being repaired.
Canary Creams
Trick custard-cream biscuits that turn the eater briefly into a canary. Invented by Fred and George Weasley.
Care of Magical Creatures
Class taken at Hogwarts that teaches students how to look after magical creatures.
Centaurs
Half-man, half-horse creatures. Centaurs live in the Forbidden Forest.
Chamber of Secrets, the
Concealed room created by Salazar Slytherin wherein he sealed an unknown horror that could only be freed by his true heir to purge the school of those unworthy to study magic.
Chang, Cho
Seeker of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. A year above Harry.
Charm
Spell that adds properties to an object or person.
Chaser
Quidditch player who tries to score using Quaffle.
Chimaera
A rare greek monster with a lion's head, a goat's body and a dragon's tail. Vicious and bloodthirsty.
Chocoballs
Wizarding sweets full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream.
Chocolate Frogs
Wizard confectionery that contains collector's cards of famous witches and wizards.
Chudley Cannons, the
Ron Weasley's favourite professional Quidditch team. They wear bright orange and black robes and are ninth in the League at the start of Harry's second year.
Circe
Name of a witch depicted on a wizard trading card.
Cleansweep 7
Type of broomstick used by Fred and George Weasley.
Cleansweep Eleven
Broomstick with Spanish oak handle, anti-jinx varnish and in-built vibration control. It accelerates from nought to seventy in ten seconds.
Clearwater, Penelope
Percy Weasley's girlfriend.
Cliodna
Name of a witch depicted on a wizard trading card.
Cockroach Clusters
Wizarding sweets made from cockroaches.
Colloportus
Magical incantation that seals doors.
Come and Go Room
Also known as the Room of Requirement, it is on the seventh floor of Hogwarts, opposite the Barnabus the Barmy tapestry. The room is sometimes there, sometimes not. It can only be entered by people with a real need, who must walk past the part of wall three times while concentrating on what they need. The room will then appear fully equipped with all their inanimate requirements
Comet
Type of broomstick flown by Cho Chang.
common room
Meeting room for each Hogwarts house.
Common Welsh Green
Type of dragon found in Britain.
Cornish Pixies
Naughty little fairies that create havoc
Crabbe, Vincent
One of Draco Malfoy's stupid henchman. Thickset and looks very mean. Has a pudding-basin haircut and a very thick neck. He is in Slytherin house.
Creevey, Colin
Admirer of Harry who follows him constantly and is always taking his picture. A year below Harry in Gryffindor house.
Creevey, Dennis
Hogwarts pupil, younger brother of Colin Creevey. Dennis is three years below Harry in Gryffindor.
Cribbages Wizarding Crackers
Snack food.
Crockford, Doris
Witch Harry meets in the Leaky Cauldron.
Crookshanks
Hermione Granger's pet cat. Ginger with thick and fluffy fur, it is a little bow-legged with a slightly crumpled face.
Crouch, Bartemius
Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation at the Ministry of Magic. He looks like a bank manager, with a toothbrush moustache, and is a great believer in rules.
Crouch, Bartemius, Junior
Son of the above. He was imprisoned in Azkaban as a follower of Voldemort.
Cruciatus Curse
Inflicts torture with the command Crucio. One of the three Unforgivable Curses.
Crumple-Horned Snorkacks
Creatures believed to exist in Sweden by Luna Lovegood and her father who is editor of The Quibbler.
Crup
Almost certainly a wizard-created dog that closely resembles a Jack Russell terrier but with a forked tail. Intensely loyal to wizards and ferocious towards Muggles.
DA
Dumbledore's Army: a group of 28 Hogwarts students who, in Harry's fifth year, meet secretly to develop their skills in Defence Against the Dark Arts.
Daily Prophet, the
The national wizarding newspaper.
Dark detectors
A range of instruments, such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors and Foe-Glasses, that warn when Dark wizards or enemies are around. Not completely reliable as they can be fooled.
Dark Mark, the
Sign of the Death Eaters: a skull with a serpent in its mouth.
Davies, Roger
Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.
Dawlish, ...
A Ministry of Magic Auror.
Death Eaters
Witches and wizards known to be loyal to Lord Voldemort and to enjoy killing.
Death Room
A circular room like an amphitheatre in the Department of Mysteries with circular tiers of stone steps surrounding and leading down to a dais on which a stone arch stands with a veil or curtain swaying continously in it.
Deathday Party
Celebration held by the ghosts at Hogwarts to commemorate the day they died.
Decree
A law made by someone in authority. In Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, Professor Umbridge initiates a number of increasingly restrictive Ministy of Magic decrees.
Defence Against the Dark Arts
Subject taught at Hogwarts to teach young witches and wizards how to defend themselves against harmful hexes, jinxes, and spells, as well as against witches and wizards who use the Dark Arts.
Deflating Draft
Potion that counteracts a swelling solution. Causes swelled body parts to return to normal size.
Delacour, Fleur
Pupil at Beauxbatons. Beautiful, with long, silvery blonde hair; her grandmother was a Veela.
Delaney-Podmore, Patrick
Leader of the Headless Hunt.
Deletrius
Spell to make something disintegrate.
Dementor
Creature who feeds on the happy emotions of humans. Dementors are employed as guards at Azkaban. The kiss of a Dementor will suck out a human's soul, leaving an emotionless shell.
Dementor's kiss
To be kissed by a Dementor is to have one's soul sucked out, a worse fate than death.
Densuageo
Spell causing teeth to grow.
Dervish and Banges
Wizarding equipment shop in Hogsmeade.
Derwent, Dilys
Healer at St Mungo's Hospital (1722-1741) where her portrait now hangs. Headmistress of Hogwarts (1741-1768) where another portrait of her hangs in Dumbledore's room.
Devil's Snare
A carnivorous plant that reaches out its tendrils to strangle anyone who touches it.
Diagon Alley
A long cobbled street filled with the most fascinating wizarding shops in the world. Accessible through the Leaky Cauldron pub in London.
Diffindo!
Incantation of a spell that splits or severs something.
Diggle, Dedalus
Wizard who Harry met in the Leaky Cauldron. He also once bowed to Harry in a shop. A founder member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Diggory, Amos
Father of Cedric. He is tall and has a brown beard.
Diggory, Cedric
Student two years ahead of Harry. Captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. In Harry's fourth year, the Goblet of Fire selects Cedric and Harry to be Triwizard champions.
Dippet, Armando
A wizard, one of the previous headmasters of Hogwarts.
Disapparate
To disappear at will.
Disillusionment Charm
Camouflages a person by making them the exact colour and texture of the surrounding environment. The accompanying wand tap causes a curious sensation as if a smashed egg is trickling down coldy from where the wand struck.
Dissendium
Spell that opens entrance to secret passage to Hogsmeade.
Divination
Magical art of telling the future using tea-leaves, crystal balls and so forth. Professor Trelawney is Divination teacher at Hogwarts.
Dobby
Name of a House-Elf who idolises Harry but gets him into lots of trouble.
Doge, Elphias
A wheezy-voiced wizard who was a founder member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Doxy
Also known as a Biting Fairy, a Doxy looks like a tiny human covered in black hair, but has four arms and four legs and thick curved and shiny wings like a beetle. They multiply rapidly by laying up to five hundred eggs at a time. Infestations can be treated with Doxycide spray. A Doxy bite is poisonous and must be treated with an antidote.
