Rowling builds a verbal snowscape round the disclosure of this vital piece of information вЂ“ for it is part of the magical nature of Hogwarts that it will always have a white Christmas: вЂa silence deep as the snow on the grounds descended on the castleвЂ¦ Christmas morning dawned, cold and whiteвЂ™ ( Chamber, Chap 12, p.158).

The readerвЂ™s first encounter with the fact that someone has been silencing the roosters, happens on a snowy December day, just before the school breaks up for the Christmas holidays. One of these crucial clues (the one about the roosters) has been emphatically linked by Rowling with Christmas. It is the information that the Basilisk terrifies spiders, and that it is in its own turn destroyed by the crowing of the rooster, which identifies it (and it is noticeable that is Hagrid вЂ“ the person who cares most about animals in Hogwarts вЂ“ who has provided both pieces of information). Hermione has torn a page from a bestiary вЂ“ or вЂbook of beastsвЂ™ вЂ“ and it is the animal lore in the description which enables the trio to identify the Basilisk. It is not that she borrows from bestiaries, but that their authors have caught glimpses of her world. The latter claim is not only RowlingвЂ™s tongue-in-cheek response to those who might claim that she hasnвЂ™t done enough research about Hippogriffs it is also a witty assertion of primacy. The dragon, the griffin, the unicorn, the phoenix, the centaur-these and more are represented in Muggle works of that period, though usually with almost comical inexactitudeвЂ™ (xxiv). And she nods towards this in Newt ScamanderвЂ™s introduction in which he notes that some magical beasts turn up in вЂMuggle bestiaries:вЂ™ вЂa glance through Muggle art and literature of the Middle Ages reveals that many of the creatures they now believe to be imaginary were then known to be real. Long before Rowling wrote her contemporary bestiary Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2001) вЂ“ or the more recent film versions вЂ“ she had been influenced by bestiaries. RowlingвЂ™s animal lore and, indeed, in May 2018 she placed a page from the early thirteenth-century Aberdeen Bestiary as her Twitter header: Bestiaries are an important source for J.K. Bestiaries are medieval animal books (and Rowling notes that this is a вЂvery old library bookвЂ™) which describe mythical beasts such as unicorns, phoenixes and Basilisks alongside real animals. In Muggle terms, because this is a natural history book that informs the reader about fabulous beasts, this book is a bestiary. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.вЂќВ ( Chamber, Chap 16, p.215) Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death.

This snake, which may reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chickenвЂ™s egg, hatched beneath a toad.

вЂњ Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. The page she has torn out explains that the creature stalking Muggleborns at Hogwarts is a Basilisk: In Chamber of Secrets Hermione commits an action never commented on by the other characters, but far more out of character than punching Malfoy or walking out on Professor Trelawney. Last year, Dr Beatrice Groves (author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter) helped us explore festive themes in the Harry PotterВ series, and this year weвЂ™re lucky enough to have her back to explain the connections between the roosters and Basilisk, and connections to Christmas in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets! Settle in, and read Part 2 here. How are you faring this holiday season, Potterheads? If youвЂ™re in need of some Harry PotterВ analysisВ to distract you from stress and holiday shopping traffic, weвЂ™ve got just the piece for you!

Tower of trample part 1