List of supporting Harry Potter characters

The following are supporting characters in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling.

Bathilda Bagshot

Template:HP character Bathilda Bagshot was a noted historian, and author of the book A History of Magic. She lived in Godric's Hollow, and was an old family friend of Albus Dumbledore, and also James and Lily Potter's neighbour. Gellert Grindelwald was her great-nephew, which is why he came to live in Godric's Hollow (where he met Dumbledore) after being expelled from Durmstrang. Bathilda was a major source of information for Rita Skeeter's biography of Dumbledore, who extracted this information under the influence of Veritaserum; it is possible her memory was also modified following the "interview"; she was sent a copy of The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore accompanied by a note: "Dear Batty, Thanks for your help. Here's a copy of the book, hope you like it. You said everything, even if you don't remember it. Rita."

Harry decided to go to Godric's Hollow in order to get information from Bathilda, and because he thought that Dumbledore entrusted her with Gryffindor's Sword. She died before Harry's arrival in Godric's Hollow, possibly at the hand of Lord Voldemort, and Voldemort enchanted her decaying body to use as a disguise for his snake, Nagini to wait for Harry. The snake was then instructed to subdue Harry when he arrived in Bathilda's house looking for the sword until Voldemort himself could get there to finish him off.

Bathilda was one of the people who gave Quidditch Through the Ages praise.

Frank Bryce

Template:HP character Frank Bryce was a reclusive World War II veteran who worked as the caretaker of the Riddle family mansion in Little Hangleton. In 1943 the Riddles were murdered by Tom Marvolo Riddle (later to become Lord Voldemort), and since Bryce had the keys to the large house where the deaths occurred, he was arrested by the local police and questioned in connection with the murders of the Riddle family. As there was lack of evidence (because the bodies were unmarked as the Killing Curse leaves no sign of violence or damage on the victims) the police could not prove that the Riddles had been murdered, rather than dying of natural causes, and were forced to release Bryce. However, the community of Little Hangleton still believed Bryce to be guilty. As a result, he lived out the rest of his life as a pariah, isolated and living on the grounds of the Riddles' estate. It is stated that the estate passed through several wealthy but disinterested owners. The house remained unoccupied and fell into disrepair.

In the beginning of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Voldemort secretly returned to the Riddle house (which origionally belonged to his grand-parents and father). Bryce inadvertently found himself overhearing Voldemort's plan to kill Harry Potter, but the snake Nagini found him and revealed his presence. After a brief stand-off between the two, Frank challenged Voldemort to show himself him and was almost immediately with the Avada Kedavra curse. He appeared once more in the same book, during Harry and Voldemort's graveyard duel. "Priori Incantatem," also known as the "reverse spell effect", brought back an image of Bryce from the tip of Voldemort's wand. Upon appearing, Bryce's echo encouraged Harry to keep fighting. When he appears he says, "He was a real wizard then? Killed me that one did. You fight him, boy..."

Dumbledore states his belief in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that the murder of Frank Bryce was used to create Voldemort's presumably sixth and final Horcrux, implanted in Nagini. However, Rowling later said Voldemort used the earlier murder of Bertha Jorkins for this.

Crabbe and Goyle

Template:HP character Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle are Slytherin students in Harry's year; both of their fathers, Crabbe Sr and Goyle Sr are Death Eaters. Due to their size and strength, the pair act as Draco Malfoy's minions and serve to intimidate fellow students. Crabbe and Goyle are both brawn-over-brains type; they are entirely lacking in introspection or inquisitiveness. They seem unable to make up their own minds or to see things their own way; they generally act upon Malfoy's instructions. Nonetheless, Crabbe is depicted as slightly more intelligent than Goyle; in Philosopher's Stone, he is handpicked by Malfoy as his second in the Midnight Duel with Harry that never takes place.

Crabbe and Goyle make their first and only appearance as new Slytherin Quidditch Beaters in the opening match against Gryffindor in their fifth year; after Harry catches the Snitch, Crabbe vents his frustration by purposely hitting a Bludger into Harry's back and knocking him off his broom, but receives the light punishment of writing lines. They do not return to the team the following term, as they regularly serve as Malfoy's lookouts during his forays into the Room of Requirement. After Malfoy leaves the school following the death of Dumbledore just before the end of the term, Crabbe and Goyle are left in a state of loneliness.

The three of them are reunited in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Both of them speak for the first time, Crabbe's voice being described as "oddly soft for someone with his huge frame" and Goyle's simply as a grunt. Crabbe has sided with the Death Eaters with more conviction than either Goyle or Malfoy, and becomes increasingly independent of Malfoy, well aware of the Malfoy family's falling out of favour with Voldemort. The pair have developed into surprisingly powerful wizards. Crabbe and Goyle are mentioned as having excelled in inflicting the Cruciatus Curse on other pupils (who had recieved detentions) under Amycus Carrow's direction: according to Neville Longbottom, it was "the first time they were the best in anything." However, while Crabbe gains superficial knowledge of many powerful Dark spells, he neglects to take their potency seriously. During the fight for one of the Horcruxes (Ravenclaw's diadem) with Harry, Ron and Hermione in the Room of Requirement, he defies Malfoy's order to not kill Harry and casually throws around the Avada Kedavra curse. Finally, he summons Fiendfyre and turns the room into a blazing inferno, but it quickly rages beyond his control and ultimately leads to his demise. Crabbe's spell, ironically, destroys the Horcrux. Goyle is knocked unconscious during the ensuing fight, but is rescued along with Malfoy by Harry, Ron and Hermione. Goyle and Malfoy are left mourning Crabbe's death. This scene marks Goyle's last mention in the series, and his final fate is unknown.

