It's finally here! Yes, the Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac is now available to pick up – and if you’re a Harry Potter fan who loves the blink-and-you’ll-miss-them moments of the stories, you’ll adore the amount of work that has gone into this book. And in this video here, the Bloomsbury team explored some of those extra magical details hidden throughout the book with some eagle-eyed fans!

And here’s a few of our own observations, where you can take a closer look inside the book.

Paper airplane memos

Although the Ministry of Magic is very serious indeed – it is, after all, the official British government that determines the laws of the wizarding world in the UK – we love that there are still whimsical traditions in such a professional setting. This spread of the Ministry of Magic, illustrated by Tomislav Tomic, highlights not just every department you can find in this grand institution, but also some of the clever magical processes. Our favourite: the constantly whizzing paper airplanes, which act as memos for staff. Way more fun than our boring Muggle emails.

Dedalus Diggle’s top hat

One spread from the Almanac explores absolutely every single member of the Order of the Phoenix: the resistance group formed to put an end to Lord Voldemort. As illustrated by Levi Pinfold, you can take a look at these new illustrative depictions of some of your favourite members, but also some of the lesser-known members of the team that perhaps you might not have seen brought to life before.

We particularly smiled at seeing Dedalus Diggle and his top hat, as there’s sentimental value here. Dedalus is one of the first wizards Harry ever meets in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, when the eccentric wizard bumps into him in the street and bows to him, long before Harry's visit from Hagrid. Dedalus’s conspicuous headwear certainly made him a memorable character for Harry, who recalled him years later. Which other characters are you excited to see here?

The flying car’s registration plate

On this spread, illustrator Peter Goes explores the magical mishaps of the wizarding world, of which there are many. Foolish wand-waving will inevitably get you into trouble!

We particularly enjoyed taking a closer look at the Whomping Willow illustration down below, featuring Mr Weasley’s flying car, which famously crashed into it. Take a closer look, though, and you’ll see the illustrator has simply put “HOW???” on the registration plate – which is a fair question, really. We are still forever perplexed at the car turning sentient and wild when Harry and Ron are reunited with it in the Forbidden Forest – but also forever amused.

Everything in the Hogwarts library

We’re firm Hermione wannabes here at WizardingWorld.com, so of course this Hogwarts library page particularly piqued our interests. In this spread, again, illustrated brilliantly by Peter Goes – you can explore all the different printed works that we spot during Harry’s studies.

Some of these books are instantly iconic, such as Hogwarts: A History and The Tales of Beedle the Bard – but some you may not have spotted before. Special shoutouts to Charm Your Own Cheese and The Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology – just a few tomes we are immensely curious to know more about... And if you look closely, in the background you will see a certain Miss Granger carrying a very large armful of books up the library staircase!

A Bowtruckle guarding the Herbology page

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them fans will know all too well that Bowtruckles are very protective little fellows, as Newt Scamander taught us with his lovely companion Pickett. This is very much part of a Bowtruckle’s modus operandi, as their role as tree guardians often sees them protecting wand wood trees. On this gorgeously green Herbology page illustrated by Weitong Mai you can spot a little Bowtruckle in the corner – presumably keeping an eye on things. Thank you for your services, little guy!

Plant-lovers will enjoy browsing this page to see some other lesser-spotted flora and fungi from the wizarding world illustrated here, such as Puffapods and even a Flutterby Bush alongside the more well-known Mandrakes and Devil’s Snare. Neville Longbottom would love to... leaf through these pages, wouldn’t he?

A Cornish Pixie invasion

Uh-oh, did Gilderoy Lockhart have anything to do with this page? This Household Pests spread seems to have been overtaken by those nuisance Cornish Pixies you’ll remember vividly from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Illustrated by Pham Quang Phuc, you can learn about the peskier magical creatures of the wizarding world, that range from pretty scary (eg: Boggarts) to just plain annoying (eg: Gnomes). You can see Crookshanks, peering in from the top hand corner, perhaps on the lookout for a certain rat with a missing digit? And we love that a Norwegian Ridgeback has creeped into this page too to deal with those Pixies. Well, Peskipiksi Pesternomi was never going to work, was it?

The (many) spectres at the feast

And finally, seeing as it’s nearly Hallowe’en… we must give some kudos to this spooky spread from illustrator Tomislav Tomic, who has breathed some life into Nearly Headless Nick’s Deathday Party.

No (tomb)stone has been left unturned here, with all of the ghostly guests in full attendance, from The Headless Hunt to Nick himself! And even the ghostly host’s less-than-appetising buffet is on show here, from his grave-looking cake to some lovely, er, rotting fish.

You can also explore the rest of Hogwarts at Hallowe’en here too, from the student’s feast in the Great Hall to all the work the house-elves get up to in the kitchens to make this night extra special – with everything finished off with some floating pumpkins and fluttering bats. Petrifyingly perfect.

We’ve absolutely loved exploring these spellbinding spreads of The Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac. And now – it’s your turn!

You can pick up your own copy from today via Bloomsbury or Scholastic – let us know what you end up finding!