Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (7 page)
The Hippogriff burrows for insects but will also eat birds and small mammals. Breeding Hippogriffs build nests upon the ground into which they will lay a single large and fragile egg, which
hatches within twenty-four hours. The fledgling Hippogriff should be ready to fly within a week, though it will be a matter of months before it is able to accompany its parent on longer
journeys.
H
ORKLUMP
M.O.M. Classification: X
The Horklump comes from Scandinavia but is now widespread throughout northern Europe. It resembles a fleshy, pinkish mushroom covered in sparse, wiry black bristles. A
prodigious breeder, the Horklump will cover an average garden in a matter of days. It spreads sinewy tentacles rather than roots into the ground to search for its preferred food of earthworms. The
Horklump is a favourite delicacy of gnomes but otherwise has no discernible use.
I
MP
M.O.M. Classification: XX
The imp is found only in Britain and Ireland. It is sometimes confused with the pixie. They are of similar height (between six and eight inches), though the imp cannot fly as
the pixie can, nor is it as vividly coloured (the imp is usually dark brown to black). It does, however, have a similar slapstick sense of humour. Its preferred terrain is damp and marshy, and it
is often found near river banks, where it will amuse itself by pushing and tripping the unwary. Imps eat small insects and have breeding habits much like the fairies, though imps do not spin
cocoons; the young are hatched fully formed at around one inch in length.
J
ARVEY
M.O.M. Classification: XXX
The Jarvey is found in Britain, Ireland, and North America. It resembles an overgrown ferret in most respects, except for the fact that it can talk. True conversation, however,
is beyond the wit of the Jarvey, which tends to confine itself to short (and often rude) phrases in an almost constant stream. Jarveys live mostly below ground, where they pursue gnomes, though
they will also eat moles, rats, and voles.
J
OBBERKNOLL
M.O.M. Classification: XX
The Jobberknoll (northern Europe and America) is a tiny blue, speckled bird which eats small insects. It makes no sound until the moment of its death, at which point it lets out
a long scream made up of every sound it has ever heard, regurgitated backwards. Jobberknoll feathers are used in Truth Serums and Memory Potions.
K
APPA
M.O.M. Classification: XXXX
The Kappa feeds on human blood but may be persuaded not to harm a person if it is thrown a cucumber with that person’s name carved into it. In confrontation, a wizard should trick the
Kappa into bowing – if it does so, the water in the hollow of its head will run out, depriving it of all its strength.
K
ELPIE
M.O.M. Classification: XXXX
This British and Irish water demon can take various shapes, though it most often appears as a horse with bulrushes for a mane. Having lured the unwary onto its back, it will
dive straight to the bottom of its river or lake and devour the rider, letting the entrails float to the surface. The correct means to overcome a kelpie is to get a bridle over its head with a
Placement Charm, which renders it docile and unthreatening.
The world’s largest kelpie is found in Loch Ness, Scotland. Its favourite form is that of a sea serpent (see below). International Confederation of Wizard observers realised that they
were not dealing with a true serpent when they saw it turn into an otter on the approach of a team of Muggle investigators and then transform back into a serpent when the coast was clear.
K
NARL
M.O.M. Classification: XXX
The Knarl (northern Europe and America) is usually mistaken for a hedgehog by Muggles. The two species are indeed indistinguishable except for one important behavioural
difference: If food is left out in the garden for a hedgehog, it will accept and enjoy the gift; if food is offered to a Knarl, on the other hand, it will assume that the householder is attempting
to lure it into a trap and will savage that householder’s garden plants or garden ornaments. Many a Muggle child has been accused of vandalism when an offended Knarl was the real culprit.
K
NEAZLE
M.O.M. Classification: XXX
The Kneazle was originally bred in Britain, though it is now exported worldwide. A small catlike creature with flecked, speckled, or spotted fur, outsize ears, and a tail like a
lion’s, the Kneazle is intelligent, independent, and occasionally aggressive, though if it takes a liking to a witch or wizard, it makes an excellent pet. The Kneazle has an uncanny ability
to detect unsavoury or suspicious characters and can be relied upon to guide its owner safely home if they are lost. Kneazles have up to eight kittens in a litter and can interbreed with cats.
Licences are required for ownership as (like Crups and Fwoopers) Kneazles are sufficiently unusual in appearance to attract Muggle interest.