Jamie Waylett and Joshua Herdman have respectively appeared as Crabbe and Goyle in all of the Harry Potter films to date.

Cedric Diggory

Template:HP character Cedric Diggory is a Hufflepuff student two years older than Harry. In addition to being a Hufflepuff prefect, he is the house Quidditch captain and Seeker. His father is Amos Diggory, who works at the Ministry of Magic. Cedric was first mentioned in Prisoner of Azkaban when he is described by the female Gryffindor Chasers as "strong and silent" amid giggles prior to the Hufflepuff-Gryffindor match, and as a character he showed a notable streak of modesty and fairness; when he caught the Snitch and won the match after Harry falls off his broomstick following an encounter with the Dementors, he wanted the end result nullified and the match replayed.

In Goblet of Fire, Cedric is selected as the Hogwarts champion for the Triwizard Tournament. After Harry was also picked to compete, Malfoy makes "Support Cedric Diggory/Potter Stinks" badges, which Cedric tries to discourage his housemates from wearing. For the First Task, Cedric transfigures a rock into a dog in order to distract his dragon and successfully retrieves his golden egg, but he receives a burn on his cheek in the process. He is later Cho Chang's date for the Yule Ball, much to Harry's dismay.

As compensation for Harry's warning about the dragons before the First Task, Cedric assists Harry in solving the clue of the Second Task by telling him to take a bath with the egg in the prefects' bathroom, and just "mull things over in the hot water." Cedric is the second of the four champions to reach the village of the merpeople and rescue his hostage, using a Bubble-Head Charm, but surfaced one minute over the one-hour time limit.

During the Third Task, Harry saves Cedric's life twice while in the maze, and when they reach the Triwizard Cup, Cedric refuses to take it without Harry, so they grab hold of it together. The cup turns out to be a Portkey which transports them to the Little Hangleton graveyard, where Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew await Harry's arrival; Pettigrew murders Cedric on the spot upon Voldemort's order to "kill the spare." In the midst of the Priori Incantatem effect during Harry's duel with Voldemort, Cedric's spirit appears and asks Harry to take his body back to his parents. The break-up of the spell provides a distraction that enables Harry to escape the graveyard with Cedric's body in tow.

Despite an attempted cover-up of the incident by the Ministry, Dumbledore candidly reveals the true nature of Cedric's demise to the students at the end-of-term feast, stating that to attribute it to an accident would be an injustice: ''Remember that, and Cedric Diggory will not have died in vain. You remember that, and we'll celebrate a boy who was kind and honest and brave and true right to the very end."

Cedric appeared in the film version of Goblet of Fire, and was played by Robert Pattinson.

Gellert Grindelwald

Template:HP character Gellert Grindelwald is a Dark wizard who, in a list of Most Dangerous Dark Wizards of All Time, would be second only to Lord Voldemort who arrived on the wizarding scene a generation later, according to Rita Skeeter's book The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore. Grindelwald's name is fairly well known in the wizarding world. His name is first mentioned on Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card, which notes that Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald in 1945.

Grindelwald attended the wizarding school Durmstrang, from which he was expelled in his sixth year for his dangerous and evil experiments that nearly resulted in the deaths of some of his fellow students. He left the symbol of the Deathly Hallows (a circle with a vertical line in the centre enclosed in a triangle) on one of the walls in Durmstrang before departing. After Durmstrang, he went to live with his great-aunt Bathilda Bagshot in Godric's Hollow, where he met Dumbledore as a young man. In Deathly Hallows, it was revealed that Grindelwald had gone to Godric's Hollow to investigate the grave of the Peverell brothers (the original owners of the Hallows), but struck up a close friendship with Dumbledore, and the two planned to establish a new world order, where wizards would rule over Muggles "for the greater good". The phrase later became Grindelwald's excuse for the atrocities he commited in his reign of terror. It was even inscribed over the gates of Nurmengard, a prison he built to house his opponents. They also planned to work together in their quest for the Hallows. It was revealed by Rowling in an interview that Dumbledore was once in love with Grindelwald, but did not say whether those feelings were returned.

However, Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus's younger brother, argued against these plans, because he feared their grand ambitions would leave his disabled, traumatised sister, Ariana, abandoned. Grindelwald accused him of being blind and argued that Ariana would not have to be hidden once wizards ruled the world. The argument culminated in a three-way battle between Albus, Aberforth, and Grindelwald in which the latter drew his wand first. Ariana was inadvertently killed by one of them, Aberforth later reflected to Harry, Ron and Hermione that she may have been confused by the lights and tried to help. Grindelwald fled, fearing retribution. Henceforth, Albus Dumbledore ended his friendship with him.

Grindelwald successfully obtained one of the Deathly Hallows, the Elder Wand. He became master of the legendary wand by stealing it from the previous owner, the wand-maker Gregorovitch. Gaining the Elder Wand's immense power, he subsequently committed many terrible acts, although these seem to have been restricted to Central and Eastern Europe. It is revealed that Grindelwald's actions have caused many deaths that have greatly affected the students of Durmstrang, including Viktor Krum, whose grandfather was murdered by Grindelwald. As a result, Grindelwald and anything associated with him (including the symbol of the Deathly Hallows) is almost universally hated at that school.

After Grindelwald's rise to power, Dumbledore delayed meeting him again for several years due to his fear of being confronted with his sister's death and the fact that he himself might have been the one who accidentally killed her. Both wizards were highly intelligent and skilled in battle, and those who witnessed the battle say that no other wizarding duel ever matched it. Grindelwald, who at the time possessed the supposedly unbeatable Elder Wand, lost to Dumbledore. Since Dumbledore won the duel over Grindelwald, the Elder Wand transferred its allegiance to Dumbledore. Dumbledore was now its rightful master.

