100 Fun Facts About Harry Potter Magical Creatures

In Harry Potter, what is the study of wizarding wildlife called?

Magizoology. Hogwarts students get their first taste of it in Care of Magical Creatures, the class Hagrid takes over in Harry's third year.

Who is the in-universe author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?

Newt Scamander. Rowling published the real guidebook under his name in 2001 to raise money for Comic Relief, and he went on to be the hero of the prequel films.

Which of Hagrid's pets got him expelled from Hogwarts?

Aragog. Tom Riddle framed him as the monster of the Chamber of Secrets; set loose in the Forbidden Forest, he raised a colony that later tries to eat Harry and Ron.

In Harry Potter, which bird's cry was once thought to foretell death?

Augurey. Wizards eventually worked out that its cry only means rain is on the way, and took to keeping the birds as weather forecasters.

In Harry Potter lore, how is a Basilisk created?

A toad hatches a chicken's egg. Spiders flee from the serpent that emerges, and the only thing it flees itself is the crowing of a rooster, which is fatal to it.

In Harry Potter, what happens to someone who meets a Basilisk's gaze only indirectly, say in a mirror?

They are Petrified. That is why nobody dies in the Chamber of Secrets attacks: each victim saw the serpent in a reflection, through a camera lens or through a ghost.

Which cow-like creature's shed horn is an ingredient in Polyjuice Potion?

Bicorn. Hermione steals the horn, along with boomslang skin, from Snape's private stores so that the trio can brew the potion in their second year.

What happens to the victim of a Billywig sting?

Giddiness followed by levitation. Young Australian wizards provoke the insects on purpose for the ride, though too many stings can leave a victim hovering for days.

Which two creatures did Hagrid cross to breed Blast-Ended Skrewts?

A Manticore and a Fire Crab. The Fire Crab shoots flame from its rear end when threatened, which is where the Skrewts get the blast that propels them.

Which charm does Lupin teach to repel a Boggart?

Riddikulus. The charm forces the shape-shifter into a form the caster finds funny, because what really finishes a Boggart is laughter.

In Harry Potter's world, which twig-like creature guards trees whose wood is fit for wands?

Bowtruckle. It will gouge at the eyes of anyone who threatens its tree, so wandmakers first buy it off with an offering of woodlice.

Beyond healing, archery and astronomy, centaurs in Harry Potter are known for which other art?

Divination. Firenze agrees to teach it at Hogwarts, and his herd attacks and banishes him as a traitor for serving humans.

In Harry Potter's world, a Chimaera has a lion's head, a goat's body and the tail of what?

A dragon. The combination is as deadly as it sounds: the Quidditch star Dai Llewellyn was killed by a Chimaera while on holiday in Greece.

What is distinctive about a Crup, the wizarding breed of dog?

It has a forked tail. The law requires owners to remove it with a painless Severing Charm when the puppy is six to eight weeks old, so that Muggles see only a Jack Russell terrier.

What did Rowling say inspired the Dementors?

Her experience of depression. She described it as an absence of hope, a deadened feeling quite different from sadness, which is what a Dementor leaves behind when it feeds.

Which creatures does Gilderoy Lockhart set loose in his first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson?

Cornish pixies. Lockhart's own spell does nothing, the pixies hang Neville from the ceiling, and it is Hermione who finally stops them with a Freezing Charm.

In Harry Potter's world, which bird do Muggles think extinct only because it can vanish when threatened?

The dodo. Wizards call it the Diricawl, and they have never corrected the mistake because the guilt has made Muggles more careful about wiping out other animals.

What is a Doxy, the Biting Fairy, notable for having?

Four arms and four legs. Its bite is venomous too, which is why Fred and George pocket a few while clearing the curtains at Grimmauld Place: the venom goes into their Skiving Snackboxes.

Which of these fire-breathing breeds is genuinely listed in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?

Antipodean Opaleye. In the late 1970s a male driven out of New Zealand by a dominant female was blamed for a run of kangaroo killings in Australia.

What does Xenophilius Lovegood claim his explosive Erumpent trophy comes from?

A Crumple-Horned Snorkack. Hermione warns him that it is really an Erumpent horn, and she is proved right when his own stray spell hits it and blows the house apart.

In Harry Potter's world, why is every Fwooper sold with a Silencing Charm on it?

