The following is a list of magical objects used in Harry Potter. These objects exist for the use of the characters in the series by J. K. Rowling.
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In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Hermione Granger creates fake, enchanted Galleons that are used for communication between members of Dumbledore's Army. Like real Galleons, the coins have numerals around the edge; on normal Galleons these serial numbers indicate which goblin cast the coin, but on the enchanted coins, the numbers represent the time and date of the next meeting, and change automatically to match whatever numbers Harry Potter sets on his coin. Due to the coins being infused with a Protean Charm, once Harry Potter alters his, every coin changes to suit. The coins begin to grow hot when the numbers change to alert the members to look at their coins.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Draco Malfoy uses a pair of enchanted coins to bypass the communication limits then placed around Hogwarts, thus managing to keep in contact with Madam Rosmerta, whom he had placed under the Imperius Curse. Draco reveals he got the idea from Hermione's DA coins, which were themselves inspired by Lord Voldemort's use of the Dark Mark to communicate with his Death Eaters.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Neville Longbottom uses it to tell people like Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley that Harry, Ron and Hermione are in Hogwarts. Then they turn up to help in the Battle of Hogwarts, although Ginny's help is turned down as she is underage.
A Howler is a blood-red letter sent to signify extreme anger or to convey a message very loudly and in public. Upon opening it, the sender's voice (magically magnified to a deafening volume) will bellow a message at the recipient and then destroy itself. If it is not opened or there is a delay in opening it, the letter will start smouldering, explode violently, and shout the message out even louder than normal.[HP2] In the film version, the Howler folds itself into an origami-style set of lips, shouts the message out and then shreds itself into scraps of paper before it burns itself.
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Ron Weasley receives a Howler from his mother, Molly Weasley, after he steals his father's enchanted car and flies it to Hogwarts with Harry. Neville Longbottom confessed that he once got a Howler from his grandma. He said he ignored it, and that the result was horrible. Subsequently, Neville receives another Howler from his grandmother after Sirius Black uses his list of passwords to enter the Gryffindor Common Room in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Hermione receives one in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire after Rita Skeeter publishes an article in which she makes up a relationship between Hermione and Harry. However, in the film of the fourth Harry Potter movie, this incident is not referred to. Dumbledore sends Harry's aunt, Petunia Dursley, a Howler in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to remind her of the agreement to allow Harry to live at Privet Drive, when Harry's Uncle Vernon attempts to throw him out.
A Deluminator is a device invented by Albus Dumbledore that looks like a standard cigarette lighter. It is used to remove or absorb and later return the light from a light source to provide secrecy to the user. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Dumbledore uses the Deluminator to darken Privet Drive, where the Dursley family household is located. It was next seen in Order of the Phoenix where Dumbledore loans the Deluminator to Moody, who uses it when transporting Harry from the Dursleys' home to Number 12, Grimmauld Place. In Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore uses the Deluminator again to darken Privet Drive before collecting Harry.
Finally in Deathly Hallows, it is first referred to as the Deluminator. It is bequeathed to Ron by Dumbledore. After Ron had left his friends in anger, the Deluminator demonstrated the additional capability of a homing device. Ron hears the voice of Hermione through the device when she says his name for the first time since he left, and, when he clicks it, the emitted light enters his body and allows him to locate and Apparate to the vicinity of Harry and Hermione's camp. Rowling stated that Dumbledore left it to Ron because he believed he might have needed a little more guidance than Harry and Hermione.[1]
Within the Harry Potter universe, an invisibility cloak is used to make the wearer invisible. There are a number of different types of invisibility cloaks. All are very rare and expensive, and they may be spun from pelts of the Demiguise, magical herbivores that are found in the Far East. They can be ordinary cloaks as well with a Disillusionment Charm or a Bedazzlement Hex placed on them. Over time, these cloaks will lose their invisibility ability, eventually becoming opaque and vulnerable to being penetrated by various spells.The invisibility cloak that Harry owns however is able to deflect unfriendly spells or charms. However he will take the impact of the charm or spell yet it will still have no effect for it original purpose. Harry's cloak, being one of the three Deathly Hallows, is a true cloak of invisibility, and will remain invisible forever. It is also resistant to most simple spells and charms (e.g. the summoning charm).[2] Invisibility cloaks hide the presence of the wearer by visual detection only, meaning that they are only invisible to the eye but are still solid, and can be felt by physical contact. Alastor Moody's magically charmed eye, however, is able to penetrate them. Creatures such as cats (e.g. Mrs. Norris) and snakes (e.g. Nagini) rely more heavily on other senses unaffected by visibility such as smell, hearing and heat-detection, so the cloaks are less effective in hiding from them. The Dementors in the books have no sense of sight and instead sense human despair, a sense unhindered by the use of an invisibility cloak. In addition to Harry's cloak, Moody is known to possess two. One of these was borrowed by Sturgis Podmore in the course of work for the Order of the Phoenix. Barty Crouch, Sr. possessed one as well, which he used it to hide his son Barty Crouch, Jr. to prevent him from going to Azkaban, the wizarding prison. Several times in the series characters have been shown to either suspect or in some other fashion "sense" that Harry is wearing his cloak: Snape is seen to be suspicious when being followed by Harry, even reaching out to grab at (what would appear to be) thin air; and Draco Malfoy realises Harry is in his train carriage and successfully body-binds him with a Petrificus Totalus (Body-Bind Curse) charm, despite Harry wearing his cloak. Lucius Malfoy also senses Harry and Ron in Hagrid's cabin when he comes to take Dumbledore in the second book/movie.
The Hand of Glory is described as a large shrivelled hand displayed on a cushion in Borgin and Burkes. In the film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, when Harry puts his hand in one, he had difficulty removing it. When a candle is placed in the hand, it gives light only to the person holding it. It was first mentioned in Chamber of Secrets, when Draco and his father, Lucius Malfoy, visited Borgin & Burkes, a Dark Arts shop in Knockturn Alley. Lucius denied Draco's request to buy it, saying it was a tool for a common thief. In the sixth book, Draco uses it when leaving the Room of Requirement, escaping from Ron and a few of Dumbledore's Army members after using the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder.
Forbidden Books include:
Unnamed items known to be found at Borgin & Burkes:
Items known to be found in Knockturn Alley:
Items which can be found at Number 12 Grimmauld Place:
The Deathly Hallows are the three magical objects that are the focus of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The form, function, and purpose of each of the Hallows are revealed as the plot of the novel progresses. In the course of their investigation into Voldemort's Horcruxes - especially through conversations with Xenophilius Lovegood and the wandmaker Ollivander - Harry, Ron, and Hermione learn of the The Tale of the Three Brothers. According to Rowling, the story about how these objects came into existence is based upon Geoffrey Chaucer's The Pardoner's Tale.[3] The concept is also in keeping with British legends such as the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain and the Hallows of Ireland.
According to the tale, the Peverell brothers evaded Death, who then gave them a choice of anything they wanted: the first brother chose a wand that could not be defeated in battle; the second asked for a way to bring back someone from death; and the third selected a cloak that made the wearer invisible to hide from Death himself. Very few actually believe this story though many, like Viktor Krum, believe the sign of the Deathly Hallows to be the mark of Gellert Grindelwald, as Krum says it is carved into a wall at his school, Durmstrang, by Grindelwald himself (Grindelwald attended Durmstrang as a child until he was expelled for dark uses of magic).
Harry eventually comes to possess all three Hallows. He does not know until the end that he has been carrying the Resurrection Stone in the Golden Snitch bequeathed to him by Dumbledore. Draco Malfoy becomes the master of the Elder Wand when he disarms Dumbledore, but it transfers its loyalty to Harry after he takes Draco's wand in a later fight. The Invisibility Cloak he received during his first year, and which had belonged to James Potter, proves to be the third Hallow. After Voldemort's death, Harry uses the Elder Wand to repair his own damaged wand, then decides to return it to Dumbledore's tomb; he also purposely drops the Resurrection Stone in the Forbidden Forest, but does not tell anybody where he hid it in the hope that no wizard will ever be able to own all three Hallows. He keeps the Cloak, with the thought that he might pass it down to his children someday.
The Elder Wand, known throughout history as the Deathstick and the Wand of Destiny, is an extremely powerful wand made of elder wood with a core of Thestral tail hair.[4] It is supposedly the most powerful wand in existence, and when used by its true master, he or she cannot be defeated in a duel; though according to Dumbledore, this is false, for he had beaten the Elder Wand in his epic battle with the legendary dark wizard Grindelwald.[5] It also appears, as the wand is somewhat sentient (as are all wands), that it will not allow itself to cause real harm to its true master. As stated by Mr. Ollivander the wandmaker, the wand will never fully work for the new user unless he or she directly disarms, stuns or kills (even in Muggle fashion) the previous master. Rowling has stated that the wand is brutal in its choice of master, and that, while most wands have some allegiance to their own masters, the Elder Wand only responds to power. If a master dies naturally without ever being defeated, the wand's power will die for any following owner, since it was never won from the former.
The power of the Elder Wand was first shown in history, as Antioch Peverell, the first and oldest of the mythical Three Brothers, had a duel with an enemy he had long wanted to defeat. He won, and left his enemy dead on the floor.
After boasting of his unbeatable wand, Peverell was murdered in his sleep by a rival wanting to claim the wand, who slit his throat. Ever since, power-hungry wizards have sought this wand, and it is the Hallow most easy to track through history. It eventually came to the possession of Gregorovitch, a Bulgarian wandmaker. Gregorovitch boasted about possessing the Elder Wand, believing it would boost his popularity, and he tried to reverse engineer its secrets as he faced competition from Ollivander. It subsequently fell to Gellert Grindelwald, who stole it from Gregorovitch. Ultimately Grindelwald was defeated by Dumbledore, who then assumed control of the wand. Dumbledore considered it the "only hallow [he] was fit to possess, not to boast of it or kill with it, but to tame it."
When Dumbledore arranged his own death with Severus Snape, he intended Snape to "end up with the Elder Wand." Because his death would not have been the result of his defeat, Dumbledore hoped this might break the wand's power. However, since Draco Malfoy had disarmed Dumbledore before Snape killed Dumbledore, the plan failed – Draco unwittingly became the wand's new master, even though he never took physical possession of it from Dumbledore, and the Elder Wand was placed with Dumbledore's body in his tomb.
In the final book, Voldemort learns about the wand and goes on a search for it, and eventually learns Dumbledore had possessed the wand. He opens Dumbledore's tomb and claims the wand as his own. Assuming incorrectly that Snape is the wand's current master, Voldemort slays Snape, not realising the wand's allegiance was to Draco. Furthermore – and unrealised by Voldemort as Harry had subsequently disarmed Draco and taken his wand (although that was not the Elder Wand) – the Elder Wand's allegiance had since shifted to Harry.
Only in his final encounter with Harry at the Battle of Hogwarts is Voldemort told he did not win the true allegiance of the wand, as he did not gain ownership by defeating its previous owner. Despite this, Voldemort uses the Elder Wand to cast his final Killing Curse against Harry's Expelliarmus charm. But since the wand's allegiance is to Harry, Voldemort's spell backfires and kills him once and for all. Following this, in the book, Harry uses the Elder Wand to repair his own damaged holly and phoenix-feather wand, which he says he was "happier with", and returns the Elder Wand to Dumbledore's grave. In the film, however, Harry does not repair his phoenix-feather wand and instead chooses to snap the Elder Wand in two and throw it away forever,[6] presumably remembering what had happened to Antioch Peverell long ago, or to prevent the wand from falling into the wrong hands ever again.
Rowling revealed in an interview that the first working title for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was Harry Potter and the Elder Wand.[7]
The Resurrection Stone allows the holder to communicate with the dead. According to the fairy tale concerning the origin of the Deathly Hallows, using the Resurrection Stone drove its original owner, Cadmus Peverell, to commit suicide after seeing his deceased fiancée but being unable to be truly with her. By the time the stone was seen in Marvolo Gaunt's possession, it had been set into a ring that bore the symbol of the Deathly Hallows, which Gaunt believed to be the Peverell coat of arms. Both Dumbledore and Grindelwald desired the stone, but for different reasons. While Dumbledore wanted it to communicate with his dead family, Grindelwald intended to use it to create an army of Inferi. Voldemort eventually turned the ring into a Horcrux, unaware of its additional magical properties.
Dumbledore recovered the ring from Marvolo's estate, recognising it as both a Horcrux and one of the Deathly Hallows. Forgetting that it was a Horcrux and that Voldemort likely cursed it when he turned it into one, and motivated by personal desire, Dumbledore attempted to use the Resurrection Stone to talk to his deceased family. However, the curse destroyed his hand and began to spread throughout his body. Though the spreading was partly contained in the destroyed and blackened hand, Dumbledore was doomed, having at most a year to live.
The stone was later passed to Harry through Dumbledore's will, hidden inside the Golden Snitch that Harry caught with his mouth, nearly swallowing it, in his first-ever Quidditch match. The Snitch revealed the message "I open at the close" when touched by Harry's lips. Harry is unable to open the Snitch until he is about to die, and he realises that "the close" means the end, or his death. Harry uses the stone to summon his parents, Sirius, and Remus Lupin to comfort him before he meets Voldemort. The stone slips through Harry's numb fingers in the Forbidden Forest. He and Dumbledore's portrait later agreed that Harry would neither search for it nor tell others where it is. In a 2007 interview, Rowling said she would like to believe that a centaur's hoof pushed it into the ground, burying it forever.[3]
According to the legend, the Cloak of Invisibility has the power to shield the wearer from being seen by Death. It is a true invisibility cloak, in the sense of being able to completely shield the wearer from sight, and cannot be worn out by time or spells; other cloaks will lose their ability to conceal the wearer over time or become worn out, but the Hallow cloak will never fade or become damaged.
In Deathly Hallows, it is revealed that Harry's cloak is in fact one of the Deathly Hallows. It originally belonged to Ignotus Peverell. After his death, the cloak was passed down from father to son through Peverell's descendants to James Potter.[8] The cloak was not in James's possession the night he was murdered; he had previously lent it to Dumbledore, who was greatly interested in the Deathly Hallows. Dumbledore returned the cloak to Harry several years later as a Christmas present during his first year at Hogwarts. Harry uses the cloak throughout the series in order to sneak around the school on various adventures. It is large enough for Ron and Hermione to accompany him, and they frequently do, although this becomes increasingly difficult as they grow up throughout the series. At the end of Deathly Hallows, Dumbledore explains to Harry that the Cloak's true magic is that it can shield and protect others as well as its owner. This is apparent when it does not respond to a Death Eater's Summoning Charm while concealing Harry, Ron and Hermione in Book 7.
While making the wearer invisible to Muggles and wizards, some creatures are able to sense people hidden under it. Snakes, for example, cannot see through the Cloak of Invisibility, but they can sense movement and heat, and therefore can detect people under it. Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, also seems to see Harry when he wears the cloak. Wearers can also be detected by the "Homenum Revelio" spell.[3] In Goblet of Fire, Moody's magical eye could see Harry under the cloak. In the Prisoner of Azkaban, Dumbledore warns that the Dementors' perception of humans is unhindered by invisibility cloaks, as they sense people through emotions.[9]
A Foe-glass is a mirror that detects and shows its owner's enemies in or out of focus, depending on how close they are. However, like all dark detectors, it can be fooled, as mentioned by Harry in the fifth book at the beginning of the first D.A. meeting. Moody, in reality Barty Crouch, Jr. in disguise, claimed that when the whites of their eyes are visible, that's when he is in trouble. A Foe-Glass is hanging in the Room of Requirement in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when Harry uses the Room for D.A. meetings.
The Marauder's Map is a magical map of Hogwarts created by James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew while they were at Hogwarts, during which time they gained extensive knowledge about the school grounds, such as its various hidden passages, from their frequent night-time adventures together.
Harry gets this map when Fred and George Weasley give it to him in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It is given to Harry so he can get to Hogsmeade through a hidden passageway. Fred and George stole the map from a drawer in Filch's office that contained dangerous confiscated objects; it is revealed by Lupin that Filch probably knew what it was but not how to work it. Snape later finds the map in Harry's possession and tries to force it to reveal its secrets but the map merely insults him with mocking phrases. Lupin (one of the creators of the map), the current Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, is called upon to investigate this "dark object," and confiscates it to keep Harry safe, though he returns it to Harry after resigning his post at Hogwarts. From then on, the map becomes one of Harry's tools in his ongoing adventures, and is mentioned only in passing when he consults it.
At first glance, the Map is simply a blank piece of parchment; but when the user points his wand at the Map and says, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," the message "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, purveyors of aids to magical mischief-makers, are proud to present the Marauders Map," and a detailed layout of Hogwarts appears.Saying, "Mischief managed!" returns the map to its original blank state. The map also displays the location of people within the castle and its grounds, and includes the location of secret passageways and instructions on how to access them. However, several locations like the Room of Requirement and the Chamber of Secrets do not appear on the map, either because the Marauders did not have any knowledge of them, or, in the case of the former, they are Unplottable. Furthermore, Animagus disguises, Polyjuice Potion, and Invisibility Cloaks cannot fool the map, as shown in Goblet of Fire when Barty Crouch, Jr., using a Polyjuice Potion to disguise himself as Moody,[HP4] and in Prisoner of Azkaban when Peter Pettigrew, who is supposed to be dead [HP3] but as an animagus has transformed into a rat, are both displayed on the map.
On the prop version of the map made for the films, the lines are made up of what at first glance are just random letters, but upon closer inspection are Latin words. The series makes no mention of Harry recovering the map from Moody's office, even though he continued to use it in later books; when asked about this discrepancy, Rowling answered that Harry had indeed sneaked into the office and recovered it in the days following the Third Task, and that she had forgotten to include this detail in on-page. When asked during an online question session, "What child did Harry give the Marauder's Map to, if any?" (after his school years), Rowling responded, "I've got a feeling he didn't give it to any of them, but that James (Harry's eldest son) sneaked it out of his father's desk one day."[3]
A Probity Probe detects spells of concealment and hidden magical objects. The detector made its first appearance in Order of the Phoenix as thin and golden in colour. After Voldemort's return, Probes are used as part of the increased security at Gringotts as well as scanning the students at Hogwarts for Dark objects. They are last seen when Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrive at Gringotts in The Deathly Hallows to rob the vault of one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
A Remembrall is a small, clear orb, about the size of a marble, containing smoke that turns red when detecting that the person holding it has forgotten something. Unfortunately, it does not tell the holder what he/she has forgotten which makes it somewhat nearly worthless. The forgetful Neville Longbottom is sent a Remembrall by his grandmother in Philosopher's Stone. In Harry's first year, Draco Malfoy steals and throws it during flying lessons, causing Harry to pursue it on his broomstick and catch it inches from McGonagall's window. This first example of Harry's prowess on a broomstick earns him the position of Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch squad. Remembralls are forbidden from being used during the O.W.L. exams, the reason being that students can tell if they have written a wrong answer.
A Revealer is a bright red eraser, used to make invisible ink appear. It made its first appearance in Chamber of Secrets when Hermione tried to make writing appear in Tom Riddle's diary.
The Secrecy Sensor is a dark detector described as "an object that looked something like an extra-squiggly, golden television aerial." It vibrates when it detects concealment and lies. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Moody mentions that it is, "No use here of course, too much interference—students in every direction lying about why they haven't done their homework." However, it may be that this is because Moody was actually Barty Crouch, Jr. using Polyjuice Potion.
