Simon Talmadge

Simon Talmadge
Biographical information
Born	c. 1810s
Died	1825 or later (aged 16)
Blood status	Muggle-born
Nationality	British or Irish
Physical information
Species	Human (formerly) Ghost
Gender	Male
Hair colour	Black
Eye colour	Black
Skin colour	Light
Affiliation
Loyalty	Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Simon Talmadge's art club

Simon Talmadge (d. 1820s) was a wizard who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. After his death at a young age, he became a ghost.

Biography

Hogwarts years

Simon was born around the 1810s to Muggle parents. He showed early genius in painting, but had difficulty interacting with people. When he received his Hogwarts acceptance letter, he thought he found the place that he belonged to, but after he enrolled, he discovered that wizards were not so different from Muggles when it came to social life, and was once again sidelined and even bullied by others. His passion for painting continued nonetheless, and he took a liking to a wide range of paintings in the castle, including a portrait of a former Minister for Magic standing on their head, an oil painting of a unicorn eating grass in a forest, and a tapestry of a dragon killing a corrupted knight. He also excelled at potions.

Longing for connection, he found friendship in portraits, but by doing so also made the bullying worse. Among the bullies was Mabel, a Gryffindor girl who often directed hurtful words at him. He usually smiled back while bearing with it, but one day in his third year, Mabel was exceptionally mad and threatened to use the Pimple Jinx on him. A Slytherin boy one year older than him named Gwydion Idris saw this and cast an Inflating Charm on her before it could happen. While Mabel was unable to talk, Simon also became speechless since no one had stood up for him like that. Simon became attracted to Gwydion, and drew a portrait of inflated Mabel to remember Gwydion's kindness. He began to spend less time with the portraits to hang out and rebel with Gwydion.

Among his portrait friends was Gossamer, who told Simon about his third favourite hiding spot - a corridor with multiple rooms hidden behind a Welsh oil painting. When the bullies damaged one of Simon's paintings, Gossamer brought him to the space to cheer him up. He drew a dragon onto the painting, which disturbed the surrounding portraits, and shooted fire from its nostrils when he went past. He enchanted the painting to prevent others from getting in, and would stare at the painting sometimes and mutter the motto of Hogwarts "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus", when in fact the way of getting past was to do the opposite of what the motto said and tickle the dragon.

Simon was excited at the idea of turning the space into a private artwork studio, while Gwydion suggested that they make it a haven away from bullies and prejudice. He, Gwydion and Gossamer founded a club and used it as a gathering spot. They started to renovate the space by buying furniture and decorations in Hogsmeade and bringing them back. Once during midnight, they used the Levitation Charm to bring their stuff up the stairs and past the corridors. The house-elf Cosa offered her help when she discovered the space, and was also treated by them as a friend. Together, they furnished the space with a long table, a bench, a floor lamp and books. As time passed by, they welcomed and recruited more members to the club including Jessamine and Mnemosyne, and the space soon became filled with Simon's easels and paintings, Gwydion's experiments and magical artefacts, Jessamine's fabric and mannequins, and Mnemosyne's photographs.

Simon also attended balls at Hogwarts, but could not muster the courage to ask the person he wanted to dance with.

Death and post-mortem

Simon died at age 16, but returned as a ghost. He told Cosa that he became too small after drinking the Shrinking Solution, and was eaten by a toad that thought he was a fly. However, Gossamer didn't believe the incident after learning of it, due to Simon's proficiency with potions. Simon also told the Headteacher that he brewed the solution to get back at one of the bullies by sneaking into her dormitory when being small and then pranking her. The Headteacher asked for all the furniture in the club space to be moved to the Room of Requirement.

Simon checking the invitation list for Peeves and the student

On 31 October 2009, he guarded the doors to Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington's Deathday Party. When an unidentified student arrived, he asked for their name so that he could verify that they were on the invitation list, and stopped them when they said they weren't. Peeves also came and demanded to be let in, so Simon went to check the list again, but Peeves didn't care for it and started to make a scene.

Simon was present during another Hallowe'en ball that ghosts attended, and talked to the unidentified student about his experience with balls. Meanwhile, Myrtle Warren noticed him and, having never met him before, thought he was handsome and pondered whether she should go and greet him.

Simon meeting Gossamer and the students

183 years after his death, he revealed himself to Gossamer as well as the visiting Lottie Turner and the unidentified student when they were talking about restoring the club space to its former glory, and voiced his discontent with the idea. However, they insisted in doing so, and Gossamer tried to remind him of his dream. Simon conceded, but asked them not to bother him again.

The crew later found the portrait of Mabel in the castle and returned it to the space. Simon reappeared and did not buy it, reminding them what he had said. Lottie then expressed her positive sentiments towards the portrait, which surprised Simon, since most people found it unsettling. She asked for the full story behind the portrait, which Simon told to them. Gossamer knew for the first time that the incident was connected to the portrait, and, unaware of what had happened next, wondered if Simon confessed to Gwydion and if he was there when Simon died. Simon told him that Gwydion had moved on and so should he, before floating away.

When he visited the space again, he saw that they had brought back the furnitures with Cosa's help, and related to them when they mentioned the difficulty of doing it without getting attention. He explained to them the intention of the club, which was supposed to exist for centuries, but reiterated that he didn't wish to be disturbed by anything they were planning. Gossamer asked him why he brewed the Shrinking Solution, and he told him what he had said to the then Headteacher, but Gossamer didn't think Simon was bad enough to take revenge. Simon insisted that it was the truth and departed.

Magical abilities and skills

• Potions: At Hogwarts, Talmadge excelled at Potions, being proficient with the brewing of potions.
• Charms: Talmadge once enchanted a painting to prevent others from entering it. He was also capable of casting simple charms like the Levitation Charm successfully.

Appearances

• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened (First appearance) (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)