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How do ghosts exist in the wizarding world?

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__Illustration by Jim Kay © Bloomsbury__

[Ghosts](https://www.wizardingworld.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/ghosts) are the imprints of witches and wizards who have died and left a part of themselves behind. Only those who are magical can return as ghosts (meaning Muggles can’t become one). However, even though all witches and wizards have the ability to come back as a ghost, those who are smart, don’t. 

It is said that those who do return have unfinished business of some sort. There are lots of reasons for this such as regret, fear or guilt. Some ghosts are those with a very strong attachment to the material world who refuse to move on. 

Ghosts are transparent, three-dimensional and can pass through solid objects (including people) without causing any damage. Though they do cause disturbances in fire, water and air. If you are in the presence of a ghost the temperature will drop, and if there is more than one ghost around, the temperature drops even further. If you are unlucky enough to have one pass through you, it would feel like someone had emptied a bucket of freezing water over you! They also have the ability to turn flames blue. 

While it may seem tempting to remain on earth forever, ghosts are just shadows of their former living selves. They can’t experience much of the world. They can no longer touch anything, eat anything and they won’t be able to learn anything new. A ghost’s level of knowledge and talent remains the same as when they died. Not being able to move on means that ghosts are often not the best company. They will not let go of any grudges or resentments – just ask Nearly Headless Nick about the fact he’s only nearly headless!  

As well as not being able to come back as a ghost, Muggles can’t seem them. Witches and wizards are much more sensitive to paranormal activity which is why they can see and interact with ghosts. However, that is not to say Muggles are completely oblivious, they might feel that a haunted place is cold or feel creeped out by being there.   

Overall, being a ghost sounds like a pretty rubbish deal to us. To be a ghost is to be stuck forever as a shell of yourself – which we can do without. 

Why Hallowe’en was so important for Harry Potter 

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The final day of October is a date many Muggles know all too well as a date for dressing up, achieving various levels of success carving pumpkins and simply celebrating all things spooky. For Harry Potter, Hallowe’en became a haunting part of his life from an early age for a very different reason. In fact, the eerie date seemed to follow him around. Observe...

## The day his parents died 

This was the date when everything changed, as Lord Voldemort stormed Godric’s Hollow and callously murdered Harry’s parents on 31 October 1981. This date would become legendary in two very different ways, for while Harry lost his parents and was plunged into a miserable life at the Dursleys’, the rest of the wizarding world celebrated their newfound peace, with Lord Voldemort mysteriously and temporarily vanquished. We saw the date once and for all in the emotional scene where Harry visited his parents’ graves.

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## The day Harry, Ron and Hermione became a trio 

On a very different Hallowe’en, one decade later and barely a handful of months since Harry had started his new magical life at Hogwarts, he experienced a far more traditional night of festivities. Oh alright, traditional for a wizard, at least. First there was the glorious Hogwarts Hallowe’en feast, complete with live bats, overlarge pumpkins and a troll in the dungeons. The only problem? That last part wasn’t supposed to be a Hallowe’en decoration.

But the scary scene in which Harry, Ron and Hermione found themselves embroiled in a fight against an unleashed troll actually turned out to be another hugely important moment in Harry’s life. Not because knocking out a troll as a first-year is pretty cool, but because it was the day that Hermione joined Ron and Harry’s friendship group, and formed one of the most iconic trios that ever lived — in our humble opinion. Despite the unusual circumstances, Harry and Ron (who had earlier in the day insulted Hermione in typical Ron-fashion) saved Hermione’s life, thus fusing together a legendary friendship, not to mention getting Ron off the hook.

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## The day the Chamber of Secrets opened again

Harry’s second year at Hogwarts promised an even more Hallowe’en-ish Hallowe’en. First of all, there was the fact he got to go to an actual ghost party, celebrating the Deathday of Nearly Headless Nick. But if the buffet of mouldy cheese, maggoty haggis and a tombstone cake weren’t scary enough, the rest of Harry’s night was absolutely petrifying. No, literally Petrifying. Taunted by a troubling voice inside Hogwarts’ walls, Harry left Nick’s party and arrived on the scene of something that would affect the school’s entire year: the opening of the Chamber of Secrets.

If ‘ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE’ wasn’t horrible enough, there was also the shocking sight of Argus Filch’s cat horrifically frozen and hanging by her tail. Although Harry didn’t know it yet, this was yet another 31 October punctured by Lord Voldemort’s presence. That guy sure had a knack at sticking to a particular date, didn’t he?

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## The day Sirius Black broke into Hogwarts

For Harry’s third year, surely the poor lad was due a peaceful Hallowe’en? As it turned out: no. In *Prisoner of Azkaban*, a new threat haunted Harry in the shape of escaped Azkaban convict Sirius Black. And, as luck would have it, the events of Sirius’s escape reached an apex on those dying embers of October when an unfortunate security slip-up led to Sirius breaking into the notoriously safe Hogwarts castle.

After leaving ominous slash marks on Gryffindor house’s portrait, the Fat Lady, Hogwarts was officially plunged into a very dark Hallowe’en night. As it turned out, Sirius Black really wasn’t that scary after all. The fact a perilous Death Eater had been able to live in the Hogwarts grounds as a rat for three years, however, *was* pretty bad.

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## The day Harry was picked to be a Triwizard champion

The final time we heard of Hallowe’en mentioned in the books came in Harry’s fourth year, and it’s, again, a particularly memorable one. Awash with excitement over the upcoming Triwizard Tournament, this day was meant to be a fun, relaxed one for Harry, where he could watch the picking of the three school champions as a humble observer.

Finally, a year where he wasn’t the centre of attention! Or so it was for about five minutes before Harry found his name rise out of the Goblet of Fire itself. The prospect of a life-threatening series of tasks, as well as school-wide ridicule from people thinking he was a chancer who tricked the goblet? We can’t imagine anything more terrifying for a teenager.

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## But one more thing… 

Funny that the Deathly Hallows share half their name with Hallowe’en, too. In the wizarding world, ‘Hallows’ are known as three enchanted and hugely powerful objects that can unite to ‘conquer Death’. At one point or another, Harry has temporarily possessed all three of them. Seeing as the Muggle holiday celebrates the supernatural and the unknown, how fitting that the Hallows should be so-named in such a familiar way, and that Harry Potter of all people should be so intimately connected to both. Spooky.

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What the Forbidden Forest reveals about Harry Potter characters

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## Hagrid

For Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds, the Forbidden Forest was practically his back garden. His fascination with its creatures showed him to be an eternally curious man with a need to champion the underdog.

The first time we saw Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest he was looking to rescue a unicorn. He clearly spent a lot of time there – it was where he hid his brother Grawp, after all, and as Care of Magical Creatures teacher, he usually used the forest as a good place to find beasts to teach his class about.

And then there was Aragog, Hagrid’s childhood friend who just so happened to be a giant, hairy, talking spider. That’s the Aragog who caused Hagrid’s expulsion from Hogwarts and offered Ron and Harry as lunch to his children, of course. Hagrid sure knew how to pick ’em.

We got an insight into why Hagrid was drawn to frightening creatures in *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*, when the truth about his giantess mother emerged and he went into hiding. Dumbledore wouldn’t accept his resignation, refusing to judge Hagrid on his parentage – much like Hagrid, who refused to judge any creature on their frightening appearance.

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Harry teaching a lesson on the Forbidden Forest from the Prisoner of Azakaban 

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## Draco Malfoy

The Forbidden Forest showed Malfoy for what he was: a classic school bully, all sneering bravado and no actual bravery. Well, not in *Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone*, anyway; then, he was a terrified first-year who tried to get out of entering the forest by calling it ‘servant stuff’, and implying that his father wouldn’t stand for such a punishment.

Malfoy often relied on his family name to intimidate others, as Hagrid found out in *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, when Malfoy’s overreaction to a Hippogriff skirmish led to a death sentence for Buckbeak. Neville Longbottom was another particular target. In *Philosopher’s Stone* Malfoy deliberately frightened Neville in the Forbidden Forest, causing Hagrid to partner Malfoy up with Harry instead.

It was all a bluff, though. When Harry and Malfoy came face to face with a certain someone drinking the blood of a unicorn, it was Malfoy who ran. He didn’t even have the presence of mind of Neville, who at least remembered Hagrid’s instruction to send up red sparks.

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## Ron

If Malfoy was all bravado and no bravery, then Ron was the exact opposite. In *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* Ron revealed he was frightened of spiders.

‘You wouldn’t like them either if you’d been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs…’ he says to Hermione, about the time Fred turned his teddy bear into a giant spider.

