Magical objects in Harry Potter
In the
Harry Potter series, many
magical objects exist for the use of the
characters.
Broomsticks
Broomsticks are used for transportation by wizards and witches of all ages and for the game of
Quidditch.
Portkeys and
Floo Powder also provide transportation. Licensed wizards of age will sometimes
apparate. Eastern magic-wielders are usually the only ones to use flying carpets, and their use is banned in
England at least, for being too conspicuous. There are also toy broomsticks for young children which only fly about three feet off the ground.
A complete culture exists for broomsticks as exists for cars in the real world, see the list of
Broomsticks in Harry Potter.
Floo Powder
Floo powder is a glittering powder used by wizards to travel and communicate using fireplaces. A fire to which Floo powder has been added will appear green. It was invented by Ignatia Wildsmith (1227-1320) and named after the passageway which leads from a fireplace to the chimney so hot gases can escape, or
flue.
To use a fireplace for transport or communication the fireplace must be connected to the
Floo Network. To transport from one fireplace to another, the traveller stands in the fireplace with a handful of Floo powder, states the intended destination in a clear voice, then throws the powder at his or her feet. Alternatively, Floo Powder can be thrown into a fireplace (with or without a fire already burning) and the traveller can step into it. As for communication, one puts ones head in the fire, and speaks the destination. This allows people to communicate without having to travel to the location.
In the second book the
Weasleys travelled to
Diagon Alley by Floo powder. Harry did not say "Diagon Alley" clearly (in the film, this was portrayed by Harry saying "diagonally", so he presumably travelled diagonally) and was deposited in a dingy and sinister shop in nearby
Knockturn Alley. In the
fourth book,
Arthur Weasley used his position at the
Ministry of Magic to have the
Dursleys' fireplace temporarily connected to the Floo network, unaware that the fireplace had been bricked up.
Sirius Black used the network to communicate with Harry in the same book. In the
fifth book,
Dolores Umbridge and her
Inquisitorial Squad inspected the incoming and outgoing Owl Post, and every fireplace in
Hogwarts, except for
Dolores Umbridge's own fire, so Harry had to put himself in considerable risk and use Umbridge's fireplace whenever he wanted to communicate with Sirius at headquarters, a method which was quite uncomfortable to begin with.
Flying Carpets
Flying carpets are an alternative wizarding type of transportation, possibly around the world, but illegal in
Europe (or at least in England). Usually they are a thick
rug, frequently highly patterned and often manufactured in the
Middle East. The obvious advantage of the carpet over the broomstick is that they can seat a number of people, and are no doubt more comfortable to ride.
Flying Carpets were once an accepted form of travel for the magical community, but they are now banned due to being defined as a Muggle Artefact by the Registry of Proscribed Charmable Objects. It is therefore now against wizarding law to charm carpets or fly them in Britain, although they are still legal in other countries. Arthur Weasley was very much involved in the introduction of this legislation due to his position in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office. It is known that the ban was relatively recent, not only from Arthur's involvement, but also from the fact that
Barty Crouch Senior's grandfather owned a 12-seater
Axminster back in the days before they were prohibited.
A merchant by the name of Ali Bashir is very keen to export Flying Carpets to Britain and is very upset that local laws are preventing him from doing so. He regularly berates Arthur about the subject but it is very unlikely that the law will be changed.
Hand of Glory
The
Hand of Glory is an unpleasant instrument sold to Draco Malfoy by Borgin and Burkes. It is a large shrivelled hand, often displayed on a cushion. When it is given a candle, it gives light only to the one holding the hand.
In the movie
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the Hand appears in Borgin and Burkes. When Harry examines it, it attempts to break his wrist.
Portkey
Portkeys are first mentioned in
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Once created, a portkey can be set to transport anybody who touches it to a designated location, or to become active at a pre-determined time and transport to that location anybody who happens to be touching it at the moment.
