Pansy Parkinson

Pansy Parkinson is a witch who was in Harry Potter's year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was sorted into Slytherin house and appears to have been the girlfriend of Draco Malfoy during some of their school years. Pansy was a Prefect for her house and a member of the short-lived Inquisitorial Squad in her fifth year. When the final battle of the Second Wizarding War began at Hogwarts, Pansy spoke up in favour of turning Harry over to Lord Voldemort, only to have many of her schoolmates turn their wands on her. Later on in life, her adolescent boyfriend Draco Malfoy would marry Astoria Greengrass, a girl two years younger than herself.

Education at Hogwarts
"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom? Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."

- Pansy mocking Parvati Patil and Neville Longbottom

Pansy Parkinson began her education at Hogwarts in 1991 and was sorted into the House of Slytherin. During Pansy's first class of broom flying, which Slytherin shared with Gryffindor, she teased Parvati Patil for defending Neville Longbottom when Draco Malfoy threw away his Remembrall. This was the start of a long-lived meanstreak for Pansy and throughout her education she would belittle almost every other girl and tease those she didn't like. Pansy Parkinson appears to have known the Patil family before starting her education at Hogwarts by the way she addresses them as if she knew them personally.



Third Year
In 1993 Pansy was onboard the Hogwarts Express on the way to Hogwarts when it was stopped and inflitrated by Dementors. During this infiltration Harry Potter fainted in the presence of a Dementor. When arriving at school Pansy was one of the Slytherin students who would mock Harry Potter for fainting in the presence of Dementors throughout the schooling year. During a Care of Magical Creatures lesson Draco Malfoy was attacked by a hippogriff after approaching it without caution. She was in tears after the attack and was concerned enough to follow him to the hospital wing.

Afterwards, she frequently fawned over him for the injury, which he exaggerated in order to get attention and in an attempt to get Rubeus Hagrid into trouble with the Ministry of Magic, which evidently he did and it resulted in the planned execution of the hippogriff, much to the favour of Pansy and her friends.

Fourth Year
"Stunningly pretty? Her? What was she judging against – a chipmunk?"

- Pansy about Hermione Granger when her looks are complimented in an article

Pansy's fourth year at Hogwarts held the Triwizard Tournament, a special wizarding event that attracted alot of media attention, Pansy was among the students who fed Rita Skeeter false information on Harry Potter, Rubeus Hagrid and Hermione Granger, one of which was the making up of a false rumour that Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were an item. She was highly amused by the Potter Stinks badges passed around by Slytherin students during the 1994 Triwizard Tournament, and laughed when Draco's Densaugeo hex accidentally hit Hermione when he and Harry started a duel in a school hallway, leaving her with overly sized front teeth.

Pansy accompanied Draco to the Yule Ball that year, wearing frilly pink robes; by this time, the two may have been romantically involved. Pansy Parkinson expressed her outrage when Viktor Krum had decided to take Hermione Granger to the Yule Ball and when she read an article in the newspaper commenting on how stunning Hermione looked at the ball. Also that year a slightly softer side of Pansy was shown when she clearly expressed (although she later tried to conceal) a fondness for unicorns during a Care of Magical Creatures class.

Fifth Year
"Hey, Johnson, what's with that hairstyle, anyway? Why would anyone want to look like they've got worms coming out of their head?"

- Pansy taunts Angelina Johnson and the Gryffindor Quidditch team

In her fifth year, Pansy became a Slytherin prefect along with Draco, and joined the Inquisitorial Squad. She crudely remarked to Dolores Umbridge that it was difficult to understand Rubeus Hagrid when he spoke and that everyone hated his subject right in front of him. During Quidditch matches that year, Pansy directed her fellow Slytherins to sing Weasley is Our King to mock Ron Weasley, as well as other Gryffindor players. When she saw Harry Potter and Cho Chang out on a date on Valentine's Day, Pansy insulted them both, as well as the memory of the late Cedric Diggory.

When Dumbledore's Army members attempted to escape from the Room of Requirement, Pansy searched for female D.A. members in the girls' lavatory and grabbed the list of names as evidence. Pansy and other Squad members were jinxed during a student rebellion after Fred and George Weasley's departure from Hogwarts; Pansy missed a day of classes while recovering from a hex that made her sprout a pair of antlers.

Sixth Year
In 1996, on her way to Hogwarts for her sixth year, Pansy sat in the same train compartment with Draco, Blaise Zabini, and a few other Slytherins. Draco had his head in Pansy's lap, and she stroked his hair while smirking. Although upset by Draco's suggestion that he might not return to Hogwarts for his seventh year, Pansy seemed impressed by his implication that he had taken the Dark Mark and become a Death Eater. Harry Potter got the impression that she and Draco were cozier than ever during their sixth year. When Harry injured Draco with Sectumsempra later in the year, Pansy rushed to visit him in the hospital wing, and "lost no time in vilifying Harry far and wide".

Seventh Year
"Before Harry could speak, there was a massive movement. The Gryffindors in front of him had risen and stood facing, not Harry, but the Slytherins. Then the Hufflepuffs stood, and almost at the same moment, the Ravenclaws, all of them with their backs to Harry, all of them looking toward Pansy instead, and Harry, awestruck and overwhelmed, saw wands emerging everywhere, pulled from beneath cloaks and from under sleeves."

- after Pansy suggests turning Harry Potter over to Lord Voldemort

During Pansy's final year at Hogwarts, Lord Voldemort was in indirect control of the school through Severus Snape as headmaster and Amycus and Alecto Carrow as professors. As a Slytherin and, most likely, a pure-blood, Pansy was probably one of the favoured students and would not be on the recieving end of their brutal and unfair punishments.

In 1998 Lord Voldemort offered those inside the Hogwarts castle to turn Harry Potter over to him and he would spare their lives, the teachers and students refused this offer, all but Pansy, she instead stood up in favour of handing him over and declared to the school to do so. However, the students in the other three houses rallied, drawing their wands against her, in response to Pansy's speech Professor McGonagall dismissed the Slytherin House from the Great Hall first. Pansy left Hogwarts with her housemates, and likely was not one of the few to return as reinforcements with Professor Slughorn. Instead, she may have been among the Slytherin students that Voldemort told Lucius Malfoy had come to join him.

Personality and Traits
"Hey, Potter! Potter! The dementors are coming, Potter! Woooooooo!"

- Pansy makes fun of Harry Potter

Pansy is a stereotypical "mean girl" and Draco Malfoy's female counterpart in many ways, as she was the ringleader of a gang of Slytherin girls during her school years. She is often seen making snide and cutting remarks at the expense of Gryffindor students, such as making fun of Angelina Johnson's braided hair by wondering aloud who would want to look like they had worms coming out of their head.

She was even callous enough to disrespect the late Cedric Diggory, shrieking at Cho Chang when she went on a date with Harry Potter in 1996: "I don't think much of your taste...at least Diggory was good-looking!" Pansy may not be very bright, or at least did not do well academically, as Hermione Granger once described her as "thicker than a concussed troll". She also likes to shout out her insults, in loud shrieks and screams. As Draco Malfoy's girlfriend, she exaggerates on any injuries Draco suffered, and heavily pins the blame on those responsible (even when they did it unintentionally).

Judging by the amusement Pansy expressed when Blaise Zabini made a rude comment about Ginny Weasley being a "filthy blood traitor", her association with the prejudiced Draco Malfoy, and the stance she expressed just before the Battle of Hogwarts, she is most likely a pure-blood who disdains Muggles and Muggle-borns.



Physical Description
"Looking down, Harry saw the pug-faced Pansy Parkinson right at the front of the stands, her back to the pitch."

- Harry Potter's view of Pansy

Pansy was described as a "hard-faced Slytherin girl" by Harry Potter, and on several occasions students described her as having the face of a pug. Pansy seems to believe herself to be better-looking than other girls, however, as she frequently made disparaging comments about the appearances of others, such as Angelina Johnson and Hermione Granger, but this may possibly just be her trying to make herself feel better. In the films, Pansy is portrayed to have dark, brown hair which reaches to her chin and in her later years she wears shoulder-length dark hair.

Draco Malfoy
""You go on," Malfoy told Pansy, who was waiting for him with her hand held out as though hoping he would hold it. "I just want to check something.""

- Draco Malfoy rejects Pansy's offering hand

Pansy Parkinson got on seemingly well with Draco Malfoy during her schooling years. They were both sorted into Slytherin and each had dominant personalities, both being leaders of groups, Pansy of the Slytherin girls and Draco of the Slytherin boys. By her third year Pansy had developed close feelings for Draco, appearing over-concered by his injury to his arm caused by Buckbeak during a Care of Magical Creatures lesson, in which she rushed out from to the Hospital wing to visit him and was later often seen fawning over him.

By 1994 possible romantic feelings between the two had developed, Draco attended the Yule Ball with Pansy as his date. In the year of 1995 Pansy and Draco had both been made the Prefects of Slytherin, and also both had joined the Inquisitorial Squad together. On the Hogwarts Express journey to her Sixth Year Pansy Parkinson was seen with Draco's head on her lap as she stroked his hair, the two may have been very close or infact a couple, and in 1998 when the Battle of Hogwarts struck out Pansy and Draco both left the Great Hall first with the Slytherins, though Draco later returned to fight. Notably, on the 1996 Hogwart's Express train journey Draco had felt the need to hide things (his death eater duties) from Pansy, this may have been to protect her or infact to keep her out of his business, he also rejected her offering of her hand when it came to getting off the train, showing that Pansy was more likely to have stronger feelings for Draco than he did for her. Sometime after Pansy and Draco had finished their education their relationship had drifted further and Draco ended up marrying Astoria Greengrass.

Other Students
"Potter, have you split up with your girlfriend? Why was she so upset at breakfast?"

- Pansy teasing Harry Potter and Hermione Granger

Pansy Parkinson did not seem to get along with any students outside of the house of Slytherin, particularly girls. At some point during her time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Pansy had either teased or offended: Angelina Johnson, Neville Longbottom, Parvati Patil, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, the Weasley family, Cho Chang, and the late Cedric Diggory.

Pansy picked on the physical appearances of the female students, commenting that Angelina Johnson had worms for hair and that Hermione Granger was "beautiful" compared to a chipmunk and for male students picked on their families or names, poking fun at all members of the Weasley family, teasing Neville about his weight, calling him a "fat little crybaby" and even being rude to Cho Chang about the late Cedric Diggory after she was spotted on a date with Harry Potter. She mocked Harry about his first encounter with a Dementor.

Etymology
A pansy is a type of violet. Its name is derived from the French word pensée, meaning "thought" or "remembrance." In William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the juice of the pansy flower is used as a love potion. In folklore, the pansy represents separated lovers. The slang term pansy can also refer to a cowardly person. The face of a Persian cat, flat and squashed, is sometimes described as a "pansy face", and may refer to Pansy Parkinson's looks.

Behind the scenes

 * J.K. Rowling has said that Pansy did not end up marrying Draco because she always hated her: "I loathe Pansy Parkinson. I don't love Draco but I really dislike her. She's every girl who ever teased me at school. She's the Anti-Hermione. I loathe her."
 * In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Pansy Parkinson is portrayed by Genevieve Gaunt; in the film adaption of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, she was portrayed by Lauren Shotton, and in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, she will be portrayed by Scarlett Byrne.
 * The way Pansy addresses Parvati Patil in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone suggests that the two were familiar with one another beforehand, though this is never explored. The more likely explanation is that since Parvati was one of a set of twins whose first names began with the same letter, that the use of the first name was the easiest way of identifying her.

Appearances

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

Notes and references
Pansy Parkinson