Aurora Sinistra

Aurora Sinistra is the teacher of Astronomy in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Although Astronomy is a compulsory subject for students of 'all years at Hogwarts, the character remains obscure and appears extremely rarely in the books.

Professor Sinistra's first appearance is in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, helping to move a petrified Justin Finch-Fletchley to the hospital wing. The genderless title of "Professor" and the lack of any description of the character or lines for him or her to say prevented us from knowing even Sinistra's gender. The character does not appear again in the book.

Sinistra appears again at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when the teachers' table is described and again during the Yule Ball, dancing a nervous two-step with (a presumed) Professor Moody. From that it can be deduced that Professor Sinistra is a witch rather than a wizard. This deduction was corraborated by JK Rowling's representatives when the Portugese translators need to know her gender.

Professor Sinistra holds her classes every Wednesday at midnight on the top of the Astronomy Tower of Hogwarts, since it is the tallest tower of the castle and offers the best view of the night sky. The Astronomy Tower is otherwise out of bounds for students.

Thanks to the scarcity of information surrounding her, Professor Sinistra is rather popular in the fan fiction community, as her character can be moulded in any way the writer wishes. The most common piece of fanon about her used to be that she is the head of Ravenclaw House, this has however since been disproved as J. K. Rowling has said that the Head Teacher of Ravenclaw is Professor Flitwick.

Professor Sinistra's name originates from the Latin sinister, meaning left or with a direction to the left. The most probable explanation for this is that the planets of the solar system rotate anticlockwise (from right to left). Sinistra is also the name of a star of the constellation of Ophiuchus. The contemporary meaning of the word sinister is "having bad intent", but considering Professor Sinistra's uninvolvement in the plot so far this is a less likely theory.