After Dumbledore triumphed over Grindelwald, the defeated dark wizard was ironically imprisoned in the top-most cell of Nurmengard. He remained there until the events of Deathly Hallows when Voldemort arrives, seeking the Elder Wand. Grindelwald, showing no fear of Voldemort and welcoming death, tells him that he never owned the wand, and Voldemort kills him in rage. In the chapter King's Cross, Harry suggests to Dumbledore that Grindelwald lied to Voldemort in order to prevent him from breaking into Dumbledore's tomb, where he knew the Elder Wand lay. Dumbledore suggests that in his later years Grindelwald had felt remorse for his evil actions.

Viktor Krum

Template:HP character Viktor Krum was a Seeker for the Bulgarian Quidditch team. In the 1994 Quidditch World Cup title game between Bulgaria and Ireland, he suffered a severe bloody nose during the match and caught the Snitch as quickly as he could to end the match, which handed victory to Ireland because Bulgaria was trailing by 160 points at the time. Many considered him a prodigy, having entered the International Quidditch League at an early age. Despite his success and fame, or perhaps because of it, Krum appeared to be unhappy and lonely, and was further characterised as being very quiet and reserved, though Hermione Granger said he was a genuinely nice person beneath the sullen exterior.

Krum was named Durmstrang champion upon entering his name for the prestigious Triwizard Tournament. He was often viewed with suspicion by his peers due to Durmstrang's reputation for teaching the Dark Arts, while looked upon with admiration for his feats, mainly by giggling Hogwarts girls. Whilst competing in the Triwizard Tournament, he took to visiting the Hogwarts library. Hermione later reveals that he told her "...he'd been coming up to the library every day to try and talk to me, but he hadn't been able to pluck up the courage!" Krum had to rescue Hermione from the merpeople in the Great Lake for the Second Task. His relationship with Hermione, and taking her to the Yule Ball, provoked jealousy from Ron, who was, ironically, a fan of Krum's from his Quidditch days. The ever-annoying journalist Rita Skeeter, looking for revenge on Hermione, fabricated a story for Witch Weekly, claiming she was toying with the affections of both Krum and Harry. Harry became sick of telling people that Hermione was not his girlfriend and, when questioned, he told Krum, "We're friends. She's not my girlfriend and she never has been. It's just that Skeeter woman making things up."

Krum briefly returns in Deathly Hallows, as a wedding guest of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. He talks to a disguised Harry about the lack of available women before having a heated discussion with Xenophilius Lovegood. He recognises a symbol that Xenophilius wears around his neck as the mark of Grindelwald, which is engraved into a wall at his alma mater Durmstrang; the symbol is later discovered to actually be the mark of the Deathly Hallows. Krum does not seem to mind when Ron asks Hermione to dance at the wedding, and comments, to Harry's annoyance, on Ginny's attractiveness. Krum eventually finds love in his native Bulgaria.

Xenophilius Lovegood

Template:HP character Xenophilius "Xeno" Lovegood, whose name means lover of strange things, is Luna Lovegood's father and the editor-in-chief of The Quibbler, a magazine that, according to Luna, publishes "important stories he thinks the public needs to know." The stories are often wild conspiracy theories or research on probably non-existent creatures, but Luna believes them fervently. Xenophilius is described as eccentric looking. He is slightly cross-eyed, with shoulder-length white hair the texture of candyfloss. He is introduced as a friend of the Weasleys in Deathly Hallows, when he attends the wedding of Fleur Delacour and Bill Weasley.

Xenophilius wears the symbol of the Deathly Hallows around his neck as a charm. Later in the story, he explains to Harry, Ron, and Hermione the significance of the Deathly Hallows, which they had previously mistaken to be merely the mark of Grindelwald. Although initially one of the staunchest supporters of the anti-Voldemort movement through his magazine, Xeno later betrays the trio's location to the then-Death Eater-controlled Ministry of Magic in a desperate bid to ensure the safe return of his kidnapped daughter.

In Harry, Ron, and Hermione's ensuing battle with the Death Eaters, the Lovegood house is mostly destroyed, due to a missed Stunning Spell striking the horn of an Erumpent (which Xenophilius wrongly believed to be that of a Crumple-horned Snorkack), and they manage to escape. In the aftermath, the angry Death Eaters arrest Xenophilius, which saves his reputation, as he is mentioned on the clandestine "Potterwatch" radio broadcast as a persecuted anti-Voldemort dissident, and the new issue of "The Quibbler" in which he attacks Harry Potter is buried under the ruins and never distributed. Evidently, Harry, Ron, and Hermione never reveal his attempted betrayal, which was only motivated by fear for his daughter's life.

Teddy Lupin

Template:HP character Ted Remus "Teddy" Lupin is the orphaned only son of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks and godson of Harry Potter. He was named after Tonks' late father, Ted, and his own father, Remus. He is first seen as a newborn in a photograph, in which he has turquoise hair. Teddy is a Metamorphmagus like his mother Nymphadora, and was not affected by his father's werewolf status. Later, in the epilogue, he is announced by Harry Potter's elder son James as being on the Hogwarts Express train and snogging Victoire Weasley, whom Rowling identified in an interview as the daughter of Fleur Delacour and Bill Weasley. At nineteen, according to the series timeline, Teddy is too old to be attending Hogwarts, so he is presumably present at the station only to see Victoire off to school. Rowling stated that Teddy was raised by his maternal grandmother, Andromeda Tonks, and not by his godfather Harry, but they are apparently close, since in the epilogue, Harry notes that Teddy comes to dinner four times a week.

Narcissa Malfoy

Template:HP character Narcissa "Cissy" Malfoy, born Narcissa Black to Cygnus Black and Druella Rosier, is the youngest of three sisters, Bellatrix Lestrange and Andromeda Tonks being her older siblings. She is a cousin of Sirius and Regulus Black and an aunt to Nymphadora Tonks, daughter of her sister Andromeda. Narcissa attended Hogwarts, where she was in Slytherin House. She later married Lucius Malfoy, with whom she has one son, Draco. Although never a Death Eater herself, Narcissa shares her husband's views on blood purity. She is first described as a tall, slim, blue-eyed blonde who would have been attractive had it not been for "a look that suggested there was a nasty smell under her nose."

Although Narcissa makes her first, very brief appearance in Goblet of Fire, where she attends the Quidditch World Cup with her husband and son, her role in the series first becomes important in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Near the beginning of the book, Narcissa and Bellatrix arrive suddenly at Snape's Spinner's End home. Narcissa is distraught, almost hysterical, with her husband imprisoned in Azkaban and her son forced to accept a difficult and dangerous assignment by Voldemort. She begs Snape to help Draco and asks him to make an Unbreakable Vow, to which he agrees, despite the astonishment and suspicion of Bellatrix. Later in the novel, Narcissa appears shopping with Draco for his new robes at Madam Malkin's. She and Draco mock Harry when he enters the shop with his friends, Ron and Hermione. Harry, Ron, and Draco nearly start a duel, but Narcissa defuses the situation by leaving with her son. It is evident that Narcissa is highly protective of her only child, to the point that Draco loses his patience and snaps at her that he is "... not a child, in case you haven't noticed, mother. I am perfectly capable of doing my shopping alone".

In Deathly Hallows, Narcissa's home, Malfoy Manor, is being used (against her will) as the Headquarters for Voldemort and his Death Eaters and for confining several prisoners, including eventually, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. When this group escapes with the help of the house-elf Dobby, Voldemort places Narcissa and her family under house arrest. In the climax of the book, the Malfoys are brought with the other Death Eaters to Hogwarts, when Voldemort invades the castle. After Voldemort casts a Killing Curse on Harry and after the boy returns to consciousness but is still pretending to be dead, Narcissa is ordered by Voldemort to confirm his death. Realising that Harry is not dead after feeling his heart beating, she quietly asks him whether Draco is still alive at Hogwarts, knowing that she will not be free to search for her child unless she can return with the Death Eaters as part of a "conquering army." Harry confirms that Draco is alive, so Narcissa lies to Voldemort, claiming that Harry is indeed dead. She is later seen at the end of the book, with her husband and son, unsure what to do and how to behave amidst the celebration of Voldemort's death. However, thanks to her lie to Voldemort, the Malfoys manage to "weasel their way" out of imprisonment in Azkaban.

She will be portrayed by actress Helen McCrory in the film adaptation of Half-Blood Prince.

Olympe Maxime

Template:HP character Madame Olympe Maxime is the headmistress of Beauxbatons, the French wizarding school. She is described being elegant and wearing black satin robes, and having olive skin and handsome features, but being extremely tall. It is revealed that Madame Maxime's huge size is due to her half-giant background. She fiercely denies this, although she is around the same height as fellow half-giant Rubeus Hagrid. Upon first sight, Hagrid immediately takes a crush on Madame Maxime, which he shows by attempting to groom himself properly. Given his lack of social graces, however, this is not successful. The character is introduced in Goblet of Fire when her school is invited to the Triwizard Tournament, with Fleur Delacour being elected as Beauxbaton's champion. When Harry is chosen as the fourth champion (and second Hogwarts champion), she is angered and is about to leave the tournament, but she eventually agrees to stay.

In Order of the Phoenix, Hagrid tells Harry, Ron, and Hermione that he and Madame Maxime visited the giants during that summer in order to get them into the Order of the Phoenix's side. Unfortunately, they failed in their mission as Voldemort also sent a group of Death Eaters to address the giants. When giants attack Hagrid, Madame Maxime defended him by using a conjunctivitis curse. Hagrid describes her spell work as "brilliant." She separates from Hagrid during the return journey, however, because he would not abandon his giant half-brother Grawp, who proves to be a highly taxing travelling companion. She returns to Beauxbatons alone. In Half-Blood Prince, Madame Maxime is among those paying respects at Dumbledore's funeral.

Frances de la Tour portrayed Madame Maxime in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Cormac McLaggen

Template:HP Character Cormac McLaggen is a Gryffindor student one year above Harry. He is introduced for the first time during the train journey to Hogwarts in Half-Blood Prince as a member of Horace Slughorn's Slug Club, due to his uncle's close ties with the Ministry of Magic. Cormac is shown as an unsympathetic Gryffindor character. His Gryffindor bravery is both a strength and a flaw: he is foolhardy and proud, bordering on arrogant. He plays roles both in the fortunes of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and in Hermione's love life. Cormac tries out for the position of Keeper when Harry becomes captain, having missed the tryouts the previous year due to his eating a pound of Doxy eggs on a bet. However, Hermione jinxes him with the Confundus Charm, causing him to miss his last save and thus helping Ron retain his spot on the team. Cormac does not take his loss well, accusing Ginny of favouritism by giving Ron easy shots to block.

