Bem

"It's like trying to catch smoke... like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands."

- Bem on trying to catch Sirius Black

Bem (born c. 1980 ) was a Nigerian wizard who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1991 to 1998. He was sorted into Gryffindor and is in Harry Potter's year, however he does not dorm with Harry and friends.

Early years
Bem began his education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1991, along with students Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. He was Sorted into the house of Gryffindor, but would not share a dormitory with the other known Gryffindor boys in his year. During Bem's second year, the school would be under attack from a Basilisk. Many students became petrified. Hogwarts was under threat of being closed. Bem was not a mentioned casualty.



Third year
Bem chose Care of Magical Creatures and Divination as electives in his third year. During a Tessomancy lesson, Professor Trelawney looked in Harry Potter's cup, and said he had the Grim. Seamus Finnigan, mishearing the name of this omen, asked what "the Grin" was. Bem called Seamus an idiot and then proceeded to explain the significance of the Grim by reading from his Divination textbook.

Later on in Bem's third year, Seamus Finnigan came into the Great Hall to announce that Sirius Black had been seen, and Bem likened searching for the fugitive to "trying to catch smoke with your bare hands." Bem was present to witness Harry Potter open his new broom he received from Sirius Black and watched him give it it's first test fly.

Fourth year
During Bem's fourth year, Hogwarts held the Triwizard Tournament. Harry Potter, whom is from the same house as Bem, was chosen as one of the student finalists along with Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum. Bem was sat next to Parvati and Padma Patil during the feast at the start of the year. Bem was also seen sitting in the back of the Great Hall during the memorial to the late Cedric Diggory at the end of the year.

Fifth year
"Every great wizard in history has started out as nothing more than what we are now: students. If they can do it, why not us?"

- Harry Potter to the students of Hogwarts

Bem's fifth year would be under the watchful eye of the Ministry of Magic and Dolores Umbridge, who took on the role of the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Throughout the year both the Ministry and Umbridge blamed "notorious mass murderer" Sirius Black for the Azkaban escapes and the murders. Whether or not Bem believed this is unknown, but he commented in previous years how he felt about Sirius Black. It is very likely that Bem joined the alliance against Umbridge, Dumbledore's Army, but it is not a confirmed fact. Come the end of the year, the Ministry had seen sense and the start of the Second Wizarding War was announced.

Sixth year
During his sixth year, he sang in the choir of Hogwarts.

Battle of Hogwarts
Bem possibly fought at the Battle of Hogwarts and may have survived the Second Wizarding War.

Etymology
The name Bem means "peace" in the language of the Tiv, of Nigeria and Cameroon. "BEM" is also an abbreviation for British Empire Medal, a medal received from British royalty for meritorious civil or military service, which reflects Bem being Sorted into Gryffindor.

Behind the scenes

 * Like the character Nigel Wespurt, Bem is not mentioned in the books, but is credited in the films. Played by Ekow Quartey, the character is listed in the credits for Prisoner of Azkaban as simply "Boy 1". However, on the Prisoner of Azkaban DVD, the closed captions identify the character as "Bem" during the Divination class scene.
 * There is some confusion over Bem's House. In Prisoner, he clearly wears a Gryffindor robe and tie, however he cannot be a canonical Gryffindor, since he would then share the dormitory with Harry Potter—which is impossible since the dormitory has only five beds and we know all the occupants; the other beds belong to Ron Weasley, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom. This creates speculation that there may be another boy's dormitory. (Or, that there might simply be more than one room per floor in the Gryffindor Tower. It is probably inaccurate to assume that each year only five boys are sorted into Gryffindor out of the entire lot that come to the Sorting ceremony; therefore there must be more rooms/beds.) However, he might simply be a year ahead of them, and was doubling back to take Divination. But in the fifth movie, in the scene where Harry is teaching DA, Bem is clearly wearing a Ravenclaw tie.
 * In the sixth film he only appears in a deleted scene, performing with the school choir.

Appearances

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

Notes and references
Bem