50 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.