In
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Barty Crouch Jr., who was impersonating
Alastor Moody, made the
Triwizard Tournament cup a portkey so it would transport anybody who touched it straight to the hands of Voldemort, expecting it would be Harry Potter. However, Harry took the cup together with
Cedric Diggory, so Voldemort had Cedric murdered with
Avada Kedavra.
It has been noted by some fans that it is interesting that the simplicity with which portkeys are created in the beginning of the fourth book (as a method for transportation to the Quidditch tournament) and in the fifth book calls into question the need for the fourth book: Crouch, posing as Moody, could easily have turned, say, a book, into a portkey, called Harry into his office, and said, "Here, take this." This would have eliminated the need for Moody's laboriously guiding Harry through the tournament tasks, turning the trophy in the labyrinth into a portkey, and for 600-plus pages of dense (albeit interesting) reading. It has been argued by others, though, that due to the protection of Hogwarts, which also makes apparating impossible, the creation of portkeys on Hogwarts must have the permission of the Headmaster. This is why Moody cast the portkey spell on the Triwizard Cup since, it was originally intended as a portkey all along by the tournament officials for the winner of the cup to exit the maze without having to fight past the other champions and challenges of the maze again. It would explain why the portkey took Harry back to Hogwarts and out of the maze when he touched the Cup the second time instead of back into the maze at Hogwarts (or not functioned at all like regular one-time portkeys). Other evidence to support this theory may be found in the fifth
Harry Potter book, including Fudge's anger at Dumbledore setting up an "Unauthorised Portkey", and the quote from Lupin: "...it's more than our life's worth to set up an unauthorised Portkey." Also, many argue that using the Tournament would be an excellent coverup for Lord Voldemort, who wished to return unnoticed. The death of Harry Potter would have been seen as a tragic accident in such a dangerous tournament, and Voldemort would be able to continue with his agenda unchallenged.
Time-Turner
A Time-Turner is a device in the magical world of
Harry Potter, that allows for
time travel.
Hermione Granger received a Time-Turner from
Professor McGonagall in
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, so she could attend more
Hogwarts classes than time would normally allow. McGonagall made Hermione keep the Time-Turner secret, so Hermione did not mention it to Harry or Ron; yet they noticed that she would, on occasion, suddenly seem to appear unexpectedly, and apparently out of thin air, in classes or elsewhere. Hermione finally lets Harry in on the secret near the end of the book, where she and Harry used the Time-Turner to travel back in time in order to save
Sirius Black and
Buckbeak.
Hermione's Time-Turner resembled an
hourglass pendant on a necklace. The hourglass pendant would be twisted to move through time, and the number of turns on the hourglass corresponded to the number of hours one travelled back in time.
A large supply of Time-Turners is discovered by members of
Dumbledore's Army at the
Ministry of Magic in
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but like reminded in
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the entire supply of Time-Turners in storage at the Ministry was destroyed by Harry Potter and the Death Eaters during the fight for the prophecy.
Vanishing Cabinet
At the end of the sixth book, Hogwarts is invaded despite its magical defences against transportation spells by means of a vanishing cabinet. This transfers objects which go into one cabinet to a second paired cabinet where they emerge. One broken cabinet was already in the
Room of Requirement at Hogwarts. This was repaired by
Draco Malfoy. At the start of book 6 he is seen in
Borgin and Burkes shop in
Knockturn Alley (a side street of Diagon Alley, which has many shops for the Dark arts, hence: nocturnally) purchasing the twin of some object, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione are unable to see what it is, because he is standing behind a cabinet. He also requests Borgin's help to repair some object. It is likely that the vanishing cabinet was broken in the second book, when Peeves drops it over Filch's office as a diversion.
The vanishing cabinet is mentioned several times in the earlier books, such as when
Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington convinces
Peeves to drop it over
Argus Filch's office in
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in order to help
Harry escape detention for "befouling of the castle" (tracking in
mud). It was also utilised in
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by
Fred and George Weasley, when they forced
Montague, the
Slytherin Quidditch captain and member of
the Inquisitorial Squad into it when he tried to take house points from Gryffindor, presumably for no reason. In
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,
Malfoy discovers that a pair of Vanishing Cabinets could be used as a magical passage, and uses this object to smuggle
Death Eaters into Hogwarts. The Vanishing Cabinets have yet to appear prominently in the films; in a deleted scene in
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry hides in one of the Cabinets in Borgin and Burke's.