Its song drives listeners insane. Uric the Oddball set out to prove the song was good for you, and arrived to report his findings wearing nothing but a dead badger on his head.

What does the treacle of a Glumbumble induce in those who eat it?

Melancholy. That makes the treacle useful: it is the antidote to the hysteria brought on by eating Alihotsy leaves.

In Harry Potter, who do goblins regard as the rightful owner of anything forged by goblins?

The maker, not the buyer. To a goblin a sale is closer to a loan, which is why Griphook regards the sword of Gryffindor as stolen goods.

Why did Quidditch replace the live Golden Snidget with a metal ball?

It was being hunted to extinction. Around 1350 the Wizards' Council made the Snidget a protected species, and an enchanted ball took its place in the game.

In Harry Potter's world, what are Grindylows?

Small horned water demons. Lupin teaches that the trick is to break their grip, because their long fingers are strong but brittle.

Which creature, whose pelt is woven into Invisibility Cloaks, was bred with a ghoul to create the Hidebehind?

A Demiguise. The first Hidebehinds were born aboard a smuggler's ship to a trafficked Demiguise and a stowaway ghoul, and got loose when it docked in Massachusetts.

How does a Hinkypunk lure travellers astray?

With a lantern. The one-legged wisp of smoke hops ahead with its light until the traveller following it blunders into a bog.

What daily spell must a wizard cast to legally own a hippogriff or winged horse?

A Disillusionment Charm. It stops Muggles noticing anything odd overhead, and because its effects are apt to wear off, the law makes owners renew it every day.

In Harry Potter, how can a master free a house-elf?

By giving it an item of clothing. Harry tricks Lucius Malfoy into doing just that, hiding Riddle's diary inside his own sock so that Malfoy flings the sock to Dobby.

In Harry Potter, what does Hermione's SPEW stand for?

Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. Hermione wanted "Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures", but it would not fit, so that became the manifesto's heading.

In Harry Potter, what is an Inferius?

A corpse reanimated by Dark magic. Voldemort packs the lake in the Horcrux cave with them, and only Dumbledore's ring of fire drives them back into the water.

What is notable about the speech of a Jarvey in Harry Potter?

It only makes short, often rude statements. A medieval monk who reported being insulted by one in his garden was suspected of having been at the turnip wine.

What does a Jobberknoll do just before it dies?

Screams every sound it ever heard, backwards. Until that moment the bird is completely silent, and its feathers go into truth serums and memory potions.

What does a Kelpie do when someone mounts it?

Drags them under and drowns them. The largest kelpie on record lives in Loch Ness, where its favourite shape is a sea serpent, to the lasting confusion of Muggles.

In Harry Potter's world, what can a Kneazle detect?

Untrustworthy people. Hermione's cat Crookshanks is part Kneazle, which is how he sees through Scabbers the rat long before anyone else does.

Which creature, also called the Living Shroud, slides along the ground like a black cloak to smother sleepers?

Lethifold. The only known defence is a Patronus, which is how the wizard Flavius Belby survived to describe one slithering up his bed like a rippling black cape.

In Harry Potter's world, what happens to someone bitten by a Mackled Malaclaw?

Bad luck, for up to a week. The creature looks like a lobster but is just as unwise to eat: its flesh brings on a nasty fever and a green rash.

In Harry Potter's world, which lizard's hide makes purses that shrink when a stranger comes near?

Moke. Hagrid gives Harry a mokeskin pouch for his seventeenth birthday, the point of it being that nobody but the owner can get anything out.

What does a Niffler store in its bottomless pouch?

Shiny objects. Goblins keep Nifflers to burrow for treasure, and Lee Jordan levitates a couple through Umbridge's window to tear her office apart.

In the Fantastic Beasts films, what is an Obscurial?

A magical child who represses their magic. The buried power becomes a parasitic force called an Obscurus, which can burst out as a shadowy cloud, as Credence's does over New York.

In Harry Potter's world, what are an Occamy's eggshells made of?

Pure silver. The Occamy fiercely defends its eggs from anyone who comes near, and it can grow or shrink to fill whatever space it is in.

In Harry Potter, which bird sheds healing tears and gives tail feathers for wand cores?

The Phoenix. Fawkes, Dumbledore's own bird, gave just two tail feathers, and they ended up in the wands of Harry and Voldemort.

Which pets do Fred and George sell at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?

