Remembrall
A Remembrall was a glass ball with magic that will turn red if the user forgets something. Unfortunately, it doesn’t necessarily tell what the user has forgot though.
A Remembrall would be banned from exams as it could be misused. Neville Longbottom’s grandmother Augusta Longbottom sent a Remembrall to Neville as she was displeased with Neville’s potential as a wizard.
Neville Longbottom and the Longbottom family.
Even the Quill of Acceptance and the Book of Admittance had to wait until the last moments before being admitted to Hogwarts.
Even his grandmother Augusta Longbottom thought Neville was a squib. Neville was born on 30th July 1980 just a day before Harry Potter’s birthday 31st July, 1980.
The Longbottom family was part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight families that referred to the ‘pure-blood’ families. Although the Longbottom family didn’t have any prejudice against muggle born or mixed bloods and actually fought against the pure-blood chauvinism.
However, the Longbottom family did have pride in themselves for their morality and magic skills, so Neville’s grandmother was very strict and harsh on Neville as she was unpleasant with Neville’s lack of magic skills.
Trolls in Harry Potter
Trolls were creatures that lacked the intelligence to be acknowledged as humanoids in the magic world. Trolls had their own language although it lacked the complexity and they were considered dangerous as they were large in size, had strength, and developed an appetite on human flesh.
There were various species of trolls such as river trolls, cave trolls and mountain trolls. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, a mountain troll which was considered the largest and the most fearsome among the species of trolls that breached into the dungeons of Hogwarts and threatened Hermione at the lady’s restroom.
Some trolls that were more intelligent could have been trained as security trolls that would guard entrances of important locations of the wizarding world.
Centaurs in Harry Potter
Centaurs in Harry Potter had similar intelligence with humans, however they refused to the classification by the magic world and rather remained as ‘beasts’ as a boycott against the arrogance of ‘humans’ and they didn’t want to share their classification with other ‘dark creatures’.
Centaurs had great pride in their race and they’ve disgusted dark magic and associated creatures. Their pride also triggered many conflicts with the Ministry of Magic.
Centaurs have created their own methods of understanding the universe and they were especially talented in Divination which was the study of magic in foresight of the past, present and the future.
The centaur that helped Harry Potter in the Forbidden Forest was named Firenze. Firenze, the centaur halted the creature that was feeding on unicorn blood from attacking Harry Potter.
This action saving a human was considered a disgrace by his other fellow centaurs. Firenze later becomes a professor of Divination Hogwarts.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone or the Philosopher’s Stone?
The original British title and the titles of Europe of the 1st book of Harry Potter was published as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone while the American version was published as the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Europeans were familiar with the concept and background of alchemy while American readers were relatively unfamiliar with alchemy.
The publishers of Harry Potter in America thought that replacing the term with the sorcerer’s stone would give a better implication to readers of the magic world compared with the philosopher’s stone. Alchemy was a study that became a foundation of science as alchemy studied how to change the properties and characteristics of substances.
The ultimate goal of alchemy was to transform ordinary metals such as mercury, iron, bronze etc into precious metals such as gold and silver.
The philosopher’s stone was the core belief of alchemy that was believed to change materials to any of the desired substances in the world. The concept of the philosopher’s stone would later develop to the idea of the Elixir of Life that could grant immortality.
Thus, the philosopher’s stone was the divine power and ultimate purpose of alchemy that would lead to prosperity and immortality that inspired the first book of Harry Potter.
However, while alchemy is more known in European history, for the convenience of American readers, the title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was published as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
Nicolas Flamel
Nicolas Flamel was a French person who actually existed and lived in Paris, France. Nicolas Flamel was famous as an alchemist, but he was most for stories that he actually crafted the philosopher’s stone and achieved immortality.
Stories tell that Nicloas Flamel and his wife synthesized the philosopher’s stone that was the symbol and ultimate goal of alchemy that was known to convert any material to gold or desired substances.
Alchemists and people also believed that the philosopher’s stone was the core ingredient of the Elixir of Life that could grant immortality.
For the French version of Harry Potter, since Nicolas Flamel was such a famous figure already in France, adaptions were made so the name of Nicolas Flamel didn’t appear in the early parts of the first book as the name Nicolas Flamel itself would have been too much of a spoiler for French readers.
In Harry Potter, Nicolas Flamel was mentioned as a wizard who lived over 600 years and created the sorcerer’s stone or the philosopher’s stone like the rumors of Nicolas Flamel in real life.
The Invisibility Cloak
There were temporary methods to remain invisible such as using a demiguise’s hair which was a magical creature that could temporarily stay invisible. However, there weren’t any known methods to remain invisible permanently.
The Invisibility Cloak that Harry Potter received could turn the user completely invisible that was an ability that was even bizarre in the magic world.
Harry Potter received the Invisibility Cloak from an anonymous person (at this point) with the comment “Use It Well.”. The Invisibility Cloak would only physically but completely disguise the cloaked person while it couldn’t prevent detection by magic or senses.
However, somehow it was resistant to spells, charms and even curses from damaging it.
Mirror of Erised – Mirror that Harry Potter sees his parents and the sorcerer’s stone
The mirror that showed Harry Potter himself with his parents and Ron Weasley as captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team was called the Mirror of Erised.
The Mirror of Erised would show the reflection of the most desired dreams of those who saw their reflection. Professor Albus Dumbledore would warn Harry Potter to never seek the mirror as he mentioned that those who dwell on dreams forget to live on. This advice came from Albus Dumbledore’s greatest secrets and painful past.