Cormac fills in during Gryffindor's match against Hufflepuff as Keeper when Ron is unable to play due to poisoning, but his debut is disastrous, as he orders the team about instead of focusing on his own position, knocks Harry unconscious with a Beater's bat, and contributes to Gryffindor's lopsided 320-60 loss, thus earning him universal dislike among his housemates, and Harry and the team in particular. Cormac also briefly becomes a pawn in the escalating tensions between Ron and Hermione, as he is Hermione's date at Slughorn's Christmas party in retaliation for Ron's relationship with Lavender Brown. The plan backfires when she becomes exasperated with McLaggen's arrogant behaviour, and she leaves him stranded under the mistletoe and avoids him for the remainder of the party.

Rowling said she named the character McLaggen simply because she liked the surname.

Cormac will be played by Freddie Stroma in the film version of Half-Blood Prince.

Moaning Myrtle

Template:HP character Moaning Myrtle is introduced in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as a ghost who haunts the second floor girls' lavatory at Hogwarts. Unlike the other Hogwarts ghosts, Myrtle is not very sociable. True to her nickname, she has a tendency to sob, whine, wail and complain, especially when death is referred to. Hermione aptly points out, "She's a little sensitive." Her constant moping and wailing causes plumbing problems in the lavatory she haunts. It was revealed by Rowling on her website that Myrtle was in Ravenclaw.

In Chamber of Secrets, it is established that the character is the ghost of a Muggle-born witch who died while a student at Hogwarts, fifty years before the events in the book. The books indicate that Myrtle was often bullied during her years at Hogwarts, leading her to become extremely depressed and often retreat to the second floor girls' lavatory to weep and cry her depression to tears. It is revealed through the events in the book that Myrtle was hiding there to elude Olive Hornby, a classmate of hers who perpetually tormented her with teasing, when the Chamber was opened and the basilisk emerged and killed her. Tom Riddle used her death to create his very first Horcrux: his diary. It is also worth mentioning that Moaning Myrtle was Riddle's first known victim. After death, Myrtle haunted Olive everywhere she went, until Olive complained to the Ministry of Magic, who ordered Myrtle to return to Hogwarts. Ever since then, Myrtle has haunted the same lavatory where she died.

Myrtle's role in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is to help Harry, Ron and Hermione find out about the monster inside the Chamber of Secrets. She is quite disappointed that Harry survives his encounter with Slytherin's monster, as she would have liked him to join her in death. Myrtle also helps Harry with his second task in the Triwizard Tournament, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Myrtle tells Harry how to solve the puzzle of the golden egg that he retrieved in the first task, by opening the egg underwater. In Goblet of Fire, Myrtle is a lot less miserable, and enjoys, it seems, having Harry briefly to herself to boss around. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, she appears to comfort Draco Malfoy, who is worried about the task given to him by Voldemort. After Harry injures Malfoy using Sectumsempra, Myrtle is not hesitant to spread the news throughout the school, screaming that Harry had murdered him.

Mr Ollivander

Template:HP character Mr Ollivander (first name unrevealed) runs Ollivander's, a prestigious shop which sells magical wands in Diagon Alley. Despite the popularity of his wares, he has shown that he can easily name the materials and attributes of every wand he has ever sold over the years. In Philosopher's Stone, Mr Ollivander assists a young Harry Potter in selecting his first wand (31 July 1991, Harry's eleventh birthday) — or more accurately, according to him, finding a wand that would select Harry. Finding Harry a "particularly" difficult customer to match, Mr Ollivander finally selects an eleven-inch-long wand made of holly containing a phoenix feather (later revealed to be that of Albus Dumbledore's companion, Fawkes), which is perfectly suited to Harry. Mr Ollivander seems very thoughtful that the two should be matched, revealing that the phoenix gave one other feather, and that the wand containing the other feather now belongs to Voldemort. Mr Ollivander tells an uneasy Harry that he believes the world can expect "great things" from him.

Ollivander's appearance in Goblet of Fire was as an official during the preliminary ceremonies of the Triwizard Tournament, where he appeared as an expert judge for the Weighing of the Wands. In Half-Blood Prince, it is mentioned that his shop has closed and boarded up, and that Ollivander himself is missing.

In Deathly Hallows, Ollivander is revealed to have been captured by Voldemort and imprisoned at Malfoy Manor with Luna, with whom he develops an affectionate relationship as the two strive to keep each other's spirits up. He is among those rescued from the manor by Dobby, after which, at Shell Cottage, he provides Harry and his friends with some useful information about the Elder Wand. He later goes into hiding at the home of Auntie Muriel and sends Luna a new wand as a gift.

Pansy Parkinson

Template:HP character Pansy Parkinson is a Slytherin student who is described as pug-faced and frequently seen with an unnamed gang of Slytherin girls, acting as leader or at least as spokeswoman of them. She is also Draco Malfoy's female counterpart and apparent love interest. She is first mentioned in the Sorting in Philosopher's Stone, and makes her first appearance in Madam Hooch's flying class, during which she teases Parvati Patil for defending Neville Longbottom after Draco steals Longbottom's Remembrall. In Prisoner of Azkaban, she cries and follows Malfoy to the hospital wing after he is attacked by Buckbeak, and continues to fawn over him despite his deliberate exaggeration of the extent of his injury. They attended the Yule Ball together in Goblet of Fire, and on the train ride to Hogwarts at the start of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, she is seen stroking Malfoy's hair while his head lay in her lap, visibly impressed by his bold claims concerning his job for Voldemort. Also she awaits for him to take her hand before disembarking.

