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The next Full Moon occurs on Saturday, January 10, 2009.
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Beyond Hogwarts Discussions:
Harry's Magical World
These are articles that are related to exploring and discussing the ins and outs of the things in Harry Potter's world.  | | Wand Basics 101
As long as there have been Witches and Wizards, there have been magical wands. No part of Harry Potter's magical heritage goes back further. The ancient Celtic Druids who lived in what is now called Scotland employed wands all the way back to 500 BC. As a matter of fact, "Druid" actually means "man with the wisdom of the wood". [More...]
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 | | Wands from a Muggle Perspective
The wand is a very important tool in the lives of witches and wizards of the Harry Potter universe. I believe the magical wands of Harry Potter's world could actually be tiny hand-held computers. This is a look at those wands, from the perspective a muggle computer programmer, using actual examples from the Harry Potter books. [More...]
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 | | An Introduction to Arithmancy
Arithmancy is one of Hermione's favorite subjects at Hogwarts, because it is a very precise, measurable and almost scientific method of predicting the future. Arithmancy is a method of divination by numbers first used by the ancient Greeks. Today, Wizards can use arithmancy to help predict trends in the future. [More...]
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 | | My day with Oliver Wood
I'm a really big fan of Oliver Wood. Never expecting any reply, I sent Oliver a Dodger's baseball cap with a note saying if he's ever in the states, Dodgers tickets and hot-dogs were on me. You'll never know how surprised I was to receive a reply from Oliver himself, inviting me to come to London and spend the day with him learning about Quidditch. Needless to say, I was on the next plane! [More...]
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 | | The trials of the Hogwarts IT director
Headmaster: I regret that I must resign my position, effective two weeks ago, at least. It is simply impossible under these conditions to create a modern, integrated, flexible IT architecture aligned with the school's educational mission and objectives. Despite my best efforts, Hogwarts' IT communications infrastructure will remain dependent on owls, talking letters, the use of Floo powder and a fireplace network, and of course, divinations, dreams and visions. [More...]
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 | | The Secrets of the Fidelius Charm
The Fidelius Charm is a powerful charm that is central to the Harry Potter tale. The house at Godric's Hollow, 12 Grimmauld Place, and Shell Cottage are three properties that are protected by the Fidelius Charm, three properties that have been secured against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. But within each property we see differences in the way the Fidelius Charm works. [More...]
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 | | Doing the Math: How many kids are at Hogwarts?
On October 16, 2000, in an interview, J.K. Rowling was asked, "How many students attend Hogwarts, and how many students per year per house?" and she replied, simply, "There are about a thousand students at Hogwarts." And because she said it, this has persisted as the proper answer accepted by most fans. But I don't see how that could be correct. [More...]
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 | | The Five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law
Elemental transfiguration is the magical art of physically converting one thing into another. But as with all types of magic, there are limitations to what you can do with transfiguration, as we learn in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when Hermione mentions the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. But she only tells us one of them. What are the other four? I think we know two more, and can guess another. [More...]
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