Emberly Comet

* Pre-Azkaban
* Post-Azkaban
* Pregnant

## Emberly Comet(née Starling)

"*Potter, you cannot win against me! I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant. I learned the Dark Arts from him, and I know spells of such power that you, pathetic little boy, can never hope to compete!*"
— Emberly about her loyalty and skills in the Dark Arts

**Emberly "Ember" Comet** (née **Starling**) (1951 – 2 May, 1998) was a British witch, the eldest daughter of Hercules and Megara Starling, wife of Killan Comet, and the elder sister of Amber Lupin. She was a member of the Starling family, an old wizarding family. Due to her mother being from a blood supremacist family; Ember took on her family's beliefs. Emberly started her education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the early sixties (either 1962 or 1963), and was Sorted into Slytherin House.

After graduating from Hogwarts, Emberly became a Death Eater. She was fanatically loyal to Lord Voldemort and was among the most dangerous and sadistic of his followers. After Voldemort's fall from power, Emberly and her husband, along with two other Death Eaters, went on a murder spree; searching for their master's wherabouts. The four Death Eaters were caught and sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban. Voldemort eventually returned to full strength in 1995 and Emberly and Killan escaped from Azkaban in the 1996 mass break-out, along with seven other Death Eaters.

Emberly participated in several battles of the Second Wizarding War, making it a particular goal to murder any relatives who were members of the Order of the Phoenix. During the final battle, Emberly was the last Death Eater standing. She was eventually killed in a duel by Molly Weasley after her attempted murder of Ginny Weasley.

Before her death, Emberly secretly gave birth to an illegitimate daughter named Ascella, whom she conceived with her beloved master, Lord Voldemort. Ascella was conceived sometime after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries in 1996 and before Emberly's death at the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998.

## Biography

### Early life (1951–1970)

Emberly was born in 1951 to Hercules Starling and Megara Yaxley, who gave her a rich lifestyle and raised her to be proud of her pure-blood heritage. She was the elder sister of Amer Starling. Emberly attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was Sorted into Slytherin House.

Along with the rest of her maternal family who held pureblood supremacy beliefs, Emberly treated her younger sister with contempt due to their opposing views on blood supremacy.

Emberly eventually married Killain Comet, a wealthy pure-blood and fellow Slytherin, marrying out of obligation of fulfilling her family's pro pure-blood mentality and tradition, Unlike her sister, she never displayed any affection for her husband whatsoever, never even mentioning him in conversations nor bearing him any children.
When Lord Voldemort first rose to power, Emberly and Killain joined the Death Eaters. At some point, she received training in the Dark Arts from Voldemort himself. He was the one to whom she spoke in a romantic manner. However, he never returned her feelings as he was incapable of understanding love and disliked the idea of being emotionally attached to anyone.

### First Wizarding War (1970–1980)

"*The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban; we will wait! He will rise again and will come for us, he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters! We alone were faithful! We alone tried to find him!*"
— Emberly's parting words to the Council of Magical Law
When the First Wizarding War broke out, Emberly and her husband Rodolphus along with her brother-in law Rabastan became Death Eaters and fought for Voldemort. The pair remained loyal to the Dark Lord throughout the war, even after he was *"defeated"* by the infant Harry Potter.

After the Dark Lord's fall on 31 October, 1980, Emberly and a group of Voldemort's followers managed to avoid capture or execution by Aurors. Seeking to find and revive their master, the group went on a murder spree; killing all of their targets when no information was disclosed. They were eventually caught and sentenced to life in Azkaban.

### Between the wars (1981–1995)

#### Imprisonment

This crime caused a wave of fury upon the wizard community of such ferocity that the Ministry of Magic were critically pressured to find the culprits. When the four were captured, they were tried before the Council of Magical Law and sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban. Unlike many other Death Eaters, Emberly didn't lie about her loyalty — she proudly claimed that she was loyal to Voldemort and that she would wait for his return.[15]

Marked as Prisoner 93, Emberly was sentenced to life in Azkaban with no chance of release. For her actions, she later described herself as the Dark Lord's most loyal follower and even Lord Voldemort, whom she admired the most, gained a considerable amount of respect for her. Her fifteen years in a maximum security cell took a toll on her mentally, as it did with so many, as well as hollowing out her appearance until only the faintest traces of her familial beauty remained.