The Dark Mark
The
Dark Mark is
Lord Voldemort's symbol, and at the height of his power, it was sent up in the air when any one of his followers murdered someone. The Mark is also magically imprinted onto the
Death Eaters' left forearms. It consists of a
skull with a
serpent emerging from its mouth. According to
Snape, the Dark Mark can be triggered by Voldemort to glow and burn; this is intended to serve as a summons for the Death Eaters. In this manner, The Dark Mark, in terms of its appearance on the arms of Voldemort's Death Eaters and the concept of it being used to summon them, has a similar function to The Brand of the Order of the
Midnight Sons, a group of supernaturally inclined superheroes from Marvel Comics, who received a mark that resembled a dagger composed of flames on their arms which would activate when the world was in a time of supernatural crisis in order to alert the heroes that they were needed. The Dark Mark is cast by placing the tip of one's staff or wand against the target's forearm or the air, and incanting the word
"morsmordre."
Letters
Witches and wizards can write words in the air with their wands.
Dumbledore writes the lyrics to the
Hogwarts school song in the air in the first novel.
Tom Riddle, at the end of
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, does this to show that
I am Lord Voldemort is an
anagram of
Tom Marvolo Riddle. It's possible that this is an unspoken form of the
Flagrate spell that Hermione uses to mark doors in the
Department of Mysteries in
the fifth book.
Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
; Headless Hat : Creates a limited field of invisibility. Specifically, the wearer's head. Hermione actually calls it "Clever," which, coming from Hermione, is one of the greatest compliments one can receive.
; Extendable Ears : Placing one end of one of these long, flesh-coloured strings in one's ear allows one to hear anything at the other end. Used for spying in many instances. Can't listen through doors if an Imperturbable charm has been placed on the door.
;
Skiving Snackbox : These hold a variety of sweets that, when eaten, cause the subject to show symptoms of some sort of illness, such as vomiting or nosebleed. Used for getting out of classes. The sweets have two differently coloured halves. The first half causes the malady, and the second half is the antidote. Includes:# Fainting Fancy# Fever Fudge # Nosebleed Nougat# Puking Pastilles
; Ton Tongue Toffees:
Toffee that, when eaten, causes the user's tongue to grow to an amazing length, and become extremely heavy. They are wrapped in brightly coloured wrappers. Fred and George Weasley used this new invention on Dudley Dursley.
; Canary Creams : Transfigures the user into a giant canary for a few minutes.
; Wildfire Whiz-Bangs : Fireworks. Includes:#Basic Blaze Box #Deflagration DeluxeIndividual fireworks include:#Dragons and bats comprised from coloured sparks#Pink
Catherine wheels that fly through the air#Silver-tailed rockets#Firecrackers that blast for hours#Sparklers that write swear words; probably charmed# (very likely to be unintentional) Winged piglets made from pink and silver sparks that fly around-created when a Catherine wheel collides with a rocket
; Portable Swamp : Creates a swamp when used.
; Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder : When sprinkled into the air, creates an area of impenetrable darkness. Malfoy used this in the Death Eaters' attack on Hogwarts. It holds off spells such as
incendio fire,
lumos light, and supposedly other light charms, even though Malfoy's Hand of Glory can penetrate it.
; Shield Hats : Automatically cast a Shield Charm on the wearer, causing minor to moderate curses and jinxes to be reflected back at the caster. Come in other shapes as well, such as Shield Cloaks and Shield Gloves. First thought as a joke, until the Ministry bought 500 of these and other Shield garments.
Decoy Detonators : Small horn-type object that, when dropped on the ground, will scurry away at a distance and make a loud distracting noise.; Punching Telescopes : Discovered by Hermione Granger in Fred and George's bedroom. You squeeze it and it gives you a black eye. Has a thick yellow paste as an antidote, possibly used for other things as well.