In Order of the Phoenix, it is shown that Secrecy Sensors are used at the Atrium Desk in the Ministry of Magic upon visitors to the government locale. Later in the book, Harry mentions that they can be easily fooled like its other dark-detecting counterparts. In Half-Blood Prince, due to Hogwarts's new stringent security measures, Argus Filch is assigned to inspect every student entering the castle with Secrecy Sensors. All the owls flying into Hogwarts, too, are placed under this measure to detect that no Dark object enters the castle through mail. Later, Hermione explains that though Secrecy Sensors detect jinxes, curses, and concealment charms, they cannot detect love potions, as they are not dark.
A Sneakoscope serves as a Dark Arts detector. The device is described as a miniature glass-spinning top that emits shrill noises in the presence of deception, for instance, when an untrustworthy person is near or when a deceitful event takes place nearby.
Sneakoscopes are introduced in Prisoner of Azkaban when Harry receives a pocket-sized version from Ron for his 13th birthday. Bill says that Pocket Sneakoscopes are unreliable, but this is because it lit up and spun after Fred and George put beetles in his soup without his knowledge. The sneakoscope appears again on the Hogwarts Express, and again in Harry and Ron's dormitory. Harry later discovers that Scabbers, Ron's rat, who is present each time the Sneakoscope is spinning, is actually Peter Pettigrew in Animagus form. In Goblet of Fire, the somewhat paranoid Moody has several sneakoscopes that he somehow disabled (possibly related to a crack it was described as having), claiming, "It wouldn't stop whistling." However, Moody was later revealed to actually be Barty Crouch, Jr. under the effects of the Polyjuice Potion, thus explaining the constant alerts in his presence. Finally in Deathly Hallows, Hermione gives Harry a Sneakoscope for his seventeenth birthday which they later use to help as a lookout while in hiding.
The Weasleys have a special clock in their home, the Burrow, with nine hands, one for every member of the family. Instead of telling the time, the clock reveals the location or status of each family member. The known locations are: Home, School, Work, Travelling, Lost, Hospital, Prison, Quidditch, and Mortal Peril. The Weasleys are the only family mentioned in the series to own such a clock. Dumbledore calls the clock "excellent" and seems impressed by it, suggesting that it is an extremely powerful object.
The location Mortal Peril is situated on the round clock where the numeral 12 would normally be. Throughout the first five books, the hands change to reflect the varying statuses of the family members, but by the sixth book, all nine hands point to mortal peril at all times, except when someone is travelling. Mrs. Weasley takes this to mean that, with Voldemort having returned, everyone is always in mortal peril, but she cannot verify this, as she does not know anyone else who has a clock like hers.[HP6]
Exploding Snap is a wizarding card game in which the cards spontaneously explode during games. The game is popular with Hogwarts students. Harry and Ron are held back from investigating why spiders were fleeing Hogwarts because Fred and George delayed them with such a game. Ron singed his eyebrows while building a card house with Exploding Snap cards. In Order of the Phoenix, Lee Jordan is punished by Dolores Umbridge for saying that she cannot tell them off for playing this game because one of her Educational Decrees states that teachers can only talk about subjects they are paid to teach.
Gobstones is one of the many magical games played by young wizards in the books, along with Wizard's Chess and Exploding Snap. Gobstones is similar to the Muggle games of marbles and pétanque, except that in Gobstones, the balls spit, or gob, a foul smelling liquid in the face of the opposing player when they lose a point. Hogwarts students are seen playing Gobstones throughout the books, and there is even a Gobstones Club at the school. It is also noted in the Harry Potter series that Eileen Prince (Snape's mother) was captain of Hogwart's Gobstone Club, as a student, at age 15.
Quidditch Equipment includes a quaffle, which the chasers need to get through the 3 hoops on the field, 2 bludgers which fly around attempting to disturb and knock people off their brooms (the beaters have bats to hit the bludgers away from team mates and themselves), and the Golden Snitch, a very fast and near impossible to see golden orb the size of a walnut with wings, which the seeker on each team chases and must capture to finish the game and gain 150 points. The Quidditch players wear gloves, leg pads, and, on occasion, goggles, and padded head guards.
In Chamber of Secrets, a pack of Self-Shuffling Cards is mentioned as one of the various objects littering the floor of Ron's room in the Burrow.[10]
Wizard's Chess is played with pieces and a board like real Chess, except that the pieces are animated and they literally destroy or capture each other if they land on an opponent's square.[11] The players simply tell the pieces to move using algebraic chess notation, and the pieces obey. The pieces attack each other in cases where an opposing player's piece would be taken, usually by knocking the captured piece out and dragging it off the board. Ron has a set left to him by his grandfather and Harry first plays with pieces borrowed from Seamus Finnigan. It is said that the pieces kept shouting him advice because they did not trust him.[HP1] Harry later gets a set of his own in one of his wizard crackers during his first Christmas at Hogwarts. During the climactic chapters of Philosopher's Stone Harry, Ron and Hermione become human chess pieces, in a life-sized game of Wizard's Chess, thus risking their lives. Ron responds to the first move by using the Scandinavian Defense to verify that the chess pieces are enchanted and can smash each other. Later in the game, Ron sacrifices himself leading to Harry successfully checkmating the opposing King.[12] In the movies, the chesspieces are depicted using replicas of Lewis Chessmen.
Recently, the company Deagostini released a magazine series called Harry Potter Chess, which is based on the life-sized game near the end of the film version of Philosopher's Stone and each piece is specially animated. The chess pieces that come with it are based on the life-sized pieces in the film. Arco Toys and others also have a Wizards Chess Set.[13]
A Horcrux is an object used to store part of a person's soul so that in the event that the body of the user who creates the Horcrux is destroyed, the user still has a means of surviving, much in the same manner as a Lich's Phylactery. This method was chosen by Voldemort to attain immortality. The concept is first introduced in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, though Horcruxes are present in earlier novels without being identified as such. Rowling uses the character of Horace Slughorn's expository dialogue to reveal that the creation of a Horcrux requires one to commit a murder, which, as the supreme act of evil, "rips the soul apart".[14] After the murder, a spell is cast to infuse part of the ripped soul into an object, which becomes the Horcrux. Rowling has never published the actual enchantment. In the final book of the series, Hermione finds the spell in a book titled Secrets of the Darkest Art.[15] Rowling has revealed that she intends to detail the process and spell used to create a Horcrux in her long-mentioned Harry Potter Encyclopedia.[16]
Both inanimate objects and living organisms have been used as Horcruxes, though the latter are considered riskier to use, since an organism can move and think for itself. There is no limit to the number of Horcruxes a witch or wizard can create. However, as the creator's soul is divided into progressively smaller portions, he or she loses more of her or his natural humanity and the soul becomes increasingly unstable. Consequently, under very specific conditions, a soul fragment can be sealed within an object without the intention or knowledge of the creator. While the object thus affected will, like any Horcrux, preserve the immortality of the creator, it does not become a "Dark object".[17] The only time this is known to have occurred is when Voldemort unsuccessfully used the Killing Curse on one-year-old Harry Potter. The curse rebounded on Voldemort, destroying his body, and a portion of his soul embedded itself within Harry.[18] Using a living thing as a Horcrux forms a connection between the organisms. For example, Voldemort has unusual control over Nagini,[19] and consequently Nagini is able to communicate with Voldemort about the presence of Harry in Godric's Hollow.
Horcruxes are extremely difficult to destroy. They cannot be destroyed by conventional means such as smashing, breaking, or burning. To be destroyed, a Horcrux must suffer damage so severe that repair through magical means would be impossible. Very few magical objects or spells are powerful enough to achieve this. Once a Horcrux is irreparably damaged, the fragment of soul within it is destroyed. A Horcrux can be magically undone only if the creator goes through a process of deep remorse for the murder committed to create the Horcrux. The pain of this remorse is so excruciating that the process itself may kill the creator.[HP7]
Voldemort's creation of Horcruxes is central to the later storyline of the Harry Potter novels. As the number seven is a powerful number in magic, Voldemort intended to split his soul into that many pieces, with six Horcruxes and the last reposing within his body.[20] When Voldemort attacked the Potter family, he inadvertently created a seventh horcrux, namely Harry. When his body was destroyed by the rebounded Killing Curse, a piece of his soul was spelled off and attached itself to the only living thing remaining in the room—Harry Potter—making him a Horcrux. Voldemort, unaware of this, "completed" his collection of Horcruxes by turning his snake Nagini into one, thus fragmenting his soul into a total of eight (counting the one residing in his own body), not seven, pieces. Complicating things even further, no more than six Horcruxes (including Harry) ever existed at any one time in the series: by the time Nagini had been made a Horcrux, one of the Horcruxes—Tom Riddle's Diary—had already been destroyed.
All of Voldemort's deliberately-created Horcruxes were made using objects that had been important to him or that held some sentimental value. He hid them carefully so that no-one could find them and destroy them, although Horcruxes cannot be destroyed by any means of wand usage or witch/wizard force, except for fiendfyre which destroyed the lost diadem of Ravenclaw in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Harry, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, intentionally destroys the Diary with a Basilisk fang,[21] although he was unaware it was a Horcrux at the time, and destroyed the diary to free Ginny from its influence.
Tom Riddle created his first Horcrux using a ring owned by his maternal grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt, during the summer before his fifth year as a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, when he was fifteen years old. He casts the spell after murdering his muggle father. The ring is introduced during the fourth chapter of Half-Blood Prince, having already been destroyed by Albus Dumbledore, the ring once held the Resurrection stone. In a Pensieve memory, it is revealed Riddle had taken the gold ring, which has a black stone inscribed with a magical symbol, from his uncle Morfin Gaunt, whom he had framed for the murder of his father and grandparents by altering his uncle's memories. Riddle wears the ring while still a student at Hogwarts, but eventually hides it in the house where the Gaunt family had lived. It remains hidden under the floorboards, placed in a golden box, and protected by several enchantments, until Dumbledore finds it during the summer break between the events of Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince. Dumbledore destroys the first Horcrux with Godric Gryffindor's sword, though he is mortally injured by the ring's curses after putting the ring on his finger. The injury leaves his right hand permanently disfigured and would have killed him quickly if not for the intervention of Severus Snape, who slowed the curse to Dumbledore's withered right hand and arm, but could not stop it from eventually killing him, had it run its course.[22] The damaged ring is kept for a time on a table in the Headmaster's office.
Before his death, Dumbledore hides the ring's black stone inside a Golden Snitch and he bequeaths the Snitch to Harry in his will. Dumbledore had learned the stone is, in fact, the Resurrection Stone, one of the three Deathly Hallows. This was why he had put it on his finger: he had hoped to activate it and apologise to his long-dead family, quite forgetting it was also a Horcrux now, and thus likely to be protected by destructive enchantments. Voldemort remained unaware of the stone's additional magical properties throughout his lifetime.
Tom Riddle used his diary to create his second Horcrux during his sixth year at Hogwarts. He cast the spell after murdering his fellow student Moaning Myrtle using the Basilisk. The diary is introduced in the second chapter of the Chamber of Secrets and is destroyed by Harry Potter during the climax of the same book.
Before Voldemort's downfall, he entrusted the Horcrux to Lucius Malfoy. While aware of its corrupting magical properties, Malfoy did not know the diary was a Horcrux. In an attempt to discredit Arthur Weasley, Malfoy hid the diary in Ginny Weasley's cauldron, amidst her other books. Tom Riddle's soul-fragment possessed Ginny and, through her, reopened the Chamber of Secrets, finally starting to draw her life from her. At the end of book two, Harry saved Ginny and destroyed the diary by stabbing it with the venomous fang of a Basilisk, making it the first Horcrux (in the novels) to be destroyed. His reports of the diary's behaviour to Dumbledore were the latter's first inkling that Voldemort might have created not just one Horcrux, but several: "What intrigued and alarmed me most was that the diary had been intended as a weapon as much as a safeguard,"[23] implying that Voldemort must have had backups of some sort.
To Rowling, a diary is a very scary object, having said in an interview: "The temptation particularly for a young girl, is to pour out her heart to a diary." Rowling's little sister Diane was prone to this, and her great fear was that someone would read her diary. This gave Rowling the idea to have a diary that is, in itself, against the confider.[24] When asked what would have happened if Ginny had died and Riddle had managed to escape, Rowling declined to give a straight answer, but revealed that "it would have strengthened the present-day Voldemort considerably."[25]
Tom Riddle used a cup owned by Hogwarts founder Helga Hufflepuff to create his third Horcrux.[1] The spell was cast after he murdered Hepzibah Smith by poisoning her. The cup is introduced during the twentieth chapter of Half-Blood Prince and is destroyed by Hermione Granger in the thirty-first chapter of Deathly Hallows.
Hepzibah Smith, who owned the cup, was a distant descendant of Helga Hufflepuff. Riddle killed Smith, stole the cup, then framed her house elf Hokey for the crime. Voldemort entrusted the cup to Bellatrix Lestrange, who kept it protected in her vault at Gringotts Bank, a place to which Harry guessed a once penniless Voldemort would have always coveted a connection. Additional protective spells, including the Gemino and Flagrante curses, were used to protect the contents of the vault. Harry, Ron and Hermione, with Hermione disguised as Lestrange, broke into the bank and stole the cup. Hermione later destroyed the Horcrux using a fang from the remains of the basilisk still in the Chamber of Secrets.
Riddle created his fourth Horcrux using a locket once owned by Salazar Slytherin, which had once belonged to Riddle's mother, Merope Gaunt. The spell was cast after Riddle murdered a Muggle tramp.[1] The locket is introduced briefly in Order of the Phoenix (described only as "a heavy locket that not none of them could open") and is destroyed by Ron Weasley in the nineteenth chapter of Deathly Hallows.
Slytherin's locket was passed down through the generations and eventually ended up in the possession of Merope Gaunt. After being abandoned by her husband Tom Riddle Senior, Merope sold the locket to Caractacus Burke, shopkeeper of Borgin & Burkes, for ten galleons, a fraction of the locket's true value. The locket was eventually sold to Hepzibah Smith. Riddle stole the locket, along with Helga Hufflepuff's cup, after murdering Smith. Once the locket became a Horcrux, Voldemort hid it in a seaside cave where he had once terrorised two of his fellow orphans. The cave's magical protection included a door that could only be opened with a blood offering, an enchanted boat, a basin of potion that causes pain and horrific visions to the drinker, and the use of Inferi. Dumbledore and Harry Potter pursued the locket in The Half-Blood Prince, only to find a fake one at the bottom of the basin.
Disillusioned Death Eater Regulus Arcturus Black had learned about the Horcrux and its hiding place beforehand. In an effort to bring about Voldemort's eventual downfall, he and his house elf Kreacher broke through the magical protection and stole the locket. While Black died in the effort, killed by the surrounding Inferi, Kreacher took the locket back to their home at Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Kreacher continued to protect the locket for years. However, while the Order of the Phoenix was using the house as its headquarters, the locket was stolen by Mundungus Fletcher, a petty criminal and member of the Order. He gave it to Dolores Umbridge as a bribe when she caught him selling stolen property.
Two weeks after learning these details, Harry, Ron, and Hermione infiltrated the Ministry of Magic where Umbridge worked, and stole the locket. Ron later saved Harry from being strangled by it when he wore it around his neck. When Ron attempted to destroy the locket, the fragment of soul inside assumed the shape of Harry and Hermione and played on Ron's fear that his two friends had started a romantic relationship during his absence. Ron destroyed the locket using the sword of Godric Gryffindor in the Forest of Dean.
After the release of the final book, several reviews noted similarities between Slytherin's locket and the One Ring from The Lord of the Rings, as both artefacts negatively affect the personality of those who wore them, are extremely difficult to destroy, and ensure their creator immortality.[26] However, unlike the One Ring, the characters do not seem to have too much difficulty taking the locket off and willingly handing it to another person.
Lord Voldemort created his fifth Horcrux using Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem.[27] The spell needed to create the Horcrux was cast after Voldemort murdered an Albanian peasant.[1] The diadem is introduced by name in Deathly Hallows,[27] but actually first appeared in The Half-Blood Prince, described as "a tarnished tiara" in the Room of Requirement. Ravenclaw's daughter Helena, the Grey Lady of Ravenclaw, stole the diadem from her mother in an attempt to become more intelligent than her mother.[27] She fled to Albania, where she hid the diadem in the hollow of a tree when the Bloody Baron searched for her.[27] After Helena was murdered by the Bloody Baron, she became the Ravenclaw house ghost[27] and Tom Riddle, while a student at the school, charmed her into telling him the location of the diadem.[27] Shortly after leaving Hogwarts and after the murder of Hepzibah Smith (when Riddle stole Slytherin's Locket and Hufflepuff's cup from her), he travelled to Albania and seized the artefact while planning his rise to power.[27] Years later, when Voldemort returned to Hogwarts and reapplied for the Defence Against the Dark Arts position and was denied the job by Albus Dumbledore, he hid the diadem (now a Horcrux) in the Room of Requirement.[27] Because Voldemort believed himself the only one to have discovered the Room, he never placed curses around the diadem.[27]
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry first comes into contact with the diadem when he hastily hides Snape's old potions book in the Room of Requirement. The diadem was mentioned merely as an "old discoloured tiara" in the sixth book; Harry used it to help mark the spot so he could later find where he placed the book. Later, after having the diadem described to him by the Ravenclaw ghost, Harry recalls this scene and hurries to retrieve it from the Room.[27] The diadem was unintentionally destroyed by a fiendfyre spell cast by Vincent Crabbe as he, Gregory Goyle, and Draco Malfoy attacked Harry, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger inside the Room.[27] In the movie version, Harry stabs the diadem with another basilik fang and Ron kicks it into the Room of Requirement, just as the fiendfyre reaches the door.
When Voldemort attempted to murder Harry Potter, he inadvertently sealed a fragment of his soul within the boy and turned him into the sixth Horcrux. The event took place just before the opening chapter of Philosopher's Stone. Rowling has explicitly stated that Harry never became a proper "Dark object" since the Horcrux spell was not cast.[17] Regardless, as with all Horcruxes, Voldemort would remain immortal so long as his soul fragment remained within Harry.[28] That portion of Voldemort's soul is unintentionally destroyed by Voldemort himself at the close of the thirty-fourth chapter of The Deathly Hallows with the help of the Elder Wand.
As a baby, Harry Potter was in the room when Voldemort's fatal Killing Curse backfired. Voldemort's soul had been weakened and destabilised by his continuous murders and the creation of his previous Horcruxes. Harry became a Horcrux when a fragment of Voldemort's soul attached itself to him after the unsuccessful curse. The lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead is a direct result of this attempted murder. This connection is used to explain several important plot points. Throughout the series, Harry is able to receive insight into Voldemort's mental and emotional states, allowing the reader to eavesdrop on the series' primary antagonist. This insight is usually accompanied by pain in the scar on Harry's forehead. Through Voldemort, Harry also inherited the ability to speak and understand Parseltongue. It is also revealed by Rowling in an interview that Harry's frequent pain in his scar when Voldemort is either active, nearby, or feeling strong emotions, is really the trapped bit of soul yearning to depart from Harry's body and rejoin its master's soul.[29]
While Voldemort did learn of Harry's telepathic ability, Voldemort was never made aware that Harry was inadvertently protecting a portion of his soul. When Voldemort attempted to kill Harry with the Killing Curse in the forest, near the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, he destroyed the portion of his own soul embedded within Harry. With this destroyed, the connections between the two were also broken, and Harry never again felt pain in his scar. Rowling revealed Harry has also lost the ability to speak Parseltongue.[1] In the epilogue of the movie, the scar has faded to a normal looking scar on Harry's forehead.
