The J.K. Rowling Index

List of all J.K. Rowling's writings.

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Work Category: Writing

The Philosopher’s Stone

non fiction pottermore

Index ID: PSPM — Publication date: August 15th, 2011

I did not invent the concept of the Philosopher’s Stone, which is a legendary substance that was once believed to be real, and the true goal of alchemy.

The properties of ‘my’ Philosopher’s Stone conform to most of the attributes the ancients ascribed to it. The Stone was believed to turn base metals into gold, and also to produce the Elixir of Life, which could make you immortal. ‘Genuine’ alchemists – the forerunners of chemists and physicists – such as Sir Isaac Newton and (the real) Nicolas Flamel, sought, sometimes over lifetimes, to discover the secret of its creation.

The Stone is variously described as red and white in the many old texts in which it appears. These colours are important in most accounts of alchemy, and are often interpreted as having symbolic meaning.

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Professor Quirrell

non fiction pottermore

Index ID: PQPM — Publication date: August 15th, 2011

New from J.K. Rowling

Trait Description
Birthday 26th September
Wand Alder and unicorn hair, nine inches long, bendy
Hogwarts House Ravenclaw
Special Abilities Learned in the theory of Defensive Magic, less adept in the practise
Parentage Half-blood
Family Unmarried, no children
Hobbies Travel, pressing wild flowers

Harry’s first Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher is a clever young wizard who took a ‘Grand Tour’ around the world before taking up his teaching post at Hogwarts. When Harry first meets Quirrell, he has adopted a turban for everyday wear. His nerves, expressed most obviously in his stammer, are so pronounced that it is rumoured the turban is stuffed full of garlic, to ward off vampires.

I saw Quirrell as a gifted but delicate boy, who would probably have been teased for his timidity and nerves during his school life. Feeling inadequate and wishing to prove himself, he developed an (initially theoretical) interest in the Dark Arts. Like many people who feel themselves to be insignificant, even laughable, Quirrell had a latent desire to make the world sit up and notice him.

Quirrell set out deliberately to find whatever remained of the Dark wizard, partly out of curiosity, partly out of that unacknowledged desire for importance. At the very least, Quirrell fantasised that he could be the man who tracked Voldemort down, but at best, might learn skills from Voldemort that would ensure he was never laughed at again.

Though Hagrid was correct in saying that Quirrell had a ‘brilliant mind,’ the Hogwarts teacher was both naive and arrogant in thinking that he would be able to control an encounter with Voldemort, even in the Dark wizard’s weakened state. When Voldemort realised that the young man had a position at Hogwarts, he took immediate possession of Quirrell, who was incapable of resisting.

While Quirrell did not lose his soul, he became completely subjugated by Voldemort, who caused a frightful mutation of Quirrell’s body: now Voldemort looked out of the back of Quirrell’s head and directed his movements, even forcing him to attempt murder. Quirrell tried to put up feeble resistance on occasion, but Voldemort was far too strong for him.

Quirrell is, in effect, turned into a temporary Horcrux by Voldemort. He is greatly depleted by the physical strain of fighting the far stronger, evil soul inside him. Quirrell’s body manifests burns and blisters during his fight with Harry due to the protective power Harry’s mother left in his skin when she died for him. When the body Voldemort and Quirrell are sharing is horribly burned by contact with Harry, the former flees just in time to save himself, leaving the damaged and enfeebled Quirrell to collapse and die.

J.K. Rowling’s thoughts

Quirinus was a Roman God about whom there is not much information, although he is commonly associated with war – a clue that Quirrell is not quite as meek as he appears. ‘Quirrel,’ which is so nearly ‘squirrel’ – small, cute and harmless – also suggested ‘quivery,’ a nod to the character’s innate nervousness.

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The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection

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Index ID: TDFPM — Publication date: August 15th, 2011

Werewolf bites should be thoroughly and magically cleaned, as the werewolf’s fangs are venomous. However, there is no cure once you have become a werewolf, so try and avoid being bitten at all costs.

Avoid the Red Cap, a Dark dwarfish creature that lurks in places where blood has been shed and will attempt to bludgeon the unwary to death.

The Zombie dwells only in the Southern part of America. It is an example, like the Vampire, of the Living Dead and may be recognised by its greyish colour and its rotten smell.

