Darcy Cattermole

## Darcy Cattermole (née Marchbanks)

**Darcy Cattermole (née Marchbanks)** (28 December, 1922 - 31 October, 1958) was the second child and only daughter of Hugh Marchbanks and his wife Dolly Marchbanks (nèe Abbott). She was born in Witheridge, Devon, England. She had an older brother, Fred Marchbanks. She was a school prefect and later Head Girl at Hogwarts.

At Hogwarts, she was a Ravenclaw, and graduated with twelve N.E.W.T.s, securing a poisition with Gringotts as a Curse Breaker, and did much of her work overseas. She started off in Georgia, but was then reassigned to Cairo, Egypt, where she worked until her untimely death.

She married Otto Cattermole, a fellow classmate from Hogwarts, in 1953, and had one son with him. She died on 31 October, 1958, in Cairo, Al Qahirah, Egypt, at the age of 35, as the result of an accident in the pyramids.

## Biography

### Early life (1922-1934)

Darcy was born in Witheridge, Devon. Witheridge is a village and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. Its name may be derived from the Old English for "Weather Ridge", which would fit with the village's somewhat exposed situation. Situated almost equidistant from Dartmoor and Exmoor, the village has earned the nickname *the Gateway to the Two Moors Way*.

Darcy was a member of an old wizarding family by the name of Marchbanks. Though not considered a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, the Marchbanks can trace their wizarding ancestry to the late 1810s, although some muggle blood has been mixed in since then. They have been usually light-leaning.

Darcy had an older brother, Fred, also known as "Freddy," who was about four years older. Her parents, Hugh and Dolly, enjoyed a modest lifestyle.

### Hogwarts years (1934-1941)

Darcy received her Hogwarts letter in July 1934. She travelled to Diagon Alley to purchase supplies, which included a wand made of alder and unicorn hair. On 1 September 1934, she was Sorted into Ravenclaw House, a revelation that surprised her parents, who had both been in Hufflepuff. Her brother, Freddy, had made Hufflepuff four years earlier.

Darcy graduated Hogwarts with twelve N.E.W.T.s and was a very accomplished witch. She gained a position with Gringotts Bank almost immediately after graduation, and was sent to the country of Georgia to work as a cursebreaker. However, she was later sent to Cairo in Egypt to work in the pyramids.

### Career and family life (1941-1958)

She worked in the pyramids dismantling curses and hexes from old tombs. While there, she reconnected with a man called Otto Cattermole, who had been in her year in Ravenclaw at Hogwarts, in 1950. Otto was there investigating the inner workings of Egyptian dark wizards on international business for the British Ministry of Magic.

They fell in love, and wrote each other letters for three years before Otto proposed. They got married in 1953 in Otto's home parish of Great Tolling in England. Darcy took a break from curse-breaking while Otto worked as an Auror, and together they welcomed a son on 30 August, 1955. When their son Reginald was a year old, Darcy returned to Egypt to support the family.

#### Untimely death (31 October, 1958)

Tragedy struck on Hallowe'en 1958, when Darcy was trapped and killed inside a pyramid. The cause of death was unknown, but it was understood that she did not dismantle one of the wards properly, and was completely disintegrated. Otto was devastated. Their son, Reginald, was only three years old.

#### Post-mortem (1958-)

Otto went back to work for the Auror office to support them, but requested that he not undertake quite as many dangerous missions out of regards to his son. Furthermore, he took quite a bit of desk work so that he could be at home with Reginald, who was often left to the nanny.

His son got his Hogwarts letter in the summer of 1966, and was Sorted into Ravenclaw on 1 September 1966, which made Otto very proud of him. He also tried to provide Reginald with good opportunities, such as trips to Egypt to see where his mother had worked, and other destinations such as Paris and Milan in the summers. As a result, his son loved to travel, and Otto wanted him to see the whole world. He once told Reginald to *"write to your dear old dad, every now and awhile? So much to see. I'm too old to see them all."*

## Personality and Traits

Darcy was known to be a very adventurous individual. Despite this, she took her studies in school seriously. She was very knowledgeable about wizard-goblin relations for her work, and was also known to speak some Gobbledegook, the native language of the Goblins.

Whilst Curse-Breakers could work for the Ministry of Magic, removing curses, hexes and jinxes from illegally bewitched objects, the term was also used to denote a number of adventurous bankers involved in the "treasure-and-curse" business in the employment of Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Darcy worked for this business. She genuinely enjoyed finding old treasure, and had a rather large collection of old artefacts, which was later passed down to her granddaughter, Maisie.

## Magical Abilities and Skills

Despite the fact that she was killed by an unusual Egyptian curse, Darcy was a very skilled witch in many fields, which she had to be in order to be a Curse-Breaker.

