Violet Tillyman

Violet Tillyman was a witch who lived in the 19th century. In 1855, she was deemed to be missing after she left her home via the Floo Network, but failed to reach her intended destination. She resurfaced twenty years later in what came to be known as "the most notorious case of accidental misdirection" in the history of the Floo Network.^[2]

Biography

Violet was married to a bullying wizard named Albert Tillyman. One day in 1855, she had a terrible argument with him and afterward she leapt into the fireplace in the living room of the home they shared. Tearfully, she declared that she wanted to go to her mother's house, but the words did not come out clearly between her sobs and hiccoughs. Thus, she accidentally ended up in the home of Myron Otherhaus in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. She was covered in ash and her face was red and tear-streaked, but nonetheless she and Myron instantly fell in love with each other.^[2]

Two weeks later, Albert found that the house was getting dirty and thus decided it was time for Violet to come home. He took the Floo Network to his mother-in-law's home. She claimed that her daughter had never arrived. Albert did not believe her at first, but after he raged and searched the house, he accepted that she was telling the truth.^[2]

In an effort to find Violet, posters were put up and a series of articles were run in the Daily Prophet, but to no avail. Violet remained missing. No one admitted to seeing her exit another fireplace or knowing of her whereabouts.^[2]

For several months following the mysterious disappearance of Violet, the British wizarding population feared using the Floo Network, believing they might vanish into thin air as she apparently had. But as time passed and nobody else disappeared, people forgot about Violet's disappearance and resumed using the Floo Network. Albert did not forgot however and never again travelled by Floo. He also learned cleaning spells and darning spells.^[2]

Over the next twenty years, Violet lived in seclusion with Myron in Bury St Edmunds, giving birth to seven children. Finally, after Albert's death in 1875, she chose to resurface, revealing her story to the public.^[2]

Behind the scenes

• Wizarding laws pertaining to marriage and divorce are unknown. It is possible that wizarding marriages can be voluntarily dissolved by one party without the knowledge of the other or the involvement of an official agency, like the Ministry of Magic and thus that Violet was able to secretly divorce Albert on her own and wed Myron. In addition, it is possible that Violet was declared dead in absentia at some point after her disappearance, thus dissolving her marriage to Albert and allowing her to marry Myron. However, it is also possible that Myron and Violet lived together without ever marrying, which would make their seven children the only characters known to have been born to non-married parents within the Harry Potter canon.

Appearances

• Pottermore (Mentioned only)

Notes and references