Abraxan
(FB, cf GF15 ff.)
A breed of Flying Horse; the Abraxan is a gigantic, extremely powerful Palomino. The winged horses which pulled the Beauxbatons carriage were probably Abraxan (GF15)

Acromantula
XXXXX
(CS15, FB)
A gigantic spider, capable of human speech. The Acromantula is extremely dangerous. It is a native of Borneo (FB). Hagrid raised one named Aragog from an egg (c.1940) and it now lives in the Forbidden Forest with its wife Mosag and its large family (CS15)

Aragog
Aragog is an Acromantula, raised by Hagrid in 1942 and now living in the Forbidden Forest. Aragog is married to Mosag and they have numerous offspring. Harry and Ron encountered Aragog in May of 1993 and barely escaped with their lives (CS15).
"ara" from "aranea" L. spider + "gog" from "Gog" a legendary giant 
(pp.159-160)

armadillo
(GF27)
The bile of this creature is used for making potions, including Wit-Sharpening Potion.

Ashwinder
XXX
(FB)
A thin grey serpent with glowing red eyes which comes out of magical fires and lives long enough to lay firey hot eggs in some dark and secluded spot. These eggs, while valued as potion ingredients, are very dangerous. If they are not found and frozen in time, they will start the house on fire.

Augurey(Irish Phoenix)
XX
(FB)
Native of Britain and Ireland. Thin and mournful-looking bird, greenish-black in color. Normally remains hidden in its nest in brambles and thorns. It's distinctive cry was once thought to be a death omen, but is now known that the Augurey's cry fortells rain. The Augurey eats insects and fairies.

Banshee
(PA7, GF21, FB)
A Dark creature which looks like a woman with floor length black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged face. Its screams will kill. Seamus Finnigan is particularly afraid of banshees (PA7). The Bandon Banshee was supposedly defeated by Gilderoy Lockhart (CS6) but was actually defeated by a witch with a harelip (CS16)

Barny the Fruitbat
Barny is the mascot of the Ballycastle Bats Quidditch team. He also appears in Butterbeer commercials ("Barny says: I'm just batty about Butterbeer!") (QA)

Basilisk
XXXXX
(CS16 ff., FB)
"Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it." (CS16)

The Basilisk which lived in the Chamber of Secrets had green skin (which it shed) and enormous eyes. The Phoenix is apparently immune to the deadly effect of the Basilisk's gaze. (CS16 ff.) It is a Dark Creature of enormous power, able to be controlled only by the true Heir of Slytherin. When unleashed by the Heir using Parseltongue, the Basilisk searched the castle for its prey, Muggle-born students, which it could identify by smelling their blood ("I smell blood..." the creature cried as it wandered the pipes). When its eyes were pecked out by the Phoenix, it attacked Harry using its keen sense of smell. Harry killed the Basilisk by thrusting a sword through the roof of its mouth. Harry's arm was pierced by one of the Basilisk's fangs, the poison of which nearly killed him.

"...the basilisk was portrayed as a serpent with a crown or a white spot on its head. Cobras, which have such marks, may be the origin of the basilisk legend..." (pp. 21-22) (c.f. pp. 95-96)

beetle

• scarab beetles (potion ingredient, ground into a powder)
• beetle eyes for sale in Diagon Alley (SS5)
• see also Insects

Billywig
XXX
(FB)
A magical insect, native to Australia.It is about a half-inch long and vivid blue in color. A Billywig's sting causes giddiness and levitation. For this reason, the Billywig's sting is highly sought after by Australian wizards. Dried Billywig stingers are useful as a potion ingredient.

birds
and bird-like creatures

• Golden Snidget
• huge tropical birds deliver Sirius' letter to Harry (GF2)
• owl
• Augurey
• Diricawl
• Fwooper
• Phoenix
• Jobberknoll
• Occamy

Blast-Ended Skrewt
(GF13 ff.)
Magical creatures bred by Hagrid in the fall of 1994 by crossing manticores with fire-crabs. Blast-Ended Skrewts are some of the most revolting creatures ever seen.
The name "Blast-Ended Skrewt" may be a reference to the term "blasting off" which is slang in some parts of Britain for breaking wind.

Blood-Sucking Bugbear
When roosters were being killed at Hogwarts (1992-1993), Hagrid suspected that the culprit might be a blood-sucking bugbear. (CS11)

boarhound - Fang
Hagrid's pet Fang is a black boarhound, "a large dog, specifically the great Dane, used in hunting wild boars." He, like Hagrid, looks a lot fiercer than he is. Fang accompanies Hagrid into the Forbidden Forest and also goes with Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Draco when they do detention in the Forest. Hagrid tells them that Fang is a coward. When Harry and Ron go into the forest following the spiders and encounter Aragog, Fang goes along with them.

Boggart
Lupin taught the his third year Defense Against the Dark Arts class to fight this Dark creature. (PA7) It's a shape shifter which takes the form of the thing most feared by the person it encounters. Boggarts love close, confined spaces. No one knows what a boggart looks like in its natural state. Lupin uses a boggart as a substitute for a Dementor for Harry to practice on (PA23). A boggart is one of the obstacles in Triwizard Tournament maze (GF31) The way to defeat a Boggart is the Riddikulus spell.
"Often they are house spirits, and in those cases the only way to get rid of them is to move...The more frustrated the family becomes, the more fun the boggart has." (pp. 33-34)

boomslang
African snake with extremely nasty venom. The skin is used for polyjuice potion (CS, GF). Snape keeps boomslang skin in his private stores (CS, GF

Bowtruckle
XX
Tree-guardian creature found in western England, southern Germany, and Scadinavia. The Bowtruckle is a small, peaceable, insect-eating creature that looks as if it is made of bark and twigs with two small brown eyes. It will attack anyone who it thinks is threatening its tree. (FB)

Buckbeak
hippogriff (PA, GF

• accused of wounding Draco Malfoy, sentenced to be executed
• rescued by Harry and Hermione, escaped with Sirius Black
• lived with Sirius Black in hiding
• eats dead ferrets, worms

Bundimun
XXX
Infests houses, greenish fungus with eyes. An infestation of Bundimuns can destroy a house, as their secretions rot away the foundations. This same secretion, in diluted form, is used in some magical cleaning solutions. (FB)