Black Quill

Black Quill
Object information
Made	1994
Usage	Writing equipment; brutal method of punishment to the writer
Owners	Dolores Umbridge

"He let out a gasp of pain. The words had appeared on the parchment in what appeared to be shining red ink. At the same time, the words had appeared on the back of Harry's right hand, cut into his skin as though traced there by a scalpel — yet even as he stared at the shining cut, the skin healed over again, leaving the place where it had been slightly redder than before but quite smooth... He looked back at the parchment, placed the quill upon it once more, wrote I must not tell lies, and felt the searing pain on the back of his hand for a second time; once again, the words had been cut into his skin, once again they healed over seconds later. And on it went. Again and again Harry wrote the words on the parchment in what he soon came to realise was not ink, but his own blood. And again and again the words were cut into the back of his hand, healed, and then reappeared the next time he set quill to parchment."

— Harry Potter experiences the Black Quill

This Black Quill is a dark magical object used as a torture device. It does not require ink, as it writes with the blood of the person using it. It was invented by British Ministry of Magic employee Dolores Umbridge some time in 1994.

What the user writes will be carved onto the back of his or her hand and the blood from the words sliced into the hand will be magically syphoned and be used as ink on the parchment. The wound on the back of the hand will then heal, slightly redder than before, and then open up when the user writes again. Continuous use of it will eventually scar the back of the hand. The quill is black, long, thin, and extremely sharp.

Known use

"That's right. Because you know, deep down... you deserved to be punished. Don't you, Mr Potter? Go on."

— Dolores Umbridge's sadistic use of the quill

During the 1995–1996 school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Dolores Umbridge was Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and High Inquisitor. As a method of punishment, she had students who displeased her write lines using the Black Quill, which Professor Minerva McGonagall considered a "medieval method" of teaching.

Professor Umbridge overseeing Harry's detention with the Black Quill

Harry Potter was one of the students upon whom Umbridge frequently forced this punishment, since he persistently claimed that Voldemort had returned, which the Ministry of Magic refused to believe. He used the Black Quill during many detentions, from 5:00 p.m. to well over midnight, until he acquired a scar on the back of his hand reading "I must not tell lies". Hermione Granger prepared a solution made of Murtlap Essence in order to help relieve the pain Harry suffered from using the Black Quill. Lee Jordan was another student who was forced to use the Black Quill for making fun of Educational Decree Number Twenty-Six. There were also many students Umbridge put into detention for using the Skiving Snackbox, claiming to have "Umbridge-itis", but failed to discover their secrets. It is unknown if she used the Black Quill to punish these students, though she failed to extract the true cause of their symptoms, and was forced to let them leave her class in droves.

Legacy

"You've been through all that persecution from the Ministry when they were trying to make out you were unstable and a liar. You can still see the marks on the back of your hand where that evil woman made you write with your own blood, but you stuck to your story anyway..."

— A year after Harry Potter was punished with the Black Quill

Dolores Umbridge, the only known user of the Black Quill form of punishment

Harry's torturous detentions from Umbridge have served as a symbol of her tyranny and the lengths to which the Ministry would go to silence him from telling the truth, though it is never known whether other Ministry employees or even Cornelius Fudge himself were ever aware that she used these disciplinary actions. It is possible that the Ministry was unaware of it and would not condone the usage, as when Umbridge prepared to use the Cruciatus Curse on Harry she said, "What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him", giving rise to speculation that Umbridge might be doing more than a few unlawful things behind her employer's back, the Black Quill included. Furthermore, Percy Weasley, in a letter to his brother Ronald Weasley, described Umbridge as a "delightful woman", showing that he himself was unaware of Umbridge's sinister nature.

Due to the sadistic punishments he received from Umbridge for standing up to her, Harry hated Umbridge from the bottom of his heart, a hatred rivalling that which he initially felt towards Severus Snape. He loathed Umbridge's high, girlish voice and her wide, toad-like smile during his detentions, her denial of Harry's claims and the way she seemed to enjoy and take pleasure as he carved his hand and wrote in his own blood.

However, Harry was convinced talking about the punishments he was forced to do wasn't a good idea. He stubbornly clung to the belief that this was a private battle of wills between himself and Umbridge. He didn't want to give in or give her the satisfaction of hearing that he had complained about it. He was repeatedly suggested by Ron to report this to Professors McGonagall or Dumbledore. Harry refused on the belief that the former has not enough authority to override the punishment, while not wanting to bother with the latter for ignoring him. This suggested that while Umbridge had enough authority to silence a teacher, she could not utilise the quill if the headmaster did not approve it, furthering the quill's illegality.

During the Christmas of 1996, Harry was visited at The Burrow by then-Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour. The purpose of Scrimgeour's visit was to ask Harry to be the Ministry's "poster child"; that is, he would pop in and out of the Ministry from time to time and tell the public that the Ministry was doing the right thing in the war against Lord Voldemort. Scrimgeour tried to persuade Harry to work with the Ministry to create the image that "The Chosen One" was supporting them while they continued to get nowhere in capturing Death Eaters and putting the wrong people in Azkaban, to give an image of progress.

To bribe Harry, Scrimgeour told him he could get him in contact with Gawain Robards, Head of the Auror Office, as Umbridge had told the Minister that Harry had an ambition to become an Auror. Upon hearing that Umbridge was still in Ministry employment, anger began to bubble at the pit of Harry's stomach. When Harry pointed out that Scrimgeour didn't care if he (Harry) lived or died as long as he created the illusion that the Ministry was doing well, he raised his right fist and showed Scrimgeour the scars of I must not tell lies Umbridge had forced him to carve into his own flesh, shining white on the back of his cold hand, and pointed out that the Ministry wasn't so keen to be friends during their campaign to discredit him and Dumbledore the previous year.

Known uses

• Harry Potter (multiple detentions during the 1995–1996 school year)
• Lee Jordan (for mocking Educational Decree Number Twenty-Six)
• Dumbledore's Army (following the group's discovery by Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad)

Behind the scenes

• The usage of this torturous quill was described as "sick" by Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and even Imelda Staunton, the actress that plays Dolores Umbridge in the film adaptations.
• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, all the Dumbledore's Army members had to use it after Cho Chang was forced into betraying them, for breaking Educational Decree Number Sixty-Eight. It created so much pain that it made several people, including Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Nigel Wolpert, Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, George Weasley, Fred Weasley , Neville Longbottom and Michael Corner start sobbing over the deep gouges in the backs of their hands with "I will not break rules".
• The Black Quill is rather similar to a device in Franz Kafka's short story "In the Penal Colony", where inmates are tortured and executed with a crude device that carves the sentence into the convicted person's skin.
• Given the recent introduction of a blood pact into canon, which adds another layer to the question of what magical properties blood have in regard to magic, dark or otherwise, it is uncertain if signing a contract or other legal document with Umbrdige's quill would mean it is magically binding as well as legally, or if that would require additional spellwork.
• Before Rowling revealed otherwise, Blood Quills/Black Quills were believed by fans to be restricted, controlled items meant to be used, solely, strictly, for the signing of magically-binding documents (contracts, etc.), in blood, in order to make them legally-binding, and, because of this, that Umbridge's use of them on the students during her time at Hogwarts was highly illegal.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince