Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it.” (695)

Mental health issues don’t go away if we ignore them. Fear, anger, and sadness are a part of life. Ignoring them or pretending they don’t exist will make things worse in the long term. While it may be difficult, it’s important to face our feelings head-on.

Thankfully, the Potter books are there to help us cope. Many folks have used Potter as a tool to manage their mental health since the books came out over 20 years ago. Here are some magical tips to help all of us find our way through these trying times.

Write in your very secret diary.

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Even Tom Riddle took the time to write down his thoughts and feelings at the end of the day. Try writing down what you’re thinking in a journal. If writing doesn’t work for you, consider talking to a trusted loved one, or take your feelings to a mental health professional. Many mental health professionals offer phone and video sessions, which is invaluable at this time!

Don’t spend all your time reading the Daily Prophet, and avoid the Quibbler!

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News sources and social media are filled with difficult information at the moment. Try limiting how often you check for updates to a certain time period every day. When you are online, make sure to stick to trustworthy sources. There may be folks out there trying to sell you powdered dragon claw solutions, so make sure to look at unknown sources with a skeptical eye.

Spend some time conditioning for the next Quidditch season.

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Even though Muggle quidditch has been canceled, we can still keep moving during this time of social distancing. If you’re missing your usual physical activity, try moving around at home! Spin around like a crazy elf dancing by himself in your kitchen, stretch like Crookshanks first thing in the morning, and try digital workouts so you’re Quidditch-ready come the end of this isolation period.

Eat like a Weasley.

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Nutrition is so important for mental health all the time! Keep strong by eating plenty of food. Eat a wide variety – everything from Molly Weasley’s nutritious, delicious dishes to your favorite snacks like Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Botts, and Cockroach Clusters.

Consume butterbeer, firewhisky, and other magical libations with caution.

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Sometimes mind-altering substances can exacerbate symptoms of mental illness. Consume mindfully, and make sure to reach out to someone you can trust if you think you’re struggling with substance use.

Master the Scouring Charm.

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When you’re feeling anxious, try to focus on what you can control! We can reduce our personal risk of catching the virus and the risk we’ll unknowingly spread it to others by washing our hands for 20 seconds with soap and water, avoiding touching our face, staying home as much as possible, and following all guidelines from health authorities. (Pro tip: The Hogwarts School Song as it’s sung in the films is just about 20 seconds long.)

Listen to your favorite wizard tunes.

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Give the Weird Sisters a listen, or turn on your favorite Celestina Warbeck tune! If you don’t have access to the wizarding wireless, you can stream your favorite songs from the Potter soundtracks on Spotify. For those of you with extra free time right now, this is a great time to check out Wrock music if you’ve never gotten into it.

Read comforting childhood classics like The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

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Remember when your caregivers would read you wonderful tales like “The Fountain of Fair Fortune” and “Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump”? Returning to your favorite stories is a great way to promote mental health. We recommend giving the Potter series a reread or a rewatch!

Use Floo powder to check in with friends and family!

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Even while we’re social distancing, we can still stay in touch with our loved ones. Use some virtual Floo powder and make a video call to the people you care about. Social distancing doesn’t have to mean we’re completely alone. We’re all in this situation together!

If you want to hear more about Harry Potter and mental health, check out our podcast Beyond the Veil. We talk to Potter fans around the world about how the series has helped them manage their mental illnesses, get through difficult times, and overcome major obstacles.

The post Accio Self-Care! Magical Tips for Managing Your Mental Health appeared first on MuggleNet.

These decisions are rooted in social distancing, a practice that has been recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO). Social distancing means avoiding physical contact with others in an effort to limit the spread of a virus. Experts are urging everyone to avoid public places and crowds as much as possible, even if you aren’t showing symptoms.

Isolation can be maddening, especially amid frightening disinformation. In dark and uncertain times, it’s important to stay informed via reputable sources. Still, frequently checking the news can be overwhelming, harming your mental health. It’s therefore equally important to entertain yourself, keep busy, and maintain virtual contact with others.

