Peeves

Peeves
Biographical Information
Born	1 January 993, 1019
Blood status	Creature
Physical Information
Species	Poltergeist
Gender	Male
Hair Colour	Black
Eye Colour	Black
Skin Colour	Pale White
Character Information
Biography
Canon

Cackling madly, Peeves soared through the school, upending tables, bursting out of blackboards, and toppling statues and vases. Twice he shut Mrs. Norris inside suits of armour, from which she was rescued, yowling loudly, by the furious caretaker. He smashed lanterns and snuffed out candles, juggled burning torches over the heads of screaming students, caused neatly stacked piles of parchment to topple into fires or out of windows, flooded the second floor when he pulled off all the taps in the bathrooms, dropped a bag of tarantulas in the middle of the Great Hall during breakfast and, whenever he fancied a break, spent hours at a time floating along after Umbridge and blowing loud raspberries every time she spoke.

Peeves is a poltergeist at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, since c. 993. Fond of mischief and chaos, he has been a constant pain to the school and its inhabitants.

Page adapted from Peeves at the Harry Potter Lexicon.

Biography

Founding of Hogwarts

Peeves has lived at Hogwarts Castle since its founding in c. 993. He came with the building and came into existence with the founding of an institution containing a large number of children. Peeves has wrought havoc upon Hogwarts for centuries, and has often been the cause of ire for various teachers and staff. Starting with Hankerton Humble, who was appointed by the Founders themselves, Peeves has traditionally been a pet peeve of every caretaker the school has seen.

1876

In 1876, caretaker Rancorous Carpe devised an elaborate trap in an effort to remove Peeves from the Castle. The trap was comprised of a bait of assortment of weapons and a vast enchanted bell jar, reinforced by various containment charms, which he intended to drop over the poltergeist once he was in place. This did not go as planned, as Peeves easily broke through the bell jar and was left armed with several cutlasses, crossbows, a blunderbuss and a miniature cannon. The Castle had to be evacuated for three days as Peeves amused himself by firing randomly and threatening the students with death.

Professor Eupraxia Mole, Headmistress of the day, agreed to sign a contract with Peeves, so that he relinquished the weapons in exchange for additional privileges (a once-weekly swim in the boys' toilets on the ground floor, first refusal on stale bread from the kitchen for throwing purposes, and a new custom-made hat by Madame Bonhabille). This was the last and most disastrous attempt to get rid of Peeves. These events forced Mr. Carpe to take early retirement "for health reasons".

Physical appearance

Unlike the overwhelming majority of his colleagues, Peeves has a physical form, though he has been able to become invisible at will.

Peeves appears like a little man with wickedly slanted, orange eyes, dressed in loud, outlandish clothes including a bell-covered hat and an orange bow tie. He had black hair and compared to the Hogwarts ghosts, he is solid-looking, not pearly white and transparent. He is capable of flight and intangibility, like a ghost, but could also affect solid objects and make himself invisible.

Personality and traits

Peeves is the most notorious and troublesome poltergeist in British history. His looks were said to reflect his nature, which "those who know him would agree was a seamless blend of humour and malice".

Peeves is more of a chaotic spirit rather than a physical being, but highly different from the other school ghosts. Peeves is essentially an embodiment of disorder, and took great pleasure in constantly causing it.

At times, Peeves could be legitimately dangerous. Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch waged a constant war with Peeves, and year after year requested the poltergeist be thrown out of the school.

Peeves further annoyed and bothered the Hogwarts community by joining in with whatever current gossip is circulating among students. When Harry Potter was suspected of being the "Heir of Slytherin " in 1992, Peeves taunted him in the hallways for "speaking in tongues."

Students were known to allow Peeves to take the blame for their own mischief.

Peeves does not heed commands from Hogwarts prefects or professors. The one Hogwarts ghost that strikes fear in Peeves, in addition to controlling him, is the Bloody Baron.

Overall, Peeves does not seem to care who he annoys. If students are late to class, he has been known to, among other things, drop wastepaper baskets on their heads, pelt them with chalk, or pull the rugs out from under them. The worst case involved him sneaking up invisible, grabbing the person's nose and screeching "GOT YOUR CONK!" However, Peeves is loyal to Hogwarts and proved this in the Battle of Hogwarts where he dropped Snargaluff pods on Death Eaters in mid-air, causing general chaos among their ranks, later showing evident joy when Voldemort was defeated.