- "It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."
- — Albus Dumbledore to Minerva McGonagall[src]
Earmuffs are headgear designed to protect the ears and shut out sound.
History
They are essential equipment in handling mandrakes as their screams are fatal to humans. Second year students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry use earmuffs when learning to re-pot young mandrakes, as although the cries are not yet lethal, they can still render a person unconscious.[1]
In 1981, while delivering Harry Potter to the Dursleys, Dumbledore mentioned to Minerva McGonagall that he owned a pair of earmuffs.[2]
In the 1992–1993 school year, the second years fought to not get stuck with the pink and fluffy earmuffs, in a scenario in which, for once, Neville Longbottom's luck was not all bad, and the Professor herself took the undesired items.[1]
On 2 May 1998, during the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry Potter passed Professor Sprout and a group of students all wearing earmuffs as they prepared to launch mandrakes at Death Eaters.[3]
Behind the scenes
- In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, entering an earmuff wardrobe will give you earmuffs so that you can pick up and carry Mandrakes, allowing their voices to shatter glass objects. These earmuffs come in three different colour varieties, green, pink and grey and the grey ones seem to resemble earpieces typically worn by spies[4].
- In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the earmuffs used during the Mandrake lesson did not seem to block out human speaking, as Professor Sprout and Seamus Finnigan spoke about Neville Longbottom fainting while both were wearing the earmuffs.[5]
Appearances
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First mentioned)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (First appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Book
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
- Harry Potter for Kinect
- Harry Potter Trading Card Game
- Pottermore
- Harry Potter: The Character Vault
- Harry Potter: The Creature Vault
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 6 (Gilderoy Lockhart)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 1 (The Boy Who Lived)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 31 (The Battle of Hogwarts)
- ↑ LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)