Here are MuggleNet’s tips for keeping busy during social distancing. While we cannot be in close proximity, we can still be there for one another.

Read the Books

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Has it been a while since you reread the Harry Potter series? Do you have unloved copies on your shelves, like illustrated editions or translations? Now could be the time to revisit Hogwarts through a different set of pages. You could also follow along with chapter-by-chapter podcasts such as Alohomora! and Accio Politics for a new perspective.

Alternatively, read something new. Consider checking out J.K. Rowling’s Cormoran Strike novels. There are also millions of other young adult, mystery, and fantasy ebooks available through modern technology. Staying home is the perfect occasion to bury your nose in a good book.

Watch the Films

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The Harry Potter films amount to over 1,100 minutes of movie magic. What’s more comforting than the familiar storytelling brought to life by Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson? That’s not to mention the two Fantastic Beasts films that are available digitally, including the extended cut of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

Movie nights are still possible! There are many tools at your disposal for watching films online with friends. Though you may be in different places, it’s easier than ever to share these experiences virtually in 2020.

Be Creative

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March is National Craft Month! In between revisiting scenes from Rowling’s series, why not create something? Fanart continues to explode online. You can share drawings, paintings, cross stitches, and crochet creations with the world.

Staying home is an opportunity to try a new art form. One thing that doesn’t require a trip to the craft store is writing. This could be your chance to write the fanfic you always wanted to read or contribute an essay to The Quibbler.

Get Competitive

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Break out those board games, puzzles, and LEGO sets; break up the monotony by challenging your friends to fierce competitions. A video call can easily become a trivia showdown.

Similarly, video gaming is perfect for a time like this. Through multiplayer or streaming, friends can stay connected. The LEGO Harry Potter games are popular, and all sorts of games have fun options: Try building Hogwarts in Minecraft or becoming a spellcaster in The Sims 4: Realm of Magic.

Explore the Web

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There’s plenty of magic online for banishing boredom. Fans all over the world contribute their art and ideas, from cartoons to makeup tutorials. Have you seen all the parodies on Youtube or rewatched them lately for a good laugh with a dash of nostalgia?

Take this time to dive into fanfics, explore fun theories, or check out any of the thousands of articles here on MuggleNet. From recipes to reviews, there’s something for everyone.

Stay Active

We don’t recommend becoming glued to your couch. Staying active is still very important for your health. You can join Dumbledore’s Fitness Army with some at-home workouts, and there are many Harry Potter-themed workout and yoga routines available online.

Experts say that you don’t have to stay cooped up; you can still head outside for a walk, run, or bike ride. Enhance these activities by bringing Wizards Unite or a podcast along – just be aware of your surroundings and keep one ear free of headphones.

Make a Donation

If you have the means, consider donating to relief organizations doing important work during this crisis. Hospitals, nursing homes, homeless shelters, and others on the front lines could really use your support.

COVID-19 is affecting many people financially, such as small business owners, parents seeking childcare, and the suddenly unemployed or laid off. Now is a great time to contribute what you can, or at the very least, check in on loved ones – especially those at risk – to see if they need anything.

Let’s all remember that love, not hate, is the driving force that defeats evil. Our hearts go out to those experiencing COVID-19. We hope that our readers stay well in mind, body, and spirit.

The post Seven Magical Ways to Practice Social Distancing appeared first on MuggleNet.

1. Diagon Alley

As the guests arrived, their first stop was a trip to Diagon Alley. We set up our Diagon Alley in the living room, with signs and props for the different shops like Madam Malkin’s and Slug and Jiggers. Our guests approached the stores by first climbing through a tunnel at Gringotts to get their gold plastic coins, which they could use to buy their robes (simple black cloth tied with ribbons), plastic cauldrons, and wands. In order for the wand to choose the wizard, each guest waved their wand to make a marble on the table move (the marble was magnetic, and Ollivander moved a magnet under the table to make it look like the marble was moving on its own).

My little brother acting as our Gringotts goblin

2. Going to Hogwarts

Next, we needed to get to Platform 9 and 3/4. To simulate the brick wall in the train station, we drew bricks on a disposable red tablecloth and hung it up in the doorway. We all ran through the bricks to get to Hogwarts on the other side, where the Sorting would take place.

