Peeves

"GOT YOUR CONK!!!"

- Peeves

Peeves was a poltergeist at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, since c. 993. Fond of mischief and chaos, he was a constant pain to the school and its inhabitants, especially Argus Filch, the caretaker, the only one who was able to control him being the Bloody Baron.

In 1995, Peeves, along with most of the Hogwarts residents, opposed Dolores Umbridge, the High Inquisitor, and pranked her until she was kicked out off the school at the end of the school year. In 1998, Peeves fought at the Battle of Hogwarts against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. After the Second Wizarding War, Peeves continued making trouble at Hogwarts.

Founding of Hogwarts
"Ooh, ickle firsties! What fun!"

- Peeves Peeves has lived at Hogwarts Castle since its founding in c. 993. He "came with the building", being created along with the Castle. Peeves has wrought havoc upon Hogwarts for years, and is often the toil of various teachers and staff.

1991–1992 school year
"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost."

- Nearly Headless Nick

Peeves was a topic of discussion before the Welcoming Feast of 1991. Hogwart's ghosts debated whether or not Peeves should be allowed to attend the feast. While the Fat Friar was willing to give Peeves another chance, Nearly Headless Nick felt Peeves did not deserve to be even considered; ghosts had been given a bad name because of him.

"You want to watch out for Peeves, ...The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us Prefects."

- Percy Weasley to Neville Longbottom

After the Welcoming Feast, Peeves appeared to torment Prefect Percy Weasley as he led the Gryffindor First Years to Gryffindor Tower. Peeves threw walking sticks at the Prefect, disregarded Percy's threat to tell the Bloody Baron, responded with blowing a raspberry, dumped even more walking sticks onto Neville Longbottom's head and left.

Peeves wrote rude words on a classroom blackboard when Professor McGonagall surprised Harry with the position of Gryffindor Seeker.

Later in the year, Peeves caught Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Neville sneaking around the school after curfew. He teased them and then loudly alerted Filch to their presence in the halls. However, once Filch arrived, Peeves did nothing but antagonize him. In October, Ron suspected Peeves to have been the one who released the troll but it turned out that Quirrell had done it.

Harry, Ron and Hermione once again encounter Peeves in the hallways during their quest to save the Philosopher's Stone. Without Peeves knowledge, the three of them are concealed under Harry's Invisibility Cloak from which Harry impersonates the Bloody Baron warning Peeves to stay away from the third floor that night.

1992–1993 school year
"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAACK!"

- Peeves

In the autumn of 1992, Peeves crashed the vanishing cabinet over Filch's office after being persuaded by Nearly Headless Nick saving Harry from one of Filch's punishments. Wearing a bright orange party hat and a revolving bow tie, Peeves attended Nearly-Headless Nick's Deathday Party where he appears to be civilized, even though he taunted Hermione Granger for gossiping about Moaning Myrtle. He later pelted moldy peanuts at Moaning Myrtle mocking her spots.

Some time later, Peeves appeared in a hallway with Harry, where he noticed the two new Basilisk victims, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick. He loudly alerted the faculty and students of Hogwarts of the attack. He perfoms a song, to which he developed a dance routine for.

When everybody believed that Harry Potter was the Heir of Slytherin, Peeves started to teased him, and called him names.

1993–1994 school year
"Looney, loopy Lupin! Looney, loopy Lupin!"

- Peeves taunting Remus Lupin

In 1993, Peeves appeared before Remus Lupin and his Third year Defence Against the Dark Arts class when they were entering the teacher's lounge for a practical lesson. Peeves had stuffed a keyhole with chewing gum when he noticed Remus. He began singing the phrase "Looney, loopy Lupin" over and over again. Remus asked him to remove the gum, but Peeves' only reponse was a loud raspberry. to this, Remus cast a simple spell which shot the gum up Peeves' nose.

On 31 October, Peeves informed Professor Dumbledore of the Fat Lady's location after her portrait was attacked. He also said that her attacker was the escaped prisoner, Sirius Black. Half past four a.m. Peeves woke Harry Potter up by blowing in his ear, disregarding the fact that the Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff quidditch match was to be that day.

