Minor Gryffindors
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The following are minor characters from the Harry Potter series in Gryffindor House. For other Gryffindor characters, see Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Colin and Dennis Creevey, Minerva McGonagall and Minor characters associated with Quidditch. Nearly Headless Nick is listed in the Hogwarts ghosts article.
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[edit] Lavender Brown
| Harry Potter character | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Lavender Brown | |
| Gender | Female |
| House | Gryffindor |
| Parentage | Pure-blood (?) |
| Allegiance | Dumbledore's Army |
| Actor | Jennifer Smith |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
Lavender Brown shares a dormitory in the Gryffindor tower with Hermione Granger and Parvati Patil, and is a close friend of Parvati and also a friend of Dean and Seamus. She and Parvati seem to enjoy the same classes and share many common interests. The two seem to have a reasonably close relationship with Professor Trelawney, comforting and supporting her in her various crises. Lavender initially believed the Ministry's smear campaign against Harry Potter, but later joined Dumbledore's Army, attending all meetings.
When the Blast-Ended Skrewts run amok in the pumpkin patch during a Care of Magical Creatures lesson, Lavender is one of the few students who helps round them up rather than take cover in Hagrid's hut.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Lavender and Ron Weasley began dating, and she referred to him by the tacky nickname of "Won-Won". It could be argued, however, that it was an inauthentic relationship at best, as Ron did not seem to appreciate Lavender much. Lavender seemed to be just someone Ron used to get Hermione jealous, and to prove a point that Ron could "snog" people if he wanted to (he was jealous when he learned that his two best friends had both had their first kiss whereas he had not). Lavender was jealous of Ron's friendship with Hermione, eventually breaking up with him when she sees the two leaving the boys' dormitory together. She mistakenly believed that they had been alone together in there, as Harry—who had also been present—was under his Invisibility Cloak. Both Ron and Hermione seem content with the break-up in the end.
She is listed on Rowling's notes for Harry's year as a Pureblood - however, the current accuracy of those notes is dubious due to their age and inconsistencies between them and certain canon information.
She was portrayed in the film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by Jennifer Smith.
Lavender Brown has not been confirmed to be in the fifth film.
[edit] Seamus Finnigan
| Harry Potter character | |
|---|---|
 Devon Murray as Seamus Finnigan. |
|
| Seamus Finnigan | |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair colour | Sandy |
| Eye colour | Blue |
| House | Gryffindor |
| Parentage | Half-blood |
| Allegiance | Dumbledore's Army |
| Actor | Devon Murray |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
Seamus Finnigan (born c. 1980) is a fictional character from the Harry Potter books. Of Irish descent, he has sandy hair and is—like Ron Weasley—a huge Quidditch fan. He shares his dormitory at Hogwarts with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Dean Thomas.
He watches the Quidditch World Cup Final with the Weasleys and Harry, of course supporting Ireland against Bulgaria. His best friend in Hogwarts is Dean Thomas. His mother is a witch; his father is a Muggle, who only found out his wife's secret after the marriage.
When the Blast-Ended Skrewts run amok in the pumpkin patch during a Care of Magical Creatures lesson, Seamus is one of the few students who helps round them up rather than take cover in Hagrid's hut.
Seamus was influenced by his mother and by the Daily Prophet into believing that Harry's survival after the attack of Lord Voldemort and other unclear incidents of the past few years somehow indicated an alliance between them, but offered his apologies later on.
In the Harry Potter movies, Seamus is portrayed by Devon Murray.
The name in Ireland is usually spelled with a fada: Séamus.
[edit] Parvati Patil
| Harry Potter character | |
|---|---|
 Parvati Patil, played by Shefali Chowdhury, shown behind Harry and in her Yule Ball dress from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. |
|
| Parvati Patil | |
| Gender | Female |
| Hair colour | Black |
| Eye colour | Dark Brown |
| House | Gryffindor |
| Parentage | Half-blood or Pure-blood |
| Allegiance | Dumbledore's Army |
| Actor | Sitara Shah (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), Shefali Chowdhury (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
Parvati Patil is a dark-haired Gryffindor girl in Harry's year. She has an identical twin sister named Padma, who is in Ravenclaw. Parvati and her sister's names and appearance in the movies implies they are of Indian descent. Patil is a common Maratha surname in the state of Maharashtra, India. Parvati is the name of a Hindu Goddess, consort of Lord Shiva and daughter of the Himalayas.
Parvati and Padma join Dumbledore's Army in their fifth year. Parvati shares her dormitory with Hermione and Lavender. Parvati is best friends with Lavender Brown and friends with Seamus and Dean.
Parvati's favourite class is Divination with Professor Trelawney, although she also enjoys Care of Magical Creatures classes with Professor Grubbly-Plank. Her worst fear is a mummy. (Her fear was changed to a snake in the film adaptation).In 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' she attends the Yule Ball with Harry, but spends most of the evening with boys from Beauxbatons Academy due to the fact that Harry does not pay much attention to her.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Parvati convinces her parents not to take her and her sister out of Hogwarts, although they return home the morning after Dumbledore's death.
Parvati is played by Sitara Shah in the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and by Shefali Chowdhury in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Rowling's classlist shows that at one point, Rowling considered giving the Patil twins forenames beginning with Ma. It also debatably shows their surname as being spelled Patel.
[edit] Dean Thomas
| Harry Potter character | |
|---|---|
 Alfred Enoch as Dean Thomas in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
|
| Dean Thomas | |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair colour | Black |
| Eye colour | Brown |
| House | Gryffindor |
| Parentage | Half-blood (believes he is Muggle-born) |
| Allegiance | Dumbledore's Army |
| Actor | Alfred Enoch |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
Dean Thomas is noted for being good at drawing and forging signatures. He shares his dormitory with Harry, Ron, Neville, and best friend Seamus. Dean is also friends with Harry, Ron, Parvati and Lavender. Dean enjoys Defence Against the Dark Arts classes and his favourite teacher is Professor Lupin. Dean stands up for Lupin on numerous occasions when arguing with Umbridge and he is impressed by Lupin's skill.
Dean was born to a Muggle mother and a father who, though a wizard, never revealed this to his family. Unbeknownst to Dean, his father was killed by the Death Eaters when he refused to join them, and Dean was raised by his mother and step-father. Dean has several half-brothers and sisters. Although this information has never appeared in the novels, it is considered canon because it has been mentioned on Rowling's official website and Rowling herself stated that it was a scrapped subplot for the original draft of Chamber of Secrets. It is mentioned that Dean is a fan of the football team West Ham United.
When the Blast-Ended Skrewts run amok in the pumpkin patch during a Care of Magical Creatures lesson, Dean is one of the few students who helps round them up rather than take cover in Hagrid's hut.
Some have speculated that Dean Thomas was named after the Forest of Dean, which, like many names in the Harry Potter series, lies in the county of Rowling's birth, Gloucestershire.
Dean believes Harry's claim of Voldemort's return and is one of the members of the DA. Dean's worst fear is a creeping severed hand.
At the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Dean begins dating Ginny Weasley, however, they break up before the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Dean becomes a reserve Chaser after Katie Bell has an accident.
In the UK edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Dean Thomas is not mentioned during the sorting ceremony. He is, however, correctly sorted in the American edition as a Gryffindor, just after Harry and before Lisa Turpin. According to Rowling, her UK editor felt the chapter was too long and had to trim it down with any extraneous detail he could find.[1] This editing likely caused a glitch in the US edition: it states that only three students remain to be sorted and proceeds to mention four (Thomas, Turpin, Weasley and Zabini).
He is played by Alfie Enoch in the Harry Potter movies.
[edit] Romilda Vane
| Harry Potter character | |
|---|---|
| Romilda Vane | |
| Gender | Female |
| Hair colour | Black |
| Eye colour | Deep brown |
| House | Gryffindor |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince |
Romilda Vane (born c. 1982), has long black hair, dark eyes, and a prominent chin. At the time of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, she was a Gryffindor fourth-year, meaning she must have entered Hogwarts at the time of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Romilda has a celebrity crush on Harry throughout the sixth book, but unlike previous characters such as Colin and Dennis Creevey and Ginny Weasley, whose hero-worshipping of Harry was not only harmless but often amusing, Romilda sometimes crosses the line. She introduces herself to Harry on the Hogwarts Express and invites him to join the group in her compartment, but not without making snide remarks about Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, whom she considers "uncool". Harry stands up for his friends and refuses her invitation. Later in the year she attempts to trick Harry into taking a love potion, but while he takes the box of chocolates she gives him, he is wise enough not to eat them. Several months later, Ron Weasley accidentally eats several of Romilda's doctored chocolates and is affected by the love potion, forcing Harry to take him to Professor Slughorn for an antidote — which leads to Ron being poisoned by accident. Following Gryffindor's Quidditch victory towards the end of the book, Romilda is outraged to see Harry kissing Ginny Weasley, whom he starts dating shortly thereafter.
Romilda Vane lends her name to Irish Wizard Rock band 'Romilda Vane and the Chocolate Cauldrons'.[1]
[edit] Others
It has been speculated[2] that, just as there are five students in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory, there are five in the girls' dormitory. Thus, in addition to Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, and Hermione Granger, a further two (as yet unnamed) girls. There is no solid support in the books for this; most notably, there has never been a reference to any such girls.
Outside the books, however, are circumstantial suggestions that the girls may exist, or, at least, have once existed in Rowling's plans. In the early years of the conception of the novels, Rowling intended Harry's year to contain 40-42 students,[3] which, if divided evenly, would result in 5 students per dormitory, with the final two, if they are not mistakes on the list, then allocated into one of the houses. Some of this information has since been changed (for example, Queenie Greengrass became Daphne Greengrass); if the names and numbers are still valid, however, there are certainly unattributed students who could potentially be further members of Hermione's dormitory.
In 2004, Rowling was asked in an interview, Who are the two "unknown Gryffindor girls" in Harry's year?. Her reply was, Oh, I've just understood what you mean. I haven't got the notebook to hand and I can't remember! That's terrible. I'll try and remember before the end of the chat! However, she failed to address the issue again that day.[4]
The question of 'the missing students' was later again addressed to Rowling, this time by fan site webmistress Melissa Anelli:
Anelli: Have you discovered the two missing Gryffindor students?
Rowling: (Covers eyes) Ohh! (Frustrated) I was going to go and get that for you, I'm sorry I haven't got it, I'll put it on my [web] site.[5]
No such information has appeared on Rowling's web site, nor has she made any further elucidation regarding the existence or non-existence of any further Gryffindor girls in Harry's year.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Rowling, J. K.. Dean Thomas's background (Chamber of Secrets). J. K. Rowling Official Site. Retrieved on 2007-01-24.
- ^ Gryffindor House: Two Unidentified Gryffindor Girls. The Harry Potter Lexicon. Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
- ^ Harry Potter and Me. The Harry Potter Lexicon (2001-12-28). Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
- ^ JK Rowling's World Book Day Chat, March 4, 2004. Accio Quote! (2004-03-04). Retrieved on 2007-01-28.
- ^ Anelli, Melissa and Emerson Spartz. "The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part Three," The Leaky Cauldron, 16 July 2005. Accio Quote! (2005-07-16). Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
[edit] External links
- Information about Dean Thomas's background from J.K. Rowling
- 'Wizards & Witches A to Z' from the Harry Potter Lexicon website
