List of supporting Harry Potter characters

The following are minor 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. 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.

Bagshot was a major source of information for Rita Skeeter's biography of Albus 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."

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 instructed to attack Harry should he arrive in Godric's Hollow looking for information.

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 1942 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 city police and questioned in connection with the murders of the Riddle family, but 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 uninterested owners. The house remained unoccupied and fell into disrepair.

In the beginning of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (summer of 1994) Voldemort secretly returned to the Riddle home. Bryce found Voldemort and overheard his plan to kill Harry Potter, but the snake Nagini found him and revealed him to Lord Voldemort, who killed him 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 spirit 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, J. K. Rowling later said Voldemort used the earlier murder of the witch Bertha Jorkins for this.

Ariana Dumbledore

Template:HP character Ariana Dumbledore (c. 1885–1899) was Kendra and Percival Dumbledore's only daughter, and the younger sister of Albus and Aberforth. She is four years younger than her brother Aberforth and seven years younger than her other brother Albus. Her character was introduced in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Ariana's magical ability was impaired when three Muggle boys spied her doing magic. They first tried to get her to repeat what they had seen. Upon her failure to recreate it, they tried to stop her from being "different". It is not clear from the book what form this attack took, but Percival was sent to Azkaban for tracking down and hexing the boys who traumatized his daughter.

The trauma of the attack made Ariana too afraid to perform magic again. For this reason, she was cared for in isolation by her family, primarily her mother and her brother Aberforth. Percival refused to explain why he attacked the boys, fearing that his daughter would be taken away to St. Mungo's. However, she was a naturally powerful witch and magical energy continued to build up in her. During stressful periods of anger, sadness, or fear, this energy would burst out uncontrollably, causing violent explosions and curses. In one such outburst, Ariana accidentally killed her mother, Kendra. Her family was afraid of what the wizarding community would do to Ariana if she were discovered, since she would be seen as a dangerous threat to the International Statute of Secrecy and possibly as a murderer. She was accidentally killed, only a few months after her mother's death, when she tried to intervene during a fight between Albus, Aberforth, and Gellert Grindelwald. Neither of the brothers knew whose curse killed her, though it is implied that Grindelwald may have known, and Albus may have found out during their later encounter. As a result of this, Albus’ boggart became her corpse.

Her favourite brother, Aberforth, keeps her portrait on the mantel in an upstairs room of the Hog's Head Pub, the establishment he runs in Hogsmeade. The portrait plays a crucial part in the seventh book. A secret tunnel was created by Neville between the Room of Requirement and Ariana's portrait and was used first to get Harry, Ron, and Hermione into the school, then to evacuate under-age Hogwarts students. It was also used as an entry route for Order of the Phoenix reinforcements, the other entrances to Hogwarts having been guarded by Death Eaters, Dementors, and dangerous jinxes. This portrait is able to move, apparently acting as a messenger between the Hog's Head and Hogwarts, though it does not appear to be able to speak as other portraits do.

Nicolas Flamel

Template:HP character Nicolas Flamel (c. 1325–1992 or soon after) is a fictional character in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, who is based on the real French alchemist, Nicolas Flamel. He is something of a MacGuffin; though he is the clue to the whole mystery of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, he never actually makes an appearance. According to the Harry Potter books, Flamel is the only person known to create the Philosopher's Stone and, thus, he and his wife, Perenelle, have lived on for centuries. Flamel worked with Albus Dumbledore as his partner in alchemy, though, considering the stone had already been invented, it is not clear what the pair worked on together.

Flamel's stone became the target of Lord Voldemort during his possession of Professor Quirrell, so Dumbledore consequently moved it from Gringotts Wizarding Bank to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in order to keep it safe. However, Quirrell worked out how to get past the numerous obstacles to the prize, but Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger figured out someone was after it, though they believed it to be Severus Snape, their Potions professor. The Philosopher's Stone was destroyed at the end of the book. Dumbledore mentioned that Flamel had enough Elixir of Life left to set his affairs in order, but noted that he would die. Nicolas Flamel has not been heard from since in the series, and author J. K. Rowling has stated on her website that Flamel is now deceased.

Gellert Grindelwald

Template:HP character Gellert Grindelwald is a Dark wizard that, in a list of Most Dangerous Dark Wizards of All Time, would be second only to Lord Voldemort, 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 Albus 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 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows it was revealed that Grindelwald had gone to Godric's Hollow to investigate the grave of the Peverells (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". They also planned to work together in their quest for the Hallows.

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. Ariana was inadvertently killed by one of them. Grindelwald fled, fearing retribution. Henceforth, Albus 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 and assaulting 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 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.

After Dumbledore triumphed over Grindelwald, the defeated dark wizard was imprisoned in the top-most cell of Nurmengard, a prison Grindelwald himself had built for his opponents. He remains there until the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when Voldemort arrives, seeking the Elder Wand. Grindelwald, showing no fear of Voldemort, 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.

It was later revealed by Rowling that Dumbledore was once in love with Grindelwald, but did not say whether those feelings were returned.

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 Weasley, 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's parents were seen in the chapter "The Third Task" in Goblet of Fire; Krum was described as having inherited his mother's dark hair and his father's large nose.

Krum briefly returns in Harry Potter and the 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 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.

Gwenog Jones

Template:HP character Gwenog Jones is a Welsh witch, a world-class Quidditch player, and the captain of the all-female Quidditch team the Holyhead Harpies. She appears a couple of times in Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince as a friend and former student of Professor Horace Slughorn. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows she is shown as a hero and role model for Ginny Weasley, who keeps a poster of Gwenog in her room.

Augusta Longbottom

Template:HP character Augusta Longbottom is Neville Longbottom's paternal grandmother, who raised him after Neville's parents, Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom, were driven insane after being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange. Augusta is a very strict, no-nonsense witch, especially towards Neville, and sometimes complains of his lack of talent. For a while, in Neville's early childhood, she even thought that the boy was a Squib. During the school holidays, Augusta takes Neville to visit his parents, who live permanently at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and who do not recognize their son.

Unlike other purebloods, such as the Malfoys, Augusta is proud that her grandson is a friend of half-blood Harry Potter and admires Muggle-born Hermione Granger for helping Neville out in class. While initially concerned her grandson was not living up to his father's legacy, his willingness to go into battle against Death Eaters at the Department of Mysteries seems to give her a new respect for him. She buys him an excellent new wand, made of cherry wood and unicorn hair, which greatly helps the young man's performance. Possibly influenced by a letter from Minerva McGonagall suggesting that she should be pleased by the grandson she has rather than the one she wants, and then bolstered by Neville's leadership of Dumbledore's Army during his seventh year at Hogwarts, she ultimately becomes extremely proud of him.

According to Neville, the Death Eaters targeted Augusta in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when Neville was acting up at school. The Ministry official Dawlish is sent to arrest her but does not succeed and winds up in hospital when she apparently fights back before going on the run. She is last seen at the Battle of Hogwarts marching out of the Room of Requirement to assist her grandson. Just before she sallies off to do battle, she asks Harry where Neville is. When Harry tells her that Neville is fighting Death Eaters, she replies, "Naturally." Whether or not Augusta survives the battle is unclear.

Xenophilius Lovegood

Template:HP character Xenophilius "Xeno" Lovegood 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 Harry Potter and the 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 Dark wizard Grindelwald. Although initially one of the staunchest supporters of the efforts 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 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.

Xenophilius's name is likely a combination of "xeno" meaning foreign, strange or different, and "philia" meaning abnormal attraction to. One could make the argument that an English translation would be "Strangelove" and possibly a hidden playful reference from Rowling.

Teddy Lupin

Template:HP character Ted Remus "Teddy" Lupin (b. April 1997) is the orphaned only son of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks and godson of Harry Potter. He was named after Tonks' 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 (that is, kissing) Victoire Weasley, whom J. K. Rowling identified in an interview as the daughter of Fleur Delacour and Bill Weasley. At 19, 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. Teddy's only known surviving relatives are his maternal grandmother, Andromeda Tonks, who raised him, and the Malfoy family. Teddy does not live with his godfather Harry Potter, 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 Malfoy, born Narcissa Black to Cygnus and Druella (née Rosier) Black, is the youngest of three sisters, Bellatrix and Andromeda 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, Narcissa shares her husband's views on blood purity. She is first described, according to Harry Potter's impression, 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 that first, very brief appearance in Harry Potter and the 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 Severus Snape's house at Spinner's End. Narcissa is distraught, almost hysterical, with her husband imprisoned in Azkaban and her son forced to accept a difficult and dangerous assignment by Lord 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 Harry Potter and the 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 sixth Harry Potter movie.

