Babbling Curse (Spell) - causes the victim to babble uncontrollably.

Banishing Charm (Spell) - rather than calling an object like Accio does, this charm sends it away.

Banshee - Irish in origin, the word "banshee" comes from bean si, meaning "woman of the hills". She is a spirit whose wails warn of an impending death in the family. Her appearance is marked by eyes turned fiery red from decades and centuries of weeping. She most often resembles a tall, thin woman with long locks of white hair. Her attire is almost always a green dress and a hooded cloak of gray. Sometimes, she looks like an old woman of small stature, or even a beautiful golden-haired girl in red.

Since at least the eighth century, banshees have devoted themselves to their own particular family, fulfilling their terrifying mission with a singleminded loyalty. Most of the time, they keen beneath the window of the dying, and might float up several stories to accomplish their spooky task. Other times, she isn't visible, but her wails leave no doubt she is there. Banshees follow their families wherever they go, meaning that her wails can be heard in England and America and wherever the Irish have settled throughout the world.

Barghest - see Grim

Basilisk - from the Greek basiliskos, meaning "little king," the basilisk is a dragon, a lizard, a chimera, or a serpent that can kill with a glance or its breath. Some muggle legends claim the basilisk is the offspring of a chicken that mated with a reptile, particularly a toad or snake. This creature is often called "king of the serpents" because it has crownlike markings (or a white spot) on its head. Another word for it is cockatrice.

Pliny the Elder, the first-century writer whose book Natural History describes the beliefs of ancient Romans regarding the natural world, scribed the basilisk as being a small, lethal snake, no more than twelve inches in length and native to North Africa. The basilisk stalked its prey with its body held upright, rather than wriggling across the ground like most snakes. It could set bushes on fire and break stones to pieces merely by breathing on them. Pliny claimed it had venom so powerful that should a rider kill one with a spear, the venom rose up through the spear to kill both the rider and his horse. Based on its hunting upright position, the crown-like markings, and also on its toxic venom, it has been surmised in the muggle realm that this "myth" most likely derived from the Egyptian cobra.

The basilisk was not invincible, however. It couldn't tolerate the scent of a weasel, nor the sound of a crowing rooster. And it was vulnerable to its own reflection in a mirror, in effect frightening itself to death with its own image.

In wizard reality, it's a vivid green serpent which emerges from a chicken egg hatched beneath a toad. It can grow up to fifty feet in length. The male has a scarlet plume decorating its head. This beast possesses extremely venomous fangs but most dangerous of all is its stare. One look into its big yellow eyes results in instant death.

Bat-bogey Hex (Spell) - to enlarge another's bogies (boogers) to the size of bats, give them wings, and get them to attack the victim's face.

Beauxbatons - one of two wizarding schools in continental Europe, meaning "beautiful baton", located in France. see Durmstrang

Belladonna (Plant) - a poisonous plant. Its essence is included in the pupil's standard potion-making kit.

Belomancy (Divination) - interpreting the flight, or direction, of arrows. A method used by Greeks and Arabs. One version was to throw arrows up into the air, and determine which direction to take from the way those arrows inclined as they fell.

Bibliomancy (Divination) - a question is asked, a book opened randomly, and with eyes closed, the diviner points out a spot on the page. The sentence or paragraph were the finger rests is the answer, or a comment about the question.

Bicorn - a creature with two horns, claimed in the mythology of demons to eat human flesh. Its horns are an ingredient used in potion-making.

Billywig - an Australian insect, about half an inch in length. It is colored a bright sapphire blue, but flies so fast that both muggles and wizards alike have trouble seeing it, until they're stung. Unique in design, it has wings attached to the top of its head. The wings rotate and make the insect spin while it flies. It has a long stinger at the bottom of its body. The sting makes one feel giddy, and then makes the victim levitate.

Black Magic - see Dark Arts

Black, Sirius - see Sirius

Bluebell Flames (Spell) - a spell that creates a small blue fire which can burn almost anywhere, even underwater.

Boggart - aside from being possibly invisible, no one knows what this shapeshifter looks like in its natural state (except maybe Mad Eye Moody). This spooky creature apparently feeds on fears, and it assumes the shape of whatever is most feared by whomever it encounters. Its origins have been traced to Northern English folklore. Many are like poltergeists, being merely mischievous, but not truly harmful. This kind tends to be a house spirit, and moving away is the only way to be rid of one, though the boggart sometimes moves with a household it finds especially taunt-worthy. Making its family frustrated creates a boggart's fun -- the more frustration, the more entertainment. Professor Lupin knows that laugher is what gets rid of a boggart. Find a way to make one look funny, and it's gone. Other boggarts are darker and vicious in their intentions. They frighten lonely travelers on the road at night, causing injury or death.

Boomslang - a snake of the Colubridae family, green or brown or even black in color, growing to about five feet or 1.5 meters in length. This venomous South African native lives in trees. Their bite can be fatal to humans, yet their skin is an important ingredient in some potions.

Bowtruckle - a creature that guards trees wherever it lives -- in England, southern Germany and parts of sylvan Scandinavia. About eight inches tall, and apparently composed of bark and twigs, it is cleverly camouflaged within its forest abode.

Broomstick - the flying broom is not an "everyday" broomstick like the ones muggles use to sweep the deck. Its tail is made of twigs rather than broomstraw. The flying broom is something magical, with built-in spells and charms ensuring the rider stays onboard, not to mention protecting him/her from wind and forces of inertia. A wizard doesn't actually sit on the handle but floats a little ways over it, employing a spell known as the Cushioning Charm, invented by Elliot Smethwyk in 1820. Some wizards claim their brooms are a bit sentient, for the best ones seem responsive to the rider's thoughts, and there has been more than one occasion where it floats off on its own once a rider has fallen off, though falling off is not typical.

Bubble-Head Charm (Spell) - used to surround someone's head with a bubble, which lets one breathe underwater.

Bubotuber (Plant) - this plant looks like a giant black slug growing out of the ground. It can even squirm a little along its thick vertical length. It has a lot of large and shiney swollen areas containing yellow-green pus which smells like petrol. Undiluted bubotuber pus causes painful boils on the skin. Properly prepared and diluted, however, the pus has a use as an acne cure.

Bundimun - these pests creep in under floorboards of houses all over the world. They secrete a substance that rots the foundations of the structures they infest. A stench like death and decay permeates the space they infest.

Bundimuns look like patches of greenish fungi with eyes. They scuttle off on many spindly legs, if alarmed.

Bundimun secretions, in diluted form, are used in some magical cleaning solutions.