Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington's five-hundredth Deathday Party

"I bet there aren't many living people who can say they've been to one of those!"

- Hermione Granger

The five-hundrenth Deathday Party of the ghost Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, who haunted Hogwarts Castle as the Ghost of Gryffindor Tower, was a celebration thrown by said ghost, commonly called Nearly-Headless Nick because his head hung on by an inch of skin, to commemorate the day he died. The Party included a candlelit dinner of rancid, moulded food, the smell of which would gag a normal living creature.

The ghost orchestra playing at the Deathday Party were playing the musical saw.

The Headless Hunt attended the party. They are described like "a dozen horses with headless riders". There also was a game of Head Hockey, by the Hunt.

Background
"Well, this Halloween will be my five-hundredth deathday."

- Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington to Harry Potter

Sir Nicholas was sentenced to death by beheading after a teeth-straightening spell went awry on a woman named Lady Grieve. Unfortunately, the executioner assigned to decapitate Nick had a blunt axe. Thus, even after forty-seven hacks into his neck, Nick's head was only partially severed. Sir Nicholas was executed on the dawn of October 31st, 1492. After this point, Nick returned as a ghost due to his fear of death and presumably held a deathday party every year for five centuries to mark the anniversary of the day he died.

Celebrations
"My dear friends. Welcome, welcome ... so glad you could come ...."

- Nick greeting his guests

In honour of the event, Sir Nicholas took the liberty of decorating one of the castle's roomier dungeons, decorating it with black candles that gave off a bluish glow and many black hangings. He also ordered a variety of food that had been tainted to make it stronger, and therefore more likely to be possible for ghosts to taste. This food included large, rotten fish on handsome silver platters, cakes burned charcoal-black, heaped on salvers, maggoty haggis, mouldy cheese, and, in pride of place, an enormous grey cake in the shape of a tombstone, which had his name and date of death written on it in tar-like frosting.

Last but not least, Nicholas hired a ghostly orchestra to play the musical saw, and provided them with a black-draped raised platform for them to perform on.

Behind the scenes

 * Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington died in 1492, and is celebrating his 500th deathday anniversary. This fact allows us to find the exact date of the setting of the second book, therefore, allowing us to record the dates of the events of the Harry Potter series against this date.
 * Although this event occured 489 years earlier, Nearly Headless Nick's deathday is on the exact day as Harry's parents death day, the 31st October.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)

Notes and references
Anniversaire de mort de Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington