The Complete Idiot's Guide to the World of Harry Potter (3 page)

According to Rowling, magic leaves "traces,” which means that the potion or spell of a wizard will have the mark of that wizard. This means that if the rest of the wizarding world is paying attention, no one can get away with using a potion or casting a spell without others knowing from whom it originated.

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Potion:
In the Muggle world, a potion is a drink or medicine of some sort, although it tends to have magical overtones. Derived from the Latin
potio,
meaning “to drink,” in the wizarding world, this is something a wizard mixes together, usually in a cauldron. The components of a potion include herbs, stones, and parts of creatures (eyes, tails, hearts, feathers, and so on). See Chapter 10 for information on herbs and Chapter 11 for more on potions.

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Spell:
In the wizarding world, spell, charm, jinx, hex, curse all mean virtually the same thing: something said by a wizard, with the help of a wand, that results in magic being done to an object, creature, or other person. Chapter 12 defines the most common spells and discusses the etymology of all of these wizarding terms.

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Dark Side:
Just like the Dark Side in the
Star Wars
movies, this is the bad side; the side you don’t want to be on; and the side you don’t want to run into when alone in an alley. Also called the Dark Force and the Dark Order. The term “sorcery” in literature and folklore has often implied the use of Dark Magic, although that is not the case in Harry Potter’s wizarding world.

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Dark Wizards:
In the wizarding world, these are wizards who are on the Dark Side.

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Dark Magic:
In the wizarding world, the type of magic practiced by Dark Wizards, including the Unforgivable Curses (see Chapter 12). Dark Magic is deeper than simple magic that can annoy or even defraud someone; instead, it has evil intentions that start with a desire to frighten people, manipulate them, or even control them, and eventually involves desires for absolute power, world domination, and immortality. Dark Wizards, like evil people in any world, possess a general distain for human life. Dark Magic and black magic (a term not used in Rowling’s novels) are one and the same.

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Death Eaters:
Dark Wizards who have committed their lives to the cause of Lord Voldemort (see the following section). Because they believe they can achieve immortality, these wizards are trying to “eat death.”

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The Order of the Phoenix:
Lest you believe that only Dark Wizards are organized, a group of good wizards and Aurors (see Chapter 15) has twice convened to form The Order of the Phoenix. This group’s mission is to stop Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort from gaining control of the wizarding world. See Chapter 2 for more on the legendary phoenix and its presence in both the wizarding world and Muggle folktales.

One of Dumbledore’s titles is Supreme Mugwump, which is ironic, because "mugwump” is a decidedly North American, not British, term. To the Algonquian Native American, it meant "great chief,” and that term likely applies to Dumbledore’s resumé. But in 1884, the term was used derisively in the United States to denote Republicans who supported the Democratic presidential candidate. Throughout the rest of that century in American politics, the term came to describe a traitor or turncoat, a politician who waffled on an issue, and someone who’s minor position of authority caused him to become obnoxiously self-important. Dumbledore fits none of the latter descriptions.