Faris Spavin

**Minister Faris "Spout-Hole" Spavin** (fl. 1756 - 1903) was Minister for Magic from 1865 to 1903.

## Biography

Faris Spavin was born around the year 1756. He became Minister for Magic on 1865 at 109 years old, and was known for being the longest-ever serving and most long-winded Minister. He survived an assassination attempt (kicking) made by a centaur, who took offence to the punch line of his infamous 'a centaur, a ghost and a dwarf walk into a bar' joke.

Spavin was elected by the Wizarding population in Great Britain and Ireland at least six times.

Minister Spavin's term in office saw the introduction of an important piece of wizarding legislation: the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, in 1875. This Decree made it illegal for an underage wizard to do magic outside school. The Ministry of Magic detects breaches of this Decree by means of The Trace.

In the late 19th century, the Muggle government made plans to flatten the Leaky Cauldron, with the creation of Charing Cross Road. Faris Spavin made a melancholy seven-hour speech before the Wizengamot explaining why the Leaky Cauldron could not be saved. During the course of his tedious speech, however, the wizarding community rallied and performed a mass of Memory Charms (some say, although it has never been conclusively proven, that the Imperius Curse was additionally used on several Muggle town planners), so that the Leaky Cauldron was now accommodated in the revised plans for the new road. After his speech, his secretary presented him with a note describing the developments that had just invalidated his words.

Spavin's term was also notable for introducing some reforms to the game of Quidditch (and the commotion they originated): on the night of 21 June, 1884, the Department of Magical Games and Sports decreed the institutionalisation of the Stooging Penalty in Quidditch. This announcement caused widespread discontent among British Quidditch players and fans, who demonstrated profusely at the Ministry of Magic Headquarters: the assembled crowd bombarded a Departmental representative with Quaffles, as well as threatened to stooge Minister Spavin himself. Wizards from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement were duly dispatched there and the crowd reluctantly dispersed. This was not without precedent: just over a year before, another riot had broken out at the Ministry as the Department of Magical Games and Sports had decided to get rid of "goal baskets" in favour of the modern goalposts.

Spavin attended Queen Victoria's funeral in an admiral's hat and spats, at which point the Wizengamot suggested gently he step down as Minister for Magic. He was 147 when he resigned, in 1903.

## Behind the scenes

* He is known to have served the longest term as Minister: thirty-eight years.

## Etymology

* The name "*Faris*" means "*knight*" in Arabic, but also "*stone*" in both Greek and English. Faris is also the name of a municipality in Laconia, Greece. It has a population of roughly 5,000.
* Spavin is a word given to a disorder located in a horse's neck, usually a swelling. The word has French origins and comes from the word "*espavin*", meaning "*swelling*".