Pygmy Puffs. The twins breed them as miniature Puffskeins in pink and purple and cannot keep up with demand; Ginny gets a purple one and names it Arnold.

Which creature is sentenced to death after injuring Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter?

Buckbeak. Harry and Hermione go back in time to free him just before the execution, and Sirius Black escapes on his back.

In the folklore behind Harry Potter's Red Cap, what colours its hat?

Its victims' blood. Rowling's version keeps the menace: Red Caps lurk wherever blood has been spilt and try to bludgeon any Muggle lost there at night.

Which three-headed serpent has heads that plan, dream and criticise?

Runespoor. The critic nags so relentlessly that the other two heads often band together and bite it off, which is one reason few of these snakes reach old age.

In Harry Potter, who can see Thestrals?

Those who have seen death. That is why Harry first notices them pulling the school carriages in his fifth year, after seeing Cedric Diggory die.

What is the name of the Thunderbird set free at the end of the first Fantastic Beasts film?

Frank. He had been rescued from traffickers in Egypt, and the storm he whips up over New York washes away Muggles' memories of the magic they have seen.

What does Voldemort drink in the Forbidden Forest to sustain his weak body?

Unicorn blood. It will keep a dying drinker alive, but Firenze warns that anyone who kills something so pure lives a cursed half-life from the moment it touches their lips.

In Harry Potter, what does the Wolfsbane Potion let a werewolf do?

Keep a human mind. Snape brews it for Lupin every month, and on the one night Lupin forgets his goblet he transforms, out of control, in the school grounds.

What does Professor Lupin give Harry Potter to eat after a Dementor boards the Hogwarts Express?

Chocolate counteracts the chill a Dementor leaves behind. The school matron, Madam Pomfrey, approves when she hears a teacher has already handed it round.

Which wizard hid for twelve years as Scabbers, the pet rat handed down to Ron Weasley?

Peter Pettigrew framed Sirius Black for betraying the Potters, then vanished into the Weasley household as a family pet. He is an Animagus, a wizard who can turn into an animal at will.

Which animal does Mad-Eye Moody turn Draco Malfoy into for trying to curse Harry Potter from behind?

A ferret is what Malfoy becomes, and the professor bounces him off the floor for good measure. The teacher is later unmasked as a Death Eater disguised by Polyjuice Potion.

A stray hair in Hermione Granger's Polyjuice Potion leaves her looking like which animal?

A cat is what she ends up resembling, because the hair she plucked from a Slytherin girl's robes belonged to a pet. She misses the mission and lands in the hospital wing.

Which Hogwarts teacher is carried into the Forbidden Forest by centaurs after insulting the herd?

Dolores Umbridge treats the herd as inferior half-breeds and is carried screaming into the trees. Dumbledore later goes into the forest in person to fetch her back.

What sends Fluffy, the three-headed dog guarding the Philosopher's Stone, straight to sleep?

A little music is all it takes, a secret Hagrid lets slip to a hooded stranger. Harry later plays the beast to sleep on a flute that Hagrid carved for him.

Who kills Nagini, Lord Voldemort's snake and final Horcrux, during the Battle of Hogwarts?

Neville Longbottom pulls a blade from the Sorting Hat to do it, moments after Voldemort demands that the school surrender.

Which creature does Professor Quirrell let into the Hogwarts dungeons during the Halloween feast?

A troll of the mountain kind lumbers in as a diversion while Quirrell heads for the forbidden corridor. Ron knocks it out with its own club, rescuing Hermione.

Which house-elf dies by Bellatrix Lestrange's knife after rescuing Harry Potter from Malfoy Manor?

Dobby is buried in a grave that Harry digs with a spade rather than magic. The rock Harry sets over it is inscribed to name him a free elf.

What is Ron Weasley's worst fear, which he must face when a trail leads into the Forbidden Forest?

Spiders frighten him so badly that his Boggart takes their shape in Lupin's class. He follows a trail of them deep into the trees all the same, on Hagrid's advice.

Which language does Harry Potter speak without realising it to a boa constrictor at the zoo?

Parseltongue is the language of snakes, and the freed boa thanks Harry and says it is off to Brazil. The gift is tied almost entirely to the bloodline of Salazar Slytherin.

James Potter's Animagus form, the source of his nickname Prongs, is which animal?

A stag is also the shape of Harry's own Patronus. When it drives off the Dementors by the lake, Harry at first believes his father must have cast it.