Edible Dark Marks : Makes whoever eats it sick; U-No-Poo: "The Constipation Sensation That's Gripping The Nation." Its name is a play on 'You-Know-Who.'
Reuseable Hangman: A classic game of Hangman with an added twist; a wooden doll actually climbs up the stairs of a set of gallows with each wrong guess, and hangs itself if the player loses.; Patented daydream charm: Instructions on casting an incantation on yourself to enter a realistic thirty-minute daydream. Minor side-effects include vacant expression and drooling.
Fanged Frisbees: Literally frisbees with fangs. First seen in Half Blood Prince. It whirled around the room after Ron Weasly threw one in the Gryffindor common room. May be capable of causing damage.Other
; Dungbomb : Explodes into a large and extremely smelly mess.
Stink Pellets : Used to distract prefects and teachers, and gives an unpleasant smell.
; Pygmy Puffs : Miniature puffskeins.; Screaming yo-yos: Presumably screams loudly when worked.
Magical Candies
Acid Pops are a type of wizard candy available at
Honeydukes. They are magical lollipops that can burn a hole through your tongue.
Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans are a famous type of wizard candy. They are
jelly beans that came in every (really, EVERY) flavour. The flavours described in the book as normal are:caramel- chocolate- coffee- marmalade- peppermint- strawberry
The ones with the "unusual" flavours are:baked beans- bogey- curry- earwax- grass- liver- pepper- sardine- spinach- sprouts- tripe- vomit
Jelly Belly candy company produces real
Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. They have produced odd flavours in and out of the market since (--). Some of the "unusual" examples are: bacon - black pepper - booger- dirt- earthworm - ear wax - grass- rotten egg- soap - sardine - spinach- vomit
Chocolate frogs are found in the
Harry Potter universe. They are
frogs made of
chocolate and, because they are
magical, they hop around. (In the first film, they also croak like real frogs.) Chocolate frogs are each packaged with a magical collectible card giving a brief
biography of a famous (in the Harry Potter universe and sometimes in other magical worlds) witch or wizard. The cards named by the Harry Potter books include:
*
Agrippa*
Ptolemy*
Albus Dumbledore*
Nicolas Flamel*
Morgana*
Hengist of Woodcroft* Alberic Grunnion
*
Circe*
Paracelsus*
Merlin*
Druidess Cliodna *
Crispin Cronk*
Bertie Bott *
Felix Somebill*
Cassandra VablatskeyAdditionally,
J.K. Rowling designed four Wizard Cards for the four
Hogwarts founders.
We are first introduced to chocolate frogs in
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone when Harry is on the
Hogwarts Express heading to Hogwarts. Having just met
Ron Weasley, Harry buys a cart load of candy for the two of them to split. Some of the pieces of candy are chocolate frogs. Harry opens one and the frog jumps out the window. Harry then sees that that frog's card was
Albus Dumbledore.
Chocolate Frogs appear throughout the series. Some fans had speculated that members of the
Order of the Phoenix used the cards found with the frogs to communicate.
J.K. Rowling has denied this. Chocolate Frogs of a sort are also available through the Cap Candy Company, though availability is limited in summer months due to the risk of them melting in transport. They each come with one holographic lenticular collector card. Unfortunately, these frogs do not move by themselves.
Fizzing Whizbees. A type of wizard candy available at
Honeydukes. They are magical candies that can make you levitate a little when you eat them. It is rumoured to contain dried
Billywig stings.
Pepper Imps. A type of wizard candy available at
Honeydukes. A tiny black candy, they make you breathe fire.
Peppermint Toad A peppermint cream in the shape of the toad that, once eaten, gives off the sensation that it is hopping in the stomach.
Toothflossing Stringmint An odd, splintery mint candy that premumably cleans and flosses your teeth as you chew it.
Ice Mice A mouse-shaped candy that makes your teeth squeak and chatter.
