Rowan Khanna

Forest Grove, Forbidden Forest, Hogwarts grounds, Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

### Also known as

Miss Connor (by Cuthbert Binns)Ro/Sis (by Yasuko Rivera)

## Relationship information

### Family members

* Cypress Khanna (mother)
* Andreas Khanna (father)
* Acacia Khanna (brother)

## Affiliation

### Loyalty

* Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
	+ Sphinx Club
* Khanna family

"*Never forget that Rowan died a hero. Some of you may know that it was Rowan's ambition to teach at Hogwarts one day. By constantly pursuing new knowledge and instilling a love of learning in ourselves and others, we can honour Rowan's dream.*"
— Albus Dumbledore's eulogy to Rowan

**Rowan Cypress Acacia** "**Ro**" **Khanna** (December 1972–1990) was a witch who began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1984. Her family owned a farm that supplied high-quality wood for the manufacture of wands and broomsticks.

Rowan aspired to become the youngest professor in Hogwarts history, but this dream was never realised as a result of her tragic murder at the hands of the Dark Witch Patricia Rakepick in 1990.

## Biography

### Early life

Rowan was born into a British-Indian wizarding family in Great Britain in December 1972. Her family owned a farm that supplied high-quality wood for the manufacture of wands and broomsticks.

Rowan was interested in reading from a young age. She was considered nerdy and weird by the age of eleven and had never made any friends.

While shopping for school supplies in Diagon Alley, Rowan met and befriended future fellow student and housemate, Yasuko Rivera, to whom Rowan advised starting with Flourish and Blotts. When the shopping concluded, Rowan and Yasuko promised to see each other again on the train.

### Hogwarts years (1984–1990)

#### First year

Rowan began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1984 and was Sorted into Hufflepuff with Yasuko Rivera.

Before the start of her first Potions class, Yasuko Rivera found Merula Snyde, an imperious and cruel Slytherin witch, trying to bully Rowan into admitting her as the most powerful witch to in Hogwarts. Rowan tried to reason with Merula by listing out other factors, but Merula wouldn't budge, which prompted Yasuko Rivera to intervene on Rowan's behalf and stand up for her friend. Professor Severus Prince-Slytherin, who was currently pregnant with his second child and about to take maternity leave, ordered them to get into the classroom before the argument could escalate further. Rowan later thanked Yasuko Rivera for standing up to Merula for her.

Later when her Prefect decided to teach Yasuko Rivera how to duel, Rowan helped Yasuko Rivera find a duelling book in the Artefact Room, where Yasuko Rivera saw some visions and heard a mysterious voice saying a kind of ice was here and a vault would open. Using the duelling book, she learned a new spell before teaching it to Yasuko Rivera.

After Yasuko's duel with Merula, she overheard Professor Prince-Slytherin and Argus Filch discussing the Cursed Vaults in a corridor and told Rowan about it. She went back to the corridor with Yasuko Rivera and found a locked door. Before they figured out how to open it, Mrs Norris showed up, prompting them to leave.

Rowan and Yasuko came up with a plan of brewing a Sleeping Draught to use on Mrs Norris. After Yasuko brewed it with Penny Haywood, she went back to the door with Yasuko Rivera and another friend of them, tricked Mrs Norris into drinking it and opened the door. However, Merula overpowered them and went in first. The door led to a room in which she discovered the cursed ice, with Merula trapped in it. The ice spread, blocked the door behind her, and trapped Rowan and her friends too. Yasuko Rivera saved her and their other friend reopened the door. Before leaving, Rowan noticed some code written on the wall and remembered it. The code, later deciphered by Rowan, suggested there was an Ice Knight who stood guard past the Vanished Stairs.

#### Second year

Upon realising Ben Copper's disappearance during the Start-of-Term Feast of the 1985–1986 school year, Rowan and Yasuko Rivera proceeded to search for their friend. In the Artefact Room, they found a note, which Rowan later deciphered, revealing that it was signed by someone using the initial "R" and contained instructions to locate a black quill hidden in a common room different from her own, which would turn into a note with additional information when Untransfigured. Rowan devised a plan for Yasuko Rivera to sneak into the said common room using the Shrinking Charm during the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, with Rowan keeping watch.

After Yasuko Rivera got the black quill, they Untransfigured it to another note, instructing the reader to go to the farthest corridor at the end of the fifth floor, re-Transfigure the scroll into a black quill, and return it to the common room in which it had been hidden. She did so, and while inspecting the corridor, she found out the professors were already there. She also found Ben frozen in the cursed ice, but the professors saved him by casting the Fire-Making Spell, explaining that the cursed ice appeared to have developed resistance to the Knockback Jinx.

Yasuko Rivera and Rowan searched the corridor once more and found a wall to be suspicious. They decided to ask Professor McGonagall to teach them the Revealing Charm. After learning, they returned to the corridor and used it to find the Vanished Stairs. The stairs led to another mysterious corridor, which ended in a kind of mist. Yasuko Rivera used the Knockback Jinx to clear the mist and revealed a hidden door covered with ice. They tried opening it but Rowan got hurt by some flying ice, so Yasuko Rivera sent Rowan to the Hospital Wing. When visiting Rowan, Yasuko Rivera brought a book about Wendelin the Weird, much to Rowan's delight. Rowan confessed being quite shaken up by the incident in the corridor and suggested Yasuko Rivera seeking help from someone more powerful, namely Bill Weasley, who Rowan held in great admiration.

After befriending Bill, Yasuko Rivera taught Rowan some more spells. It was possible that Rowan helped them break into the Vault of Ice near the end of the school year.

#### Third year

During the beginning of her third year, Rowan was excited to go to visit Hogsmeade, and discussed her excitement with Willow Tonks. They were also present when her head of house told Yasuko Rivera that her grades were not good enough to be allowed to visit Hogsmeade.

Rowan accompanied Yasuko on her first visit to Hogsmeade and the Three Broomsticks Inn, where they shared Butterbeer with Rubeus Hagrid while Yasuko asked Madam Rosmerta about her brother's notebooks about the Cursed Vaults.

After Yasuko acquired one of the notebooks, Rowan deciphered it and learned about a room where Jacob researched the Cursed Vaults.

Rowan accompanied Yasuko Rivera, Tulip Karasu and Barnaby Lee during her break-in of the Vault of Fear.

#### Fourth year

Rowan accompanied Yasuko Rivera, Charlie Weasley and Rubeus Hagrid during their break-in of the Forest Vault.

#### Fifth year

During Rowan's fifth year, she sometimes unofficially taught the History of Magic class during Professor Binn's frequent naps or inattention, due to her ambitions of becoming a professor at Hogwarts after graduation. Partly because of this, Roawn actually considered the subject her favourite, as it allowed her to practice her teaching technique.

Rowan was placed under the Imperius Curse (one of the Unforgivable Curses) by an unknown caster, causing her to behave completely out of character all of a sudden in the Clock Tower Courtyard. She then threatened Yasuko Rivera with the message that "death was coming to Hogwarts", and threatened to kill one of the student's friends. She quickly incapacitated Barnaby Lee with a spell, but was then quickly stunned with the Knockback Jinx by Ben Copper. She was sent to the Hospital Wing after the incident.

#### Sixth year and death

During the 1989–1990 school year, her sixth year, Rowan proceeded to take N.E.W.T. level Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, and History of Magic.

Sometime during the school year, Yasuko Rivera, Merula Snyde, and Ben Copper went into the Forest Grove to intercept a possible meeting between Jacob and R, unknowingly being followed from a close distance behind them by Rowan. During the search, a swarm of dementors showed up, and circled the group. However, the Dark Witch Patricia Rakepick Apparated into the vicinity and cast a powerful Patronus Charm, which warded off all of the dementors. She then engaged in a duel with the students, which was watched by Rowan. At some point in the duel, she cast a Killing Curse at Ben, intending to kill him. However, Rowan sacrificed her life by jumping in front of Ben, ending her life and saving that of her friends.

### Legacy

"*Last night we suffered an unimaginable loss at the hands of unimaginable evil. Rowan Khanna, a devoted student and friend, sacrificed her life to save another's. There is no more noble deed. So today we will not waste words on Rowan Khanna's killer, whom I assure you will be brought to justice. Today, we gather as one Hogwarts community to grieve, remember, and honour Rowan and her final heroic act.*"
— Albus Dumbledore

Rowan's death struck the entirety of Hogwarts as an extremely painful event and their death was mourned by all of her friends, who found it difficult to come to terms with their tragic loss. In particular to suffer were Yasuko Rivera, Ben Copper, and Merula Snyde, all of whom had watched her die. A memorial service took place in the Great Hall, where Professor Dumbledore gave a brief eulogy of Rowan's life, aspirations and sacrifice before leading the students and staff in raising their wands as a tribute to Rowan.

Rowan's murder prompted a vengeful Yasuko, Merula and Ben to form their own secret organisation to combat the malevolent "R" and get revenge on Rakepick for what she had done. The organisation was named Circle of Khanna in memory of Rowan.

## Physical description

Rowan had black hair, brown skin, and wore glasses. She tended to wear regular Hogwarts uniform robes most of the time, although she wore blue dress robes to the Celestial Ball. She was known to snore heavily.

## Personality and traits

Rowan Khanna was a voracious reader and aspired to be the youngest professor at Hogwarts. She was very driven towards their goal. She once said the only thing she enjoyed more than reading was planning. Her favourite professor was Albus Dumbledore and her favourite game was Gobstones. Her favourite sweet was Sugar Quills.

Rowan was an incredibly brave, loyal, and selfless individual, shown by her loyalty towards her friends, mostly her best friend and sister in all but blood, Yasuko Rivera. Rowan was also supportive of Yasuko when she came out to reveal her lesbian status and romantic relationship with Erica Rivers. Ultimately, Rowan sacrificed her own life to protect Ben Copper, even though she deeply mistrusted him, from the Killing Curse cast by Patricia Rakepick at the Forbidden Forest during their sixth year.

Rowan also was a bit of a cheater, as she often cheated when playing Wizard's Chess with Yasuko Rivera by distracting her and quickly changing the chess pieces, however that might have been because Yasuko Rivera also did the same while playing gobstones with her.

## Magical abilities and skills

"*Rowan Khanna is exceptionally bright.*"
— Albus Dumbledore regarding Rowan's intelligence

* **Wandlore**: Having grown up on a wand-tree farm, Rowan had an impressive knowledge of wand woods, being able to recognise them at first sight.
* **Charms**: Although Charms was never one of her strong suits and she often required tutoring from Yasuko, Rowan was still able to achieve either an ' Exceeds Expectations' or 'Outstanding' on her O.W.L. exam to be able to study the subject further at N.E.W.T.-level, thus showcasing her skill in the magical subject.
* **Potions**: While not as proficient as her best friend Yasuko Rivera in the art of potion-making, Rowan was still shown to be particularly knowledgeable in the nature and effects of various concoctions. During her very first-ever Potions lesson, Rowan was able to swiftly identify the substance that Yasuko's cauldron was coated with to be Bulbadox powder, succinctly describing its explosive effects to Yasuko. She later achieved an 'Outstanding' on their O.W.L. exam to be able to advance to the N.E.W.T.-level Potions class taught by Severus Prince-Slytherin, thus proving herself adept in the subject.
* **Transfiguration**: Rowan was proficient in Transfiguration, as she earned either an ' Exceeds Expectations' or 'Outstanding' on their O.W.L. exam to be able to study the subject further at N.E.W.T.-level, thus showcasing her skill in the magical subject.
* **Herbology**: Rowan was proficient in Herbology, as she was able to achieve an O.W.L. on the subject and study it further at N.E.W.T.-level, thus showcasing her skill in the magical field. Despite this, she considered it as one of her weak subjects.
* **Care of Magical Creatures**: Rowan was proficient at caring for magical creatures, being able to achieve an O.W.L. on the subject and study it further at N.E.W.T.-level, thus showcasing her skill in the subject.
* **History of Magic**: Arguably her most favourite subject out of all the magical fields taught at Hogwarts, Rowan was considerably knowledgeable and well-read in magical history, having read *Hogwarts: A History* in anticipation of her first year to such detail that she considered herself an expert on Hogwarts. She possessed an almost manic enthusiasm for the subject and often taught her History of Magic class with such passion that, despite the subject's notoriety for being extremely dull, her lectures appealed to the entire class, with her best friend Yasuko even noting that Rowan's zeal was infectious. She went on to achieve an O.W.L. on the subject and study it further at N.E.W.T.-level. Indeed, Professor Cuthbert Binns would mournfully acknowledge Rowan to be a brilliant student following her death, and conducted a lesson on the similarly life-changing event of the dissolving of the Wizards' Council in honour of her.
* **Intellectual giftedness**: Rowan Khanna was exceptionally intelligent, perceptive and well-read, having been an excellent academic achiever through her Hogwarts years, with Albus Dumbledore himself acknowledging her high intelligence. As such, Rowan was able to consistently aid her best friend and 'sister' Yasuko Rivera with useful insights or observations, making her an invaluable member in Yasuko Rivera's band of misfits.
* **Teaching skills**: Rowan was an excellent teacher of History of Magic, as she often intervened to teach the class whenever Professor Cuthbert Binns became distracted. Under her tutelage, the entire class was not only attentive to Rowan's lessons (despite the subject's infamy for being extremely dull) but also able to pass their History of Magic O.W.L. and study the subject further at N.E.W.T.-level, which is a testament to Rowan's superb skills at teaching others.

## Possessions

* ***Wand***: Rowan purchased her wand before starting her first year at Hogwarts in 1984, which was of an unknown length, wood and core.
* **Fuzzclaw**: Rowan owned a male cat called Fuzzclaw, who she often missed whilst at Hogwarts, meaning the cat lived at home with her family.
* **Ptolemy Chocolate Frog Card**: During her second year, Rowan told Yasuko that she had finally found Ptolemy's Chocolate Frog card after searching for it.