50 Fun Facts About Harry Potter Christmas

What anonymous Christmas gift does Harry receive in his first year at Hogwarts?

His father's Invisibility Cloak arrived with an unsigned note reading 'Use it well'; Dumbledore later admitted he had sent it.

What does Harry discover while wandering Hogwarts at night during his first Christmas?

The Mirror of Erised shows what the viewer most longs for; Harry sees his dead parents standing beside him in it.

Which Weasleys stayed at Hogwarts with Harry over the Christmas holidays in 1991?

Ron, Fred, George and Percy all stayed because Mr and Mrs Weasley were visiting Charlie in Romania; Ginny had not yet started at Hogwarts.

What did Fred bewitch Percy's prefect badge to say at the 1992 Christmas feast?

'Pinhead': in Chamber of Secrets, Percy kept asking what everyone was sniggering at while Hagrid boomed carols louder with every goblet of eggnog.

How many Christmas trees decorate the Great Hall in the first book?

A dozen: no fewer than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the Great Hall in Philosopher's Stone, some sparkling with icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles.

What did the Weasley twins do with snowballs in the run-up to Christmas 1991?

Fred and George bewitched them to follow Quirrell and bounce off his turban, and were punished for it, the December the lake froze solid.

What do the magical crackers at the Hogwarts feast contain instead of paper crowns and jokes?

Proper hats, live mice and Wizard's Chess sets: Harry's cracker went off like a cannon and produced a rear-admiral's hat and live white mice, and he left with a new chess set.

What hat did Snape get from a Wizard Cracker at Christmas 1993?

A witch's hat topped with a stuffed vulture burst from the cracker Snape pulled with Dumbledore, who promptly swapped his own hat for it.

What dessert is served with the roast turkey and chipolatas at the Hogwarts December feast?

Flaming puddings followed the turkey at the 1991 feast; one slice of Christmas pudding had a silver Sickle baked inside it.

What does Molly Weasley knit for family and friends every Christmas?

Hand-made jumpers with their initial: Mrs Weasley knits one for each of them every Christmas, and Harry's first, in 1991, came with a large box of home-made fudge.

What colour is Ron's Weasley jumper, to his annoyance, every year?

Maroon is his least favourite colour despite his red hair.

Who did Molly pointedly NOT knit a jumper for at Christmas 1996?

She disapproved of Fleur's engagement to Bill at the time.

What colour is the Weasley jumper Harry receives in his first year?

Emerald green: the thick hand-knitted jumper Mrs Weasley sent Harry in his first year was emerald green, after Ron told her Harry expected no presents.

What anonymous Christmas present does Harry receive in his third year?

A top-of-the-range racing broom, a Firebolt, arrived with no note; the Diagon Alley shop sign had boasted that the Irish International Side ordered seven of them.

Who really sent Harry the broom?

Sirius Black sent the Firebolt, as he admitted in the letter Pigwidgeon carried at the end of term; Harry's Nimbus 2000 had been smashed by the Whomping Willow.

What did Hermione do when the mystery broom arrived, angering Ron and Harry?

Told McGonagall, who confiscated it: Hermione feared the broom was jinxed, and it spent weeks being stripped down for hexes by Flitwick and Madam Hooch.

At which event on Christmas Day 1994 did the Weird Sisters perform?

The Yule Ball on Christmas night 1994: the Weird Sisters took the stage in artfully ripped black robes and played until midnight.

The Christmas dance in Goblet of Fire is a tradition of which event?

The Triwizard Tournament: McGonagall told the Gryffindors the ball was a traditional part of the Tournament, running from eight o'clock to midnight for fourth-years and above.

Who does Harry take to the dance after Cho Chang turns him down?

Parvati Patil agreed to go with Harry after Cho Chang turned him down; her twin sister Padma went with Ron.

Who is Hermione's date at the Christmas dance in Goblet of Fire?

Viktor Krum, the Durmstrang champion, took Hermione to the ball, and Ron sulked all night watching them dance.

Who does Ginny go to the Goblet of Fire dance with?

Ron had suggested Harry take Ginny, but she had already accepted Neville.

What does Ron's second-hand formal outfit for the ball look like?

He hacks the lace off in disgust.

Which real musicians made up the Weird Sisters in the Goblet of Fire film?

Members of Pulp and Radiohead: Pulp's Jarvis Cocker fronted the band as Myron Wagtail and wrote its songs, with Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and Phil Selway alongside him.

Why are the musicians at the ball never named in the Goblet of Fire film?

A Canadian folk band called the Wyrd Sisters sued over the name in 2005, so the finished film never names the group on screen.

How was the Great Hall redesigned for the dance in the Goblet of Fire film?

As an ice palace with a frozen ceiling and silver walls: the film dressed the Great Hall set in silver drapes, icicles and frosted windows for the ball.

Where at Oxford University was McGonagall's dance-lesson scene filmed?

The Divinity School, a 15th-century vaulted room at Oxford, hosted McGonagall's dance lesson; it had served as the Hogwarts hospital wing in earlier films.

How did Dobby decorate the Room of Requirement for Christmas 1995?

With mistletoe and 100 golden baubles bearing Harry's face: each bauble read 'HAVE A VERY HARRY CHRISTMAS!' at the last DA meeting before the holidays.

According to Luna, what might infest the mistletoe under which Harry and Cho kiss?

Nargles: mistletoe is said to be often infested with them, and a necklace of Butterbeer corks is worn to keep Nargles away.

Where does Harry spend Christmas in his fifth year, instead of the Burrow as planned?

Grimmauld Place, number twelve, headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, hosted Harry and the Weasleys that Christmas, and Hermione joined them instead of skiing with her parents.

Which incident, seen by Harry in a dream, sends the Weasleys to St Mungo's that Christmas?

Dumbledore realises Harry's mind is linked to Voldemort's and orders Occlumency lessons.

What Christmas present from Sirius does Harry only open after his godfather's death?

A two-way mirror, pressed on Harry in the hallway before term with orders to use it if he needed his godfather; Harry found it still wrapped in his trunk in June.

Who does Harry take to Slughorn's Christmas party in his sixth year?

Luna Lovegood went with Harry as a friend; she wore spangled silver robes and told Slughorn's guests about the Rotfang Conspiracy.

Who does Hermione bring to Slughorn's party purely to annoy Ron?

Cormac McLaggen: Hermione picked him because she knew it would annoy Ron most, then spent the party dodging him and the mistletoe.

Which unusual guest attends Slughorn's Christmas party?

A vampire named Sanguini came with the author Eldred Worple, who wanted to write Harry's biography.

Who gatecrashes Slughorn's party and is dragged in by Filch?

Snape then leads Draco away for a conversation Harry eavesdrops on.

What Christmas gift does Lavender Brown give Ron in their sixth year?

A sweetheart necklace: a heavy gold chain reading 'My Sweetheart', which Ron showed Harry in horror on Christmas morning at the Burrow.

In the Half-Blood Prince film, what happens at the Burrow over Christmas that is not in the book?

Bellatrix and Greyback attack and set it on fire in a scene invented for the film; Bellatrix lures Harry into the marsh reeds by taunting him about his godfather's death.

Where do Harry and Hermione go on Christmas Eve in Deathly Hallows?

Godric's Hollow: they Apparated into the snowy village and found James and Lily's graves in the churchyard while carols sounded from the little church.

Who is really inside Bathilda Bagshot's body when she meets Harry in his parents' village?

Nagini: Voldemort had killed Bathilda and hidden his snake inside her corpse, which burst open when she struck at Harry upstairs.

What Bible verse is on James and Lily Potter's gravestone?

'The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death', from 1 Corinthians, is carved on the Potters' stone; the Dumbledore grave nearby bears the verse about treasure and heart.

How did Rowling announce the title Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in December 2006?

Through a Christmas-themed hangman puzzle on her website: on 21 December 2006 the site's hidden door opened on a festive room where players spelled out the title letter by letter.

Where is the Warner Bros. Studio Tour, which dresses the Great Hall for Christmas each winter, located?

The studios were a wartime de Havilland aircraft factory before GoldenEye moved in.

On which date does the Goblet of Fire film place the dance?

Christmas Eve: in the film McGonagall tells the Gryffindors the ball is held 'on Christmas Eve night', while the book holds it on Christmas night itself.

Read backwards, what does the inscription on the mirror Harry finds that first Christmas say?

'I show not your face but your heart's desire': the frame reads 'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi', the sentence mirror-written with its spaces shifted.

Dumbledore warns Harry that the mirror he found over Christmas gives neither knowledge nor what?

Truth: Dumbledore says the mirror 'will give us neither knowledge or truth', and that men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen.

The cloak Harry unwraps at his first Hogwarts Christmas originally belonged to which Peverell brother?

Ignotus Peverell, the youngest brother in the Tale of the Three Brothers, hid from Death under the Cloak and passed it down to his descendants, the Potters.

Per Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, invisibility cloaks can be made from which creature's pelt?

Demiguise: its silvery hair can be woven into Invisibility Cloaks, though such cloaks grow opaque with age, unlike the Hallow.

Sirius's Christmas gift of a two-way mirror was originally used by him and James Potter to talk during what?

Separate detentions: the note with the mirror said the two friends used the pair to talk when in separate detentions, by speaking the other's name into the glass.

Who composed the score for the Goblet of Fire film, including its ballroom waltz?

Patrick Doyle scored Goblet of Fire, the first film without John Williams, and wrote the 'Potter Waltz' danced at the ball.

What colour is Hermione's ball gown in the Goblet of Fire film?

Pink: the film swapped the book's periwinkle-blue robes for a layered pink gown, which Hermione wears down the staircase for her entrance.