The Harry Potter franchise is one of the richest and most vast, spanning books, movies and soon TV series. Its fans know the world inside and out – but just how well?
The Harry Potter nerds at Radio Times have compiled 13 little-known facts, Easter eggs and tidbits of trivia from the wizarding world to test and deepen your knowledge.
How many do you remember? And how many did you never even know?
1. Minerva McGonagall holds the hatstall record
The Sorting Hat couldn't decide whether to place the future Professor McGonogall in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, spending five-and-a-half minutes coming to a conclusion – the longest wait in Hogwarts history. Eventually, it settled on Gryffindor, of course.
Yes, you can actually see a CGI Hippogriff defecate in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In a blink-and-you-miss-it moment during Hagrid's first Care of Magical Creatures class, Buckbeak, just as Harry approaches to try bowing to him, Buckbeak poops in the dappled sunlight.
3. Voldemort's mother suffered great heartbreak
Merope Gaunt was actually a tragic character. Raised in a family that was physically and mentally abusive towards her, she became obsessed with a handsome and rich muggle in her village, Tom Riddle (Senior).
When her father and brother were sent to Azkaban, she somewhat disturbingly used magic to seduce Tom, later getting pregnant (with the child who would grow up to be Voldemort). Once they were expecting a child together, she lifted the spell, only for Tom to abandon her as soon as he was conscious again, breaking her heart. Merope fell into a depression and later died.
4. James and Lily Potter were only 21 when they died
Despite what you might think from looking at the actors in the movies. Geraldine Somerville, who played Lily, was 34 when her first appearance – in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone – was released in 2001. Adrian Rawlins meanwhile, who played James, was 43!
By now, pretty much everyone is aware of Remus Lupin's etymological links to wolves, but did you know Ludo Bagman, Professor Vector and Madame Maxime's names also give hints to their characters in Harry Potter?
"Ludo" is Latin for "play", hinting at his love of games and gambling – he's even the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports!
Septima Vector is one of the less prominent teachers at Hogwarts and her name is fairly on the nose, linking to her role as Professor of Arithmacy.
And "Maxime" is a popular name with French and Latin roots which actually means "the greatest" or "the largest" – a reference to the Beauxbatons Headmistress's stature.
6. There's another Weasley family twin tragedy
Molly Weasley's twin brothers, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, died fighting side-by-side in the Order of the Phoenix in the First Wizarding War. They were killed at the hands of five Death Eaters, one of whom was Antonin Dolohov, who was imprisoned in Azkaban for the crime. Fred and George's names are tributes to them.
JK Rowling used the title while writing the fourth book but later settled on The Goblet of Fire. Advance publicity items were even even released featuring its working title, documenting it in the Harry Potter history books.
8. Hermione nearly had a completely different name
Of course you remember that Hermione's middle name is Jean, but did you know she was nearly not a Granger at all? In the first iteration, she was Hermione Puckle.
9. Sirius tragically never knew of his wayward brother's heroic final act for good
Sirius died still hating his brother Regulus Arcturus Black for his associations with dark magic and his decision to become a Death Eater. He never lived long enough to learn what Harry and Dumbledore discovered: that Regulus's last act was to sacrifice himself for good.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry and Dumbledore manage to get what they think is a Horcrux, Slytherin's locket, from the cave, only to find out it's a fake. Regulus beat them to it having turned on Voldemort – the final straw being his callous treatment of Regulus's house-elf Kreacher – and decided to get rid of the locket himself.
He drank the same agonising potion that Dumbledore does, replaces the locket with a fake and, weakened by the potion, is dragged into the lake in the cave by the Inferi, leaving Kreacher behind to destroy the real locket.
By using two-way he gave him. The device, which was gifted to Harry with the intention of allowing him to communicate information about Snape from Hogwarts in The Order of the Phoenix, would've meant he could verify whether Sirius was in the Ministry of Magic on the fateful night of his death.
Instead, Harry believes the vision planted in his mind of his godfather being tortured. His consequential decision to take flight to the Ministry in a bid to save Sirius ultimately leads the order there – where Black is killed by Bellatrix.
11. SPEW is just as funny in other languages
Hermione's admirable efforts to fight for the rights of house-elves by launching SPEW (The Society for the Protection of Elfish Welfare) in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire attracts much mockery from Ron, who quickly points out how funny the acronym is.
But the translations of the book into other languages also feature some hilarious Easter eggs. For example, the Swedish version is FISA ("Föreningen för Ideelt Stöd åt Alferna", which literally translates to "Association for Volungtary Support of the Elves"). In Swedish, "fisa" means "fart".
Meanwhile, the Dutch version is S**T – "Stichting Huis-elf, voor Inburgering en Tolerantie", which translates to "House-Elf Foundation for Civic Integration and Tolerance".
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Death Eater and true Voldemort loyalist Barty Crouch Junior masquerades as Mad-Eye Moody in order to help orchestrate his lord's return to strength.
Securing himself a position on the Hogwarts teaching staff as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher (ironic), his spends his first lesson teaching Harry, Ron and Hermione's class about the Unforgivable Curses, including the Cruciatus Curse.
He demonstrates the curse on a poor spider in front of Neville Longbottom, whose parents, we learn, Crouch Junior tortured to insanity by the same method, leaving them permanent patients in the wizarding hospital St Mungo's.
At the time, Neville is extremely distressed by witnessing the use of the curse – but he doesn't even know who the man performing it really is.
12. Snape is a Capricorn
Severus Snape's birthday is 9 January, which makes him a Capricorn, an Earth sign: pragmatic and ambitious.
If you're into astrology, this explains Snape's drive and tendency to be determinedly goal-oriented. Nothing will stand in the way of his mission to avenge Lily's death.
He's also fiercely loyal – typical Capricorn – devoting his life to protesting Lily's son, Harry. And he's always got his eye on the long-game.
13. You can spot the exact moment Dumbledore realise Harry would survive another would-be deadly attack by Voldemort
As Reddit user erikaironer11 notes, Dumbledore knew Harry would face death (and win) again at the hands of Voldemort is clearly written in the fourth book.
When Harry is detailing what happened in the graveyard after he and Cedric were transported there by the portkey, how Voldemort was resurrected ("He's back!"), there is a description of Dumbledore having a brief "triumphant look" – he's pieced together what he knows about the Horcruxes so far, and how Harry is the final piece of the puzzle.
The Harry Potter TV series will be coming to HBO in the US and HBO Max globally on 25 December 2026. Subscribe to HBO Max in the UK from £5.99 a month. Add Harry Potter to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.
Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
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