Pansy has a moderately increased role during her fifth year. She is made a Slytherin prefect along with Malfoy, and later joins Dolores Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad. When Dumbledore's Army flees the Room of Requirement following Dobby's revelation of an informant, Pansy searches the girls' bathrooms for escaped members and seizes Hermione's list of names as evidence. However, the Inquisitorial Squad are jinxed in the midst of a student rebellion following Fred and George Weasley's departure from Hogwarts; she is hospitalised and misses a day's worth of lessons after sprouting a pair of antlers.

Throughout the series, Pansy regularly mocks Harry and his companions. She gives false information on Harry, Hermione, and Hagrid to Rita Skeeter, and openly voices criticisms of Hagrid to Umbridge about the displeasure of his Care of Magical Creatures class and the difficulty of understanding his voice. She and other Slytherins also taunt the Gryffindor Quidditch players from the stands during a morning practice, notably teasing Angelina Johnson about her braided hair. During a Gryffindor-Slytherin match, which is also Ron's debut as the new Gryffindor Keeper, she conducts the Slytherin students as they sing the demeaning "Weasley is our King." She does have something of a softer, or at least girlish side, as shown in Goblet of Fire; during Care for Magical Creatures class, when the girls go near the unicorn foals, Pansy fails to suppress her fondness of them.

Near the conclusion of Deathly Hallows, when Voldemort demands Harry's surrender in order to prevent the Death Eaters from attacking Hogwarts, Pansy urges Minerva McGonagall to comply, and the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs collectively respond by standing up and flashing their wands at her. She eventually evacuates with the other Slytherins rather than staying to fight.

Rowling has stated that she loathes Pansy, saying that she was based on girls who had teased her during her school days.

Genevieve Gaunt played Pansy in the film version of Prisoner of Azkaban. Scarlett Byrne will take over the role in Half-Blood Prince.

Madam Rosmerta

Template:HP character Madam Rosmerta is the landlady of The Three Broomsticks pub. She is described in the books as "a curvy and attractive barmaid"; several pupils, including Ron Weasley, therefore have a crush on her. In Prisoner of Azkaban, Madam Rosmerta is angered when Dementors were in Hogsmeade because their presence is scaring away many of her customers. Apart from hosting an informal meeting between McGonagall, Cornelius Fudge, Filius Flitwick, and Hagrid, and being the object of Ron's infatuation, she does not play a major role in the early part of the Harry Potter series.

In Half-Blood Prince, however, it emerges that Rosmerta has become an unwitting agent of the Death Eaters. In order to fulfil his mission to assassinate Dumbledore, Draco Malfoy had managed to place Rosmerta under the Imperius Curse. He used her to pass on a cursed necklace to Hogwarts student Katie Bell, who accidentally touched the necklace and was herself subjected to the very harmful curse intended for the Headmaster. He also commanded her to send a bottle of poisoned mead to Horace Slughorn intending it to be a Christmas present for Dumbledore after overhearing Hermione mentioning that the security on the school would not recognise something put in the wrong bottle and knowing that a package from Rosmerta would not be checked. Malfoy communicated with Rosmerta through fake Galleons. After Harry and Dumbledore had been to the cave to retrieve a locket they believed to be one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, they Apparated to Hogsmeade, where Madam Rosmerta alerted them to the presence of the Dark Mark above the school and gave them brooms on which they could travel rapidly back to Hogwarts, where Draco's plan could be brought to completion. Rosmerta was among those paying respects at Dumbledore's funeral.

Stan Shunpike

Template:HP character Stan Shunpike is the young, pimply conductor of the Knight Bus. He speaks with a Cockney accent, and converses with Harry as he travels to London in the first part of Prisoner of Azkaban. He also appears briefly in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the Quidditch World Cup, boasting to a group of Veela, the Bulgarian team's official mascot, of his ambitious plans to become the next Minister of Magic. In Order of the Phoenix, he conducts the Knight Bus when Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, Lupin, and Tonks take it to return to Hogwarts after the Christmas holidays. He is glad to see Harry, and mentions that he does not believe the media rumours about Harry being insane, though Harry interprets Stan's actions as not caring how insane someone is as long as they are famous enough to get into the papers. Tonks scolds him for yelling Harry's name aloud.

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Stan Shunpike is arrested on suspicion of Death Eater activity. Harry and Dumbledore, however, believe that he is almost certainly not guilty. Even so, Stan is kept in Azkaban in order for the Ministry of Magic to give the pretence that progress is being made in the capturing of Death Eaters. When the new Minister of Magic asks Harry to be a sort of mascot for the Ministry, Harry refuses on the grounds of the Ministry's actions at the time - namely holding Stan under arrest.

In Deathly Hallows, a "strangely blank" looking Shunpike was among the Death Eaters who pursued Harry during his escape from Privet Drive. Harry gave himself away to his attackers by attempting to only Disarm Shunpike, as Harry believed him to be under the Imperius Curse.

Rita Skeeter

Template:HP character Rita Skeeter is a reporter for the Daily Prophet and a correspondent for the Witch Weekly, who specialises in yellow journalism, for which she is armed with such magical devices as the Quick-Quotes Quill, which automatically misquotes an interviewed person while he or she speaks. Rita is an unregistered Animagus, capable of transforming into a beetle to spy on unsuspecting victims for her stories. As a reporter who fabricated information in order to write an appealing story, she was an antagonist to Harry and his friends throughout Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

It has been speculated that the fraught relationship between Rowling and the press was the inspiration for the author to develop the character. However, Rowling noted in 2000 that the character actually predates her rise to fame: "People have asked me whether Rita Skeeter was invented [to reflect Harry Potter's popularity], but in fact she was always planned." Rita was intended to be in Philosopher's Stone, as Rowling revealed in an interview: "you know when Harry walks into the Leaky Cauldron for the first time and everyone says, "Mr Potter you're back!", I wanted to put a journalist in there. She wasn't called Rita then but she was a woman. And then I thought, as I looked at the plot overall, I thought, that's not really where she fits best, she fits best in Four when Harry's supposed to come to terms with his fame."

