Poppy Pomfrey

Poppy Pomfrey is the nurse in charge of the Hospital wing in the school of Hogwarts and is depicted as a stern and professional woman who takes her chosen path fairly seriously.

Due to their knack at getting involved in things over their heads, Harry Potter and his friends ended up in Pomfrey's care relatively often while they were students:

In 1991, Ron went to Madam Pomfrey after being bitten by the dragon Norbert. Ron told her that he had been bitten by a dog. Hermione Granger also had to go to her when the Polyjuice Potion went wrong and she was half turned into a cat.

Harry fought Professor Quirrell in the Hogwarts dungeons, he spent three days unconscious in the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was reluctant for Harry to have visitors(particularly Ron and Hermione).

In 1992, Madam Pomfrey used Skele-Gro to regrow the bones in Harry's arm after Gilderoy Lockhart's attempt to fix a broken bone failed disasterously. In the same year, Hermione ended up in the hospital wing for a month after an accident in unauthorised high-level potion-making left her half-feline.

In 1994 Harry, Ron and Hermione woke up there after Ron broke his leg, and Harry and Hermione passed out from the Dementor attack along with Sirius Black.

After Minerva McGonagall got hit by four stunners to the chest by Aurors working for Dolores Umbridge when she was Headmistress and High Inquisitor,in 1996, Madam Pomfrey said she would resign in protest, if she weren't afraid of what would become of the students without her.

Etymology
Poppy juice was used as a pain reliever in Medieval times; opium is also made poppy sap. Pomfrey sounds like comfrey, a plant in the borage family which can be made into a soothing salve.

Behind the scenes

 * Madam Pomfrey didn't appear in the film adaption of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but does appear in the film adaption of the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, where she is played by Gemma Jones.

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