Mary Cattermole

Mary Cattermole: "I don't understand."

Harry Potter: "You're going to leave here with us. Go home, grab your children, and get out, get out of the country if you've got to. Disguise yourselves and run. You've seen how it is, you won't get anything like a fair hearing here."

— Mary Cattermole after Harry Potter and Hermione Granger disrupt her trial^[src]

Mary Elizabeth Cattermole (fl. 1997) was a British Muggle-born witch. She lived at 27 Chislehurst Gardens, Great Tolling, Evesham with her husband and children. She was described as small with dark hair that she wore in a neat bun.^[1]

Biography

She was the daughter of a Muggle greengrocer and his wife. She married Ministry of Magic employee Reginald Cattermole, with whom she had two daughters, Maisie and Ellie, and one son, Alfred.^[1]

Trial1 — Dolores Umbridge interrogates Mary in the *Muggle-Born Registration Commission* court room

In 1997, Mary was accused of stealing the wand of a pure-blood or half-blood witch or wizard, and was brought before a trial by the Muggle-Born Registration Commission. She was interrogated by Dolores Umbridge and Yaxley, and would have been convicted and sent to Azkaban if not for the help of Harry and Hermione (disguised as Albert Runcorn and Mafalda Hopkirk respectively). Harry, Hermione and Ron (disguised as her husband Reginald Cattermole) assisted her and a group of Muggle-borns who had been in for questioning escape the Ministry. Harry advised Mary and Reg to take their children and flee the country while Voldemort was still in power.^[1]

It is unknown if Mary and Reginald managed to escape successfully, or what happened to them and their children after the war.

Behind the scenes

Mary Cattermole was portrayed by Kate Fleetwood in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.^[5]
In the film, it was Ron, not Harry, who warned Mary to take her family and flee the country, though she thought he was her husband at the time, and proceeded to kiss him.^[3]
Mary does not wear her hair in a bun in the film.

Etymology

"Mary" is the English form of Maria, which was the Latin form of the New Testament Greek names Μαριαμ (Mariam) and Μαρια (Maria) (the spellings are interchangeable) which in turn come from the Hebrew name מִרְיָם (Miryam). The meaning is not known for certain, but there are several theories including "sea of bitterness", "rebelliousness", and "wished for child". It is also possible that the source of the name lies in ancient Egyptian, and was derived from mry "beloved" or mr "love".