Filius Flitwick

"No! You’ll do no more murder at Hogwarts!"

- Filius Flitwick to Severus Snape before the Battle of Hogwarts

Filius Flitwick (born October 17, year unknown) is the Charms professor and head of Ravenclaw house at Hogwarts.

Description
Flitwick is described as having a "drop" of goblin blood. He is known to empathize with other "half-breeds", such as Hagrid. In addition, he is very short and requires a stack of books in order to see over the top of his desk, and sits on a pile of cushions at the staff table in the Great Hall. He has a "shock" of white hair, and his voice is squeaky which explains his small stature.

Teaching career at Hogwarts
Flitwick taught at Hogwarts when James Potter and company were there, and may have taught Defence Against the Dark Arts for one year as he collected the papers from the Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L.. He was also rumored to have been a dueling champion when he was younger.

Flitwick was still teaching at Hogwarts during Harry Potter's time there. He taught Charms and was the head of Ravenclaw house. During the 1995 school year Flitwick took part in the insurrection against Dolores Umbridge. He could have easily extinguished the Weasley Wildfire Whiz-Bangs himself but told Professor Umbridge he wasn't sure whether he had the authority. He also left a small patch of the swamp created by Fred and George Weasley in honor of them after they fled from the school. In 1996 when Hogwarts came under attack he was sent to alert Severus Snape that Death Eaters were in the castle but was knocked out by Snape.

Flitwick's style of teaching seems more "laid-back" than that of the other Hogwarts professors. He has allowed his class to play games during the last class before the Christmas holidays. Moreover, he seems resigned to a fair amount of chaos as students practice new Charms. His Charms classroom is located on the third floor of Hogwarts; his office, however, is located on the seventh floor, at the base of the West Tower.

During the Battle of Hogwarts, Flitwick helped run Severus Snape out of the school and defeated (perhaps killed) the Death Eater Antonin Dolohov.

He also helped Harry determine the identity and location of Voldemort's last Horcrux. His comment that no one in living memory had seen Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem lead Harry to the Grey Lady, the ghost of Ravenclaw's daughter. And it was through his conversation with her that he determined what the Horcrux was and, eventually, where it was hidden.

Personality
Flitwick is an emotional fellow, who seems to have a gentle spirit. During the 1992 school year when Ginny Weasley was taken into the Chamber of Secrets, he burst into tears, and in 1993's Valentine's Day, when Gilderoy Lockhart called him a "sly old dog", he buried his face in his hands.

During one Charms lesson, Neville Longbottom, while fumbling with attempts at casting a spell, ended up sending Flitwick sailing across the room; Flitwick accepted this resignedly instead of losing his temper. Nevertheless, he commands respect in spite of his sensitive nature and small stature. When he encountered Harry and Draco Malfoy on the stairs discussing Harry's new Nimbus 2000, Malfoy treats him just like any other teacher with no hint of the sarcasm he used with Remus Lupin.



Portrayal on Film
Although Flitwick is very predomiant Hogwarts character within the books, his appearance in the film adaptations is sporadic. In Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone he has a major scene during the Charms lesson where he teaches the spell Wingardium Leviosa. For Chamber of Secrets, the part is reduced to a background character. Flitwick was written out of the film for Prisoner of Azkaban; however Warwick Davis was offered a small part as the conductor of the Hogwarts chorus appearing as a small man with brown hair and moustache, identified in the credits only as "Wizard". This same character reappeared in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire although now identified as Professor Flitwick. According to interviews, Director Mike Newell liked the look of a younger Flitwick. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, he is seen in a Chorus Class in the Great Hall. He is seen again cheering when Fred and George Weasley depart Hogwarts.

Etymology

 * Filius is Latin for "son", and the filius philosophorum, meaning "the philosopher's son" is a symbol in alchemy, sometimes associated with the philosopher's stone.
 * The surname Flitwick may come from the Charms professor's own advice for wand movement: "swish and flick".

Behind The scenes

 * Flitwick is played in the films by Warwick Davis. Davis also provided the voice of Griphook the Goblin in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
 * Flitwick decorates with live fairies quite a bit, especially during Christmas in the Great Hall.
 * Flitwick's favorite drink is cherry syrup and soda with ice and an umbrella, as read in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
 * In the movie of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, he was accidentally stabbed into his hand with a fork by Rubeus Hagrid.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * 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 Goblet of Fire (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows