The stacks
Lore encyclopedia
Catalog cards for the fictional world. Each note is original, short, and unofficial. Nothing here is a chapter, a quote, or a studio guide.
Hogwarts
A Scottish castle school that sorts its students into four houses and keeps its own calendar of terms, feasts, and exams.
LJ-021PlacesDiagon Alley
A hidden London shopping street for wands, books, cauldrons, and school supplies, reached through a pub courtyard.
LJ-022PlacesThe barrier at King's Cross
A solid-looking barrier between platforms nine and ten that the school train's passengers walk through.
LJ-023ObjectsThe school train
A scarlet steam train that carries students from London to the castle at the start and end of term.
LJ-030InstitutionsQuidditch
A broomstick team sport with four balls, scoring hoops, and a tiny winged ball that can end the match.
LJ-040InstitutionsThe Ministry of Magic
The British wizarding government: departments, memos, trials, and a talent for denying problems until they reach the atrium.
LJ-041PlacesAzkaban
A wizard prison associated with dementors, creatures that feed on happiness and leave a fog of despair.
Gringotts
The wizarding bank in Diagon Alley, staffed by goblins and famous for vaults, carts, and a strict idea of ownership.
LJ-050PlacesThe Forbidden Forest
The castle's dark wood: detention, centaurs, spiders, and the school's habit of putting danger just off the lawn.
LJ-051PlacesThe Burrow
The crooked family home of the Weasleys: many floors, a loud kitchen, and a portrait of abundance without much money.
LJ-060MagicThe Patronus
A charm that gives shape to a happy memory, used in the stories as a shield against dementors.
Horcrux
A story device: an object used to tether a life outside a body, created through murder, so one defeat is not the end.
The Deathly Hallows
A tale inside the tale: a wand, a stone, and a cloak, and an argument about whether owning all three means anything.
House-elves
Beings bound to households in the stories, with powerful magic of their own and a servitude the books both use and question.
Beauxbatons and Durmstrang
Two visiting schools that arrive for a tournament and leave most of their curricula off the page.
The Marauder's Map
An enchanted map of the castle that shows people's locations and was made by four students the novels eventually name.