Names of Magical Beings in Harry Potter Quiz

Answer: Firenze

The centaurs are intelligent, proud and territorial beings that are highly skilled in both astrology and healing. They prefer not to have contact with human beings and those that choose to are attacked and ostracized from the herd.

Firenze first draws disapproval from the herd when he saves Harry from Voldemort in "The Philosopher's Stone" by carrying him to safety. Dumbledore hires him to teach Divination in "The Order of the Phoenix" after Dolores Umbridge has fired Sybill Trelawney.

Answer: Spider

Aragog is an enormous spider, capable of both thought and speech, which is known as an Acromantula. As a student, Hagrid raised him from an egg and kept him in a cupboard at Hogwarts. Tom Riddle accused Hagrid of being the heir of Slytherin that had opened the Chamber of Secrets and that Aragog was 'the monster'.

Hagrid was expelled and Aragog went to live in the Forbidden Forest with a mate that Hagrid had found him and they produced an entire colony of huge spiders. Aragog remained grateful to Hagrid for life and kept him safe from her children but quite happily let them attack Harry, Ron and Hermione when Hagrid sent them to speak to her in "The Chamber of Secrets."

Answer: Nagini

Nagini is not just Voldemort's companion, she is also his seventh horcrux - the only other living one besides Harry himself. Voldemort found Nagini while he was living in the wilds of Albania and, being a parseltongue, he was able to communicate with her. After killing Bertha Jorkin (a murder being a prerequisite for creating a horcrux), Voldemort turned Nagini into a horcrux so he could be connected with her forever.

The basilisk in "The Chamber of Secrets" is also a serpentine creature and was controlled by Tom Riddle before he became Voldemort, but it had no name and was not a companion. Interestingly, it is the venom of the basilisk that ends up destroying the majority of Voldemort's horcruxes, including Nagini.

Fenrir Greyback is the werewolf that infected Remus Lupin and Fridwulfa is Hagrid's giantess mother.

Answer: Winky

House elves are owned by wizards and used as slaves. They are obedient and loyal to the family that owns them - even when being abused, most are terrified of freedom. Winky belongs to the Crouch family and when Barty Crouch Jr is freed from Azkaban she is given the role of nursing him back to health and keeping him contained. She takes him, under an invisibility cloak, to the Quidditch World Cup, where he manages to steal Harry's wand and escape.

Dobby is owned by the Malfoy family but, unlike the other elves, wants his freedom. He is fiercely loyal to Harry and betrays the Malfoys to help him. Harry, in turn, helps him gain his freedom.

Kreacher belongs to the Black family, but despises Sirius and is left to Harry when Sirius is killed.

Hokey belongs to Hepzibah Smith and is framed for her death by Voldemort.

Answer: Goblins

Goblins have two functions in Harry Potter. The first is the running of the Gringotts bank and the other is involved with their skill at metalwork. They believe that the true owner of an object is the one who made it, not the one who has bought it, and resent their heirlooms being passed down through Wizarding families as their own.

Griphook is mentioned as the goblin who took Harry and Hagrid around on Harry's first visit to Gringotts. He appears in a much larger role in "The Deathly Hallows"; believing that Gryffindor's sword belongs to the goblins, he does a deal with Harry to help them break into Gringotts, he then betrays them to the other goblins and escapes with the sword.

However, when Neville Longbottom puts his hand in the Sorting Hat at the end of the book he is able to pull the sword from it to behead Nagini, which suggests the sword knows who it belongs to!

Answer: Crookshanks

Hermione buys Crookshanks at the beginning of "The Prisoner of Azkaban", and he creates a lot of problems with Ron throughout the book as he keeps trying to eat Ron's rat. Scabbers is a brown rat that has been owned by the Weasley family for twelve years, and he keeps getting sicker and sicker throughout the book.

Scabbers, of course, turns out to be not a rat, but the animagus of Peter Pettigrew, who betrayed the Potters to Voldemort. Crookshanks is half cat, half kneazle which explains his behaviour with Scabbers and also with the big black dog that turns out be Sirius Black. A kneazle is an intelligent cat-like creature that is sensitive to dishonesty.

Trevor is the toad that belonged to Neville Longbottom, and Ginny brought Arnold, a purple Pygmy Puff, in "The Half-Blood Prince".

Answer: Minerva McGonagall

An animagus is a wizard who can change themselves into an animal at will. It is a learned skill and takes a long time to perfect, but once the skill is learnt they can change back and forth with no wand or spell necessary. They may only take the form of one specific animal; it is not chosen by them, but is determined by their personality.

Animagus are required by law to register with the Ministry of Magic so as to prevent them abusing their ability. Minerva McGonagall is the only registered animagus we meet in the book, she has the ability to change into a tabby cat. Rita Skeeter is the reporter, as who Hermione figured out, was an animagus who turned into a beetle so she could eavesdrop on people's conversations.

James Potter (large stag), Sirius Black (large black dog) and Peter Pettigrew (rat) all learned to become animagi when they were at school to keep their friend Remus Lupin company after he had become a werewolf.

Answer: Buckbeak

Hagrid has a wide variety of strange pets throughout the series, many of which are considered dangerous by other wizards. His love of strange animals leads to him being given the job of teaching 'Care of Magical Creatures' teacher in "The Prisoner of Azkaban".

In one lesson Hagrid introduces the class to a group of twelve hippogriffs. He explains that they are very sensitive and demand respect. Buckbeak is the hippogriff that Harry is introduced to, who takes him for a ride around the park. Malfoy then makes a rude comment about him and Buckbeak slashes his arm open. Malfoy then exaggerates this to get Hagrid in trouble, and in order to get Buckbeak executed. (Of course our young friends stop this from happening, and save Buckbeak and Sirius.)

Norbert is a Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon that Hagrid hatched from an egg, who turns out to be very vicious (he also later turns out to be a she and is renamed Norberta).

Tenebrus is Hagrid's favourite thestral; he was the first to be born to the Hogwarts herd in the Forbidden Forest.

Fang is his large boarhound that is a totally normal dog, apart from his size.

Answer: Fawkes

The Phoenix is a mythological bird who bursts into flame upon its death and is then reborn from the ashes. Their tears have healing powers as Fawkes proves when he heals Harry in "The Chamber of Secrets". Fawkes is intensely loyal to Dumbledore, and is never seen after his death. He only ever produced two feathers for inclusion in a wand - one went to Voldemort and the other to Harry.

The other three are all owls; Hedwig is Harry's Snowy Owl given to him by Hagrid on his eleventh birthday, Errol is an old Great Grey Owl that belongs to the Weasley family, and Pigwidgeon is Ron's Scops Owl that Sirius gave him after he lost Scabbers.

Answer: Moaning Myrtle

Hogwarts is home to many ghosts that often interact and offer advice to the students. The most well known are the four resident ghosts that belong to each house. Nearly Headless Nick (Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington) is the Gryffindor Ghost, The Bloody Baron belongs to the Slytherins, The Grey Lady is Helena Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs ghost is The Fat Friar.

Moaning Myrtle is introduced as a ghost that haunts the second floor girls' toilets - sobbing and whining and occasionally flooding the toilet. It is not until "The Chamber of Secrets" that she plays a vital role, when it is found out that she was killed fifty years before by the basilisk when the Chamber was first opened. This leads them to find the opening to the Chamber in her bathroom. Her death was also significant in that it enabled Tom Riddle to create a horcrux of the diary.