Herbology, or The Natural World of Harry Potter Quiz

Answer: Professor Sprout

Professor Pomona Sprout is Head of Hufflepuff House as well as Head of Herbology. She is always firm but kind to her students and spends most of her time in the greenhouses at Hogwarts. Her knowledge of magical plants is legendary. She first appears in 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone', but has a more prominent role in 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'. Professor Sprout was played in the films by Miriam Margolyes.

Answer: holly

One of the first things Harry bought was his wand. It was eleven inches long and made of holly with a core of Phoenix feather, which came from Dumbledore's pet Phoenix, Fawkes. It later turned out that Tom Riddle's (Voldemort's) wand also had one of Fawkes's feathers as its core, so the wands shared a special relationship, a fact that was to play an integral role throughout the books.

Answer: Devil's Snare

Devil's Snare is a Herbologists's dream! It is a plant with a mass of writhing vines and creepers which detect movement, and wrap themselves tightly around anyone unfortunate enough to step into its path. Professor Sprout used it as one of the spells to protect the Philosopher's Stone from theft, and Harry, Ron and Hermione encountered it after they had got past Fluffy, Hagrid's three-headed dog. Quick-thinking as always, Hermione freed them from its clutches by conjuring up a 'bluebell flame' spell, as the plant dislikes light.

Answer: Polyjuice Potion

Apart from knotgrass and fluxweed, the other ingredients in Polyjuice Potion are lacewing flies, leeches, powdered bicorn horn and shredded boomslang skin. You would also need a part of whomever you intend to impersonate, such as a hair. It is quite a time-consuming Potion to make, taking up to a month to complete, and when drunk, the effect lasts for one hour.

In 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets', Harry, Ron and Hermione brewed Polyjuice Potion to go to the Slytherin common room and impersonate Crabbe, Goyle and Millicent Bulstrode. Unfortunately Hermione accidentally got a cat's hair into her potion and partially transformed into a cat, so Harry and Ron had to go alone.

Answer: Neville Longbottom

Neville is very fond of his Mimbulus Mimbletonia plant, which was given to him by his uncle, and tends it regularly. Despite his quiet appearance, Neville has a very courageous side to his character. He has shown several acts of bravery throughout the books, and was responsible for killing Voldemort's snake, Nagini, who was the seventh Horcrux, in 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'. In the epilogue of this book, 'Nineteen Years Later', we find that Neville has become Professor of Herbology at Hogwarts and has married former Hufflepuff student Hannah Abbott.

Answer: Mandrake

In 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' Professor Sprout teaches her Herbology students about the Mandrake and makes a Mandrake Restorative Potion to revive the petrified victims of the Basilisk's gaze. Mandrake plants are grown from seedlings, which can take some time to mature. Instead of roots they have miniature 'babies' which grow under the ground and let out a loud wail if they are uprooted, which can be fatal if heard. For this reason Professor Sprout ensures all her students wear ear defenders over their ears when they are repotting the Mandrakes.

Answer: Dursley

The Dursleys live at 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. Petunia Dursley is Harry's aunt, his mother Lily's sister. She is married to Vernon Dursley and the mother of Dudley, who takes delight in tormenting the orphaned Harry throughout his childhood. Petunia and Uncle Vernon are no kinder; they only let poor Harry sleep in a cupboard under the stairs and excluded him from their lives as far as possible, whilst indulging Dudley in every possible way.

It wasn't until Harry's eleventh birthday, when Hagrid arrived at the Dursleys' to tell him he was a wizard and would be attending Hogwarts, that things improved, but even then only slightly.

Answer: Wolfsbane

Aconitum is actually a real plant, commonly referred to as aconite. It is also known by several other names including wolfsbane, monkshood and blue rocket. The Wolfsbane Potion is very difficult to make and according to Lupin, who is a werewolf, tastes absolutely foul. He takes Wolfsbane because it can keep some of his symptoms at bay; although he still changes physically into a wolf at the full moon, Wolfsbane enables him to keep his human mental abilities. Snape brews a fresh potion for him each month.

Of the other three potions mentioned, Murtlap Essence helps soothe and heal wounds, Amortentia is a powerful love potion and Felix Felicis brings luck to those who take it and makes them succeed in whatever tasks they undertake while under its influence.

Answer: pumpkins

Hagrid has a large pumpkin patch outside the cabin he lives in as Hogwarts' gamekeeper. He cultivates his pumpkins carefully so they are ready for the school's Halloween celebrations. It is widely believed that he helps them on their way with some magic from his 'pink umbrella', as some of them end up an enormous size! The pumpkin patch has been useful to Hagrid in other ways too; he hid Buckbeak the Hippogriff there in 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' when Buckbeak was due to be executed, before being rescued by Harry and Hermione.

Answer: True

The tree is first encountered in 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' when Harry and Ron, having missed the train back to Hogwarts, fly back to school in Arthur Weasley's illegally-converted Ford Anglia, and crash into it.

The Whomping Willow was planted when Remus Lupin started at Hogwarts, to cover a secret passage to the Shrieking Shack, where he went each month while he transformed into a werewolf. Apart from the staff, only James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew knew its secret. Peter Pettigrew, in his guise of Scabbers the rat, was the only one small enough to crawl under its thrashing branches to press a knot on its trunk to render the tree powerless.