33 Fun Harry Potter Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

List Of 33 Fun Harry Potter Facts You Probably Didn’t Know:

#1 Harry Potter’s birthday, 31 July, is also J.K. Rowling’s birthday. Harry was born in 1980, while Rowling was born on July 31, 1965.

#2 Dumbledore is an old English word for “bumblebee.”

“Because Albus Dumbledore is very fond of music, I always imagined him as sort of humming to himself a lot,” J.K. Rowling said, during an interview on WBRU Radio in 1999.

#3 Some of the characters’ original names were Lily Moon (Luna Lovegood), Hermione Puckle, Neville Puff, and Draco Spinks.

#4 Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson got to do their real schoolwork while they were shooting the film series.

#5 Fred and George Weasley were born on 1 April 1978 (April Fool’s Day).

#6 Midway through writing the series, JK Rowling nearly killed off Ron Weasley.

“Funnily enough, I planned from the start that none of them would die,” Rowling said. “Then midway through, which I think is a reflection of the fact that I wasn’t in a very happy place, I started thinking I might polish one of them off. Out of sheer spite.”

#7 The names of the plants in Harry Potter films are from Culpeper’s Complete Herbal, a book written in 1653 by Nicholas Culpeper.

#8 There are 142 staircases in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The staircases vary in destination, size, and shape.

#9 The vault in Gringotts Wizarding Bank, known as Vault 713, had the Philosopher’s Stone. Vault 713 encapsulates two of the most well-known numbers: 7 (lucky) and 13 (unlucky).

#10 The curse Avada Kedavra derives from the Aramaic phrase Abhadda kedhabhra, which translates as “to disappear like this word.”

#11 Only 500 copies were printed for the initial release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

#12 The Malfoy family has ties to British royalty. The Malfoys were given land in England after aiding William the Conqueror, which means they were titled nobility.

#13 Harry is the Middle English version of the name Henry, a name taken by 8 kings of England.

#14 Hermione Granger is described in the books with large front teeth, lots of bushy brown hair, and a bossy sort of voice.

#15 Stephen King said that Dolores Umbridge is one of “the greatest make-believe villains to come along since Hannibal Lecter.”

#16 The Acromantula’s only known predator is the basilisk.

#17 The Marauder’s Map was created by James Potter I, Sirius Black III, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin.

#18 Two alternate titles for the final book were Harry Potter and the Peverell Quest and Harry Potter and the Elder Wand.

#19 The main Harry Potter co-stars are far from friends in real life.

“There’s this idea that Emma Watson, Rupert, and I are the best of friends who always hang out together,” said Daniel Radcliffe. “I’m just going to put [it] out there: Emma and I text all the time, but Rupert and I never text each other, we never see each other. If I see him every six months or so, it’s a friendly ‘Hello, how’s things with you?’ But that’s about it.”

#20 Kenneth Branagh (Professor Gilderoy Lockhart) and his ex-wife, Emma Thompson (Professor Sybill Trelawney), have appeared in separate films in the Harry Potter series.

#21 Sirius Black’s Animagus form is a huge black dog, with the nickname of Padfoot. Note – an Animagus was a wizard or witch who could transform themselves into an animal.

#22 The Dementors are based on Rowling’s struggle with depression after her mother passed away in 1990.

#23 Ron Weasley was one of the very first characters created in the Wizarding World.

“I didn’t know then that it was going to be a book for children, I just knew I had this boy, Harry,” wrote J.K. Rowling. “During that journey, I also discovered Ron.”

#24 Voldemort actually has a daughter with Bellatrix Lestrange, called Delphini.

#25 During filming, Helena Bonham-Carter and Emma Watson came up with the idea of Lestrange carving the word “mudblood” into Granger’s arm.

#26 Draco Malfoy is very good at Occlumency, the act of magically closing the mind against intrusion by Legilimency. Draco mastered Occlumency with help from his aunt Bellatrix.

#27 Professor Minerva McGonagall was briefly engaged to a Muggle named Dougal McGregor.

#28 Robert Pattinson started his career by playing the role of Cedric Diggory. “I read the book before the audition, and there wasn’t any part of the character which I didn’t think I could play,” he later said.

#29 Hermione Granger’s corporeal Patronus took the form of an otter. J.K. Rowling tweeted in 2015:

“My favourite animal named for one of my favourite characters!”

#30 Voldemort was born on 31st December, exactly six months after Harry’s birthday.

#31 The word muggle was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2003. It means a non-magical person.

#32 The name Severus translates to “strict” or “stern” in Latin.

#33 The Hogwarts Express is based on a real train line in Scotland called the Jacobite Steam Train.

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