The seventh Horcrux is Nagini, the snake Voldemort has with him all the time. She is the only living Horcrux apart from Harry Potter. Voldemort uses the snake's venom for sustenance in Goblet of Fire before he is resurrected by Peter Pettigrew. This Horcrux was created by Voldemort when he was hiding in the forests of Albania; the victim of murder who led to its creation was Bertha Jorkins.[1] Using Nagini as a Horcrux, formed a connection between the two, Voldemort had excessive control over the snake, even for a Parselmouth, as mentioned by Dumbledore in Half-Blood Prince. Nagini also was able to communicate with Voldemort, in the Riddle household in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and in Godric's Hollow, due to this connection.
In the last chapter of Deathly Hallows, Nagini was killed by Neville Longbottom using the sword of Godric Gryffindor, which had also destroyed the locket and the ring. Being the last remaining Horcrux, her destruction made Voldemort mortal.
The Goblet of Fire is a goblet made of wood and is used at the beginning of every Triwizard Tournament. It is used solely to choose the participating school champions, serving as an "impartial judge."[HP4] Slips of parchment with the names of potential candidates are placed in the Goblet and, at the designated time, a representative from each school is chosen when the slip of parchment containing their name spouts forth from the Goblet in a fountain of magical fire. The fake Moody stated once that the Goblet of Fire was "an exceptionally powerful magical object" and it is very difficult to be hoodwinked, unless someone uses an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm.
During its use in Goblet of Fire, it is placed in the entrance hall and surrounded by an "age line," a charm placed by Dumbledore to prevent under-age wizards from entering the tournament. Anyone underage would grow a long white mustache, as the Weasley twins when they attempted to fool the goblet with an ageing potion. When not in use, the goblet is kept in a jewelled casket.
The Sword of Godric Gryffindor is a goblin-made sword adorned with large rubies on the pommel. It was once owned by Godric Gryffindor, one of the medieval founders of Hogwarts. In Chamber of Secrets, Harry draws the Sword out of the Sorting Hat to kill a basilisk. The sword also plays a role in Deathly Hallows, where it is revealed to have become imbued with basilisk venom following its use against the Basilisk (as it "only takes in that which makes it stronger"). It is subsequently used to destroy three of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Because the Sword was goblin-forged, it is indestructible and according to Griphook the goblin, the Sword was originally forged by the goblin Ragnuk the First and "stolen" (purchased) by Gryffindor. The Sword was stolen (or retrieved, as goblins would say) by Griphook when the Sword fell from Harry's grasp during the raid on Bellatrix Lestrange's vault in book seven. However, it again returned to wizard hands later in the book, when Neville pulled it out of the Sorting Hat and used it to decapitate Nagini, Voldemort's snake. This shows that apparently, no matter where the sword happened to be at the time, it would reappear in the hat when a true member of Gryffindor house is in need of it.
Rowling has confirmed in her webchat that Gryffindor did not steal the sword from Ragnuk and that this belief is merely part of Griphook's goblin mistrust and prejudice against wizards.[30]
Based upon the ancient alchemical idea of the Philosopher's stone, the Philosopher's stone (renamed the Sorcerer's Stone in the American version) is a stone, owned by Nicolas Flamel first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The stone is legendary in that it changes all metals to gold, and can be used to brew a potion called the Elixir of Life that can make the drinker immortal. The Philosopher's Stone is seen only in the first book. It was destroyed at the end of the book by Dumbledore with Flamel's agreement. The Philosopher's Stone is mentioned again by Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when Voldemort recounts to his Death Eaters what has happened between his initial defeat, and his rebirth. Also, The Philosopher's Stone is mentioned in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince when Harry asks why Voldermort didn't use a Philosopher's Stone to make himself immortal rather than the Horcruxes which Dumbledore reminds him that he did once try, referring to the events of the first book.
The Sorting Hat is a sapient artefact used at Hogwarts, which magically determines to which of the four schoolhouses—Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin—each new student is to be assigned. During the opening banquet at the beginning of the school year, the hat is placed on every First-Year student's head. The hat will announce its choice aloud, and the student joins the selected house. Judging from Harry's own account of his Sorting, and a brief comment made by Hermione in the 5th book (where she says the hat almost sent her to Ravenclaw), the hat speaks to the student while they're being sorted and is willing to take the student's preferences into account when it makes its decision. However, sometimes, he does not have the need to do so: for instance, the hat barely touched Draco Malfoy's head before sending him to Slytherin. The Sorting Hat had a difficult time placing Harry, almost placing him into Slytherin house before he requested specifically and emphatically not to be. The Hat instead placed him into Gryffindor, the house of his father. Rowling has stated the reason for the hat's indecision as to which house to place him into was because it sensed the part of Voldemort's soul within Harry. The Sorting Hat originally belonged to Godric Gryffindor, one of the four founders of Hogwarts. The four founders used to hand-pick the students that would go in their houses, but then realised someone else would have to do it after they died, so Gryffindor took off his hat and let it choose, and it worked. Since then, the sorting hat was always used to choose which house the students are put in. Due to its age, it appears "patched and frayed and extremely dirty." Before sorting the students each year, the hat recites a new introductory song. These songs occasionally warn of danger to come, as in Order of the Phoenix. The Sorting Hat's songs vary in length and content, but always include a brief description of each house.
The Sorting Hat has shown the ability to conjure the Sword of Gryffindor from under its brim on two instances, both times it is used to kill snakes; in Chamber of Secrets, it provides the sword to Harry to kill the Basilisk, and in Deathly Hallows, it delivers the sword to Neville. Dumbledore makes it clear in Chamber of Secrets that only a true Gryffindor can summon the sword in this fashion. In Deathly Hallows the Sorting Hat is set on fire by Voldemort, although it appears the hat was not destroyed, as Neville was able to draw the Sword of Gryffindor from it immediately after and decapitate Voldemort's snake Nagini. In the epilogue at the end of Deathly Hallows, the Hat's survival is confirmed, as Harry tells his youngest son, if he really did not want to be sorted into Slytherin the Hat would take his preference into consideration.
In the first, second, and eighth Harry Potter film, the hat is voiced by actor Leslie Phillips. Its songs are not heard in the films, and it has folds and tears that make it appear to have "eyes" and a "mouth."
The Mirror of Erised is a mystical mirror discovered by Harry in a back corridor of Hogwarts in Philosopher's Stone. On it is inscribed "erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi." When mirrored and correctly spaced, this reads "I show not your face but your heart's desire." As "erised" reversed is "desire," it is the "mirror of desire." Harry, upon encountering the Mirror, can see his parents, as well as what appears to be a crowd of relatives; Ron sees himself as Head Boy and Quidditch Captain holding the House Cup (thus revealing his wish to be acknowledged out of the shadow of his highly successful older brothers, as well as his more popular friend, Harry). Dumbledore cautions Harry that the mirror gives neither knowledge nor truth and that men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they see.
Dumbledore, one of the few other characters to face the Mirror in the novel, claims to see himself holding a pair of socks, telling Harry that "one can never have enough socks," and lamenting that he did not receive any for Christmas, since people will insist on giving him books. However, it is suggested in Deathly Hallows that what he really sees is his entire family alive and well and happy together again, much like Harry.[31]
The Mirror of Erised was the final protection given to the Philosopher's Stone in the first book. Dumbledore hid the Mirror and hid the Stone inside it, knowing that only a person who wanted to find but not use the stone would be able to obtain it. Anyone else would see him or herself making an Elixir of Life or turning things to gold, rather than actually finding the Stone, and would be unable to obtain it.
In Order of the Phoenix, Sirius gives Harry a mirror he originally used to communicate with James when they are in separate detentions. That mirror is a part of a set of Two-way Mirrors that are activated by holding one of them and saying the name of the other possessor, causing his or her face to appear on the caller's mirror and vice versa. Harry receives this mirror from Sirius in a package after spending his Christmas holiday at Grimmauld Place. Harry, at first, chooses not to open the package, although he does discover the mirror after Sirius's death, by which point it is no longer functional. It makes its second appearance in "Deathly Hallows" when Mundungus Fletcher loots Grimmauld Place and sells Sirius's mirror to Aberforth Dumbledore, who uses it to watch out for Harry in Deathly Hallows. When Harry desperately cries for help to a shard of the magical mirror (which broke in the bottom of his trunk), a brilliant blue eye belonging to Aberforth (which Harry, however, mistakes for Albus's eye), appears and he sends Dobby, who arrives to help Harry escape from Malfoy Manor to Shell Cottage.
The photographs and portraits in the world of wizards are not stationary like in the muggle world. They move around within the frame and from one portrait to another. They also talk. A portrait of the Fat Lady is used in Hogwarts to cover the door to the Gryffindor common room and opens only when she is given the password. Also there are various paintings of old Headmasters and Headmistresses of Hogwarts in Dumbeldore's office and he is shown to be in discussion with them from time to time. He also uses the portrait of Phineas Nigellus, Sirius Black's great grandfather to communicate with Sirius and to keep a watch at the Order's Headquarters through another portrait of Phineas in the house.
