Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

• Type: Magical Textbook
• Owners: Newt Scamander (author), Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, numerous other Hogwarts students.
• Maker: Written by Newt Scamander; Published by Obscurus Books (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - companion book).

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a foundational textbook on the subject of Magizoology. In the Wizarding World, it is an encyclopedia of magical creatures, detailing their appearances, habits, and the Ministry of Magic Classification rating, which indicates their level of danger. Harry Potter's copy, purchased before his first year, is described on his Gringotts shopping list. While the physical appearance of a standard copy is not detailed in the seven core novels, the real-world version published for charity depicts a green cover with the title in gold lettering. Unlike The Monster Book of Monsters, another Care of Magical Creatures textbook, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is not described in the novels as being aggressively enchanted to bite its readers. The companion book published for Comic Relief is presented as a facsimile of Harry Potter's personal copy and features handwritten notes, doodles, and commentary in the margins from Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger.

The primary function of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is educational. It serves as an essential guide for witches and wizards to identify and understand the vast array of magical creatures in their world. Its contents are considered the authoritative text on the subject. The book categorises beasts with a Ministry of Magic Classification system:

• XXXXX: Known wizard killer / impossible to train or domesticate
• XXXX: Dangerous / requires specialist knowledge / skilled wizard may handle
• XXX: Competent wizard should cope
• XX: Harmless / may be domesticated
• X: Boring

This system allows a witch or wizard to quickly assess the threat level of an unfamiliar creature. While the book itself does not possess overt offensive or defensive enchantments in the novels, the foreword of the real-world edition mentions that it is protected by a Burglar Alarm (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - companion book).

Authored by the famous Magizoologist Newt Scamander, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was first published in 1927. It quickly became a bestseller and a standard required textbook at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. By the time Harry Potter attended Hogwarts in the 1990s, the book was in its fifty-second edition (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - companion book). This edition contained a foreword written by then-Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. The book's comprehensive nature and Newt Scamander's extensive fieldwork made it an indispensable resource for the wizarding community for over seven decades.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is first introduced as a required textbook on Harry's first-year supply list in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Its encyclopedic nature proves crucial on several occasions.

• In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, after Rubeus Hagrid illegally hatches a Norwegian Ridgeback egg, Hermione Granger consults Fantastic Beasts to confirm the species and its characteristics. This information helps the trio understand the danger Norbert poses.
• In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the book plays a vital role in identifying the monster within the Chamber of Secrets. Before being Petrified, Hermione tears out the page describing the Basilisk. The page details its “murderous stare,” its movement through pipes, and its mortal vulnerability to the crowing of a rooster. Finding this note allows Harry and Ron to understand the creature they are facing, directly leading to the Chamber's resolution.

The book remains a background element of student life, seen among Ron Weasley's possessions at The Burrow in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, reinforcing its status as a staple of magical education.

• In 2001, J.K. Rowling wrote and published a real-world version of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them under the pseudonym of Newt Scamander. The proceeds from its sale went to the British charity Comic Relief.
• This companion book contains extensive information on creatures not mentioned in the seven novels and features humorous “handwritten” notes from Harry and Ron, offering further insight into their personalities.
• The book's title was used for a prequel film series written by J.K. Rowling, beginning with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016). The films follow the adventures of the book's author, Newt Scamander, in the 1920s and 1930s (film).
• In the real-world edition's foreword, Albus Dumbledore humorously notes that Lucius Malfoy unsuccessfully campaigned to have the book banned from Hogwarts (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - companion book).