Warren Buffett: Divide Wealth Evenly Among All Living People

If Warren Buffett divided his wealth evenly among all living people, you would get $7.36 (USD)

Harry Potter: Book Parallels

If you have not realised it, the books have their parallels.

Book 4

Book 3 – Book 5 / Prisoner of Azkaban – Order of the Phoenix

Book 2 – Book 6 / Chamber of Secrets – Half-Blood Prince

Book 1 – Book 7 / Philosopher's Stone – Deathly Hallows

It would be way too long to write about all the parallels, but take Book 2 and Book 6: 

First, there are the Horcruxes. Harry first destroys one of Voldemort's Horcruxes in Chamber of Secrets and learns more about them in Half-Blood Prince. 

He also learns more about Tom Riddle in both books. 

There are also Tom Riddle's diary and the Half-Blood Prince's potions book. Harry at first trusts them both, then realises that Tom Riddle was his enemy and thinks in HBP that Snape was also his enemy because he killed Dumbledore. 

The mysteries in both books are also plotted out by Malfoys. Lucius in the second, Draco in the sixth. 

Also, Dobby keeps trying to warn Harry in CS about the Malfoys, and in HBP, Harry tells Dobby to spy on Draco for him. 

Harry and Ron take the Polyjuice Potion to turn into Crabbe and Goyle in Book 2, whereas in Book 6, it's Crabbe and Goyle turning into girls.

Nearly-Headless Nick tells Peeves to drop the Vanishing Cabinet in front of Filch's office to get Harry out of trouble in Chamber of Secrets, but Draco mends it and actually uses it in Half-Blood Prince.

Another parallel with the D.A.D.A. teachers: Lockhart seems to be the good guy, which we then later find out to be a fraud, but Snape, though most of us think he's evil, he's actually good. 

Fawkes and Dumbledore have their own parallel. They seem to be very close throughout the series. In CS, Harry sees Fawkes die, signifying Dumbledore's death in HBP. 

In these two books, there's quite a bit that has to do with choice. In Book 2, Harry keeps worrying about the Sorting Hat previously tell him he'd be great in Slytherin, but he only ended up in Gryffindor because he wanted to. Dumbledore says his famous quote: 'It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.' In Book 6, Dumbledore reminds Harry that the prophecy between he and Voldemort didn't have to come true, but Voldemort made his own enemy, and also that Harry really didn't have to fight Voldemort, but considering all that the latter had done, Harry realises that, by his own choice, he would fight Voldemort and he would be the one who'd want to finish him off. 

And of course, there had also been the opal necklace, the Hand of Glory, and Borgin and Burkes (see previous post).

Harry Potter: Birthdays

Today, July 31, are the birthdays of J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter.

Jo Rowling was born in 1965. She turns 46.

Harry Potter was born in 1980. He turns 31.

Harry Potter: Little Things

It took five years for J.K. Rowling to plot out the Harry Potter books. She first thought of it in 1990, but remained plotting it out before she had written it.

There are a lot of little things we can find when reading the books that become very important in the later ones. There are also other little things not explained in the books that actually have meanings you might not realise. And all these things Jo Rowling had put in her books defined her as a literary genius.

So here some of the little things (there are definitely a whole lot more):


Philosopher's Stone

In the first chapter, Hagrid explains to Dumbledore that Sirius Black lent him his motorbike. Only in the Prisoner of Azkaban do we realise that Sirius is an important character, and his motorbike, again is used in Deathly Hallows.


During the welcome feast, Harry looks at the professors, and as his eyes travel from Quirrell to his turban to Snape, Harry's scar starts to burn. It first seems that his scar hurts because of Snape, not actually Voldemort, who had been, in fact, in Quirrell's turban.

Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin. It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Harry's eyes – and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead.

The inscription on the Mirror of Erised reads: 'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi'. Backwards, it reads 'I show not your face but your heart's desire'.


In the end of the book, Dumbledore tells Harry that it was he who had sent the Invisibility Cloak as a Christmas present. He tells him that his father had lent it to him the day before he died. We only find out why this was important in Book 7, Deathly Hallows. (The Cloak was one of the Deathly Hallows. Dumbledore had suspicions that it might've been and had previously been interested in finding them, as he already had the Elder Wand.)


Chamber of Secrets


When Harry tries to use the Floo Network to go to Diagon Alley, accidentally turning up in Knockturn Alley, he arrives in a shop called Borgin and Burkes. There, he sees a black cabinet, the Hand of Glory and an opal necklace. The necklace has a label reading 'Do not Touch! Cursed. Has claimed the lives of nineteen Muggle owners to date.' Later, Harry, hiding, sees Lucius and Draco Malfoy in the shop. Draco was looking at this necklace and also asks for the Hand of Glory, displaying his interest in it.

