15 underappreciated ladies of Harry Potter

Poppy Pomfrey

Imagine, for a moment, that you are the head nurse at a boarding school for young wizards and witches ages 11 to 17. Consider how many magical maladies you might have to cure on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Then add that to the number of injuries you have to treat. Now consider how many students hex each other or have spells backfire on themselves. Finally, think about how many have had cauldrons explode or melt on them or have accidentally ingested poison.

Are you tired?

Whenever Harry ends up in the hospital wing at Hogwarts — which is at least once a book, if not more — Poppy Pomfrey seems like she’s about to literally lose her head any minute. That makes sense; her patients and their visitors are always reluctant to follow her established rules of conduct. Madame Pomfrey constantly has to kick people out or remind them in curt tones that patients need rest.

Pomfrey’s no-nonsense attitude seems like a must in her job position. The number of students she must have to treat on a regular basis is honestly overwhelming to think about, especially when you take into account “Muggle” issues like colds, food poisoning, allergic reactions, and other basic maladies. Wizards may have faster means of dealing with these ailments, but someone has to divvy up those potions and creams and spells.

That person, in the Potter-verse, is Poppy Pomfrey. I certainly don’t envy her job, but I do respect her for being able to do it, day in and day out. Nurses in the Muggle world work incredibly hard to treat their patients. Seeing one represented in as strong of a character as Madame Pomfrey is so incredible.