Mister Argus Filch

Argus Filch was a Squib and the caretaker of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since around 1973. Filch usually wandered around the school corridors with his cat Mrs Norris, trying to catch students breaking the school rules and complaining about Peeves the Poltergeist.In 1992, after Mrs Norris was petrified by Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk, Filch was furious; however, his cat was healed by the end of the year. The next year, he was responsible for recognising Dark objects that were brought into Hogwarts.Filch helped the students evacuate during the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998 and participated in the battle himself. He kept his job of caretaker after the Second Wizarding War. Filch was also the only one of the Hogwarts staff to stay at Hogwarts Castle during the summer holidays.South West News Service interview with JKR
==Biography==
===Early life===
Little is known about Filch's early life. He was born to at least one wizard parent sometime before 1951, presumably somewhere in the British Isles. Despite his magical parentage, Filch was a Squib, meaning he could not perform magic.
===Career at Hogwarts===
====Early years====
In around 1968,In , it is revealed that Filch had known Bellatrix Lestrange during her time as a student. Filch joined the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, succeeding Apollyon Pringle as Caretaker. Filch waged a constant war against the students and Peeves, the school's resident poltergeist. He disliked the students and constantly hassled them over the littlest infraction and took delight in the doling out of detention-worthy write-ups. By the end of the 1970s, Filch had already filled at least one thousand and fifty-six boxes with punishment records.Filch frequently patrolled the hallways at night-time, hunting down students wandering out of bed and looking for excuses to give them detentions. In his years as Caretaker, Filch learned all about the Castle's secret passageways and hidden doors better than anyone but the Weasley twins and the Marauders.Filch lived in a dingy and windowless office containing filing cabinets with detailed records of all the students Filch had disciplined. A highly polished collection of chains and manacles hung on the wall behind Filch's desk. He always begged Headmaster Albus Dumbledore to let him suspend students by their ankles from the ceiling.During the 1970s, Filch did many write-ups of James Potter and Sirius Black, occasionally accompanied by the names of Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. In the 1977-1978 school year, Filch, probably on a tip-off from Severus Snape, whose obsession it had become to expose his arch-rival, James Potter in wrongdoing, confiscated the Marauder's Map after the Marauders over-reached themselves and were cornered. Filch stored the map in a cabinet marked "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous". Although Filch was a Squib and could not make the map work properly, he did know that it was called the Marauder's Map.
====1991–1992 school year====
By 1991, Filch had Mrs Norris, his cat, following Rubeus Hagrid every time he went up into the Castle.During the Start-of-Term Feast in the evening of 1 September, Filch stood by the double doors leading to the Great Hall as Headmaster Albus Dumbledore gave his start-of-term notices. - Chapter 12 (Sorting Hat)On their very first morning at Hogwarts, 2 September, 1991, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley managed to get on Filch's wrong side. Filch found them trying to force their way through the door of the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor. Despite their truthful claims that they were lost, Filch did not believe them and threatened to lock them in the dungeons. They were saved by Quirinus Quirrell, who vouched for them while passing by.On 12 September, Draco Malfoy challenged Harry Potter to a duel in the Trophy Room at midnight. Malfoy, however, never showed up and instead tipped Filch that there would be students out of bed in the Trophy Room. Filch almost caught Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Neville Longbottom, but they successfully managed to hide in the Forbidden Corridor as Peeves refused to share any information with Filch.On 8 November, Filch helped Severus Snape to apply bandages in order to dress the wounds on his leg after the Potions Master had been bitten by Fluffy.On Christmas, Albus Dumbledore gave Harry Potter his father's Invisibility Cloak. Harry used it that night to sneak into the Restricted Section and research about Nicolas Flamel, which he knew was related to the Philosopher's Stone. After he opened a book that screamed, Filch arrived on the scene almost immediately but was unable to see Harry. Filch warned Snape at once and Harry, while trying to avoid them, hid in an unused classroom and stumbled into the Mirror of Erised for the first time.On an trio way back to Gryffindor Tower in the early hours of 10 May, 1992. Minerva McGonagall confront them and dragged them towards her office, where they were joined by Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy who had also been caught out of bed. They were given detention in the Forbidden Forest, along with deductions of fifty house points each.On 26 May, Filch brought the four students to Rubeus Hagrid, who was assigned to lead them into the Forbidden Forest. Filch tried to frighten them, by telling that many dangerous creatures lived there. In contrast to this warning, Hagrid remained his jovial self and tried to assure all of them that they were safe.
====1992–1993 school year====
At the beginning of the 1992-1993 school year, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley arrived at school, not via the Hogwarts Express, but in Arthur Weasley's Flying Ford Anglia; Minerva McGonagall, their Head of House, gave them different punishments. Ron had to help Filch polish the silvers at the Trophy Room without using magic for his detention. Ron spent the evening of 5 September, 1992 with Filch, and kept burping up slugs all over Tom Riddle's Special Award for Services to the School.During the school year, Filch tried to improve his status as a Squib using a Kwikspell course. Of course, as Filch had no inherent magical powers, this was of little use. After the Gryffindor Quidditch team's practice on 24 October, Mrs Norris saw Harry Potter who was covered in soil and dirt. Soon, Filch discovered Harry and took him to his office; however, before he could punish Harry, Filch heard a noise and realised that Peeves had damaged a very valuable Vanishing Cabinet. He left Harry and ran to find Peeves, excited that he might finally be able to pursuade Dumbledore to kick Peeves out of Hogwarts. However, when he returned to his office, he learned that Harry had read his letter about Kwikspell courses. Filch was furious and kicked Harry out off his office, trying to convince him that the letter was not his, and ordering him not to tell anyone.During the school year, a mysterious, dangerous monster roamed around the Castle and tried to attack muggle-born students. The first individual to be attacked was Mrs Norris, Filch's cat, whom he had a very close relationship with. The cat was found petrified under a message written on the wall saying that "THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE", causing Filch tremendous stress and concern: he believed that Harry Potter was the one who petrified her, as he knew that Filch was a Squib. Severus Snape agreed with Filch, not because he had the same opinion, but because he wanted Harry to be punished. However, Dumbledore managed to convince Filch that Harry was not responsible, as he could not have performed such Dark magic, being twelve years old at the time.After the attack, Filch frequently paced the corridor in which it had taken place, as though hoping for the attacker to return. He even put a chair against the wall to keep guard there. On occasion, he fruitlessly scrubbed the message with Mrs Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover, but to no effect. During this time, he became more vicious than ever, and wrote students up for things like "breathing loudly" and "looking happy".Sometime in January, 1993, Moaning Myrtle flooded her bathroom after Ginny Weasley tried to dispose of Tom Riddle's diary in her bathroom. Filch shouted in a hysterical voice about all the work he would have mopping up all night, and ran to Headmaster Dumbledore slamming a door behind him.In early February, Professor Sprout kindly assured Filch she would have Mrs Norris back in no time, as the Mandrakes, who were maturing for the Mandrake Restorative Draught, were already moody, secretive, and with acne. Filch was also present when in a corridor with all the other staff when a new message from the Heir of Slytherin appeared on the wall stating that Ginny had been taken into the chamber and that her skeleton will lie there forever.At the end of the year, Filch attended the End-of-Term Feast, reunited with his cat. - Chapter 36 (Welcome Back) His cat was cured via the administration of Professor Sprout’s Mandrake Restorative Draught, brewed with Professor Sprout's Mandrakes. He learned that the one who petrified Mrs Norris was the memory of Tom Riddle, the one who controlled Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk.
==Physical description==
Argus Filch was a rheumatic man with hunched-shoulders and a hunchback. He had a horrible, pouchy and pasty face and bulging, pale eyes, along with sunken, veined cheeks. He had long hair with a bald spot on the top of his head and quivery jowls. Skinny-ankled, Filch would usually wheeze and shuffle when walking. He had knobbly hands and whenever he got the flu, a bulbous and unusually purple nose.
Filch usually wore a brown coat, although on special occasions he would wear a mouldy-looking tailcoat or an ancient black suit and tie reeking of mothballs. At night, while not patrolling the corridors, Filch wore an old flannel dressing gown.
==Personality and traits==
Very foul-tempered, cantankerous, and easily annoyed, Filch had an extremely unpleasant personality. Despite working at a school, Filch deeply resented the students and was greatly disliked by them in return, and some members of the staff, as well. However, when called on to oversee the evacuation of the majority of the students before the Battle of Hogwarts, Filch led the children to safety without hesitation. In keeping with his dislike for students and their inevitable tendency to create messes and disorder (which he, as caretaker, would get stuck cleaning up), Filch idolised "the old ways" of discipline and constantly lamented that he was no longer allowed to use corporal punishment. Filch was obsessed with keeping the Castle neat and tidy, and was infuriated when students made a mess with potion ingredients, or forgot to wipe their feet.
He was also very domineering, controlling and paranoid, as demonstrated by the numerous times he asked students what they were doing when they were simply wandering around in what he thought was a suspicious manner.
He seemed to be bitter and embarrassed about not being able to use magic, as was demonstrated when Harry Potter accidentally discovered his Kwikspell letters in 1992. Ron Weasley also suspected that Filch was always in such a foul mood due to his status as a Squib, and thus resented young wizards and witches as a result. Filch also had a difficulty in recognising potions, due to his lack of magical knowledge as he did not notice the love potions disguised as perfumes and cough potions by the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, nor did he notice the poisoned mead sent in by Madam Rosmerta (while under the Imperius Curse cast by Draco Malfoy), showing he was not particularly observant despite his obsessive personality. 
Filch also did not suspect anything that was from Rosmerta, another factor that would have permitted the necklace and poisoned mead to enter the castle as well as a flaw that Draco attempted to take advantage of. His obsession with the castle's cleanliness led him to neglect actual security at times, as he forgot to lock the doors at least one time even in the more dangerous hours, something Slughorn reprimanded him for.
===Punishing in old ways===
Argus Filch seemed so interested in punishing rebellious students in the old manners.
It is rumoured that he used to clean the shackles in his office hoping the Headmaster would let him use them on students again one day. He also asked the Headmaster to let him use the shackles on Jacob's sibling as they were, in his eyes, very rebellious for facing the Cursed Vaults
==Relationships==
===Mrs Norris===
Possibly the only being in Hogwarts that Filch actually liked was his beloved cat, Mrs Norris. She had dust-coloured fur and yellow, lamp-like eyes. Mrs Norris, like her master, was infamously bad-tempered with anyone but Filch himself. The two shared a strong bond that linked them somehow; anytime Mrs Norris spotted someone breaking a rule, Filch would arrive soon afterwards. 
Filch talked to her and called her "my sweet". When she was Petrified by Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk, Filch was devastated and started sobbing, which made Harry Potter feel slightly sorry for him, though he felt a lot more sorry for himself, fearing he might be expelled. Filch even threatened Harry after finding him standing by the petrified Mrs Norris, Dumbledore had to calm him down. It can be assumed that Filch was grateful after Mrs Norris was cured.
===Peeves===
Filch fought a running war with Peeves, the Poltergeist, and the two were sworn enemies for more than twenty-five years. Filch never ceased his futile efforts to get Peeves expelled from the castle, and Peeves never stopped taunting Filch. 
To annoy Filch, Peeves would trap Mrs Norris in suits of armour, drop chandeliers, play tennis against the Castle walls in the middle of the night, stick wads of gum in keyholes and caused general mayhem, which Filch was later responsible for fixing and cleaning up. It is presumed that this on-going war between them continued after the Battle of Hogwarts.
===Fred and George Weasley===
The twins Fred and George Weasley had as bad a relationship with Filch as Filch had had with Peeves ever since their first year. Sometime in 1989 or 1990, Fred and George let off a Dungbomb and were caught by Filch, who took them to his office and threatened them with his usual unpleasant punishments he always had in mind. The twins noticed a filing cabinet marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous so, curious, they let off another Dungbomb in his office and "nicked" the Marauder's Map, which was stored inside that drawer, from him. 
The caretaker had punished them many times during their Hogwarts years, for their trouble-making. Among his many file cabinets documenting the punishments he handed out over the years, Filch had an entire drawer dedicated to the twins. Upon the opening of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, Filch has placed a blanket ban on all the joke items that could be purchased at their shop, but the twins managed to sneak past security by disguising all their Love Potions as cough potions and perfumes.
===Harry Potter===
Although Filch disliked most students, Harry Potter was one of those he disliked most. In 1991, Harry and Ron managed to get on Filch's bad side on their very first day at Hogwarts School, when he and Ronald Weasley got lost and inadvertently tried to enter the out-of-bounds third-floor corridor. 
The next school year, Filch was furious when Harry learnt that he was a Squib. Then, he believed that Harry was the one who petrified Mrs Norris, Filch's cat, as he was one of the few people who knew he was a Squib. 
During the next years, Harry disliked Filch even more, especially when the caretaker took the side of Dolores Umbridge, during Harry's fifth year. 
Due to Harry's dislike of Filch, Harry twice jinxed him with Langlock in his sixth year, humiliating Filch much to the amusement of everyone who witnessed it.
However, Filch, in a way, helped Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix defeat the Death Eaters, as he helped McGonagall call Peeves during the Battle of Hogwarts. During the Battle, when the Death Eaters marched towards the Castle with Harry's "dead body", he was clearly solemn as he stood by Horace Slughorn, Pomona Sprout, and Poppy Pomfrey, despite all their differences, as his death meant the victory of the Death Eaters.
===Dolores Umbridge===
As Dolores Umbridge was a sadist who enjoyed torturing students, Filch could relate to her views on a number of levels. Also, as Umbridge granted Filch permission to torture misbehaving students, whereas Dumbledore would never even think of such things, he had loyalty to her. He was one of the few people who actually liked her at the school.
Umbridge had gone through great lengths to gain Filch's loyalty, such as giving him permission to torture, and to have Peeves dismissed, due to Filch's knowledge around the school's secret passageways being second only to the Weasley twins. Otherwise, she did have a low opinion of him, telling him not to stun some enchanted fireworks and having it explode all over the place, when it was in fact her own doing.
===Severus Snape===
As Severus Snape was a very strict and somewhat cruel teacher, Filch respected that and acted a loyal subordinate to him. They both very much liked to give students a hard time, unfair punishments, and cruel aspects of such punishments. Snape, however, did not show much respect to the caretaker, and simply treated him as a minion. Furthermore, while Snape gave some leniency to students of Slytherin, Filch saw no such mercy with any of the students. Filch was also caretaker when Snape was a student at Hogwarts. The one thing that the two absolutely agreed on was a mutual dislike of Harry Potter.
During his tenure as Headmaster, Snape kept Filch working at Hogwarts despite his status as a Squib. It is unknown whether this was for his loyalty to Snape, his long years of service to the school, or his ability to catch troublemakers through his extensive knowledge of the Castle's secrets.
===Irma Pince===
Harry Potter once speculated that there was "something going on" romantically between Filch and Irma Pince, the equally ancient and irascible Hogwarts librarian. Unbeknownst to Harry, Filch and Pince had indeed shared a romantic relationship starting in 1989, when the two attended the Valentine's Day Ball together. It's unclear whether the relationship was still going on by the time Harry attended Hogwarts, but he did see them at Dumbledore's funeral together.
He admitted he liked that "Madam Pince won't stand for rule breaking" and he liked it "in a witch".
===Hogwarts staff===
Filch's relationship with most professors was unknown. The only thing that is known is that he respected many of them, and did what they say without question. Most of the staff appeared to dislike Filch's grumpy and antipathetic personality, such as Minerva McGonagall, who could often be irritated by his behaviour (to the point of forgoing her usual politeness with fellow staff by calling him a "blithering idiot"), and Horace Slughorn, who intended to report him for being more concerned about cleaning up than with the students' security. Slughorn seemed to have, however, put their differences aside when he tended to Filch's injuries during the Battle of Hogwarts. Others, like Pomona Sprout, were sympathetic and kind towards him.
Filch also appeared to respect Headmaster Albus Dumbledore very much. Dumbledore appeared to like Filch, although the latter was unpleasant. When Filch's cat, Mrs Norris, was petrified, Dumbledore seemed to care about Filch and his cat. However, Filch did always plead to Dumbledore to permit him to use corporeal punishments on the students, a request that was never granted, which became a primary reason why Filch preferred Umbridge as head of the school.
Filch disliked Rubeus Hagrid, the Gamekeeper and later Care of Magical Creatures professor. Filch thought that Hagrid was an oaf, and he also told Mrs Norris, his cat, to watch Hagrid when he entered the castle. Filch also did not care for Hagrid as a professor and treated him as if he were inferior, possibly because he was half-giant. Hagrid, on his side, insulted Filch, calling him "that old git", and a "sneakin' Squib", when the latter insulted him.
===Rosmerta===
Filch greatly trusted Madam Rosmerta, the bartender of the Three Broomsticks Inn, in that he would actually neglect the proper protocols and allow anything from her to enter the castle without properly inspecting them beforehand. Draco Malfoy, well aware of Filch's overly trust of Rosmerta, took advantage of it by sneaking in a cursed necklace and poisoned mead in an attempt to assassinate Professor Dumbledore.
==Etymology==
The name "Argus" comes from Greek mythology, where it was the name of a giant with one hundred eyes who served the goddess Hera as a watchman (much like Mr Filch's role in patrolling the hallways of Hogwarts). His surname, "Filch", is an English word meaning "to steal", usually in a sneaky manner.
==Behind the scenes==
*Filch is portrayed by British actor David Bradley in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
*Filch's role in the films is much the same as his role in the books, though in the fourth movie, he was used more as a comic relief character. He was seen setting off the cannon to signal the start of a zarre manner. He was also present with Mrs Norris as Professor McGonagall conducted a dance lesson, and played the tune "Neville's Waltz" from the album Wizard Waltz for her. Similarly, in the fifth movie, Filch is constantly making unsuccessful attempts to uncover Dumbledore's Army, and is jinxed with exploding boils by Fred and George Weasley. In the final film instalment, Filch is once again a more comedic role: screaming that students are out of bed shortly after the ousting of Severus Snape, and attempting to sweep a huge pile of rubble with his broom immediately after the Battle.
*The films omit Peeves the Poltergeist, and so Filch's ongoing war with him is omitted also.
*Filch's status as a Squib is not mentioned for most of the films — the scene when Harry discovers it in was deleted from the final cut. In the sixth film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Draco refers to the caretaker's Squib status when Filch catches him in the corridor and brings him into Slughorn's Christmas party.
*In the early Harry Potter films, Filch is seen supporting the Slytherin Quidditch team during matches.
*Filch plays a minor role in . He is generally just an obstacle, introduced in "The Restricted Section" level. In most levels involving Filch, he would walk around waving his lantern, unless Mrs Norris, his cat, meowed at the player. This would cause Filch to run up to the player who attracted Mrs Norris and strangle them. While being attacked, the player must switch characters and jinx the cat, causing Filch to run away and search the nearest exit. In one bonus level, Filch and Ron must work on a team to make a Polyjuice Potion, and get a Gold Brick from a Slytherin-Only Door. Being a Squib, Filch cannot do any magic and has only two actions: mêlée with his lantern, and unleash Mrs Norris, who can dig and jump over far areas.
*Despite the fact that Filch never directly participated in the Battle of Hogwarts in the book, he appears to have participated in some measure in the film. In a deleted scene, he was seen locking up all of the Slytherin students in the dungeons, although they were all freed when the dungeons were damaged in an explosion. He is seen later being tended by Horace Slughorn, where Filch apparently suffered a significant gash to his arm.
*In the PC version of the video game adaptation of , when Harry is escaping from the library after seeing the Mirror of Erised, he claims to have "locked the only door out of there". Said door (actually a secret passage concealed behind a bookcase) is obviously magically locked. How Filch accomplished this is unclear, given his status as a Squib.
*Interestingly, Filch's love of medieval punishments would finally be achieved when the actor who played him in the films, David Bradley, would go on to play Lord Walder Frey in the famous Game of Thrones television series. In the show, Frey was a cruel, grouchy, temperamental man (much like Filch), and committed one of the most violent acts on television, the Red Wedding, where he oversaw the brutal murders of Robb Stark and his army. He also had Catelyn Stark killed, whose actress, Michelle Fairley, incidentally also played Hermione Granger's mother in .
**This role is also referenced in , where Filch muttered to himself that in another life, he would be a Lord.
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==Notes and references==
Category:Foundables
Category:Entire Grey-Eyed Individuals
Category:Hogwarts School Caretakers
Category:Males
Category:Squibs