50 free Harry Potter Magical Creatures trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The wizarding world is crawling with creatures, from the Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest to the Zouwu in Newt Scamander's suitcase. J. K. Rowling invented some of them, borrowed others from Greek myth, Celtic folklore and Roman historians, and catalogued the lot in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the 2001 guidebook credited to Newt himself. Magizoology is the study of them; the Ministry's Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures tries to keep them in order. This quiz covers the famous ones and the obscure: how a Basilisk is hatched, which charm sends a Boggart packing, what a Bicorn contributes to Polyjuice Potion, why Muggles think the dodo is extinct, the Thestral hair inside the Elder Wand, the ten dragon breeds, the Jobberknoll's dying scream, the Erumpent horn in the Lovegood house, the Demiguise pelts in invisibility cloaks, the Occamy's silver eggs, and Frank the Thunderbird's storm over New York. Fifty questions, four options each, with a short explanation after every answer. Play on your phone or print it for a Harry Potter quiz night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the in-universe term for the study of magical creatures?
Magizoology
Its practitioners work in the Ministry's Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.
Q 02Who is the in-universe author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?
Newt Scamander
Rowling published the real-world guidebook under his name in 2001, and he became the hero of the prequel films.
Q 03Which giant talking spider got Hagrid expelled from Hogwarts?
Aragog
He was wrongly blamed for being the monster in the Chamber of Secrets; his kind still dwells in the Forbidden Forest.
Q 04What is the Augurey also known as?
The Irish Phoenix
In Cursed Child, Voldemort's followers wear a tattoo of the mournful greyish-green bird.
Q 05How is a Basilisk created?
A toad hatches a chicken's egg
Direct eye contact kills; indirect contact, through a mirror or a camera, only Petrifies.
Q 06What happens to someone who meets a Basilisk's gaze indirectly, say through a mirror?
They are Petrified
That is how Hermione, Colin Creevey and the others survive the Chamber of Secrets attacks.
Q 07Which cow-like creature's shed horn is an ingredient in Polyjuice Potion?
Bicorn
Hermione steals the horn from Snape's stores in Chamber of Secrets.
Q 08What happens to the victim of a Billywig sting?
Giddiness followed by levitation
Several of the Australian insects escape Newt's suitcase in the first Fantastic Beasts film.
Q 09Which two creatures did Hagrid cross to breed Blast-Ended Skrewts?
A Manticore and a Fire Crab
The Fire Crab shoots flame from its rear when threatened, which explains the Skrewts' habit.
Q 10Which charm does Lupin teach to repel a Boggart?
Riddikulus
The shape-shifter takes the form of your worst fear, and nobody knows what it looks like alone.
Q 11Which tree-dwelling wooden creature lives in wand-quality trees?
Bowtruckle
Newt's favourite, Pickett, rides in his pocket in the Fantastic Beasts films.
Q 12In what two arts are centaurs said to be skilled?
Healing and astrology
Centaurs who associate with humans are often branded traitors, yet they fight the Death Eaters at Hogwarts.
Q 13A Chimaera has the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of what?
A dragon
It is drawn straight from Greek mythology, like the Sphinx and the Hippocampus.
Q 21What does a Fwooper do that makes it distinctive?
Sings a high-pitched twittering song
The brightly coloured bird's song is said to drive listeners mad in the Fantastic Beasts guidebook.
Q 22What does the treacle of a Glumbumble induce in those who eat it?
Melancholy
The insect looks like a bumblebee but its produce is the opposite of honey.
Q 23What language do goblins speak?
Gobbledegook
They run Gringotts, and relations with wizards have been strained for centuries.
Q 14What is distinctive about a Crup, the wizarding breed of dog?
It has a forked tail
Chizpurfles, crab-like parasites, like to live on Crups and Augureys.
Q 15What did Rowling say inspired the Dementors?
Her experience of depression
She called them soulless creatures and among the foulest beings on Earth; Muggles cannot see them.
Q 16Pelts of which orangutan-like creature are used to make invisibility cloaks?
Demiguise
It can turn invisible and has precognition; one escapes in the first Fantastic Beasts film.
Q 17Which real bird do Muggles believe is extinct only because it can vanish when threatened?
The dodo
Wizards call it the Diricawl, and Newt Scamander says its disappearing act fooled the Muggles.
Q 18What is a Doxy, the Biting Fairy, notable for having?
Four arms and four legs
The Weasleys spray nests of them in the curtains of Grimmauld Place.
Q 19Which of these is a real breed in the wizarding world's fire-breathing bestiary?
Antipodean Opaleye
The others are invented; the real list also includes the Hebridean Black, Peruvian Vipertooth and Ukrainian Ironbelly.
Q 20What does Xenophilius Lovegood claim his explosive Erumpent trophy comes from?
A Crumple-Horned Snorkack
The rhinoceros-like Erumpent's horn contains explosive liquid, which the Lovegood house finds out the hard way.
Q 24Which small bird served as the Snitch in early Quidditch?
The Golden Snidget
The walnut-sized Snitch replaced the bird once its hunting became a conservation problem.
Q 25What are Grindylows?
Small horned water demons
They get tentacles in the films and menace Harry in the lake during the Triwizard Tournament.
Q 26The Hidebehind is the result of illegally breeding a ghoul with which creature?
A Demiguise
It shares the Demiguise's gift for not being seen.
Q 27How does a Hinkypunk lure travellers astray?
With a lantern
It is a one-legged wisp of blue, grey or white smoke, and one of Lupin's third-year lessons.
Q 28What daily spell must a wizard cast to legally own a hippogriff or winged horse?
A Disillusionment Charm
The part-eagle, part-horse Buckbeak is the series' best-known example.
Q 29How can a master free a house-elf?
By giving it an item of clothing
Harry tricks Lucius Malfoy into freeing Dobby with a sock; Hermione's SPEW campaigns for elf welfare.
Q 30What does SPEW stand for?
Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare
Scholar Brycchan Carey praised Hermione's group as a model for young people's political engagement.