Professor Dilys Derwent was one of Hogwarts’s most popular heads. It is believed that Everard, Dumbledore, and Derwent were Hogwarts’s three most popular heads. A portrait of Dilys Derwent exists in the Hogwarts Headmaster’s office among portraits of previous Hogwarts Headmasters, and another exists at the St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries’s main admitting area.
Early Life And Education
Dilys Derwent was born in Great Britain and likely went to Hogwarts to study magic. She was likely sorted into Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw but may have also been in Gryffindor. She excelled in Healing and several other magical subjects, including Potions, Herbology, and Care of Magical Creatures. She graduated from Hogwarts after seven years of education.
Etymology
The name “Dilys” in the Welsh language meant “genuine.” Therefore, her name may be derived from the Welsh word. Her surname, Derwent, may reference “Derwent Water,” the name of an English lake in the Lake District of Cumbria.
Role As A Healer At St Mungo’s
After graduating from Hogwarts, Dilys joined St. Mungo’s Hospital For Magical Maladies and Injuries as a Healer. She was a gifted Healer and gained much recognition for her contributions as a Healer in St. Mungo’s Hospital.
She was soon promoted to Head Healer in the Hospital. She managed the Hospital efficiently and became a household name among wizards and witches. She also significantly contributed to the Herbology and Potion departments as a healer.
Career At Hogwarts
After her tenure at St. Mungo’s Hospital, Dilys joined Hogwarts as its Headmistress. Dilys was already a capable witch known throughout the wizarding community for her contributions as the famous healer at St. Mungo’s. She soon became a favorite of the faculty and students at Hogwarts.
She may have helped in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts when she was not undertaking her role as the Headmistress. Since some severe cases would require encouragement from one of the top healers ever, Dilys may have also doubled down as a healer at Hogwarts.
Dilys died at Hogwarts while she was still the celebrated head of the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Like Albus Dumbledore, she too died when she was head of Hogwarts.
Personal Life And Legacy
Very little is known about Dilys Derwent’s personal life except that she was a very kind and generous woman of renown who ensured her patients had a good day. She also had many fans because she tirelessly served the patients of St Mungo’s Hospital when she was a nurse there.
Different areas of several important wizarding institutions had portraits of Dilys Derwent. Several corridors of important institutions also had portraits of her. Professor Derwent’s portrait was also found among the portraits of previous headmasters of Hogwarts in the Headmaster’s office. A large portrait of Dilys Derwent was kept at the St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries’ main admitting area.
Dilys Derwent was immortalized after a Chocolate Frog card was made in her honor.
Appearance in the Harry Potter Series
Dilys Derwent appears in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. However, her appearance is not as a living witch but as a portrait. Since pictures can move, talk, and communicate with other portraits and people living in the real world, Dilys Derwent was a great help.
Since the subjects of these pictures could move between their portraits, Dilys could relay important information to Albus Dumbledore when needed.
After Nagini, the snake, gravely injured Arthur Weasley, Harry Potter dreamt about the entire event and warned Albus Dumbledore about it. Hence, Dumbledore relied on the help of the portraits in his office. He asked the portrait of Dilys Derwent if she saw Arthur Weasley come to St Mungo’s Hospital after he was rescued from the Department of Mysteries.
Dilys could move from her portrait at the Headmaster’s Office at Hogwarts and look at Arthur being taken into the Hospital where another portrait of her was kept. She informed Dumbledore that Arthur had been transported to the Hospital and didn’t look well.
Dilys was among the portraits of the headmasters and headmistresses in the office of the then-headmaster, who cheered Harry and gave him an ovation when they realized that Harry had finally caused the end of the Second Wizarding War by defeating Lord Voldemort.
The Mechanism of Teleportation Between Portraits in Harry Potter
Dilys Derwent was a good example of a portrait that moved from one location to another, as there were two portraits of her hanging in two separate locations. One portrait was in the Headmaster’s office at Hogwarts, while the other was at St Mungo’s Hospital. Since both these places have portraits of Dilys Derwent, she would alternate her time between each portrait.
The mechanism for this teleportation is magic, but a deeper meaning could unveil the actual nature of portraits. Portraits in the Harry Potter world carry a deep essence of that person, and although they are not living anymore, the portrait allows their ideas and thoughts to be accessed by the living people. Portraits are like memories, they give the living person an idea of who the person in the portrait was. The more the living person knew the person in the portrait, the more they could converse with them and get their ideas and thoughts.
The only exception to this mechanism is the ability of portraits to give data about the real world, almost as if they are alive and watching it. This mechanism is mostly based on magic alone.
FAQs
How many years was Dilys Derwent the Headmistress of Hogwarts?
Dilys Derwent was the Headmistress of Hogwarts for 27 years. She was a Healer at St Mungo’s Hospital but left that job in 1741. She became the Headmistress of Hogwarts in 1741 and continued for 27 years until she died in 1768 when she was still the Headmistress of Hogwarts.
Which 18th-century Headmistress of Hogwarts had previously worked as a healer at St Mungo’s?
Dilys Derwent is the Headmistress of Hogwarts. She previously worked as a healer at St Mungo’s Hospital. She was one of the best healers of her time and head healer at St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. She was also one of the most loved and popular Headmistresses of Hogwarts.
Which Headmistress helped to check if Arthur had reached St Mungo’s Hospital after Nagini’s attack?
The portrait of Dilys Derwent, the Headmistress of Hogwarts from 1741 to 1768, helped Dumbledore check whether Arthur Weasley had safely been transported to St Mungo’s Hospital. Dilys was a very popular and skilled Healer before she became Headmistress, so there was also a portrait of her at the entrance of St Mungo’s Hospital.