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 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 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.

Besides her appearance in Goblet, in Phoenix Hagrid tells Harry, Ron and Hermione that Madame Maxime and he visited the giants during that summer. Hagrid describes her spell work as "brilliant." She separates from Hagrid during the return journey, however, because he would not abandon his 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.

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 Granger aptly points out, "She's a little sensitive." Her constant moping and wailing causes plumbing problems in the lavatory, which 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 Tom Riddle's 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 Tom Riddle's (later Lord Voldemort) 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.

Moaning Myrtle's role in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is to help Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger 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 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, she appears to comfort Draco Malfoy, who is worried about the task given to him by Lord 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 Ollivanders, 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 several wands he has sold over the years. In Book One, 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 feather from a phoenix (later revealed to be 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 Lord Voldemort. Mr Ollivander tells an uneasy Harry that he believes the world can expect "great things" from him.

Mr Ollivander's appearance in Book Four 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 Book Six, it is mentioned that Ollivanders has closed and boarded up, and that Mr Ollivander himself is missing.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Ollivander is revealed to have been captured by Voldemort and imprisoned at Malfoy Manor with Luna Lovegood, 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 he sends Luna a new wand as a gift. He later provided Harry and his friends some useful information about the Elder Wand in Shell Cottage and stayed there until he moved to Auntie Muriel's home.

Peeves

Template:HP character Peeves is a poltergeist who haunts Hogwarts. Being a poltergeist, Peeves is a spirit rather than a physical being, but very different from the ghosts for which he is occasionally mistaken. Peeves is capable of flight, intangibility and teleportation. Like ghosts, he is also capable of invisibility, however he is usually observed to take physical form. Peeves is also seen to have the ability to manipulate objects; a trait not generally possible with ghosts. Peeves's existence is essentially the embodiment of disorder ("an indestructible spirit of chaos"), where he is observed to constantly cause it. In appearance, he is a small man with a mischievous face, dressed in wildly coloured clothing. He derives joy from mischievous acts, causing more of disruptions rather than actually being violent and dangerous. As a "spirit of chaos," it is his entire purpose to cause disorder, break things, and be as annoying and disruptive as possible.

Peeves does not listen to Hogwarts prefects (to Percy Weasley's great displeasure), teachers or anyone else, with the exception of the headmaster of the school, Albus Dumbledore, and the ghost of the Slytherin house, the Bloody Baron. Argus Filch, who is usually left with cleaning up the messes and damage Peeves causes, is his nemesis and works continuously to try to get Peeves thrown out. However, Rowling has stated in an interview that not even Dumbledore would be able to rid Hogwarts of Peeves forever. Peeves is, however, vulnerable to some magic; in Prisoner of Azkaban, Remus Lupin uses magic to teach Peeves a lesson by making the gum Peeves was stuffing into a keyhole shoot back out and up the poltergeist's nose. In Half Blood Prince, Harry also uses magic to glue Peeves's tongue to the roof of his mouth, after which Peeves angrily departs. Certainly, he rarely invades classrooms in which lessons are taking place.

Peeves is not completely chaotic nor without loyalties. During Dolores Umbridge's attempts to take control of Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which were met with passive insurrection, he actually shows respect for his fellow troublemakers Fred and George Weasley and takes their parting words ("Give her hell from us, Peeves") to heart as they flee the school, marking possibly the only time Peeves ever obeys a student, let alone salutes one. This is immediately followed by his finest hour; his destructive tendencies shift into overdrive and he goes on a rampage. When Umbridge attempts to sneak out of Hogwarts, Peeves chased her out of the castle, alternately whacking her with a cane and a sock full of chalk (it was even hinted that Minerva McGonagall herself wanted to join Peeves in the chase). Peeves is depicted in Deathly Hallows only two times, first where he aids the defenders of Hogwarts by dropping Snargaluff pods on the heads of attacking Death Eaters, and second singing a victory song for Harry at the end.

