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Demelza Boskonovitch
Edmund Klint

Full Character Name: Hildegarde Irmgrad Austerlitz
Character Birthday & Age: 1st of December, 1936, 72 Years of Age
City & Country of Birth: Berlin, Germany
Pureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn?: Halfblood
Alma Mater: Gryffindor, Hogwarts
Position at Hogwarts: History of Magic Professor

Wand: 13”, Mahogany, Manticore Spine

Physical Description: Hildegarde is relatively short at 5’2, but her presence is anything but fragile. With a straight, domineering posture and a Gestapo-like stride, Hildegarde has realised over the years that being short is no hindrance in the path to ultimately respect. Hildegarde, in her day, was something of a Hogwarts beauty, yet her features have become rather harsh over the years; her bright green eyes are small and somewhat squinted, whilst her cheekbones are like concrete sculptures. Her grey hair is cropped to a pixie length for convenience, and her whole appearance is clinically conservative.

Hildegarde’s fashion choices match her steely persona; grey, black and navy blazers with a matching pencil skirt, tan tights and black, sensible court shoes. The only piece of jewellery is a necklace of large, lustrous pearls around her neck, with matching stud earrings. Whilst her outfit choices are colourless and cold, Hildegarde has a certain penchant for bright and bold Muggle designer handbags, and she is never seen without one.

Personality Description: Ever since her early teens, Hildegarde has carried out life with the rulings of an iron fist. Difficult to please and overwhelmingly demanding, Hildegarde is a domineering and strict woman. She holds everybody to her high standards of intellectual capacity, and sees intelligence as the most important aspect of a person. A logical, analytical and cold witch, Hildegarde’s colleagues are keen not to cross her fiery temper and she is known as the nuclear winter of the magical community. Whilst appearing as a steely and cynical old woman, Hildegarde is nothing but fair; it may take a lot to impress the witch, but she gives praise when deserved and even if she dislikes an individual, she still respects any of their accomplishments.

To strangers and colleagues, Hildegarde is feared, revered and respected, yet her harsh persona is not always present. In front of family and friends however, Hildegarde is rather witty and although endlessly cynical, is loyal and trusted. Her previous work in the Ministry and the death of her husband has hardened this exterior, and very few get to see the real Hildegarde Austerlitz as she was before tragedy struck.

History: Hildegarde was born in the winter of 1936 in Berlin, to pureblood Helmut Riefenstahl and his muggle-born wife, Sabine. Raised in considerable wealth and privilege, Hildegarde was an only child, her closest companions being her parents and her au pair. With few children to mix with, Hildegarde was mature at an early age, exchanging semi-intelligent conversations with her parents’ friends and spending hour upon hour in the family library. At the age of five, Hildegarde’s parents relocated to Britain; her father, a diplomat, had been offered a position in the Ministry of Magic concerning international relations. She was soon well adjusted to London life (even picking up Queen’s English along the way), and it was always a given that Hildegarde was to embark upon a magical education. Her strict father had plans to send Hildegarde to Durmstrang, but Sabine encouraged Hogwarts; it was within England and had a fantastic record.

Entering Hogwarts, Hildegarde was sorted into Gryffindor, which matched her strong determination and iron-will, yet her ambition caused many to believe the young girl belonged in the ranks of Slytherin. Excelling academically, Hildegarde progressed through Hogwarts with an impeccable scholastic record; a popular student, she still retained a reputation of unequalled ambition and was the complete competitive Gryffindor. Upon graduation, Hildegarde pursued a job within the Ministry, where she met her eventual husband, Bernard Austerlitz, a German Auror, marrying him two years in her role within the department. Working her way up in the International Magical Cooperation wing of the Ministry, Hildegarde garnered an interest into classical wizarding history, and soon resigned in order to pursue a more academic lifestyle. Hildegarde authored several books in the years to come, with many entering the wizarding curriculum, and she began to curate excavations and exhibitions over the world.

After making such advances within the History of Magic field, and soon becoming the authority on magical conflict, she was offered the role of a consultant to the Auror Office back in the Ministry, which she jumped upon immediately; Hildegarde loved working alongside her beloved husband, and wanted security in a time when there was little. Still working as an academic alongside her Ministry role, Hildegarde proved herself to be an important ally during the war, formulating many key strategies and her logical, analytical approach being exactly what the office needed. As danger grew, Hildegarde relocated her parents to Germany for protection; her father’s role as the German ambassador made him a target.