Dr Filibuster's Fabulous No-Heat-Wet-Start Fireworks
Wizarding fireworks and one of Fred and George Weasley's favourite jokes. They fill the room with red and gold stars that last for about half an hour.
Dr Ubbly's Oblivious Unction
Magically curative and soothing ointment.
Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus
The Hogwarts motto. It means "Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon".
Dragon
Mythical reptilian creature who can fly and breathe fire. Hagrid is particularly fond of dragons and has a Norwegian Ridgeback called Norbert for a while.
Draught of Living Death, the
Powerful sleeping draught.
Draught of Peace
A potion to calm anxiety and sooth agitation, but heavy-handedness with the ingredients could put the drinker into a deep and sometimes irreversible sleep.
Drooble's Best Blowing Gum.
Wizarding sweet. Fills the room with blue bubbles that last for about half an hour.
Duelling CLub
Club started by Professor Lockhart to teach students how to duel with spells.
Dumbledore, Aberforth
Dumbledore's brother. A founder member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Dumbledore, Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian
Headmaster of Hogwarts and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. The finest wizard of his generation, Dumbledore is the only one Voldemort is afraid of. Tall, thin, and very old, he has blue eyes, a crooked nose and a long silver beard. He wears half-moon spectacles and a long purple cloak. As a schoolboy, he was in Gryffindor house. Dumbledore is an Old English word for bumblebee.
Dungbomb
Stinkbomb.
Durmstrang Institute
School of witchcraft and wizardry somewhere in the far north of Europe. It is smaller than Hogwarts but has more extensive grounds.
Dursley, Dudley
Harry's horrible non-magical and slightly older cousin. Muggle son of Vernon and Petunia, he is fat, blond, stupid and bullies Harry whenever he can. By age 15, Dudley has become Junior Heavyweight Inter-School Boxing Champion of the Southeast.
Edgecombe, Marietta
A Hogwart's pupil and friend of Cho Chang. In Ravenclaw house. Her mother works in the Department of Magical Transport Floo Network office at the Ministry of Magic.
Eeylops Owl Emporium
Owl shop in Diagon Alley where Harry bought Hedwig.
Elixir of Life, the
Potion produced by the Philosopher's Stone that will make the drinker immortal.
Enervate
Reviving spell. In non-magic usage 'enervate' means to make someone weaker.
Engorgio
Swelling charm.
Errol
Name of the Weasley family owl.
Evanesco!
Incantation of the Vanishing Spell.
Evans, Lily
Maiden name of Harry Potter's mother.
Expecto patronum!
Incantation of the Patronus Charm, which works only if said while thinking about something happy. It produces a witch or wizard's Patronus from the tip of their wand.
Expelliarmus!
Incantation of the Disarming Charm, a basic spell to disarm an opponent by making their wand fly out of their hand.
Exploding Bonbons
Wizarding sweets available from Honeydukes in Hogsmeade.
Exploding Snap
Card game.
Extendable Ears
Invented by the Weasley twins, Fred and George, these spying devices look like long pieces of flesh-coloured string. They can slither under doors to enable the owner to overhear conversations from a distance, but they can't get past an Imperturbable Charm.
Fainting Fancy
One of the double-ended chews invented by Fred and George Weasley in their seventh year at Hogwarts. Eating one half causes you to faint, but someone else must administer the remaining half to restore you.
Fang
Name of Hagrid's boarhound.
Fat Friar, the
Resident ghost of the Hufflepuff Tower.
Fat Lady, the
The portrait that guards the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. She requires a password before she will reveal the hole behind the painting and allow students to enter the tower.
Fawkes
Dumbledore's phoenix is a powerfully magical bird with red and gold plumage, a long golden tail and plumed head. Fully grown it is as big as a swan, and periodically goes up in flames and rises from the ashes as a chick to live again. Would give its life to protect Dumbledore.
Ferula
Spell to conjure a sling for a broken limb.
Fidelius Charm
A charm that conceals a secret within a person (Secret-Keeper) so that no one will know about it unless the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it.
Figg, Mrs Arabella Doreen
Elderly Muggle neighbour and Squib, who lives two streets away from the Dursleys. She keeps cats. Used to baby-sit Harry and watches out for him when he's at Privet Drive.
Filch, Argos
Caretaker at Hogwarts, Filch is a Squib and a failed wizard. He loathes the students, especially Harry and his friends. His cat Mrs Norris spies for him.
Finch-Fletchley, Justin
Hogwarts pupil in the same year as Harry. Justin is in Hufflepuff house.
Finite Incantatem
This incantation causes the effect of a preceding spell to cease. Sometimes it is enough to just say Finite.
Finnigan, Seamus
Hogwarts pupil in the same year as Harry. Seamus is in Gryffindor house. His best friend is Dean Thomas.
Firebolt
Fastest, most technologically advanced broomstick. Can accelerate from 0--150 miles per hour in ten seconds.
Firenze
Name of one of the centaurs that live in the Forbidden Forest.
Fizzing Whizbee
Password to gain entry into Dumbledore's rooms at Hogwarts via a moving stone staircase like a spiral escalator. Dumbledore can override the password when he doesn't want it to work.
Fizzing Whizbees
Wizarding sweets. Sherbert balls that make you levitate several feet in the air when you eat them.
Flagrate
Incantation that causes a fiery mark to appear.
Flamel, Nicholas
Albus Dumbledore's alchemy partner and the holder of the only known Philosopher's Stone in existence.
Fletcher, Mundungus
Also known to his friends as Dung, this old wizard has ginger hair, baggy bloodshot eyes, the doleful look of a bloodhound, and short bandy legs. He dresses in rags and mixes with criminals. A useful but not always reliable member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Flint, Marcus
Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team.
Flitwick, Professor
Charms teacher at Hogwarts. Tiny little wizard who has to stand on piles of books to see over his desk.
Flobberworm
Species of worm that Harry and his friends have to keep alive to pass the Care of Magical Creatures course.
Floo Network
Magical network whereby witches and wizards can travel long distances between different fireplaces. They can go whole or just have their head travel to a fireplace elsewhere in order to talk to someone.
Floo Powder
Glittering powder that allows witches and wizards to travel magically via the Floo Network by throwing the powder into a fireplace, naming their destination, and stepping into the flames.
Florean Fortesque's Ice-Cream Parlour
Wizarding ice-cream shop on Diagon Alley.
Flourish and Blotts
Wizarding bookshop in Diagon Alley.
Flutterby Bush
Plant used in Herbology.
Foe-glass
Magic mirror in which you can see your enemies.
Forbidden Forest, the
The dark woods surrounding the Hogwarts grounds. Students are not allowed to go there unless accompanied by a teacher.
Ford Anglia
Make of Mr Weasley's bewitched car.
Fountain of Magical Breathren
This group of larger than life-size golden statues (a witch, wizard, centaur, goblin and a house-elf) stands as a water fountain in a round pool in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic.
Four-Point Spell
Say Point me to make your wand function as a compass.
Fudge Flies
Wizarding sweets.
Fudge, Cornelius Oswald
Minister for Magic. Short, portly wizard with grey hair, he comes to enjoy the power of his job but fears wrongly that Dumbledore wants it. He refuses to believe that Voldemort could return.
Furnunculus
Curse that causes boils.
Galleon
Gold wizarding money. There is currently no exchange rate for Galleons to pound, dollar or euro.
Gambol and Japes
Wizarding joke shop on Diagon Alley.
Garrotting Gas
A gas that catches people by the neck if they pass through it. Ginny Weasley says it's invisible.
