Amos Diggory

Amos Diggory was born in Great Britain before the year 1980 to the Diggory family and was the only son of his parents. He lived near the village of Ottery St Catchpole and is believed to have attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when he turned eleven years old. He may have met his future wife at Hogwarts when he studied magic, or the couple met later and married. They had a son named Cedric, who would later become the Triwizard Tournament champion for Hogwarts and win the championship with Harry Potter. Sadly, Peter Pettigrew would kill Cedric under Lord Voldemort’s orders after the championship trophy turned into a Portkey.

Life

Amos Diggory was born in the Diggory family somewhere around the 1950s. It is possible that he was born near the village of Ottery St Catchpole, as he lived there in the 1990s with his wife and son Cedric Diggory. Like his son, Amos was also the only child of his parents. He eventually joined Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was likely sorted into Hufflepuff House like Amos’s son Cedric. After he graduated from Hogwarts, Amos started working in the British Ministry of Magic. He worked in the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

Quidditch World Cup

Amos Diggory was first seen at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when he and his son Cedric joined Arthur Weasley, his family, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger just outside Ottery St Catchpole. They were all headed to see the Quidditch World Cup final between Bulgaria and Ireland. They eventually reached a spot where there was a Portkey placed for them to reach the venue of the world cup directly.

At the venue of the world cup, after the finals took place, there was a Death Eater riot and the Death Eaters were attacking a Muggle family. The riot was only subdued after they saw a Dark Mark in the sky, which is believed to have caused fear in them. Since Harry Potter was found directly under the spot of the Dark Mark, there was a public confrontation, and Amos being the first one to reach the spot, accused Harry for a while before he realized he was wrong. 

However, the wand of Harry Potter was found in the hands of the house-elf Winky and when Amos used the Prior Incantato charm to find out what the last incantation cast by the wand, it turned out to be Morsemordre, the incantation used to cast a Dark Mark. Barty Crouch Sr, an important Ministry official and the master of the house-elf Winky, fired her from her job despite her constant cries that she didn’t do anything wrong.

Triwizard Tournament and Hogwarts

A few days before the inaugural feast at Hogwarts that year, Amos Diggory had tipped off Arthur Weasley about a complaint the Ministry received from the old man Alastor Moody who had claimed there was an intruder in his house. Although Amos believed that the paranoid Moody had just assumed things and that it was a false alarm, he still asked Arthur Weasley to have a look as this complaint came the day Moody was getting ready to go to Hogwarts and the former Auror’s new job at Hogwarts was a top priority as Albus Dumbledore himself wanted him there. 

Amos Diggory was invited on several occasions to Hogwarts during the festivities of the Triwizard Cup as he was Cedric’s father. He had appeared at Hogwarts as a family member of Cedric at Hogwarts. Although it was supposed to be three wizards from different schools taking part in the tournament, somebody had put Harry Potter’s name in the Goblet of Fire, forcing him to compete as well. Molly Weasley and Bill Weasley were present as Harry’s family members. Amos was also present during the tournament’s third task, whose end would mark the end of the tournament. 

Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory both became winners of the Triwizard Cup. However, since it was a part of the trap Lord Voldemort set with the help of his servant Peter Pettigrew and Barty Crouch Jr, who was disguised as Mad-Eye Moody, all this while, the Triwizard Cup was a Portkey. It transported both Cedric and Harry to a graveyard in Little Hangleton where Tom Riddle Sr, Voldemort’s biological father, was buried.

In the graveyard, Lord Voldemort ordered Peter Pettigrew to get rid of Cedric Diggory as he wanted to kill any ‘spares.’ This action caused Cedric’s death. Despite the great difficulty and a duel that took place between Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter after Cedric’s death, Harry honored the word of Cedric’s apparition that appeared during the duel due to Priori Incantatem and took Cedric’s body with him when he escaped the graveyard by Portkey back to the Triwizard Maze. 

Amos Diggory was grief-stricken when he heard about his son’s death, but he did not accuse Harry or do anything except cry when he looked at Cedric’s body. Harry offered the prize money he won from the tournament to Amos as he felt that the glory of the championship ought to have been Cedric’s as well, but the latter refused.

St Oswald’s Home

Amos Diggory also appeared in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and he wanted Harry Potter to bring back his son Cedric Diggory from the dead by using the recently procured Time-Turner. The Ministry of Magic had nabbed Theodore Nott with a Time-Turner. Harry was the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and was responsible for the arrest of Theodore Nott. Amos Diggory even came to Harry’s house accompanied by his niece Delphi Diggory who was later revealed to be Delphi, the daughter of Lord Voldemort and the antagonist of the story. Amos Diggory lived in the St. Oswald Home for Old Witches and Wizards. 

Loneliness and Old Age

One of the most obvious observations about the character of Amos Diggory from his biography is that he was very lonely and sad in his later years. The death of his only son Cedric Diggory caused him a lot of trauma and pain. He went so far as to constantly ask Harry to use a Time-Turner to bring back his son Cedric from the dead. It is obvious that he knew the risks of using a Time-Turner and meddling with time because of his long tenure at the Ministry of Magic. The Time-Turner was a forbidden item only to be used for logistical reasons, like in the case of Hermione Granger attending classes. 

This shows a clear longing and pain that was left unaddressed in Amos Diggory because of the death of his son and the loneliness that accompanied it, especially during his old age. This is a common mental health issue that is addressed to some extent in the modern era but was otherwise brushed off as not important in the past.

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