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Parchment is a thin material made from calfskin, sheepskin or goatskin, often split, often used for writing material.[1]

History[]

In the wizarding world, parchments took the role of normal paper, and most wizards and witches used them as writing material, along with quills and ink.

Rubeus Hagrid's moleskin overcoat contained parchment, along with various other items.[2] Hagrid and Harry Potter bought parchments in Diagon Alley on 31 July 1991, as a part of Harry's school supplies.[3]

Harry purchased some new parchment before the beginning of his fourth year in Diagon Alley along with other supplies in the summer of 1994.[4] In this year, students wishing to enter the Triwizard Tournament placed pieces of parchment with their names into the Goblet of Fire.[5]

In the 1995–1996 school year, Dolores Umbridge used pink-coloured parchments.[6][7][8] Also in this year, Hermione Granger enchanted a piece of parchment bearing the signatures of Dumbledore's Army with a jinx that would punish anyone within the organisation who dared to betray their secrecy.[9]

According to Hermione, the love potion Amortentia smelt like fresh parchment to her alongside other things.[10]

Behind the scenes[]

  • Despite the books making clear that parchment is used in place of paper in the wizarding world, paper shows up in places in the films. For example, Rita Skeeter's writing pad is made of parchment in the books, while it is a normal legal pad in the films. This is presumably for technical or financial reasons, parchment not being so readily available to the prop department.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. WP favicon Parchment on Wikipedia
  2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 4 (The Keeper of the Keys)
  3. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 5 (Diagon Alley)
  4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 10 (Mayhem at the Ministry)
  5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 16 (The Goblet of Fire)
  6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 12 (Professor Umbridge)
  7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 28 (Snape's Worst Memory)
  8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 29 (Careers Advice)
  9. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 27 (The Centaur and the Sneak)
  10. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 9 (The Half-Blood Prince)
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