Used for questions about the rules of how magic is treated within a specific work or works.
6
votes
2answers
311 views
Were there any other 'wizards' in middle earth apart from the Istari?
We know Gandalf, Radagast, Saruman, Pallando and Alatar, who are all Istari, Maiar in physical form. The elves can also do 'magic', and Sauron, being a Maiar himself. Were there any other people with ...
3
votes
2answers
109 views
How are potions made?
Where does majority of the energy for the magical effect of a potion comes from?
Does it all comes from the brewer? Or does most of it comes from the ingredients?
I know JKR said that you have to ...
5
votes
2answers
192 views
Charms&Enchantments conundrum
Is there any difference between charming objects (i.e. "adding or changing certain properties of an object") and enchanting them?
Is charming/enchantment used in creation of magical objects?
Do ...
2
votes
2answers
286 views
Why did Lily's enchantments work for Voldemort?
Lily Potter chose to die instead of sacrifice her son Harry to Voldemort. In doing so, protective enchantments were created that protected Harry and made him less vulnerable to Voldemort and ...
12
votes
2answers
642 views
Why Does Harry Have a Scar When Avada Kedavra Leaves No Trace?
Why does Harry have a scar when Avada Kedavra leaves no trace?
‘The Muggle authorities were perplexed. As far as I am aware, they do not know to this day how the Riddles died, for the Avada ...
4
votes
1answer
188 views
Could a Muggle Access the Room of Requirement?
Could a Muggle access the Room of Requirement?
‘Because [the Room of Requirement] is a room that a person can only enter,’ said Dobby seriously, ‘when they have real need of it. Sometimes it is ...
13
votes
1answer
423 views
Could Hermione Really Free the Hogwarts House-Elves With Her Knitted Hats?
Could Hermione really free the Hogwarts house-elves with the little knitted hats she hides around Gryffindor Tower?
‘Why d’you wear that thing, Dobby?’ [Harry] asked curiously.
‘This, sir?’ said ...
5
votes
3answers
343 views
Can House-Elves Do Laundry Without Being Freed?
Can House-Elves do laundry without being freed?
‘Why d’you wear that thing, Dobby?’ [Harry] asked curiously.
‘This, sir?’ said Dobby, plucking at the pillowcase. ‘’Tis a mark of the house-elf’s ...
4
votes
2answers
318 views
How Did Ginny Weasley Set the Basilisk on Muggleborns Without Getting Killed or Petrified?
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Ginny Weasley carries out Tom Riddle's plan by proxy and apparently leads the Basilisk to attack four Muggleborns and Filch's cat Mrs Norris in the castle.
...
3
votes
1answer
291 views
Could Avada Kedavra Be Used Legally Against Werewolves In Their Transformed State?
Could Avada Kedavra be used legally against werewolves in their transformed state?
Humans turn into werewolves only when bitten. There is no known cure, though recent developments in potion-making ...
2
votes
1answer
202 views
What Is the History of the Unforgivable Curses?
What is the history of the Unforgivable curses?
‘Now ... those three curses – Avada Kedavra, Imperius and Cruciatus – are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow ...
3
votes
1answer
301 views
Would Voldemort's Taboo Spell Trump the Fidelius Charm?
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry sneaks into The Three Broomsticks and overhears Madam Rosmerta, the Minister for Magic, and several Hogwarts teachers discuss his parents' death and ...
3
votes
1answer
211 views
Can an Animagus Be Infected With Lycanthropy While In Animal Form?
Pursuant to Why did Remus and Sirius fight in Prisoner of Azkaban (Werewolf vs Dog) I wondered if a human in Animagus form could be infected with lycanthropy if bitten by a werewolf.
An Animagus ...
3
votes
2answers
263 views
Can a Muggle-Repelling Charm Be Broken?
Hermione is notorious for quoting Hogwarts, a History regarding protective enchantments, magic that makes Hogwarts Unplottable, and Muggle-repelling charms that hide Hogwarts from Muggle eyes and make ...
6
votes
1answer
206 views
When Did Voldemort Realize the Value of Harry's Blood?
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Voldemort is happy to see Harry dead and in the chapter The Man With Two Faces he orders Quirrell multiple times to kill Harry.
And Quirrell, though ...
10
votes
2answers
319 views
What Are the Other Four Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration?
In reading Why does the Aguamenti spell work? question, Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration came up in DVK's answer.
