magical creatures

[admin holly]

Ministry of Magic Classification:

xxxxx - known wizard killer / impossible to train or domesticate.
Xxxx - dangerous / requires specialist knowledge / skilled wizard may handle.
Xxx - competent wizard should cope.
Xx - harmless / may be domesticated.
X - boring.
___________


Abominable snowman

An alternative name for the yeti [fb].


Abraxan

a type of winged horse. This type of creature takes its inspiration from pegasus, the winged horse of greek mythology. Pegasus was the offspring of the sea-god poseidon and the gorgon medusa, and sprang from the gorgon's neck as she was beheaded by perseus. Initially wild, pegasus was tamed by the mortal hero bellerophon with the help of the goddess athena, and became bellerophon's steed. Bellerophon rode pegasus during his successful quest to slay the chimaera, but then incurred the wrath of zeus when he attempted to approach the gods. Zeus cursed bellerophon, leaving him to life as a cripple in the wilderness, and took pegasus into service himself. From this point on, pegasus carried zeus' thunderbolts for him for the rest of his life.

The abraxan is a variation on this theme, invented by jkr. It is a very powerful giant palomino with fiery red eyes [fb, gof15]. The beauxbatons carriage, which was used to transport the staff and students to hogwarts for the triwizard tournament, was pulled by abraxans, which according to madam maxime drank only single-malt whisky [gof15]. It is likely that this applies to the beaxbatons abraxans only rather than the entire species.


Acromantula xxxxx

This is a huge carnivorous spider, and an invention of jkr. The name derives from the latin "acro", meaning "highest" or "extreme", along with "-antula" from the word "tarantula", a large spider. Therefore the name may be interpreted as "extreme spider".

The acromantula is covered in thick black hair and can grow up to 15 feet in size [fb]. It was created by wizards, and probably intended as a guard creature. They are, however, untrainable and extremely dangerous. They have near-human intelligence and are capable of speech, but this doesn't mean you can reason with them. Hagrid had an acromantula called aragog as a pet while he was in his third year at hogwarts. It was suspected to be the creature from the chamber of secrets (which it wasn't) and hagrid was expelled from school. Aragog escaped and set up what is now a well-populated colony in the forbidden forest [cos15]. Aragog is now deceased, but the colony continues to thrive [hbp22].

Lord voldemort somehow convinced the remaining acromantula to join the death eaters in their attack on hogwarts, although it is not made clear how he did so. It seems fair to assume it involved an offer of letting them eat a lot of fallen enemies, however. They scaled the walls of the castle in search of prey: on one occasion harry held them back with a stunning spell, but it seems unlikely that it kept them away for long [dh32]. Voldemort later used their deserted nest as his base within the forbidden forest as he waited for harry to come and give himself up [dh34].


Aethonan

a type of winged horse. The aethonan is chestnut in colour and popular in britain and ireland [fb].


Albino peacock

see "peacock, albino".


Aquavirious maggot

a creature that may look something like a brain, which luna lovegood and her father believe is real but possibly nobody else does. Luna is sure they are breeding them in the department of mysteries, a view shared by mr lovegood. When harry and the others went to the department of mysteries at the end of harry's fifth year, luna mistook the brains floating in a tank of green liquid for aquavirious maggots [ootp34].

Armadillo

the armadillo is a small mammal with a tough armoured shell, a muggle creature that nonetheless has magical uses. Its bile is used in wit sharpening potion. Harry deliberately spilt his armadillo bile in a potions class so that he could overhear what karkaroff was desperate to talk to snape about [gof27].


Ashwinder xxx


this is a thin, pale grey serpent which is created by any magical fire which is allowed to burn unchecked for too long. The ashwinder rises from the fire and will quickly lay eggs in a secluded place, after which it will crumble into dust. The eggs give off intense heat and will ignite anything they come into contact with. Once frozen, however, they are useful in making love potions and relieving ague [fb].


Augurey xx


also known as the irish phoenix. This is a greenish-black bird which by legend foretells the death of anybody who hears its cry. In truth, it actually sings when rain is approaching. The augurey in fact flies only during rain and remains in its nest at other times [fb].


Banshee

the banshee is humanoid in appearance, looking akin to a skeletal woman. The sound of the banshee's wail is believed to foretell death. Gilderoy lockhart claimed to have banished the bandon banshee, which of course he didn't [cos16].


Basilisk xxxxx

this is a creature from greek mythology, usually portrayed as the king of the serpents. Its name comes from the greek basiliskos, which means "little king". It is very much akin to the cockatrice, so much so that in some stories the two creatures are seen as interchangeable. They are different, however, although closely related. Stories disagree about how basilisks are created: some state that they require an egg laid by a rooster and incubated by a toad, whilst others prefer a serpent's egg incubated by a rooster. Jkr goes with the first of these versions.

In the harry potter world, the basilisk is an enormous snake, originally bred deliberately by the dark wizard herpo the foul. It is brilliant green (with the male also having a scarlet crest), can grow up to 50 feet in size, and can kill anything that looks into its eyes simply using its deadly gaze. It also carries lethal venom in its fangs and can kill by using this poison as well. Basilisks can live for hundreds of years and are uncontrollable by anyone except a parselmouth [fb].

Herpo created the first basilisk after considerable experimentation revealed that using a toad to incubate a chicken egg would produce the fearsome creature he was after [fb]. This very basilisk was reputed to have lived for 900 years, although even this remarkable figure was outdone by the serpent from the chamber of secrets. This creature was placed in the chamber by salazar slytherin and survived for 1000 years [cos9] before it was unleashed upon the school twice during the 20th century, under the orders of tom riddle on both occasions. It killed moaning myrtle first time out, but met its match the second time, when a combination of harry potter and fawkes the phoenix defeated and killed it [cos17]. It was showing no signs of old age at the time, however, and it can be assumed that it would have continued to live for considerably longer but for its untimely demise.

Spiders are known to particularly fear the basilisk, and will flee if they sense the presence of one (although it is fair to say that most animals would also be wise to follow such a plan). The main weakness of the basilisk is that the crowing of the rooster is fatal to it [cos16]. The breeding of basilisks has been illegal since medieval times [fb].

Basilisk venom is one of the few known substances that can destroy a horcrux [dh6]. The only other known one is the enchanted inferno fiendfyre [dh31].


Bicorn

a two-horned beast, fabled to grow very fat through eating good and faithful husbands. Horn of bicorn is used in potion-making, notably in the manufacture of polyjuice potion [cos10].


Bigfoot

an alternative name for the yeti [fb].


Billywig xxx

the billywig is a vivid blue insect native to australia. It travels at great speed and carries a sting that can cause giddiness and levitation. Many younger wizards attempt to get stung on purpose, although care should be taken as repeated stinging can produce uncontrollable levitation which can last for days or even permanently [fb].


Biting fairy xxx

alternative name for the doxy [fb].


Blast-ended skrewt

this is a creature invented entirely by jkr. It is, in fact, a cross-breed - created by hagrid - between the manticore and the fire crab (see below for more details about both), a process which seems best left to the imagination [gof24]. They are extremely aggressive, with a tendency to attack and eat each other, and can grow to a size of at least 10 feet and perhaps even larger [gof31]. Resembling a giant armoured scorpion, the males have a large sting over their backs, while the females have a blood-sucker on their underside. The name comes from their tendency to blast fire out of one end (they have no heads so it is impossible to tell which end), which propels them forwards at great speed [gof13]. Only one skrewt is known to have survived from the initial batch of several hundred that hagrid created. It was placed in the maze as an obstacle during the third task of the triwizard tournament [gof31] and its current location is unknown, although it may have been released into the forbidden forest.


Blibbering humdinger

people didn't used to believe that the blibbering humdinger exists. Most still don't. Luna lovegood does though, but she is a little bit odd [ootp13].


Bloodhound (albino)

these are pure white bloodhounds, kept by the department for the regulation and control of magical creatures (pest sub-division) in order to remove nogtail infestations [fb]. See "nogtail" entry for more details about these creatures.


Boggart

this is a creature from english folklore, particularly from the counties of yorkshire and lancashire. Boggarts are mischievous spirits, which can be helpful if the mood takes them, but can more often be found causing mishaps and hiding tools. Leaving food out for a boggart is a good way to placate it, but insulting it will doubtless lead to trouble. Boggarts avoid detection by using their ability to take whatever shape they please.

In jkr's world, the boggart retains its shape-shifting ability, and likes to occupy dark, enclosed spaces. When nobody can see it, the form it takes is unknown. When it is seen, it will take whatever form the person who is viewing it finds most frightening. It is destroyed by laughter, and hence the best way to fight a boggart is to use a riddikulus spell to force it to adopt an amusing appearance. When defeated, the boggart explodes and nothing but smoke remains. Professor lupin taught harry's class about boggarts in a third-year dada class: on this occasion it took on a variety of different frightening forms, such as a mummy, a banshee, a giant spider, and professor snape, before being defeated [poa7].


Boomslang

this is a large, venomous snake, a muggle creature with magical properties. Its skin is used in potion-making, and is most famously an ingredient required for polyjuice potion [cos10]. Both hermione and barty crouch jnr have been known to steal it from snape's personal stores in their time, and snape was not impressed [gof27].


Bowtruckle xx

this is a small tree-guardian, which grows up to 8 inches in height. It looks as though it is made of bark and twigs, and generally avoids contact with humans. By nature it is a peace-loving creature that lives on a diet of insects. If its tree is threatened, however, the bowtruckle will defend it by attempting to gouge the attacker's eyes with its long fingers [fb].


Bugbear

this is a bear-like humanoid creature with a particular preference for frightening children. When ginny weasley was possessed by lord voldemort and killed hagrid's roosters, hagrid thought it may be the work of bugbears [cos11].


Bundimun xxx


a bundimun looks like a patch of green fungus with eyes, although it does have numerous legs which it can use to move at speed when necessary. It is a parasite that infests houses and feeds on dirt. This is not a bad thing in itself, but unfortunately the creature also excretes a foul substance that rots its resident building and will cause it to collapse if left unchecked. It also gives off a violent smell of decay. Scouring charms are required to remove a bundimun infestation. Diluted secretions from the creature are often used in magical cleaning fluids [fb].


Cat

this is an animal that has been associated with humans and shared living spaces with them for as long as records exist. Cats were revered in ancient egypt, where they were seen as the living image of the goddess bast, and records exist back to 4000bc of their domestication. Even earlier finds have occurred in cyprus, where a shared grave (of a cat and a human) has been found dating to 9500bc.

The cat is strictly a muggle creature, although it has many connections with the wizarding world, hence its inclusion here. Cats are favoured pets of many wizards and squibs - with arabella figg and argus filch the most famous cat-owning squibs known so far. Cats are also on the approved list of pets for hogwarts students, along with owls, toads and possibly rats [ps/ss5]. Wizards and even squibs enjoy more advanced communication with cats than muggles do, as evidenced by filch's seemingly telepathic relationship with mrs norris [ps/ss8].

Lily and james potter kept a cat as a pet at their home in godric's hollow. According to lily, harry nearly killed it by zooming around on a toy broomstick when he was a year old [dh10].


Centaur xxxx

the centaur is a creature from greek mythology. The race was spawned by centaurus, a son of apollo and the twin of lapithus, a great and noble warrior. Centaurus, however, was deformed and went to live amongst the horses of thessaly. There he mated with the mares, thus creating the centaur race. In greek myths, the centaurs (in contrast to the proud and somewhat aloof creatures of the harry potter novels) were portrayed as wild and fond of drunken revelry. In the end they went to war with the people of lapithus and were destroyed.

The centaur has the head and body of a human and the body and legs of a horse. In the harry potter world, they have human intelligence but keep themselves apart from both wizards and muggles, preferring to remain in their own communities. Their classification as a "beast" rather than a "being" is entirely at their own request. They dislike any intervention in their affairs by humans and will react with force if they think it necessary. Therefore, many of the ways of the centaur are still a mystery [fb].

