Maisie Cattermole

## Maisie Florence Cattermole

**Maisie Florence Cattermole** (born 6 February, 1981) was the daughter of Reginald Cattermole and his first wife Esia Dupont, a muggle woman whom he met windsurfing in Queensland, Australia.

She was a werewolf and a half-blood witch, having been bitten by an unknown at the age of six years old. She was able to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry under Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and was a Gryffindor. She was a friend of Aquila Black and Ginny Weasley. In her sixth year, she learned that the identity of the werewolf who bit her as a child was Fenrir Greyback.

Her father was Reginald Cattermole, an employee of Magical Maintenance at the Ministry of Magic. Her mother, a muggle, abandoned the family after she was bitten. She has a paternal half-sister and brother, Ellie and Alfred, who are about ten years younger.

Maisie was a member of Dumbledore's Army and fought in the Battle of Hogwarts during the Second Wizarding War with the Order of the Phoenix. She survived the battle to witness Lord Voldemort defeated by Harry Potter.

## Biography

### Early life (1981-1992)

Maisie was born on 6 February, 1981, in Great Tolling, Evesham. Her father was Reginald Cattermole, an employee of the Ministry of Magic Magical Maintenance Department, and Esia Dupont, an unemployed French muggle. They had married six months before her birth.

As a child, Maisie interacted with muggles quite a bit, and often visited her maternal grandparents, the Duponts, in Dunkirk, Nord, France. She learned to speak French and English. Her mother, however, liked England more, and was infatuated with English and American music. She grew up listening to Prince, Pet Shop Boys, and the Smiths.

When Maisie was six years old, she was bitten by a werewolf in a freak occurrence. Her father, who worked for the Ministry of Magic at the time, quit his job and the family retreated into the muggle world for some two years after, in an effort to protect his daughter from scrutiny of the Wizarding community. While in seclusion, her parents separated in June 1988, and her mother moved to Somerset.

After the divorce, her father took up a job working for Quality Quidditch Supplies. He met another witch, Mary Macdonald, in December 1988. They married six months later, in June 1989, and their first child together, Elizabeth (Ellie) was born on 17 April, 1990. Their second child, Alfred, was born on 6 May, 1991. Because of the age gap, and with Maisie at school, she soon began to feel that she couldn't connect with them as much.

### Hogwarts years (1992-1999)

Maisie was accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the summer of 1992. She was sorted on 1 September and was placed in Gryffindor, unlike her father and step-mother, who were Ravenclaws. She became fast friends with Ginny Weasley, Aquila Black, and Ophelia Brown, although they were unaware of her secret. She made up stories to explain her monthly disappearances, such as that her mother was ill and she needed to go home to visit her. She was terrified that they would desert her once they found out what she truly was.

She came to know other students as well: Matilda Corner, Molly Roper, and Colin Creevey.

#### First year (1992-1993)

Maisie Cattermole sat in a compartment with a boy called Colin Creevey on the Hogwarts Express on her way to school, because Colin seemed to have an empty compartment. However, two girls soon barged in: Aquila Black, and Ginny Weasley, who appeared to be running away from something. Apparently, there had been a conflict in the fourth car on the train- it had somehow escalated from a casual encounter to ending with Ginny Weasley and Aquila icing the entire corridor, leaving a boy called Peter Goyle covered in boils, his half-brother Gregory Goyle in a body-bind, another boy called Vincent Crabbe glued to the floor, and an innocent fellow first-year, Julius Alesci, trapped behind a wall of ice. A girl called Matilda Corner had joined in when she'd been hexed with a Leg-Locker. They were all found by Marcus Flint, who performed the countercurses necessary and later reported the whole incident to Professor Snape, who gave Ginny and Matilda detention. However, the compartment that they had escaped into had been Maisie's and Colin's, and they bonded with each other. Maisie found the two fascinating and incredibly brave. When Aquila Black told Maisie that she would most certainly be a Slytherin, Maisie disagreed.

On 1 September, 1992, Maisie was sorted into Gryffindor House, which was a surprise to her, because her father and grandfather had both been Ravenclaws. Aquila, too, was sorted into Gryffindor, as well as Ginny, Matilda, and Colin. Maisie shared a dormitory with the girls she met on the train, as well as Molly Roper, a muggle-born from Birmingham, and Ophelia Brown, a pure-blood from London.

Maisie Cattermole and her group of friends, were constantly at war with Peter Goyle throughout their school years. Immediately upon meeting him, Maisie's friend Aquila disliked Peter for no other reason than he had defended her cousin Draco Malfoy, pulling his wand out when Aquila tried to hex the other. Peter further disliked that Aquila had gotten away scot-free because she was the member of an Ancient and Noble House, and Aquila further disliked Peter because he tattled. Aquila later served the detentions with Ginny and Matilda.

Meanwhile, Peter took out his anger by taunting and hexing Aquila and Ginny, but they gave him little to no reaction until he started attacking Maisie, who her friends saw as delicate. Maisie was often seen in the hospital wing with strange bandages on her arms and various other injuries. One incident involved Peter taunting Maisie, who was not there, in Potions, to which point Aquila retaliated by pushing every button that hurt- Peter completely lost his temper and socked her in the cheek.

Maisie was a good student, but also a prankster. She and Ophelia Brown would sometimes join Aquila and Ginny in detention for mischief-making, though they did not get into as much trouble as their other friends.

However, Maisie's frequent disappearances riled up an unhealthy curiosity in Peter Goyle. Peter noticed that Maisie kept disappearing during the full moon and once followed her past the Whomping Willow to confirm his suspicions. When he found out what Maisie was, in the week before Hallowe'en, 1992, he told the Slytherin Prefect, Marcus Flint, and they then both confronted and attacked her. Maisie's friend, Aquila, and Molly Roper were coming back from the library when Aquila realised what was going on, and lost it. Molly tried to stop Aquila, but Aquila cursed Flint and sent Peter flying, knocking him out. Peter spent several days in the hospital wing from the concussion. Marcus Flint then physically attacked Aquila, and she fought back and both of them received a month's detention for the scuffle. Maisie was grateful that Aquila had defended her, but was terrified of her finding out her secret. She thought that if Aquila found out, she wouldn't want to be friends with her anymore.

Flint and Goyle were both sworn to secrecy by Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Snape (their Head of House), and it is unknown how Dumbledore did this- but unbeknownst to Maisie, it was along the same ways as what he said to Professor Snape to keep him quiet when he found out about Lupin in his youth.

#### The Chamber of Secrets mystery

On the night of Hallowe'en, a message was painted on the wall by the girl's bathroom on the fifth floor, signifying that *"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened,"* and *"Enemies of the Heir Beware."* The school's caretaker, Argus Filch, also found the body of his cat, Mrs. Norris, who was petrified. The Professors decided that the Professor of Herbology, Professor Pomona Sprout, would use her crop of mandrakes to revive the cat when they were fully mature. This occurrence left all students with a sense of dread and worry, as many believed that the writing on the wall was just the beginning.

Maisie read up on the legend which her friend Aquila had told her was a pure-blood child's bedtime story. She found out that Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School, after an argument with the three others, had supposedly created a hidden chamber to house a monster that would purge the school of muggle-borns before leaving the school forever. According to the legend, the Chamber could only be opened by Slytherin's true Heir, and Maisie helped her friend Aquila as she quickly threw herself into genealogy in order to find out who it was- but Aquila quickly found that it was very difficult to find who the last Heir would have been- the last fully documented descendants of Salazar Slytherins, excluding all others who had made a claim but being otherwise unable to prove it, were the Gaunt family of Little Hangleton, Yorkshire, and they had all died out.

Maisie, along with her friends, Aquila Black, Ophelia Brown, and Ginny Weasley, all joined a Duelling Club: but to their dismay it was run by Professor Snape and Professor Lockhart, some of the school's worst teachers. The event took place in the Great Hall. During the club's first meeting, Lockhart demonstrated his ineptitude. He was successfully disarmed by Snape and floundered throughout the entire practice duel. Also during a practice battle during the first meeting, Aquila's cousin Draco conjured a snake in an effort to mess with his partner, Harry Potter, who revealed himself to be a parselmouth in front of the entire Great Hall. Since Maisie and her friends could not understand it, they, as well as all the other students, assumed that Harry had been egging the snake on, and which encouraged it to attack a muggle-born student in the year above- Justin Finch-Fletchley, of Hufflepuff. Parseltongue is a very rare gift that Salazar Slytherin was always famous for, and Maisie and Aquila saw this as a clue. Aquila dived into Harry Potter's family tree only to discover that it was seemingly ordinary- Maisie and her friends became amused when Aquila discovered that she and Harry Potter were second cousins once removed.

Maisie signed up to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because of the Full Moon, which fell during the holidays. She also discovered that Aquila was staying too (for unknown reasons), as was Ginny, whose parents were visiting her brother Bill in Egypt. That Christmas, Aquila had put two-in-two together- that Maisie's disappearances were not because she was visiting her sick mother, and that all of her symptoms coincided to being a werewolf. Aquila kept it quiet for two weeks before she could tell Maisie what she knew, and told Maisie in early January, once she had gotten over the initial shock. Maisie begged Aquila not to tell anyone, and Aquila promised that she wouldn't. Aquila immediately started researching lycanthropy and what might combat it: she found initial research of a Potion that had been developed in the summer of 1991 which seemed promising, however, it was expensive and looked extremely difficult to brew. It also hadn't been fully tested yet- and the research paper, written by Damocles Belby, only listed its ingredients, not how to brew it. Aquila then found another option which seemed more promising- while studying animagi in Transfiguration (the lesson only consisted of a short demonstration provided by Professor McGonagall to cheer students up due to the many muggle-born attacks), Aquila asked many theoretical questions that stretched the demonstration to an actual lesson, on 1 February, she made the decision that she would attempt to become an animagus to keep Maisie company on full moons. She started her preliminary research the next day, and stole a single Mandrake leaf from the greenhouses- an operation that had to be completed with caution, as Professor Sprout had placed a security troll around Greenhouse Five, which had been completely emptied to support Mandrake growths.

As the year went on, the attacks on muggle-borns became more and more frequent: Mrs. Norris, Colin Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchley, as well as the Gryffindor house ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, were all petrified. Those that followed them was a fifth-year Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater, and a second-year Gryffindor, Hermione Granger. All the while, Maisie and her friends noticed that their new friend Ginny became moodier and withdrawn. Around March, Aquila and Ginny had a fight and it left both of them in tears.

#### The Chamber of Secrets, Ginny taken

The night after May's full moon, the Heir of Slytherin left another message right below the first one, on the fifth floor, which said that *"Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever."* Maisie was in the hospital wing at the time, recovering, but she overheard Madame Pomfrey over many months as more victims were brought in- that if there was *one* more attack, Hogwarts would have to be closed. Maisie cried for a night over it, because she couldn't lose Hogwarts- she had never thought that she would be able to go, and now that she was here she had wonderful friends, although they didn't know her secret. Only Aquila did, however, and when Maisie returned to the Gryffindor Common Room, she found Ophelia, sobbing, who told her that Ginny had been taken into the Chamber, and that Aquila had not come back from Transfiguration.

Maisie was beside herself and told Percy Weasley, the Prefect (who was Ginny's brother) that Aquila was gone, and Percy reported it to McGonagall, who soon found out that two other Gryffindors were also missing- Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, Ginny's older brother, in the year above them, when they did a full count of everyone in the Tower. It was eventually determined that all three students could have been together, and most certainly in danger.

Maisie and Ophelia had truly thought that they had lost Ginny and Aquila that day, and the other Gryffindor first-years gathered with them, trying to provide comfort. George Bell said that they didn't know for sure whether Aquila had been taken into the Chamber with Ginny, but Maisie bemoaned that they would have been together for sure, if the monster only wanted Ginny. The day was spent with much uncertainty and the others- including George Bell, Arthur Dodge, Gregory Sampson, Matilda Corner, and Molly Roper, were quite shaken. Their classmate Colin had been petrified back in October, and now Ginny Weasley and Aquila Black had been taken by the monster and were probably dead.

#### Her friends' return, safe

Ginny Weasley, Aquila Black, Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter, it turned out, were alive, but in shock. It also turned out that Ginny had been writing in an enchanted diary all year, believing to be talking to a boy called Tom Riddle, who had written back sympathetically. But Tom Riddle's diary had quickly took possession of Ginny, forcing her to open the Chamber of Secrets and controlling the chamber monster through her. Aquila, when she had found out what the monster was (a Basilisk), and how it had been getting around the school, had run to the staffroom to tell a teacher, when Ron and Harry had done the same thing. They ended up hiding in a coat closet together when they overheard the McGonagall telling the others that Ginny Weasley had been taken by the monster. They then went to Lockhart's office because he was supposed to be responsible for the beast, but found that he was a fraud who tried to wipe their memories. Ron and Harry overpowered him and all four of them went down into the Chamber of Secrets. There, Lockhart tried to attack them again, using Ron's wand, but it backfired and erased his own memory instead. It also caused the cavern to cave in, trapping Harry and Aquila on one side, and Lockhart and Ron on the other. Aquila and Harry kept going, hoping to find Ginny alive, but instead found her limp, pale, and seemingly lifeless on the floor in the next chamber.

There, they encountered a strengthened Tom Riddle, who summoned the Basilisk and ordered it to kill them. Before he did this, he had taken Aquila's wand, but Harry had his in his pocket. Harry also proved great loyalty to Dumbledore, and in doing so, accidentally summoned Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, who blinded the Basilisk. Harry, who still had his wand, tried to cast spells on it, but none of them were strong enough to actually hurt it. Aquila, realising that she had no other option, used wandless magic to attempt and suffocate the beast by cutting off its oxygen, but even she was too weak to hold a hundred foot long snake with just the force of her hands for long. Riddle then set the snake on them again. Harry, hopeless, stuffed the Sorting Hat (carried into the Chamber by Fawkes) onto his head and prayed for a miracle. Instead, Harry got hit in the head with the hilt of a heavy sword, which he then used to take multiple swings at the already-blinded basilisk. After several misses, Harry plunged the sword into the roof of the snake's mouth, killing it. However, one of its poisonous fangs had sunken into his arm, promising a quick death. While Riddle gloated, Fawkes cried over the wound, instantly healing Harry.

Harry then stabbed the diary three times with the Basilisk fang. Ink began pouring out of the book and the memory of Riddle faded out of existence; Ginny immediately stirred and woke up, quite distraught. Aquila, Ginny, and Harry travelled back through the Chamber to find Ron and Lockhart, who had no idea when or who he was. The five of them escaped the Chamber by grabbing hold of Fawkes, flying out of the Chamber (another phoenix specialty). They arrived to find Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Ginny's parents, who were delighted to see them alive.

Aquila worried that Ginny would get blamed for being the person behind the attacks, but to her great relief, Dumbledore correctly deduced that Riddle was indeed behind the attacks. After Ginny left with her parents to get some much-needed rest, Dumbledore gave them three hundred points to Gryffindor and an Award for Special Services to the School.