‘It’s quite straightforward, really,’ said Neville modestly. ‘I’d been in ...
13
votes
2answers
570 views
What are the rules and limits of *accio* spell?
We know that Accio spell (aka Summoning Charm) has some limits:
It can be blocked (e.g. Harry couldn't Accio the Diadem in RoR in Deathly Hallows).
Many more failures are listed on Wikia.
But what ...
4
votes
3answers
390 views
Should Quirrell Have Survived Harry's Touch?
In Philosopher's Stone, chapter fifteen, The Forbidden Forest, while serving detention, Harry, Malfoy, and Fang encounter a robed figure, who ultimately turns out to be Quirrell, drinking unicorn's ...
5
votes
2answers
412 views
Why Did Colin Creevey's Muggle Camera Work at Hogwarts?
Hermione says in Goblet of Fire:
‘All those substitutes for magic Muggles use – electricity, and computers and radar, and all those things – they all go haywire around Hogwarts, there’s too much ...
11
votes
2answers
600 views
How Would the Elixir of Life Have Given Voldemort a Body?
The properties of the Elixir of Life are said to make one immortal:
The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with
making the Philosopher’s Stone, a legendary
substance with astonishing ...
12
votes
4answers
917 views
Why Did Mrs. Crouch Die While Taking Polyjuice Potion?
So I've been re-reading Goblet of Fire and after reading Barty Crouch Jr's recounting of how he and his mother switched places in Azkaban via Polyjuice, I'm unclear why Mrs. Crouch died while she was ...
7
votes
1answer
344 views
During Priori Incantatem, How Did Cedric, Bertha, Lily, and James Know So Much Info?
In Goblet of Fire, Harry's and Voldemort's wands connect due to their twin cores, forcing Priori Incantatem to occur. Voldemort's wand spits out spectral figures of his last five victims. Later, after ...
6
votes
2answers
383 views
What is the link between the spoken incantation and the casting of a spell in Harry Potter?
In Harry Potter, you have to pronounce (or think) a string of sounds to cast a spell.
For example:
Stupefy!
That always seemed very strange to me. So I would like to know:
Are the words ...
6
votes
1answer
151 views
Can House-Elves Side-Along Apparate/Disapparate to/from Hogwarts?
I know that House Elves can Apparate inside Hogwarts, but this comment made me question whether they could Side-Along Apparate a human to/from Hogwarts. From what canon tells us, it is impossible for ...
8
votes
2answers
358 views
Was Nagini Technically an Inferi When She Possessed Bathilda Bagshot's Body?
J.K. Rowling writes in Tales of Beedle the Bard that an Inferi is simply a corpse reanimated by Dark Magic and she describes them as "ghastly puppets" that are not sentient.
Nagini was a Horcrux, ...
11
votes
3answers
326 views
How Do Death Eaters Send Messages Via the Dark Mark?
In Deathly Hallows, Alecto Carrow sends a message to Snape -- Dark Mark to Dark Mark -- letting Snape know she's apprehended Harry Potter.
‘I was under the impression,’ said Snape, ‘that Alecto ...
4
votes
4answers
873 views
Did Harry Owe Draco Malfoy a Life Debt?
I know it's not the same as Harry saving Draco from the Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement in Deathly Hallows -- Draco's, as JKR puts it¹, ‘Hi. It's so embarrassing, you saved my life. No ...
13
votes
3answers
4k views
Why Was It 'Essential' That Voldemort Kill Harry Potter?
‘So the boy ... the boy must die?’ asked Snape, quite calmly.
‘And Voldemort himself must do it, Severus. That is essential.’
Deathly Hallows - page 551 - UK Hardcover - chapter 33, The ...
9
votes
2answers
892 views
What Is the Difference Between Wizard and Warlock in Potterverse?
One of Dumbledore's titles is "Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot".
What is the difference between a Wizard and a Warlock in Potterverse? As we don't see the term Warlock used often in the books, my ...
15
votes
2answers
436 views
Could a Homorphus Charm Change a Werewolf Back Into a Human Before the Moon Cycle Ends?
‘Nice loud howl, Harry – exactly – and then, if you’ll believe it, I pounced – like this – slammed [the werewolf] to the floor – thus – with one hand, I managed to hold him down – with my other, I ...
2
votes
2answers
147 views
Is Polyjuice Potion a Form of Transfiguration?
Is Polyjuice Potion a chemical transformation or a form of Transfiguration? I'm not a science genius and I genuinely can't decide if this is a chemical transformation or Transfiguration, or a ...
