The Sorcerer's Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter (40 page)

J. K. Rowling once shared with fans the difficulty she encountered when trying to invent a word for the container in which a dark wizard has hidden a fragment of his soul. “I had tried for days and days to hit upon the right name,” she wrote on her website. “Finally, after much transposition of syllables, I scribbled ‘Horcrux’ on a piece of paper and knew it was the one.”

Rowling doesn’t say how she came to be juggling those particular syllables, but Latin plays such a large role in the lexicon of the wizarding world, it’s surely her source here as well. The first syllable may be derived from
horribilus
, meaning “horrible or dreadful.” The second syllable definitely comes from the Latin
crux
, meaning “cross,” and by association “torture or torment” (the word
crucifixion
comes from the same root, as does the dreaded incantation
Crucio!
). This potent combination gives us a word steeped in horror and pain, qualities associated with the Dark Lord and the making of a Horcrux.

Or consider another possibility Rowling may have had in mind. The Latin word
horreum
means “storehouse or granary.” Follow the first three letters with
crux
, in the sense of “essence” (as in “the crux of the matter”), and you have a word that means “a storehouse for the essence, or soul,” the very definition of Horcrux.

ometimes, homework is just no fun. But it’s especially trying when you’re certain the assignment isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. That’s how Ron and Harry feel about the horoscopes they have to prepare for
Divination
class. Unlike the millions of people who eagerly turn to the astrologer’s predictions in the newspaper each day, these skeptical
wizards
seem convinced that the movement of the planets doesn’t affect their future one bit.

Even worse, casting a horoscope of the sort Professor Trelawney demands is a lot of work. More than just a set of predictions, a horoscope is also a detailed chart or map showing what the heavens looked like at the moment a person was born. To cast his own horoscope, the budding astrologer must know the day, month, and year of his birth, as well as the location and the exact time of day. With these facts in place, he consults an “ephemeris”—a book that records the daily positions of the sun, the moon, and the planets—to determine where each heavenly body was located at the moment in question. Because an ephemeris lists positions for just one time of day and one geographical location (usually noon or midnight in Greenwich, England—the internationally agreed upon location for measuring time and longitude since 1884), each individual must perform a series of mathematical calculations to determine how the skies looked at his own hour of birth and from his own birthplace.

This information is then entered into a horoscope chart, which shows the location of each planet within the signs of the zodiac, the distances between the planets, and the angles formed by lines drawn between the planets. Using this information and a traditional set of meanings associated with each planet and sign of the zodiac (see
Astrology
), the astrologer forms an assessment of his basic personality, talents, strengths, and weaknesses.

English astrologers earned a living casting horoscopes at carnivals and fairs. In this drawing from the seventeenth century, it’s the bag of money, not the horoscope chart on the table, that has the astologer’s attention
. (
photo credit 43.1
)

To make predictions, as Hogwarts students must do, it’s necessary to again consult an ephemeris to determine the future position of the planets. A practicing astrologer will compare these planetary positions to those in the birth chart to assess what lies ahead. But a resourceful student may find it easier to follow Ron’s advice and just make it up.

ometimes clothes really do make the man—or woman. Just ask anyone with an invisibility cloak. These handy garments, which render their wearers invisible (to anyone but Mad-Eye Moody), have been helping heroes for hundreds of years.