A herd of centaurs lives in the forbidden forest, and harry has interacted with them on a number of occasions. Firenze escorted harry from the forest after he had encountered lord voldemort there in his first year [ps/ss15], and hermione and harry also led dolores umbridge into the herd in the hope that they would attack her just before they flew to the ministry at the end of their fifth year [ootp33].

Known centaurs include firenze, ronan, bane, and magorian. Of these, firenze was banished from the herd for fraternising with humans (by agreeing to teach divination at hogwarts) [ootp27].

The centaurs of the forbidden forest finally decided to put aside their disregard of the human world and enter the battle when voldemort attacked hogwarts. For the majority of the battle they maintained their neutrality and remained in the forest, but finally emerged near the end to attack the death eaters after harry's "death" [dh36]. It has since been confirmed that firenze has been accepted back into the herd, indicating a softening of the centaurs' stance towards wizardkind [bloomsbury chat].


Chameleon ghoul

a type of ghoul that can disguise itself as an everyday object to avoid detection. Hermione read about chameleon ghouls when she was trying to work out how the creature from the chamber of secrets had managed to remain undetected for so long [cos11].


Chicken (fire breathing)

when harry arrived at the ministry for his hearing, he and arthur weasley ran into a wizard called bob, who was carrying a box containing a fire-breathing chicken. Bob suspected that it was a serious breach of the ban on experimental breeding. As such, there may only be one such animal, or as in the case of hagrid's blast-ended skrewts, a large number may have been bred [ootp7].


Chimaera xxxxx


this creature has the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a dragon. It is extremely dangerous and renowned for its vicious nature. In fact, only one wizard is ever known to have managed to kill a chimaera, and he was so exhausted that he fell to his death from his winged horse shortly afterwards. The chimaera originated in greece, and its eggs are classified as grade a non-tradeable goods [fb].


Chizpurfle xx


the chizpurfle is a tiny parasite that feeds on magic items such as wands and potions. They either infest the fur of magical creatures, or make their way into wizards' houses. Once there they will find whatever magic items they can and gnaw through them. Various potions are available that help with curing chizpurfle infestations [fb].


Clabbert xx


this is a tree-dwelling creature that looks something like a cross between a monkey and a frog. It has strong arms and legs, allowing it to swing from tree to tree, and short horns on its head. Its diet consists mainly of small lizards and birds. The clabbert has a large pustule in the middle of its head, which flashes scarlet when danger approaches [fb].


Clauricorn xxx

alternative name for the leprechaun [fb].


Cockatrice

this creature shares many features and legends of the basilisk, but is a separate animal. It is generally regarded as looking like a giant rooster, with a lizard's tail and wings like a dragon. The wings are functional, and so it possesses the power of flight, whilst sharing with the basilisk the ability to kill with its gaze. It is also created from the egg of a rooster, incubated by a toad (which is one of the alternative descriptions of the method for creating a basilisk), and is also killed by the crow of the rooster. Unlike the basilisk, however, the weasel is immune to the deadly gaze of the cockatrice. It is noted that the best way to kill a cockatrice is to lower a mirror in front of it, as it is not immune to its own gaze.

In the harry potter books, a cockatrice went on the rampage during the triwizard tournament of 1792 [gof15].


Crumple-horned snorkack

this is a scandinavian creature that luna lovegood and her father were planning to observe on a trip to sweden. Unfortunately, their crumple-horned snorkack watching holiday might have been taken in vain, as there has to be some significant doubt as to whether such a creature actually exists. It is very probably yet another of the animals that luna and xenophilius believe in and nobody else does [ootp38].

This theory is lent more weight by the fact that the horn that xenophilius displayed in his front room, believing it to be from a snorkack, was actually an erumpent horn, and to prove this, it exploded - taking half the house with it - when he accidentally hit it with a stunner. Therefore, we can also treat with some skepticism luna's description of a snorkack, which included it having tiny little ears, a bit like a hippo's only purple and hairy, and a tendency to approach anyone who is humming a waltz [dh25].


Crup xxx

this is a wizard-bred dog. It looks very much like a jack russell terrier, except for its forked tail. The crup is a popular wizard pet, and anyone owning a crup is obliged by law to have its tail removed with a severing charm in order to avoid muggle attention [fb].


Dementor


the dementor is an invention of jkr. They are one of the most frightening creatures in the books, and this is where the name comes from: it is derived from the english word "dement" (which in turn comes from the latin root demens), which means "to drive insane". In other words, dementors are creatures that drive you to insanity.

In appearance they are large, cloaked, humanesque figures that tower over a man. Under normal circumstances they stay entirely under the cover of their cloaks, so no part of their body can be seen. Occasionally, though, a glimpse may be caught: anyone unlucky enough to catch sight of the creature's hand will see that it is skeletal, glistening, greyish, slimy and scabbed, like something that has died and decayed underwater [poa5]. The only other part of a dementor's body which can ever been seen is its head, which is considerably worse: scabbed skin covers the sockets where its eyes should be, and it has a gaping shapeless hole of a mouth which it can use to literally suck the soul from its victim [poa20].

Dementors were once the guards of the wizard prison of azkaban until they deserted their posts to join voldemort in the second war [hbp1]. They are now, presumably, acting as the dark lord's soldiers, although they had little or no involvement in the events of hbp despite the fact that they are breeding in order to increase their numbers [hbp1].

The origin of dementors as a race is unknown. It is also unclear how the ministry ever reached an agreement with them to become azkaban guards, as they are speechless, sightless and psychopathic. The last of these qualities would explain how voldemort tempted them on to his side, but how he communicated with them is still a mystery. Dementors feed on positive human emotions - happiness, hope, excitement. Their mere presence sucks every happy feeling or memory from any human present, leaving only cold dark despair in its place. The worst experiences of the victim's life will flood through them as everything positive is stripped away. This effect caused the vast majority of azkaban inmates to go insane in a very short length of time. Any wizard exposed to a dementor for long enough is also likely to lose their powers [poa10].

Dementors glide rather than walk, and although sightless can sense human emotions and are drawn to them. Their breath stinks of decay and sounds like a death rattle as it is drawn into their body - it is as though they are sucking more than just air from the atmosphere around them. The only thing a dementor likes more than feeding on human emotions is to feed on a human's soul. The act of sucking their victim's soul out of their body is known as the dementor's kiss. In theory, application of the kiss is strictly controlled by the ministry of magic and used only in the case of the most evil killers. In practice, a dementor will kiss anybody it can get close enough to [poa12].