Which ginger cat does Hermione Granger buy at the Magical Menagerie after it pounces at Ron's rat?

Crookshanks had been in the shop for quite a while before Hermione, who went in wanting an owl, took him home instead. His grudge against the rat turns out to be well founded.

In the first Fantastic Beasts film, the hero carries his creatures around New York inside what?

A suitcase, magically enlarged inside, houses the whole collection. The trouble starts when it is swapped by accident with the case of a would-be baker, who opens it at home.

The hero of the Fantastic Beasts films wears the black-and-yellow scarf of which Hogwarts house?

Hufflepuff was his house at Hogwarts, where he took the blame for a friend's dangerous experiment with a beast and faced expulsion. Dumbledore, one of his teachers, argued strongly on his behalf.

Which pests do the Weasley brothers whirl round and fling over the hedge at The Burrow?

Gnomes are twirled until they are too dizzy to find their way home, yet Harry soon spots them sneaking back through the hedge one by one.

Which huge creature shares the lake in the Hogwarts grounds with a colony of merpeople?

A giant squid lives in the same water that Harry must dive into for the second Triwizard task, when he has to rescue someone from the depths.

Which creature in the Triwizard maze lets Harry Potter pass only in return for a correct answer?

A sphinx has a human head on a lion's body and is known in the wizarding world for setting riddles and puzzles. Harry answers this one correctly and walks on.

What does a Dementor suck out through the mouth of its victim when it performs the Dementor's Kiss?

Their soul is what the Kiss removes, a step beyond the creatures' usual feeding, which drains happiness and forces people to relive their worst memories.

Which bird is Ravenclaw's mascot in the Harry Potter novels, although the films show a raven?

An eagle is the house's emblem in the books, in blue and bronze. Its students reach their tower dormitories by solving a riddle at the door.

What is the name of Hagrid's boarhound, a coward who bolts from danger in the Forbidden Forest?

Fang lives up to Hagrid's warning that he is a coward: when a hooded figure appears in the forest in the first book, he bolts at once, and so does Draco Malfoy.

For the second Triwizard task, Viktor Krum transforms his head into that of which animal?

A shark's head gets him to the bottom of the lake, but he cannot bite through the ropes holding his hostage, so Harry hands him a sharp rock to cut her free.

What is the name of Hagrid's giant half-brother, whom he hides in the Forbidden Forest?

Grawp slowly takes to being civilised: by the end of the next book he behaves gently at Dumbledore's funeral, patting Hagrid to comfort him, and he later helps to defend Hogwarts.

Which Hogwarts caretaker patrols with Mrs Norris, a thin grey cat who reports on students?

Argus Filch is a Squib, born into the magical world with no magic of his own, and Mrs Norris seems to be the one creature he cares deeply about.

How does Fawkes, Dumbledore's bird, help Harry Potter fight the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets?

Fawkes blinds it, taking away the monster's deadliest weapon, its gaze, and leaving it to hunt Harry by smell. The bird also delivers the Sorting Hat.

Where does Harry Potter find the name Hedwig for the snowy owl Hagrid buys him?

A History of Magic, one of his first school textbooks, supplied the name. Hagrid picked an owl as a birthday present partly because cats make him sneeze.

In Harry Potter, who gives Ron's tiny owl the name Pigwidgeon, which Ron shortens to Pig?

Ginny Weasley chose the name before her brother could. The owl was a gift from Sirius Black, who felt responsible for Ron losing his rat.

Which werewolf bit Remus Lupin as a small boy because Lupin's father had offended him?

Fenrir Greyback places himself near homes when the moon is full so that he is sure to infect someone, hoping to build an army of his own kind.

Rita Skeeter eavesdrops at Hogwarts as an unregistered Animagus by turning into which creature?

A beetle can listen in on private talk unnoticed, until Hermione works out the trick and traps her. The price of Hermione's silence is a year without writing stories.

Which centaur angers his herd by letting Harry Potter ride on his back out of the Forbidden Forest?

Firenze drives off the hooded figure stalking Harry and carries him to safety, to the fury of Bane, who thinks it shameful for one of their kind to carry a human.

What does the goblin Griphook demand as his price for helping Harry Potter break into Gringotts?

Gryffindor's sword is his price, and he goes on to betray Harry and his friends during the break-in. In the film version the goblin does not survive it.

Sacked by the Crouch family, what does the house-elf Winky get drunk on day after day at Hogwarts?

Butterbeer, a drink popular with young wizards, is what she turns to as she sits by the fire mourning her lost master. A fellow elf hides her in a secret room when she needs to sleep it off.

Which master of the house-elf Kreacher died while swapping Voldemort's locket Horcrux for a fake?

Regulus Black, a Death Eater who turned on Voldemort, left a note signed only with his initials and made sure the elf escaped with the real locket.

Fleur Delacour's unearthly charm comes from her grandmother, who was which kind of being?

A Veela can bewitch and enchant men when she looks like an exceptionally beautiful woman, though the same being can also take on a far fiercer, harpy-like form.

Which sound is fatal to a Basilisk, the reason Hagrid's birds keep turning up dead?

A rooster's crow kills the giant serpent, so the school's roosters are being strangled one by one. The dead birds Hagrid is seen carrying are a clue to the monster.

According to Luna Lovegood, which Christmas plant is probably full of creatures called Nargles?

Mistletoe is what Harry happens to be standing under when Luna warns him, and he jumps clear at once. Nobody but Luna seems to believe Nargles exist.

Which Hogwarts spirit, filmed by Rik Mayall for the first Harry Potter film, was cut before release?

Peeves the Poltergeist was dropped in post-production because the director and producer were unhappy with the character's design. Director Chris Columbus later called the cut one of his biggest regrets.

In Harry Potter, which notably small Hogwarts professor has a distant goblin ancestor in his family?

Filius Flitwick teaches Charms and is head of Ravenclaw house. He is played in the films by Warwick Davis.

Severus Snape's Patronus takes the same shape as Lily Potter's; which animal is it?

A doe makes Snape the only Death Eater able to produce a full Patronus, and it stands as a visible sign of his lifelong love for Harry's mother.

In Fantastic Beasts, what does the body of an Occamy do, a trait called being choranaptyxic?

An Occamy grows or shrinks to fit whatever space is available. The winged, serpent-bodied beast comes from East Asia and India.

In Harry Potter lore, which elephant-sized cat can travel a thousand miles in a day?

Zouwu look terrifying, with a striped coat, a straggly mane and teeth that curl out of the mouth, yet the hero of the Fantastic Beasts films insists one is just like a big kitten.

In The Secrets of Dumbledore, which creature picks a leader by bowing to the pure of heart?

A Qilin is so trusted that Grindelwald kills one and reanimates it to rig an election, only for its surviving twin to bow to Dumbledore instead.

Which leopard-like beast in Harry Potter lore has breath toxic enough to wipe out whole villages?

A Nundu can only be subdued by a number of witches and wizards working together, and it carries the Ministry of Magic's highest danger rating.

Fantastic Beasts and Quidditch Through the Ages were written by J.K. Rowling to fund which charity?

Comic Relief had received over £17 million from sales of the two slim books by July 2009. The first edition of the beast guide did not even carry Rowling's name on its cover.

Which American wizarding school names its houses after creatures such as the Thunderbird and Wampus?

Ilvermorny stands on Mount Greylock in Massachusetts, hidden from non-magical people by enchantments. Its other two houses are Horned Serpent and Pukwudgie.

In Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter fears that the huge black dog he keeps seeing is which omen?

The Grim is a spectral dog said to appear to those about to die, and Professor Trelawney claims to see one in Harry's tea leaves. The real animal is Sirius Black in Animagus form.

In Harry Potter lore, which shy creature leaves its burrow on some nights to dance on its hind legs?

A Mooncalf emerges only when the moon is full, a pale grey animal on four spindly legs with large, flat webbed feet. Its bulging eyes fill nearly all of its face.

Which venomous, butterfly-like creature from the Fantastic Beasts films has a skull like a wolf's?

Swooping Evil feeds on human brains, an alarming habit for something that could pass for a butterfly at a distance.

In The Crimes of Grindelwald, Nagini is which kind of cursed woman, fated to become a beast?

A Maledictus carries a curse that will eventually transform her for good. When the film opens she is the main attraction of a wizarding circus in Paris.

The Thunderbird of the Fantastic Beasts stories is native to the desert of which US state?

Arizona is where the storm-making bird is most commonly found. Its tail feathers make powerful wand cores, which leaves it vulnerable to poachers and traffickers.