Amortentia is a love potion that gives the drinker a powerful obsession and infatuation with the giver of the potion. It is usually either forced upon someone or covertly given. It should be forewarned that as a rule of thumb the longer a love potion awaits consumption, the stronger the effects will be, as seen in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when Ron mistakenly eats a box of Chocolate Cauldrons spiked with the intense love potion intended for Harry. The potion's aroma is unique to each person who consumes it, as it smells like whatever attracts each individual, e.g. Hermione says that she smells peppermint toothpaste, freshly cut grass and a piece of fresh parchment. It is the most powerful aphrodisiac of all. It can also be identified by its characteristic spirals of steam and its mother-of-pearl sheen.
A Confusing Concoction will cause the drinker to become confused and sick. During potions in his third year, Harry has to brew this potion but cannot manage to thicken it. Harry sees Snape scribble something on a clipboard that "looks suspiciously like a zero."
When a person drinks the Draught of Living Death, they go into a deep sleep so strong that they appear to be dead, hence the name. It is made from powdered root of asphodel which is added to an infusion of wormwood, and was first mentioned in Harry's first potions lesson with Snape in the Philosophers Stone. It was later mentioned in his first Potions lesson with Horace Slughorn in Half-Blood Prince and Harry receives top marks in Horace Slughorn's first NEWT Potions class for brewing this potion so well, having used the handwritten advice in the Half-Blood Prince's book. He is then awarded a small bottle of the potion Felix Felicis as a prize.
The Draught of Peace calms anxiety and soothes agitation. In Order of the Phoenix, Snape makes Harry and his class make it. It is a very difficult potion to make as the ingredients have to be added in a very certain order, the mixture has to be stirred exactly the right number of times and the heat of the flames on which it is simmering has to be lowered to exactly the right level for the right number of minutes before the final ingredient is added. Hannah Abbott had to have this potion in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to reduce her anxiety over the upcoming O.W.L.s.
Felix Felicis, sometimes known as Liquid Luck, grants whoever drinks it unusually good luck. The time span depends on how much is imbibed. Because of its properties, it is banned in all sporting events, competitions and examinations. In Rowling's original narrative, the potion looks akin to liquid gold. However in the movie adaptation it is clear and water-like. According to Horace Slughorn, excessive consumption results in side effects that include giddiness and overzealousness, among other effects that are related to overconfidence. In Half-Blood Prince, Harry pretends to give some to Ron so that he will do well at Quidditch. Ron's luck turns for the better, with the confidence working as a placebo. Harry does use most of it later in the same novel in order to extract the true memory from Slughorn about Tom Riddle and Horcruxes (though it also has the side effect of causing relationship break-ups for Dean and Ginny), and the rest is shared between Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny the night Death Eaters break into Hogwarts.
This simple potion is one of the first potions that Snape assigns his new first-years to brew in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
A Pepperup Potion is designed to relieve coughs and colds, though it does have one major side effect: it causes steam to dribble from the patient's ears for several hours afterward.
The Polyjuice Potion allows the drinker to assume the appearance of someone else for one hour. Its ingredients include fluxweed, knotgrass, lacewing flies, leeches, powdered Bicorn horn, and shredded Boomslang skin. The final component is a bit of the individual to be impersonated; strands of hair are most often used for this purpose.
Its taste and appearance seem to depend on the person (for example: being golden for Harry but grey and clumpy for Crabbe and Goyle). It is first used in Chamber of Secrets to allow Harry and Ron to transform into Crabbe and Goyle so they can question Draco.
In Goblet of Fire, Barty Crouch, Jr. uses it to disguise himself as Mad-Eye Moody all year long, keeping a flask full of the potion so he can dose himself when he feels like he's changing back. Barty Crouch Senior (in the films) looks as though he knows its his son, as his son had a sort of twitch (where he quickly licks the side of his lip) and he accidentally lets one slip.
In Half-Blood Prince, Crabbe and Goyle use the potion to disguise themselves as young girls while guarding the Room of Requirement.
In Deathly Hallows, it is first used to transform members of the Order into Harry look-alikes, creating decoys for Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Fleur, Hermione, Fred, George, Ron and Mundungus serve as the doppelgangers. Later, Harry first uses some hair from a local Muggle boy in Ottery St. Catchpole to disguise himself at Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding as a fictitious Weasley relative named "Barny Weasley." Later on, Harry, Ron and Hermione use it to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic, by disguising themselves as Ministry officials: Harry poses as Albert Runcorn, an investigator of Muggle-borns; Ron poses as Reginald Cattermole, a worker at the Magical Maintenance Department, and whose wife is being put on trial by Umbridge; and Hermione poses as Mafalda Hopkirk, Umbridge's secretary. Later, Harry and Hermione disguise themselves as a middle-aged Muggle couple while exploring Godric's Hollow, and finally Hermione disguises herself as Bellatrix in order to break into her vault at Gringotts (however, the potion wears off due to the charms placed around Gringotts).
Polyjuice Potion only works correctly when done on human-to-human transfiguration, as Hermione discovers in Chamber of Secrets when she inadvertently takes a dose containing cat hair, which gave her the furry face and tail of a cat. Such a transformation is always incomplete, and occasionally irreversible. The potion only causes a physical transformation of the drinker, but clothing is not affected.
In the books, the potion changes the drinker's voice to match that of the target, as well as any disabilities, such as poor eyesight or amputations. Although the films seem to provide contradictory information on this point: Harry and Ron retain their own voices after using the potion in Chamber of Secrets; the same is true for Harry, Ron, and Hermione in Deathly Hallows, Part 1 while infiltrating the Ministry, the voice is actually changed, but they speak with the original voice so that we can easily identify the characters (especially on the Seven Potters).
Skele-Gro is a medicinal potion that can regrow missing/removed bones, though it tastes terrible and the process is very slow and extremely painful. In Chamber of Secrets, Harry breaks his arm while playing Quidditch and Gilderoy Lockhart, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, accidentally removes half of his right arm bone while trying to mend it, due to his incompetence. As a result, Harry has to take a dose of the potion and spend the night in the hospital wing.
Sleakeazy's Hair Potion is a beauty treatment that is used by witches to smooth and straighten hair. Hermione uses it during the Yule Ball in Goblet of Fire before meeting Viktor Krum. This is part of her three-hour beauty regimen to prepare for the ball; although it is very effective, Hermione later confesses to Harry that using the potion is "way too much bother" for daily use.
Veritaserum is also known as the truth potion, deriving from the word Veritas, meaning truth in Latin. Three drops of this potion are all that is needed to force anyone to respond with the truth to any question. It is used on Barty Crouch Jr. in Goblet of Fire, in Order of the Phoenix, Umbridge attempts to use it while interrogating students about their affiliation with Dumbledore's Army, but is deliberately thwarted by Snape who first claims he has none left, then administers a placebo. In Half-Blood Prince, Harry considers using the potion to get Slughorn to reveal his memories about Voldemort, but thinks better of it, and in Deathly Hallows Rita Skeeter uses the potion to extract the story of Dumbledore's childhood from Bathilda Bagshot. Rowling has revealed on her fansite that Veritaserum can be fooled using Occlumency and is hence not usually accepted in general practice in wizard courts.
Prank objects from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes are made and designed by the owners of the shop, Fred and George, who test their new creations on other Hogwarts students.
Zonko's Joke Shop was a favourite place for Hogwarts students to shop on Hogsmeade trips. It carried "jokes and tricks to fulfill even Fred and George's wildest dreams." Such products were Dungbombs, Hiccup Sweets, Frog Spawn Soap, and Nose-Biting Teacups.
Other prank objects include Belch Powder,[32] Dungbombs (explodes and causes a large and extremely smelly mess), and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs (which hit their target repeatedly after being thrown and hence are banned at Hogwarts). Fanged Frisbees are literally normal frisbees with fangs and are first mentioned in Goblet of Fire as one of Filch's newest restricted items at the beginning of term speech. However, they make their first appearance in Half-Blood Prince when Ron whirled one around the Gryffindor common room, it changed course with a mind of its own, and took a bite out of a tapestry.
More objects include Screaming Yo-Yos, which scream very loudly when worked, and Stink Pellets, which are used to distract prefects and teachers, and give a most unpleasant smell.[32]
Hermione used an Undetectable Extension Charm on her handbag which gave the bag almost infinite internal dimensions, without affecting the external dimensions. Equally, the mass of objects placed in her handbag are negated, making the bag easy to carry. (A literal representation of the "bag of holding" or "magic satchel".) Hermione uses it to hold almost everything they need when they Disapparate from Bill and Fleur's wedding reception in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Mokeskin pouches are a type of draw-string pouch that can be opened only by the owner; items inside it can only be withdrawn by the owner. Harry uses one he received as his 17th birthday present from Hagrid to store several items of personal significance, such as the Golden Snitch, his broken wand, the false locket, the shard of Sirius' mirror and the Marauders' map.
Alastor Moody owns an especially bewitched magical trunk. It has seven locks on it, and the trunk opens to a different assortment of objects for each lock. Most notably, though, the seventh compartment is about 10 feet (3.0 m) deep (possibly because of the use of an Undetectable Extension Charm), and is where Barty Crouch Jr. imprisoned the real Moody. Other compartments contain spellbooks, Dark Detectors, and Moody's Invisibility Cloak.
A Pensieve is a stone basin used to store and review memories. Covered in mystic runes, it contains memories that take physical form as a type of matter that is described as neither gas nor liquid. A witch or wizard can extract their own or another person's memories, store them in the Pensieve, and review them later. It also relieves the mind when it becomes cluttered with information. Anyone can examine the memories in the Pensieve, which also allows viewers to fully immerse themselves in the memories stored within, much like a magical form of real world virtual reality.