It’s pretty easy to make a magical and realistic Sorting – all you need is a witch’s hat and a cellphone or walkie-talkie. Using some extra felt or cloth, you can pin the walkie-talkie to the inside of the hat, and someone in the other room can speak into their walkie-talkie, pretending to be the Sorting Hat. Everyone was excited to hear the Sorting Hat call out their names and Houses!

3. Lessons

We next split up the party guests by House to rotate through their lessons, which included Potions, Charms, and Divination.

For Potions class, we did a variety of easy science experiments. First, we did a color-changing potion, where you take purple cabbage juice and put vinegar in one glass, turning it red, and baking soda in another, which turns it green. We then did the dancing raisins spell, where you watch raisins float and dance in Sprite. Last, we attempted making an egg vanish into a bottle, but this craft worked better in theory than in practice.

For Charms class, we made a simple invisible ink and used it to write secret messages with our quill pens. Our most magical moment was learning the Lumos incantation. For this trick, we attached a long power cord to our living room lamp and threaded the cord underneath the rug to a hidden corner of the room. An accomplice stood in the corner and flicked the switch on and off with their foot as each guest performed the spell. Everyone loved this one, and nobody could figure out how it worked!

Invisible ink craft

For Divination class, my sister dressed up as Professor Trelawney and read palms, gave fake predictions using a crystal ball, and consulted her numerology charts.

4. Quidditch

Next, we went outside to play an exhilarating game of Muggle quidditch. These were the days before Muggle quidditch was an official game, but our version was pretty similar. Instead of using a person as a Snitch, we hid a small ball for the Seekers to find. Everyone had a lot of fun running around and throwing dodgeballs at each other!

5. Feast

Last, but not least, no Harry Potter party is complete without a Hogwarts-style feast. Chicken legs are, of course, a must-have, and we labeled the Fritos “Trolls’ Toenails,” and Bugles “Unicorn Horns.” Cream soda is an easy Butterbeer substitute. If you’re a serious cook, The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook has great recipes for any Harry Potter occasion. If you’re not into baking, check out my article on miniature no-bake Harry Potter desserts, which are a cute and easy crowd-pleaser.

There are lots of Harry Potter cake ideas out there, but we decided to make a Hogwarts castle. This design is pretty simple since it mainly involves cutting and rearranging the cake to create the layers you see above. No fondant necessary –  just use ice cream cones for the towers! It’s hard to see from the picture, but we stuck a blue toy car in the fake tree to pretend to be the Ford Anglia.

There’s nothing more exciting and memorable than bringing a group of Harry Potter fans together to celebrate the magical world, and I hope you are now ready to go out and throw your own Harry Potter party! If you have other party ideas, please share in the comments below!

The post Five Steps to Throwing an Epic “Harry Potter” Birthday Party appeared first on MuggleNet.

The first step of any great build like this is designing it. I personally like using LEGO’s computer program Digital Designer for such projects. (I’ve actually designed many wizarding world builds on the program in the past few months.) The room is based on the movie set with a couple of my own variations. I knew that I didn’t want to build the entire room – it would be way too big – so I designed about two-thirds of it. This means there are only two tables instead of four and just over half of the high table. The design process took several turns – and at one point, a complete redo – until I was happy with what I saw on my computer screen. The only change I have photos of is the exterior over the big window. It went from an angled roof to a balcony (as it is in the model at the Studio Tour).

The original digital window design

The updated digital window design

The digital images below are the final computer design.

overview shot of the digital design

Overview shot of the digital design

Digital high table design

I started the real build next. I had enough pieces from the 2011 Harry Potter sets to get started. The first thing I did was the platform for the high table along with the fireplace and floor layout. This allowed me to lay down studs for the tables where I needed before anything else. Next, I built the window arches and the majority of the wall behind the high table. A few smaller details came next, including the House hourglasses (which I may actually remove). The tables were given a rough fit next to see if I liked the look of them.

The inital table design for the hall

The first photo taken of the build

I built, disassembled, and rebuilt this room several times. The lower, butterscotch-colored wall was a big part of that. A few other changes include the additions of brooms on the wall and of columns above the statues as well as the color of the statues and design of the podium. The entire thing is five bricks shorter than I originally designed it to be, and so I decided not to include the banners from the 2019 Advent Calendar, as seen in the digital version.

Progress of the build as of post date

As I was designing, I decided that I wanted this to be a place I could display all my wizarding world LEGO Minifigures along with a couple of other details. Some characters will sit at the tables, others will stand, and a few will fly. Nearly Headless Nick flying behind the Hufflepuff banner is actually my favorite part of the build so far.

Nick flying behind Hufflepuff’s banner

Dumbledore at the podium

This build is still going to take me some time, but I am already happy with the look of it, and I know that I’ll be able to use it for a future project. Obviously, I need quite a few pieces still. (I did order some of them online recently.) In the meantime, I hope that my build has inspired someone to start their own.

The post Building My Own Hogwarts appeared first on MuggleNet.

TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide, which is a theme of Rough for Theatre II, is mentioned in this review. If you’re struggling, please know that you’re not alone. You can reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or chat with a representative online.

The world has come to a standstill. A barren landscape, a postapocalyptic wasteland. The elderly live in bins. We’ve run out of painkillers. We’re down to the last biscuit, in fact.

No, this is not a prediction of a worst-case coronavirus scenario. It is Samuel Beckett’s postmodernist play Endgame, starring Daniel Radcliffe in yet another weirdly brilliant and brilliantly weird role. London’s Old Vic presents the popular postmodernist piece in a double bill with the shorter and rarely produced Rough for Theatre II. This 25-minute short play is sure to warm the audience into the deliciously nonsensical predicaments with which Beckett challenges his audiences. Two bureaucrats debate the fate of a third, “C” or “Croker,” the man in the window standing still for the entirety of the play. Should he jump or should he not? Daniel Radcliffe as the suave, cynical character “A” (or Bertrand) and Alan Cumming as clingy and anxious “B” (or Morvan) bring a quick and dynamic rapport as they weigh C’s history, list the pros and cons of his suicide, and leave us with a frustrating cliffhanger in true Beckettian fashion.

Alan Cumming and Daniel Radcliffe star in “Rough for Theatre II”. Photo by Manuel Harlan

After the interval, we jump right back into the claustrophobic world of the much more widely known Endgame. For an extra Harry Potter-related treat, check out the TV version of Endgame (directed by Conor McPherson), starring Sir Michael Gambon and David Thewlis. Fair warning: Those fans of Harry Potter who just want the thrill of seeing Dan live but who haven’t read, seen, or studied any such works by Beckett or other postmodernists may come out of the theater completely baffled. Hell, I have heard from fellow, active theater people that they didn’t get it or didn’t like it. However, this frustration is exactly the effect we’re looking for here.

“Nothing is funnier than unhappiness,” says Hamm (Cumming) cruelly. There is indeed a lot of unhappiness here and not much else: We have three plain walls, a single picture on the left, two windows in the back too high to look out of without a ladder, two bins containing Hamm’s elderly parents in the front, and a single door to the right. In the middle is an initially sleeping figure that will reveal the marvelously thorny Hamm on his shabby throne. Enter Clov – that’s Radcliffe – who follows the notoriously meticulous stage directions perfectly as he climbs up and down the ladder. Clov is limping and maddened by what we can only assume is the end of the world forcing everyone to stay indoors.

Alan Cumming and Daniel Radcliffe star in “Endgame”. Photo by Manuel Harlan

While in Theatre II, Radcliffe has the upper hand and charisma, in Endgame, he is subservient to Cumming’s commandeering Hamm, pathetic and miserable to the last. They play their verbal tennis match until they tire each other out sufficiently. Their going around in circles is intertwined with the oddest love story in the history of theater between Hamm’s parents, Nagg (Karl Johnson) and Nell (Jane Horrocks), which is surprisingly not forgettable here as it tends to be in other productions.