Despite the tentative agreement which once existed between dementors and humans on the issue of governing azkaban, the creatures' swift abandonment of their posts when voldemort's return promised them a ready supply of victims shows that they are definitely not to be trusted. They did little in the name of voldemort's cause before the death of dumbledore, but became far more active afterwards. Amongst other things, voldemort used them to intimidate those who were being questioned by the muggle-born registration commission [dh13], and as part of his army when he attacked hogwarts [dh31].


Demiguise xxxx


the demiguise is a peaceful herbivore, having the appearance of a large ape covered in silky, silvery hair. It is indigenous to the far east, but is rarely seen, as it has the ability to make itself invisible. Demiguise hair is very much sought after, as it can be woven to make invisibility cloaks [fb].


Diricawl xx


the diricawl was known to muggles as the dodo. Muggles now believe it to be extinct, but this is not the case - the ministry of magic regards the belief of muggles in the extinction of the species to be a good thing, as so has never released any information to the contrary. The diricawl is a rather fat and fluffy flightless bird, which has the ability to disappear and reappear elsewhere at will. It uses this as a defence when it is threatened, and it is this very ability to disappear that led muggles to believe it had been wiped out in the first place [fb].


Dog

this is a common muggle animal, descended from the wolf and subsequently domesticated. There are hundreds of breeds of dog, but all share the same roots. Records suggest that the dog was first domesticated in asia, perhaps as long as 100,000 years ago. From here, the various breeds of domestic dog emerged and spread across the globe.

A number of dogs are associated with the wizarding world. In particular, hagrid keeps a boarhound called fang [ps/ss8], and was also the owner of a three-headed dog called fluffy, which was used to guard the philosopher's stone [ps/ss16]. Fluffy was released into the forbidden forest after the philosopher's stone was destroyed, and is now resident there [blue peter interview, 2001]. The animagus form of sirius black is a large black dog [poa19]. The pest sub-division of the department for the regulation and control of magical creatures also keeps 12 albino bloodhounds for use against nogtail infestations [fb].


Doxy xxx

this creature is an invention of jkr. The name comes straight from the archaic english word "doxy", which means a prostitute, mistress, or promiscuous woman. Exactly what jkr is trying to tell us about doxies should perhaps be left unexplained.

The doxy looks somewhat like a fairy with additional sets of arms and legs. It is covered in thick black hair and has shiny beetle-like wings. Doxies have very sharp teeth and their bites are mildly poisonous. An antidote is required if you are bitten [fb]. The drawing room of 12 grimmauld place was badly infested with doxies when the order of the phoenix started using it as their headquarters. Molly weasley led the cleanup operation, which involved paralysing the doxies by spraying them with doxycide, and then disposing of them. Fred and george didn't dispose of theirs because they were secretly experimenting with doxy venom as an ingredient for items in their skiving snackboxes. It is reasonable to assume, although unconfirmed, that puking pastilles at least contain some doxy venom [ootp6].


Dragon xxxxx

the dragon is a fantastic creature that is very common in muggle mythology, cropping up in folk tales, art and even religion all across the world. Whilst in the harry potter world dragons are universally portrayed as wild and dangerous, in some cultures they are actually seen as gentle, wise and kind creatures. This is particularly true of the legends of this creature in china, where dragon imagery and the dragon costume are common sights at festivals.

Most legends agree on the general form of the dragon: it is a huge lizard-like creature, with vast wings it can use to fly at great speed. In the harry potter world, all breeds of dragon can breathe fire at will, and all are highly dangerous [fb]. The female is generally larger and fiercer than the male, especially when guarding eggs [gof20].

Dragon blood, heart, hide, horn and liver all have powerful magical properties. In particular, the blood has 12 magical uses, as discovered by none other than albus dumbledore [ps/ss6], and dragon heartstring is one of only 3 wands cores deemed acceptable by mr ollivander, the world's leading wandmaker [ps/ss5]. The hide is used to make protective clothing and accessories such as gloves [ps/ss5] and shields [fb] as well as fashion items such as boots [gof5] and jackets [hbp30]. Dragon horn is much sought after as a potion ingredient. The goblins of gringotts also use a dragon (breed not confirmed) to guard the deepest vaults in the bank [dh26].

The following breeds of dragon exist:

antipodean opaleye:
this species is native to new zealand, although it has also been known to make its home in australia as well. It has pearly scales that reflect the light to make a rainbow of colour, making it (in the opinion of many) the most beautiful dragon of all. The name comes from its eyes, which are multi-coloured and have no pupil. It is generally non-aggressive and its main prey is the sheep. Its weight of 2-3 tonnes makes it a medium-sized dragon [fb].

Chinese fireball:
this species is scarlet in colour, with a mane of gold spikes around its face. Its unique appearance is completed by a short snout and protruding eyes. It produces a mushroom-shaped flame when it is angry, which is quite often, as it is an aggressive breed. Its favoured preys are pigs and humans. Viktor krum had to take on a chinese fireball in the first task of the triwizard tournament [gof20]. He hit it with a conjunctivitis curse that caused it to trample on a number of its own eggs in agony [gof20]. The chinese fireball is also known as the liondragon [fb].

Common welsh green:
this is a generally placid breed that nests in the mountains of wales. A reservation has in fact been set up in the country in order to ensure the survival of the species. Its main prey is sheep, and it rarely troubles humans. The one known exception to this occurred in 1932, in what is now known as the ilfracombe incident. On this occasion, a rogue welsh green swooped on a beach full of holiday-makers. This unfortunate occurrence aside, the welsh green generally leaves humans alone, and is most famous for the rather tuneful nature of its roar [fb]. Fleur delacour was pitted against a welsh green in the first task of the triwizard tournament [gof20]. She tried a type of sleeping enchantment on it, which worked until it snored and set fire to her skirt [gof20].

