The Muggle Side of Harry Potter Quiz

Answer: Sirius Black

The Blacks were a "pure-blood" family; Sirius, Harry's godfather, knew their heritage didn't make them superior to anyone else, but the rest of the Blacks were another story! Hermione was born to a pair of Muggle dentists. Justin's family had wanted him to go to Eton (a famous Muggle school, for those who don't know), but he was soon able to explain the advantages of having a wizard in the family.

As for the family of Lily Potter, Harry's mother -- well, it's hard to get more Muggle than her sister Petunia!

Answer: The Prime Minister

As explained by Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic until just after the events of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," "The Minister of Magic only reveals him- or herself to the Muggle Prime Minister of the day. We find it the best way to maintain secrecy." Meetings are arranged via the intermediary of an ugly, magical portrait on the wall of the Prime Minister's office.

It appears that, initially, the Minister of Magic may have been meant to be subordinate to the Muggle Prime Minister -- for example, the wizards have to tell the Prime Minister whenever they want to import "highly dangerous creatures" like dragons -- but, by Harry Potter's time, they were essentially two parallel governments.

After all, as Fudge explained, the Prime Minister "was not to bother his head about them as the Ministry of Magic took responsibility for the whole Wizarding community."

Answer: King's Cross Station

The Hogwarts Express, a bright scarlet steam train, collects its passengers from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at King's Cross Station. When he had to catch this train for the first time in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," poor young Harry was terribly confused by the platform number: all he could see were Platforms Nine and Ten! Luckily, the Weasley family -- obviously a magical lot -- happened by at just the right moment, and explained the secret. "All you have to do," Molly Weasley told him, "is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten ... Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous." He took it at a run, and the barrier melted away ... and a world of magic was revealed.

Answer: Arthur Weasley

Arthur Weasley, Ron's father, worked for many years at the Ministry of Magic's Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. His job was to protect Muggles from seemingly ordinary but enchanted objects. Whenever such things escaped into the world at large, it meant cover-ups, Memory Charms, and hours of overtime.

Given his career, Mr. Weasley's hobby of tinkering with Muggle objects caused great frustration to his family. "If he raided OUR house," his son Fred observed in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," "he'd have to put himself under arrest. It drives Mum mad."

Answer: Chocolate

We first encounter dementors in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban": employed as prison guards by the Ministry of Magic, they were involved in the search for Sirius Black. Professor Lupin described them vividly: "They glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them. Even Muggles feel their presence ... Get too near a dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you." Ordinary chocolate helps: it builds a feeling of warmth that conquers the dementors' chill.

Answer: Stitches

Augustus Pye, a Trainee Healer at St. Mungo's, got the idea just before Christmas, and the Muggle-mad Mr. Weasley was a willing guinea pig. But the stitches didn't work any better than magical methods had, and poor Mr. Weasley was left to explain things to his rather more skeptical wife. "It sounds as though you've been trying to sew your skin back together," she told him, "but even you, Arthur, wouldn't be THAT stupid..."

Answer: A flowered, pink umbrella

Hagrid's career as a Hogwarts student ended decades before Harry's time, when Tom Riddle (the future Lord Voldemort) framed him for opening the Chamber of Secrets and unleashing the murderous creature within. After his expulsion, his wand was broken in half and he was forbidden to use magic ever again, but he hid the pieces in his trusty umbrella and bent the rules a bit during his employment at Hogwarts.

He cast Engorgement Charms on his pumpkins and made Harry's cousin grow a pig's tail -- the usual things, really.

Answer: George Weasley

Three of the Weasley brothers -- Ron and the twins, Fred and George -- turned up outside Harry's window late one night, having "borrowed" their father's enchanted, flying car. To avoid running afoul of the laws on underaged magic, George used a hairpin to pick the lock on Harry's bedroom door and retrieve his school things.

While his brother worked, Fred explained the rationale: "A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of Muggle trick, but we feel they're skills worth learning, even if they are a bit slow."

Answer: A basilisk

The basilisk was released from the Hogwarts basements by Ginny Weasley, who was in the thrall of Lord Voldemort's shade. The enormous snake was supposed to kill the Muggle-born students at the school; Hermione's research revealed that it "has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death." Luckily, none of the students it attacked got a direct look: like Colin, they saw it only through something or reflected from something, so they were Petrified, not killed.

In the wizarding world, Petrification is, fortunately, a curable condition.

Answer: On Harry's seventeenth birthday

This protective charm was set in motion by Albus Dumbledore, when he lay the newly orphaned baby on the doorstep of his last relatives in the world. The Dursleys were neglectful and cruel, even to the point of locking the young boy in the cupboard under the stairs -- but the houseroom was enough for the charm, even without the love.

The charm could never have lasted beyond Harry's coming-of-age on his seventeenth birthday, but, in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," Harry and his allies broke it a few days early in an effort to get the jump on Voldemort.