Quill of Acceptance

• Type: Magical Device, School Admissions Tool
• Owners: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
• Maker: Unknown; placed in Hogwarts by the Four Founders

The Quill of Acceptance is a magical object responsible for recording the names of prospective Hogwarts students. It is described as a long, faded black feather, believed to have been plucked from an Augurey. It is silvery in appearance and possesses its own magical ink supply, never needing to be dipped into an inkpot (Pottermore).

The Quill's primary function is to detect the birth of any child possessing magic in Britain and Ireland. It operates in tandem with its partner object, the Book of Admittance.

• Detection: The Quill possesses an ancient and powerful enchantment that allows it to sense the faintest trace of magic in a newborn child. Upon detection, it hovers over the pages of the Book of Admittance and attempts to write the child's name.
• Admissions Process: The Book of Admittance serves as a fail-safe. The Book will only permit the Quill to write a name if it also senses that the child has a sufficient level of magical ability. The Book is notably stricter than the Quill, sometimes snapping shut and refusing a name until the child displays more concrete evidence of their magical talent. This prevents Squibs from ever being entered into the book.
• Location and Access: The Quill and the Book are kept together within a small, locked tower at Hogwarts. Access is extremely restricted; traditionally, only the reigning Headmaster or Deputy Headmistress is permitted to enter the room to consult the list. It is this list that Minerva McGonagall consults each year to send out the Hogwarts acceptance letters to children turning eleven (Pottermore).
• Infallibility: The system of the Quill and Book is believed to be perfect and has never been known to make an error in identifying a young witch or wizard (Pottermore).

The Quill of Acceptance and the Book of Admittance were placed in Hogwarts Castle by its founders: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They created this impartial system to ensure that all magical children, regardless of their blood status (including Muggle-borns), would be identified and offered a place at the school. A famous example of the Quill's leniency versus the Book's strictness is the case of Neville Longbottom. The Quill attempted to write his name at birth, but the Book refused, snapping shut repeatedly. It was only when Neville was eight years old and survived being dropped out of a window by his Great-Uncle Algie, bouncing down the road, that the Book finally accepted him as having sufficient magical power (Pottermore).

While the Quill of Acceptance is never mentioned by name in the seven original novels, its function is the foundational mechanism of the Hogwarts admissions process. It provides the in-universe explanation for how the school is aware of all magical children, most notably Muggle-borns like Hermione Granger and Lily Evans, who would otherwise have no connection to the wizarding world. The annual arrival of acceptance letters, a pivotal event in the series, is a direct result of the Quill and Book's work.

The existence of the Quill of Acceptance and the Book of Admittance was first revealed by J.K. Rowling in a short piece of writing on the Pottermore website. This supplementary material provided a canonical answer to the long-standing fan question of how Hogwarts managed to track every magical child in the country to offer them an education. It establishes the process as being entirely magical, rather than a bureaucratic function of the Ministry of Magic.