Madam Rosmerta

Template:HP character Madam Rosmerta is the landlady of The Three Broomsticks pub. She is described in the books as "a curvy sort of woman"; several pupils, including Ron Weasley, therefore have a crush on her. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Madam Rosmerta is angered when Dementors (guards from Azkaban) were in Hogsmeade because their presence is scaring away many of her customers. Apart from hosting an informal meeting between Professor McGonagall, Minister Fudge, Filius Flitwick, and Professor 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 the sixth book, however, it emerges that Rosmerta has become an unwitting agent of the Death Eaters. In order to fulfil his mission to assassinate Albus 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 wouldn't 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 like the ones Hermione Granger used for Dumbledore's Army in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. 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 Stanley "Stan" Shunpike (born 1975) 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 Harry Potter and the 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 Harry Potter and the 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 Potter, and mentions that he does not believe the media rumours about Harry being insane. 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 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a "strangely blank" looking Stan 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 Stan as opposed to stunning him off his broom, as he is innocent and apparently under the influence of the Imperius curse. It is never completely confirmed whether Shunpike is under the Imperius curse. If so, he would have been released at Voldemort's downfall (as is stated near the end of the book).

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 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, making her out to be an ugly but skilled witch who uses love potions to "satisfy her taste for celebrity wizards," including Harry and Viktor 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 Harry Potter and the 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.

Rowling, when asked on a web chat if Rita was still reporting, she 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 a minor character featured in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Hepzibah 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 (born c. 1953) is the mother of Nymphadora Tonks. Born Andromeda Black, she is a pure-blood witch, daughter of Cygnus and Druella Black (née 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, but he never met the Tonks family before his imprisonment in Azkaban. 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. 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.

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 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in July 1996 in his own office. There is obviously a possibility that J. K. Rowling did not intend for the Prime Minister to be any real person, but if the assumption is made that she had intended to link the real world with her fictional world, then it could be Conservative John Major, who was Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997. However, the book also refers to the Muggle Prime Minister's predecessor as "he", whereas Major's predecessor was fellow Conservative Margaret Thatcher, the only female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, so it is likely that no parallel was intended.

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 happened in Britain. We 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.

Peverell brothers

• Antioch Peverell was the eldest of the three Peverell brothers. According to The Tales of Beedle the Bard, he received the Elder Wand from the spirit Death, although Dumbledore believes it more likely that he created the wand himself. He was killed in his sleep after bragging about the wand's invincibility. The killer then stole the Elder Wand, thus starting its bloody history. Unlike his brothers, he has no known descendants.

• Cadmus Peverell was the middle of the three Peverell Brothers. According to The Tales of Beedle the Bard, he received the Resurrection Stone from Death, but in fact is most likely to have created the Stone himself. He, using the Stone, resurrected the girl he had once hoped to marry, who had died an untimely death. Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered. Driven mad by this, he killed himself to join her. He is also an ancestor of the Gaunt family and therefore an ancestor of Lord Voldemort, which makes Voldemort and Harry Potter, who is a descendant of Ignotus Peverell, distantly related.

• Ignotus Peverell was the youngest of the three Peverell brothers and an ancestor of Harry Potter. Peverell's first and only appearance is in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, where it is revealed that, according to legend, he received the Cloak of Invisibility from the spirit Death. Unlike his brothers, he successfully avoided dying for many years, lived a full and long life, and greeted Death as a friend after many years. His line is continued through Harry's three children, James, Albus, and Lily, who appear at the end of Deathly Hallows.

The Weird Sisters

The Weird Sisters are a fictional rock band in the Harry Potter series. Their instruments include guitars, bass, lute, 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 an extended scene on the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 2-disc DVD. Their name may allude to the three witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth. In 2005, Warner Bros., the international distributor of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was sued for trade mark violations by members of a Canadian folk-rock band named The Wyrd Sisters. See the Wyrd Sisters' entry at the Legal disputes over the Harry Potter series 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) - flute

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.