- Confirmed by JK Rowling
- Very confident in its accuracy
- Moderately confident in its accuracy
- Not very confident
- Confirmed false, but I felt like posting it anyway.
Narcissa Malfoy - See "Malfoy, Narcissa"
Nagini - Voldemort's "pet" snake
- According to Rita Winston, "Nagini" is the female form of "Naga"; an interesting supplement to my previous suspicion that "Nagini" could be based on "Naga". The "Naga" are a group of half-human and half-snake deities that live in Malysia and India. They had the power to turn humans invisible in water and would often marry mortals. Vishnu slept on a Naga when creating the world, and it was said that the Nagas would ultimately destroy the world with fire.
Nearly-Headless Nick (Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington) - resident ghost of Gryffindor tower, who died from near-beheading.
- Nick: probably in reference to his botched beheading. (A "nick" is a shallow cut)
- Mimsy: a word coined by Lewis Carrol in "Through the Looking-Glass" for the poem "Jabberwocky". It's a portmanteau of "miserable" and "flimsy".
- Porpington: Wikipedia suggests his name may be a portmanteau of Orpington (a suburban commuter town in the London borough of Bromley) and Perpignan (a city in the south of France).
N.E.W.T.s - "Nearly Exhausting Wizarding Tests", exam for wizards in their 7th year.
- Equivalent to the British A-levels.
Newton Artemis Fido Scamander - author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
- A newt is a type of small salamander.
- Scamander is the name of a Greek river god, but the name was probably derived from "salamander", a lizardlike, tailed, 4-legged amphibian.
Nicholas Flamel - See "Flamel, Nicholas"
Niffler - gold-seeking, fuzzy, black creature
- Probably derived from "sniffler", which could indicate that it sniffs out treasure.
Nigellus, Phineas - Sirius' great-great-grandfather; the least popular headmaster Hogwarts ever had
- "Nigellus" is Latin for "black."
- As for "Phineas," I looked into at least six different men named Phineas throughout history, myth, and literature before noticing that the similar "Phinehas" was an Egyptian word for "black person." I think we have a winner!
Nimbus 2000/2001 - Broomsticks used by Harry and Malfoy.
- "Nimbus" describes "a cloudy radiance said to surround a classical deity [or demigod, saint, king, emperor, etc] when on earth."
Nitwit! Oddment! Blubber! Tweak! - Dumbledore's "speech" from PS
- Nitwit - slang for "a very stupid person"
- Oddment - something left over
- Blubber - (def. 1) excessive body fat, especially in marine animals. (def. 2) to cry noisily
- Tweak - to adjust slightly
Norris, Mrs. - See "Mrs. Norris"
Nott - a student in Harry's year; child of a Death Eater
- Nott is the Norse goddess of night.
Nox - "turns off" the beam of light from a wand from the "lumos" spell
- "Nox" is Latin for "darkness" or "night".
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