Drooble's Best Blowing Gum A bubblegum that fills a room with bluebell bubbles that refuse to pop for days.
two-way mirrors
In
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Sirius gives Harry a mirror he originally used to communicate with James in detention. Harry forgets about it, and only remembers it upon Sirius's death, by which point it is no longer functional.
Foe-glass
A
Dark detector A mirror that shows its owner's enemies in or out of focus, depending on how close they are.
The Goblet of Fire
The Goblet of Fire is used solely to choose the school champions on the occasion of a
Triwizard Tournament, in . It is not known whether it has any other magical ability.
Gubraithian fire
Gubraithian fire is first mentioned in chapter twenty of
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Hagrid and Madame Maxime gave a branch of Gubraithian fire to the giant leader (Gurg) in his journey. Gubraithian fire will never die out, and it is said that only extremely skilled wizards and witches can conjure it.
This article does not have the
etymology of the term, if any.(Note from a reader: It is incredibly likely that Gubraithian Fire is in fact a reference to
greek fire, an ancient liquid, lit on fire and used as a weapon by the Byzantine empire. Greek fire which would remain burning for long lengths of time even if doused in water. As to why J.K. Rowling would call it Gubraithian, we can only surmise, though it is possibly for the same reason that in America the Philosopher's Stone was called the Sorceror's Stone.)
Horcruxes
See
Horcrux.
Howler
A
Howler is a bright red letter usually signifying displeasure and/or anger from the sender directed at the recipient. When opened, the Howler begins to yell in the sender's voice at the recipient, eventually dissolving into scraps of paper. If not opened, it will explode and scream even louder.In
Chamber of Secrets,
Mrs Weasley sends Ron a Howler after he steals his dad's enchanted car and flies it to
Hogwarts with
Harry.In
Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore sends Petunia Dursley a howler to remind her of her agreement to let Harry live at Privet Drive after the
dementor attack, when Harry's Uncle Vernon is ready to throw him out. Neville Longbottom also receives them on a regular basis, from his grandmother.
Invisibility cloak
An
Invisibility cloak makes its wearer
invisible. Harry Potter inherited one from his father, who had left it in the care of
Albus Dumbledore and uses it throughout the books in order to sneak around the school. The cloak is large enough for
Ron and
Hermione to accompany him underneath it, although this becomes more difficult as they grow throughout the series.
Invisibility cloaks are very rare and expensive, and they are most likely made from the pelts of
Demiguises, magical herbivores that are found in the
Far East.
Known Owners:
*
Mad-Eye Moody (who is known to possess two; one of these is borrowed by
Sturgis Podmore in the course of work for the
Order of the Phoenix*
Harry Potter; the original owner of this cloak was his father
James Potter.
*
Bartemius Crouch, who uses it to hide his son.
The Marauder's Map
The
Marauder's Map was created by
Remus Lupin,
Peter Pettigrew,
Sirius Black, and
James Potter (the
Marauders) as an aid in mischief-making. They gained extensive knowledge of the Hogwarts grounds from their frequent night-time adventures while transformed as animals (Black, Pettigrew and Potter being
Animagi and Lupin a werewolf). They used this knowledge to create the
Marauder's Map. The map bears the names of its creators, the
Marauders, as they knew each other — by their nicknames (which are derived from the animal they transform into):
Moony (Lupin, a
werewolf),
Wormtail (Pettigrew, a
rat),
Padfoot (Black, a
dog), and
Prongs (Potter, a
stag).
At first glance, the map is simply a piece of blank
parchment; but when the user says, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," ink lines stretch across it, revealing a map of Hogwarts (including secret passageways) and the location of everyone within the grounds. The map also gives information on how to open secret passageways. The only place that the Marauder's Map does not show is the
Room of Requirement. This was discovered by Harry when he was looking for
Draco Malfoy, only to find him not in the map. This may be on account of the fact that the four friends may not have known of its existence.It also could have been Unplottable. The words "Mischief managed!" return the map to its original blank state, to prevent someone who does not know the secret of the map from using it.
