The British Ministry of Magic classifies things as “Beings”, “Non-Beings,” “Animals” (magical and non-magical), and “Vegetation” (magical and non-magical).1 This last is really an implicet category, as most wizards think the difference between vegetation and non-vegetation much more clear than a non-magical scientist would.2
While there are some political considerations in who is officially granted this status in the magical world, I am going to classify based on sentience. While this is somewhat murky, as it is possible to have both different kinds of intelligence and different possible ranges of intelligence and yet still be sentient, it is the right definition.
Harry Potter Wiki “Being” Last Edited: 2020-10-03. Last Viewed: 2021-11-11.↩︎
document some animal/vegitable grey area↩︎