1. Gideon's Timetables

Thanks to Minister Granger-Weasley... I had to redesign the whole Hogwarts curriculum while writing the book! For accuracy (and fun), I had to plan out Gideon's timetables, and them have them on hand whenever mentioning his classes. For the third-year, this included which houses he was sharing lessons with (the G/R/H next to the subject), so it required more thought than you might expect to setup the correct character interactions.

As you can see, I gave first-years (and second-years) three lessons (1hr 20mins each) a week of the standard subjects, plus a day and night Astronomy class, and the new mandatory Muggle Studies lesson. Third-years drop to two standard subject lessons per week to make room for their 1-3 optional subject choices. Gideon selected two, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures, which gave him two free periods.

I made Potions and Herbology double lessons as their practical elements (brewing/gardening) might require more time to work on and clean up. I imagined Xylomancy (movie reference) as being absorbed into the Divination syllabus, I made Flying an extracurricular subject, and added Art and Music extracurriculars, so that there was one for each day of the week. The ten minute breaks between classes/meals allow for travel time across the castle.

2. Fiery Locations

Here's another key bit of insight into the planning that went into the book. This time, it's Alex Grimsby's old Hogwarts map. Readers who paid attention to Chapter Forty-Six will know that the map itself isn't important, it's what Alex drew on the map–The Eye Of Fire (the name given to the mysterious kite-shaped rune).

I was pleasantly surprised (and sometimes annoyed!) at how much research the book required while writing. During my research into the layout of Hogwarts, I was lucky enough to find this map. While not especially detailed, it does clearly list specific locations in the school, for which there seems to be consensus in the HP community.

Knowing what shape I planned to use for the rune (inspired by a ancient Germanic symbol that was also used in TV show, Angel), I was able to use the map to plot canon locations as the four equidistant "marked points" for the ritual, and decide the fifth and final location for the battle at their centre (the courtyard). To make this work, I had to make the unlabelled greenhouse where the fourth point is marked "Greenhouse Seven", but I'm unsure what number it really is.

Another important aspect of the fires/ritual, was timing. Since I wanted things to be as accurate as possible while spreading the story out over the school year, I had to carefully plan when the five fires would occur. First, I decided they needed to be spaced out every two months since one would be fairly early on. Then, I figured coinciding with the full moon would be a spooky idea. For this, I actually researched when the full moon phases would occur in real life during Gideon's third year at Hogwarts i.e. 2022-2023!

Combine this with the wording of the prophecy, spacing out the other fires that occur, estimated Quidditch match dates and natural story progression, and I had quite a juggling act on my hands! That said, I believe making all these elements work together was worth the effort to add authenticity to the story. It may also link to an as yet unrevealed plot element you will see in book two...