Peeves was shown on the Marauder's Map to entertain himself by bouncing around the trophy room. He also displayed quite an amount of glee at the prospect of the Dementors using the "Kiss" on Sirius Black.

1994–1995 school year
His first appearance was before the welcoming feast at the entance hall where he dropped water bombs on the students. During the feast Gryfindor ghost, Nearly-Headless Nick, stated Peeves was enraged at being unable to attend the feast and therefore caused havoc and mayhem in the kitchens the House Elves.

When Harry was practicing the Summoning Charm with Hermione, Peeves appeared and started chucking chairs across the room under the pretense that Harry wanted things thrown at him.

Around the time of the Yule Ball, Peeves frequently hid in a suit of armour and sang rude songs and was also accused of stealing Harry's Golden egg the night Harry worked out the clue.

1995–1996 school year
"Give her hell from us, Peeves."

- Fred and George Weasley

Harry ran into Peeves as he walked to Professor McGonagall's office under the orders of Professor Umbridge who proceeded to harass him.

Peeves was in the classroom where Harry, Ron and Hermione were situated shortly after conversing with Sirius about forming Dumbledore's Army. He threw ink pellets at the trio and others, including Katie Bell, who he emptied an ink bottle over.

Peeves was not completely without loyalties, though; during Dolores Umbridge's attempts to take control of Hogwarts in 1996, he showed respect for his fellow troublemakers, Fred and George Weasley. Taking their words to heart as they fled the school, this marked possibly the only time Peeves knowingly obeyed a student.

After the Weasley twins' departure, Peeves began a rampage of ceaseless mayhem by juggling burning torches over the students, dumping a bag of tarantulas onto the Great Hall, and destroying property like never before. It appears that Peeves was actually on friendly terms with the strict Professor McGonagall during this time, due to Umbridge. Professor McGonagall went as far as giving him a tip to unscrew a chandelier, and apparently she later allowed him to borrow her walking stick to chase Dolores from Hogwarts.

1996–1997 school year
"Potty asked Loony to go to the party! Potty lurves Loony! Potty luuuuuurves Looooony!"

- Peeves

When Harry asked Luna Lovegood to attend Professor Slughorn's party, Peeves appeared and started singing a song of his own composition describing the situation. Peeves watched Dobby and Kreacher fight in the hospital wing but was driven out by Harry after using an incantation to stick his tongue to the upper part of his mouth.

Shortly after the Apparation lessons, Peeves blocked a door to the Gryffindor Common Room, and wouldn't let anyone pass unless they set fire to their own pants. Only Neville Longbottom fell prey to this prank.

It is unknown if Peeves attended Dumbledore's Funeral.

Battle of Hogwarts
"We did it! We bashed them, wee Potter's the one! And Voldy's gone moldy so now let's have fun!"

- Peeves after Lord Voldemort's death

During the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, Filch invited Peeves to take part in the defence of the castle. Peeves caused chaos among the Death Eaters, and after the battle, he sang yet another one of his compositions throughout the halls.

Physical appearance
Peeves appears like a little man dressed in loud, outlandish clothes including a bell-covered hat and an orange bow tie. He had black hair and compared to the Hogwarts ghosts, he is solid-looking, not pearly white and transparent. He was capable of flight and intangibility, like a ghost, but could also affect solid objects and make himself invisible.

Personality and traits


Peeves is more of a chaotic spirit rather than a physical being, but highly different from the other school ghosts. Peeves was essentially an embodiment of disorder, and took great pleasure in constantly causing it.

At times, Peeves could be legitimately dangerous. Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch waged a constant war with Peeves, and year after year requested the poltergeist be thrown out of the school.

Peeves further annoyed and bothered the Hogwarts community by joining in with whatever current gossip was circulating among students. When Harry Potter was suspected of being the "Heir of Slytherin" in 1992, Peeves taunted him in the hallways for "speaking in tongues."

Students were known to allow Peeves to take the blame for their own mischief.

Peeves did not heed commands from Hogwarts prefects, professors, or anyone else for that matter. The sole exception was the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. the most probable reason to this was that Dumbledore had the power to evict Peeves from Hogwarts. The one Hogwarts ghost that struck fear in Peeves, in addition to controlling him, was the Bloody Baron. His fear of the Baron was so well knowned, that in their first year, Harry, under the Invisibility Cloak, was able to drive him away by pretending to be the Bloody Baron.

Overall, Peeves did not seem to care who he annoyed. If students were late to class, he would, among other things, drop wastepaper baskets on their heads, pelt them with chalk, or pull the rugs out from under them. The worst case involved him sneaking up invisible, grabbing the person's nose and screeching "GOT YOUR CONK!"

However, Peeves is loyal to Hogwarts and proves this in the Battle of Hogwarts where he drops Snargaluff pods on Death Eaters in mid-air causing general chaos among their ranks, and inadvertently revealing Harry, Ron and Hermione's invisibility by dropping a pod on Ron's head.

Fred and George Weasley
Though he never hesitated to prank them, Peeves appeared to genuinely like Fred and George Weasley. Peeves shocked everyone in 1996 when he actually listened to the twins' words, causing countless problems for Dolores Umbridge. As the twins left Hogwarts Peeves saluted them in front of the student body.

Argus Filch
"Haven't you been complaining about him for the last quarter-century? Move!"

- Professor McGonagall sending Filch to find Peeves in order to assist in the defence of Hogwarts.

Peeves and Argus Filch were sworn enemies for over 25 years. Filch never ceased his futile efforts to get Peeves expelled from the castle, and Peeves never stopped taunting Filch. To annoy Filch, Peeves trapped Mrs. Norris in a suit of armour twice, dropped chandeliers and caused general mayhem, which Filch was later responsible for cleaning. It is presumed that this on going war between them continued after the Battle of Hogwarts.

The Bloody Baron
The Bloody Baron is the only being that Peeves takes orders from. Peeves has a large amount of respect for the Bloody Baron, for unknown reasons, likely because he is afraid of him. During his first year, Harry imitated the voice of the Bloody Baron to chase Peeves away.

Harry Potter
"Oh Potter, you rotter, oh what have you done/You're killing off students, you think it's great fun!"

- Peeves taunting Harry through song when the school accused him of being the Heir of Slytherin

Peeves enjoyed taunting all students of Hogwarts, and Harry was no exception. Harry had a run-in with Peeves in his first year while he, Ron and Hermione were all out of bed and wandering the corridors at night. Peeves was prepared to grass on them and Harry swung at him causing Peeves to bellow loudly to attract Filch’s attention. However, Peeves turned out to be no help because he had no genuine desire to help Filch and instead taunted the caretaker. A similar incident happened a year later when Filch pulled Harry up for bringing mud into the castle. Peeves destroying a magical cabinet causing Filch to be distracted from Harry. Peeves would annoy Harry when he was already annoyed, such as the time when Umbridge sent Harry to McGonagall for shouting out in her class. Another example of teasing was when Harry offered to take Luna Lovegood to Horace Slughorn’s party.

Etymology

 * "Peeve" means "little devil" or something that is personally annoying; a personal dislike (like a pet peeve). Peevish means disagreeable and bad tempered.

Behind the scenes

 * According to J. K. Rowling's website, Peeves was "an indestructible spirit of chaos."
 * Peeves does not appear to exist in the films, having never been mentioned or seen. A scene with Peeves was filmed for the movie version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but was left on the cutting room floor and to date has never even been released on DVD (even the recent Ultimate Edition box set). Peeves was played by Rik Mayall.
 * To date the only on screen reference to Peeves occurs in the short film The Queen's Handbag, during which Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) describes Peeves using the Queen's Birthday as an excuse to drop coloured eggs on Hogwart's students at breakfast.
 * In the video games, Peeves is battled several times. In the PC game of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Peeves is defeated with the Flipendo Jinx. In the PC game of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets he is defeated with the Ectoplasm-Cleaning Charm. And in the PC game of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, he is defeated with the Rictusempra Jinx.
 * Despite people often saying the Bloody Baron is the only one able to control Peeves, he does show some amount of respect to Albus Dumbledore.

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 (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
 * 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 Deathly Hallows
 * The Queen's Handbag
 * Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (DS and PSP versions only)