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49 free Hard Harry Potter trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Hard Harry Potter trivia has to go past the films and into the corners of the books that only rereaders remember: the names of Dumbledore's parents, the core of the Elder Wand, which Peverell brother owned what, and who Luna married. These 49 questions are built for the fan who has read all seven books more than once and wants a quiz that actually stings. The set covers the Black and Gaunt family trees, Snape's childhood, wandlore and the Deathly Hallows, Death Eater history, Hogwarts staff and ghosts, and the epilogue details from Deathly Hallows and Cursed Child. Every answer is checked against a cited source, and each explanation adds one more deep cut. Warn your friends before you play it at trivia night, then take a round now and see how many you can survive.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which relative of Dumbledore died in the three-way duel between Albus, Aberforth and Grindelwald?
His sister Ariana
Ariana, Dumbledore's sister, was killed in the duel; nobody ever knew whose curse struck her, which haunted Albus for the rest of his life.
Q 02In which village did the Dumbledore family live before moving to Godric's Hollow?
Mould-on-the-Wold
The Dumbledores lived at Mould-on-the-Wold until the father's imprisonment in Azkaban, after which the family moved to Godric's Hollow, as Rita Skeeter's biography recounts in Deathly Hallows.
Q 03On what date was Tom Marvolo Riddle born?
31 December 1926
Tom Riddle was born on 31 December 1926 at a Muggle orphanage in London, where his mother died within an hour of giving birth.
Q 04What was the name of Voldemort's witch mother?
Merope Gaunt
Merope Gaunt, Marvolo's daughter, bewitched the Muggle Tom Riddle and died within an hour of giving birth to their son at a London orphanage.
Q 05Who was headmaster of Hogwarts while Tom Riddle was a student?
Armando Dippet
Armando Dippet was headmaster during Riddle's school years; in the diary memory Riddle asks Dippet to let him stay at Hogwarts over the summer, and is refused.
Q 06Which Hogwarts teacher did Voldemort kill in the opening chapter of Deathly Hallows?
Charity Burbage
Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies teacher, was suspended above the Death Eaters' table and killed by Voldemort in the opening chapter of Deathly Hallows; her body was fed to Nagini.
Q 07What was the maiden name of Severus Snape's mother?
Prince
Snape's mother was the witch Eileen Prince; his Muggle father Tobias Snape made Severus a half-blood, hence the nickname he gave himself.
Q 08What was the name of the street where Snape grew up and later lived?
Spinner's End
Snape lived at Spinner's End, a grim street beside a disused mill; Narcissa and her sister visit him there in the second chapter of the sixth book.
Q 09What form did Snape's Patronus take, and why?
A doe, like Lily
Snape's Patronus was a doe, like Lily's, because his love for her never ended; when Dumbledore saw it he asked 'After all this time?' and Snape answered 'Always.'
Q 10Sirius Black was named, in family tradition, after which heavenly body?
The Dog Star
Sirius is the Dog Star, the brightest star in the night sky, fitting for a wizard whose Animagus form was a huge black dog nicknamed Padfoot.
Q 11What was the full name of Sirius Black's younger brother?
Regulus Arcturus Black
Regulus Arcturus Black, Sirius's younger brother, stole the real locket Horcrux from the cave and left a fake one with a note signed R.A.B.
Q 12Which of his three cousins did Sirius consider his favourite?
Andromeda
Andromeda was Sirius's favourite cousin; she was blasted off the family tapestry for marrying the Muggle-born Ted Tonks and became mother to Nymphadora.
Q 13How many years did Sirius spend in Azkaban before his escape?
Twelve
Sirius spent twelve years in Azkaban, from 1981 until his 1993 escape; he kept his sanity knowing he was innocent and slipped out as a dog, whose simpler emotions confused the Dementors.
Q 21Under Croaker's Law, legal Time-Turners may reach how far into the past?
