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"Are you a wizard, or what?"
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- "That's right. Because you know, deep down... You deserved to be punished. Don't you, Mr. Potter? Go on."
- — Dolores Umbridge to Harry Potter in detention[src]
A Blood Quill is a type of quill that does not require ink, as it writes with the blood of the person using it. Continuous use of it will eventually scar the back of the hand. The quill is black, long, thin, and extremely sharp.
Known Use
- "You've been through all that persecution from the Ministry when they were trying to make out you were unstable and a liar. You can still see the marks on the back of your hand where that evil woman made you write with your own blood, but you stuck to your story anyway..."
- — Hermione Granger to Harry Potter one year after he was punished with the Blood Quill[src]
During the 1995-1996 school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Dolores Umbridge was Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and High Inquisitor. As a method of punishment, she had students who displeased her write lines using a Blood Quill,[1] which Professor Minerva McGonagall considered a "medieval method" of teaching.[2].
Harry Potter was one of the students Umbridge frequently forced this punishment upon, since he persistently claimed that Lord Voldemort had returned, which the Ministry of Magic refuted. He used the Blood Quill during many detentions, until he acquired a scar on the back of his hand reading "I must not tell lies". Hermione Granger prepared a solution made of Murtlap Essence in order to help relieve the pain Harry suffered from using the Blood Quill.[1] Lee Jordan was another student who was forced to use the Blood Quill.[3] There are also many students Umbridge put into detention for using the Skiving Snackbox and claiming to have "Umbridge-itis", but after failing to discover their secrets, she is forced to allow them to leave her classes in droves. It is unknown if she enforced the blood quill against these students.
Behind the scenes
Harry Potter's scars from using the Blood Quill.
- In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, all the Dumbledore's Army members had to use it after Cho Chang was coerced into betraying them, for breaking Educational Decree Number Sixty-Eight. It created so much pain that it made several people, including Nigel Wespurt, Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley and Michael start sobbing over the deep gouges in the backs of their hands.
- In the film, Harry's scars read "I will not break rules" on his right hand and "I must not tell lies" on his left hand.
- The Blood Quill is similar to a device in Franz Kafka's short story "In the Penal Colony," where inmates are tortured and executed with a crude device that carves the sentence into the convicted person's skin.
Appearances
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (First appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ch. 15
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
- ↑ Order of the Phoenix, Ch. 25