Hogwarts staff

The following is a list of Hogwarts staff in the Harry Potter series of novels by J. K. Rowling.

The staff and their positions

Character	Subject/Position	Background
Albus Dumbledore	Transfiguration Deputy Headmaster Headmaster	The Headmaster of Hogwarts since a few decades before the creation of The Order of the Phoenix. He was awarded many titles, most of which were removed by Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge after he accused Dumbledore of conspiring to take over the Ministry.
Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody	Defence Against the Dark Arts	Moody is appointed as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. A former Auror, he gained his nickname for the magical eye he wears to replace one he lost in the line of duty. At the end of the book, Moody is revealed as an impostor, Bartemius Crouch Junior, who had captured the real Moody one day before the start of term as part of a plan to deliver Harry to Voldemort to help his resurrection. Moody reappears in the series as an active Order of the Phoenix member but never actually teaches. He is killed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Alecto and Amycus Carrow	Muggle Studies Deputy Headmaster and Headmistress Dark Arts	Sibling Death Eaters, posted as Deputy Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress to Hogwarts to keep control over the school, maintain a reign of fear and to take charge of punishment under Severus Snape's regime as Headmaster in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Alecto Carrow taught Muggle Studies, now a required course; however, instead of encouraging understanding of Muggles, she taught ideologies that Muggles were no better than animals. Amycus Carrow taught Defence Against the Dark Arts; however it is noted that there was no defence involved because they had changed the name to Dark Arts, so Amycus frequently taught students the Unforgivable Curses and openly encouraged them to practice these on their classmates who earned themselves detention. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Alecto Carrow is stunned by Luna Lovegood in the Ravenclaw common room. Harry Potter then uses the Cruciatus Curse on Amycus Carrow after he spat in McGonagall's face.
Argus Filch	Caretaker	The Squib caretaker of Hogwarts for the entire series. He owns a cat named Mrs Norris, who seems to possess certain magical abilities. He hates all students and he is bitter about not possessing magical abilities.
Aurora Sinistra	Astronomy	The Astronomy teacher during the entire series. Sinistra assists Professor Flitwick in moving a petrified Justin Finch-Fletchley to the hospital wing in Chamber of Secrets and is mentioned sporadically throughout the series.
Bathsheda Babbling	Ancient Runes	The Study of Ancient Runes teacher for at least the time Hermione Granger takes the class. Professor Babbling does not appear in any of the films.
Charity Burbage	Muggle Studies	The Muggle Studies teacher before Harry's seventh year; she does not appear until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (as Harry has no need to take the class). Because her teachings about Muggles gave an overall favourable impression of them, going so far as to write an editorial praising Muggles in the Daily Prophet, she runs afoul of the Death Eaters, whose philosophy asserts the supremacy of pure-bloods. She becomes a prisoner of Lord Voldemort in the seventh book; he tortures and kills her before feeding her to Nagini. The character (played by Carolyn Pickles) appears briefly in the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.
Cuthbert Binns	History of Magic	The History of Magic teacher for the entire series, Cuthbert Binns has the distinction of being the only teacher at Hogwarts who is a ghost. It is said that one day he took a nap in a chair in the staff room and died in his sleep because of a fire; later, he simply got up to go to teach his next class and "left his body behind". His lessons are notoriously boring and it is mentioned that the most exciting thing that ever happens in his class is his "entering through the blackboard". As a ghost, he seems unaware of his change from living to dead. In the second book, it is he who describes the legend of the Chamber of Secrets when asked by the students, but in the film version, it is Minerva McGonagall, as Binns does not appear in any of the films.
Dolores Umbridge	Defence Against the Dark Arts Headmistress	The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts). She was appointed by the Ministry of Magic to address the rumours concerning Voldemort's return that extended from there the previous summer. Umbridge extracted control, becoming Hogwarts' first and only High Inquisitor, and briefly Headmistress after Dumbledore took responsibility for Dumbledore's Army.