Five hours
Croaker's Law, named for the Unspeakable Saul Croaker, sets five hours as the furthest a Time-Turner can safely reach back; the illegal one in Cursed Child breaks that rule, which is how the plot goes wrong.
Q 22What do memories look like when they are stored in a Pensieve?
Silver threads
Memories come out of the head as silver threads, a glowing silvery substance neither liquid nor gas, which swirl in the stone basin until someone plunges a face into them.
Q 23What destroyed Harry's Nimbus 2000, prompting Sirius to send him a Firebolt?
The Whomping Willow
Q 14What did Sirius lend Hagrid on the night the Potters were killed?
A flying motorbike
Hagrid landed on Privet Drive on Sirius's flying motorbike ('Young Sirius Black lent it me'), the very first mention of Sirius, in the opening chapter of Philosopher's Stone.
Q 15According to Rowling, what is the core of the Elder Wand?
Thestral hair
The Elder Wand's core is Thestral hair, a core Rowling gave to no other wand; it suits a wand of death, since thestrals are visible only to those who have seen someone die.
Q 16Which Peverell brother was the original owner of the Elder Wand?
Antioch
Antioch, the eldest Peverell brother, took the Elder Wand from Death and was murdered in his sleep for it; Cadmus took the Stone and Ignotus the Cloak.
Q 17How does the Elder Wand's allegiance pass from one wizard to the next?
When the owner is killed, defeated or disarmed
That loophole is why Harry, who disarmed Draco, was its true master when Voldemort tried to use it.
Q 18Which Dumbledore invention helped Ron find his way back to Harry and Hermione?
The Deluminator
The Deluminator, the Put-Outer of chapter one, let Ron hear Hermione say his name and sent a ball of light into his chest that guided him back to the tent.
Q 19The inscription on the Mirror of Erised is which phrase written backwards?
I show not your face but your heart's desire
The frame reads 'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi', which is 'I show not your face but your heart's desire' backwards; Erised itself is desire reversed.
Q 20Which veteran British actor provided the voice of the Sorting Hat in the films?
Leslie Phillips
Leslie Phillips, born in 1924, voiced the Sorting Hat in the first two films and returned for Deathly Hallows Part 2 at the age of 87.
Harry fell from his broom when Dementors swarmed the match and the wind carried the riderless Nimbus 2000 into the Whomping Willow, which smashed it to splinters.
Q 24Who bought Nimbus 2001 brooms for the entire Slytherin Quidditch team?
Lucius Malfoy
Lucius Malfoy gave the whole Slytherin team Nimbus 2001s in Chamber of Secrets, the same year Draco became Seeker, which Hermione called buying his way in.
Q 25Where and when was Hogwarts founded, according to the Wizarding World website?
The Highlands of Scotland, 9th-10th century
Hogwarts was founded in the Highlands of Scotland in the 9th-10th century by Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin, 'a thousand years or more ago' as the Sorting Hat sings.
Q 26What form does Hermione's Patronus take?
An otter
Rowling chose it because the otter is her own favourite animal.
Q 27What does the acronym of the organisation Hermione founds in Goblet of Fire, S.P.E.W., stand for?
Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare
S.P.E.W. stands for Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, founded by Hermione in Goblet of Fire after she saw Winky sacked; Ron and Harry mostly humoured her.
Q 28What was the name of Hagrid's giantess mother?
Fridwulfa
Hagrid's mother was the giantess Fridwulfa, who left when he was about three; she later had Grawp, Hagrid's half-brother, with another giant.
Q 29Where does Hagrid keep the pieces of his snapped wand?
In a pink umbrella
Hagrid hides the pieces of his snapped wand in a pink umbrella; expelled in his third year and forbidden to do magic, he still sneaks spells such as Dudley's pig tail.
Q 30Where was the baby dragon Norbert taken after Harry, Ron and Hermione helped Hagrid get rid of him?
A sanctuary in Romania
Charlie Weasley's friends collected Norbert from the top of the Astronomy Tower and flew him off to the dragon sanctuary in Romania where Charlie worked.