The creatures of Black Lake – Merpeople
Merpeople or Merperson was the magical creature that lived underwater and they were responsible for the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. Merpeople were also intellectual creatures so they had their own culture and communicated with witches and wizards.
The merpeople of Black Lake agreed to take hostage of four people for an hour until the champions came to rescue them. The merpeople were different form a grindylow as girndylows were creatures that were domesticated and raised by the merpeople.
Although merpeople didn’t merely obey with people, the merepeople of Black Lack had a respectful relationship with the faculty members of Hogwarts.
Grindylow
Grindylows were small green creatures that lived in the water. Merepeople would raise grindylows as their pets. Grindylows could be carnivorous of humans so even though they were relatively weak, they were classified as creatures of the dark arts.
The magical creatures that hindered Harry Potter from saving Fleur Delacour’s younger sister Gabrielle Delacour were not merpeople but they were grindylows.
The creature that Harry Potter witnessed when he first visited Remus Lupin’s office was a tank of grindylows that Remus Lupin has prepared for class. Grindylows were responsible for the early retirement of Fleur Delacour during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament as well.
Dragon
Dragons were magical creatures with giant wings and breathing fire like the usual descriptions of dragons. Dragons were one of the most dangerous magical creatures and possession or sales of dragon eggs were strictly illegal.
However, there were many scholars studying dragons as dragons were very important for the magic society. Dragon heartstrings were one of the most supreme wand cores according to Garrick Ollivander while other resources derived from dragons were also very important ingredients for potions, artefacts etc.
There were many types of dragon across the world and behaviors and characteristics of dragons varied by what kind of dragon they were. Dragons were considered impossible to domesticate while there were reports of human friendly dragons, mostly dragons were very aggressive on witches and wizards.
Ron Weasley’s brother Charlie Weasley became a dragonologist in the dragon sanctions located in Romania. One of Albus Dumbledore’s achievements was identifying the twelve usages of dragon blood.
Species of Dragon in Harry Potter
Ukranian Ironbelly
The Ukranian Ironbelly was a dragon native to Ukraine and it was the largest dragon type in the world. The Ukranian Ironbelly had a metallic grey color with red eyes and as it was the largest dragon species in the world, they were relatively slower than other dragons.
Ukranian Ironbelly dragons had solid and rough scales which gave its name the “iron belly”.
Romanian Longhorn
While Romania was famous for its dragon sanctuary, the native dragon of Romania was the Romanian Longhorn which was a dragon with a dark green color.
Like the name, the Romanian Longhorn had great value and as the dragon became nearly extinct, Romania developed an extensive preservation program for dragons including its native Romanian Longhorns. The Romanian Longhorns had two giant horns like a bull.
Norwegian Ridgeback
Native to Norway, the Norwegian Ridgeback was the dragon that appeared in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Philosopher’s stone) which Hagrid hatched. Hagrid name the Norwegian Ridgeback Norberta as he thought it was a male but it turned out to be a female and was renamed Noberta.
Charlie Weasley took Norberta to the Dragon sanctuary at Romania where Charlie worked. The Norwegian Ridgeback had venom glands on its teeth and it had a unique diet feeding on mammals even aquatic mammals like whales.
Hebridean Black
The Hebridean Black was native on the Hebrides islands located in Scotland. The Hebridean Black had black body with rough skin with a sharp tipped tail with a bat like body.
It surely had a very intimidating appearance and it was also aggressive as well. However, there were stories of Hebridean Black dragons befriending witches and wizards although they were very rare.
Chinese Fireball
The Chinese Fireball was also named the Liondragon which native to China. The Chinese Fireball had a fiery red body and it could breathe round fireballs from its nostrils when it was angry which gave its name.
The Durmstrang champion Viktor Krum faced a Chinese Fireball for the first task of the Triwizard Tournament by using a conjunctivitis curse that would temporarily blind the dragon.
Common Welsh Green
The Common Welsh Green was a dragon that was native to Wales that nested in the mountains. Among the other species of dragons, the Welsh Green was a species that were generally more gentle than other dragon species.
Welsh Green dragons would actually avoid humans as much as possible. However still, it was an aggressive dragon and there were life-taking incidents.
Beauxbatons champion Fleur Delacour faced the Welsh Green dragon which she tried to put the dragon asleep by a sleeping charm. However, the Welsh Green awaken in the middle and arson Fleur Delacour’s skirt.
Peruvian Vipertooth
The Peruvian Vipertooth dragon was native to Peru and was highly aggressive towards humans. Also, the Peruvian Vipertooth preyed and preferred humans as their diet so there were hunter squad organized to reduce the Peruvian Vipertooths.
The infamous pandemic that affected the wizardry society, dragon pox seemed to originate from those who’ve encountered Peruvian Vipertooth dragons. The Peruvian Vipertooth had long venomous fangs which gave its name.
Swedish Short Snout
The Short Snout was native to Sweden and had a silver blue colored body. The Swedish Short Snouts usually lived in very remote locations high in the mountain regions of Sweden. It was famous for breathing blue fire.
Cedric Diggory faced a Swedish Short Snout which he distracted by transforming a rock into a dog. The Swedish Short Snout was distracted by the dog at first but it turned back on Cedric Diggory and gave him a severe burn which had to be treated.
Antipodean Opaleye
The Antipodean Opaleye is a dragon species that was native to New Zealand. It has a purple pearl color body and it was considered the least aggressive dragon. The Antipodean Opaleye was still a dangerous dragon that required caution, however it also has a lot of stories for sharing friendship and being loyal to some humans.
Hungarian Horntail
The Hungarian Horntail had an orange-yellow body with a spiked tail that was native to Hungary. The Hungarian Horntail was dangerous and very aggressive which even Rubeus Hagrid couldn’t yield. Harry Potter had to face a Hungarian Horntail for the first task of the Triwizard Tournament which was the most dangerous dragons among the other three.
Harry Potter summoned his broom the firebolt and with his flying skills tried to avoid the Hungarian Horntail to retrieve the golden egg. The star Quidditch player and Durmstrang champion Viktor Krum also complemented on the maneuvers that Harry Potter shown against the Hungarian Horntail
Blast-Ended Skrewt
This was a magical creature that was hybrid by Rubeus Hagrid by cross-breeding Manticores and Fire Crabs. Manticores were also an extremely dangerous magical creature which possibly Hagrid could have bred by a mischievous method.
These only appear in the novel and looked like two headless lobsters combined against each other with a weird rotting odor.
They had a scorpion like tails at each end of the headless lobster body that would send out powerful magic blasts. The Blast-ended Skrewts were extremely dangerous as they could deflect magic and had powerful stings and could blast witches and wizards. Some of them were placed in the maze of the third task of the Triwizard Tournament.
The Maze Sphinx
The sphinx was a magical creature with a human head and a lion body that loved riddles, enigmas and puzzles. They were highly intelligent but when they are given guard duties, they’ve became extremely dangerous.
They were also very powerful and would be lethal to humans as well. The Egyptian sphinxs were exceptionally famous. There was a woman sphinx placed in the maze for the third task of the Triwizard Tournament. This was only depicted in the novel. The female sphinx gave Harry Potter a riddle that
First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard,
During the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?
The first clue’s answer is a spy, second clue was the alphabet ‘d’, and the last clue ‘er’. This altogether was a spider. Harry Potter realizes that the last guard of the Triwizard Cup was an Acromantula per this riddle.
