Dahlia Prewett

## Dahlia Prewett (née Fowler)

**Dahlia Prewett** (née **Fowler**) (born 20 October, 1941) was a pure-blood English witch who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1 September, 1953 to June 1960. She was a member of Ravenclaw House and married Gideon Prewett, a member of the Order of the Phoenix, in 1972. They had one child together, Maud.

Eight years into their marriage, her husband, Gideon, and her brother-in-law, Fabian Prewett, were killed fighting Death Eaters during the height of the First Wizarding War. After Gideon's death, Dahlia, widowed, was forced to raised her daughter, Maud on her own.

## Biography

### Early life (1941-1953)

Dahlia Fowler was born into the pure-blooded Fowler family on 20 October, 1941, in Chudley, Devon, England. The Fowler family lived in a small cottage in the centre of the village, where many other wizarding families were settled. Chudley was one of the villages where a wizarding population had congregated after the introduction of the Statute of Secrecy in the 17th Century. Dahlia had a younger brother, Nicolas Fowler.

The village of Chudley was home to the Chudley Cannons, a Quidditch team so notorious for its position at the bottom of the league that it hadn't won a championship since 1892. The village population was so used to the Chudley Cannons losing every match that many of them took little interest in local sport.

#### Hogwarts years (1953-1960)

Dahlia Fowler received her Hogwarts letter in the summer of 1953. Before attending, she either purchased her wand, which was made out of spruce and dragon heartstring, from Ollivander's Wand Shop in Diagon Alley, or she may have inherited it from another member of her family.

She boarded the Hogwarts Express on 1 September, 1953, and was sorted into Ravenclaw House later that night. She was an average student, but she was more interested in the subjects of Herbology or Potions, rather than the more difficult ones like Transfiguration or Ancient Runes. She was three years ahead of Gideon and Fabian Prewett in school.

Dahlia was also a member of the Hogwarts Gobstones Club. The Hogwarts Gobstones Club was a recreational club at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for students interested in playing Gobstones. It was distinct from the Hogwarts Gobstones Team, which presumably played the game on a competitive level.

### Later life (1960-)

Dahlia Fowler was working as a Welcome Witch at St. Mungo's Hospital in London when she first met Gideon Prewett, who came in for spell damage. After a period of time which they kept bumping into each other, they began dating, and married in 1972. Dahlia was 31 and he was 27. Once they got married, Dahlia quit her job at St. Mungo's, and the couple moved to Oxford.

#### Family

Dahlia and Gideon had one child together, Maud, on 17 April, 1973, while they were living in Oxford. Gideon was already a member of the vigilante group the Order of the Phoenix during this time, which was led by Albus Dumbledore in order to stop the growing threat of Voldemort.

### First Wizarding War (1970-1981)

However, the threat was larger than anybody could realise, and soon enough the country had erupted into a full-scale war. Dahlia's husband, Gideon, and brother-in-law, Fabian Prewett, both died fighting Death Eaters during the height of the war, on 10 February, 1981. It reportedly took four Death Eaters and the formidable Antonin Dolohov to bring them down. Dahlia was left a widow and their daughter, Maud, was only eight years old.

#### Between the wars (1982-1994)

The Wizarding World became peaceful again (for a time) after Lord Voldemort's first defeat on 31 October, 1981. For a short time following the death of Gideon, Dahlia and her daughter lived with Dahlia's sister-in-law, Molly Weasley (née Prewett), and her family- the Weasley family.

Dahlia Prewett briefly lived in the Burrow on the outskirts of Ottery St Catchpole in Devon, England. While she worked long hours in the day for the Ministry of Magic's maintenance department, her daughter, Maud, was home educated by her sister-in-law Molly in reading, writing and simple maths, like Dahlia's nephews Bill, Charlie, and Percy.

In 1983, Dahlia and Maud were able to move out of the Burrow and to the nearby wizarding village of Chudley, in Devon. Dahlia's family, the Fowlers, as well as the Weasleys, were not wealthy compared to other wizarding families. Many other pure-blood families, particularly the Malfoys, disdained them for their "*blood traitor*", pro-muggle beliefs and their lack of wealth. Dahlia tried their best to make up for this with her love for her daughter, though she was frequently working long hours to support them both.

When it came time for Maud to leave for Hogwarts, in 1984, Dahlia gave her daughter Gideon's old wand, made of fir and phoenix feather, and told her to treat it very carefully. Although it did not work as well for Maud as they had hoped, it would soon become one of her daughter's most treasured possessions.

On 1 September 1984, Dahlia's daughter, Maud, started her first term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was sorted into Gryffindor House like the rest of her family, and was in the same year as her cousin, Charlie Weasley. She wrote back to her mother telling her of how she had joined a duelling club and tales of her two friends, who were Kirstie Davies and Frances Mallory.

After Dahlia's daughter had already left school, in 1991, Maud had decided that she would like to become a Potioneer, as she was the only one in her class to get an Outstanding on both her O.W.L.s and her N.E.W.T.s under Professor Severus Snape, who was a notoriously intimidating teacher. Her daughter began brewing Potions for Slug & Jiggers Apothecary at first, while she gained experience and studied further. She then applied for a position brewing medicinal potions at St. Mungo's, and started working there in 1994.

### Second Wizarding War (1995-1998)

When Albus Dumbledore reconstituted the Order of the Phoenix to oppose Lord Voldemort, against her mother's wishes, Maud Prewett joined alongside her family. While her cousin Bill returned to England from Egypt to better serve the Order, Dahlia's nephew Charlie remained in Romania and was assigned to recruit foreign wizards to the cause. Her daughter Maud was the eyes and ears at St. Mungo's; though she did not see patients, she recognised what Potions she was having to brew.

Dahlia Prewett remained living a quiet life during all of this, and most likely feared for her daughter's life. In the summer of 1997, Dahlia and her daughter once more returned to the Burrow to attend her nephew Bill's wedding to Fleur Delacour. When the wedding was broken up by Death Eaters in the wake of the fall of the Ministry of Magic, Dahlia was questioned alongside her family, but was safe, and presumably returned to her home in Chudley.

Her daughter, Maud, arrived to fight in the Battle of Hogwarts with the other reinforcements gathered by Dahlia's nephew Charlie Weasley. Dahlia did not fight in the battle herself. It is unknown what happened to her after that.

## Etymology

The name Dahlia is a girl's name of Scandinavian origin meaning "Dahl's flower." Andreas Dahl (1751–89) was a Swedish botanist. Her married name, Prewett, is Welsh in origin. It is derived from the Middle English word prou, meaning "brave" or "valiant", and the suffix "-et", which implies smallness. Thus, it is believed to be derived from a nickname for someone small, but brave.