6
votes
2answers
525 views
Is a Squib a Muggle?
‘And what on earth’s a Squib?’ said Harry.
To his surprise, Ron stifled a snigger.
‘Well – it’s not funny really – but as it’s Filch ...’ he said. ‘A Squib is someone who was born into a ...
4
votes
4answers
433 views
Can a Squib Own a Wand?
KWIKSPELL
A Correspondence Course in
Beginners’ Magic
Intrigued, Harry flicked the envelope open and pulled out the sheaf of parchment inside. More curly silver writing on the front page ...
7
votes
3answers
1k views
The Heir of Slytherin — Why Was the Heir Tom Riddle?
If it will be helpful to anyone, here is Tom Riddle/Voldemort's timeline from the HP Lexicon.
Okay, my math is generally terrible, but if Hogwarts was established approximately 1000 years prior to ...
5
votes
2answers
912 views
How Did Tom Riddle Find Out About the Existence/Location of the Chamber of Secrets?
This is the third of a three-part question on the basilisk plot in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets that I'm looking for CANON COMPLIANT explanations for. By "canon compliant", I mean within ...
10
votes
1answer
424 views
Why Did Harry's Wand Not Reveal Its Last Spells During Priori Incantatem?
As the title asks, why did Harry's wand not reveal its last spells during Priori Incantatem with Voldemort in Goblet of Fire? Voldemort's wand revealed Wormtail's severed hand, Cedric Diggory, Frank ...
12
votes
1answer
344 views
Is There a Scientific Basis For the Healing Properties of Chocolate?
A loud snap made them all jump. Professor Lupin was breaking an enormous slab of chocolate into pieces.
‘Here,’ he said to Harry, handing him a particularly large piece. ‘Eat it. It’ll help.’
...
6
votes
4answers
421 views
Is Mental Illness Treatable By Magic?
I was answering the question on why Harry Potter wears glasses and I got to thinking about how the healing of physical injuries is discussed and debated fairly regularly, but mental illness is never ...
2
votes
3answers
272 views
Does human magic have the same effect when applied to non-humans?
If you cast Avada Kedavra on a giant, will it work? How does a Cheering Charm work on a house-elf? Can you Obliviate a centaur or mermaid? What about Legilimency and the like?
In short: Can you ...
9
votes
2answers
240 views
Is It Genetically Possible for a Squib to Produce Magical Offspring?
As the title asks, is it genetically possible for a Squib to produce magical offspring, or would the Squib gene trump the magic gene in all cases? How would it be possible for a Squib to have magical ...
10
votes
2answers
5k views
What Is the Difference Between Apparating and Disapparating?
What is the difference between Apparating and Disapparating? Are there specific circumstances wherein it would be called Apparition versus Disapparition, and vice versa?
Calling it Apparition and ...
12
votes
6answers
1k views
What Would Be the Effects of the Dementors' Kiss on a Horcrux Contained Within a Living Person?
Could the Dementors’ Kiss destroy a living Horcrux, like Harry? Lupin explains the Dementors’ Kiss to Harry in Prisoner of Azkaban:
‘They call it the Dementors’ Kiss,’ said Lupin, with a slightly ...
8
votes
3answers
278 views
Can the resurrection stone create “an army of Inferi”?
In HP7, it's mentioned (as far as I recall, by Dumbledore at King's Cross) that Gellert Grindelwald sought Resurrection Stone (as one of the Hallows) as a way to create an army of Inferi.
Is that ...
3
votes
2answers
218 views
Is the Principle of Apparition Theoretically Similar to the Alcubierre Drive (Warp)?
Apparition seems to be a very quick process, through which a witch or wizard moves almost instantaneously from one place to another. Could Apparition be related to the Alcubierre metric or would this ...
27
votes
3answers
3k views
Why Didn't the Basilisk Bite in Book Two Destroy the Horcrux?
As the title asks, why didn't the basilisk bite received in the Chamber of Secrets destroy the Horcrux inside the bitten person?
Yes, I know Fawkes quite quickly healed the bite wound with his ...
8
votes
2answers
266 views
Does Priori Incantatem Produce Ghosts or Another Kind of Specter?
In the graveyard scene in Goblet of Fire, when Voldemort's and Harry's wands connect, Priori Incantatem occurs (i.e. Voldemort's wand spits out the last spells it has performed). First, Wormtail's ...