These were indeed the same opal necklace and the Hand of Glory that Draco uses in Book Six, not to mention that the black cabinet Harry saw was the Vanishing Cabinet, a twin of the one in the at Hogwarts. He uses the necklace to try to kill Dumbledore, but ends up cursing Katie Bell. And he uses the Hand of Glory to see through the darkness during the little battle at the end of Half-Blood Prince, when he used Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder to get past the D.A. The Vanishing Cabinet was used so Death Eaters could get in Hogwarts.

The Vanishing Cabinet at Hogwarts is again mentioned in the book when Nearly-Headless Nick persuades Peeves to drop a cabinet in front of Filch's office to get Harry out of trouble.

When Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville sneak out of the Gryffindor Tower after hours, because Draco challenged Harry to a duel (Ron came as his second, and Hermione and Neville didn't want them to go, but went with them), they accidentally end up in the forbidden corridor, when hiding from Filch, where Fluffy was guarding the trapdoor.

     They could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could towards Peeves' shouts.     'Oh, move over,' Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry's wand, tapped the lock and whispered, 'Alohomora!'     The lock clicked and the door swung open – they piled through it, shut it quickly and pressed their ears against it, listening.     'Which way did they go Peeves?' Filch was saying. 'Quick, tell me.'     'Say 'please.'     'Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?'     'Shan't say nothing if you don't say please,' said Peeves in his annoying singsong voice.

Fluffy only starts glaring at them, baring his teeth, and tries to attack after Filch and Peeves had left. Fluffy doesn't first try to attack them when they enter the room possibly because of Peeves's singsong voice.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were trying to figure out why Tom Riddle had a trophy. Ron, jokingly, suggests the he killed Moaning Myrtle. As it turns out, he was correct. 

After the students finished their exams and were hanging out by the lake, Harry sees an owl flying towards the school with a letter in its mouth. That letter the owl was carrying was the 'urgent letter from the Ministry' that lured Dumbledore away from the school.

Prisoner of Azkaban

'GET-HIM-OUT-OF-HERE!' Ron bellowed as Crookshanks's claws ripped his pajamas and Scabbers attempted a wild escape over his shoulder. Ron seized Scabbers by the tail and aimed a misjudged kick at Crookshanks that hit the trunk at the end of Harry's bed knocking it over and causing Ron to hop up and down, howling with pain. Crookshank's fur suddenly stood on the end. A shrilll, tinny whistling was filling the room. The Pocket Sneakoscope had become dislodged from Uncle Vernon's old socks and was whirling and gleaming on the floor.

First, we assume that it was Crookshanks that made the Sneakoscope whistle, but we later find out that it was actually Scabbers a.k.a. Peter Pettigrew, who we find out to be a bad guy, as he was attempting to escape.

He had a very strange dream. He was walking through a forest, his Firebolt over his shoulder, following something silvery-white. It was winding its way through the trees ahead, and he could only catch glimpses of it between the leaves. Anxious to catch up with it, he sped up, but as he moved faster, so did his quarry. Harry broke into a run, and ahead he heard hooves gathering speed. Now he was running flat out, and ahead he could hear galloping. Then he turned a corner into a clearing and-

At this point, Ron screams and Harry wakes up. This dream Harry had might've been foreshadowing the event in Deathly Hallows, in the chapter, The Silver Doe.


Many predictions from the Divination class seem to come true. Ron does in fact go through trials and suffering during the hunt for the Horcruxes, and ends up happy from the experience since he becomes closer to Hermione. Harry does come into a great sum of unexpected gold; his prize money of 1,000 galleons for winning the Triwizard Tournament (though later it was transferred to the Weasley twins), and his inheritance from Sirius after his death. (Ron had seen an acorn in his tealeaves, which meant 'a windfall, unexpected gold'. Harry also ends up working for the Ministry of Magic – Ron saw a bowler hat in his teacup and guessed that he would. Trelawney said to Parvati Patil 'beware a red-haired man'. This could either relate to the next book, Goblet of Fire, in which Ron went to the Yule Ball with her twin sister Padma, or to Half-Blood Prince, in which Ron dates her best friend, Lavender Brown.


In the last chapter, Harry talks to Dumbledore about the prophecy Professor Trelawney had made:

'It will happen tonight. The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight ... the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight ... before midnight ... the servant ... will set out ... to rejoin ... his master....'

Dumbledore then says:

'That brings her total of real predictions to two. I should offer her a pay rise.'

The other prediction he was talking about is then revealed two books from now, Order of the Phoenix – the one about Voldemort.