Ghoul
Ghostly creature that lives in the attic and bangs on pipes. The Weasleys have one living in their attic.
Giant
Huge humanoid. Giants can grow to a height of 20 feet. They have a history of violence and warring among themselves. Many giants allied themselves with Voldemort and massacred Muggles. Others withdrew to remote mountain ranges. Their numbers are in decline and in Britain they are believed to be extinct.
Gillyweed
Water plant. If you eat it, you temporarily grow gills and fins.
Gnomes
Very small creatures with leathery skin and large, bald heads like knobbly potatoes. They have horny feet and razor-sharp teeth. They live in holes in gardens and aren't very bright. To de-gnome a garden, grab the gnome by the ankles, swing it round your head and throw!
Goblet of Fire
Wooden cup full of flames, used as an impartial selector for the contenders in the Triwizard Tournament.
Goblins
Small creatures with swarthy faces, pointed beards and very long hands and feet. Goblins staff Gringotts Bank.
Gobstones
The wizarding version of marbles. The pieces squirt a stinky substance into other players' faces when they lose a point.
Godric's Hollow
Home where Harry's parents, Lily and James Potter, lived.
Golden Snitch
Small, golden ball with silver wings used in Quidditch. Must be caught by a Seeker to end the match.
Goldstein, Anthony
Hogwarts student in Harry's year. In their fifth year he becomes on of the two Ravenclaw prefects and a member of the DA.
Golgomath
Becomes Gurg (or chief) of the giants during Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts.
Goshawk, Miranda
Author of The Standard Book of Spells.
Goyle, Gergory
One of Draco Malfoy's stupid henchmen. Thickset and looks mean. Has short, bristly hair and long, gorilla-like arms. Also in Slytherin house.
Granger, Hermione
Smart know-it-all at Hogwarts in Gryffindor house. She has bushy, brown hair, large front teeth and a loud, rather bossy voice. Hermione works very hard and always gets the best marks in her exams. Hearry's next best friend after Ron Weasley. Her parents are Muggle dentists.
Grawp
Hagrid's younger half-brother who is a giant.
Great Hall, the
The main hall in Hogwarts where Sorting takes place, where meals are served and meetings takes place. The ceiling is bewitched to look like the sky outside.
Gregory the Smarmy
Statue at Hogwarts
Grey Lady, the
Resident ghost of Ravenclaw Tower.
Grim
A giant black dog taken to be a death omen.
Grimmauld Place
A small square in London. Number twelve is Sirius Black's family house, and Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix which no one can enter unless Dumbledore has personally told them its whereabouts. Usually invisible from outside, it materialises with a shabby black door, a silver twisted-serpent doorknocker but with no keyhole or letterbox. Sirius Black's father put every known security measure and sealing jinx on the house and Dumbledore added his own protection to make it a safe house. Inside, it looks like the house of the Darkest of wizards.
Grindylow
Water demon. Sickly green with sharp horns and very long fingers
Gringotts
The wizard bank in London, with vaults far below the streets, run by goblins.
Griphook
Goblin at Gringotts Bank.
Grubbly-Plank, Professor Wilhemina
Elderly supply teacher who takes Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures classes when he is unable to. A brisk and hearty witch with severly chopped grey hair and a prominent chin. She smokes a pipe.
Grunnings
Firm where Harry's uncle Vernon Dursley is a director. Grunnings make drills.
Grunnion, Alberic
Name of a wizard depicted on a wizard trading card.
Gryffindor house
One of the four houses in Hogwarts. Harry, Hermione Granger and the Weasleys are all in Gryffindor house. It was founded by Godric Gryffindor and the Gryffindor symbol is a lion. The resident ghost is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, aslo known as Nearly Headless Nick. Professor McGonagal is the head of Gryffindor house and Professor Dumbledore was in Gryffindor in his youth.
Gryffindor, Godric
One of the four founders of Hogwarts. Gryffindor house was named after him.
Gubraithian fire
Everlasting fire. Dumbledore bewitches a branch to burn forever as a gift for the giant Gurg.
Gurg
Giants call their chief the Gurg.
Hagrid, Rubeus
Son of a giantess and a wizard. Keeper of Keys and Grounds and teacher of Care of Magical Creatures class at Hogwarts from Harry's third year. He was a student at Hogwarts but was expelled for unknown reasons. Professor Dumbledore allowed Hagrid to stay as gamekeeper. Hagrid is almost twice as tall as any other person and seems five times as wide. He has masses of bushy, black hair and a huge tangled beard. Has a liking for strange and dangerous creatures -- especially dragons.
half-breed
Person or creature of mixed race, such as a centaur or a merperson; or someone taken over by another breed, such as a werewolf. Hagrid, part-giant, part-wizard, is insultingly referred to as a half-breed by Professor Umbridge.
Hand of Glory
Withered hand on a cushion that gives light to the person holding it when a candle is inserted.
He Who Must Not Be Named
The evil Lord Voldemort, Dark Wizard. Also referred to as 'You-Know-Who'.
Headless Hat
A Fred and George Weasley invention. The head of anyone who puts one on vanishes along with the hat until it is removed or the spell eventually wears off.
Headless Hunt, the
Team of ghosts whose heads have been completely cut off. Activities include Horseback Head-Juggling and Head Polo. Nearly Headless Nick is keen to join the hunt but can't because his head has not been completely severed.
Healer
The wizarding equivalent of a Muggle doctor. In St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries the Healers wear lime-green robes with a crossed wand and bone emblem embroidered on the front.
Hebridean Black
A breed of wild Dragon found in Britain.
Hedwig
Harry's owl and mail courier. Hagrid bought Hedwig from Eeylops Owl Emporium for Harry's 11th birthday. Wizards use owls to deliver mail. Hedwig was also the name of a medieval saint.
Heir of Slytherin
True heir to Salazar Slytherin who can open the Chamber of Secrets to release the horror within.
Heliopath
According to Luna Lovegood in...Order of the Phoenix, Cornelius Fudge, Minster for Magic has an army of these tall, flaming, spirits of fire that gallop across the ground, burning everything in their path. But Hermione says they don't exist.
hellebore
A flower. Syrup of hellebore is used as an ingredient in potions such as the Draught of Peace.
Hengist of Woodcroft
Name of a Wizard depicted on a wizard trading card.
heptomology
A branch of divination.
Herbology
Study of plants. Professor Sprout is the Herbology teacher at Hogwarts.
Hermes
Name of Percy Weasley's owl.
Higgs, Terence
Seeker on the Slytherin Quidditch team in Harry's first year.
Hinkypunk
Small creatures that live in bogs and swamps, they wander about at night with a lantern to lure lost travellers into the swamps.
Hippogriff
Magical creature that has the front legs, wings and head of an eagle, and the body, hind legs and tail of a horse. Buckbeak is a Hippogriff.
Hit Wizards
Wizard police from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad who are specially trained to deal with powerful criminals.
Hog's Head, the
Pub in Hogsmeade where Hagrid once won a dragon's egg.
Hogsmeade
The only completely magical village in Britain. Hogsmeade is not far from Hogwarts and has an array of wonderful shops including Honeydukes sweet shop, the Three Broomsticks pub and Zonko's joke shop.
Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The best school of its kind in the world. The greatest witches and wizards of the age founded Hogwarts more than a thousand years ago: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. They built a remote castle, far away so that witches and wizards could train in safety. Pupils attend from age eleven for seven years of rigorous training in the art of witchcraft and wizardry. There are a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts and everything keeps moving around, so things are not always in the same place. Hogwarts is in a secret location somewhere in the North.
Honeydukes
Wizarding sweet shop in Hogsmeade.
Hooch, Madam
Broomstick and flying teacher at Hogwarts.
Hopkirk, Mafalda
A witch who works in the Improper Use of Magic Office at the Ministry of Magic.
House Cup, the
Trophy awarded to the Hogwarts house with the most points at the end of the school year.
house-elf
Small creature that works as a servant in some wizarding houses. A house-elf can only be set free when its master or mistress gives the elf a piece of clothing.
Howler
Wizarding letter which, when opened, shrieks and howls at the reader in an extremely loud voice. Comes in a red envelope and is usually sent by someone who is very angry. Ron Weasley received one from his mother after crashing the Ford Anglia into the Whomping Willow.
Hufflepuff house
One of the four houses in Hogwarts. It was founded by Helga Hufflepuff and the Hufflepuff symbol is a badger. The resident ghost is the Fat Friar.
Hufflepuff, Helga
One of the four founders of Hogwarts. Hufflepuff house is named after her.
Ice Mice
Wizarding sweets available from Honeydukes in Hogsmeade. Make your teeth squeak and chatter.
Impediment Jinx
Spell to slow down and obstruct attackers. Say Impedimenta!
Imperius Curse
One of the three Unforgivable Curses. Imposed with the incantation Imperio! it gives a witch or wizard complete control over another one. It can be resisted but only with great mental effort.
Imperturbable Charm
Creates an invisible barrier that prevents anything making contact with it. For example, Dungbombs flicked at an Imperturbed door will just soar away from it.
Impervius!
Incantation that repells water and mist.
Incarcerous!
Incantation of a restraining spell that magically binds a person tightly with rope.
Incendio
Fire-lighting spell.
Inquisitorial Squad
During Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, Professor Umbridge enlists a group of 'trustworthy' students, including Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Millicent Bulstrode, to spy on and help her crush and control any rebellious students. Unlike prefects, the squad has the authority to dock house points, and to check the content of other students' mail before it is delivered to them.
inter-departmental memos
Letters sent between employees of the Ministry of Magic fly around the building like paper aeroplanes, which is much less messy than using owls.
Invisibility Cloak
Magic cloak granting the wearer invisibility.
Jelly Slugs
Wizarding sweets available from Honeydukes in Hogsmeade.
Jelly-Legs Jinx
Makes your adversary's legs wobbly.
Jigger, Arsenius
Author of Magical Drafts and Potions.
Johnson, Angelina
Hogwarts student, two years ahead of Harry, she's a tall black girl with long braided hair. Chaser on the Quidditch team, she becomes Gryffindor Captain in Harry's fifth year.
Jones, Hestia
A pink-cheeked, black-haired witch among the advance guard who escort Harry on broomsticks from Privet Drive to the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
Jordan Lee
Pupil at Hogwarts. Has dreadlocks and is famed for his commentaries at Quidditch matches. Lee is in Gryffindor house, in the same year as Fred and George Weasley.
Jorkins, Bertha
Witch employed by the Ministry of Magic. She was abducted in Albania and suffered a terrible fate.
Kappa
Monkey-like creatures that live in water and strangle people who invade their territory.
Karkaroff, Igor
Headmaster of the Durmstrang Institute. Knows a lot about the Dark Arts. He is tall and thin with white hair and a beard.
Karkus
In Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, Karkus is the Gurg of the few remaining giant tribes who live in the mountains of Eastern Europe. He's the biggest (22-23 feet tall and the size of two bull elephants), laziest giant with skin like a rhinoceros.
Keeper
Quidditch player who guards the goalposts
Kettleburn, Professor
Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts. Retired at the end of Harry's second year.
King's Cross Station
The station in London where the Hogwarts Express leaves from platform nine and three-quarters.
Knarl
Indistinguishable from a hedgehog but if offered food it assumes it is being poisoned or lured into a trap and will savage the person's garden plants and ornaments.
Kneazle
A small cat-like creature with flecked, speckled or spotted fur, outsize ears and a tail like a lion's. Intelligent, independent and occasionally aggressive, they make a loyal pet to a witch or wizard they like. They can detect unsavory or suspicious characters.
Knight bus, the
Emergency bus that transports witches and wizards to any destination. Stick our your wand to stop the bus. Sometimes has brass bedsteads instead of seats.
Knockturn Alley
Street of wizard shops devoted totally to the Dark Arts. Shops include Borgin and Burkes.
Knut
Bronze wizarding money. Twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle.
Kreacher
Very old house-elf to the Black family and loyal to Mrs Black. In residence with Sirius Black, whom he detests, at number twelve Grimmauld Place, Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
Krum, Viktor
Seeker for the Bulgarian national Quidditch team. Pupil at the Durmstrang Institute. Dark, with a large curved nose and thick eyebrows; walks duck-footed! and round-shouldered but is in his element on a broomstick.
Kwikspell
Correspondence course in beginner's magic for Squibs (magicians who have little magical powers).
Leaky Cauldron, the
The wizarding pub and boarding house through which witches and wizards gain access to Diagon Alley.
Legilimency
The magical ability to extract thoughts, feelings and memories from another person's mind. Eye contact is often essential to Legilimency. Dumbledore, Snape and Voldemort are all skilled Legilimens. See also, Occlumency.
Legilimens
A witch or wizard skilled at Legilimency.
Legilimens!
Magical incantation used in the practice of Legilimency.
Leprechaun
Irish elf or pixie. Small and able to fly.
Lestrange [née Black], Bellatrix
Sirius black's cousin married Rodolphus Lestrange, a pure-blood wizard and Death-Eater. Both were imprisoned in Azkaban.
Lockhart, Gilderoy
Teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts in Harry's second year. Author of self-glorifying autobiographies and five times winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award.
Locomotor ...
Used together with the name of an object that needs to be moved, this incantation magically mobilises inanimate objects without physical effort. For example, Locomotor trunk.
Longbottom, Neville
Forgetful and rather clumsy friend of Harry's. Neville has a round face and thinks he is not very good at magic. He comes from a magical family but was a late starter. In Gryffindor house and in Harry's year.
Lovegood, Luna
A Ravenclaw student in the year below Harry at Hogwarts. Unfairly referred to as 'Loony' by some students, she is a strangely imperturbable and dreamy-eyed girl who dresses weirdly and appears to be rather vague. Hermione says she only believes in things for which there is absolutely no proof. Her father is the editor of The Quibbler. She is able to see Thestrals. A member of DA.
Lumos
Incantation of the spell that causes a wand-tip to flare with magical light.
Lupin, Remus J.
Wizard, Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry's third year at Hogwarts. Member of the Order of the Phoenix. Lupin's best friends at school were James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew.
Lynch, Aidan
Seeker for the Irish national Quidditch team.
Macmillan, Ernie
Hogwarts student in Harry's year. In Hufflepuff house. He and his family always loyal to Dumbledore. Member of the DA in his fifth year.
Macnair, Walden
A Ministry of Magic executioner of dangerous creatures. A Death Eater.
Madam Malkin's
Shop in Diagon Alley selling wizarding robes for all occasions.
magical eye
Large, round, electric-blue, false eye that spins to provide all-round vision -- as worn by Mad-Eye Moody to see through walls, doors and even through the back of his own head.
Magical Law Enforcement Squad
Wizard police or Hit Wizards who are specially trained to deal with powerful criminals.