Harry first encounters Rita when she interviews the Triwizard Tournament contestants for an article in The Daily Prophet. The article is said to be a highly falsified story of Harry himself, which causes a great deal of annoyance for him. Rita then interviews Hagrid; rather than talking to him about the creatures in his care, in which he had been led to believe she would be interested, she asks for (negative) information about Harry, and is disappointed when no negative information is conveyed. During the Yule Ball, she overhears Hagrid telling Madame Maxime that he is half-giant. Skeeter prints a story about it and includes Draco Malfoy's hippogriff incident, during which Draco was "wounded." In the article, Hagrid is portrayed as dangerous, prompting letters from parents frightened by the idea of having a "ferocious" giant teach their children.

During the situations where Rita overhears information, the book subtly refers to her presence; Viktor Krum mentions that Hermione has a water beetle in her hair, while during the talk between Madam Maxime and Hagrid, Harry notices a beetle on a nearby statue. When Skeeter encounters Harry, Ron, and Hermione in Hogsmeade, Hermione insults her. Skeeter, in revenge, then writes a nasty story about Hermione based on false rumours provided by Pansy Parkinson, making her out to be an ugly but skilled witch who uses love potions to "satisfy her taste for celebrity wizards," including Harry and Krum. Rita's last defaming article states that Harry is "disturbed and dangerous," and uses comments from Draco and his Slytherin cronies as its basis. Ultimately, Hermione discovers the means by which Skeeter spies on others and forces her to "keep her quill to herself for a full year", threatening to report her to the authorities as an illegal Animagus.

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Hermione blackmails Skeeter, using the above threat, to interview Harry about Lord Voldemort returning and to submit the true story to The Quibbler. Rita later makes a brief cameo in Half-Blood Prince, where Harry is infuriated to notice her clutching a notebook at Dumbledore's funeral. Although Rita does not make a physical appearance in Deathly Hallows, she is mentioned on numerous occasions throughout the novel, generally in a negative light in relation to her unauthorised biography of Dumbledore entitled "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore". The book depicts the former headmaster in an extremely negative light. Harry, who on the basis of the previous experiences with Skeeter assumes all she wrote about Dumbledore to be a vicious lie, is shocked to discover that some of her statements are rooted in truth, and throughout the book struggles to reconcile with his late teacher.

When asked on a web chat if Rita was still reporting, Rowling answered; "Naturally, what could stop Rita? I imagine she immediately dashed off a biography of Harry after he defeated Voldemort. One quarter truth to three quarters rubbish", along with "Snape: Scoundrel or Saint?"

Hepzibah Smith

Template:HP character Hepzibah Smith is introduced within Albus Dumbledore's Pensieve, as part of a series of memories shown to Harry Potter by his headmaster. She is described as having been an extremely wealthy, well-born old witch who enjoyed collecting antiques and collectibles. In the memory, Hepzibah wears long robes and gowns of pink, and when sitting upon her throne-like chair, she is described as giving the impression of a large "melting iced cake". She wears a large, elaborate, ginger wig upon her head (most likely the colour of her hair before it greyed) and dabs her red cheeks with rouge. She is described as being immensely fat.

Tom Riddle, fresh out of Hogwarts and working for Borgin and Burkes, visits Hepzibah to make an offer for some goblin-made armour which she owns. He presents her with flowers and charms and flatters her. Enamoured with Riddle, Hepzibah shows him her most prized possessions – a cup, owned by her ancestor Helga Hufflepuff, and a locket which once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, that she had purchased from Borgin and Burkes. Caractacus Burke had purchased the locket for a tiny sum from Riddle's mother.

Only a few days after the events of the memory occurred, Hepzibah died, and Hufflepuff's cup and Slytherin's locket were never found. Dumbledore theorizes that Riddle had killed Hepzibah and tampered with the memory of her house-elf, Hokey, so that she thought she had accidentally poisoned her mistress. Hufflepuff's cup and Slytherin's locket would go on, as presumed by Dumbledore, to become two of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes.

Andromeda Tonks

Template:HP character Andromeda "Dromeda" Tonks is the mother of Nymphadora Tonks. Born Andromeda Black, she is a pure-blood witch, daughter of Cygnus Black and Druella Rosier and sister of Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy. The middle sister, she was burned off the family tapestry in Number 12, Grimmauld Place by her aunt Walburga and estranged from the family because she married Ted Tonks, a Muggle-born wizard. She was Sirius Black's favourite cousin. Not much is known of her personality, except that she apparently has a talent for household spells and cleanliness, lacked by her husband and daughter, and that she is responsible for giving her daughter the name "Nymphadora", a name like those typical to Andromeda's family.

She is not physically introduced until the beginning of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. She greatly resembles her sister Bellatrix (so much so that Harry thinks she is Bellatrix upon first meeting her), but is kind looking and has soft brown, rather than black hair. She and Ted were later tortured for information on Harry's whereabouts. Although Remus Lupin believes that Andromeda and Ted are displeased by their daughter's marrying a werewolf, this is never overtly stated by either of them. Nymphadora apparently lives with her parents for at least part of her pregnancy and gives birth to Andromeda's grandson, Teddy Lupin, in her mother's home. For someone who is not a member of the Order of the Phoenix, the war with Voldemort and his followers exacts a very heavy toll on Andromeda: her husband, her daughter, and her son-in-law are all killed (not to mention her sister Bellatrix, though this was likely less sad for Andromeda). Rowling stated in an interview that after the war, Andromeda raises her grandson, though he regularly visits the home of his godfather, Harry Potter.