Goblet of Fire

When at the Quidditch World Cup, Arthur Weasley introduces people to Harry, Ron, Hermione and the other Weasleys who had come with them. There were two 'Unspeakables' Mr. Weasley mentions to them: Broderick Bode and Croaker. In the next book, Order of the Phoenix, we learn that Unspeakables work in the Department of Mysteries, a vital part of the book. Bode is also in that book, and though not that important, the stuff that happens to him helps the trio figure out the mystery of the Department of Mysteries.

During the Weighing of the Wands for the Triwizard Tournament, it is mentioned that Viktor Krum's wand was made by Gregorovitch. In Deathly Hallows, he turns out to be an important character. Harry had a dream about him and that found out that Voldemort wanted something from him. He realises he's heard Gregorovitch's name before, but couldn't remember who he was and when he had heard it. However, during Bill and Fleur's wedding, Harry talks to Krum, sees his wand, and then remembers that it was three years ago when he heard his name and remembers also that he was a wandmaker.

Dumbledore says to Sirius:

'You are alert Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher – the old crowd.'

Arabella Figg turned out to be Mrs. Figg, who lives in Little Whinging, someplace near the Dursleys. (She lived there to watch on Harry and make sure he was safe.) She was first mentioned in Philosopher's Stone, but first appears in Order of the Phoenix. Mundungus Fletcher was first mentioned in Chamber of Secrets, but then also makes his first appearance in Order of the Phoenix. He was also supposed to keep an eye on Harry.

In 'The Parting of the Ways', when Harry is at the hospital wing, Dumbledore asks Snape if he was ready for the task he had asked him to do. This task is of killing him, which he eventually does in Half-Blood Prince.

Order of the Phoenix

In the second chapter, Harry tries to explain to his Uncle Vernon that it wasn't he who had attacked Dudley, but two Dementors. Uncle Vernon had no idea what they were, of course, but, surprisingly, Aunt Petunia knew.

     'De - men - tors,' said Harry slowly and clearly. 'Two of them.'
     'And what the ruddy hell are Dementors?' 
     'They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban,' said Aunt Petunia. 
     Two seconds of ringing silence followed these words before Aunt Petunia clapped her hand over her mouth as though she had let slip a disgusting swear word. Uncle Vernon was goggling at her. Harry's brain reeled. Mrs. Figg was one thing - but Aunt Petunia? 
     'How d'you know that?' he asked her, astonished. 
     Aunt Petunia looked quite appalled with herself. She glanced at Uncle Vernon in fearful apology, then lowered her hand slightly to reveal her horsy teeth. 
     'I heard - that awful boy - telling her about them - years ago,' she said jerkily.
     'If you mean my mum and dad, why don't you use their names?' said Harry loudly, but Aunt Petunia ignored him. She seemed horribly flustered.' 

That 'awful boy' is not actually James Potter, but Severus Snape, as we learn in Deathly Hallows.


Mr. Weasley, when taking Harry to the Ministry of Magic through the visitor's entrance (the red telephone booth), pushes the numbers 62442, which spells out 'magic' on the phone pad.


They found an unpleasant-looking silver instrument, something like a many-legged pair of tweezers, which scuttled up Harry's arm like a spider when he picked it up, and attempted to puncture his skin. Sirius seized it and smashed it with a heavy book entitled Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy. There was a musical box that emitted a faintly sinister, tinkling tune when wound, and they all found themselves becoming curiously weak and sleepy, until Ginny had the sense to slam the lid shut; a heavy locket that none of them could open; a number of ancient seals; and, in a dusty box, an Order of Merlin, First Class, that had been awarded to Sirius's grandfather for services to the Ministry.

When cleaning up Number 12 Grimmauld Place, Harry and the others find a locket, which they eventually throw out. That locket was Slytherin's locket, one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, which the trio were looking for in Deathly Hallows. And all those stuff like the 'unpleasant-looking silver instrument' that 'attempted to puncture his [Harry's] skin', or the musical box that when wound, 'they all found themselves becoming curiously weak and sleepy, until Ginny had the sense to slam the lid shut' – they were put there by Kreacher so no one could get to the locket.

Sirius told Harry a few things about his younger brother, which relates to the locket/Horcrux:

'... my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal ... my idiot brother, soft enough to believe them... He was younger than me, and a much better son, as I was constantly reminded...'

[...]

'He was murdered by Voldemort. Or on Voldemort's orders, more likely, I doubt Regulus was ever important enough to be killed by Voldemort in person. From what I found out after he died, he got in so far, then panicked about what he was being asked to do and tried to back out. Well, you don't just hand in your resignation to Voldemort. It's a lifetime of service or death.'

In Half-Blood Prince, we learn that a certain R.A.B. found out about Voldemort's secret. R.A.B. also stole the real Horcrux and intended to destroy it. At this point, it wasn't mentioned who R.A.B. was. In Deathly Hallows, while at Grimmauld Place, the trio find out that this R.A.B. was actually Regulus Arcturus Black, Sirius's younger brother. Harry tells them what Sirius had told him, and Kreacher later explains that his Master Regulus died in the cave where the locket was hidden by Voldemort, dragged by the Inferi that guarded the Horcrux. He then had ordered Kreacher to leave him and to carry on his task of destroying the Horcrux.

