Unlike novels like The Chronicles of Narnia, which deal with an alternate universe, or The Lord

of the Rings, where "Middle-earth" deals with a fictional past, the magical world of Harry's
novels Potter is a parallel universe to our own and contains various magical elements
analogous to things in the non-magical or Muggle world. This magical universe has a political
organization for each State; In the case of the United Kingdom, where most of the action takes
place, the highest institution is the Ministry of Magic. There is an "International Statute of
Secrecy" that obliges all witches and wizards in the world to keep the existence of the
wizarding world a secret from Muggles.

The ability to perform magic, according to the novels, is innate rather than learned, though
young wizards must attend schools in order to master and control it. This ability is completely
hereditary, although there are Muggle-born wizards (or "mudbloods" in a pejorative way) as
they should always have a wizard ascendant; it is also possible that there are children of
wizards without any magical ability. The latter are commonly called "squibs." Wizards have a
developed social system, with their own currency, health, and a complex network of
transportation and communications.

Within the wizarding world, other creatures coexist with wizards who are also kept secret and
out of contact with Muggles. Among them are dragons, ghosts, unicorns, mermaids, centaurs
and others invented or adapted by the author such as dementors or house elves.

Chronology