Filius Flitwick	Charms	The Charms teacher and Head of Ravenclaw House for the entire series. He is also shown to be the director of the school's choir in the film adaptation of Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix.
Firenze	Divination	A centaur, he previously lived with his herd in the Forbidden Forest. In the Order of the Phoenix, after Sybill Trelawney is fired by Dolores Umbridge, he is hired by Dumbledore to teach Divination in her stead. The other centaurs found this dishonourable and banished him from the herd. By Half-Blood Prince, Trelawney was reinstated as Divination teacher, but due to Firenze's situation with his herd, Dumbledore had them teach Divination concurrently until Firenze returns to the Forest after the Battle of Hogwarts.
Gilderoy Lockhart	Defence Against the Dark Arts	The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry's second year at Hogwarts). He is adored by the female students for his charm and popularity in the wizarding world but is actually a coward and a fraud who took stories from other wizards and then erased their memories. He loses his own memory when a spell backfires on him and is subsequently hospitalised for long-term care.
Horace Slughorn	Potions	A former Potions master and Head of Slytherin for several decades before Harry's birth, Slughorn agrees to come out of retirement and return to these functions at the beginning of Half-Blood Prince. He stays in the job after Voldemort's takeover but sides firmly with the Hogwarts staff against him in Deathly Hallows.
Irma Pince	Librarian	The librarian of Hogwarts during the entire series. She is compared to an "underfed vulture", and is very possessive and protective with the library books, many times screaming at Ron and Harry. Dumbledore relates that while she agreed to allow the Hogwarts copy of Quidditch through the Ages to be used for a special facsimile copy, handing over the book ran so counter to her nature that she was struck by an unusual form of paralysis and he had to prise her fingers from the book manually.
Minerva McGonagall	Transfiguration Deputy Headmistress Headmistress	The Transfiguration teacher and Head of Gryffindor House during the entire series. Deputy Headmistress during the first six novels. Temporary Headmistress when Dumbledore was sacked in Chamber of Secrets. Temporary Headmistress after Dumbledore's death in Half-Blood Prince. Revealed to be the Headmistress in Cursed Child.
Pomona Sprout	Herbology	The Herbology teacher and Head of Hufflepuff House during the entire series. She held the job for years, and she carried the position after the Battle of Hogwarts until she retired and was replaced by Neville Longbottom who, by the time of the epilogue, is said to be the Herbology teacher.
Poppy Pomfrey	Matron	The Matron and nurse in charge of the hospital wing.
Quirinus Quirrell	Muggle Studies Defence Against the Dark Arts	The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry's first year at Hogwarts). He later turns out to be possessed by Voldemort and is dead by the end of the book.
Remus Lupin	Defence Against the Dark Arts	The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry's third year at Hogwarts). He is loved by most students (except for those in Slytherin house) for being the best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He resigns at the end of that year after Snape reveals that he is a werewolf. His nickname from the Marauders Map is Moony.
Rolanda Hooch	Flying	The Quidditch referee during the entire series, and flying instructor for first-year students.
Rubeus Hagrid	Care of Magical Creatures Grounds Keeper	The Half-giant gamekeeper, Keeper of Keys and Grounds, and, from Harry's third year at Hogwarts, the Care of Magical Creatures professor.
Septima Vector	Arithmancy	The Arithmancy professor during the entire series.
Severus Snape	Potions Defence Against the Dark Arts Headmaster	The Potions master from Harry's first to fifth years, head of Slytherin House from Harry's first to sixth years and Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts). Snape serves as Headmaster in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, having been appointed by the Minister for Magic, Pius Thicknesse (who was controlled by Voldemort), until he is killed by Voldemort in the final chapters of the novel.
Silvanus Kettleburn	Care of Magical Creatures	The Care of Magical Creatures professor in the first two novels.
Sybill Trelawney	Divination	The Divination professor until Order of the Phoenix, when she is fired by Umbridge. Trelawney returns to the work in Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows, sharing the position with Firenze.
Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank	Care of Magical Creatures	A substitute Care of Magical Creatures professor.

Teachers and staff members

The following teachers and staff members do not have their own articles or are not listed in other articles.

Argus Filch

"Filch" redirects here. For the act of stealing, see Theft.

Argus Filch is the caretaker of Hogwarts. He is ill-tempered, which makes him unpopular with the student body, and occasionally causes tension or exasperation with teachers and other staff. His knowledge of the secrets and short-cuts of the castle is almost unparalleled, except perhaps by the users of the Marauder's Map and Voldemort himself. He is also portrayed as having a constant antagonism towards Peeves the poltergeist and often tells Dumbledore that Peeves should be thrown out of Hogwarts. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry discovers that Filch is a Squib.

Filch has a cat named Mrs Norris who acts as a spy for Filch. According to J.K. Rowling, there is nothing particularly magical about Mrs Norris, other than her being "just an intelligent (and unpleasant) cat." In Chamber of Secrets, Mrs Norris is temporarily petrified by the Basilisk.

Filch is portrayed by David Bradley in the Harry Potter films. Mrs Norris is played by three Maine Coon cats named Maximus, Alanis, and Cornilusa.

Filius Flitwick

Filius Flitwick is the Charms Master at Hogwarts and the head of Ravenclaw house. He is a very short, dwarf-like man. Near the end of Half-Blood Prince, Flitwick is sent by Professor McGonagall to ask Professor Snape to come to the aid of the Order of the Phoenix against the intruding Death Eaters. He collapses after requesting Snape's help at the battle.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Flitwick insists that Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem is lost, and he is described by Harry (along with Dumbledore) as having been a "model student" who supposedly never entered the Room of Hidden Things, and so it never occurred to him that the diadem could be hidden there. Before the Battle of Hogwarts, Flitwick helps to chase Severus Snape out of the Hogwarts castle alongside professors McGonagall and Sprout, and to put protective charms around the castle to hinder Voldemort and his oncoming Death Eaters, and later fights the intruders in the battle, battling Corban Yaxley and later defeating Antonin Dolohov.

In the film adaptations, Flitwick is portrayed by Warwick Davis. Rowling said: "I must admit, I was taken aback when I saw the film. Flitwick, who looks very much like a goblin/elf (I've never actually asked the film-makers precisely what he is), because the Flitwick in my imagination simply looks like a very small old man." Rowling mentions on her official website that Flitwick is human, with "a dash of goblin ancestry." His on-screen appearance changes noticeably in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he takes on a more human and less elf-like look, with slicked-down dark hair and moustache. According to Davis, the moustachioed character was originally not supposed to be Flitwick; Flitwick was absent from the script for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but "the producer" (presumably David Heyman) added the new character (as the conductor of the school choir and orchestra, credited as "Choir Master") so that Davis could still appear in the film. Goblet of Fire director Mike Newell preferred the new look, "and from that moment, the character became known as 'Flitwick'." Flitwick was born on 17 October.

Gilderoy Lockhart

Gilderoy Lockhart is a popular author and wizarding celebrity who has written many books about his adventures encountering dark creatures and serves as the Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor for Chamber of Secrets. He is unpopular with most of the staff, for his endless self-promotion and penchant for publicity stunts. He is greatly admired by many others, particularly women (including Hermione and Molly Weasley) due to his intense charisma. Lockhart is exposed as a charlatan when he attempts to avoid entering the Chamber of Secrets by revealing to Harry and Ron that he never performed the amazing feats documented in his books; he simply passed off the feats of other wizards and witches as his own and erased their memories to hide the truth. He attempts to do the same to Harry and Ron, but Harry disarms him. Lockhart then steals Ron's damaged wand, but the Memory Charm he casts backfires and leaves him with permanent amnesia.

Rowling has said Lockhart is the only character she has ever based on a real-life person. Lockhart was inspired by an unrevealed acquaintance who was "even more objectionable than his fictional counterpart" and "used to tell whopping great fibs about his past life, all of them designed to demonstrate what a wonderful, brave and brilliant person he was."

Lockhart is portrayed by Kenneth Branagh in the film adaptation of Chamber of Secrets.

Poppy Pomfrey

Madam Poppy Pomfrey is the Healer of the Hogwarts hospital wing. She is portrayed by Gemma Jones in the film adaptations of Chamber of Secrets, Half Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows – Part 2.

Quirinus Quirrell

Quirinus Quirrell is the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor in Philosopher's Stone. He has a stutter and nervous tics, and wears a purple turban. Near the end of the novel, as Harry and Quirrell both try to recover the Philosopher's Stone, it is revealed that Voldemort has possessed Quirrell's body. Voldemort's face, formerly concealed by the turban, becomes visible on the back of Quirrell's head. Harry holds off Quirrell long enough for Dumbledore to arrive, at which point Voldemort departs Quirrell's body and Quirrell dies.

Although Quirrell's first name is never mentioned in the novels, he was given the first name "Quirinus" in the Harry Potter Trading Card Game. Quirrell is portrayed by Ian Hart in the film adaptation of Philosopher's Stone.

Horace Slughorn

Horace Slughorn is the long-serving Potions teacher and Head of Slytherin House since at least the 1940s, until his retirement after the 1981–82 school year. Following his retirement and the resurgence of Voldemort, Slughorn goes into hiding, concealing all knowledge of his whereabouts from both sides in the growing conflict in the wizarding world. After moving Snape to Defence Against the Dark Arts, Dumbledore locates Slughorn and uses Harry as incentive to convince him to return to teaching Potions. Slughorn is described as preferring to be a "back-seat driver", obtaining things he desires by using his contacts, particularly students whom he has invited into the "Slug Club", a group of students favoured by Slughorn, based either on their connections to important people or on his belief that they have talents that will make them important and famous themselves when they leave school. Slughorn displays shame at having helped a young Tom Marvolo Riddle perform some of his most noted and impressive feats of magic, as Riddle had questioned Slughorn about Horcruxes.

In Half-Blood Prince, Harry is invited to the first meeting of the Slug Club held on the Hogwarts Express. Slughorn sets less-stringent entry criteria for Advanced Potions than his predecessor, which enables Harry and Ron to take his Potions class. During his first class, Slughorn offers a small amount of Felix Felicis to the student who brews the best cauldron of the Draught of Living Death. Harry wins with the help of handwritten notes in the borrowed textbook, which, unbeknownst to him, had once belonged to Snape. Harry later uses the Felix Felicis to help retrieve a memory from Slughorn that details the conversation between the professor and Riddle about Horcruxes as well as the possibility of creating more than one Horcrux.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Slughorn is initially hesitant to join in the Battle of Hogwarts and is assumed to have evacuated with his house, but he returns to the fray later on. It is revealed that he has not fled, but has recruited a large number of reinforcements to fight for Hogwarts. He then summons up the courage to duel Voldemort, alongside McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt.

Slughorn is played by Jim Broadbent in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.

Pomona Sprout

Pomona Sprout is Professor of Herbology and the Head of Hufflepuff House. She is described as a dumpy little witch with flyaway grey hair who wears a patched, frayed hat and shabby robes, often covered in dirt due to the time she spends tending plants in the Hogwarts greenhouses. In Chamber of Secrets, she teaches her students to work with Mandrake plants. She is responsible for raising the Mandrakes to full maturity, at which point their juice is used to revive the petrified victims of the basilisk. After the raid of Hogwarts in Half-Blood Prince, Sprout is a staunch advocate of keeping Hogwarts open.

In Deathly Hallows, she chases Snape away from Hogwarts with Professors McGonagall and Flitwick. Informed that Voldemort and his Death Eaters are coming to besiege Hogwarts, she uses her knowledge of magical plants by improvising offensive botany, and, with the help of several students, throws Mandrakes, Snargaluff pods, and Venomous Tentaculas off the castle walls at the approaching Death Eaters.

Sprout is portrayed by Miriam Margolyes in the film adaptation of Chamber of Secrets and Deathly Hallows – Part 2.

Sybill Trelawney

Sybill Patricia Trelawney is the Divination teacher. She is the great-great-granddaughter of the celebrated Seer, Cassandra Trelawney, and has inherited some of her ancestor's talent. Trelawney is described as a slight woman resembling an insect, draped in a large spangled shawl and many gaudy bangles and rings. She speaks in a whispy voice and wears thick glasses, which cause her eyes to appear greatly magnified. Her odd classroom in the North Tower of Hogwarts is a cross between "someone's attic and an old-fashioned tea shop"; it can only be reached by climbing to the top of the stairs and then up a ladder through a trapdoor set in the ceiling.