He might have been terrified, but when Hermione was attacked by the creature lurking in the Chamber of Secrets and the only way of getting answers was to follow the spiders, Ron put his fears aside. He and Harry followed those spiders to the Forbidden Forest where they came face to face with Aragog and his many hungry children.

Ron’s terror when he saw Aragog was obvious. He never tried to hide his fear, but he also never hid behind it. Ron had his faults, but he was honest and brave and those are traits that served him well, inside and outside the Forbidden Forest.

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## Hermione

In their first year Hermione helped Harry get the Philosopher’s Stone by solving Snape’s Potions puzzle, for which she was rewarded 50 points. Dumbledore praised her ‘use of cool logic in the face of fire’.

It’s a statement that sums up a lot about Hermione. Her quick thinking got Harry and Ron out of many a fix, and in *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* she really held her nerve. When the members of Dumbledore’s Army were caught in Umbridge’s office, Umbridge prepared to use the Cruciatus Curse to force Harry to reveal what they were doing. Hermione stopped Umbridge by pretending they were hiding a weapon in the Forbidden Forest, tricking her into following them.

In the Forest, Hermione attracted the attention of the centaurs, counting on Umbridge to reveal her worst prejudices. Umbridge obliged, calling the centaurs ‘filthy half-breeds’. Hermione didn’t quite get it right, as the centaurs resented her presumption, but she still managed to get out of a tricky situation.

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Umbridge, Harry and Hermione in the Forbidden Forest.

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## Harry

Harry’s experiences in the Forbidden Forest were mostly chaotic and they often had some connection to Voldemort, as he learnt more about his destiny and the people around him.

But in *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* – at the close – Harry experienced a calmer moment in the Forest. He whispered those words to the Snitch left to him by Dumbledore, and as it opened to reveal the Resurrection Stone he saw his family, waiting to accompany him as he offered his life to Voldemort.

The Forbidden Forest was often dark and frightening but in the end, it was not the place in which Voldemort killed Harry. It was the place where Harry finally understood, the place where he saw his loved ones, and the place where he came back.

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Harry, accompanied by the spirits of his dead family and friends, approaches Lord Voldemort prepared to die.

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Want to watch [Claudia Kim and Dakota Fanning reading Chapter Fifteen, 'The Forbidden Forest' again? You can find it here](https://www.wizardingworld.com/chapters/reading-the-forbidden-forest). 

Discover the films

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to Fantastic Beasts

The extra hard wordsearch of scary things 

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Fill in the blank letters of these magical words and then, once you've figured them out, drag your cursor across the letters on the board.

How quickly can you find them all? As this is an extra-scary wordsearch, you only have one chance to get them right! We do enjoy a trick more than a treat sometimes... 

<iframe width="600" height="650" allowtransparency="true" style="background: #FFFFFF" src="https://bridgecard.wizardingworld.com/wordsearch/20201012/00027/" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

For more crosswords and wordsearches, [visit our puzzles hub](https://www.wizardingworld.com/collections/potter-puzzles) or you can enjoy even more Wizarding World challenges in our app. [Gold Members](https://www.wizardingworld.com/harry-potter-fan-club) can also expect weekly puzzle drops. 

Celebrate 20 years of the first film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone 

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and the Philosopher's Stone 

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore to be released globally 15th April 2022  

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Mark the date in your calendars... A new chapter of Newt Scamander’s adventures is coming soon, with *Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore* to be released in cinemas globally 15th April 2022, and 8th April in the UK and Ireland, with a few other markets potentially also going a tad bit earlier. 

The film was expected to be released in July of next year, but today we can exclusively reveal fans will be able to enjoy the third film a few months earlier than planned!

And here’s a glimpse of the plot to expect....

__Professor Albus Dumbledore knows the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is moving to seize control of the wizarding world.  Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts Magizoologist Newt Scamander to lead an intrepid team of wizards, witches and one brave Muggle baker on a dangerous mission, where they encounter old and new beasts and clash with Grindelwald’s growing legion of followers.  But with the stakes so high, how long can Dumbledore remain on the sidelines?__

We can also reveal the film’s new logo, celebrating the title and Dumbledore’s inclusion with flashes of shiny, embellished silver. Look carefully and you’ll see a wand carefully cut into the ‘D’ of Dumbledore too. 