The map is given to Harry by
Fred and George Weasley, who find it while unattended in
Filch's office. It makes its first appearance in
Prisoner of Azkaban, and has featured in all subsequent novels.
In
Prisoner of Azkaban,
Professor Snape finds the map in Harry's possession and tries to force it to reveal its secrets; the map responds by insulting him. Professor Lupin arrives, says that he will investigate, and takes it with him. He later gives it back to
Harry. The Map retains an echo of its creators' personalities, much like the
Sorting Hat remembers the thoughts and opinions of the school founders. Snape, however, continues to insist that the map contains dark magic, most likely because he recognised the nicknames of his old schooltime rivals on the heading.
Unlike the book, where the map is a piece of parchment, in the movie version, the map appears with a cover that unfolds in two with many other folds inside each other. All the lines in the map are made up of what at first glance are just random letters, but closer are Latin words. The map in the movie also was so complicated, it even had folds that could move to show the moving staircases.
The Mirror of Erised
The
Mirror of Erised is a mystical mirror discovered by Harry in a back corridor of
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. On it is inscribed,
erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi — which, when reversed, reads
I show not your face but your heart's desire. Also, "Erised", upon being reversed, is read as "Desire". According to
Dumbledore, the Mirror "shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts"; Harry, upon encountering the mirror, can see his parents, as well as what appears to be a crowd of relatives; Ron sees himself as Head Boy and
Quidditch Captain holding the Quidditch Cup (thus revealing his wish to be acknowledged in the shadow of his highly successful older brothers). Dumbledore, one of the only other characters to face the mirror in the novel, claims to see himself holding a pair of
socks, telling Harry that
"...one can never have enough socks." , also lamenting that he did not receive any during
Christmas. If the claim was true, it might suggest that Dumbledore is, indeed, fully content. On the other hand, as Harry suspects, he might merely have not wished to tell Harry.
The Mirror of Erised was the final protection given to the
Philosopher's stone. Dumbledore hid the mirror and hid the stone inside it. He cast a spell that made it so only a person who wanted to
find the stone, but not to
use it, would be able to obtain the stone. Anyone else would see himself making an Elixir of Life or turning things to gold, rather than actually see himself find the stone, as
Professor Quirrel claimed to have seen.
Pensieve
A
Pensieve is a stone basin, covered in mystic runes, with a liquid or gas within. A witch or wizard can extract his or her own memories and place them in the Pensieve, especially to relieve the mind when it becomes too flooded with information. Anyone can examine the memories in the Pensieve, which also allows viewers to fully immerse themselves in the memories stored within, much like a magical form of
virtual reality.
Tom Riddle's diary seems to have this same form of virtual reality. Oddly, users of these devices view the memories from a
third person view, providing a near-
omniscient perspective of the events preserved. This of course, raises questions of how they are able to see things beyond what they have remembered. Rowling answered this question in an interview, confirming that memories in the pensieve allow one to view details of things that happened even if they did not notice or remember them, and stated that "that's the magic of the Pensieve, what brings it alive" [
1].The contents of a Pensieve, as mentioned in the book, look neither like smoke nor like water. The "memory" has the appearance of silver threads. Memories that have been heavily manipulated or tampered with to alter perspectives (such as
Horace Slughorn's) appear thick and jelly-like and offer obscure clarity upon viewing. Memories are not limited to just those of humans, since at least one
house-elf provided Dumbledore with one as well.
Like many names in these books,
Pensieve is a pun: it is a
sieve in that it is a device used for sifting out thoughts, and in using it one becomes
pensive or thoughtful. It may be notable that "Pensieve" is an anagram of Pevensie, the surname of the main characters from
C. S. Lewis's
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, in which the Pevensie children are thrust into another world through a magical cupboard, as Harry is thrust into a memory through the Pensieve in
Dumbledore's cupboard.
A Pensieve first appears in
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, again in
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (See Snape's Worst Memory), and plays a pivotal role in
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Photographs
See
Portrait (Harry Potter): Photographs.