Trelawney first appears in the third book of the series, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione start Divination lessons. The friends generally believe Trelawney is a fraud. Her more profound predictions seem only to happen when she is in a trance and unaware of what she is saying, with no memory of it afterward. Almost all her predictions were later shown to be true in the books even if she was not in a trance.

Before the events of the Harry Potter books, Trelawney falls into a prophetic trance during an interview with Dumbledore at the Hog's Head, making a prophecy about the birth of a wizard "with the power to vanquish" the dark lord, Voldemort. This prophecy is partly overheard by Snape, who relays what he heard to Voldemort. This leads Voldemort to attack the Potter family, believing that Harry was the child named.

In Order of the Phoenix, Trelawney is first put on probation by Umbridge, and later fired. Dumbledore intervenes to allow Trelawney to stay in the castle, as he believes that she would be in danger outside Hogwarts due to the prophecy she made during her interview, and recruits Firenze from the centaur herd in the Forbidden Forest to replace her as a way of spiting Umbridge. After Umbridge is ousted, Trelawney returns to teaching in Half-Blood Prince, but has to share classes with Firenze, as he was cast out by his fellow centaurs when he agreed to replace Trelawney after she was fired.

In the British editions of the books, her name is consistently spelled as "Sybill". In the American editions, from her first appearance in Prisoner of Azkaban through Order of the Phoenix, her name is spelled as "Sibyll". However, in the American edition of Half-Blood Prince, it is re-spelled as "Sybill", matching the UK edition. The name "Sybill" is a reference to Greek and Roman prophet priestesses, while Cassandra refers to the Trojan seer Cassandra, whose doom was that her prophecies would never be believed.

Professor Trelawney is portrayed by Emma Thompson in the Harry Potter films.

Hogwarts founders

Hogwarts was founded by Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. In Chamber of Secrets, they are referred to as the four greatest witches and wizards of their age. The founders served as Hogwarts' first teachers, and each of the Hogwarts houses is named after one of them.

Godric Gryffindor

Godric Gryffindor was good friends with Salazar Slytherin but they had conflicting ideas, as Salazar believed no Muggle-borns should be accepted into Hogwarts. "Godric Gryffindor was the most accomplished dueller of his time and an enlightened fighter against Muggle-discrimination".

His known relics are a goblin-made sword adorned with rubies, known as The Sword of Gryffindor; and the Sorting Hat. The two items share a particular bond: whenever a Gryffindor student is in a time of need, the sword will present itself within the Sorting Hat. In his second year, Harry Potter pulled the sword out of the hat when he was in need of a weapon in the Chamber of Secrets. Gryffindor is said to have praised courage, determination and strength of heart above all other qualities. He also was the most accepting of allowing Muggle-borns into the school.

Helga Hufflepuff

Helga Hufflepuff came from a broad valley. The Sorting Hat describes her as "good Hufflepuff" or "sweet Hufflepuff". She favoured loyalty, honesty, and dedication. In Goblet of Fire, she is said to have considered "hard workers almost always most worthy of admission". Elsewhere, she is described as taking "all the rest" of the students after selection by her colleagues. She was a good friend of Rowena Ravenclaw; their friendship is used to emphasise the failed friendship between Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin.

"One of the four celebrated Founders of Hogwarts, Hufflepuff was particularly famous for her dexterity at food-related Charms. Many recipes traditionally served at Hogwarts feasts originated with Hufflepuff." Her wizard card, penned by Rowling, describes her as having "brought people from different walks of life together to help build Hogwarts", and being "loved for her charming ways". According to an interview between Rowling and staff from The Leaky Cauldron, Hufflepuff introduced house-elves to Hogwarts, where she offered them refuge. Both the wizard card and the illustration on Rowling's website depict her as a plump woman with red hair.

One of Hufflepuff's relics, a small golden cup, was stolen by Voldemort and turned into a Horcrux. In Deathly Hallows, Hermione Granger destroys the cup with a Basilisk fang.