As the war climaxed, both Hildegarde and her husband took part in the Battle of Hogwarts, battling side-by-side. Bernard was tragically hit by a curse and died during the conflict, leaving Hildegarde a widow at the relatively young age of 52. Most of Hildegarde’s closest saw the real change in her; she became colder, harsher and a lot more domineering, her charming ambition being replaced by sheer iciness. After the war ended, Hildegarde retreated to Germany for a few years, with intense focus upon classical wizarding history in a period where she mourned continuously for her husband. Returning to England in recent years, Hildegarde had surprisingly aimed for a move at Hogwarts in order to pass on her teachings in her own very militant way.

After a year or so as concreting her identity into terrified first years, Austerlitz realised then that teaching was not her calling; academics were far too refined for such infantile brains.

Elaborate on your expertise in your field: Hildegarde has been an authority on early and early modern History of Magic for decades, churning out numerous titles and delivering seminars and lectures the world over. After visiting Greece to assist on several excavations, Hildegarde became a leading scholar on ancient wizarding civilisation and warfare, applying her vast knowledge to her role as an Auror consultant in the Ministry. Hildegarde’s expansive and deep research has placed her amongst some of the top academics of recent times, and her work is widely-respected amongst critics.

What is your teaching philosophy?: Hildegarde is the ultimate advocate of ‘firm, but fair’, except that firmness seems to dominate that philosophy. Her own drive and ambition sets the standard high, and whilst difficult to impress, Hildegarde will praise accordingly. An iron fist and a strict attitude is her key to good results. The cold woman has no time for slackers.

Writing Sample:

Hildegarde reclined in her pristine office, a steely index finger tapping rhythmically on the arm of the green leather chair. The small square room was decorated with countless shelves piled with ancient tomes, every single text in alphabetical and chronological order, of course. There was something grand about the room; whether it was her framed charters from academic circles the world over, or the magnificent classical portrait of Bellerophon hanging on the wall behind her desk, nobody could pinpoint it for certain. Her desk was well-organised, with piles of parchment being filed away into the appropriate drawer before ever touching the mahogany desk, and a thick glass paperweight sphere sat neatly next to a marble figurine of Achilles. In this fleeting moment of speculation, Hildegarde peered out of the window, her beady eyes analysing the fields and woods below. She’d never been a woman for the British outdoors; Hildegarde was all about the sweltering deserts of Calcutta and the windswept steppes of Mongolia. Compared to all that, England seemed quite quaint, and well, rather boring.
Still, home is where the heart is…

Her rather uncharacteristic moment of relaxation however was rudely interrupted by a timid knock on the door. Hildegarde closed her eyes, a second of sheer satisfaction pouring onto her pinched face.
“Enter,” she replied, her cold voice ringing out in the orderly office. The thick wooden door opened slowly, a second year Hufflepuff girl entering and standing with her back against the wall, a frightened smile forced upon her face. “Ah, Harriet Mullens. Two minutes, you surprise me.” The poor girl didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the cruel professor’s sarcasm and instead whimpered before taking a few steps forward, a trembling hand placing a trembling essay onto the desk.

“I’m s-sorry it’s late, P-Professor,” she stammered, “I never realised the d-deadline was yesterday.” Professor Austerlitz snatched the parchment from the young girl, her trained eye immediately rinsing over it as the student stood there, gazing around the room with a quivering bottom lip.
“And your excuse for such a late submission, Harriet?” Hildegarde asked in her icy tone, not even looking up from the parchment.
“I d-didn’t understand the q-question.”

Professor Austerlitz took a moment and sighed, sliding the essay into a drawer before placing both palms on her desk, staring stonily at the poor student.
“Then perhaps Harriet, you should have sought my assistance sooner, rather than later. I’m deducting twenty marks from your overall score, understood?”
“But, Professor!” the girl instantly protested before realising just who it was she talking to.
“And only a fool would test my patient further, Mullens.” Through clenched teeth, Hildegarde gave the girl one final gaze of cold brutality before sliding out another essay to mark, completely ignoring the girl even existed from that moment on in her office. “That’s all.”

She shrugged off the terrified sigh of exasperation Harriet Mullens ejected before leaving her office, and abruptly struck through an entire paragraph of the current essay she was marking with a gash of red ink.
A firm hand never hurt anyone…


Sum up your character in one paragraph: A cold, intelligent and domineering woman, Hildegarde expects nothing but the best from her students, and believes her iron grip will catapult them further in life. Whilst hard to please, Hildegarde gives praise and respect when necessary, and leads her student with a ‘tough love’ policy. To those lucky enough to be close to the scholar, Hildegarde is cynically amusing, providing a blunt description to those around her; she is still yet to retrieve her more sunny personality that she possessed before her husband’s death.