Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington

"Hello! How are you? Welcome to Gryffindor!"

- Sir Nicholas greets the first years.

Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington (known after his death as Nearly Headless Nick) (d. 31 October, 1492) was a wizard who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was sorted into Gryffindor house. He was executed by an improper decapitation, after he argued with Lady Grieve. Since then, he is the resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower at the Hogwarts Castle.

Early life
As a child, Nick attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he was sorted into Gryffindor. It is unknown at which subjects he excelled, but he was apparently poor at Transfiguration. In his adulthood, he was a "wizard at the royal court," and seems to have openly associated with Muggles.

Execution
Sir Nicholas met Lady Grieve while strolling in the park on the evening of 30 October, 1492. He was certain he could straighten her crooked teeth, but his attempt to do so backfired, causing her to grow a tusk.

Sir Nicholas was immediately taken into custody and sentenced to death as a result of this mistake. Before being locked in the dungeon, his wand was taken from him, thus preventing him from using magic to escape. Throughout the night he cried that he would soon undo the damage done to Lady Grieve.

A priest came to Sir Nicholas' cell to escort him to the execution site at dawn the following day. He became a "gibbering wreck" when the executioner told him to kneel before the block. However, the executioner's axe was blunt, as the grindstone used to sharpen it had been misplaced. Thus, it took forty-five hacks to kill Sir Nicholas, and even then his head was only partially severed.

Post-mortem
Nick chose to linger as a ghost rather than "go on," because, by his own admission, he feared death. He became the resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He appeared to know the other ghosts and Peeves the Poltergeist; in 1991, he and the Fat Friar discussed Peeves, and he told the Friar that Peeves shouldn't be given another chance.

Harry Potter, after befriending Nick the previous year, attends his Deathday Party (the 500th anniversary of the event) in a Dungeon at Hogwarts. To Nick's great annoyance, his head was not off enough to join in the games of the Headless Hunt, a society of ghosts who had been decapitated on earth (a source of annual vexation to the ghost). During the 1992 school year, when the Chamber of Secrets was opened, he was one of those petrified by the Basilisk, which suggests that he might be Muggle-born, though it might have been simply a coincidence as Justin Finch-Fletchley appeared to be the main target of the Basilisk. Nick saved Justin's life by taking the brunt of the Basilisk's otherwise-lethal gaze, with Justin seeing the basilisk through Nick rather than being directly exposed to its vision; Nick naturally received the full blast of its power, but as a ghost it was naturally impossible for him to die again. By the end of the year he was revived (back to being a ghost). It's unclear what method was used to restore him, as being a ghost the mandrake concoction created to revive the human students may have been difficult to administer a ghost.



After Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, is killed, Harry asks Nick if he can return as a ghost. Nick explains that only a wizard afraid of death might choose to become a ghost, and apologises that he cannot be of more help to Harry. It is most likely that Sirius Black is not afraid of death; he tells Harry that dying is "quicker and easier than falling asleep" when his spirit comes out of the Resurrection Stone, along with three others, to speak to Harry as he went to what he believed to be his death in 1998. The alternative to becoming a ghost, or leaving an imprint of oneself on the earth, is to move on, or rather to move beyond the veil. However, such a thing did not happen to Lord Voldemort, though Voldemort's soul was so unstable there may not have been enough to leave an imprint on the earth. It is also possible that being a mere imprint, one with no power, may not have been appealing to Voldemort.

With the rumours of Harry's status as the 'Chosen One' following the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Nick noted that his friendship with Harry had increased his own reputation among the other ghosts as a possible source of information.

Sir Nicholas witnessed the Battle of Hogwarts against Voldemort, directing Harry to help him find the Grey Lady and question her about Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, although he was initially slightly hurt that Harry needed another ghost rather than him. After the Second Wizarding War, Nick likely remained the Gryffindor House ghost.

Behind the scenes

 * In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Nick says he had not eaten in nearly 400 years. Yet he had, at the time, already been dead for 99 years longer than that.
 * The Harry Potter timeline is originally based upon Nick's deathday party in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Having died in 1492, and celebrating his 500th death day, this ostensibly places the novels in the early to mid 1990s. The timeline was later reinforced in Deathly Hallows on James and Lily Potter's graves.
 * In the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Nearly Headless Nick is played by John Cleese. Cleese is most famous for his work with Monty Python and his television show, Fawlty Towers. At the time, he was also playing Q in the James Bond film series, giving him the distinction of appearing in the two biggest-grossing UK film series of all time.
 * In the first draft of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Nick sang a self-penned ballad explaining how his head had (nearly) come off:
 * While most of the Hogwarts students call him "Nearly Headless Nick," he prefers the more formal "Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington" or "Sir Nicholas." But, Harry also calls him Nick.
 * Nick's death was the same day as Lily and James Potter's, October 31st, but different years.
 * Although Nick claims that he has never been guilty of cowardice in his life, he also claims to have broken down sobbing when they told him that he would die.
 * He also admits to not being as brave as Sirius Black; Nick chose to become a ghost because he feared death, but Sirius would have "gone on" in Nick's own words.
 * He does not like Ron because he is always reminding Nick that he is dead.
 * It is unknown as to how he recovered from petrification by the Basilisk since he is unable to drink potions.
 * Professor Dumbledore explains in his notes on "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot" that muggle executions of wizards such as Sir Nicholas are rarely successful, given that wizards can magically protect themselves and escape. Sir Nicholas had his wand taken away, however, and was unable to leave his dungeon cell.
 * As of yet, Nick is the only one of the four house ghosts to have a speaking role in the films.

Etymology
Nicholas is from the Greek Nikolaos, "victory of the people." Nick is a jokey, ironic nickname and pun -- one definition of nick is "to cut slightly," and he received more than just a little cut when he was beheaded. Sir indicates he was knighted by a British monarch when he was alive. Porpington is a name Rowling made up and is closest to porpentine, an obsolete name for a porcupine. "Like quills upon the fretful porpentine...": From Shakespeare's Hamlet. Nick is a prickly-tempered person at times. Mimsy may have come from the same word coined by Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll. It appears in his nonsense poem "The Jabberwocky": "All mimsy were the borogroves..."

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * 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 Half-Blood Prince (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * The Tales of Beedle the Bard
 * Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4
 * Harry Potter LEGO Sets