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Many of the characters you know and love from the first two Fantastic Beasts films will return, such as Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander and Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore along with Ezra Miller (Credence/Aurelius Dumbledore), Alison Sudol (Queenie Goldstein), Dan Fogler (Jacob Kowalski) and Katherine Waterston (Tina Goldstein). Comedian and actor Jessica Williams, who had a brief appearance in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, will return as Ilvermorny professor Eulalie 'Lally' Hicks, while Mads Mikkelsen will debut as Gellert Grindelwald. 

The film will once again be directed by David Yates and will reunite producers David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves, Lionel Wigram and Tim Lewis, along with executive producers Neil Blair, Danny Cohen, Josh Berger and Courtenay Valenti. The screenplay is written by J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves.

That’s all there is to tell for now – but be sure to keep checking back for more updates about *Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore* when we have them.

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Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery introduces new Clubs Secret Rooms feature

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## Clubs Secret Rooms 

Do you fancy yourself as a bit of an interior designer in your spare time? Channel that energy into this new feature where you can decorate and furnish with exclusive decorations earned through events and challenges. All three clubs have access to the rooms, which can be customized with a number of cute accessories, such as spellbooks, squishy armchairs or mysterious artefacts. The feature is available in your game right now!

Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery | Personalised Club Rooms

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## 20th anniversary celebrations

This year, we are celebrating 20 years of movie magic, as the first Harry Potter film celebrates a huge milestone. As you’ll have spotted, we’re looking deeper at 20 memorable moments from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone that really stood out. One of those moments is the London Zoo scene where Harry encounters a rather talkative snake. To commemorate this particular sequence, the makers of Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery have put together this charming guide on magical creatures in the wizarding world, and how they resemble animals in our regular old Muggle world. Educate yourself!


Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery | London Zoo

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## Watch out for new (spooky) surprises to come...

Keep an eye out for more goodies coming to the game very soon, as the nights draw in and we get ready for Hallowe’en. You can count on some spooky features to be added to the game to get in the mood! 

***

*Portkey Games is the games label dedicated to creating new Wizarding World mobile and video game experiences that place the player at the centre of their own adventure, inspired by J.K. Rowling’s original stories.*

Learn more about [Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery here.](https://www.wizardingworld.com/discover/portkey-games/harry-potter-hogwarts-mystery)

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London announces its festive season and special Philosopher’s Stone screenings 

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Get into the Christmas spirit early as Warner Bros. Studio Tour London launch their much-loved Hogwarts in the Snow feature, more lavish dinners in the Great Hall and some special screenings of *Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone* for the 20th anniversary.

## Hogwarts in the Snow 

This snowy favourite has been enchanting visitors for years at the Studio Tour, and from 13th November 2021 to 16th January 2022, you can come to see Hogwarts dressed in all its festive glory. And it’s not just Hogwarts that has been covered in snow – new for 2021, the trees and woodland of the Forbidden Forest have also been blanketed in filmmaking snow, as well as Diagon Alley and Hagrid’s Hut! Expect festive wreathes, Christmas trees and a seasonal feast in the Great Hall too.

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## Dinner in the Great Hall 

From 13th – 15th December, a lavish feast awaits you in the Studio Tour’s Great Hall. Ticket-holders to this popular event are invited to get their glad rags on (or finest robes, perhaps?) and enjoy a two-course seated dinner, as if you were Hogwarts students yourself. A roam through the Studio Tour after hours then follows - with dessert and Butterbeer on offer too. After that, you’ll be invited to blow off some steam at a special Hogwarts Express disco. And once the night is over? Guests even get to take home their own wand as a souvenir. What a night!

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## Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone screenings

From Friday 19th to 22nd November, fans can gather at the Great Hall set to enjoy a Hogwarts-themed party and a screening of the film that started it all, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. These special evenings will allow you to roam the Studio Tour after-hours, enjoy some Honeydukes snacks and watch the film on a cosy house-themed beanbag. If you remember where you were when you first saw Hogwarts on the screen 20 years ago, this could be the perfect way to commemorate this huge milestone. 

Please note that a special Monday screening will be adapted for visitors on the autism spectrum and for those with other sensory needs.

***  

So, grab some tinsel and some fairy lights – Christmas truly feels like it has come early!

Learn more about [Warner Bros. Studio Tour London’s official website.](https://www.wizardingworld.com/discover/experiences/warner-bros-studio-tour-london-the-making-of-harry-potter)