Ted Tonks

Template:HP character Ted Tonks is a Muggle-born wizard who is described as a "fair-haired, big bellied man". He married Andromeda Black. Their marriage led to his wife's disownment by the rest of her strict pure-blood family. Ted and Andromeda are the parents of Nymphadora Tonks. Instead of calling his wife and daughter by their full names Ted calls them "'Dromeda" and "'Dora".

Ted played an active role in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Near the beginning of the novel, his home is a hideout for Harry and Hagrid, as the two were on the run from Voldemort. His home holds the portkey that helps Harry escape to The Burrow. Later due to Ted's refusal to register as a Muggle-born, he is one of the Muggle-born wizards to flee the ministry's new oppressive regime after the Death Eaters take over. During his flight, he meets the goblins Griphook and Gornuk, as well as Dean Thomas and Dirk Cresswell. Soon after, Ted is murdered by snatchers who also kill Gornuk and Cresswell. When Tonks gives birth to her and Lupin's son, they name him Teddy in honour of her father.

Oliver Wood

Template:HP Character Oliver Wood is Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team in the first three novels. Wood, described as "burly," is a talented and keen player and a born leader as captain, but also tends to act as a taskmaster due to his obsession with the game; he never cancels practices, poor weather conditions notwithstanding, and holds training sessions in early morning hours. In his seventh year, before the Quidditch Cup final, he constantly harangues Harry to catch the Golden Snitch only when Gryffindor is fifty points ahead of Slytherin during the match. His long-time rival is Slytherin captain Marcus Flint; they are well known for trying to break each other's fingers during their pre-match handshakes. Oliver appears briefly in Goblet of Fire, when he excitedly introduces Harry to his parents at the Quidditch World Cup and announces that he joined the Puddlemere United reserve team.

Although Wood is not seen again until the seventh book, his tenacity is not soon forgotten. In Order of the Phoenix, when Angelina Johnson assumes the team captaincy with equal fervour, Harry remarks to Ron, "I think we'd better check with Puddlemere United to see if Oliver Wood's been killed during a training session, because she seems to be channelling his spirit." He is one of many Hogwarts students, past and present, who takes part in the Battle of Hogwarts in Deathly Hallows, and is among the survivors; Harry sees him assisting Neville Longbottom in carrying the body of Colin Creevey.

Oliver appeared in the first two films, and was played by Sean Biggerstaff.

The Muggle Prime Minister of Britain

Template:HP character This fictional character, equivalent to the real Prime Minister of Britain, receives a visit from Cornelius Fudge and Rufus Scrimgeour in the opening chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Using a series of flashbacks, Rowling describes how the Prime Minister is aware of the existence of a wizarding world, through several meetings with Fudge that include his first night as Prime Minister, the night in which Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban, the notification of the incident in the Quidditch World Cup and the announcement of the importation of dragons and a sphinx for the Triwizard Tournament, and finally the Azkaban mass breakout from the fifth book. Rowling intended to include the Prime Minister scene in earlier books, but she thought that it could not properly fit until the sixth book.

On the first page of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Prime Minister recalls his day, during which one of his political opponents had been criticising him and his government for several catastrophes that have recently happened in Britain. Readers discover a little later during the discussion with Fudge, that these catastrophes were, in fact, the doings of Lord Voldemort and his followers. He also discovers that he is protected by an Auror who now works in his office, Kingsley Shacklebolt. It is unclear how he fared during Voldemort's takeover of the Ministry of Magic, when he had no such protection.

The Weird Sisters

The Weird Sisters are a fictional rock band in the Harry Potter series. Their instruments include guitars, bass, flute, cello, bagpipes and drums. They were booked by Dumbledore to play at Hogwarts during the Yule Ball. In the book version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire they are described as "all extremely hairy and dressed in black robes that had been artfully ripped and torn." A full music video of the band playing at the Yule Ball is included as a extended scene on the Goblet of Fire film 2-disc DVD. Their name is a subtle reference to the Norns of Norse Mythology, sometimes called the Weird Sisters; a set of three witches much like the Fates who control destiny. In 2005, Warner Bros., the international distributor of Goblet of Fire was sued for trademark violations by members of a Canadian folk-rock band named The Wyrd Sisters. See the Wyrd Sisters' entry at the Legal disputes over Harry Potter article for more information.

The members of the band according to Wizards of the Coast Famous Wizard cards are:

• Heathcote Barbary (b. 1974) - rhythm guitar
• Gideon Crumb (b. 1975) - bagpipes
• Kirley Duke (born Kirley McCormack) (b. 1971) - lead guitar
• Merton Graves (b. 1978) - cello
• Orsino Thruston (b. 1976) - drums
• Donaghan Tremlett (b. 1972) - bass
• Myron Wagtail (b. 1970) - lead singer
• Herman Wintringham (b. 1974) - lute

They appear as a conventional band in the film version Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The members were:

• Jarvis Cocker (of Pulp) - vocals
• Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead) - lead guitar
• Jason Buckle (of All Seeing I) - rhythm guitar
• Steve Mackey (of Pulp) - bass
• Steven Claydon (of Add N to (X)) - keyboards and bagpipes
• Phil Selway (of Radiohead) - drums

They performed three songs (all composed by Cocker), entitled "Do the Hippogriff", "This Is the Night" and "Magic Works" during the Yule Ball. The band was originally to be played by Franz Ferdinand.