Magical Menagerie
Wizarding pet shop in Diagon Alley.
Magorian
Chestnut-coloured centaur who lives in the Forbidden Forest.
Malfoy [née Black], Narcissa
Sirius Black's cousin who married Lucius Malfoy, a pure-blood wizard. A tall, slim, snooty blonde.
Malfoy, Draco
Harry's arch-enemy at Hogwarts. A thin boy with a pale, pointed face and a sneering expression. He has a bored, drawling voice and looks with contempt upon everyone else. Malfoy believes himself to be superior to Harry and hates Harry and all his friends. Malfoy is in the Slytherin house.
Malfoy, Lucius
Draco Malfoy's father. Former supporter of You-Know-Who.
Mandragora
Another name for the Mandrake plant.
Mandrake
Powerful restorative used to return cursed or transfigured people to their natural state. The cry of the Mandrake plant is fatal to anyone who hears it. Also known as Mandragora.
Marauder's Map
A map that shows all the secret passageways and the current wherabouts of everyone in Hogwarts. Harry and Ron use it to get to Hogsmeade.
Marchbanks, Griselda
A witch, and a Wizengamot elder. She oversees OWL exams at Hogwarts in Harry's fifth year.
Maxime, Olympe
Head of Beauxbatons Academy. Because of her size, Madame Maxime is believed to be half giant. She has black eyes and olive skin.
McGonagall, Professor Minerva
Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. She is a rather serious-looking woman, with jet-black hair scraped back into a tight bun on her head. She wears square glasses and an emerald-green cloak. Professor McGonagall is Head of Gryffindor house and is Transfiguration teacher.
Merlin
Name of a wizard depicted on a wizard trading card.
Merpeople
Underwater dwellers who build cities at the bottom of lakes. They have fishtails, green hair and grey skin, and they fish with spears. Above water their voices are unintelligible.
Metamorphmagus (plural: ...magi)
A witch or wizard who can change their appearance at will. Metamorphmagi are rare and are usually born, but with hard work it is possible to learn the skill.
Midgeon, Eloise
Hogwarts pupil who accidentally removed her nose when trying to cure her acne.
Mimbulus mimbletonia
A rare and sinister-looking, grey cactus plant that pulsates slightly. If prodded it squirts out thick, slimy, dark-green jets of non-poisonous Stinksap which smells like rancid manure. The cactus grows fast and by the time it is a year old it makes soft crooning noises when stroked. Neville Longbottom's Great Uncle Algie got him one from Assyria for his fifteenth birthday.
Mimsy-Porpington, Sir Nicholas de
Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower. Also know as Nearly Headless Nick.
Ministry of Magic
Government agency that tries to keep witches and wizards secret from non-magical people.
Minsk
Capital city of Byelorussia.
Mirror of Erised
Magical mirror that shows the onlooker their heart's desire.
Moaning Myrtle
Ghost girl at Hogwarts who hides in an S-bend in the first-floor girls' toilets.
Mobilarbus
Spell to move objects.
Mobilicorpus
Spell to move someone who can't walk.
monkshood
Plant used in potions. Also known as aconite or wolfsbane.
Monster Book of Monsters
Large green book of monsters. Required reading for third-years. Must be stroked down the spine or it will bite your fingers.
Moody, Alastor
Retired Auror hired to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts in Harry's fourth year. Known as Mad-Eye Moody since he lost an eye in the fight against Voldemort and his supporters, and replaced it with a magical eye. Badly scarred and has a wooden leg.
Moony
Professor Lupin's boyhood nickname at Hogwarts.
Morgana
Name of a witch depicted on a wizard trading card.
Morsmordre
Spell to conjure up the Dark Mark.
Mostafa, Hassan
Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch. He is Egyptian, small and bald with a huge moustache.
Mudblood
Term used to describe a person of non-magic parents. Considered a great insult.
Muggle
Person totally without magical powers. Most Muggles live in ignorance of the world of wizards and witches.
Muggle duelling
A non-magical physical fight.
Muggle Studies
Class taken by wizarding folk to study non-magical people.
Murtlap
Ratlike, shore-dwelling creature with tentacles.
Murtlap essence
A yellow solution of strained and pickled Murtlap tentacles relieves the pain of magical wounds, and cures magically induces boils.
Nagini
Name of a very large, venomous snake kept by Voldemort.
Nargles
Unknown creatures that Luna Lovegood believes often infest mistletoe.
Nearly Headless Nick
Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower. So called because his beheading was not completely successful. Full name is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington.
NEWTs
Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. Higher level examinations taken at the end of the seventh year at Hogwarts.
Niffler
Magical creatures that can find buried treasure. Nifflers are black and fluffy with long snouts and spadelike feet.
Nigellus, Phineas
Sirius Black's great-great-grandfather, and the least popular Headmaster Hogwarts ever had.
Nimbus 2000
Type of broomstick. Harry's first broomstick.
Nimbus 2001
The successor to the Nimbus 2000 broomstick.
Norbert
Name of Hagrid's Norwegian Ridgeback dragon.
Norris, Mrs
Name of Filch's cat. She is a scrawny-looking, dust-coloured cat with bulging eyes. Students must be wary not to break rules in front of her for she will run to Filch and report them.
Norwegian Ridgeback
Breed of dragon that is very rare. Hagrid had one as a pet for a while.
Nosebleed Nougat
A double-ended chew invented by Fred an George Weasley for their Skiving Snackboxesd. Eating one half makes your nose bleed, eating the other half stops it.
Nott, Theodore
A weedy-looking Slytherin student in Harry's year at Hogwarts. Son of a Death-Eater, and a friend of Draco Malfoy.
Nox
Spell to extinguish light on your wand.
Obliviate
Memory spell that makes the subject forget.
Obliviator
Member of Accidental Magic Reversal Squad. They work for the Improper Use of Magic Office.
Occlumency
The sealing of the mind against magical intrusion and influence by a witch or wizard skilled at Legilimency. Occlumency, an obscure branch of magic, is the skill of clearing one's mind of emotion, thoughts and memories in order to protect them against external intrusion, and focusing the brain so as to repell, even without a wand, invasion by a Legilimens. Professor Snape is a superb Occlumens and Legilimens.
Ollivanders
Diagon Alley wand shop. 'Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC'.
Omnioculars
Binoculars with slow-motion and replay settings.
Order of the Phoenix
Dumbledore founded this Order of witches and wizards to fight against Voldemort. Founder members included: Sirius Black, Edgar Bones (deceased), Caradoc Dearborn (vanished), Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Doge, Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore, Benjy Fenwick, Rubeus Hagrid, Frank and Alice Longbottom (tortured into madness), Remus Lupin, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadowes (killed by Voldemort), Sturgis Podmore, James and Lily Potter (deceased), brothers Gideon and Fabian Prewett (deceased), and Emmeline Vance. In Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts, Dumbledore recalls members of the Order about an hour after Voldemort's return. The Order then includes those founder members who are still alive (except Peter Pettigrew), plus: Kingsley Shacklebolt, Professor Snape, Nymphadora Tonks, Mr and Mrs Weasley and their sons Bill and Charlie. Members of the Order must be over 17 and have left school. Its Headquarters is in Grimmauld Place.
ornithomancy
A branch of divination.
OWLs
Ordinary Wizarding Levels. Hogwarts standard-level examinations which are sat at the end of fifth year.
Padfoot
Sirius Black's nickname at Hogwarts.
Paracelsus
Name of wizard depicted on a wizard trading card.
