An A–Z of Harry Potter. Aubrey Malone

       Cupboard

      The fact that Harry is forced to live in a cupboard under the stairs by his cruel step-parents may be a metaphor for the fact that there’s a skeleton in that cupboard—the secret of his parents’ death at the hands of Voldemort rather than in a car accident, as Vernon Dursley insists.

       Curtis, Jamie Lee

      This actress (the daughter of Tony) was the first to suggest to Daniel Radcliffe’s mother that he would be a good choice for Harry on screen.

       Cushioning Charm

      This makes flying by broomstick less arduous by creating an invisible ‘pillow’ on the stick.

       D

       Dahl, Roald

      Dahl is probably one of the strongest influences on Rowling, from the point of view of both style and character, though she herself thinks she’s a much more realistic writer than he is and isn’t a fan of his. Nonetheless, Harry’s childhood is similar in many ways to events in Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach. James (whose surname is Trotter, not Potter) has evil guardians like the Dursley family and shares many personality traits with Harry Another novel by Dahl, Matilda, featured a young girl whose bullying parents kept calling her stupid even though she was much smarter than they were. Dahl once said, ‘There are 40 000 children’s books printed in Britain every year, and most of them are bloody awful, pulped, and never reprinted.’

      He believed that to empathise with children you had to go down on all fours and look up at the adults. This would help one to understand their point of view—literally Like Dahl, Rowling does this. But her voice is unmistakably her own, even if, like most authors, she’s soaked up moods and images from the voracious reading she’s been engaged in all her life.

       Daily Prophet

      The most popular wizard publication in Potterworld.

       Dark Arts, The

      Black magic. Professors of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts have a rather hapless time, the position being something of a poisoned chalice.

       Dark Mark

      What the Death Eaters have burned into their arms as a sign of allegiance to Voldemort. It also acts as a form of communication from Voldemort and appears when they’ve killed someone.

       Death Eaters

      Disciples of Voldemort who help him back to strength after the spell he casts on Harry rebounds on him. After his downfall they claim they acted against their will. If we wish to pursue a Nazi analogy (see Durmstrang) we will remember many of Hitler’s high-ranking disciples did likewise at their trials after World War 2.

       Deathday party

      Nearly Headless Nick organises this. What else would a ghost have—especially if he’s 500 years old?

       Deathly Hallows, The

      In the context of Rowling’s final book, the eponymous terms refer to items bequeathed by Death to three wizards who cheated death. These are an Elder Wand, a Resurrection Stone and an Invisibility Cloak.

      Rowling says this is her favourite of all the books and also the one that was most difficult to write. She confessed to Jonathan Ross in an interview that she gushed tears after killing off one of her ‘big’ characters in it. (Although she didn’t say which one.)

      Such was the secrecy surrounding the book that it was rumoured to have been printed in the dark at Bloomsbury to stop printers having a peek at its contents. It was launched at 12.01 a.m. on 21 July 2007 in bookshops everywhere. Many shops organised extravagant displays for the occasion and had theme parties. Some fans were so anxious to find out what happened to the characters that they read their book throughout the night and finished it by dawn.

      Every bookshop signed an embargo clause stipulating that none of the boxes of books would be opened until the appointed hour. No cameras were allowed into shops for fear of pages being photographed. Some chapters were leaked on a US internet site, and Scholastic threatened legal action as a result. Scholastic printed an unprecedented 12 million copies for its first run. The book takes Rowling’s overall page count to an awe-inspiring 3419 pages, or 1.4 million words.