The hag is a child-eating creature of human appearance, though likely to have more warts than the average witch.

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One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi

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Index ID: OTMPM — Publication date: August 15th, 2011

Dittany is a powerful healing herb and restorative and may be eaten raw to cure shallow wounds.

Flobberworm mucus is a popular potion thickener.

Aconite is sometimes called monkshood or wolfsbane.

Moly is a powerful plant that can be eaten to counteract enchantments. It is a black-stemmed plant with white flowers.

The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it.

The Wiggentree is a magical rowan that will protect anyone touching its trunk from the attack of Dark creatures.

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The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1

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Index ID: SBSPM — Publication date: August 15th, 2011

Charms differ from Transfiguring Spells in the following manner: a charm adds certain properties to an object or creature, whereas a transfiguring spell will change it into something utterly different.

The lesser charms are not very difficult to break and many of those that you learn as a young wizard will wear off in a matter of days or even hours.

Dark charms are known as jinxes, hexes and curses. This book does not deal with such spells.

Lapses in concentration while charming can result in painful side effects – remember Wizard Baruffio, who said ‘s’ instead of ‘f’ and found himself lying on the floor with a buffalo on his chest.

Some charms will be ineffective on large creatures such as trolls, whose hides repel all but the most powerful spells.

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Nicholas Flamel

non fiction pottermore

Index ID: NFPM — Publication date: August 15th, 2011

Nicolas Flamel was a real person. I read about him in my early twenties when I came across one of the versions of his life story. It told how he had bought a mysterious book called The Book of Abraham the Jew, which was full of strange symbols and which Flamel realised were instructions on alchemy. The story went that he subsequently made it his life’s work to produce the Philosopher’s Stone.

The real Flamel was a wealthy businessman and a noted philanthropist. There are streets in Paris named after him and his wife, Perenelle.

I remember having a highly detailed and exceptionally vivid dream about Flamel, several months into the writing of Philosopher’s Stone, which was like a renaissance painting come to life. Flamel was leading me around his cluttered laboratory, which was bathed in golden light, and showing me exactly how to make the Stone (I wish I could remember how to do it).

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The Mirror of Erised

non fiction pottermore

Index ID: MEPM — Publication date: August 15th, 2011

New from J.K. Rowling

The Mirror of Erised is a very old device. Nobody knows who created it, or how it came to be at Hogwarts School. A succession of teachers have brought back interesting artefacts from their travels, so it might have arrived at the castle in this casual manner, either because the teacher knew how it worked and was intrigued by it, or because they did not understand it and wished to ask their colleagues’ opinions.

The Mirror of Erised is one of those magical artefacts that seems to have been created in a spirit of fun (whether innocent or malevolent is a matter of opinion), because while it is much more revealing than a normal mirror, it is interesting rather than useful. Only after Professor Dumbledore makes key modifications to the mirror (which has been languishing in the Room of Requirement for a century or so before he brings it out and puts it to work) does it become a superb hiding place, and the final test for the impure of heart.

The mirror’s inscription (‘erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi’) must be read backwards to show its true purpose.”

J.K. Rowling’s thoughts

Albus Dumbledore’s words of caution to Harry when discussing the Mirror of Erised express my own views. The advice to ‘hold on to your dreams’ is all well and good, but there comes a point when holding on to your dreams becomes unhelpful and even unhealthy. Dumbledore knows that life can pass you by while you are clinging on to a wish that can never be – or ought never to be – fulfilled. Harry’s deepest yearning is for something impossible: the return of his parents. Desperately sad though it is that he has been deprived of his family, Dumbledore knows that to sit gazing on a vision of what he can never have, will only damage Harry. The mirror is bewitching and tantalising, but it does not necessarily bring happiness

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Curses and Counter-Curses

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Index ID: CCCPM — Publication date: August 15th, 2011

Curses and Counter-Curses, by Professor Vindictus Viridian, is a spellbook which contains jinxes and curses.

