Astoria Greengrass

**Astoria Greengrass** (born 1 February, 1982) was an English pure-blood witch, the daughter of Ignatius Greengrass and his Evaline Greengrass (née Fawley), and the sister of Daphne. She was a member of the Greengrass family, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. She spent much of her childhood as a patient in St. Mungo's.

She began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1993 and was sorted into Slytherin. During that time, she was a fierce friend of Brunhilde Macnair.

Astoria's life was cut short by a curse placed upon her ancestor long before her time, resulting in her body becoming extremely frail. She died on 13 December, 1997, during the Second Wizarding War.

## Biography

### Early life (1982-1993)

Astoria Greengrass was born on 1 February, 1982 on the Greengrass estate, believed to be located somewhere near Bath, Somerset, in the West Country. Her father was Ignatius Greengrass III. She had an older sister, Daphne. Her paternal grandparents were Ignatius Greengrass II and Odella Greengrass (née Burke).

Born into the Greengrass family, among the oldest, truly pure-blooded families in Britain, Astoria was brought up in the ideals of Pure-blood supremacy. Their family was one of the oldest, "truest" pure-blood families in Britain, and were counted among the Sacred Twenty-Eight.

She spent a great deal of her childhood inside St. Mungo's, and she was not able to play as much as other children. She was afflicted by a blood malediction set upon an unknown ancestor many generations before her birth. Before Astoria, the curse took her maternal aunt, Rosalind, at thirteen.

### Hogwarts years (1993-1997)

Astoria received her Hogwarts letter in the summer of 1993. Before attending, she purchased a wand made of elder and unicorn hair. Believed to be "deeply unlucky", she was warned by Garrick Ollivander who repeated the age old superstition, "wand of elder, never prosper". Her father, Ignatius III, got into a verbal altercation with the wandmaker and they exited the shop in a huff.

She boarded the Hogwarts Express at King's Cross Station in London on 1 September, 1993. That day, Dementors attacked the train, looking for a recently-escaped Azkaban prisoner, Sirius Black. She was then sorted into Slytherin that night. She shared a dorm with Brunhilde Macnair, who became one of her closest friends.

#### Untimely death (1997)

Astoria attended Hogwarts for only four years, however, as her parents made the decision to pull her out when her health took a dramatic decline.

Just before her fifth year was due to start, the childhood illness that she suffered from for most of her life appeared to remanifest itself. She did not return to Hogwarts after that. For two months, she grew weaker and weaker, until she was clinging to life.

Astoria died as a teenager on 13 December, 1997, in her childhood home in Bath. Both of her parents were with her.

#### Post-mortem

Astoria's parents sent an owl to her older sister Daphne, then a seventh year, who was blindsided by the news. Brunhilde Macnair disappeared for several days and did not reemerge until there were plans for a funeral. The cause of death was disclosed to the Daily Prophet as a "lingering illness."

## Etymology

The name Astoria may be derived from the London Astoria, a music venue in London, England, or the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, a famously luxurious hotel in New York City. This hotel was named after the Astors, a very wealthy and influential American family. The name may also be related to Astraea, a daughter of Zeus in Greek mythology who personified justice. Astraea is derived from Greek meaning "star-maiden".