Luna Lovegood
Luna Lovegood was the daughter of Pandora Lovegood and Xenophilius Lovegood. Xenophilius Lovegood was the editor of the somewhat odd magazine “The Quibbler”.
Luna Lovegood joined Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1992 which is one year later than Harry Potter. Luna Lovegood witnessed the death of her mother Pandora Lovegood when she was nine years old.
This experience made Luna Lovegood see Thestrals that were magical creatures that resemble a black horse that was invisible to those who never experienced Death.
Luna Lovegood was nicknamed Loony Lovegood as she was a bit different from other students.
Many students avoided Luna Lovegood or Loony Lovegood but Ginny Weasley became friends with her even though Luna Lovegood was a Ravenclaw House student.
Luna Lovegood became friends with Harry Potter and she helped Harry by posting an interview in the Quibbler which helped Harry Potter promote Lord Voldemort’s return because such contents were banned by Dolores Umbridge’s Educational Degree.
Luna Lovegood was also a core member of Dumbledore’s Army and she helped Harry Potter and members of Dumbledore’s Army mount on Thestrals to head towards the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic.
The Quibbler
The Quibbler was a minor media that was considered ‘strange’ among the wizarding society. The Quibbler’s main editor was Luna Lovegood’s father Xenophilius Lovegood.
Hermione Granger blackmailed Rita Skeeter to write the article for the Quibbler with Harry Potter as Hermione warned Rita Skeeter that she may expose Rita Skeeter’s unregistered animagus status.
The Ministry of Magic along with the Daily Prophet has been denying the return of Lord Voldemort and have been on a campaign to discredit Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore so they had to give Harry’s interview to the Quibbler.
The Quibbler published a lot of non-sense articles and many conspiracy theories, however after the Quibbler published the interview of Harry Potter about Lord Voldemort’s return, it quickly earned a certain level of credibility.
Harry Potter’s interview included the names of all the deatheaters he saw at Little Hangleton and very detailed of Lord Voldemort’s return.
Dolores Umbridge would ban subscription and reading the Quibbler for such contents. Although the Quibbler was still odd, after the events of the Order of the Pheonix, the Quibbler became an iconic media but still strange.
Thestral
Thestrals were magical creatures that resembled a black horse but with wings like a bat and a face like a reptile. Only people who have witnessed and experienced death could see a thestral and thestrals would be invisible to ordinary wizards and witches.
Thestrals were attracted to blood and carnivorous. Wizard and witches have long considered thestrals as omens due to their unusual characteristics.
The unmanned carriages that led students to Hogwarts were also actually carried by thestrals but ordinary students couldn’t witness thestrals.
Harry Potter could witness thestrals after witnessing Cedric Diggory’s death and Luna Lovegood could also see thestrals as she witnessed the death of her mother. Thestrals were natural borne navigators and they had highly sensitive senses.
Thestrals could be very dangerous to wizards and witches, however the herds of thestrals at Hogwarts were trained and much familiar with humans.
Thus, although riding a thestral was illegal by the Ministry of Magic, the students of Hogwarts could have ridden the thestrals when they headed to the Ministry of Magic.
The Harry Potter cinema series described thestrals as hairless creatures to emphasize a unique trait of a thestral hair as a wand core. Thestral tail hair was also a very powerful substance for a wand core. However, only people who have experience with death could utilize a wand with a thestral hair core.
Nargle
Luna Lovegood often mentioned “Nargles” would hide her necklace, shoes and other properties. Only Luna Lovegood and her father Xenophiius Lovegood claimed the existence of this creature.
Luna Lovegood claimed that mistletoes which is a plant often used as Christmas decoration were full of nargles. However, even in the imaginary wizarding world, nargles didn’t exist.
Mimbulus Mimbletonia – The cactus like plant that Neville Longbottom carries
The plant that looked like a cactus that Neville Longbottom carried was a Mimbulus Mimbletonia. The Mimbulus Mimbletonia was a rare plant that squirt a liquid called stinksap.
Stinksap from the Mimbulus Mimbletonia smelled like rotten dung which gave it the name stinksap. The Mimbulus Mimbletonia itself was a very rare magical plant but it was even rarer to witness a flower floom from it.
O.W.L – Ordinary Wizarding Level
The Ordinary Wizarding Level test or OWL was the standard test that all students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had to take.
The OWL test results would determine whether students could complete more advanced classes of certain subjects during their senior years and future career path options as the O.W.L test results were permanent for students.
The Wizarding Examinations Authority of the Ministry of Magic managed the O.W.L tests as the O.W.L was an important test to assess the student’s standard ability of each subject that even determines the whole career path of students.
Students with a certain level of grade were admitted to N.E.W.T level classes. N.E.W.T stands for Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test which was a test taken at the seventh grade to determine if a student has mastered a certain subject.
Certain careers required a specific level in N.E.W.T exam so the O.W.L was an important milestone for students not only for school but for their whole career.
There are certain levels in the Ordinary Wizarding Level exam, but once a wizard and witch passes the O.W.L, even if they are expelled, they could keep their wand because passing the O.W.L itself is proof that a wizard and witch is able to perform a standard level of magic and holds the responsibility of performing magic.
Hagrid was expelled before he got an opportunity to take the O.W.L. Specific magic items such as a Remembrall that Neville Longbottom had were banned from the O.W.L and there were heavy anti-cheating spells casted on the O.W.L. exam papers so it was impossible to cheat on the O.W.L nor the N.E.W.T.
The O.W.L exam was on every subject Charms, Potions, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Divination, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Herbology, Transfiguration, and the History of Magic.
The O.W.L test was divided into a written exam section and a practical exam section.
For the written exam section, there would be short-answer questions, essays, and multiple-choice questions while practical exam sections would ask students to perform certain task such as casting spells or complete a certain mission.
The O.W.L test results were divided into six grades where 3 grades were considered ‘pass’ of a subject while the other three grades considered were ‘failure’ of a subject.
The Highest grade of a O.W.L was an ‘O’ that stands for Outstanding. ‘E’ that stands for Exceeds Expectations and ‘A’ that stands for Acceptable followed respectively were the passing grades for an O.W.L. Usually for N.E.W.T level classes, professors asked for an ‘O’ Outstanding or an ‘E’ Exceeding Expectations. The failing grade respectively followed by ‘P’ as Poor, ‘D’ for Dreadful, and ‘T’ for Troll.