Hebridean black:
this is the only other dragon indigenous to britain, and is an aggressive and strongly territorial beast. It can grow up to 30 feet in length, it has a line of vicious ridges along its back, and has bright purple eyes. Its main prey is deer, although it can also feed on dogs and cattle. Hebridean blacks are traditionally cared for by the mcfusty clan, who have taken it upon themselves to look after the stock of this type of dragon [fb].

Hungarian horntail:
this is another dragon that is black in colour, although the horntail, unlike the hebridean black, has yellow eyes and bronze horns and spikes on its tail. It is reputed to be the most dangerous of all the species of dragon, and can breath fire up to fifty feet from its mouth. It generally feeds on goats and sheep, but also likes to eat humans when it can get them [fb]. Harry faced a hungarian horntail in the first task of the triwizard tournament, which he got past with some fancy broomstick work [gof20].

Norwegian ridgeback:
this is a rare breed, due in part to its unusual tendency to attack other dragons of the same species. Once again it is black in colour, and closely resembles the hungarian horntail except for the black ridges it has on its back. It feeds off both land and water mammals, which is unusual for a dragon [fb].

Norbert, the dragon that hagrid hatched with the intention of adopting as a pet, was a norwegian ridgeback. Although it was less than three weeks old when charlie weasley took it off his hands, it had already grown to several times its hatching size on its diet of brandy and chicken blood and was biting everything in sight [ps/ss14].

Peruvian vipertooth:
this is the smallest and fastest of all the dragons, reaching only 15 feet in length when fully developed. It is copper in colour and carries a strong venom in its fangs. Its usual diet consists of goats and cows, but it also likes to eat humans. This caused some consternation in the late 19th century, when numbers of the creature were growing fast. The international confederation of wizards authorised a cull at this point in order to control the number of animals at large and protect the human population. [fb].

Romanian longhorn:
this dragon is green in colour, and has long golden horns, from which it takes its name. The horns are used in potion-making and are highly prized. As a result of dragon-hunting for the horns, the population has shrunk alarmingly, leading to the entire natural habitat of the longhorn being made into a dragon reservation. An intensive breeding programme has been carried out in order to stabilise the population and ensure the survival of the species [fb].

Swedish short-snout:
this is a silver-blue dragon, particularly prized for its hide, which is used to make gloves and shields. It has killed fewer humans than most other species, although this is probably due to the fact that it lives in wild uninhabited areas and thus encounters people only rarely [fb].

Cedric diggory was up against a swedish short-snout in the first task of the triwizard tournament. He managed to distract it by transfiguring a rock into a dog in the hope that the dragon would go after that instead [gof20].

Ukrainian ironbelly:
this is the largest of all dragons, weighing in at a maximum of 6 tonnes. This makes it relatively slow in flight, but it is also immensely strong. A dragon of this type once managed to pick up an entire sailing boat from the black sea in 1799. It is grey in colour, with red eyes and unusually long talons. It often kills by simply landing on houses and crushing them [fb].


Dugbog xxx

this is a marsh-dwelling creature, indigenous to europe and the americas. It looks rather like a piece of wood. The dugbog glides across boggy land and feeds on small mammals, although it will attempt to attack the ankles of human walkers if they cross its path. The dugbog is particularly fond of eating mandrakes [fb].


Dwarf

dwarves are short, stocky human-like creatures, usually reaching a height of 3 to 4 feet. Creatures of this type can be traced back to norse and arthurian mythology, although the current conception of dwarves was popularized by jrr tolkein in the hobbit and lord of the rings.

Dwarves typically inhabit mountainous regions and are reputed to be skilled miners. They invariably sport thick beards. Professor lockhart used a team of 12 dwarves to deliver cards for his infamous valentines day bash - the members of this particular group were noted for their surly demeanour [cos13], although it would be unfair to claim that all dwarves are like this. The race in general is notable for the fact that females are almost indistinguishable from males, right down to the enormous beard.


Elf

like the dwarf, elves originated in european folklore, and were popularized in more recent times by jrr tolkein. In some legends, elves are tiny creatures no bigger than a man's hand, but most have them as woodland creatures whose appearance is much akin to particularly beautiful and slender humans. Some stories also have them as minor deities.

A different kind of elf has also appeared more recently in christmas tradition, where teams of shorter and uglier elves help santa to make children's presents in his workshop. The harry potter elves are more closely aligned to these, as they are far from the graceful and slender forest-dwellers of tolkein's work.

Jkr's house-elves vary somewhat in appearance, but are universally short and human-like. They can usually be found acting as slaves to rich wizarding families, carrying out menial tasks such as cooking, cleaning and laundry [cos2]. Hogwarts also has over a hundred of them, working in the kitchens and cleaning the castle, the largest number in a single dwelling in the whole country [gof12]. The elves themselves regard their duties as pleasant and make no attempt to alter the arrangement. They are honour bound to follow their master's orders and never disobey [cos2], although most of the elves encountered so far have pushed the definition of their instructions to the limit in order to do something that they wanted to (see information about known elves below). House-elves do not wear clothes, preferring to wear discarded household items such as pillowcases or towels. If clothes are given to a house-elf by its master, this signifies the end of its servitude, setting the elf free [cos10]. This is regarded as a great insult and any elf released in this manner has little left to live for, unless the elf in question is dobby, who holds unusual values for his kind [gof21]. Elves possess a powerful magic, which is different to wizard magic, requiring neither wands nor incantations. Dobby has been seen to hover a cream pudding [cos2], throw lucius malfoy down a flight of stairs [cos18] and even apparate within the walls of hogwarts [cos10], all without the aid of a wand or words.

Known elves are:

dobby:
the malfoys' old elf, who was never very happy with his treatment and longed to be free [cos2]. He stretched his remit from his master to the limit, warning harry of lucius' plot against him and trying to save him, although he always had to punish himself afterwards [cos10]. Following his freeing by harry, he went to work in the kitchens at hogwarts, even getting a small payment for his efforts [gof21]. He was a great help to harry whilst there, but died when performing another service for him, rescuing him from the malfoy manor [dh23].