* **Defence Against the Dark Arts**: Darcy showed a natural flair for Defence Against the Dark Arts. During her time as a student, she would often be found on the school's Training Grounds, practising defensive and offensive spells on mechanical dummies. As a Curse Breaker, Darcy was naturally skilled in counter-curses.
* **Arithmancy:** Since becoming a Curse Breaker required at least an O.W.L. in Arithmancy, it is reasonable and logical to deduce that Darcy was skilled in this subject and that she achieved a high grade in her O.W.L. in order to qualify for her career training.
* **Charms**: Darcy appeared to be highly proficient in charm-work, as she capable of producing a non-corporeal Patronus, a mark of superior magical ability and talent, given the immense difficulty of casting such an advanced and powerful protective charm.
* **Care of Magical Creatures**: As she worked for Gringotts as a curse breaker, Darcy was skilled in interacting with Goblins and other magical creatures, such as Nifflers. She was knowledgeable about wizard-goblin relations for her work, during which she used to gauge where the goblins' loyalties lay.
* **History of Magic**: Darcy was knowledgeable about History of Magic, which normally was considered a boring subject by many students, as she had a strong understanding of Goblin history.

## Relationships

#### Hugh Marchbanks (1901-1977)

Darcy was very close with her father, Hugh. Letters written to him were always signed with a kiss. Her father must have been very encouraging to her as a child, as she was able to first find and then achieve her dream of being a Curse-Breaker. He was devastated when he had heard that his daughter had passed away in the pyramids, and somewhat bitter about it, because he had warned her to always be careful.

#### Dolly Marchbanks (née Abbott) (1900-1986)

Darcy was very close to her mother and they loved each other very much, as seen from letters found by her granddaughter, Maisie. Darcy wrote her mother almost twice a month when she was still in school, and once month from her work station in Egypt and Georgia. They would write about the various artefacts that Darcy and her team discovered, and Dolly tried to give her daughter a lot of advice.

#### Fred Marchbanks (1918-1979)

Darcy was close to her brother, Fred, who was a member of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. She thought that his job as an obliviator was boring, but never told him that. She seldom saw him as an adult, however, as she was usually overseas for her work.

#### Ida Marchbanks (née Vane) (1922-1990)

Darcy was on friendly terms with her sister-in-law in the time that she was alive. Ida had been a Gryffindor student in the year above her, and in school they never saw each other. When Ida met Fred, they were more close. Darcy also wrote letters to Ida from Egypt.

#### Otto Cattermole (1923-1981)

Darcy met and fell in love with her husband in Cairo. He was visiting for an investigation on international business for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the Ministry of Magic. Otto had been in Ravenclaw in her year and they instantly reconnected. Darcy found his allure mysterious and charming. They married in 1953, and had a son together. They were close as spouses, no matter how far away the other was, and Otto fell into a depression after she died. They had a son together but Otto was happy to raise him while she worked in the pyramids. However, their relationship suffered for a time when Darcy went back to Egypt.

#### Reginald Cattermole (1955- living)

Darcy gave birth to her son Reginald on 30 August, 1955. She loved him very much, but had to leave him when he was but a year old, to support the family when they needed money. The mid-1950s was marked by a depression in the wizarding world, as a result of a slight market crash. She came home on holidays having missed many of his milestones, and was always sad as a result. Reginald has almost no memories of his mother, as she was killed a little more than three years after he was born.

#### Winnifred Marchbanks (1952-living)

Now known as Winnifred Greengrass, she was the daughter of Darcy's brother Fred and wife Ida. Darcy loved her niece when she was a baby and for the first year of her life, lived in England while Otto was working as an Auror, so she saw her as an infant often. However, Winnifred was only six when her aunt died and remembers only her funeral.

## Ancestry

Darcy was the daughter of Hugh Marchbanks (1901-1977) and his wife Dolly Marchbanks née Abbott. Her mother was a member of the Noble and Ancient House of Abbott, which was quite large in its heyday. She had numerous second cousins and distant cousins as a result of this. In addition, her maternal grandmother was Tessie Abbott née Macmillan, whose parents were Hiram Macmillan (1845-1921) and Dolly Macmillan née Spindle (1849-1934), an American witch, who her mother was named after. Hiram and Dolly Macmillan were the parents of five children and twelve grandchildren. Her mother's first cousin was Melania Black née Macmillan (1901-1991), making Darcy a distant relative of the modern Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. She is also connected to modern members of the Prewett family, as one of her mother's first cousins, Mary Ann, was the mother of Fabian, Gideon, and Molly.

On her father's side, she is a descendant of the Noble and Ancient House of Gamp. Her paternal grandmother was Gwendoline Marchbanks (née Gamp) (1875-1949), and while the Noble and Ancient House of Gamp is now extinct in the male line, the female line is extremely wide-spread. Gwendoline had a total of ten siblings (seven of which survived to adulthood, eight of the total were girls). One of which was Hesper Gamp, who married Sirius Black II, which connects Darcy and her descendants to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black once more. In addition, Darcy is connected to the Tremblays, the Goshawks, the Davies, and the MacDougals through her grandmother Gwendoline.