Rowena Ravenclaw

Rowena Ravenclaw was a witch noted for her cleverness and creativity. The Sorting Hat introduces her as "Fair Ravenclaw, from glen", suggesting she was from Scotland. Ravenclaw devised the ever-changing floor plans and moving staircases in the Hogwarts castle, and coined the proverb "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." Ravenclaw is described by the Sorting Hat as having selected students according to intelligence and wisdom. "Rowena Ravenclaw was the most brilliant witch of her time." It is revealed in the Deathly Hallows that the broken heart contributing to her untimely death was most likely the loss of her daughter, Helena Ravenclaw, who is, in fact, the Ravenclaw House Ghost (nicknamed The Grey Lady), and the lost diadem, the very relic to which Ravenclaw's astounding wisdom was attributed.

The lost diadem granted enhanced wisdom to its wearer. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry learns that it became a Horcrux. The Ravenclaw Diadem is destroyed near the end of the book as a result of exposure to Fiendfyre summoned by Vincent Crabbe, who is killed in the process while trying to control the fire. In the film, Harry stabs it with a basilisk fang and kicks it into the burning Room of Requirement.

Salazar Slytherin

Salazar Slytherin is described as power-hungry by the Sorting Hat, and he was known as "shrewd Slytherin from fen". Salazar Slytherin was one of the first recorded Parselmouths, an accomplished Legilimens, and a notorious proponent of pureblood supremacy. The pureblood supremacy angle may have been exaggerated over a thousand years. Slytherin is the only founder whose physical appearance is described in any detail; his statue in the Chamber of Secrets depicts a man "ancient and monkey-like, with a long thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of his sweeping robes." According to Albus Dumbledore, the qualities that Slytherin prized in his handpicked students included the rare ability to speak Parseltongue, resourcefulness, and determination. He also selected his students according to cunning, ambition, and blood purity. Slytherin's first name is a reference to the mid-20th-century Portuguese dictator's surname; Rowling's 1990–1993 stay in Portugal inspired this name choice.

Slytherin's background is first discussed by Professor Binns in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (and by Professor McGonagall in the film version and Professor Flitwick in the computer game). He describes the founding of the school and the schism which developed between Slytherin and the other founders, and he mentions that the castle was founded far from Muggles because, at that time, common people feared magic and persecuted suspected wizards and witches. Slytherin wanted magical learning restricted to all-magical families, as he believed Muggle-born students to be untrustworthy and he disliked teaching such students. According to legend, Slytherin was responsible for the construction of the Chamber of Secrets, a chamber with contents including a Basilisk, a giant serpent that can kill by looking people directly in the eyes, susceptible to control by the Heir of Slytherin, and left there to purge the school of all Muggle-born students. Another hypothesis suggests the basilisk was meant to fend off an invading Muggle force. This occurred shortly before infighting among the four founders occurred which resulted in Slytherin's departure.

Salazar Slytherin's locket, passed down to his family, was turned into a Horcrux by his descendant Voldemort and destroyed by Ron Weasley using the Sword of Gryffindor in Deathly Hallows.

In June 2016, J. K. Rowling revealed on Pottermore that Slytherin's wand contained a fragment of basilisk horn, and was taught by its creator to "sleep" when instructed, which meant that it could place others who possessed the wand in a sleep from which they could only be awakened by the cries of the person's children. This secret was handed down through the centuries to each member of Slytherin's family who possessed it. By the 1600s it belonged to the Irish witch Gormlaith Gaunt, though in about 1620 it was stolen by her then-17-year-old niece Isolt Sayre, who fled to where Massachusetts, United States is today. There, she founded the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She buried the wand outside the school grounds, and within a year, an unknown species of snakewood tree grew from the burial spot. It resisted all attempts to prune or kill it, but after several years the leaves were found to contain powerful medicinal properties.

See also

• List of Harry Potter characters

Further reading

• "J. K. Rowling Webchat Transcript". Bloomsbury Publishing. 30 July 2007. Archived from the original on 6 January 2008. Retrieved 4 January 2019.