Pixies

• Ministry of Magic Classification: XXX (Competent wizard should cope) (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)
• Native to: Cornwall, England (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)
• Distinguishing Features: Electric blue colour, up to eight inches in height, pointed faces
• Temperament: Extremely mischievous and fond of pranks

Pixies are small, electric blue magical beasts that stand up to eight inches tall. They have pointed faces and produce very high-pitched, shrill voices. Their language consists of a rapid jabbering that is only understandable to other Pixies. Despite their small size, they are notoriously mischievous and enjoy playing tricks and causing chaos. They are also surprisingly strong for their stature, capable of overpowering and lifting a human off the ground when working together. According to the textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Pixies are viviparous, meaning they give birth to live young.

• Flight: Pixies are capable of flight. They achieve this without the need for visible wings (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them).
• Superhuman Strength: A group of Pixies demonstrated remarkable collective strength when they were able to lift Neville Longbottom by his ears and hang him from the chandelier in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Pixies are most famously encountered during a Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson taught by Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in 1992. Lockhart brought a cage of “freshly caught Cornish pixies” to his class, intending to teach the second-year students how to handle them. Upon release, the Pixies immediately caused mayhem, wrecking the classroom, destroying a dragon skeleton, and attacking students. Lockhart’s attempt to subdue them with the spell Peskipiksi Pesternomi failed spectacularly, suggesting the incantation was entirely useless and likely of his own invention. After Lockhart fled his own classroom, Hermione Granger successfully used the Freezing Charm, Immobulus, to immobilize the remaining Pixies. During the cleaning of 12 Grimmauld Place in 1995, a nest of dead Pixies was found inside an old writing desk. Mundungus Fletcher was later caught by Molly Weasley trying to smuggle live Pixies out of the house under his cloak, indicating they are often viewed as pests by the wizarding world.

The name “Pixie” is derived directly from the piskies of Cornish folklore. These mythological beings are typically depicted as small, mischievous creatures who live in the high moorland areas of Cornwall and Devon in South West England. This folklore origin aligns perfectly with their canonical description as “Cornish pixies”.

• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Pixies are depicted differently than in the novel. They are greyish-blue in colour, have more humanoid features, and possess large, insect-like wings, which contradicts their book description of being wingless. (film)
• Much of the background information on Pixies, such as their Ministry of Magic classification, native region, and viviparous nature, comes from the supplementary textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
• The spell Peskipiksi Pesternomi is widely believed to be a nonsensical incantation created by Gilderoy Lockhart, as it had no effect and does not follow the typical Latin-based structure of many spells in the wizarding world. Its failure is a key indicator of Lockhart's fraudulence.