Books in the Wizarding World

Books are a fundamental and ubiquitous part of the wizarding world, serving not only as the primary medium for education and information but also as powerful magical objects in their own right. From school textbooks and historical records to enchanted diaries and vicious monster manuals, books are central to a witch or wizard's development and are frequently crucial plot devices throughout the Harry Potter series. They are the main source of knowledge on spell-casting, Potions, Transfiguration, and the history of the magical community.

Wizarding books can be broadly categorized based on their content and magical properties.

• Educational Textbooks: The most common type of book encountered in the series, these are required texts for students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They cover all subjects taught, from A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration to Advanced Potion-Making. These books are typically purchased at Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley.
• Magical Books: Some books are imbued with powerful magic that goes beyond the information they contain. These can be sentient, like Tom Riddle's Diary, or behave like creatures, such as The Monster Book of Monsters. Others may have defensive enchantments, like the books in the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts Library that scream when opened without permission.
• Reference and General Reading: This category includes historical texts like A History of Magic, biographies such as The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, and books for leisure and general knowledge. The Hogwarts Library and the library at 12 Grimmauld Place house vast collections of such works.
• Dark Arts Books: These are texts that deal with forbidden or dangerous magic, such as the creation of Horcruxes. Works like Magick Moste Evile and Secrets of the Darkest Art are kept in the Restricted Section at Hogwarts or in the private collections of Dark Wizards.

Numerous specific books play significant roles in the narrative.

• Advanced Potion-Making by Libatius Borage: The N.E.W.T.-level Potions textbook. The copy Harry Potter used in his sixth year had been heavily annotated by its previous owner, the Half-Blood Prince (Severus Snape), containing improved potion instructions and original spells like `Sectumsempra`.
• A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot: A standard Hogwarts textbook for the History of Magic class. Hermione Granger frequently refers to it, though Harry Potter and Ron Weasley find it exceedingly dull.
• The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore by Rita Skeeter: A scandalous and largely inaccurate biography of Albus Dumbledore, published shortly after his death. Harry reads it with a mixture of fascination and disgust, learning partial truths about Dumbledore's past with Gellert Grindelwald.
• The Monster Book of Monsters: A vicious Care of Magical Creatures textbook prescribed by Rubeus Hagrid. The book had to be stroked along its spine to be pacified before it could be opened, otherwise it would attempt to bite its reader.
• Moste Potente Potions: A book found in the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts Library. Hermione Granger used it to brew the Polyjuice Potion in her second year.
• Secrets of the Darkest Art: An extremely dangerous book detailing the process of creating a Horcrux. Tom Riddle (later Lord Voldemort) consulted it to learn about splitting his soul, and Hermione Granger later summoned a copy from Albus Dumbledore's office to learn how to destroy them.
• The Standard Book of Spells (Grades 1-7) by Miranda Goshawk: The core textbook series for Charms class at Hogwarts.
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard: A collection of popular wizarding fairy tales, including The Tale of the Three Brothers, which introduces the Deathly Hallows. Albus Dumbledore bequeathed his personal, rune-inscribed copy to Hermione Granger.
• Tom Riddle's Diary: A seemingly blank diary that was secretly Tom Riddle's first Horcrux. It used a form of Dark Magic to possess Ginny Weasley, forcing her to open the Chamber of Secrets. Harry Potter destroyed it with a Basilisk fang.
• Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky: The primary textbook for Divination, which Professor Trelawney relies on heavily for teaching methods of fortune-telling.

Witches and wizards acquire books from several key locations.

• Flourish and Blotts: The primary bookstore for the magical community in Great Britain, located in Diagon Alley. It stocks a vast array of books, from Hogwarts textbooks to general interest titles.
• Hogwarts Library: An immense library containing tens of thousands of books on all magical subjects. It is a vital resource for students' research and homework. It includes a Restricted Section, which houses books on the Dark Arts and other dangerous subjects, accessible only with a signed note from a professor.
• Library at 12 Grimmauld Place: The ancestral home of the Black family contained a library with many books on the Dark Arts, including one that screamed when opened.

Books are indispensable to the plot of the Harry Potter series. They are the trio's primary tool for solving mysteries, from identifying Nicolas Flamel and the Philosopher's Stone to learning how to brew Polyjuice Potion and discovering the nature of Horcruxes. Information found within books directly enables major plot advancements and character actions. Furthermore, certain enchanted books, most notably Tom Riddle's Diary and The Tales of Beedle the Bard, are not merely informational but act as central magical objects that drive the narrative forward.

J.K. Rowling has written and published real-world versions of three books mentioned in the series for charity. These are:

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2001)
• Quidditch Through the Ages (2001)
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard (2008)

While these books exist in our world, their content is presented as if they are the actual texts from the wizarding world. (J.K. Rowling supplementary works).