#### Aftermath

Lucius Malfoy barged into the Dumbledore's office, outraged at Dumbledore returning even though he'd been dismissed. Dumbledore calmly responded that it was the rest of the Board of Governors that requested him to return once they found out that Arthur Weasley's girl had been killed. Apparently, Aquila's godfather had been blackmailing the others with the threat of cursing their families. While they carried on their venomous exchange, it was revealed that Lucius had snuck Riddle's diary into Ginny's cauldron the day that they visited Diagon Alley, in an effort to get revenge on Arthur Weasley for his instigation of the new Muggle Protection Act. Lucius dared Dumbledore to prove it, and while Dumbledore had insufficient evidence to do so, he also cautioned him against future plots.

It was then that Malfoy noticed his god-daughter, Aquila. She admitted, under an unsettling and threatening look from him, that she and Harry Potter had killed a hundred foot long Basilisk and that she was on the verge of passing out. Lucius caught her and Aquila was taken to the hospital wing.

Maisie found out all of this from Aquila, who explained what had happened to her and Ginny from the hospital wing after she woke up. Maisie was understandably shocked.

## Personality and Traits

Maisie was compassionate, intelligent, tolerant, levelheaded, peaceful, selfless, brave, kind, and good-natured. She had an ability to see the good in almost everybody and was extremely forgiving. Maisie also had an excellent sense of humour. She was the best of friends with Aquila Black, Ginny Weasley, and Ophelia Brown, and together they played many practical jokes.

True to being a Gryffindor, Maisie was quite courageous. Nonetheless, she suffered deep-seated feelings of shame and fear of rejection which, in certain situations, led her to consider backing down. Her love for Ginny and Aquila also led her to not do anything to stop their bullying other students, a most notable example being Peter Goyle. Maisie was terrified of losing them and therefore did nothing to stop the bullying. Another probable reason for this was that Goyle often said terrible things about Maisie herself, and it was possible that Maisie felt vindicated in allowing her friends to torment him.

In contrast to Aquila's more competitive and combative nature, Maisie was far more peaceful, reserved, and prone to negotiation despite her nature as a werewolf. This is symbolic of how dogs often tend to fight for dominance versus the more pragmatic and somewhat democratic nature of wolves in a pack who organise themselves peacefully unless threatened. However, Maisie was by no means weak, and marched into battle against Voldemort's soldiers like a true warrior. Maisie referred to Voldemort by name, unafraid of the Dark Lord or his loyal Death Eaters.

## Magical Abilities and Skills

Maisie was an accomplished and skillful witch, with extensive knowledge of Dark creatures. She also possessed the ability to properly impart practical and theoretical skills of defensive magic to others. In her fourth year of school, Maisie was capable of conjuring a corporeal wolf Patronus (a mark of her superior magical ability). She also proved to be a skillful duellist, surviving numerous battles. However, by her own admission, Potions was not her strong suit.

* **Duelling**: Despite being often prevented from participating in combat mainly for her age, Maisie was a highly talented and competent duellist. She had an uncanny ability for dodging her opponents' curses due to her agility and reflexes. During the Battle of Hogwarts, Maisie fired well-aimed curses into the crowd of attacking Death Eaters. She, Molly Roper, and Ophelia Brown also held their own against Antonin Dolohov, an extremely powerful Dark wizard.
* **Defence Against the Dark Arts**: As a committed and enthusiastic member of Dumbledore's Army, Maisie learned how to successfully cast numerous defensive and offensive spells successfully, under Harry Potter's expert instruction. Maisie was capable of fighting numerous highly dangerous Death Eaters during the Battle of Hogwarts, which she survived, showing her excellent defensive abilities.
* **Charms**: Maisie displayed a high amount of proficiency in charms, given how she was able to cast the Summoning Charm, Shield Charm and the Stunning Spell effortlessly and successfully. She was able to block spells from Death Eaters using the Shield Charm with lightning speed.

## Etymology

The name *Maisie* is a girl's name of Scottish origin meaning "pearl".

The name Cattermole is an East Anglian descriptive (topographical) term denoting "the dweller at the bank", a "mole" being a bank of a river.