L
EPRECHAUN
(sometimes known as Clauricorn)
M.O.M. Classification: XXX
More intelligent than the fairy and less malicious than the imp, the pixie, or the Doxy, the leprechaun is nevertheless mischievous. Found only in Ireland, it achieves a height
of up to six inches and is green in colour. It has been known to create crude clothing from leaves. Alone of the “little people,” leprechauns can speak, though they have never requested
reclassification as “beings.” The leprechaun bears live young and lives mostly in forest and woodland areas, though it enjoys attracting Muggle attention and as a consequence features
almost as heavily as the fairy in Muggle literature for children. Leprechauns produce a realistic goldlike substance that vanishes after a few hours, to their great amusement. Leprechauns eat
leaves and, despite their reputation as pranksters, are not known ever to have done lasting damage to a human.
L
ETHIFOLD
(also known as Living Shroud)
M.O.M. Classification: XXXXX
The Lethifold is a mercifully rare creature found solely in tropical climates. It resembles a black cloak perhaps half an inch thick (thicker if it has recently killed and
digested a victim), which glides along the ground at night. The earliest account we have of a Lethifold was written by the wizard Flavius Belby, who was fortunate enough to survive a Lethifold
attack in 1782 while holidaying in Papua New Guinea.
Near one o’clock in the morning, as I began at last to feel drowsy, I heard a soft rustling close by. Believing it to be nothing more than the
leaves of the tree outside, I turned over in bed, with my back to the window, and caught sight of what appeared to be a shapeless black shadow sliding underneath my bedroom door. I lay
motionless, trying sleepily to divine what was causing such a shadow in a room lit only by moonlight. Undoubtedly my stillness led the Lethifold to believe that its potential victim was
sleeping.
To my horror, the shadow began to creep up the bed, and I felt its slight weight upon me. It resembled nothing so much as a rippling black cape, the edges fluttering
slightly as it slithered up the bed towards me. Paralysed with fear, I felt its clammy touch upon my chin before I sat bolt upright.
The thing attempted to smother me, sliding inexorably up my face, over my mouth and nostrils, but still I struggled, feeling it wrapping its coldness about me all the
while. Unable to cry for assistance, I groped for my wand. Now dizzy as the thing sealed itself about my face, incapable of drawing breath, I concentrated with all my might upon the
Stupefying Charm and then – as that failed to subdue the creature, though blasting a hole in my bedroom door – upon the Impediment Hex, which likewise availed me naught. Still
struggling madly, I rolled sideways and fell heavily to the floor, now entirely wrapped in the Lethifold.
I knew that I was about to lose consciousness completely as I suffocated. Desperately, I mustered up my last reserve of energy. Pointing my wand away from myself into the
deadly folds of the creature, summoning the memory of the day I had been voted President of the local Gobstones Club, I performed the Patronus Charm.
Almost at once I felt fresh air upon my face. I looked up to see that deathly shadow being thrown into the air upon the horns of my Patronus. It flew across the room and
slithered swiftly out of sight.
As Belby so dramatically reveals, the Patronus is the only spell known to repel the Lethifold. Since it generally attacks the sleeping, though, its victims rarely have a chance
to use any magic against it. Once its prey has been successfully suffocated, the Lethifold digests its food there and then in their bed. It then exits the house slightly thicker and fatter than
before, leaving no trace of itself or its victim behind.
9
9
The number of Lethifold victims is almost impossible to calculate since it leaves no clues to its presence behind it. Easier to
calculate is the number of wizards who have, for their own unscrupulous purposes, pretended to have been killed by Lethifolds. The most recent instance of such duplicity occurred in 1973 when the
wizard Janus Thickey vanished, leaving only a hastily written note on the bedside table reading “oh no a Lethifold’s got me I’m suffocating.” Convinced by the spotless and
empty bed that such a creature had indeed killed Janus, his wife and children entered a period of strict mourning, which was rudely interrupted when Janus was discovered living five miles away with
the landlady of the Green Dragon.
L
OBALUG
M.O.M. Classification: XXX
The Lobalug is found at the bottom of the North Sea. It is a simple creature, ten inches long, comprising a rubbery spout and a venom sac. When threatened, the Lobalug contracts
its venom sac, blasting the attacker with poison. Merpeople use the Lobalug as a weapon and wizards have been known to extract its poison for use in potions, though this practice is strictly
controlled.