Parkinson, Pansy
A Slytherin student in Harry's year. She has a hard puglike face and hangs around with Draco Malfoy. She becomes a prefect in Harry's fifth year.
Parselmouth
Wizard who can talk to snakes--very rare. Thought to be the sign of a Dark wizard.
Parseltongue
Language spoken by a Parselmouth.
Patil, Padma
Hogwarts pupil in the same year as Harry, in Ravenclaw house. Twin sister of Parvati Patil.
Patil, Parvati
Hogwarts pupil in the same year as Harry, in Gryffindor house. Twin sister of Padma Patil and best friend of Lavender Brown.
Patronus
A positive force that protects against Dementors. The form of each Patronus is particular to an individual witch or wizard, each of whom produces theirs with the Patronus Charm by saying the incantation Expecto Patronum! while thinking a really happy thought. Harry's Patronus is a silver stag.
Peeves
Hogwarts' resident poltergeist. Tries to get students in trouble and loves causing havoc at any opportunity.
Pensieve
Storage device for thoughts and memories. When in use it looks like a stone basin holding a silvery liquid.
Pepper Imps
Wizarding sweets available from Honeydukes in Hogsmeade. They make you smoke at the mouth.
Pepper-Up Potion
Magical restorative.
Peppermint Toads
Toad-shaped peppermint sweets that hop about in the stomach after they've been eaten.
Petrificus Totalus!
Incantation of the Body-Bind Curse that completely immobilises anyone jinxed by it.
Pettigrew, Peter
Schoolfriend of James Potter. Sirius Black is imprisoned in Azkaban for Pettigrew's murder but escapes after twelve years.
Philosopher's Stone
Legendary stone which will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal. The only known stone belongs to Nicholas Flamel, Albus Dumbledore's alchemy partner.
Phoenix
Rare bird that bursts into flames and rises from its ashes. Their tears can heal wounds. Albus Dumbledore has a pet phoenix, Fawkes.
Pigwidgeon
Name of a young grey owl belonging to Ron Weasley. Often called Pig for short.
Pince, Madam
Librarian at Hogwarts.
Platform nine and three-quarters
The platform at King's Cross Station where students gather to board the Hogwarts Express.
Pocket Sneakoscope
Small wizarding toy--a spinning glass top that lights up when there is somebody or something suspicious around.
Podmore, Sturgis
Wizard with square-jaw and thick straw-coloured hair. One of the founder members of the Order of the Phoenix. In Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, Podmore is sentenced to six months in Azkaban for trespass and attempted robbery at the Ministry of Magic.
poltergeist
A mischievous spirit.
Polyjuice potion
Potion that will turn the drinker into another person for one hour.
pomegranate
The round, tough-skinned fruit of this semitropical shrub is filled with many seeds, each of which is surrounded by fleshy red pulp. Its juice can be drunk or used in potions.
Pomfrey, Madam Poppy
Matron at Hogwarts.
Porlock
A horse-guardian. About two feet tall, they are shy, east grass and live to guard horses. They walk on two cloved feet, are covered in shaggy fur with a lot of rough hair on their head, have an execptionally large nose, and two small arms that end in four stubby fingers.
Portkey
Any object can be bewitched for use as a Portkey to whisk witches and wizards away to a prearranged destination the instant they touch it. Use of a Portkey should be authorised by the Ministry of Magic.
Portus!
Incantation used to transform an object into a Portkey.
possession
The taking over of another person to direct their actions for one's own motives. The possessed person is left with blank periods for which they have no memory of what they did.
Potions
Class at Hogwarts to learn how to make potions. Professor Snape is Potions master at Hogwarts.
Potter [née Evans], Lily
Harry's mother had Muggle parents. She had long, dark-red hair and green eyes. Lily married James Potter, a wizard. She was killed by Voldemort, but her dying to save Harry gave him magical protection. Her sister Petunia married a Muggle, Vernon Dursley.
Potter, Harry
Student at Hogwarts. Famous for having survived an attack by Lord Voldemort in infancy.
Potter, James
Harry's father, who was killed by Voldemort. He was in the same year as Snape, was an excellent Quidditch player, became Hogwarts Head Boy.
Prang, Ernie
Driver of the Knight bus.
Prior Incantato
Command that reveals the most recent spell or spells a wand has performed.
Privet Drive
The street where Harry lives with the Dursleys.
Prongs
James Potter's nickname at Hogwarts.
Protean Charm
Puts a magical mark on a person or object so they can receive messages.
Protego
Incantation of the Shield Charm that usually deflects only minor curses. In Harry's fifth year, Professor Snape is surprised when Harry uses this charm to successfully repel Snape's Legilimency invasion of his mind.
Ptolemy
Name of a wizard depicted on a wizard trading card.
Puddifoot, Madam
A stout woman with a shiny black bun. Proprietress of Madam Puddifoot's Teashop in Hogsmeade where Harry goes on his first date with Cho.
Puking Pastilles
Double-ended chews invented by Fred and George Weasley. The orange half makes you throw up, the purple half makes you better.
Pumpkin juice
Wizarding drink.
Pumpkin pasty
Wizarding food.
Purge & Dowse Ltd
Disused Muggle department store in heart of London. It serves as the magical entrance to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
Purkiss, Doris
An article in The Quibbler reported her as saying that Sirius Black was wrongly imprisoned in Azkaban for mass murder because, she claimed, he was actually a pop singer called Stubby Boardman who had been having dinner with her on the night of the murders.
Put-Outer
Device resembling cigarette lighter, used to turn street-lamps on and off. Used by Albus Dumbledore.
Quaffle
Red ball used for scoring in Quidditch
Quality Quidditch Supplies
Quidditch shop in Diagon Alley.
Quibbler, The
A magazine with a reputation for publishing 'rubbish': far-fetched stories, often about outlandish creatures that Hermione is sure do not exist. The editor is Luna Lovegood's father.
Quick-Quotes Quill
Pen that writes tabloid journalism by itself.
Quidditch
The wizarding national sport. Played on broomsticks by seven players: three Chasers, one Keeper, two Beaters, one Seeker. Played with four balls: the Quaffle (red) is used for scoring; two Bludgers (black) which try to knock players off their brooms; one Golden Snitch (bright gold with silver wings). The Chasers throw the Quaffle to each other and try to score by throwing the Quaffle through one of the six hoops. Ten points every time a player scores. The Keeper guards the goalposts and tries to prevent the Chasers from scoring. The Beaters try to keep the Bludgers away from their team and knock them towards the opposing team. The Seeker tries to catch the Golden Snitch. Whichever team catches the Golden Snitch earns 150 points. The game ends when the Snitch is caught.
Quietus
Command that reverses the charm Sonorus.
Quirrell, Professor
Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts in Harry's first year.
Ravenclaw house
One of the four school houses in Hogwarts. Founded by Rowena Ravenclaw. The Ravenclaw symbol is an eagle. The resident ghost is the Grey Lady.
Ravenclaw, Rowena
One of the four founders of Hogwarts. Ravenclaw house was named after her.
Red Cap
Goblin-like creature found in places where bloodshed has occurred. They lie in wait to bludgeon the lost.
Reducio
Shrinking charm.
Reductor Curse
Its incantation Reducto reduces a solid object to dust.
Relashio
Spell to make someone let go of something.
Remembrall
Magical glass ball, the size of a large marble, filled with white smoke. The smoke turns red to tell you that there is something you have forgotten to do.
Reparo
Incantation of the Repairing Charm.
Rictusempra
Tickling spell.
Riddikulus!
Incantation of the spell that should make a Boggart vanish but sometimes it only causes it to change its shape to another of the witch or wizard's worse fears.
Riddle House
Deserted former home of Voldemort's father, in the village of Little Hangleton.
Riddle, Tom Marvolo
The young Lord Voldemort, who attended Hogwarts
Ripper
Aunt Marge's dog.
Ronon
Name of a centaur in the Forbidden Forest.
Rookwood, Augustus
Worked in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic.
Room of Requirement
See Come and Go Room.
Rosmerta, Madam
Publican of the Three Broomsticks pub in Hogsmeade.
Salamander
A white fire-dwelling lizard that feeds on flame, and appears to be blue or scarlet depending on the heat of the fire it's in. Its blood has powerfully curative and restorative properties.
Scabbers
Ron Weasley's pet rat. He once belonged to Ron's older brother Percy Weasley.
Scamander, Newt
Author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Scourgify
Magical incantation that causes cleaning up to be done without physical effort.
Salamander
A white fire-dwelling lizard that feeds on flame, and appears to be blue or scarlet depending on the heat of the fire it's in. Its blood has powerfully curative and restorative properties.
Scabbers
Ron Weasley's pet rat. He once belonged to Ron's older brother Percy Weasley.
Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop
Located in Hight Street, Hogsmeade, it sells writing implements such as copper inkpots and pheasant feather quills.
Secrecy Sensor
Aerial that vibrates when it detects concealment and lies.
Secret-Keeper
Someone who has had a secret concealed within them by the Fidelius Charm to keep it safe until they choose to reveal it.
Seeing Eye
Possessed by a Seer who is born with the supernatural ability to divine or predict the future. Also known as the Inner Eye or Second Sight.
Seeker
Quidditch player who tries to catch the Golden Snitch.
Seer
Someone born with the ability to predict, or See, future events. See also, Trelawney.
Self-shuffling Playing Cards
Wizarding playing cards which shuffle themselves.
Shacklebolt, Kingsley
Tall black wizard with deep calming voice who thinks and acts fast. He is the Ministry of Magic Auror in charge of the hunt for Sirius Black but, as a loyal member of the Order of the Phoenix, he reports false sightings to the Ministry to divert their attention.
Shield Charm
Casts a temporary invisible wall around you to deflect minor curses.
Shrieking Shack
Supposed to be the most haunted building in Britain. Situated in the town of Hogsmeade.
Shunpike, Stan
Conductor on the Knight Bus.
Sickle
Silver wizarding money. Seventeen Sickles to a Galleon.
Silencio
Incantation of the Silencing Charm.
Sinistra, Professor
Teacher of Astronomy at Hogwarts.
Skeeter, Rita
Journalist who, until Hermione finds a way to stop her, writes mostly mean-spirited stores for the Daily Prophet. She is nosy and malicious, has stiff blonde curls, and is an unregistered animagus.
Skele-Gro
Potion used to re-grow bones after they have been removed.
Skiving Snackboxes
In their seventh year at Hogwarts, Fred and George Weasley develop this range of sweets to make you just ill enough to get out of class. One end of a double-ended chew makes you ill, the other restores you to full fitness. See also, Fainting Fancies, Puking Pastilles, Nosebleed Nougat.
Sleekeazy's Hair Potion
Tames bushy hair.
Sloth Grip Roll
A Quidditch manoeuvre by which a player avoids a Bludger by hanging upside-down from his or her broom while gripping it tightly with both hands and feet.
Slytherin house
One of the school houses in Hogwarts. Founded by Salazar Slytherin. The Slytherin symbol is a snake. The resident ghost is the Bloody Baron. Harry's arch-enemy, Draco Malfoy, is in Slytherin. Professor Snape is head of Slytherin house.
Slytherin, Salazar
One of the four founders of Hogwarts. Slytherin house is named after him. Created the Chamber of Secrets.
Smeltings
Dudley Dursley's private school. Uncle Vernon also attended.
Snape, Severus
Potions master at Hogwarts. He is tall and thin with sallow skin, greasy black hair and a hooked nose. He hates Harry Potter. Head of Slytherin house.
Sneakoscope
This Dark detector has a glass top which lights up and spins when someone untrustworthy is close by.
Snivellus
Nickname given to Professor Snape by Harry's father and his friends when they were at school with him at Hogwarts.
Snuffles
Nickname. See, Black, Sirius.
Sonorous
Charm to magnify one's voice.
Sorting Hat
The hat that decides which house students shall be in while at Hogwarts.
Spellotape
Wizarding repair tape. It was used by Ron Weasley to mend his broken wand.
SPEW
Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, pressure group organised by Hermione in her fourth year at Hogwarts. You must not call it Spew.
Spinnet, Alicia
One of the Chasers on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She is two years above Harry at Hogwarts.
Splinching
Injury caused by careless Apparating: part of the Apparating person's body is left behind.
Spore, Phyllida
Author of One Thousand Magical Herbs.
Sprout, Professor
Herbology lecturer at Hogwarts. Uses Mandrakes to cure petrified creatures.
Squib
Someone who despite being born into a wizarding family has litle or no magical ability. However, they are able to see Dementors.
Stealth Sensoring Spell
A spell put on an area, such as a door or window, to monitor any suspicious movement.
Stupefy
Incantation of the Stunning spell.
Sunday Prophet, the
The national weekly wizarding newspaper.
Swelling Solution
Potion that causes body parts to swell to enormous proportions.
Switch, Emeric
Author of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.
Tarantallegra
Dancing spell.
Tenebrus
Hagrid's favourite Thestral, the first one born in the Forbidden Forest herd.
Thestral
Breed of winged horse, skeletal with black coat and pupil-less white eyes in a dragonish head; visible only to those who have witnessed a death. They have an excellent sense of direction. Classified as 'dangerous' by the Ministry of Magic.
Thomas, Dean
Hogwarts pupil in the same year as Harry, in Gryffindor house. His beast friend is Seamus Finnigan. Dean comes from a Muggle background.
Three Broomsticks, the
Pub in Hogsmeade.
Time-Turner
Hour-glass that allows the wearer to travel back in time.
Ton-Tongue Toffee
Trick sweet that causes the tongue to swell. Invented by Fred and George Weasley.
Tonks, Nymphadora
Prefers to be called by her surname, Tonks. Young and clumsy witch who is a Metamorphmagus, a Ministry of Magic Auror, and a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Daughter of Sirius Black's favourite cousin, Andromeda and muggle-born Ted Tonks. She rides a Comet Two Sixty broomstick.
Toothflossing Stringmints
Wizarding sweets that floss your teeth while you suck them.
Toujours pur
Pure always. The family motto of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black reflects the belief held by most members of the Black family that the wizarding race should be kept pure, that Muggle-borns and 'half-breeds' should be got rid of so that pure-bloods can take charge.
Transfiguration
The art of turning one thing into another.
Transfiguration Today
Specialist wizarding magazine about Transfiguration.
Trelawney, Professor Sybil Phyllis
Great-great-granddaughter of the celebrated Seer Cassandra Trelawney. Divination teacher at Hogwarts who speaks in an ethereal voice and is given to (wrongly) predicting student deaths. Very thin, her large glasses magnify her eyes so much she looks like a giant insect.
Trevor
Name of Neville Longbottom's pet toad.
Trimble, Quentin
Author of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection.
Triwizard Tournament
Competition between the three largest European shools of witchcraft and wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Each school selects a champion, and the champions compete in three magical tasks. The prize money is 1000 Galleons. The Triwizard Tournament was first established some 700 years ago.
Trueblood
Someone born to pure magical parents. Also called pure-blood.
two-way mirrors
These come in pairs and are the size of a paperback book. By looking into one mirror and saying the name of the witch or wizard who has the other one of the pair it is possible to speak to them no matter where they are.
Umbridge, Professor Dolores Jane
A short, toadlike witch with a cruel and arrogant nature, who is stupidly prejudiced against 'half-breeds' and 'part-humans'. She is Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic, and is Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry's fifth year, during which she also becomes Hogwarts High Inquisitor and Headmistress. Umbridge takes the Ministry of Magic view that Voldemort has 'not returned from the dead'.
Umbridge-itis
The explanation students give to Professor Umbridge for the 'mysteriously incurable' maladies (fevers, vomiting, nosebleeds, fainting) they have induced in themselves by eating sweets from Fred and George Weasley's Skiving Snackboxes.
Unforgivable Curses
The three Unforgivable Curses are the Avada Kedavra Curse (Avada Kedavra!) that kills instantly; the Imperius Curse (Imperio!) which takes complete control of another person; and the Cruciatus Curse (Crucio!) which inflicts torture. It is illegal to use these curses.
Unicorn
Mythical white horse-like creature with golden mane and a golden horn sprouting from the head. Innocent, beautiful creatures. Tail hair and horn can be used in magic. Dark wizards have been known to kill unicorns and drink their blood; this will sustain the life of the drinker but at a grave price.
Unspeakable
Epmloyee of the Deparment of Mysteries. No one knows what they do.
Vablatsky, Cassandra
Author of Unfogging the Future, a guide to basic fortune-telling methods.
Vampire
Evil creature that roams the night feeding on the blood of living beings. Cannot go out in the daylight.
Vance, Emmeline
Stately looking witch, and a founder member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Vector, Professor
Arithmancy teacher at Hogwarts.
Veela
Beautiful women with white-gold hair. Men are hypnotically fascinated by them. When enraged, Veela grow beaks and scaly wings.
veil, the
A tattered black curtain that flutters continously in a crumbling stone archway on a dais in the Death Room of the Department of Mysteries.
Venomous Tentacula seeds
Seeds from the shrivelled black pods of this spiky, dark red and apparently carnivourous plant. Despite them being a Class C Non-Tradeable Substance, Mundungus sells some seeds to Fred and George Weasley who want to include them in their Skiving Snackboxes.
Veritaserum
Powerful Truth Potion. Its use is restricted by the Ministry of Magic.
Vindictus, Viridian
Author of Curse and Countercurse (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More).
Violet
Name of a wizened witch, a friend of the Fat Lady. Violet lives in a painting in a room next to the Great Hall in Hogwarts.
Voldemort, Lord
Son of a witch and a Muggle (See also, Riddle), Voldemort probably has a more extensive knowledge of magic than any wizard alive. At full power this Dark Lord could be invincible and is rightly feared by wizarding folk, most of whom only dare to refer to him as 'He Who Must Not Be Named' or 'You-Know-Who'. He disappeared after the death of James and Lily Potter in a battle that left the baby Harry with the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. A master of spreading discord, Voldemort is regaining his lost power and is recruiting followers. To defend themselves, the wizarding community must unite with the strongest possible bonds of friendship and trust. As a skilled Legilimens, Voldemort always knows if someone is lying to him.
Waffling, Adalbert
Author of Magical Theory.
Wand
Implement used by wizards to perform magic. Available from Ollivanders in Diagon Alley.
wand-tree
The wood of wand-trees is used to make wands.
Wartcap powder
Causes an unpleasant tough brown encrustation to form on the skin.
watchwizard
A security guard, such as Eric Munch at the Ministry of Magic who registers every wand brought into the building.
Weasley's Wildfire Whiz-bangs
Enchanted fireworks that cause even more mayhem if anyone tries a Stunning Spell on them. Fred and George's joke shop range of fireworks include boxes such as the Basic Blaze and Deflagration Deluxe.
Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes
A joke shop at number ninety-three Diagon Alley, opened by Fred and George during their seventh year at Hogwarts.
Weasley, Arthur
Ron Weasley's father. Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office at the Ministry of Magic.
Weasley, Bill
Ron's eldest brother wears his long hair in a ponytail. Works for Gringotts Bank in Africa, but returns from Egypt to help the Order of the Phoenix.
Weasley, Charlie
One of Ron's older brothers. Studying dragons in Romania, where he also recruits witches and wizards to join the Order of the Phoenix.
Weasley, Fred
One of Ron Weasley's older brothers. Twin to George. In Gryffindor house.
Weasley, George
One of Ron Weasley's older brothers. Twin to Fred. In Gryffindor house.
Weasley, Ginny
Ron's younger sister is one year below Ron and Harry at Hogwarts. Until her fourth year Ginny fancies Harry, but finally gives up on him and starts seeing Michael Corner. She plays for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Weasley, Molly
Ron Weasley's mother.
Weasley, Percy
The pompous one of Ron's older brothers. Was a Gryffindor prefect, and in his last year was Head Boy at Hogwarts. Thinks he's terribly grown up and important, especially after going to work at the Ministry of Magic and becoming Junior Assistant to the Minister.
Weasley, Ron
Harry's best friend at Hogwarts. Ron has flaming red hair and freckles, like all his brothers. Has a pet rat called Scabbers. In Gryffindor house. When Ron is made prefect in his fifth year at Hogwarts his parents reward him with a new Cleansweep Eleven broomstick.
Weird Sisters, the
Popular music group. The line-up includes guitars, drums, lute, cello and bagpipes.
welcomewitch
A receptionist, such as at St Mungo's Hospital, who deal with visitors' enquiries.
werewolf
A human (wizard or Muggle) who, as a result of being bitten by another werewolf, takes the form of a wolf during every full moon. Transition is painful. Werewolves are dangerous only to people but the disability can be managed to avoid passing on the condition to others.
Which Broomstick?
Broomstick consumer magazine. Test-rides all makes of broom and reviews them.
Whomping Willow
Large tree in the grounds of Hogwarts that hits anything that comes too close.
Widdershins, Willy
Wizard and petty criminal.
Wingardium Leviosa
Magical incantation said together with a swish and flick of the wand to make an object rise into the air.
Winky
Name of a house-elf.
Wizarding Examinations Authority
Sets and oversees wizarding examinations. Head of the WEA is an old witch called Griselda Marchbanks.
Wizengamot
The Wizard High Court, consisting of about fifty witches and wizards who wear plum-coloured robes with a silver 'W' worked on the left-hand chest. In Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, Dumbledore is demoted from his position as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot; and Harry is brought before the full Wizengamot for a Disciplinary Hearing for using magic outside of school while under the age of seventeen.
Wizengamot Administration Services
A department in the Ministry of Magic, located on Level Two.
wolfsbane
Plant used in potions. Also known as monkshood or aconite.
Wood, Oliver
Captain and Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team until leaving school at the end of Harry's third year.
Wormtail
Nickname of Peter Pettigrew.
WWN
The Wizarding Wireless Network.
You-Know-Who
The evil Lord Voldemort, a Dark wizard who killed Harry's parents. Also referred to as 'He Who Must Not Be Named'.
Zonko's
Wizard joke shop in Hogsmeade.
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