  • The Tickling Spell: Point your wand directly at your enemy and shout ‘Titillando!’
  • The Leg-Locker Curse: Point your wand directly at your enemy and shout ‘Locomotor Mortis!’
  • The Full-Body Bind: Point your wand directly at your enemy and shout ‘Petrificus Totalus!’
  • Tongue-Tying Spell: Point your wand directly at your enemy and shout ‘Mimble Wimble!’
  • Jelly-Legs Curse: Point your wand directly at your enemy and shout ‘Locomotor Wibbly!’

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The Original Forty

pottermore non fiction

Index ID: OG40PM — Publication date: August 15th, 2011

Two of my most prized possessions are a pair of small notebooks, which contain my very first scribblings about Harry Potter. Much of what is written in them was never used in the series, although it is startling to come across the odd line of dialogue that subsequently made it, verbatim, to publication.

In one of the books is a list of forty names of students in Harry’s year (including Harry, Ron and Hermione), all allocated houses, with small symbols beside each name depicting each boy or girl’s parentage.

While I imagined that there would be considerably more than forty students in each year at Hogwarts, I thought that it would be useful to know a proportion of Harry’s classmates, and to have names at my fingertips when action was taking place around the school.

As the stories evolved, I changed the parentage of some of the original forty. While some never appeared in the books at all, I always knew that they were there; some had surgery to their names after their first creation; a few emerged from the background to have their own secondary stories (Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Justin Finch-Fletchley), and one, Neville Longbottom, developed into a very important character. It is very strange to look at the list in this tiny notebook now, slightly water-stained by some forgotten mishap, and covered in light pencil scribblings (undoubtedly the work of my then infant daughter, Jessica), and to think that while I was writing these names, and refining them, and sorting them into houses, I had no clue where they were going to go (or where they were going to take me).

Here, then, are the original forty:

  • Abbott, Hannah
  • Bones, Susan
  • Boot, Trevor
  • Brocklehurst, Mandy
  • Brown, Lavender
  • Bulstrode, Millicent
  • Corner, Michael
  • Cornfoot, Stephen
  • Crabbe, Vincent
  • Davis, Tracey
  • Entwhistle, Kevin
  • Finch-Fletchley, Justin
  • Finnigan, Seamus
  • Goldstein, Anthony
  • Goyle, Gregory
  • Granger, Hermione – inserted in pencil, see crossed-out entry, below
  • Greengrass, Queenie
  • Hopkins, Wayne
  • Jones, Megan
  • Li, Sue
  • Longbottom, Neville – inserted in ink, see crossed out entry, below
  • MacDougal, Isobel [original name Katrina crossed out]
  • Macmillan, Ernest
  • Malfoy, Draco – inserted in ink, see crossed-out entry, below
  • Malone, Roger
  • Moon, Lily [first intimation of Luna Lovegood, this name was never used, but gave me an idea for a fey, dreamy girl. She was named before I decided on Harry’s mother’s name.]
  • Nott, Theodore
  • Parkinson, Pansy
  • Patel, Madhari
  • Patel, Mati
  • Perks, Sally-Anne
  • Potter, Harry
  • [Puckle, Hermione – crossed out, name changed and reinserted, above]
  • [Puff, Neville – crossed out, name changed and reinserted, above]
  • [Quirrel], crossed out, subsequently used for teacher]
  • Rivers, Oliver
  • Roper, Sophie
  • [Sidebottom, Neville crossed out]
  • Smith, Sally [Georgina crossed out]
  • [Spungen, changed to Spinks, Draco, all crossed out, re-inserted above]
  • Thomas, Gary
  • Turpin, Lisa
  • Weasley, Ronald
  • Zabini, Blaise

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Hogwarts School Subjects

non fiction pottermore

Index ID: HSSPM — Publication date: August 15th, 2011

New from J.K. Rowling

All first-years at Hogwarts must take seven subjects: Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy and Herbology. Flying lessons (on broomsticks) are also compulsory.

At the end of their second year at Hogwarts, students are required to choose a minimum of two more subjects from the following list: Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Divination, Study of Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures.

Very specialised subjects such as Alchemy are sometimes offered in the final two years, if there is sufficient demand.

J.K. Rowling’s thoughts

A slightly different list of school subjects appears in my earliest notes. Herbology is called ‘Herbalism’, Divination is compulsory from the first year, as are Alchemy and a subject called simply ‘Beasts’, whereas Transfiguration is called ‘Transfiguration/Metamorphosis’.

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