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Just Like Nothing on Earth Trivia Quiz
In the "Harry Potter" books and movies, several characters appear that are just like nothing on earth. Can you match these characters to their species? Warning: this quiz contains spoilers.
Dobby is a House Elf, a diminutive creature with a fairly human face (although the pointy nose and pointy ears are just like no human on earth). House Elves are usually employed as servants in wizard families, up till the moment their master presents them with an article of clothing. Most House Elves thus appear dressed in rags (for instance, a kitchen towel).
Dobby appears for the first time in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", and tries to prevent Harry going back to Hogwarts for his second year - because there is grave danger in Hogwarts. In doing so he disobeys his masters (the Malfoy family). But as Harry tricks Lucius Malfoy into giving Dobby a sock, Dobby is set free. Dobby also appears in several following books and movies, but is killed in the first part of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".
Other House Elves include Kreacher, House Elf to the Black family, and Winky, House Elf to Barthemius Crouch until he punishes her by releasing her.
In the muggle world nothing just like a House Elf exists. The fictional creature that comes closest is the Scottish brownie, also a dwarfish creature dressed in rags and doing household chores.
2. Acromantula
Answer: Aragog
Acromantulas are oversized spiders, as large as a small elephant. They love to feed on fresh human flesh. Aragog was adopted by Hagrid when he was just little ("the size of a Pekinese") and met a female Acromantula named Mosag, and they had many children together. In "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" Aragog's offspring tries to devour Ron and Harry.
In the muggle world there is nothing just like an Acromantula. The largest spider known to muggles is the Goliath birdeater, just a bit larger than an opened hand of an adult human.
3. Poltergeist
Answer: Peeves
A Poltergeist is a ghost involved in all sorts of mischief. Peeves the Poltergeist (appearing in several of the books but only briefly in the movie) is such a Poltergeist, invisible at will but when seen, he resembles a clown. He wears very bright clothing, including a revolving bowtie. One of his greatest moments is when he decides to unscrew a chandelier to drop over Dolores Umbridge, and Professor McGonagall warns him that he is turning the screws in the wrong direction.
In the muggle world no Poltergeist has ever been seen, although some muggles believe they have observed evidence of their presence.
The word Poltergeist comes from German, but most of the famous cases of the presumed Poltergeists have been reported in English speaking countries.
4. Three-headed dog
Answer: Fluffy
In "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (UK title) Professor Dumbledore warns the students that the third floor is off limits. When Harry and his friends accidentally end up on the third floor, they encounter a large dog (looking like a bloodhound) with three heads. Hagrid explains that this dog's name is Fluffy, and that he has lent Fluffy to Dumbledore for a secret reason he may not tell.
But of course, later on our friends find out that Fluffy guards a trapdoor, and that he can only be calmed by music. Fluffy is in fact one of the guards to the hiding place of the Philosopher's stone, a magic object that can be used to make an immortality potion. Voldemort is, of course, planning to get his hands on the stone, and only Harry, Ron and Hermione can make him fail.
In the muggle world there is just nothing like an adult dog with three heads. Rarely an animal with two heads is born, but it dies very soon. Greek myth tells about Cerberus, a three-headed dog who guards the gates to the underworld.
5. Dragon
Answer: Norbert
In "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" Hagrid wins a dragon egg, and he hatches it. Out comes a small dragon (a Norwegian Ridgeback dragon), which Hagrid names Norbert. Norbert occasionally sets fire to Hagrid's beard. Norbert resembles a small lizard with wings, completely black in the book and the movie, but greenish in other versions.
Late on Hagrid agrees to send Norbert to Romania to live with other dragons. When Ron's brother Charlie, who works in Romania, sends back the news that Norbert has arrived in Romania in good health, he adds that Norbert is in fact a female dragon, so they rename her Norberta.
Norberta is only one of many dragons featuring in the "Harry Potter" stories. In "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", all competing champions have to face a different species of dragon.
Dragons are just like nothing on earth to muggles. The dragons in the world of Harry Potter are much larger than the closest relative in the muggle world (the Komodo dragon, a lizard of about 3m long). Moreover all dragons in the wizarding world have wings, something every muggle lizard lacks. And then all dragons in "Harry Potter" can spit fire, also an ability lacking in the common lizards.
6. Centaur
Answer: Firenze
Firenze appears in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" as well as in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". He is one of the Centaurs living in the Forbidden Forest, but in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" he leaves his herd and becomes a teacher of divination.
Other Centaurs living in the Forbidden Forest are Bane and Ronan. Centaurs share the body of a horse with the chest and head of a human. They seem little concerned with the activities of men, as they think more in terms of centuries than of years.
Muggles have never seen Centaurs. And yet Greek myth told about Centaurs, long before JK Rowling wrote about Harry Potter.
7. Phoenix
Answer: Fawkes
Fawkes is a Phoenix, a bird with several special qualities. He is Dumbledore's pet. A Phoenix lives for many years and then dies by burning up, and out of the ashes rises a new Phoenix. Furthermore a Phoenix can carry heavy loads. And the tears shed by a Phoenix have healing properties.
Harry meets Phoenix for the first time in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". When Harry waits in Dumbledore's office, he witnesses the burning and rebirth of Fawkes. Later in the same book Fawkes helps Harry fight the monster hidden in the Chamber of Secrets, and heals him with his tears.
According to muggles, a Phoenix is just like nothing on earth. Muggles know birds (and sometimes they hold them as pets), but these birds don't go up in flames if they die of old age. Nor rises a new bird from the ashes. These two qualities of a Phoenix do exist in the mythology of many muggle people, though.
8. Hippogriff
Answer: Buckbeak
Buckbeak (later renamed Witherwings) is a Hippogriff: a rare creature combining a horse's body with the wings, talons and beak of an eagle. He is first seen in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". Hagrid explains to the class that one needs to greet a hippogriff with respect, but as Draco refuses to do so, Buckbeak bites his arm.
At the end of the book Buckbeak flies away with Sirius Black, Harry's godfather.
The hippogriff is just like nothing on earth: muggles have never seen one in real life, although an Italian author of the Sixteenth Century came up with a detailed description of this mythical creature.
9. Thestral
Answer: Tenebrus
Tenebrus is the only Thestral known by name in the "Harry Potter" books. Thestrals are invisible not only to muggles but also to most wizards: only the wizards who remember having seen someone dying, can spot a Thestral. To those who are able to see a Thestral, they look like skeletal horses with wings.
In "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" Harry for the first time notices a Thestral. As Ron and Hermione can't see it at that moment, it is Luna Lovegood who explains to Harry the true nature of Thestrals. Later on Hagrid teaches his class about Thestrals and tells them Tenebrus was the first of the herd now living in the Forbidden Forest.
In the muggle world, the Thestrals are just like nothing on earth. JK Rowling was the first to mention Thestrals, and some years later a very well camouflaged bug was named a thestral bug. Its camouflage pattern makes the thestral bug almost invisible to unaware people.
10. Goblin
Answer: Griphook
Harry Potter first meets Griphook the Goblin in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", when he gets some money out of the bank Gringotts. Indeed: the small creatures named goblins (resembling dwarves with pointy ears) are very good at handling gold, and thus many of them work in banks or as goldsmiths.
In "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" Griphook helps Harry and his friends to rob a Horcrux from Bellatrix Lestrange's vault in Gringotts. But they barely manage to escape.
Goblins are just like nothing on earth to muggles in real life. There are many mythological tales about goblins, but no muggle has ever seen one.
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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