Mascots

• Type: Primarily Magical Creatures, though sometimes enchanted objects, used to represent and support sports teams.
• Owners: National and professional Quidditch teams.
• Maker: Not applicable; most known mascots are living, sentient or semi-sentient beings.

Mascots in the Wizarding World are living symbols brought to major sporting events to perform for the crowd, build team spirit, and sometimes intimidate the opposition. Their appearance varies wildly depending on the creature chosen. The most detailed descriptions are of the mascots for the Irish National Quidditch team and the Bulgarian National Quidditch team at the 1994 Quidditch World Cup.

• Veela: The mascots for the Bulgarian National Quidditch team. They appear as incredibly beautiful women with skin that shines like the moon and hair of white-gold that fans out behind them without wind. When angered, they undergo a startling transformation, their faces elongating into sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads, and long, scaly wings bursting from their shoulders.
• Leprechauns: The mascots for the Irish National Quidditch team. They are depicted as a swarm of tiny, bearded men dressed in green, each carrying a small, golden lantern.

The primary use of mascots is for entertainment and boosting morale during Quidditch matches. They often perform displays before the game and react to events during play.

• Veela: They perform an enchanting, hypnotic dance that causes most men in the vicinity to become entranced and attempt to perform reckless feats to impress them. In their angered state, they can conjure and throw handfuls of fire.
• Leprechauns: They are capable of creating spectacular aerial formations, such as a giant shamrock or a flashing hand sign. They are most famous for showering the crowd with heaps of Leprechaun Gold, large gold coins that vanish after a few hours, much to the dismay of anyone who takes it.

The most prominent and detailed appearance of team mascots in the novels occurs during the 422nd Quidditch World Cup in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The Ministry of Magic had considerable difficulty accommodating the creatures that the competing nations wished to bring. During the final match between Ireland and Bulgaria, the Veela and Leprechauns engaged in open conflict. The Veela would dance to distract the Irish players, and the Leprechauns would retaliate by forming rude gestures. The conflict escalated into a full-blown fight between the mascots in the stadium after the match was decided.

Mascots are crucial in establishing the immense scale and vibrant, chaotic atmosphere of the Quidditch World Cup. They provide a vivid display of exotic magic from different cultures and serve as a source of both spectacle and comic relief. The conflict between the Veela and the Leprechauns highlights the passionate and sometimes volatile nature of international sporting rivalries in the Wizarding World. The Leprechaun Gold created by the Irish mascots also serves as a minor plot point; Ron Weasley is deeply disappointed when the gold he used to pay Harry Potter for his Omnioculars vanishes, leading to an argument with Fred and George Weasley.

• Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Houses: While the four Hogwarts houses have animal symbols (Gryffindor's lion, Hufflepuff's badger, Ravenclaw's eagle, and Slytherin's serpent), there is no evidence in the novels that the houses use live magical creatures as mascots during their inter-house Quidditch matches.
• Other Team Mascots: The supplementary book Quidditch Through the Ages mentions mascots for other professional teams:
  • The Appleby Arrows release enchanted arrows from the wands of their supporters.
  • The Caerphilly Catapults once had a Welsh Green dragon as a mascot, but the practice was banned by the Ministry of Magic.
  • The Moutohora Macaws of New Zealand have a Phoenix as their mascot. (Quidditch Through the Ages)
  • The Vratsa Vultures of Bulgaria are known for having vultures as their mascots, a different choice from the national team's Veela. (Quidditch Through the Ages)