Winky:
winky belonged to the crouch family before she was sacked by bartemius snr for failing to properly control bartemius jnr at the quidditch world cup [gof9]. She, too, pushed her instructions to the limit, attempting to secure more freedom for her beloved barty jnr wherever she could [gof35]. She is now employed in the kitchens at hogwarts, although the shame of her sacking has turned her into an alcoholic who does little, if any, work [gof21]. Jkr suggested that she did, however, begin to dry out a little in the years after the end of the second war [bloomsbury chat].

Kreacher:
the old elf of the black family, who harry inherited along with 12 grimmauld place after the death of sirius black [hbp3]. He hated sirius and initially hated harry, and for a long time used whatever room for manoeuvre he can find in his instructions to disobey his orders as much as he could. This led to him deliberately taking sirius' instruction for him to "get out" as permission to leave the house, visit narcissa malfoy, and become involved in a plot to kill harry and retrieve the prophecy [ootp37]. His attitude towards harry changed overnight when harry gave him regulus black's old locket and showed a willingness to help him destroy it and thus carry out regulus' final instruction before he died [dh10].

Hokey:
the elf belonging to the rich but aging hepzibah smith. Hokey was loyal, but ended up being framed by tom riddle for the murder of her mistress [hbp20].


Erkling xxxx

the erkling is a nasty little creature from the black forest, which grows to around three feet in height. Its cackling laugh is entrancing to children, who it attempts to lure away and eat. Increased vigilance and strict controls from the german ministry of magic have led to such attacks all but dying out [fb].


Erumpent xxxx

this is a large african animal that resembles a rhinoceros. It has a thick hide that deflects most magic and although peaceable, can be very dangerous when provoked. The erumpent's horn can pierce all materials, and injects a fluid that causes anything it comes into contact with to explode. Erumpent numbers are low, due to the fact the males often explode each other during the mating season. Their horns, tails and exploding fluid are all used in potion-making, and all are class b tradable materials [fb].

The horn is grey and has a spiral appearance, with grooved markings around the base. It looks something like a unicorn horn. Xenophilius lovegood had one on the wall in his house, but believed it to be the horn of a crumple-horned snorkack. This it most certainly wasn't, not least because the crumple-horned snorkack does not exist. This particular horn exploded when xenophilius accidentally hit it with a stunner when attempting to stop harry, ron and hermione leaving, and it took half the house with it [dh21]. Whether this was enough to stop xenophilius thinking it was a snorkack horn is debatable, however. Luna certainly didn't stop believing it, and when hermione told her it really was an erumpent horn, she merely assured hermione that it would soon reform itself, as that's what snorkack horns do [dh25].


Fairy xx

this is a small woodland creature, reaching from one to five inches in height. It looks like a tiny human with wings on its back. The fairy possesses a weak type of magic but has no power of speech. They communicate with each other with a high-pitched buzzing sound. The fairy is generally a cantankerous creature, but its vanity leads it to allow itself to be used by humans as ornaments whenever the opportunity arises [fb].


Fire crab xxx

the fire crab looks rather like a huge tortoise with a heavily jewelled shell. Native to fiji, it is sometimes prey to local wizards who use its shell as a decorative cauldron. The fire crab can defend itself by shooting flames from its rear end [fb], an ability the blast-ended skrewt (a cross between the fire crab and the manticore) inherited from it [gof13].


Fire slug

newt scamander was last heard of studying these in the brazilian rainforest [fw].


Flobberworm x

this is one of the dullest creatures known to wizardkind. It is a brown worm which grows up to 10 inches in length, lives in damp ditches and rarely moves. It is very hard to tell which end of a flobberworm is which. They feed on vegetation, having a preference for lettuce [fb].


Fwooper xxx

the fwooper is a brightly-coloured bird of african origin. It can have plumage of many different colours including orange, pink, green and yellow. They also lay brightly coloured and patterned eggs. Fwooper song sounds appealing to begin with, but will eventually drive the listener insane, as uric the oddball found out when he attempted a 3-month experiment to prove it was harmless [fb].


Gernumbli gardensi xx

this, according to xenophilius lovegood at least, is the correct name for the common garden gnome [dh8]. See "gnome".

Ghoul xx

the ghoul is a creature originally from arabic folklore. It is humanoid in appearance and is famous for the fact that it robs graves and eats the dead. This habit has led to the appearance of such creatures in a number of horror films. Adjectives such as "ghoulish" have also made their way into the english language to describe those who carry out unpleasant acts or harbour an obsession with the morbid.

Despite all of this, the harry potter version of the ghoul is a virtually harmless (if rather ugly) creature. It resembles a slimy ogre and inhabits attics and barns, eating spiders and moths. It has a tendency to make moaning noises and throw objects around, but that is the limit of its menace. A ghoul lives in the attic of the burrow, right above ron's bedroom [cos4]. It seems to be a fairly compliant creature, as it apparently needed little persuading to impersonate a spattergroit-infected ron when ron left to help harry with his horcrux quest, and even nodded enthusiastically when the subject was raised in conversation [dh6].


Giant

giants can be found in the folklore and mythology of a large number of different cultures across the world. The name comes from greek legend, where the gigantes were a race descended from the goddess gaia, who later rose up and fought against the gods. This is typical of giant behaviour in most mythologies - they are usually depicted as violent and antagonistic, and are almost invariably cast as an enemy of the hero of whatever tale they appear in. The biblical story of david and goliath is a typical example, where the heroic underdog david takes on and defeats his uncouth opponent.

The giants of the harry potter world are depicted in a similar manner. They are a large humanoid race - basically humans that can grow to a height of over 20 feet [gof24]. They are now much reduced in numbers: at one time there were over 100 tribes across the world. Giants now number only 70-80 in total and hide out in eastern european mountain ranges [ootp20]. There are two reasons for this decline: firstly, the giants' support for voldemort caused many to be killed by aurors. Secondly, their violent nature leads them to frequent internal battles, which are often fatal. Giants have an organised society of sorts (albeit within a system based on violence) with a recognised leader called the gurg. They also speak human languages (dependent on their country of origin), although very few speak any english. In general, giants are distrustful and usually violent towards humans, and in particular wizards, due to their fear of magic [ootp20]. There have been occasional occurrences of inter-breeding between humans and giants, however. Rubeus hagrid and olympe maxime are both half-giants, although the numbers of any other half-giants are unknown [gof23]. The giants have now been persuaded to join the second war on the side of voldemort, accepting the overtures of the death eaters rather than those of hagrid and maxime, who were sent as dumbledore's envoys [ootp20]. In this capacity, one giant went on the rampage in the english west country and caused such destruction that it had to be passed off as a hurricane to muggles [hbp1]. One giant - the nearly-domesticated grawp, the half-brother of hagrid - is now resident in scotland, with hagrid having brought him back from his mission to the mountains [ootp30].

Little more was heard from the giants for some time after the west country incident, but they finally resurfaced as part of voldemort's army during his attack on hogwarts. Despite their huge size and ferocity, they could not prevent him falling to defeat, however [dh36].


Giant grub

these are the young of some sort of creature: presumably a giant insect of some kind, with the grubs being offspring at the larval stage of development. They are around a foot long, are white in colour, and look unpleasantly slimy. In short, they are quite revolting, although very possibly preferable to whatever they grow into. Hagrid kept a barrel full of giant grubs in his hut to feed to aragog when the spider was ill [hbp11].


Glumbumble xxx

this is a furry grey insect which nests in hollow trees and caves by preference. Its most interesting facet is the treacle it produces, which induces melancholy in anyone who consumes it. The glumbumble is a resident of northern europe and feeds on nettles [fb].


Gnome xx

these creatures originate in european mythology, although they are usually bit-part players in myths rather than central characters. They are depicted as short and gnarled humanoid creatures that live underground, and are often associated with buried treasure. In the world of harry potter, they have been subtly changed into garden pests.

The potter version grows to around a foot in height, and can be found in gardens throughout europe and north america. It has a large head and hard, bony feet. The best way to de-gnome a garden is to swing each gnome round until it is dizzy and then drop it over the fence [fb]. Gnomes are none too bright and tend to come out to watch when anyone attempts a de-gnoming, which makes catching them rather easier. The garden of the burrow is over-run with gnomes, despite the weasleys carrying out regular de-gnomings [cos3].

This delighted both xenophilius and luna lovegood when they visited for bill and fleur's wedding. Xenophilius informed ron that the correct name for the gnome is gernumbli gardensi, although whether this is accurate or not remains to be seen. After all, xenophilius is also convinced that gnome saliva is tremendously beneficial and can imbue anyone bitten with unusual talents, such as speaking mermish. This unlikely effect is known (by xenophilius) as "the gernumblies" [dh8].


Goblin

in muggle folklore, the goblin is a mischievous gnome-like creature that originated in france before spreading across the rest of europe. They are nomadic, living in cracks in the rock or the roots of trees, and never staying in the same location for long before they move on. They can attach themselves to households, however, where they are likely to be found playing minor pranks on their human hosts. Goblin pranks can turn nasty, however, and cause serious harm.

Jkr's goblins are rather more socially responsible, and are integrated further into wizard society further than any other non-humans: they run gringotts bank, and also deal with humans in many other (mostly money-related) ways [ps/ss5]. When dealing with monetary issues they can be tenacious and uncompromising, as ludo bagman found out when he accrued a large amount of gambling debt with them. They cornered him at the quidditch world cup, took all the gold he had (which still wasn't enough to cover his debt), and then pursued him all the way to hogwarts in an (ultimately failed) attempt to retrieve the rest [gof37]. It's fair to say that there were faults on both sides on this occasion: ludo attempted to default on his debt, whilst the goblins failed to honour his bet on harry winning the triwizard tournament.

Goblins have their own language - gobbledegook - and can also speak human languages, and seem to be a normal part of the general culture. They are shorter than humans, with swarthy features and long fingers and toes. Despite the interaction between the races, goblin/human relations have traditionally been strained over the ages, and there have been several goblin uprisings dating from the 17th century onwards [poa5]. A certain amount of suspicion survives to this day, and it is still uncertain who, if anyone, the goblins will choose to side with in the second war. Bill weasley, with his gringott's connections, attempted to make contact with them at the start of the war, but reported that his contact, ragnok, was still feeling pretty anti-wizard after the ludo bagman incident [ootp5].

Goblins are also respected metalworkers, and goblin-made artefacts are highly sought. Hagrid and maxime took a goblin-made battle-helmet to the giants as a gift [ootp20], whilst caractacus burke went as far as to offer 500 galleons to hepzibah smith for some goblin-made armour, a huge investment for a shopkeeper famously lacking in generosity [hbp20]. The weasley's great aunt muriel also owns a goblin-made tiara that fleur delacour is planning to wear when she marries bill [hbp29].

Goblins will only reluctantly mix with humans in general, as evidenced by griphook's reclusive behaviour when he was recuperating at shell cottage after he escaped with harry from the malfoy manor. Goblins also view ownership of treasure in a very different way to humans, which is one source of the tension between the races. Goblins regard anything made by themselves but bought by humans as merely hired rather than acquired, and so expect it back when the purchaser dies. The fact that humans are in the habit of passing goblin-made treasures to their descendents is a source of great dismay to the goblins, and they thus regard anyone who does this as nothing more than a thief [dh25].


Graphorn xxxx

the graphorn is a large four-legged mountain creature with an unusually aggressive nature. It has two long, sharp horns and very tough hide that can repel most spells. Mountain trolls occasionally attempt to tame graphorns and use them as steeds, but this is rarely possible even for a troll because of the violent nature of the beasts. Powdered graphorn horn is a sought-after potion ingredient, although it is very difficult to collect [fb].


Granian

a type of winged horse. The granian is grey in colour and very fast [fb].


Griffin xxxx

the griffin has the front legs and head of an eagle, and the body and hind legs of a lion. It is very fierce and is often utilised by wizards to guard treasure. The griffin originated in greece [fb].


Grindylow xx

the myth of the grindylow began in the english county of yorkshire. Tales are told of a bogeyman hiding in water, waiting to grab and eat and children who come in. The purpose of such tales is to keep children away from any dangerous stretches of water.

