Maurice Abbott

**Maurice Abbott** (5 May, 1902 - 12 June, 1991) was an English pure-blood wizard who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from September 1913 to June 1920.

He was the son of Phineas Abbott and his wife, Lavinia Abbott (née Malfoy), who was disowned from the House of Malfoy for marrying his father. He was the brother of Bertram Abbott and Guinevere McKinnon (née Abbott). Through his sister Guinevere, he was the maternal great-uncle of Francis, Laurel, and Marlene McKinnon.

He married Marion Winthrop, a half-blood witch, in 1924, and they had two children together, Roland and Isobel Abbott. He was the paternal grandfather of Penelope Abbott and Maurice Abbott II, who was named in his honour. He was the great-grandfather of Hannah Abbott, daughter of the younger Maurice and a muggle-born witch, Jane Miller.

He was the maternal grandfather of Adrien Abbott, the illegitimate son of his daughter, Isobel, born in France. Adrien became a member of the Slug Club and later a photographer for *The Daily Prophet*.

## Biography

### Early life (1902-1930)

Maurice was born on 5 May, 1902, in Barnstaple, Devon, England. He was the second son and youngest child of Phineas Abbott and his wife Lavinia, and at the time of his birth he had an older brother, Bertram, and an older sister, Guinevere. Maurice grew up in a modest wizarding house in the heart of Devonshire.

His mother, Lavinia Abbott (née Malfoy), was the oldest daughter of Septimus Malfoy I and Geneviève Malfoy (née Pétau), and had been disowned by her family for marrying his father, Phineas Abbott, for love. As such, he grew up having no contact with his mother's family.

Maurice was the paternal grandson of Ernest Abbott and Elspeth Abbott (née Potter), and the maternal great grandson of Ophelius Potter and Elowen Potter (née Fleamont). He was the great-nephew of Wizenagmot member Henry Potter.

#### Hogwarts years (1913-1920)

Maurice Abbott received his Hogwarts letter in the summer of 1913. That same summer, he visited Diagon Alley and purchased a wand made of sycamore and unicorn hair from Ollivander's Wand Shop. On 1 September, 1913, he boarded the train for Hogwarts and was sorted into Hufflepuff House that same night.

Maurice was in the same year as many notable witches and wizards at Hogwarts, including Silvanus Kettleburn, a well-known Magizoologist, as well as Hon. Ignatius Greengrass, a well-known member of the Wizenagmot, and Lord Arcturus Black, who received an Order of Merlin, First Class.

Maurice himself achieved eight N.E.W.T.s before leaving school. He pursued a career in Herbology. He studied magical plants and helped in investigations for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

#### Marriage (1924-1943)

Maurice Abbott married Marion Winthrop, a half-blood witch, on 2 July, 1924. Her family was from the Isle of Wight. By this time he had already begun his career in Herbology.

They had two children together. Roland was born about a year after the marriage, and Isobel was born five years later, in 1930.

#### Global Wizarding War (1942-1945)

His wife, Marion, was murdered on 19 October, 1943, in Barnstaple, during the Global Wizarding War. She was killed as part of an attack on the borough by Grindelwald's forces. Their younger child, Isobel, was thirteen and still in school. Maurice had been at work when the attack happened, and he was greatly affected by this event.

His son Roland had already married Evelyn Chapman, a half-blood witch, in the summer of 1942. Maurice's only granddaughter, Penelope, was born in May of 1944.

### Later life (1945-1991)

After finishing school, Maurice's daughter, Isobel, went to work in France as an orphanage carer in late 1948. She also volunteered at sites that had been completely destroyed by German bombings.

In 1950, Maurice's grandson, Maurice II, was born in Barnstaple. He was named in his honour. Meanwhile, his daughter, Isobel, was still engaged in work on the continent.

Several years later, in 1959, Maurice's daughter, Isobel, met a Polish wizard by the name of Piotr Leszczyński. They became engaged that year, but she abandoned him after she discovered that he was seeing other witches. Soon after, she found herself expecting a baby boy, who was born in Saint-Avold, Moselle, which was a small village in the Rhineland. She returned to Maurice's home in Barnstaple with the child.

#### Retirement (1960-1991)

Maurice had already retired from the field of Herbology in 1960. He watched his grandson, Adrien, while his daughter Isobel went to work at the Ministry of Magic.

#### First Wizarding War (1970-1981)

Maurice's grandson, Maurice the younger, married a half-blood witch named Jane Miller in 1979.

On 27 December, 1979, Maurice's daughter, Isobel, became involved in an altercation in Diagon Alley, London, between an Auror and a Death Eater. The resulting duel killed three, including Isobel. She was 49. After her death, Maurice's eighteen-year-old grandson, Adrien, moved in with his uncle Roland.

Maurice became a great-grandfather when his grandson's daughter, Hannah Abbott, was born in 1980.

Maurice Abbott lived quietly in Barnstaple, Devon, until the end of the war, on 31 October, 1981. However, he most likely celebrated with the rest of Magical Britain when he heard of the Dark Lord's downfall at the hands of Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. Monumental celebrations broke out all across the country, so strenuously that numerous large-scale breaches of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy were noticed by the Muggle international media. This was excused by Minister Bagnold, who asserted the war-weary wizarding community's "inalienable right to party." Though some people, like Barty Crouch Snr, claimed the celebrating got out of hand and became childish and ridiculous.

#### Between the Wars (1981-1991)

At some point between the death of his mother and the end of the First Wizarding War, Maurice's grandson, Adrien Abbott, became a photographer for *The Daily Prophet*.

#### Death

Maurice died on 12 June, 1991, in Barnstaple, at the age of 89. He was survived by his son, Roland Abbott, and daughter-in-law, Evelyn, as well as three grandchildren, Penelope, Maurice, and Adrien: as well as a great-granddaughter, Hannah Abbott.

## Etymology

The name Maurice comes from the Roman name *Mauritius*, a derivative of the name Maurus. Saint Maurice was a 3rd-century Roman soldier from Egypt. He and the other Christians in his legion were supposedly massacred on the orders of Emperor Maximian for refusing to worship Roman gods. Thus, he is the patron saint of infantry soldiers.

The Roman origins of his name likely stems from his mother, Lavinia's family. Though she may have been disowned for marrying his father, it is possible that she tried to keep to some family tradition when naming her children (many Malfoys carry the name of Roman emperors or statesmen).
This name was borne by a 6th-century Byzantine emperor. Another notable bearer was Maurice of Nassau (called Maurits in Dutch), a 17th-century prince of Orange who helped establish the Dutch Republic. The name has been used in England since the Norman Conquest, usually in the spelling *Morris* or *Moris*.