Draco found out the Vanishing Cabinets at Hogwarts and Borgin & Burkes were twins in Order of the Phoenix, when Montague was forced headfirst in there by Fred and George Weasley. Montague escaped by Apparating, but ended up in a u-bend of a toilet, where Draco found him and told Snape when Harry was having a lesson about Occlumency.


In St. Mungo's, while visiting Mr. Weasley:

They climbed a flight of stairs and entered the 'Creature-Induced Injuries' corridor, where the second door on the right bore the words 'DANGEROUS' DAI LLEWELLYN WARD: SERIOUS BITES.'

Putting these words on a sign, they would read:

Creature-Induced Injuries
Dangerous
Dai Llewellyn Ward
Serious Bites

Taking the first word of each line, we get: Creature Dangerous Dai Serious. It's really play on words. What it's actually saying is this: Kreacher dangerous, die Sirius.


Other clues about Sirius's death are listed below (Again, there might be some other things that foreshadow his death, which are not listed here):

When entering 12 Grimmauld Place:

The other's hushed voices were giving Harry an odd feeling of foreboding; it was as though they had just entered the house of a dying man.

Sirius says:

'This is how it is – this is why you're not in the Order – you don't understand – there are things worth dying for!'

When leaving to Hogwarts after the Christmas holiday:

Harry had an unpleasant constricted sensation in his chest; he did not want to say goodbye to Sirius. He had a bad feeling about this parting; he didn't know when they would next see each other.

Sirius tells the trio to call him 'Snuffles'. To 'snuff' means to die.

When Harry talks to Kreacher:

'Master will not come back from the Department of Mysteries!' he [Kreacher] said gleefully. 'Kreacher and his Mistress are alone again!'

When Dumbledore and Voldemort were dueling in the Department of Mysteries, it says:

Dumbledore was standing in front of the golden gates.

This could be hinting at his death, which had occurred in Half-Blood Prince, the next book.


There was a prophecy about Voldemort that Dumbledore showed Harry.

'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches.…born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not.…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.…the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…'

That prophecy (or its orb) Voldemort was attempting to obtain had an tag that read:

S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D.
Dark Lord
and (?) Harry Potter

S.P.T. stands for Sybil Patricia Trelawney, the person who made the prophecy, and A.P.W.B.D. stands for Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the person who the prophecy was said to. It was obviously about the Dark Lord (Lord Voldemort), but there is a question mark in brackets, then it says 'Harry Potter'. This is because the prophecy doesn't actually say who 'the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord' is. It actually could've been about Neville Longbottom. His parents had also 'thrice defied him', and he had been born at the end of July (the 30th, actually) but it was the 'Dark Lord will will mark him as his equal' part that made Voldemort choose Harry as his enemy, as they were both half-bloods.


Half-Blood Prince

'The Dark Lord has in the past entrusted me with his most precious...'

Bellatrix was talking about Hufflepuff's Cup, one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, which was stored in her Gringotts vault.


In Diagon Alley, Narcissa Malfoy says to Harry:

'I see that being Dumbledore's favorite has given you a false sense of security, Harry Potter. But Dumbledore won't always be there to protect you.'

That foreshadows his death later on in the book.


While at Hogsmeade, Harry sees Mundungus Fletcher with things he had stolen from Grimmauld Place, notably the silver goblets with the Black family crest on it. This hints at the locket he had also stolen (after Kreacher got it back from the time in Order of the Phoenix when it was thrown out). In Deathly Hallows,


In Harry's sixth year he saw Trelawney coming, and hid from her. As she passed, he saw that she was examining a pack of cards and muttered:

'A dark young man, possibly troubled, one who dislikes the questioner'. 

She dismissed her own words as nonsense, unaware of Harry's presence or his dislike of her. She could've also been predicting what Dumbledore had showed him in the Pensieve that day about Marvolo Gaunt and Bob Ogden. Or even later in the year, when Harry saw Draco arguing with Snape when he questioned Draco on the progress of his mission for Voldemort.

Later, Trelawney again met Harry in the corridors, and this time complains that Dumbledore had been repeatedly dismissing her warnings of impending disaster. She looked at some Tarot cards and saw:

 '... the lightning-struck tower... Calamity. Disaster. Coming nearer all the time...' 

This seems to predict the events of Dumbledore's death on the Astronomy Tower. The Lightning-Struck Tower tarot card (The Tower) is generally considered representative of disaster or life-altering change.


Deathly Hallows


When George lost his ear after, he lost something that was an important part of a pair to him. This could foreshadow the loss of his twin.

As Professor Trelawney says in Prisoner of Azkaban, whenever thirteen people gather, the first to leave the group will be the first to die. When at the Burrow, just after the sky battle, thirteen people (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, Bill, Fleur, Ginny, Hagrid, Tonks, and Lupin) all drink firewhiskey together. Lupin left first of the thirteen to look for Mad-Eye Moody's body. 

James Potter (Prongs) was the first of the Marauders to die, followed by Sirius (Padfoot) in Order of the Phoenix. Then comes Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail) in Chapter 23, and finally, Remus Lupin (Moony) at the Battle of Hogwarts in Chapter 31. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs died in reverse order.

As he [Harry] followed Bill back to the others, a wry thought came to him, born no doubt of the wine he had drunk. He seemed set on course to become just as reckless a godfather to Teddy Lupin as Sirius Black had been to him.

This foreshadows the deaths of Teddy's parents, Tonks and Remus, as it puts Teddy in the same situation as Harry found himself in, in regards to upbringing. They were both orphans.

Harry Potter: The Books

There are approximately 1,084,170 words in the Harry Potter series. (The word count for seventh book, hasn't officially been released, though a fan has counted.)

The books have been translated into 69 languages, including Latin and Ancient Greek.

As of June 2008, over 400 million Harry Potter books have been sold. And the number has grown over the past three years to about 450 million.

The amount of Harry Potter books that have been sold could circle Earth twice.


Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban had to be released after school hours to avoid truancy.

In June of 2000, the New York Times Book Review kicked the Harry Potter books off of their best-seller list, after them having stayed there for 79 weeks (since December 27, 1998), in order to 'clear some room', because apparently, there hadn't been enough room for newer books to get on there. However, they did make a new best-seller list for children, which is where the books were moved to. At this point, only the first three books had been released. But once again, in 2004, when the first five books had come out, a new list had been made. This one for children's 'series' books, so they were put as a whole.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the fastest selling book of all time. In three markets, it had sold over 11 million copies in its first 24 hours, beating out the record sales of the previous Harry Potter books. (Calculating, we can say that over 127 books were sold each second.) Moreover, more than one person in every ten UK households had bought the book.




[Sources: HP-Lexicon, Wikipedia, BBC, National Geographic Magazine, J.K. Rowling Official Website, MuggleNet, NY Times]

Harry Potter: Characters

There are meanings to most characters' names (and even the names of places and things) in the Harry Potter books. Some names were chosen so they correspond with the character. (e.g. Tom Marvolo Riddle a.k.a. Lord Voldemort – Tom: He hated his first name because it made him quite alike many other people; Tom is a common name, and Voldemort thinks he is superior above all else. Marvolo: mar, meaning to 'impare the quality/appearance of something, to disfigure or spoil something'; volo, the Latin root, meaning 'I wish, want, will, ordain, suppose, maintain that, be willing, to mean, signify, or denote'. Riddle: Obviously, this is a good way to describe Voldemort; like a puzzle. . . . Even better, scramble up the letters in Tom Marvolo Riddle, and you get I am Lord Voldemort. Voldemort: vol de mort, in French, means 'flight from death'; death was Voldemort's greatest fear.)

Dumbledore was born in the summer (either July or August) of 1881. He had died at the age of 115 in June of 1997.

Only a wizard or a witch who is afraid of death can become a ghost.

Dean Thomas's name in the earlier drafts of Philosopher's Stone was originally Gary. His father was killed by Death Eaters when he refused to join them. Neither Dean nor his mother know.

A magical quill detects the birth of every magical child and records it in a book and Professor McGonagall sends an owl to each child when he or she turns eleven.

The Sorting Hat belonged to Godric Gryffindor.

In 2004, J. K. Rowling had said in an interview that Hermione's middle name was Jane. This was later changed to Jean in Deathly Hallows, 2007. The modification was done probably due to the fact that Dolores Umbridge also had the middle name of Jane. On a related note, Jo's daughter, Mackenzie Rowling-Murray, also has Jean as her middle name.

Both of Sirius Black's parents, Orion Black and Walburga Black, were related. Their great-grandparents, Phineas Nigellus Black and Ursula Flint-Black, were the same.

In the the Philosopher's Stone/Sorcerer's Stone film they mention that James Potter I is a Seeker. J. K. Rowling has said in an interview that he was a Chaser. However, in Book Five, Order of the Phoenix, "Snape's Worst Memory", Harry sees his father playing around (or showing off, rather) with a Snitch. Though, this matter can be explained, just as how Ginny Weasley was not only a Chaser, but a substitute Seeker.