The harry potter version is similar and is depicted as a water-demon native to the lakes of britain and ireland. It is aggressive and will attack humans by trying to strangle them with its long, powerful fingers. Though it will attack both wizards and muggles in this way, the grindylow normally feeds on fish. Grindylows inhabit the hogwarts lake, and some of the merpeople even have them as pets [gof26].


Gulping plimpy

another of the creatures that luna lovegood believes in but nobody else does. If it exists it is a type of plimpy that can be warded off with gurdyroot, but it probably doesn't [hbp20]. See also "plimpy".


Hag

hags are gnarled and aged women or witches, and can be found in folk tales from around europe and america. One particular hag, named simply "old hag" is said to sit on sleeping victims and make them have nightmares. The role of the grindylow, in scaring children away from dangerous stretches of water, is also taken by a hag in some tales. Hags can commonly be found as evil or unpleasant characters in the tales they appear in.

In harry potter, hags remain true to their origins in folklore and have the appearance of unkempt and wild-looking witches. Unlike most witches, however, they have a preference for eating children [fb], although they will accept raw meat as a substitute [poa4]. Early attempts to distinguish between beasts and beings put hags in the "beings" category. This was quickly reversed, leaving them firmly defined as beasts [fb]. Harry once saw what he was sure was a hag eating raw liver for breakfast in the leaky cauldron [poa4], whilst gilderoy lockhart wrote an entire book about them - holidays with hags [cos4].


Hairy mcboon xxxxx

alternative name for the quintaped [fb].


Heliopath

a spirit of fire. Accoding to luna lovegood, cornelius fudge had a personal army of heliopaths, which are great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of them [ootp16]. Most people take the view that he never had such an army, due to the fact that heliopaths don't exist.


Hinkypunk

"hinkypunk" is a term that originated in the south-west of england, and is an alternative name for the will-o-the-wisp - the strange lights that can spontaneously appear at night over boggy ground and lakes. Legends of the will-o-the-wisp usually involve a lost soul, denied entrance to heaven and doomed to walk the earth. The rejected soul in question then takes to wandering marshland with a lantern, trying to lure unwary passers-by in. This ties in nicely with jkr's take on the hinkypunk. The real origin of will-o-the-wisp lighting effects is unknown, but is likely to be linked to local weather conditions and gasses released from the marshland.

Jkr's hinkypunk is a one-legged creature that infests marshland. As in the will-o-the-wisp myths, it carries a lantern in its hand and attempts to use the light to lure unwary travellers into the bog [poa10].


Hippocampus xxx

this creature has the head and front legs of a horse but the body and tail of a fish. Like the griffin it originated in greece, and it is usually resident in the mediterranean. It lays large semi-transparent eggs, through which the young tadfoal can be seen [fb].


Hippogriff xxx

the hippogriff is a creature from medieval european mythology. It is said to be the offspring of a male griffin (a creature that is half-lion, half-eagle) and a female horse. This is as unlikely a match-up as the combination that produces the blast-ended skrewt (manticores and fire crabs), as the griffin traditionally sees the horse as prey and is thus unlikely to mate with it. The hippogriff is therefore very rare. It can be tamed, unlike the griffin, and is ridden by the hero in some tales.

The hippogriff has the head and front legs of an eagle and the body and back legs of a horse. It is dangerous when wild, although it can be tamed by an expert. Jkr's hippogriffs understand human speech although they cannot speak themselves, and caution should be exercised when approaching one, as they are very proud creatures. They will attack if insulted. Eye contact should be maintained, and bowing is seen as a statement of the human's peaceable intentions. If the creature is receptive to an approach, it will bow in return. The hippogriff originated in europe and feeds on insects, birds and small animals [fb].

The creature has a large wingspan and is capable of flight, and will even let wizards ride on it if it has taken a liking to them [poa6]. Hogwarts keep a herd of 12 hippogriffs for use in care of magical creatures lessons. It was here that harry rode buckbeak, who shortly afterwards gored draco malfoy for being rude to him [poa6]. Buckbeak was condemned to death, but rescued by harry and hermione, and was finally used by sirius black to make his escape from hogwarts [poa21]. Following sirius's death, buckbeak is now cared for by hagrid [hbp3], and joined in the battle of hogwarts towards the end, fighting on the side of the order of the phoenix against the death eaters [dh36].


Horklump x

this is another very dull creature that resembles a vegetable rather than an animal. It originated in scandinavia and looks like a pink mushroom covered in black bristles. It is an animal, however, and it uses its root-like tentacles to catch worms for food. In turn, the horklump is a considered a delicacy by gnomes, but nobody else seems to like it [fb].


Horned slug

a type of slug that is used as an ingredient in boil cure potion [ps8].


Horned toad

a creature that is used as a potion ingredient. Neville once had to disembowel an entire barrel full of horned toads while in detention with snape for melting yet another cauldron. Afterwards, ron imagined mad-eye moody turning snape into a horned toad [gof14].


Imp xx

imps are small, mischievous humanoid creatures that grow up to 8 inches in height. They look akin to pixies, although they are usually brown or black in colour and are flightless. Imps inhabit marshy areas or river banks and live on small insects. Imps are only found in britain and ireland [fb].


Inferius

the inferius is jkr's take on the zombie, and has much in common with the zombies from horror stories and folklore. Zombies are mentioned separately in the harry potter series, however, and so have their own entry in this list. The difference between the two creatures is not made clear in the books.

The inferius is therefore an animated corpse, bewitched by dark magic and commanded to do the bidding of the wizard who is controlling it. It is not alive in any sense, but is merely a puppet, mindlessly acting out the instructions that it is given [hbp21]. Lord voldemort killed so many people during the first war that he was able to construct an entire army of inferi. He used them to guard his locket horcrux, where they lay motionless beneath the water in the cave. Once harry touched the surface of the water in order to get a drink for dumbledore, however, they rose up and attacked [hbp26]. This is typical behaviour for inferi: due to the fact that they are merely automatons, they are merciless when ordered to attack, but they have a vital weakness in that they fear fire and can be fought very effectively in this way. Dumbledore used this method to force them back when they had been awoken in the cave [hbp26].

The name comes from the latin "inferi", meaning "the dead". See also "zombie".