Pansy Parkinson (born 23 December, 1979) was a witch in Harry Potter's year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was born into the Parkinson family, members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Pansy was sorted into Slytherin House and in her fifth year became a prefect. In the same year she became a member of the short-lived Inquisitorial Squad.
When the final battle of the Second Wizarding War broke out at Hogwarts on 2 May, 1998 Pansy spoke up in favour of turning Harry Potter over to Lord Voldemort. This reaction caused the majority of her schoolmates to draw their wands upon her in Harry's defence.
Biography[]
Early life (1980s)[]
Pansy was born in York, located in North Yorkshire, England. She was a member of the Parkinson family and a descendent of Perseus Parkinson, a former Minister for Magic (from 1726 to 1733). Her family is listed as one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. She was a pure-blood witch.
Hogwarts years (1990s)[]
Pansy Parkinson began her education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1991 and was sorted into Slytherin House. She soon became good friends with fellow Slytherin boys Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle. She was also popular with the girls; Millicent Bulstrode, Tracey Davis, and Daphne Greengrass. Both she and Draco were like leaders amongst their friends, and used this position to bully other students.
During Pansy's first flying class, which Slytherin shared with its rival house, Gryffindor, she teased Parvati Patil for defending Neville Longbottom, after Draco Malfoy threw away his Remembrall.
This was the start of a long-lived mean streak for Pansy. Throughout her education, she would belittle countless other students whom she disliked.
In 1993, the Hogwarts Express was stopped and entered by Dementors searching for Sirius Black. During this infiltration, Harry Potter fainted in the presence of a Dementor and Pansy was one of the Slytherin students who took to mocking him for this throughout the rest of the school year.
During a Care of Magical Creatures lesson, Draco Malfoy was attacked by Buckbeak the hippogriff after he approached it without caution and insulted it, even after Hagrid had stated that this was an extremely dangerous thing to do. She was in tears after the attack and was concerned enough to follow him to the Hospital Wing. Afterwards, she frequently fawned over Malfoy's injury, which he exaggerated in order to get attention and in an attempt to get Rubeus Hagrid into trouble with the Ministry of Magic, which evidently he did, as it resulted in the planned execution of Buckbeak, much to the delight of Pansy and her friends.
During Pansy's fourth year, Hogwarts hosted the Triwizard Tournament, a special wizarding event that attracted a lot of media attention. Pansy was among the students who gave Daily Prophet journalist Rita Skeeter false information on Harry Potter, Rubeus Hagrid, and Hermione Granger. One piece was the making up of false rumours which detailed that Harry and Hermione were romantically involved. She was highly amused by the Potter Stinks badges passed around by her fellow Slytherins, and laughed when Draco's Densaugeo hex accidentally hit Hermione when he and Harry started a duel in a school hallway, leaving Hermione with temporarily over-sized front teeth.
Pansy accompanied Blaise Zabini to the Yule Ball that Christmas, wearing frilly pink robes. While there, she expressed outrage upon seeing famous Quidditch player and Triwizard Champion Viktor Krum escort Hermione Granger to the ball, and again later when a Daily Prophet article commented on how stunning Hermione looked at the event. She had wanted to go with Draco, however, but his family had told him he must escort his cousin, Aquila, a Gryffindor, who Pansy disliked. Also that year, a slightly softer side of Pansy was shown when she clearly expressed (although she later tried to conceal) a fondness for unicorns during a Care of Magical Creatures class.
In her fifth year, Pansy became a Slytherin prefect along with Draco. At the start of the school year she shared a Thestral drawn-carriage with Draco for the ride up to the castle. This school year would see Ministry official Dolores Umbridge appointed as the school's Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Later on in her regime, Umbridge created a group called the Inquisitorial Squad, of which Pansy was a member. While Hagrid was away, Professor Grubbly-Plank stood in for his position as Care of Magical Creatures teacher. During one lesson Draco imitated Hermione by raising his hand over-enthusiastically, which caused Pansy to shriek with laughter, only then to be startled by the pile of sticks they were studying as they turned out to be Bowtruckles. When Hagrid returned to his teaching post, Pansy crudely remarked to Dolores Umbridge that it was difficult to understand him when he spoke, and that everyone hated his subject, while giggling herself.
During Quidditch matches that year, Pansy directed her fellow Slytherins in singing Weasley is Our King to mock Ron Weasley, as well as other Gryffindor players. Pansy attempted to unsettle Harry before a game by telling him that C. Warrington planned on knocking him off his broom. Harry was unfazed and responded that Warrington's aim was so pathetic, he would be more worried if he was aiming for the person next to him. Later on in the year when she saw Harry Potter and Cho Chang out on a date on Valentine's Day, Pansy insulted them both.
When Dumbledore's Army members attempted to escape from the Room of Requirement later in the year, Pansy searched for female D.A. members in the girls' bathrooms and grabbed the list of names as evidence. Pansy and other Squad members were jinxed, hexed and cursed during a student rebellion after Fred and George Weasley's departure from Hogwarts; Pansy missed a day of classes while recovering from a hex that made her sprout a pair of antlers.
At the Welcoming Feast during her sixth year, Albus Dumbledore announced that Severus Snape would now be taking on the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Pansy, along with nearly all students in the Slytherin House, roared with applause at this, save for Draco. Also in Potions that year Horace Slughorn would be filling in for Snape after he took on his new position as Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. Pansy was not among the few students who advanced to N.E.W.T.-level Potions.
Pansy was present on 1 September, 1997 aboard the Hogwarts Express when Death Eaters stormed the train in search of Harry Potter. During Pansy's final year at Hogwarts, Lord Voldemort was in indirect control of the school through Severus Snape as headmaster and Amycus and Alecto Carrow as the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies professors. As a Slytherin, Pansy was probably one of the favoured students and would not have been on the receiving end of their brutal and unfair punishments.
On 1 May, 1998, Lord Voldemort approached the school with his Death Eater army, and offered those inside the Hogwarts castle a chance to turn Harry Potter over to him in exchange for sparing them all. When in the Great Hall, Pansy was the only person to stand up in favour of doing so. The students of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw houses all drew their wands on her as a result, and Professor McGonagall dismissed Slytherin house from the Great Hall first, starting with Pansy.
Pansy left Hogwarts with her house-mates, and likely was not one of the few to return as reinforcements during the Battle of Hogwarts with Professor Slughorn. Instead she may have been among the Slytherin students that Voldemort told Lucius Malfoy had come to join him. However, this is unlikely as she seemed terrified of the thought of Voldemort attacking Hogwarts, so it is more likely that she didn't take either side.
Physical description[]
Harry Potter thought of Pansy as "hard-faced" or "pug-faced" on more than one occasion. This opinion may have been influenced by his enmity with her friend, Draco Malfoy, and her Head of House, Professor Snape.
However, Rita Skeeter described Pansy as "pretty and vivacious" in her article about Hermione Granger during her fourth year. This could simply have been flattery on Rita's part, or because in her fourth year, Rita seemed to hold grudges, that most likely were not personal, against Harry Potter and was rude to numerous others.
Personality and traits[]
Sadistic, mean-spirited, and petty, Pansy often bullied and teased Gryffindor students, as well as students in general. She might have targeted them in particular because of Harry Potter's aforementioned hostile relationship with Draco Malfoy (and also his general unpopularity among Slytherins), but it seems that by all appearances she just had a fondness for tormenting other students in general. She apparently had some sort of friendship with the Gryffindor Parvati Patil at one point, or at least respected her, though this friendship appears to have evaporated by the time of their Fifth Year. During their first flying lesson in the 1991-1992 school year, Pansy disapproved of Parvati defending Neville Longbottom (after he injured himself during the lesson). She said that she "never thought Parvati would like fat little cry-babies".
Similarly, she and her fellow Slytherins joined Hufflepuff in supporting Cedric Diggory, whom they considered to be "the real Hogwarts champion" for the Triwizard Tournament during the 1994-1995 school year, but this was likely done less out of kindness or respect for Cedric, and more out of a desire to denigrate and antagonise Harry Potter (who Pansy and most Slytherins looked down upon). However, she did later refer to Cedric as "good-looking" when she saw his former girlfriend, Cho Chang, with Harry, indicating that she liked his handsomeness if nothing else.
Judging by the amusement Pansy expressed when Blaise Zabini made a rude comment about Ginny Weasley being a "filthy blood traitor", her association with the then-prejudiced Draco Malfoy as well as the stance she expressed just before the Battle of Hogwarts, she was most likely a prejudiced pure-blood herself.
Despite her nastiness, Pansy was ultimately a weak-willed coward, incapable of thinking or acting for herself, and simply followed Draco and his lackeys around out a desire to feel powerful and important. She was terrified of the thought of Voldemort and his Death Eaters attacking Hogwarts, so she decided to foolishly call for Harry Potter to be turned over, showing very poor common sense and fear of facing reality.
Magical abilities and skills[]
- Defence Against the Dark Arts: Pansy attended N.E.W.T.-level Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, during the 1996-1997 school year. She must have achieved either an "Exceeds Expectations" or "Outstanding" at O.W.L. in this subject, showing her proficiency in this field of magic.
- Care of Magical Creatures: From her third year onward, Pansy took Care of Magical Creatures classes along with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and other third years. During her studies, she would have learned knowledge of and how to handle various magical creatures, implying she had some level of skill and interest in Magizoology.
Possessions[]
- Wand: Being a Hogwarts student, Pansy owned a wand, which was thirteen inches in length, and made of chestnut and dragon heartstring. Like most wizards and witches in Great Britain, she likely purchased it from Ollivanders in Diagon Alley, London, prior to staring her first year in 1991.
- Watch: Pansy owned a small wrist-watch, which she used to tell the time at Hogwarts.
- Prefect badge: Pansy owned a Slytherin Prefect Badge, due to her becoming a Prefect at the start of the 1995–1996 school year, which she would have worn during her Prefect duties.