Portraits
See
Portrait (Harry Potter).
Put-Outer
The Put-Outer is a device used by
Albus Dumbledore to turn off the streetlights along a street at night. It looks like a standard cigarette lighter. The Put-Outer makes three appearances:
* In
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Dumbledore uses the Put-Outer to darken Privet Drive, where the
Dursley household is located. Dumbledore is expecting
Rubeus Hagrid to transport the infant Harry Potter to Privet Drive, where Dumbledore will leave him at the Dursley household. Dumbledore's Put-Outer allows Hagrid to arrive with added security, which is necessary because Harry Potter's parents had just been murdered the night before. This makes the Put-Outer the first piece of magic to be shown in the novels.
* In
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore loans the Put-Outer to
Mad-Eye Moody, who uses it when transporting Harry from the Dursleys' home to the headquarters of the
Order of the Phoenix at #12 Grimmauld Place. The Order is a highly secret society which aims to thwart the evil
Lord Voldemort. The Put-Outer again provides added security to (a) keep Harry Potter safe, as he is a highly valued target among Lord Voldemort's supporters, and (b) keep the Order's headquarters secret, because these headquarters are also a highly valued target.
* In
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore uses it again to darken Privet Drive before coming to collect Harry.
Quick Quotes Quill
A stenographic tool of sorts employed by Rita Skeeter which spins the words of her subjects into a form more fitting to its owner.
Rita Skeeter uses the quill to interview Harry (Inside a Hogwarts broomstick cupboard.) about his participation in the Triwizard Tournament in the movie, "Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire" for her column "Me myself and I" in the Harry Potter series fictitious newspaper, "The Daily Prophet". Harry continually tries to correct the inaccuracy of the quill to Rita. Later, she uses the Quick Quotes Quill to flirt with Viktor Krum in the Champion's Tent.
Quidditch equipment
There are several enchanted objects needed to play
Quidditch, the most obvious being flying broomsticks. All the balls in the game are enchanted in some way. The
Golden Snitch is enchanted to fly around, mimicking the flight patterns of the Golden
Snidget, and also to not leave the playing field. The
Bludger is enchanted to fly around and try to knock players off their broomsticks. A Bludger does not focus on one player unless it has been tampered with, as was the case in
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The
Quaffle may appear an exception, but it is also enchanted to make it easy to grip, and so it falls more slowly than normal.
Remembrall
A
Remembrall is a small, clear orb that turns red if its user has forgotten something. Unfortunately, it does not tell the user what he/she has forgotten. The very forgetful
Neville Longbottom is given a
Remembrall in
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but loses it soon after. They are forbidden to use during OWL exams.
The
DVD of
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone contains a software approximation of a remembrall.
Revealer
Used in
Chamber of Secrets when
Hermione Granger tries to make something appear in
Tom Riddle's diary, this object appears to be a bright red eraser but its purpose is to make invisible ink appear.
Secrecy Sensor
In
Goblet of Fire, this magical object was mentioned when Harry went into
Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody's office. It is described as "An object that looked something like an extra-squiggly, golden television aerial." It vibrates when it detects concealment and lies. Moody mentions that its, "No use here of course, too much interference-students in every direction lying about why they haven't done their homework." However, it may be that this was due to the sinister intentions of Moody.
Self-Shuffling playing cards
In
Chamber of Secrets, a pack of these cards is mentioned as one of the objects littering the floor of
Ron's room. They are probably used to play Exploding Snap.
Sneakoscope
A
Sneakoscope is a magical device which serves as a
Dark Arts detector, and is described as a round object that emits shrill noises in the presence of deception: for instance, when an untrustworthy person is near or when a deceitful event takes place nearby.
Sneakoscopes are first introduced in the third book,
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, when
Ron Weasley gives
Harry Potter one of the devices as a present for his 13th birthday. The sneakoscope initially appears to be faulty, howling continuously for no apparent reason: once while the Weasley family were eating dinner together in Egypt, again on the
Hogwarts Express, and again up in Harry and Ron's dormitory. Harry later discovers that Scabbers, Ron's rat familiar who was present each time the Sneakoscope was spinning, is actually a traitorous
animagus named
Peter Pettigrew.
