Peeves

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost."

- Nearly Headless Nick.

Peeves was a poltergeist that resided at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Fond of mischief and chaos, he was a constant pain to the school, in particular to the students and Argus Filch, the caretaker.

Arrival at Hogwarts
"GOT YOUR CONK!!!"

- Peeves

Peeves arrived at Hogwarts sometime around the 1970s or earlier.

1991-1992 School Year
"Ooh, ickle firsties! What fun!"

- Peeves

In September 1991, Peeves was already a topic of discussion before the Welcoming Feast had even begun. The ghosts of the school debated in front of the new first years whether or not Peeves should attend the feast. The Fat Friar was willing to give Peeves another chance, but Nearly Headless Nick felt Peeves was not civilized enough to attend.

"You want to watch out for Peeves, ...The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects."

- Percy Weasley to Neville Longbottom

After the Welcoming Feast, Peeves appeared to torment Prefect Percy Weasley as he led the Gryffindor first years to Gryffindor Tower. Peeves threw walking sticks at the prefect, and only responded with a raspberry when Percy threatened to inform the Bloody Baron. He then dumped more walking sticks onto Neville Longbottom's head and left.

Later Peeves was writing rude words on the blackboard of a classroom when Professor McGonagall informed Harry that he would be the new Seeker for Gryffindor.

Later in the year, Peeves caught Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Neville sneaking around the school after curfew. After teasing the four students, Peeves then loudly alerted Filch to their presence. However, once Filch arrived on the scene, Peeves did nothing but antagonize him.

Peeves was suspected by Ron for releasing the troll on Halloween, however this turned out to be Quirrell.

Still later, Peeves encountered Harry, Hermione, and Ron yet again the night they attempted to save the Philosopher's Stone. Beneath his Invisibility Cloak, Harry impersonated the Bloody Baron and warned Peeves to stay away from the third floor that night.

1992-1993 School Year


"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK!  NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE!  RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!  ATTAAACK!"

- Peeves

In the fall of 1992, Peeves crashed the vanishing cabinet over Filch's office after being persuaded by Nearly Headless Nick. Peeves attended Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday Party. For the occasion, he wore a bright orange party hat and a revolving bow tie. He appeared to be quite civilized, although he took pleasure in taunting Hermione Granger for gossiping about Moaning Myrtle, and he later pelted moldy peanuts at the ghost in question, mocking her spots.

Some time later, Peeves appeared in a hallway with Harry, where he noticed two new Basilisk victims, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick. He then loudly alerted the school to the attack. He then perfomed a song which he later developed with a dance routine.

1993-1994 School Year
"Looney, loopy Lupin! Looney, loopy Lupin!"

- Peeves about Remus Lupin

In 1993, Peeves appeared before Remus Lupin and his third-year Defence Against the Dark Arts class when they were entering the teacher's lounge for a practical lesson. Peeves had been stuffing a keyhole with chewing gum, when he noticed Remus he began singing the phrase "Looney, loopy Lupin again and again. When Remus asked him to remove it, Peeves only blew a loud raspberry at him. In response, Remus cast a spell to shoot the gum up Peeves' nose.

On October 31, Peeves informed Professor Dumbledore of the Fat Lady's location after her portrait was attacked. He also said that her attacker was the escaped prisoner, Sirius Black.

Peeves woke Harry early the morning of the Gryffindor verses Hufflepuff Quidditch match at 4:30 am by blowing on him as he slept.

Peeves was shown on the Marauders' map to entertain himself by bouncing around the trophy room.

Peeves was shown to display glee at the prospect of the Dementors using the "kiss" on Sirius.

1994-1995 School Years
Peeves appeared before the welcoming feast where he was throwing water bombs in the entrance hall at all who tried to enter the great hall. It was stated at the feast by Nick that Peeves was enraged at being unable to attend the feast and therefore caused havoc and mayhem in the kitchens and terrified the House Elves. Hermione was outraged at there being House-Elves at Hogwarts.

When Harry was practicing the Summoning Charm with Hermione, Peeves appeared and started chucking chairs across the room under the pretense that Harry wanted things thrown at him.

Around the time of the Yule Ball, Peeves frequently hid in a suit of armour and sang rude songs about Christmas.

He was accused of stealing Harry Potter's Golden egg the night Harry worked out the clue.

1995-1996 School Year (Overthrow of High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge)
"Give her hell from us, Peeves."

- Fred and George Weasley

Harry ran into Peeves as he walked to Professor McGonagall's office under the orders of Professor Umbridge who proceeded to harrass him.

Peeves was in the classroom where Harry, Ron and Hermione were situated shortly after conversing with Sirius about forming Dumbledore's Army. He threw ink pellets at the trio as well as other people such as Katie Bell, who he emptied an ink bottle over.

Peeves was not completely without loyalties. During Dolores Umbridge's attempts to take control of Hogwarts in 1996, he actually showed respect for his fellow troublemakers Fred and George Weasley. He took their words to heart as they fled the school, marking possibly the only time Peeves ever obeyed a student.

After the Weasley twins' departure, Peeves began a rampage of ceaseless mayhem, juggling burning torches over the heads of students, dumping a bag of tarantulas into the Great Hall, and destroying property like never before. It appears that Peeves was actually on friendly terms with the strict Professor McGonagall during this time, due to their common enemy. Minerva even went as far as to give him hints on how to unscrew a chandelier, and apparently she later allowed him to borrow her walking stick to chase Dolores from Hogwarts.

1996-1997 School Year
"Potty asked Loony to go to the party! Potty lurves Loony! Potty luuuuuurves Looooony!"

- Peeves

When Harry asked Luna Lovegood to attend Professor Slughorn's party, Peeves appeared and started singing a composition on the situation.

Peeves watched Dobby and Kreacher fight in the hospital wing but was driven out by Harry after using an incantation to stuck his tongue to the upper part of his mouth.

Battle of Hogwarts
"We did it! We bashed them, wee Potter's the one! And Voldy's gone moldy so now let's have fun!"

- Peeves

During the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, Filch invited Peeves to take part in the defence of the castle. Peeves caused chaos among the Death Eaters, and after the battle, he sang yet another one of his compositions throughout the halls.

Physical Appearance
Peeve's actual physical appearance is unknown and there have been multiple incarnations from differant sources (i.e video games, trading cards, etc. When visible, Peeves appeared as a small old man dressed in wildly-coloured clothing. He was capable of flight and intangibility, like a ghost, but could also affect solid objects and make himself invisible.

Personality and Nature
Peeves is more of a chaotic spirit rather than a physical being, but highly different from the other school ghosts. Peeves was essentially an embodiment of disorder, and took great pleasure in constantly causing it, with varying degrees of mischievousness and malice.

At times, Peeves could be legitimately dangerous. Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch waged a constant war with Peeves, and for years requested that the poltergiest be thrown out of the school.

Peeves further annoyed and bothered the Hogwarts community by joining in with whatever current gossip is circulating among students. When Harry Potter was suspected as being the "Heir of Slytherin" in 1992, Peeves taunted him in the hallways for "speaking in tongues."

Students were known to allow Peeves to take the blame for their own mischief. For instance, when Harry Potter was wandering the school at night under the cover of his Invisibility Cloak, he dropped his Triwizard Golden Egg, and Filch assumed Peeves had stolen it.

Peeves did not heed commands from Hogwarts prefects, professors, or anyone else for that matter. The sole exception of this lack of respect was Albus Dumbledore, likely because, as Headmaster, Dumbledore had the power to evict Peeves from the premises. The one Hogwarts ghost that struck fear in Peeves, and the only one who knew how to control his behaviour, was the Bloody Baron. So much was the fear of the Bloody Baron, that in their first year, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, under the Invisibility Cloak, were able to drive him off by pretending to be the Bloody Baron. Overall, Peeves did not seem to care who he annoyed. If students were late to class, he would, among other things, drop wastepaper baskets on their heads, pelt them with chalk, or pull the rugs out from under them. The worst case involved him sneaking up invisible, grabing the person's nose and screeching "GOT YOUR CONK!"

Fred and George Weasley
Though he never hesitated to prank them, Peeves appeared to genuinely like Fred and George Weasley. Peeves shocked everyone in 1996 when he actually listened to the twins' direction to cause as many problems as he could for Dolores Umbridge and actually saluted them as they flew off on their recently freed Cleansweep Five broomsticks.

Argus Filch
"Haven't you been complaining about him for the last quarter-century? Move!"

- Professor McGonagoll sending Filch to find Peeves in order to assist in the defence of Hogwarts.

Peeves and Argus Filch were sworn enemies. The pair had a 25 year emnity, with Filch never ceasing in his futile efforts to get Peeves expelled from the castle. Peeves never stopped taunting Filch, including such acts as trapping Mrs. Norris in a suit of armour twice, dropping chandeliers and causing general mayhem that Filch would usually be responsible for cleaning up. Their feud presumably continued after the Battle of Hogwarts.

The Bloody Baron
The Bloody Baron is the only being that Peeves takes orders from. Peeves has a large amount of respect for the Bloody Baron, for unknown reasons, and fled the third floor when he thought that he might be disrupting the Baron's business.

Etymology

 * "Peeve" means "little devil" or something that is personally annoying; a personal dislike (like a pet peeve).

Behind the scenes

 * According to J. K. Rowling's website, Peeves was "an indestructible spirit of chaos."
 * A scene with Peeves was filmed for the movie version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but was left on the cutting room floor. He has otherwise not appeared in any of the movie adaptations so far.
 * In the video games, Peeves is battled several times. In the PC game of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Peeves is defeated with the Flipendo Jinx. In the PC game of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets he is defeated with the Ectoplasm-Cleaning Charm.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows