Professor Amaryllis Hardy

[Professor Amaryllis Hardy]

Amaryllis Cordelia Hardy
Head of Gryffindor House & Professor of Muggle Studies

The Basics
School Attended: Hogwarts
Alumnus Of: Gryffindor
Age: 47
Blood: Muggleborn
Pet: None
Wand: Oak, 12”, Dragon Heartstring

Physical Description:
Amaryllis has aged well. In her youth she was somewhat of a beauty, and now in middle age she still maintains a smart, attractive appearance. She has shoulder-length auburn hair and blue eyes. She is 5’7” and is of a medium build. Amaryllis is quite active and has a lot of stamina. She holds herself with a proud, upright stature, but occasionally loses this and is forced to sit down for a while when her stomach causes her pain, which it does quite often following a curse from a Death Eater in an encounter four years ago.

History:

Amaryllis was born on 30th June 1954. Both of her parents were Muggles; her mother was a maths teacher and her father a university professor, his subject History. Both her parents took a great deal of interest in their daughter and she learnt a lot from each of them. She also had a baby sister five years younger than herself; the two girls were quite close and got on very well with each other for the most part, although the age gap prevented them from being particularly close confidants.

Amaryllis’ parents were surprised to find out about the existence of Hogwarts, but they were intrigued more than worried and didn’t argue with her when she said that she wanted to go and learn magic. She proved to be a very able pupil, particularly good at DADA and Charms, and even finding History of Magic interesting; she went on to achieve excellent OWL results (O’s in Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Charms, COMC, DADA, Herbology, History of Magic and Transfiguration, and E’s in Potions and Astronomy) and even better NEWT results (O’s in Arithmancy, Charms, DADA, Herbology, History of Magic and Transfiguration).

Amaryllis spent her school years in the shadow of You-Know-Who’s rise to power. When she graduated from Hogwarts she went on to study Architecture at the University of Cambridge, also continuing to study magic in her spare time. After completing her course, she joined the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, her expertise in Muggle architecture meaning that she rose through the ranks quickly since it was required for directing restorations of Muggle landmarks, frequent targets for Death Eaters at the time. Landmarks that she has organised repairs of include St Paul’s Cathedral and the Big Ben clock.

More to come!

Personality:

Will edit this soon!

Interests:

Amaryllis is very keen on interior design and architecture, and she can often be found poring through catalogues or magazines. Whenever she can persuade one of the Muggle Studies classroom’s old televisions to work without electricity and still link up to the aerial (and she can’t even get caught for not paying a licence fee!), she sits in her classroom watching programmes such as ‘Changing Rooms’, ‘Property Ladder’, ‘Grand Designs’ and ‘Location Location Location’. It is a habit her son, who finds this rather boring, deplored when he had to live in the same house as her, but now he has moved out he doesn’t seem to mind so much. As a result of this interest, Amaryllis’ classroom and office are beautifully decorated according to her own taste, with lots of interesting geometric shapes and bright colours.

Amaryllis also enjoys the outdoors and gardening. She has a vegetable plot and herb garden at home, and is very good at identifying wildflowers. If anyone catches students outside the castle after curfew, it is often Amaryllis as she best enjoys taking her walks in the grounds at the quietest times of day. Delinquent students come as an added bonus.

As would be expected from her previous post at the school, Amaryllis is very interested in duelling and she is an eager reader of reports on the major tournaments in the Daily Prophet. As a young woman she often bought tickets to watch the tournaments, especially since her fiancé (and later, husband) shared her enthusiasm. However, she hasn’t been to many since Roger was hospitalised – the memories stir up too much emotion for her.

Amaryllis’ favourite Muggle music includes the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and Simon & Garfunkel. However, nowadays she can far more often be found listening to classical music on her record player. Her favourite composers include Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Dvoøák, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff; she isn’t so keen on Mozart.

Quirks:

Amaryllis is a prolific tea drinker. Whether at breakfast, in her office or during lessons, she usually has a hot mug of tea to wrap her hands round. Needless to say, she has a lot of different mugs so that she can have some variety as to which one she uses, although she never leaves dirty mugs lying around! Amaryllis is not extraordinarily fussy about what sort of tea she drinks – she knows how to make do although she does have her favourite blends – but she likes it to be strong and certainly without sugar.