Pixie

Pixie
Species information
Eye colour	Black
Skin colour	Electric blue
Related to	Fairy Doxy
Native to	Cornwall, England (mostly)
Height of average adult	Eight inches (about 20 centimetres)
Wingspan of average adult	8 inches (estimate)
Distinction	Revels in mischief Blue skin
Ministry of Magic Classification	Beast XXX
Status	Extant

"The pixies were electric blue and about eight inches high, with pointed faces and voices so shrill it was like listening to a lot of budgies arguing."

— Description of Cornish pixies

The pixie, or Cornish pixie, was a small, bright blue, mischief-making magical beast.

Description

The pixie was able to fly, and was know to have a chaotic flight pattern. They were naughty tricksters who enjoyed lifting people up by their ears and depositing them on the tops of trees and buildings, showing strength for creatures of their tiny size. They could also steal things.

Pixies made squeak sounds, and could only communicate with other pixies; their voices were described as "so shrill it was like listening to a lot of arguing budgies". Unlike fairies who laid eggs, pixies bore live young.

History

In Cornwall in the 17th century, Dymphna Furmage, a witch on holiday, was abducted by pixies. This led to a lifelong fear of them, which drove her to request that the British Ministry of Magic humanely eradicate the pixie species. Her request was declined, and she died in 1692.

During the 1986–1987 school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Murphy McNully tried Pixie Spotting with Jacob's sibling and Barnaby Lee in the Magical Creatures Reserve to hone his visual acuity. During the 1988–1989 school year, Patricia Rakepick taught fifth-year students in Defence Against the Dark Arts class how to handle pixies.

Gilderoy Lockhart: "Yes. Freshly caught Cornish pixies. Yes?"

Seamus Finnigan: "Well, they're not — they're not very — dangerous, are they?"

Gilderoy Lockhart: "Don't be so sure! Devilish tricky little blighters they can be!"

— A discussion regarding Cornish pixies in a 1992 second-year Defence Against the Dark Arts Lesson

Cornish pixies wreaking havoc in Classroom 3C

On 1 September 1992, Gilderoy Lockhart brought a group of "freshly caught" Cornish pixies to Hogwarts during his tenure as the Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts. Claiming that they were devilishly tricky creatures, he considered them perfect for a practical Defence lecture. However, he quickly lost control of them and attempted to round them up using the incantation Peskipiksi Pesternomi. This proved ineffective, as Lockhart had most likely fabricated the charm, along with numerous other claims. The pixies picked up Neville Longbottom by the ears and attacked other classmates, who tried to beat them back with their books, before hanging Neville from the ceiling. Lockhart hurried out of the room, asking Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger to "nip the rest of them back into their cage". Hermione ended the chaos using the Freezing Charm, enabling her to return the pixies to their cage. Following this, Ron remarked that the only thing he had learned from Lockhart was "not to let pixies loose".

During the 1993–1994 school year, a water well on the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry became infested with five swarms of pixies. Harry, Ron and Hermione were tasked to clearing out the infestation with use of the Tickling Charm. During the Battle of Hogwarts on 2 May 1998, Harry came across a cage containing Cornish pixies in the Room of Requirement, whilst he was searching for Ravenclaw's Diadem.

During the 2008–2009 school year, Professor Kate Brindlemore taught her first-year Defence Against the Dark Arts students about pixies and instructed them to send the pixies back to their cage using the Freezing Charm.

During the Calamity in the 2010s, several pixie Confoundables starting appearing throughout the wizarding world, guarding many valuable magical artefacts and object Foundables, ranging from Crystal balls, to Vanishing Cabinets and even the Hand of Glory. Volunteers of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force were sent to deal with these pixies with a variety of spells, such as the Knockback Jinx, Ebublio Jinx and Slowing Charm to immobilise these pixies, and allow for the Foundables to be freed and return to their rightful places of belonging.

Behind the scenes

Pixies in a cage in LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4

A pixie as a LEGO minifigure

A pixie as a POP! Vinyl

• In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the pixie is said to be able to fly despite being wingless; however, in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, they are clearly shown with wings. This was most likely the result of a design preference of the producers of the film.
• In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the Cornish pixie is given a Ministry of Magic Classification of XXX - in Harry Potter's own copy, he humorously notes in his annotation that a more suitable classification would be "XXXXXXX if you're Lockhart".
• In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, there is a nest of pixies in the Room of Hidden Things. They are presumably killed by Goyle's Fiendfyre.
• In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, they must be hit twice with the Freezing Charm to be defeated. The first time freezes them in a bubble, and the second hit destroys them.
• In Harry Potter: The Creature Vault, Jody Revenson speculates that J. K. Rowling may have made pixies blue as a reference to the Picts, an ancient Cornish tribe that painted their skin blue, or as a nod to the various other blue things associated with Cornwall, like the Cornish Blue rooster and Cornish Blue cheese.
• Twenty pixie figures will be scattered across the grounds of the Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure attraction at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
• In the Spanish version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 'kelpie' was translated as 'pixie', suggesting that it was Lockhart's Cornish pixies which were in the well.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
• 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) (All versions except console)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film) (Mentioned in comic book) (Appears in flashback in Disc 2)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film) (Mentioned in comic book)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film) (Mentioned in comic book)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• Pottermore
• HarryPotter.com
• Wonderbook: Book of Spells
• Harry Potter Trading Card Game
• Harry Potter: The Creature Vault
• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (As part of Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure)
• Harry Potter: Find Scabbers
• LEGO Harry Potter
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 (DS, PSP and PSVita versions)
• Harry Potter for Kinect
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
• Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened
• Harry Potter: Magic Caster Wand
• The Magic of MinaLima: Celebrating the Graphic Design Studio Behind the Harry Potter & Fantastic Beasts Films
• Hogwarts Legacy (Appears as a corpse/skeleton)
• The Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac