22
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Today is July 31st, which, according to JK Rowling, is apparently Harry Potter's birthday. So, let's celebrate with some Harry Potter themed cryptic clues!
The final answer is a good bit of trivia:

  1. Order mobile phone number nine (7)
  2. Ghost war damaged the school (8)
  3. Ron sat up... oddly familiar (8)
  4. School teacher lift off: The start of war with headless Nick (8)
  5. Screen writer exchanged a jogging machine? (8)
  6. Follower cut deal, ending drama (5-5)
  7. Weasley's dearest minion, missing in the east, follows any girl (8)
  8. Line up six, oh mad moon's master? (11)
  9. A boorish dolt is with us! (6)
  10. The messenger mercury takes flying wide to heart (6)

Final Answer:
1-2-3-4-6-10-4-4-1-2

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    $\begingroup$ Good work everyone, this was a real team effort! :) $\endgroup$
    – El-Guest
    Commented Jul 31, 2018 at 20:43
  • $\begingroup$ Great team solve! Thanks for playing $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 31, 2018 at 21:30

5 Answers 5

13
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Let's put an answer together:

  1. From @F1Krazy

    PHOENIX (Order: PHOEN (anagram of "phone") + IX (Roman numerals for nine))

  2. From @F1Krazy

    HOGWARTS (School: anagram of "ghost war")

  3. From @F1Krazy

    PATRONUS (Familiar: anagram of "RON SAT UP")

  4. From Me

    FLITWICK (Schoolteacher, mixed up "LIFT" + start of "WAR" + headless "NICK")

  5. From @psmears

    PENSIEVE ((Memory)-Jogging Machine, screen = "SIEVE" & writer = "PEN", exchanged)

  6. From @F1Krazy & my wordplay

    DEATH EATER (Follower, cut ending of "DEAL" = "DEA" + drama "THEATER")

  7. From @Matt

    HERMIONE (Weasley's dearest, from "MINION" - "IN" = "MION", east = "E", and following any girl "HER" -> "HER" + "MION" + "E"

  8. From @Yve

    XENOPHILIUS (Moon's (Luna's) master), anagram of "LINE UP SIX OH")

  9. From @Yve

    RUBEUS (Boorish dolt = "RUBE" + "US")

  10. From Me

    HEDWIG (Messenger, Mercury "Hg", flying "WIDE" (rearranges to "EDWI") to the heart of "HG" -> "H" + "EDWI" + "G")

If we take

The nth letter of each answer according to your sequence, we have a final answer of POTTERMORE! (Thanks to @F1Krazy and @Matt and @Yve and @psmears for additional letters!)

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    $\begingroup$ Correct on everything so far. You almost have enough to put it all together! $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 31, 2018 at 19:06
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    $\begingroup$ I think I've got the missing 5 (see my answer :) $\endgroup$
    – psmears
    Commented Jul 31, 2018 at 20:36
10
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I'm not much good at cryptic clues, but here's a start:

1.

PHOENIX (Order: PHOEN (anagram of "phone") + IX (Roman numerals for nine))

2.

HOGWARTS (The school: anagram ("damaged") of "Ghost war")

3.

PATRONUS (Familiar: anagram ("oddly") of "Ron sat up")

6.

Suspect it's DEATH EATER (Follower), but can't figure out how it fits the clue

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  • $\begingroup$ Right on all of them, even #6! @El-Guest's answer has the wordplay $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 31, 2018 at 19:07
7
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I'll toss this in for 7

HERMIONE = any girl (HER)- which everything else follows-, dearest minion, missing in (MION), the east (E)

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  • $\begingroup$ Correct! (the full def is 'Weasley's dearest' just to clarify) $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 31, 2018 at 19:06
6
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I got two more: 8.

XENOPHILIUS ("mad" referring to an anagram of "line up six oh," "moon's master" meaning Luna's father)

    9.

RUBEUS (RUBE is "a boorish dolt" + US, "!" makes it a [mean] description of Hagrid!)

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  • $\begingroup$ Both are correct! Great solves @Yve, And welcome to the Puzzling Stack Exchange! $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 31, 2018 at 19:09
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    $\begingroup$ Thank you @TwoBitOperation ! I was browsing Math Stack Exchange and of course got distracted when I saw "cryptic" in the sidebar! $\endgroup$
    – Yve
    Commented Aug 1, 2018 at 21:48
5
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And for 5:

Pensieve - to screen something is to sieve it (as in silk screen etc); a pen is a writer; exchanged turns "sieve pen" into "pen sieve", and the Pensieve is (kind of) a machine for jogging one's memory.

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  • $\begingroup$ Perfect!! I think you've got it!! $\endgroup$
    – El-Guest
    Commented Jul 31, 2018 at 20:39
  • $\begingroup$ Exactly right. In my opinion this was the toughest clue, great job! $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 31, 2018 at 20:43

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