James Potter I and Adrian Rawlins, the actor who plays him, are both born on March 27. What's even more surprising is that Rawlins was around 42 years old when he shot his scene for the first movie (The Mirror of Erised, where Harry sees his parents), exactly double the age in which James had died in, 21.

Alfonso Cuarón, the director of Prisoner of Azkaban, asked Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint to each write an essay about their characters from a first-person perspective. Emma, being true to her character, wrote a 15 to 16-page essay, though blames her 'big handwriting'. Dan wrote a simple one-page summary, but Rupert never turned his in (very much like Ron).

In the end credits of the Goblet of Fire film, it says: 'No dragons were harmed in the making of this movie'. (

Harry Potter: The Burrow

A 1/3 miniature of The Burrow was created just to be burnt down, when Death Eaters set it on fire in Half-Blood Prince.

The Burrow took about 14 weeks with eight model makers to make.

It took just six minutes to burn the Burrow down.



The Burrow is over 20 feet high at a scale of 1:3.11. The Burrow model had to match the full size set exactly, so everything was replicated, including leaded light windows, curtains and the all of the various set dressing.




[Source: Hollywood Reporter; Images: Harry Potter Wikia]

Harry Potter: Hogwarts

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a British boarding school for magic which is located in Scotland. The precise location can never be uncovered because the school is hidden by the most powerful spells possible, and is Unplottable. Spells protecting the castle include anti-Apparition and Muggle-repelling charms, which make the castle appear as an old ruin with a sign that says 'Danger, Keep Out.'

Most electronic devices do not work on Hogwarts grounds.

J. K. Rowling said she wanted a humorous motto for Hogwarts (Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus, meaning 'never tickle a sleeping dragon' in Latin), since so many schools have less pragmatic ones such as "Reach for the stars".

In an interview with J. K. Rowling, she said there are about one-thousand students attending Hogwarts at any given time. This is supported by the fact, that when Harry sees his father doing his OWL (in the Pensieve in Snape's office), there are over 150 students. Secondly, during a Quidditch match, everybody was supporting Gryffindor except around 200 Slytherins supporting their own. However, if each year had the same number of students as Harry's, with five boys and five girls in each dorm, there would only be two-hundred and eighty students. This means that there are usually at least 70 students per House per year.

It is rumoured that on the W.O.M.B.A.T. test, Rowena Ravenclaw had a dream that a warty hog was leading her to a lake and that's how Hogwarts got its name.J.K. Rowling has said in an interview that Hogwarts is a multi-faith school.

The set:
Hogwarts was 60 x 50 x 30 ft high on a scale of 1:24.

The original version took about seven months to create with 40 people working on it.

The miniature has been updated over the years due to story requirements. Each of these updates has taken approximately 3-4 months with about 20 model makers.



Translating 'Hogwarts':
Most translations keep the name 'Hogwarts', transcribing it if necessary (for example Arabic هوغوورتس = Hūghwūrts, Russian Хогвартс = Khogvarts, Japanese ホグワーツ = Hoguwātsu, Bengali হগওয়ার্টস = Hogowarts, Greek Χόγκουαρτς = Hóguarts), but some translate or otherwise adapt it (French Poudlard (lard = "bacon"), Latvian Cūkkārpas shortened from cūka = "pig" + kārpas = "warts", Dutch Zweinstein modified from zwijnsteen = "pig rock", Norwegian Bokmål Galtvort (Nynorsk keeps "Hogwarts"), Finnish Tylypahka (pahka = "wart"), Hungarian Roxfort, Slovenian Bradavičarka (bradavič = "warts")). The Ancient Greek translation of the school is "Ὑογοήτου Παιδευτήριον τὸ τῆς Γοητείας καὶ Μαγείας", loosely translating to "Hogwizard's School of Wizardry and Magic", Ὑογοήτου replacing "Hogwarts" and derived from the ancient Greek words ὑo- (hog) and γοητής (wizard).

[Souces: Hollywood Reporter, Harry Potter Wikia, Wikipedia; Image: Official Site]

Harry Potter: Hogsmeade

The miniature version of Hogsmeade had over 20 shop windows filled with tiny window dressing.

Hogsmeade was 42 x 24 x 8 ft high at a scale of 1:16.

The full-sized version of Hogsmeade built for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was based on the miniature version created for previous films.

In all film adaptations to date, Hogsmeade has been shown as a small snowy roof-topped array of shops. Whether the weather is always like this at Hogsmeade is unknown; while on-screen visits to Hogsmeade have usually been shown as taking place in winter, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban shows Hogwarts students departing to pay it a visit in autumn. The village, however, is not seen.

There is a recreation of Hogsmeade Village at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida.

In the film adaptation for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the set is actually the Diagon Alley set used in the first two films redesigned to look like Hogsmeade. Likewise, Honeydukes is the set of Ollivanders in the first film and Flourish and Blotts in the second.