In book four,
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the somewhat paranoid
Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody has several sneakoscopes.
The Sorting Hat
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Harry with The Sorting Hat |
The
Sorting Hat is a
sentient artefact used at
Hogwarts, which magically determines to which of the four school houses —
Gryffindor,
Hufflepuff,
Ravenclaw or
Slytherin — each new student is to be assigned. During the opening banquet at the beginning of the school year, the First-Year students are lined up and their names read aloud alphabetically; each then takes a seat on a stool and the hat is placed on their head. After a moment of consideration, the hat announces its choice aloud for all to hear, and the student joins the selected house.
The Sorting Hat originally belonged to
Godric Gryffindor, one of the founders of
Hogwarts.
Before sorting the students each year, the hat recites a new introductory song. These songs occasionally warn of danger to come, as in
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
In
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the hat plays a critical role in the climax of the story by coming to Harry's aid in the Chamber and providing him with Godric Gryffindor's sword. The sword and hat together make up the two known relics of that Founder.
In the
movie versions of the novels, the hat is voiced by
Leslie Phillips.
Spellotape
Spellotape is
magical adhesive tape; it is a
spoof of the real life product
sellotape.
Spellotape is referenced in all of the Harry Potter books, apart from
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and features in the movie
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Tom Riddle's diary
See:
Tom Riddle's diary and
horcrux.
Umbridge's quill
In
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry has detention with
Professor Umbridge on several occasions. During these detentions, he is required to write lines (
I must not tell lies), and is not released from this until Umbridges believes "the message has sunk in". Rather than use a regular quill, Umbridge makes Harry use her own quill, which is unusually sharp with a black nib. When the user writes something, the quill cuts painfully into the back of the user's hand and uses their blood as ink. When carried out repeatedly over a period of time, this can lead to permanent scarring, as shown by Harry to
Rufus Scrimgeour in
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Other victims of this form of detention include
Lee Jordan.
Wand
To perform feats of magic a
wand is usually used. Without a wand magic is possible, but this seems to be very difficult. A wand is personal for a wizard, although other wizards' wands can be used. When Harry Potter was selecting his wand, he had to try out a lot of wands until he found a wand that created sparks as he waved it. A wand is usually made of wood and has a core of an organic, magical object or substance. Such cores mentioned include
phoenix tail feathers,
unicorn tail hairs,
dragon heartstrings and
veela hair. Wands with cores from the same source give strange effects (
Priori Incantatem) when forced to fight each other, as is the case with Harry Potter's and
Lord Voldemort's wands in
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Each of their wands contains a tail feather from
Fawkes, the phoenix belonging to
Albus Dumbledore.
See also: List of wands in Harry Potter.
Weasley Clock
The
Weasley family has a clock in their home,
the Burrow, with nine hands, one for every member of the family. Instead of telling the time, the clock reveals the location or status of each family member. The known locations are:
*Home
*School
*Work
*Travelling
*Lost
*Hospital
*Prison
*Mortal Peril
Only the location of "mortal peril" is known (it is situated where the numeral 12 would normally be). Throughout the first five books, the hands changed to reflect the varying statuses of the family members, but by
Book Six, all nine hands had taken to pointing to "mortal peril" at all times, except when someone was travelling.
Mrs Weasley took this to mean that, with
Lord Voldemort having returned, everyone was technically in mortal peril.
The Weasleys are the only family mentioned to own such a clock.
Wizard's Chess
Wizard's Chess is a version of
chess played with small pieces and a board like real chess, except that the pieces are animated. Ron has a set left to him by his Uncle Bilius. Harry gets a set in one of his wizard crackers during his first Christmas at Hogwarts. During the climactic chapters of
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Harry, Ron and Hermione are involved in a life-size game of wizard's chess.
By becoming chess pieces in the game, they put their lives at risk because the pieces interact to kill each other.
