User blog:FrenchPygmyPuff/Puffskeins and their derivatives

A Puffskein and its derivatives are beasts created by J.K. Rowling and belong to her Wizarding World.

=Puffskein=

"...a basket of funny custard-coloured furballs that were humming loudly..."

- Harry, Ron, and Hermione at the Magical Menagerie on 31 August 1993

A Puffskein is covered in soft fur and spherical in shape. It is a popular pet found worldwide that does not object to being cuddled or thrown about. The Puffskein is a scavenger, eating anything from leftovers to spiders, but it particularly likes to use its long thin pink tongue to eat wizards' bogeys while they sleep. This makes them a popular wizarding pet. The Puffskein is easy to care for, and they emit a low humming sound when they are content. A group of Puffskeins or Pygmy Puffs is referred to as a poffle. Shaved (or trimmed with a clipper) Puffskein hair has magical properties, and is useful as a potion ingredient, such as in Zygmunt Budge's variation of the Laughing Potion which requires a few handfuls.

According to Albus Dumbledore, a copy of resides in almost every wizarding household in the country used by generations of wizards in search of the best way to cure their pet Puffskein of drinking out of the toilet.

Ron Weasley owned a Puffskein at one point. Its demise is attributed to Fred, who supposedly used it for Bludger practise.

George Weasley reported that a nest of dead puffskeins was discovered by Molly Weasley at 12 Grimmauld Place under the sofa in the drawing room in August 1995.

For Zygmunt Budge, Puffskeins are pointless creature in the name but an invaluable creature for the potion maker and the fact that anyone would want such a tedious beast as a pet is quite beyond him.

The Magical Menagerie sales Puffskeins.

They were modified by Fred and George to create Pygmy Puffs.

Behind the scenes

 * Inspiration for the puffskein may have come from the television series Star Trek's Tribbles, as they share many of the same characteristics, such as emitting a purring or humming sound when content, and that they are both balls of fur.
 * Fanged Puffskeins are mentioned as a possible answer to a question on the W.O.M.B.A.T., letting us know that puffskeins don't have fangs.
 * In PS G they move by jumping, enjoy sitting on warmers, eat bushes and give Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans in return after burping loudly. During one of the quest they can plug holes in the ground which lets Harry Potter reach other places. There are berries for Puffskeins in.
 * In, the Bronze trophy named ‘Fur-ther learning’ can be won after discovering everything about Puffskeins, to achieve this you will need to find all 3 notes on the Puffskein on Page 7 of the ‘Laughing Potion’ chapter (the areas you need to investigate with the the magnifying glass are the body, hair and the tongue).

Appearances

 * PS G
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account

=Pygmy Puff=

A Pygmy Puff is a miniature Puffskein, bred by Fred and George Weasley and sold at their shop Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes at 93 Diagon Alley in London, as one of the known products in the WonderWitch range. It is one of their most popular products, as George said they were having trouble breeding them fast enough for the demand. Ginny Weasley bought a purple Pygmy Puff named Arnold in August 1996, which she played with at Hogwarts. Baby Pygmy Puffs are on also sale at the Magical Menagerie.

Ginny once joked that her brother Ron had a tattoo of a Pygmy Puff, without saying where, when Romilda Vane was pestering her about whether Harry Potter had a tattoo of a Hippogriff.

During the investigation of their 9th case, Mathilda Grimblehawk and her partner have to follow a trail of blood. Once arrived to the graveyard it led to, Mathilda says "Why am I surprised? It was hardly going to lead to a basket of Pygmy Puffs!".

Characteristics
Pygmy Puffs resemble little fluffy balls that roll around, squeak and come in various shades of pink and purple. Luna Lovegood believed that all Pygmy Puffs sing on Boxing Day. A group of Puffskeins or Pygmy Puffs is called a poffle.

Behind the scenes

 * While some magical creatures can naturally change their size, Pygmy Puffs would appear to be violations of the Ban on Experimental Breeding. However, as they are merely miniature pink or purple Puffskeins, this may not count as an offence as Fred and George Weasley may have attained a special licence to breed them and/or simply used the Colour Change Charm (or Crinus Muto) with the Shrinking Charm or Diminuendo or some Shrinking Solution.
 * Despite the blanket ban on the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products on Hogwarts, Ginny somehow managed to bring Arnold with her into Hogwarts. This may be because the Pygmy Puffs are not joke items and that the ban Argus Filch placed on Weasley's Wizard Wheezes may only affect their joke products.
 * It was reported in the 28 November 1926 issue of The New York Ghost that a Pygmy Puff that had been mistaken for a pincushion had been rescued from a No-Maj haberdashery and it advertised Pygmy Puff Pelmanism as one of the games in its game section on the cover of its 1 December 1926 issue. but it's odd since the Pygmy Puffs are originally bred by Fred and George Weasley and that the breeding of magical creatures in New York was ban at the time.
 * Pink and purple Pygmy Puff plushes of various size (some with squeeze-activated sound), earmuffs and key chains, as well as pink Pygmy Puff slippers are available for purchase at at Zonko's shop (some Pygmy Puff plushes are in pink cages, exactly like in the movie and there’s the naming ceremony, a mini-show that accompanies purchasing a pygmy puff plush, in which a shopkeeper will ring a bell and announce that you have adopted one and sometimes, the name you have chosen for yours) and on the Official online merchandise store of the park. Pygmy Puff t-shirts are also available in the theme parks at Zonko's Joke Shop. Including shirts with the inscription: "Mini Puffskeins - Pygmy Puffs - Peacefully Pet the Puffs", the same inscription we can see on the pygmy puff cage's label in  during the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes shop scene. Plushes are also available at  online store. Keychains and plushes with sound (featuring tiny white feet protruding from the fur of the Pygmy Puff and bright blue acrylic eyes standing out against its pale pink face) are also available at the  and its online store.
 * The campaign and website www.adoptapygmypuff.com was launched by The Fwooper Foundation, an animal rights group focused on “empowering young witches and wizards to get active for the magical creatures in our world by using parallels from the  Harry Potter  series”.

Appearances

 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account
 * J. K. Rowling's Twitter account

=Fanged Puffskein=

=Appaloosa Puffskein=

=Puffskein’s Patches=

=Pets=