Users of these devices view the memories from a third-person-point-of-view, providing a near-omniscient perspective of the events preserved. Rowling confirmed memories in the Pensieve allow one to view details of things that happened even if they did not notice or remember them, and stated "that's the magic of the Pensieve, what brings it alive."[33] The "memories" contained in the Pensieve have the appearance of silver threads. Memories that have been heavily manipulated or tampered with to alter perspectives, or that have deteriorated due to age (such as Slughorn's), may appear thick and jelly-like and offer obscured viewing. Memories are not limited to just those of humans, since Hokey the house-elf provided Dumbledore with a memory as well. It makes a last appearance in Deathly Hallows when Harry uses it to uncover the truth about Snape.
In the fourth film, the Pensieve in Dumbledore's office conforms to the description given in the novel. However, in the sixth and eighth films, it appears as a shallow metal dish, floating in midair and filled with a mercury-like liquid. During the eighth film, Harry removes it from the stone basin so he can use it to examine Snape's memories.
Arthur Weasley owned a Ford Anglia that he had subsequently enchanted; consequently, the vehicle can fly, become invisible, and carry the entire Weasley family in spite of its formerly non-enchanted interior dimensions, among other abilities. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the car is borrowed by Fred, George and Ron, who use it to rescue Harry from the Dursleys' house. Then later, Ron and Harry steal the car in order to return to Hogwarts after the gate to Platform 9¾ is sealed by Dobby. After they arrive at school, landing in the Whomping Willow, the car throws out Harry, Ron, and their luggage, then flees into the Forbidden Forest, ignoring Ron's pleas for it to come back. Mr Weasley is soon put under inquiry at the Ministry of Magic, because seven Muggles saw the car flying across the countryside, and nearly loses his job.
The car reappears when Harry and Ron visit Aragog in the forest: when the great spider's colony of acromantula attempt to devour Harry and Ron, the car attacks the spiders and carries the boys to safety. The car does not return to the Weasleys despite saving Ron and Harry, choosing instead to remain on its own. The car's current condition is undisclosed; Ron had commented that the enchanted vehicle had become "wild" and thus operated autonomously, like a literal wild animal. In theory, it may still exist in the time of the characters' children.
The 1962 Ford Anglia used in the film was acquired by Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley, and is currently displayed in the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu A total of 14 Ford Anglias were destroyed during the filming of the scene where the car crashes into the Whomping Willow.
Broomsticks are used for transportation by witches and wizards of all ages, and for participating in the game of Quidditch. Their use is similar to that of flying carpets, although the latter are banned in Great Britain. However, they are uncomfortable for extended trips, even with a cushion charm applied.
Broomsticks are treated as a major consumer product in the Wizarding world. There are numerous brands and models of brooms, including Cleansweeps and Comets, all of which vary in their capabilities. These range from expensive high-performance models to toy broomsticks for young children that only fly a few feet off the ground to family-sized broomsticks that have room for an entire family and even have a luggage compartment below the seating area.
Since Harry plays Quidditch, his brooms—a Nimbus 2000 and later a Firebolt—are prominent in the series. The Nimbus 2000 was given to him by special consent of Dumbledore via Minerva McGonagall, who had chosen him as Seeker.[HP1] The Firebolt was given to him by Sirius as a Christmas gift after his Nimbus was destroyed during a Quidditch match.[HP3] The Firebolt remains the fastest broom in the world, having surpassed the previous record holder, the Nimbus 2001 (which Draco Malfoy owns), and its price is so grand that it is only available upon request.
Floo Powder is a glittering powder used by wizards to travel and communicate using fireplaces. It was invented by Ignatia Wildsmith (1227–1320) and named after the flue, which is the passageway that leads from a fireplace to the chimney so hot gases can escape.
Floo powder can be used with any fireplace connected to the Floo Network. To transport from one to another, the fire at the point of departure must first be lit. The traveller throws a handful of Floo powder into the flames, turning them emerald green, then steps into the fireplace and states the intended destination in a clear and purposeful voice. Floo powder can also be used for communication; a wizard or witch can kneel in front of the fire and stick their head into the fire, which will appear in the fire at another fireplace, leaving the witch or wizard free to talk. It is also known that other body parts may be transported via Floo Powder, as Umbridge almost catches Sirius the second time he converses with Harry through the Floo network. People may also be summoned by Floo Powder, as is shown in Prisoner of Azkaban by Snape, who summons Lupin through his office's fireplace while interrogating Harry about the Marauder's Map.
In Chamber of Secrets, the Weasleys travelled to Diagon Alley by Floo Powder. Harry did not say "Diagon Alley" clearly, instead saying "diagonally," so he was sent to Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley. In the fourth book, Mr. Weasley uses his position at the Ministry to have the Dursleys' fireplace temporarily connected to the Floo network, unaware that it had been blocked. Sirius uses the network to communicate with Harry in the same book. In the fifth book, Harry uses the Gryffindor fireplace and later Umbridge's fireplace to communicate with Sirius; he is forced to use the latter because Umbridge begins monitoring all other lines of communication in and out of Hogwarts. The Floo Network is controlled by the Ministry of Magic. The Ministry also has over 700 fireplaces in its headquarters so that officials and workers can go directly to/from work without the hustle and bustle of travelling on brooms or by Portkey—or the indignity of having to flush themselves in through a public toilet, as portrayed in Deathly Hallows.
Flying carpets are usually thick rugs, frequently highly patterned and often manufactured in the Middle East that are enchanted with the ability to fly. Flying Carpets were once an accepted form of travel for the British magical community, but they are now banned due to being defined as a Muggle Artifact[34] by the Registry of Proscribed Charmable Objects. It is therefore now against British wizarding law to charm carpets or fly them, although they are still legal in other countries. Mr. Weasley was very much involved in the introduction of this legislation due to his position in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office. It is known that the ban was relatively recent, not only from Arthur's involvement, but also from the fact that Barty Crouch's grandfather owned a 12-seater Axminster before flying carpets were prohibited.
The Knight Bus is a heavily enchanted, purple, triple-decker Regent Three class bus that transports witches and wizards. It makes its first appearance in Prisoner of Azkaban where Harry unintentionally hails it by holding his wand arm out. Harry has a final ride on the Knight Bus with a number of his friends in Order of the Phoenix. The Knight Bus is faster than travelling by broomstick, but not as fast as near instantaneous Floo Powder and Apparating. The bus charges for the service based on distance; Harry is charged a base fare of 11 Sickles to travel from Little Whinging to The Leaky Cauldron. Amenities such as hot-water bottles, toothbrushes, and hot chocolate are available for a small additional fee.[HP3]
The bus functions as a convenient form of public transportation for the wizard or witch who cannot or will not choose another means of transportation. The riders are seemingly picked up by the bus from all over in-universe Great Britain, bringing passengers to the destinations of their choice with seemingly no set route. It bolts through the streets, entirely invisible to Muggles and causing other objects to dodge it (instead of the other way around) for short distance-travel. For longer distances, the Knight Bus makes big 160 km (hundred-mile) leaps accompanied by a great bang and jolt. The interior of the bus changes depending on the time of day, having seats by day and beds by night. The only mentioned limitation in travelling is that it cannot enter water.
The conductor of the Knight Bus is Stan Shunpike, and its driver is Ernie Prang in the third book of the series. In the third film, Stan is accompanied by a talking shrunken head voiced by Lenny Henry.
The actual Knight Bus seen in the film adaptation was built by grafting the top deck of a London AEC Regent III RT bus onto the top of another "RT" bus. Both buses were originally built for London Transport; the "RT" was the standard London diesel-powered double-decker bus of which approximately 4,000 were built from 1939 until the mid 1950s (and were used in daily service until 1979). The actual bus used was RT3882 (registration LLU681), with the additional top deck from former RT2240 (registration KGU169). Parts of RT 4497 (OLD 717) were also used.[35]
Portkeys are first mentioned in Goblet of Fire by Mr. Weasley. They provide an alternative apparation, but more importantly can be used to transport a group of people at once. Created by using the Portus spell, a Portkey can be set to transport anybody who touches it to a designated location, or to become active at a pre-determined time and transport to a location along with anybody who happens to be touching it at the moment of activation.[HP4] They may also be set up for one-way, one-time use, or to transport the holder to and from a particular place in a round trip. The creation of Portkeys is highly restricted and controlled by the Department of Magical Transport, Portkey office.: Cornelius Fudge objects to Dumbledore creating one in front of him stating that Dumbledore hasn't got authorisation; and at one point Lupin says, "...it's more than our life's worth to set up an unauthorised Portkey."[HP5]
Any object can be used for a Portkey; however is it common practise that only old worthless junk is selected for Portkeys, to discourage unsuspecting Muggles from picking them up and activating them[HP4]. It is generally a seemingly harmless object, like a football or an old wellington boot. Once the Portus charm is cast upon an object, the object glows blue and vibrates gently, and once settled it has become a Portkey. When a Portkey is activated, the user feels the sensation of a hook being jerked from behind the navel. The floor disappears from beneath their feet, leaving their last position behind them, they fly forward through a whirlwind of colour and sound, appearing suddenly at their destination.[HP5] With enough practice it is possible to achieve a graceful landing: after the Portkey trip to the Quidditch World Cup in the fourth film, Mr. Weasley, Cedric and Amos Diggory land on their feet, while the lesser experienced teenagers, including Harry, fall on the ground.
Sirius owned a flying motorbike, which he loaned to Hagrid the night Harry's parents died. It is first seen when Hagrid delivers the baby Harry to Number Four, Privet Drive in the first book, and then again when Hagrid uses it to help Harry get to the Order's headquarters in the seventh book. In Deathly Hallows various modifications have been made to the bike by Mr. Weasley, enabling it to cause a brick wall to erupt from the exhaust pipe, fire a net behind the bike and shoot dragon fire out of the exhaust, making the bike accelerate dramatically. The dragon fire feature is used to great effect by Hagrid and Harry when being chased by Voldemort; however, Mr. Weasley did warn that he was unsure of its safety and that they should only use it in an emergency. He was right to say this, as the sidecar of the motorbike dislodges after the dramatic acceleration, unaided by Hagrid's magical inexpertise.