Here are a list of shops and buildings in Hogsmeade:
Deverish & Banges
Dogweed and Deathcap
Dominic Maestro's
Gladrags Wizardwear
Hairdressing salon
Hogsmeade Post Office
Hogsmeade Station
Honeydukes
Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop (what Harry refers to as 'the haunt of happy couples')
Potage's Cauldron Shop
Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop
The Shrieking Shack
Spintwitches
The Hog's Head
The Magic Neep
The Three Broomsticks Inn
Tomes and Scrolls
Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment
Wizarding Wireless Network Headquarters
Zonko's Joke Shop


[Source: Hollywood Reporter, Harry Potter Wikia; Image: Harry Potter Wikia]

Harry Potter: Sets

READY, SETS, GO!
Number of sets created – 588.

Biggest set – the Ministry of Magic.

Longest Standing set – The Great Hall, used from the first film till the last.



One year a storm with 100mph wind gusts took the roof off A-Stage and the Flight Shed at Leavesden, but none of the exterior sets sustained any major damage.

Hagrid’s Hut was taken down at Leavesden and transported and rebuilt 2000 ft. up a mountain in Scotland for scenes in Prisoner of Azkaban.

A 1/3 miniature of The Burrow was created just to be burnt down, when Death Eaters set it on fire in Half-Blood Prince.

THE ART OF REPRODUCTION
The Harry Potter art department contained a team of 58 people working full time. Over 10 years they produced some amazing work, and also 35 babies.


[Source: Hollywood Reporter; Image: Harry Potter Wikia]

Harry Potter: Hospital Wing

The Hospital Wing started its life in Chamber of Secrets as the fountain end of the girls' bathroom.

It was then revamped into the hospital wing and revamped again for Prisoner of Azkaban, which involved lifting the 45-ton set and rotating the set 90 degrees.

The backing seen through the windows is scenically painted with cutouts of other parts of the school.

Looking down to the far end you will see a 2/3rd scale miniature of the Clock tower.

The inspiration for the hospital wing came from the Oxford School of Divinity.

In the actual school layout, the corridor leading up to the clock tower is in fact a bridge to the clocktower.

It took 12 weeks to build.

The bedside cabinets were originally made for a WWII film called In Love & War.

[Source: Hollywood Reporter]

Harry Potter: Leavesden Studios

Warner Brothers bought the Leavesden Film Studios for £100 million, and they are to open a studio tour, The Making of Harry Potter, in Spring of 2012.

On March 21, 2010, while filming the Battle of Hogwarts for Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the Hogwarts set caught on fire.

When you look at the satellite view of Leavesden Studios on Google Maps, you can see ten houses along a road, five on each side. This set was created as Privet Drive.

Leavesden Studios was originally built as an aerodrome in 1940. Many airplanes were built there at the tail end of World War II.

As it is an old aerodrome, none of the stages are soundproofed.

The 200 acre Studio houses over ½ million square feet of covered production space and nine giant stages in excess of 145,000 sq. ft. The runway is 3000 feet long.

Apart from the Potter series, movies filmed here include Sleepy Hollow, Golden Eye, Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace and Mortal Kombat Annihilation.*

*Others not included are: Die Another Day, The Dark Knight, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, and Inception.



Read more about the film studio here.


[Source: Hollywood Reporter, Wikipedia; Images: Google Maps, Wizarding Life, Wikipedia]

Harry Potter: Steam Engine

The steam engine's real name is the Olton Hall and it was built in April, 1937.

It is designated "Hall" class steam locomotive no. 5972.

Max Speed – chimney first: 65mph, tender first 45mph

It can pull a maximum of 27,275 pounds behind it.

The engine is 13 feet and 5/8 inches high and is 8 feet, 11 inches wide.

The carriages date back to the 1950s.

Number of carriages - four (although could be increased if needed)

The 78-ton, four-carriage train was brought in from Carnforth, Cumbria

In railway speak, the actual name of the engine in Harry Potter is the 'Hogwarts Castle'. The 'Hogwarts Express' is the name of the service route that takes students from Platform 9¾ to the school.



[Source: Hollywood Reporter; Image: Harry Potter Wikia]

Harry Potter: Makeup

A dentist was on standby for many of the young crowd scenes to replace teeth which wobbled and fell out – to prevent continuity issues involving teeth.

Harry's infamous scar has been put on by makeup approximately 5,800 times. This is not only on Daniel Radcliffe, who has had the scar applied approximately 2,000 times, but also on his doubles and stunt doubles, all of whom wear the scar.

Robbie Coltrane once got a mini-fan caught in his Hagrid beard and had to have it cut out.

190 liters of shampoo and conditioner were used on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

55 liters of hair tint/hair dye was used on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Approximately 2,182 liters of shampoo and conditioner have been used across all the films, enough to fill 28 bathtubs.