Harry Potter later witnessed Emberly's trial in 1995 in a memory of Professor Dumbledore's.

### Second Wizarding War (1995–1998)

#### Escape from Azkaban

When Voldemort returned to power in June 1995, he said that Emberly and Killain Comet were faithful members of his inner circle and should be rewarded, as they didn't denounce him after they were captured and tried.

In January 1996, a mass breakout from Azkaban set ten long-imprisoned Death Eaters loose. Emberly was one of the ten who escaped in the mass breakout and rejoined Voldemort, as well as the Dementors whom Albus Dumbledore correctly predicted would side with Voldemort.

The *Daily Prophet* (probably with encouragement from the Ministry of Magic) reported that the escaped criminal Sirius Black must be responsible for the incident. These ten were considered to be some of the most dangerous and highly guarded convicts due to their crimes being brutal and legendary. As a result, Emberly and her allies became wanted witches and wizards, living in hiding to avoid being captured by the Ministry.

#### Battle of the Department of Mysteries

*Main article: Battle of the Department of Mysteries*

"*Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy? You need to* mean *them, Potter. You need to really want to cause pain — to enjoy it — righteous anger won't hurt me for long — I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson —* Crucio*!*"
— Emberly teaching Harry Potter a lesson on the Unforgivable Curses
Later that very same year, Emberly and Killain were all members of a Death Eater task force led by Antonin Dolohov. They participated in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, a plot to steal a prophecy regarding Harry Potter and the Dark Lord. She was enraged when Harry spoke Voldemort's given name and mentioned his true status as a half-blood. This enraged her so much that she actually tried to stun him before Lucius deflected her spell with a Shield Charm, not wanting to inadvertently harm the prophecy they were sent to retrieve. She was very condescending when dealing with the six Dominion members. Emberly tried unsuccessfully to retrieve the prophecy from Harry Potter via a Summoning Charm, as her efforts were stopped by Harry's quick use of his own Shield Charm. However, she was willing to do whatever it took to get the prophecy from Harry, including gleefully and sadistically threatening to torture fourteen year old Ginny Weasley with the Cruciatus Curse while he was forced to watch.

When the Order of the Phoenix members arrived, Emberly duelled and defeated Willow Tonks.

Driven into a rage, Harry pursued her all the way to the Atrium in an attempt to avenge him. After hideously mocking his relationship with Sirius, Harry attempted to use the Cruciatus Curse on her but only knocked her over causing her a few seconds of pain. Dropping her jeering manner, Emberly disdainfully lectured him on his failure to execute the curse effectively (inadvertently teaching him how to do it properly in the future) before resolving to torture him herself with it in order to demonstrate the full potency of the curse. After unsuccessfully attempting to attack Harry, she discovered to her horror that the prophecy had been destroyed and proceeded to panic, repeatedly attempting to summon it in vain from Harry who laughed at her efforts and dismissed her pleadings for leniency from her master due to being unaware that the latter had just arrived at the Ministry.

Once Harry realised that Voldemort was indeed present, Emberly pleaded with her master not to be punished and tried to warn him that Dumbledore was nearby, but he ignored her and concentrated on attempting to kill Harry. As the Killing Curse blasted from the end of his wand towards Harry, Dumbledore arrived and enchanted the statues of the Fountain of Magical Brethren to protect Harry, act as reinforcements, and to ensure that Emberly couldn't intervene as she was then pinned to the ground by the newly sentient witch statue. However, she was the sole Death Eater to escape being captured by effectively blocking the spell that he had attempted to cast upon her.

Before duelling Voldemort, Dumbledore summoned Cornelius Fudge and several Aurors to the Ministry using the statues as messengers via the fireplaces along the Atrium wall. After a failed attempt at possessing Harry, Voldemort grabbed Emberly before Apparating away but not before being seen by Fudge and the Aurors. With the rest of the Death Eaters immobilised and caught by the Ministry only moments later, Emberly was the only Death Eater not to be apprehended due to Voldemort intervening on her behalf, a testament to his acknowledgement of her loyalty to him.

#### Battle of the Seven Potters

*Main article: Meeting at Malfoy Manor*

**Emberly**: "*My Lord, it is an honour to have you here, in our family's house. There can be no higher pleasure.*"
**Lord Voldemort**: "*No higher pleasure... That means a great deal, Emberly, from you.*"
**Emberly**: "*My Lord knows I speak nothing but the truth!*"
— Emberly's delight at Voldemort staying at Malfoy Manor
By the next year, Emberly was living with Narcissa at Malfoy Manor. She was the only resident of the manor who was actually pleased that Voldemort was staying there, telling him that there was "*no higher pleasure*". Voldemort eventually stopped the teasing and advised Emberly to continue to "prune" her "family tree", which she eagerly agreed to do as soon as possible. Despite her proclaimed loyalty towards her master, even Emberly hesitated when Voldemort said that he would need to borrow a wand from them in order to circumvent the problem of his own wand refusing to kill Harry, looking much like her colleagues "*as though he had asked to borrow one of their arms*".

When the Death Eaters subsequently attacked the Order of the Phoenix while they were moving Harry Potter from 4 Privet Drive, Emberly and her husband pursued a disguised Ronald Weasley and Willow, whom Emberly tried very hard to kill. However, Killain was injured in the pursuit and Willow escaped. Soon afterwards, a copy of Godric Gryffindor's Sword was secured in Emberly's family vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank with Emberly and the Death Eaters unaware that it was merely a copy. The goblins who ran the bank noticed at once that it was not the genuine article, but neglected to mention it to Emberly owing to their disdain at the new wizard control of their bank.

#### Skirmish at Malfoy Manor

*Main article: Skirmish at Malfoy Manor*

"*You're lying, you filthy Mudblood, and I know it! You have been inside my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth,* tell the truth! *What else did you take? What else have you got? Tell me the truth or, I swear, I shall run you through with this knife! What else did you take, what else? ANSWER ME!* CRUCIO!"
— Overheard parts of Emberly's interrogation of Hermione Granger
 In March 1998, when Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger were captured by a group of Snatchers and brought to the manor, Emberly was at first eager to make sure that Voldemort was informed right away and she and Antonin briefly argued over who would summon him. When she spotted Godric Gryffindor's Sword amongst the trio's captured possessions, however, she at once flew into a panic because the sword (as far as she knew) was hidden in her vault. This led Harry to deduce that there could be something of great importance in her vault which ended up being one of Voldemort's Horcruxes: Helga Hufflepuff's Cup. Emberly, coming out of her panicked state, ordered the Snatcher holding the sword to hand it over to her and stunned the man when he refused. The other Snatchers turned on her at once, but even though it was four on one, they were no match for her and she quickly stunned three of them and forced Greyback to his knees, demanding to know where he had found the sword. He then informed her that the sword had been found in the Trio's tent. She then took charge of the situation by resorting to torturing Hermione into revealing how the sword was in the Trio's possession and demanded that the rest of the prisoners be taken into the cellar temporarily, while ordering the Stunned Snatchers to be placed in the courtyard to be disposed of by her personally at a later time.

Emberly proceeded to brutally torture Hermione with the Cruciatus Curse, asking her again and again about the Sword and if they had taken anything else from their vault. Even in extreme pain, Hermione managed to lie, claiming the real sword was only a copy. However, Emberly doubted this claim, which led to Lucius suggesting that Draco retrieve the goblin prisoner Griphook from the cellar to tell her if the sword was a fake or not. Griphook also managed to lie, obeying Harry's request to not tell Emberly the truth, keeping the trio's secret safe. After Peter Pettigrew (who had been sent to check on the prisoners after hearing a suspicious noise) was strangled to death in the cellar with his own silver hand given to him by Voldemort after showing mercy to Harry and Ron escaped the cellar and proceeded up the stairs to aid Hermione.

Emberly threatened Hermione with her knife, after Harry stunned Greyback and Lucius and Ron disarmed her. While holding the knife to an unconscious Hermione's throat, Emberly demanded that the prisoners drop their wands, and then pressed her Dark Mark, calling Voldemort. However, Dobby (who had been sent by Aberforth Dumbledore to rescue Harry and his friends) created a diversion by causing the chandelier to fall from above Emberly's head, making her release Hermione and jump out of the way. She lashed out at the house-elf in complete disbelief of his rebellious action to his "former masters". Dobby claimed he was a "free elf" and Disapparated. As the house-elf Disapparated with Harry, Emberly threw a silver knife at them in a desperate attempt to prevent their escape, and the Apparition sucked up the knife with it, wounding Dobby in his chest, who then died. She also lost her wand in the skirmish.

Emberly and her relatives were severely punished by Voldemort for allowing Harry to escape. After the incident at Malfoy Manor, Hermione used a hair of Emberly that had fallen on her while she was torturing her to change herself into Emberly using Polyjuice Potion, therefore letting her sneak into Gringotts, as Diagon Alley was infested with Death Eaters.

#### Duel with Molly Weasley and death

"*NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!*"
— Molly Weasley challenges Emberly

When Voldemort called a temporary retreat, waiting for Harry Potter to turn himself in, she waited by his side and offered him help when he was dazed after using the Killing Curse on Harry, but this offer was coldly rebuffed. Emberly eagerly asked Voldemort if she could check Harry for signs of life, but was refused again and he instead sent one of the other Death Eaters to confirm his death. When the Death Eater, a young woman named Korra, had lied and told Voldemort that Harry was dead, Emberly and the other Death Eaters followed Voldemort to Hogwarts to announce Harry's "death", gloating at the despair of the survivors.

When the battle resumed, Emberly fought Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, and Luna Lovegood all at once, having become the last Death Eater standing aside from Voldemort, who was also fighting three opponents. It was said that despite all three young witches being skilled and working in tandem, together they did not outclass her. She cast a Killing Curse at Ginny, which narrowly missed its mark by an inch; the act was witnessed by both an invisible Harry, who was infuriated enough to actually target Emberly over Voldemort, and Molly Weasley. The Weasley matriarch, distraught at the prospect of losing her only daughter, promptly threw off her cloak and shouted a vocal challenge to the Death Eater as she charged forward, causing Emberly to cackle with laughter at her. However, Emberly's reckless, arrogant laughter quickly turned to rage as Molly began to attack, making her realise her opponent was more formidable than she had expected. The two began to duel with the intensity of their powers being stated as causing the ground beneath them to become hot and cracked due to their intent to finish the other off once and for all.

"*Molly's curse soared beneath Emberly's outstretched arm and hit her squarely in the chest, directly over her heart. Emberly's gloating smile froze, her eyes seemed to bulge: for the tiniest space of time she knew what had happened, and then she toppled, and the watching crowd roared, and Voldemort screamed.*"
— Description of Emberly's demise at the hands of Molly Weasley
Despite this, Emberly continued to laugh and mock her opponent with sadistic glee even as Molly's powerful curses missed her by inches, eventually providing an opening for Molly to strike her in the chest with a curse which proved fatal. As her body toppled to the ground, an outraged Voldemort turned on Molly, which prompted Harry (who had watched the battle unfold beneath his Invisibility Cloak) to reveal himself.

Although it is unknown what happened to her body following the Battle of Hogwarts, it is possible that if Emberly was not cremated or buried in Great Britain, she might have been sent to France to be buried and laid to rest alongside the countless other members of the Comet family in the family's mausoleum at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

During the Calamity which occurred in 2010s across the wizarding world, a portrait of Emberly escaped Malfoy Manor as one of the many Foundables, for unknown and mysterious reasons.

## Physical appearance

"*A woman with thick, shining dark hair, long eyelashes and heavily hooded eyes... was sitting in the chained chair as though it were a throne.*"
— Emberly's outward appearance at her trial

Emberly had the classic *"great good looks"* and arrogant bearing common for members of the House of Black: She was a tall woman with long, thick, shiny dark hair. Her face had a strong jaw, a thin mouth, and heavily lidded eyes with long eyelashes. As a Death Eater, Emberly bore the Dark Mark on her left inner forearm. However like Sirius Black, her lengthy imprisonment in Azkaban took a toll on her appearance - her face became gaunt and skull-like, but she still managed to retain vestiges of her great beauty.

## Relationships

### Family

Emberly took the pure-blood values of her family very seriously, as indicated by her marriage into a known pure-blood wizarding family and her zealous belief in Death Eater ideology. She had no feelings of affection for those in her family deemed blood traitors by disgracing and dishonouring her family by not fanatically honouring the prejudiced values she did, and readily attacked and killed them on many occasions.

#### Amber Lupin

Emberly used to have had a fairly close and affectionate relationship with her younger sister Amber, whom she called "Amy." However,

Amber and Emberly occasionally clashed over the former's protectiveness towards her family; She argued that Amber should be proud that she was related to a Death Eater, while Amber consistently demonstrated that the safety of her daughter and husband were her first priorities.

#### Ascella

Emberly had an illegitimate daughter with Lord Voldemort, named Ascella, who was born in secret at Malfoy Manor in the late 1990s. Emberly didn't live long enough to watch her daughter grow up; this left the infant Ace an orphan as her father had been. Amber Lupin and her family took Ace in and raised her. Her memory acted as a dark shadow over her daughter, who felt guilty and responsible for her parents' crimes.

### Lord Voldemort

"*She sat beside her sister, as unlike her in looks, with her dark hair and heavily lidded eyes, as she was in bearing and demeanour; where Narcissa sat rigid and impassive, Emberly leaned toward Voldemort, for mere words could not demonstrate her longing for closeness.*"
— Emberly demonstrates her obsession with Voldemort during the Meeting at Malfoy Manor

Emberly was obsessively in love with Lord Voldemort, which extended to her being (sexually) attracted to him. More than just being a fanatic, she shared his ideas of blood purity and fascination with the Dark Arts. Unlike many of the other Death Eaters, Emberly never attempted to deny her loyalties when her master fell in 1981. Instead, she proudly claimed that she was his most loyal and trusted servant, and stated that he would rise again. She seemed to view Azkaban prison as a mere place to wait for his return.

Emberly was described as being slavishly devoted to her master, regarding him with "worshipful fascination" and speaking to him in a romantic way. On at least one occasion, during the 1997 meeting of Death Eaters at Malfoy Manor, her cheeks flushed and her eyes welled up with tears when she thought he was praising her. Satisfying him was of the utmost importance to her. She was perfectly willing to kill her niece, Cayenne Lupin, as a way of "pruning" her "family tree", though she would most likely have done it without his orders, anyway.

Emberly was outraged by anyone showing her master even the slightest disrespect. When Harry called him by his name in 1996, she became enraged, feeling that he was unworthy of speaking the name. She was also furious when Harry spoke of Voldemort's lack of a father. Voldemort might have falsely told his subordinates that he was a pure-blood, something which Harry Potter suspected. If so, she believed her master's lie over the truth from the enemy.

Voldemort respected her talents and skills and considered her of greater importance than most of his other servants. At the conclusion of the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, he grabbed her and Apparated away with her. She was the sole Death Eater whom he bothered to help, though this may have been done out of convenience, as she was much closer in proximity than the other captured Death Eaters. However, Voldemort didn't reciprocate her romantic feelings, as he didn't know love. Due to his egotistical and self-centered nature, it is possible that he was at least pleased with her desire for him. Their sexual relationship and the honor of bearing his child was also a reward to Emberly for her loyalty to him, as he believed that he had a found a way to cheat death and didn't need to leave an heir behind. When she was killed by Molly Weasley during the final battle, Voldemort's fury was said to "*explode like a bomb*". Her death was the only one that he attempted to avenge before Harry Potter intervened. It is unlikely, though, that he truly cared about her as a person, rather than being angry about losing someone who was very useful to him.

### Harry Potter

"*You hear him?* You hear him? *Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!*"
— Emberly taunting Harry Potter

    Emberly Comet saw Harry Potter as her master's most hated enemy and despised him for the inexplicable threat he posed to the Dark Lord, wanting him dead very badly. She thought of him as someone lesser than herself due to his status as a half-blood and for having less experience than her. Harry had hated Emberly ever since he first saw her in the Pensieve. He seemed to have an odd fascination with her caused by possibly fear, being immediately drawn to her picture when the news of the ten escaped Death Eaters appeared in the Daily Prophet and experienced "a little jolt in his stomach" after seeing her picture in Kreacher's bedroom.

Harry aggressively pursued Emberly after she fled from Dumbledore and attempted to cast the Cruciartus Curse on her and taunted her for her failed efforts in achieving the prophecy for Voldemort. At the onset of the Skirmish at Malfoy Manor, the mere sound of her voice when she appeared in the fray was enough to make his fear reach a new high. Emberly killed his close friends, Dobby the house-elf and Nymphadora Tonks. When she attempted to murder Ginny Weasley (the girl he loves) during the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry was diverted from his goal of destroying Voldemort in the hopes of attacking her; but he was stopped only by the sudden intervention of Molly Weasley.

### Albus Dumbledore

" [...] *or dear Emberly, who likes to play with her food before she eats it* [...] "
— Albus Dumbledore regarding Emberly's sadistic tendencies

Albus Dumbledore knew Emberly to be a highly dangerous Death Eater since the First Wizarding War, having witnessed her trial and imprisonment after she tortured Aurors to insanity and beyond. Dumbledore seemed to understand her very well; he admitted to Severus Prince-Slytherin that he would prefer to not fall prey to Emberly Comet in his weakened state (caused by Voldemort's cursed Horcrux ring), as she liked to "*play with her food before she eats it*"; in other words, inflict unbelievable pain before finally delivering the killing blow.

Though Emberly was fanatically loyal to Voldemort and believed that he was greater and more powerful than Dumbledore, she would not brave Dumbledore in a duel, as she recognised him as a far more superior wizard than she was a witch. During the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Emberly opted to flee rather than engage Dumbledore in battle, being the only Death Eater in the Death Chamber who succeeded in escaping from him.

It is possible that Dumbledore knew Emberly while she was a student, either being her headmaster or teacher. It's unknown what kind of relationship, if any, the two had at the time.

### Hermione Granger

"*Drop your wands. Drop them, or we’ll see exactly how filthy her blood is!*"
— Emberly threatening to cut Hermione's throat

Emberly tortured Hermione when the trio were caught by Snatchers. She despised her for being Muggle-born and selected her to be tortured in order to get the truth out of her as to why the trio had Godric Gryffindor's sword. She thought the group had stole it from her vault, but even through this pressure, Hermione lied that it was a fake and Griphook helped get that across. However, the older witch doubted this statement. Along with her friends, Hermione managed to escape, but her friend Dobby died at Emberly's hands.

In the Battle of Hogwarts, Emberly duelled Hermione, Ginny Weasley, and Luna Lovegood all at once and proved equal in talent to them together, although Hermione duelled using Emberly's own wand. All these events greatly implied that Hermione was viewed as hated, persistent, lowly dirt by Emberly.

### Order of the Phoenix and enemies

**Ron Weasley**: "*No! You can have me, keep me!*"
**Emberly Comet**: "*If she dies under questioning, I'll take you next. Blood traitor is next to Mudblood in my book.*"
— Emberly's prejudice and belief in blood supremacy
Most of the Order of the Phoenix knew Emberly as one of the most dangerous and sadistic of Lord Voldemort's followers, especially considering Emberly managed to kill, seriously injure, or duel and successfully defeat several Order members. She bested Kingsley Shacklebolt at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries and offered to take Ron Weasley - a member of the Weasley family, well known in pure-blood supremacist circles as "blood traitors" - next in her painful interrogation in events in the Malfoy manor. She also found Minerva McGonagall's despair at seeing Harry Potter's seemingly dead body amusing.

During the Battle of Hogwarts, Emberly cruelly taunted Molly Weasley about the fact that her children might be dead. When she tried to attack Molly's daughter, Ginny, she instigated a vicious battle between Molly and herself. This battle ended in the death of Emberly, who continued laughing derisively at the efforts of her opponent until the moment she realised Molly had defeated her.

Emberly pregnant with Ascella.