NOTE: In light of the coronavirus pandemic, the Old Vic has decided to suspend the presentation of Endgame for the next two weeks, essentially canceling the remainder of its run.

The post Theater Review: Daniel Radcliffe and Alan Cumming Push the Boundaries of Theater in “Endgame” and “Rough for Theatre II” appeared first on MuggleNet.

The box comes in a blue wrap packaging, which gives information on the box’s contents. Although there are snowflake prints, this box isn’t exclusively for Christmas!

I found out quickly after opening it that YuMe was not joking when they said “infinity box.” I could open it about five times before it finally reached an end, and each time I opened it, there was a new photo printed on the side. On each side were several drawers, which you pulled out to reveal the merchandise. There were 18 items in total. I’ve divided the items into three categories, for the sake of organization.

YuMe Toys Infinity Box – Hogwarts silhouette

YuMe Toys Infinity Box – Harry, Lupin, Sirius, Neville

YuMe Toys Infinity Box – Luna, Crookshanks, Fluffy, the Dark Mark

YuMe Toys Infinity Box – Hagrid, Yule Ball, Sirius, Quidditch

YuMe Toys Infinity Box – Hufflepuff, Dumbledore, Draco, Hermione

YuMe Toys Infinity Box – Krum, Dementors, Scabbers, Monster Book of Monsters

YuMe Toys Infinity Box – parted open

YuMe Toys Infinity Box – boxes pulled out

Let’s begin with the various trinkets. I firstly received two plushies, which are the exclusive Harry and Hermione Yule Ball editions. The plushies are extremely soft, small, and beyond adorable! Their outfits are very movie-accurate, and they have strings looped on the top, which I’m guessing make it so that you can hang them on a Christmas tree. However, you can also put them on a door handle or even just keep them on a shelf.

The next item was a cloth shopping bag. The fabric feels the same as that of an umbrella. The shopping bag was folded into a small square but opened into a large bag. It’s 100% reusable and has prints of the Harry Potter characters in the signature YuMe Toys art style.

I also received a glasses cleaning cloth, which has small patterns of the characters and is extremely soft. It can also be used as a handkerchief.

The last item in this category was a suitcase tag. The tag is very sturdy and durable, one side with an illustration of the Hogwarts Express, and the other with a spot for your name, phone number, and address. It’s perfect for heading back to Hogwarts!

The two plushies were Harry and Hermione, each in their Yule Ball dress robes. There was a Hogwarts Express suitcase tag with a red loop, a shopping bag, and a cleaning cloth, with illustrations of the characters, including Hermione, Ron, and Harry, and other items that are important to the series, such as the Goblet of Fire and a spider.

The shopping bag showcases Draco, Hermione, Luna, and Harry. Each of them has a wand, and next to them are speech bubbles with different spells from the series. The words “Spells & Charms” are at the top.

The next category is accessories. The first objects were two keychains, including the Yule Ball versions of Parvati and Hermione. The keychains are absolutely precious. I love how they included a less-mainstream character in the selection as well. It just adds to the magic. They are small but can work well on purses and backpacks.

The next item was a Dark Mark iron-on patch. I was surprised at how cute it was. For such a terrifying concept, they really made it seem charming. It vaguely reminded me of the homemade Dark Mark from A Very Potter Musical – which simply added to my love for the product. It’s perfect for adding to cloaks or robes or even to a Muggle denim jacket.

There were also two pins, which show Harry and Hermione in their dress robes. The enamel pins are very high quality. They come with sturdy backings and won’t easily fall off. They are a bit small but still adorable. They can be added to a bag or even a jacket or backpack.

There were two pins of Harry and Hermione in their Yule Ball outfits, on pieces of cardboard that have illustrations of Hogwarts with the words “Hogwarts Is My Home.” There were also two keychains of Hermione and Parvati, both in their dress robes, and a Dark Mark iron-on patch.

The last category consists of stationery. I was shocked at how many stationery products there were. I firstly received a small pad of paper with a Harry Potter print. The pad of paper is surprisingly thick. It could last me several months, if used sparingly. The print is very faded as well, so as to not interfere with any writing. I also received a Hedwig and Buckbeak eraser. The erasers are thick and not at all flimsy and useless. Although, I don’t want to use them because they’re just too cute! However, they can work for school or just at home.

There was also a pack of Hermione stickers. There were several stickers, each with the same print, which can be used for letters or scrapbooking. The box also contained two washi tapes – one with prints of the animals of each Hogwarts House and the other with prints of the Harry Potter characters. The washi tapes are absolutely adorable and have a fair amount of tape in them. The tape is fairly thin, though, so be sure to apply it to a blank space so nothing shows through.

The last items were five magnets in total, which included the four Hogwarts Houses with their adorably drawn mascots and Hedwig. There were more magnets than anything else in the box, and each of them works great! They stick very well and seem durable. I absolutely love them.

There were two erasers, one of Hedwig and the other of Buckbeak, a pad of paper with a faded print of Harry saying “Expelliarmus,” a pack of small Hermione stickers that say “Wingardium Leviosa,” four Hogwarts crest magnets, a Hedwig magnet, and two washi tapes. The tapes have illustrations of the characters in their dress robes and with the animals of each Hogwarts House.

The YuMe Harry Potter Infinity Box contains so many wonderful and useful items. No item is repeated, and each print and design is adorable. YuMe really did a fantastic job with this product. There was magic at every angle, and each time I opened it, I was completely surprised! I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest with this product and had so much fun seeing the hidden surprises and opening every drawer. Any Potter fan needs to have this!

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A Harry Potter Infinity Box was provided by YuMe Toys. All opinions belong to the reviewer.

The post Review: Harry Potter Infinity Box from YuMe Toys! appeared first on MuggleNet.

1. 11-year-olds are not given potentially deadly weapons.

Obviously, wands are cool, and I would love to cast spells. However, given how deadly some spells can be, it does make me a little nervous that wands are just handed out to 11-year-old kids without much supervision. Sure, they can’t cast magic outside of school, but Hogwarts is a boarding school; they’re not constantly under watch. Also, they don’t need to learn the Killing Curse to be deadly. What do you think would happen if they lifted someone up using Wingardium Leviosa and then accidentally dropped them?

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2. I don’t have to carry heavy coins everywhere.

No one likes carrying loads of cash. There’s a reason credit cards caught on – because they’re more convenient to use. And Muggle money is even lightweight! In the Harry Potter universe, all their money is made of gold, silver, and bronze. That’s going to have some heft to it. And even if you used magic to make your bag lighter, it would still be annoying to try to dig around for the right coins. Plus, calculating change would be a nightmare. 29 does not divide evenly into anything.

3. The chances of getting my body stuck as something else are low.

Let’s be real: Accidental body modification or transformation happens a lot in the wizarding world. Whether it’s the result of Splinching, messed up Polyjuice Potions, or a paranoid professor turning someone into a ferret, it seems to come up one way or another in every book. Frankly, I think all of those scenarios sound horrifying, and I would never want them to happen to me. Thankfully, in the Muggle world, the chances of that are a lot lower.

4. There are no prophecies about my life.

As a general rule, prophecies always seem to cause trouble. Trelawney’s certainly didn’t do Harry any favors. Also, I don’t really like the idea of my life being set in stone by someone else’s words. I’m a big believer in free will. And while not every individual in the magical world has a prophecy about them, maybe it’s better not to take any chances.

5. No one expected me to fight a war while still in school.

School is stressful enough when the only thing you have to worry about is finals. I’m surprised more students didn’t have a nervous breakdown when faced with the possibility of Lord Voldemort invading during those finals. That’s not to mention the fear and distress caused by having your school taken over by terrorists and then having to take classes from them. At least none of my teachers were that evil, and I just had to get through a semester of them. No one expected me to duel them.

6. Medicine no longer involves ingesting things such as eel bladders.

Yes, magical potions are cool. However, most of their ingredients sound disgusting. Think about it. Armadillo bile, bat spleens, dragon dung, and horned slugs – it sounds so gross. I don’t think I even want to touch any of those things, let alone drink them. Yes, hundreds of years ago, Muggle medicine might have made use of similar ingredients, but we’ve moved on since then. I think we’re much better off that way.

7. My personality at age 11 doesn’t define me for the rest of my life.

It’s a lot of fun to Sort ourselves into the Hogwarts Houses, but that’s all it is: fun. In Harry Potter, your House seems to define you for the rest of your life. People dislike Slytherins on principle. We see families expecting their kids to follow the family tradition and get Sorted into the same House they did. Hufflepuffs are dismissed as nothing more than duffers. But the thing is that no one is the same person they were at age 11. So can you imagine people making assumptions on who you are for the rest of your life based on your personality as a kid? That sounds super annoying. I’d much rather be judged by my social media profiles. At least I can change those.

The post Seven Things That Make Me More Okay with Being a Muggle appeared first on MuggleNet.

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When it comes to political jobs, the women in the Harry Potter series have it covered. Several prominent and minor female characters in the books work at the Ministry of Magic. Amelia Bones, Dolores Umbridge, Nymphadora Tonks, Tina Goldstein, Queenie Goldstein, and eventually, Hermione Granger are a few of these women. Throughout wizarding history, there have even been multiple female Ministers of Magic. Some notable ones include Artemisia Lufkin, the first female Minister of Magic; Ottaline Gambol, who put in place the Hogwarts Express; and Evangeline Orpington, who came up with the magical King’s Cross platform. These are just a few women in the British Ministry that we as readers know about.

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Working women in the Harry Potter books aren’t just involved in politics. They are teachers and mentors as well. A few of my favorite female professors at Hogwarts are Minerva McGonagall, Pomona Sprout, and Sybill Trelawney. These women are loud and proud. They are constantly astounding their students with advanced spellwork and their knowledge of magic. For example, few wizards could fearlessly snatch up a Mandrake like Professor Sprout. Another aspect I love about these female professors is their mentorship. It’s really underrated how Professor McGonagall takes Hermione under her wing and really looks out for her. She approves Hermione’s use of the Time-Turner, knowing that Hermione was mature enough to handle it. McGonagall is a fierce female, especially at the moment when she stepped in front of Harry to protect him during the Battle of Hogwarts.

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There are some women in the wizarding world who aren’t paid for the many jobs they do. There are mothers and housewives who don’t work for money but instead give their hearts to their children and families. Two great examples of such women are Molly Weasley and Fleur Delacour. Molly Weasley is a lioness bent on protecting her cubs. She basically adopts Harry as a son without him even asking. She works hard to provide delicious meals to her family and still has time to maintain a loving relationship with Arthur. This woman has energy and love to spare.

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Then, there’s Fleur. Even before she married Bill Weasley, she proved herself to be a loving and caring individual. She would do anything to protect her younger sister, and readers understand that once Gabrielle is revealed to be the person Fleur cares about the most in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. If Fleur is this protective and loving towards her sister, we can only imagine what a wonderful mother she ends up being. Plus, it’s difficult to forget how tirelessly Fleur worked to keep Shell Cottage neat and orderly when it was full to bursting with guests.

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Last but not least are a few minor female characters that don’t play a huge role in the books but do contribute to the readers’ appreciation of female representation in the series. These are the characters that are only just mentioned or briefly talked about. There’s Madam Malkin, who owns her own robe shop in Diagon Alley. At first glance, she’s not an important character to the plot, but she is important overall. She’s not just a working woman – she’s a small business owner. She runs her own store, and that’s pretty impressive. Also, there’s Poppy Pomfrey, who runs the entire hospital wing at Hogwarts with her vast medical knowledge. Talk about a talented Healer. Rolanda Hooch is another impressive character. She’s so much more than a flying instructor; she referees the Quidditch games at Hogwarts too. She’s an excellent example of women getting involved in the sports world.

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Have we left anyone out? Or better yet, is Rita Skeeter considered a pioneer female journalist even though she insults everyone in her writing? Feel free to comment with your ideas.

The post The Working Women of “Harry Potter” appeared first on MuggleNet.