The bike is severely damaged when Hagrid and Harry crash it into Ted and Andromeda Tonks's garden pond. Mr. Weasley covertly tells Harry that he plans to put the bike back together when "he has time," meaning when Mrs. Weasley is distracted or has forgotten about it. He hides it in the chicken coop and manages to repair it, giving it to Harry between the end of Deathly Hallows and the epilogue.
A Time-Turner may be used for short-term time travel. Hermione receives a Time-Turner from McGonagall in Prisoner of Azkaban, so she could attend more classes than time would normally allow. Hermione is ordered to keep it a secret from everyone, including Harry and Ron, although they do notice the suspicious impossibility of her schedule, and several bizarre disappearances and reappearances. Hermione lets Harry and Ron in on the secret near the end of the book, when she and Harry use the Time-Turner to save Sirius and Buckbeak. Feeling the strain from her heavy course load, she finally returns the device to McGonagall.
A large supply of Time-Turners is kept at the Ministry, as seen in Order of the Phoenix; however, during the events of that book a glass-fronted cabinet containing Time-Turners is destroyed. Due to their time-affecting properties, the cabinet is seen to fall, shatter and repair itself repeatedly. In Half-Blood Prince, Hermione mentions an article in The Daily Prophet stating "the entire stock of Ministry Time-Turners" was destroyed during that incident. The books do not discuss who else may be in possession of Time-Turners outside of the Ministry.
Hermione's Time-Turner resembles a gold hourglass pendant on a necklace; it is unclear if all of them do. The hourglass pendant is twisted to move through time, and the number of turns on the hourglass corresponds to the number of hours one travelled back in time. The travel ends as the traveller arrives to the point in time of which he went back in time (e.g. Hermione and Harry go back three hours; three hours after their arrival in the past, they return to the time period they turned back).[36]
The Vanishing Cabinet is a cabinet located in Hogwarts that is a part of a set of two. The other cabinet resides in Borgin and Burkes. A person who steps into one of the cabinets will instantly emerge from the other.
The Vanishing Cabinet is first seen in Chamber of Secrets when Harry hides in it to elude the Malfoys after accidentally traveling to Borgin and Burkes via the Floo Network. That cabinet's counterpart is mentioned in Chamber of Secrets when Nearly Headless Nick persuades Peeves the Poltergeist to drop it (thus breaking it) over Filch's office in order to help Harry escape detention for tracking in mud. It was also used in Order of the Phoenix by Fred and George, when they forced Montague, the Slytherin Quidditch captain and member of the Inquisitorial Squad, into it when he tried to take house points from Gryffindor. Draco then learns of Montague's experience, discovering transportation is possible between the two cabinets and the other is located in Borgin and Burkes. He later manages to fix the broken one at Hogwarts so as to transport the Death Eaters into the highly secured castle.
Though this set is the only one mentioned in the book series, the film version of Half-Blood Prince reveals that they were popular when Voldemort first came to power, as they would allow people to make a quick getaway from Voldemort and his Death Eaters in an emergency.
The Anti-Cheating Quill, a quill with an anti-cheating charm on it, first mentioned in Philosopher's Stone.[PS Ch.16] In book five they are assigned to every O.W.L.s student—and presumably those taking other exams—in order to prevent students from cheating in their written exams.
The Auto-Answer Quill is a quill that has been bewitched, when the quill touches a question on a piece of Parchment it writes the answer instantly. The Auto-Answer Quill is banned from the O.W.L.s. Examinations.[OP Ch.31]
The Blood Quill is a torture quill used by Umbridge throughout the Order of the Phoenix to carry out her punishment to students that have been put into detention. It is described as heaving an unusually sharp black nib. As the user writes, the quill magically and very painfully cuts into the back of the user's hand and uses his or her blood for ink. In the fifth book, Harry has detention with Umbridge on several occasions, and is required to write lines (I must not tell lies), and is not released from this until Umbridge believes "the message has sunk in." When carried out repeatedly over a period, this can lead to permanent scarring, as shown by Harry to Scrimgeour in the last two books. The scars tingle whenever Harry hears Umbridge's name, but it is not clear whether this is psychological or akin to Harry's forehead scar hurting whenever Voldemort is active. Another victim of this form of detention is Lee Jordan. Blood quills are considered to be illegal.
According to Pottermore, the Magical Quill is a magical object which detects the birth of a child with magical capabilities. It is located in Hogwarts School, where it records the children's names in a large book. Professor McGonagall consults the book and sends out the subsequent Hogwarts acceptance letters by owl once the child turns eleven. It has been made very popular due to high demand for early access to Pottermore [37]
A Quick Quotes Quill is a stenographic tool, acid green in colour, employed by Rita Skeeter to spin the words of her subjects into a more salacious or melodramatic form more to her liking. Rita uses the quill to interview Harry about his participation in the Triwizard Tournament in Goblet of Fire for her column in The Daily Prophet. Harry continually tries to correct the inaccuracy of the quill to Rita. However, she rudely ignores him. Additionally in Deathly Hallows, Rita mentions in her interview concerning Dumbledore's posthumous biography that the Quick Quotes Quill helped her to write the book so quickly after his death.
The Spell-Checking Quill temporarily checks spelling. Sold at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, the joke shop opened by Fred and George (Ron Weasley's brothers). In Half-Blood Prince once the charm wears off, it mis-spells Ron's name as Roonil Wazlib, along with a great deal of other words, which Hermione fixes using magic.
These objects remain uncategorised as they are the only ones in their field.
Cauldrons are magical receptacles in which potions are brewed. There are different sizes and materials of cauldrons. Hogwarts students can buy cauldrons at the cauldron shop in Diagon Alley. Hogwarts ask students to buy at least pewter, though in the first book Harry expresses a longing for one of pure gold.
Percy Weasley writes papers in the hope that he can regulate the thickness of cauldron bottoms, as foreign imports are deemed a safety risk.
Gubraithian Fire is an everlasting magical fire that may only be created by extremely skilled wizards. Hagrid and Madame Maxime give a bundle of Gubraithian fire (Conjured by Dumbledore), to burn on top of the branches, as a gift to the Gurg (leader) of the giants during their journey.[HP6]
Omnioculars are a pair of magical brass binoculars used by Harry, Ron and Hermione in the fourth book during the Quidditch World Cup. Omnioculars, besides having magnified lenses, have many other features. Among them, the ones mentioned are the ability to replay or slow down something seen through the lenses, although a side effect is that the view in the lenses is not accurate of what is currently happening, since it is going slower than real life. They also have a play-by-play feature, where the names of moves performed by Quidditch players is shown in bright purple letters across the Omnioculars' lenses.[HP4] Omnioculars also have the ability to show all the players names and numbers. They can also zero in on players without having to move the omnioculars.
Spellotape is magical adhesive tape. The name is a play on Sellotape, a popular brand which has become a generic name for transparent adhesive tape in the United Kingdom.[38][39] It is used by Ron in Chamber of Secrets to repair his wand after he breaks it early in the book while trying to stop the car. It is also used by Hermione in Prisoner of Azkaban when she binds her Care of Magical Creatures textbook. It is also used by Kreacher to mend a photo of Bellatrix Lestrange.
A wand is a wooden tool, used to channel magical energy and thus increase its power, and without which only limited magic is possible. Wands are used as both tools and weapons in the Wizarding World. They have been used in the brewing of various potions in the books. Wands are generally carried inside the wizard's robes or otherwise somewhere on their person in the books; however, they can also be placed into other objects. For instance, Rubeus Hagrid hid the broken halves of his wand inside his umbrella, and in the film adaption of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Lucius Malfoy is revealed to hide his wand in his cane. In the magical world, when a wizard has committed a serious crime, their wands are snapped in half (this type of damage to a wand is nearly irreparable, though Harry is able to mend his wand, which was accidentally broken by Hermione, with the help of the powerful Elder Wand).
A wand is made by a wandmaker learned in wandlore, the study of wands. Wands are handcrafted from woods only of a level of quality, or "wandwoods," which are capable of sustaining magic (e.g. holly, yew, ebony, vinewood, cherry, oak, etc.). Then a core is inserted into the middle of the wand from top to bottom. Such cores have been mentioned to include phoenix tail feathers, unicorn tail hairs, Veela's hair, and dragon heartstrings. In the Deathly Hallows, the Elder Wand is described as the only wand with a core made from the tail hair of a Thestral.[40] The only named wand shop is Ollivanders. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Ollivander is seen to evaluate two foreign wands: Viktor Krum's wand was crafted by Gregorovitch, was unusually thick, and had a dragon's heartstring core; while Fleur Delacour's wand was made of rose wood (its maker is unknown). Its core (a hair from her Veela grandmother) was believed by Ollivander to produce "temperamental" wands, which is why he did not use it himself.
A wand is generally considered personal for a wizard. However, wands belonging to other wizards can be used to a comparatively less potent effect. In Philosopher's Stone, Harry had to try out many wands before he found one that "chose him." Wands with cores from the same source give strange effects (Priori Incantatem) when forced to fight each other, as is the case with Harry and Voldemort's wands. In Goblet of Fire, it is revealed each of their wands contains a tail feather from Fawkes, the phoenix belonging to Dumbledore. After Priori Incantatem, the wands get to know the opposites' master, as explained in Deathly Hallows. While, according to Ollivander, any object can channel magic if the wizard is strong enough, wands are the most commonly used because of their efficiency (due to the owner's bond with the wand itself). This can explain how some wizards are able to use spells without wands (for example, retrieving an item with Accio).
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