[Source: Hollywood Reporter; Image: Harry Potter Wikia]

Harry Potter: Creatures and Some Special Effects

Creatures:

In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Ron's vomit slugs were in fact, puppets. Rupert Grint chose orange-flavored slime to make the experience more palatable.

250 body casts have been made of actors for deaths, petrifications and stunning spells.

Aragog the acromantula (giant spider) had an 18 ft. leg span

Over 200 creatures have been created for the Harry Potter film series.

Death Eater Masks:

The Death Eater masks were created in conjunction with the art department and prop makers.

The creature effects department sculpted all the masks in a week and the prop team finished the masks, with each featuring an ornate individual pewter design.

All of the actors that wore them had to have a life cast in cold alginate, which took 2.5 minutes to set.

The hog's head at the Hog's Head Tavern:

Initially, director David Yates wanted three computer-generated wolf heads in the tavern but quickly realized it would be more cost effective to sculpt a full-size animatronic hog's head.

The hog's head was a silicon-skinned animatronic model that was operated through the wall by technicians.

Each hair was individually punched in by hand and it took a month to complete.

[Source: Hollywood Reporter; Image: Harry Potter Wikia]

Harry Potter: Animal Actors

The largest amount of animals on set on any given day was 60 animals for a scene in Professor McGonagall's classroom.

Robbie Coltrane, who plays Hagrid, once got a fruit bat stuck in his beard during a scene in Hagrid's hut.

The largest animal to be brought on set was a hippo.

The smallest animal to be brought on set was a centipede.

After filming 40 kittens to go on moving plates in Umbridge's office, the kittens went on to be domestic pets, with their new owners unaware of their famous origins.

There have been 250 animals used across the Harry Potter film series (not including insects).

[Source: Hollywood Reporter; Image: Harry Potter Lexicon]

Harry Potter: Costumes

THE COSTUMES OF HARRY POTTER

Over 25,000 items of clothing have been used on Harry Potter.

Over 600 school uniforms have been created for Harry Potter.

The scenes with the largest number of cast and extras to dress have been the battle scenes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, with 400 Death Eaters and Snatchers and the Great Hall scenes with 400 children and teachers present.

[Source: Hollywood Reporter; Image: Harry Potter Wikia]

Harry Potter: Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

Here are 20 facts about Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, Fred and George Weasley's joke shop from the Harry Potter series:


THEY'VE GOT THE LOOK
1. The shop was designed into three sections – Fireworks and Explosives; Muggle Magic and Consumer Products – which included the Love Potion and Floo powder. In the book there were three or four products mentioned – the other 110 products had to be created by the staff.


2. The shop contains bright windows and harlow shelves crammed with jokes, tricks and magic. It is a colorful icon and a bit of defiant fun in a depressed Diagon alley with Olivander's Wand Shop destroyed a few doors away.


3. It took construction three months to build the set.


4. It is three floors high and has three staircases.


5. The painters used thousands of liters of paint in seven colors.


MOVING PARTS
6. The cash till was bought on eBay and adapted.


7. There is a moving ladder that Fred and George travel on around the shop.


8. There is a 20-foot-high mannequin in the front window of the shop of one of the twins. His costume was specially printed & dyed white felt. He lifts his hat & underneath is a white rabbit, when he lifts his hat again, it reveals a fez.


9. 90 huge balloons were printed with the Weasley "W".


10. A bicycle enthusiast made the balancing Umbridge bicycle from scratch.


PRODUCT PLACEMENT
11. 600 gummy eyeballs were made as well as 600 shopping bags, 300 meters of hand dyed orange cord and 5,000 printed boxes. 400 of those boxes (the Skiving Snack boxes) were specially made in the Czech Republic.


12. The graphics team of eight worked exclusively on the shop for three months and used approximately 460 reams of A4 paper/ 350 ink cartridges. There were 73 different fonts used, along with 500 rolls of tissue paper and 250 meters of printing paper.


13. The graphics department sat down and brainstormed and came up with many ideas, including one of their favorites - Rubby O'Chicken.


14. Concept artists designed 8-10 hero props (hero being the term for the main props the actors use), such as the Puking Pastilles sculpture and the WWW sculpture, and graphics did more of the paper/signage/fireworks.


15. Approximately 223 names were cleared to use for the product names.


16. All the products/labels were printed and assembled at Leavesden studio.


17. 6,850 labels were cut for products.


18. 300 liters of silicone were used to make the Puking Pastilles & all the other sweets in the shop.


SHOPKEEPERS
19. The shop team consisted of three graphic designers and five assistants.


20. Three concept artists and the graphics department designed 120 products.





[Source: Hollywood Reporter; Image: Harry Potter Wikia]