Romilda Vane was a Gryffindor student two years younger than Harry Potter as she was in her fourth year when Harry was in his sixth year in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. She was a member of Dumbledore’s Army and also took part in the Battle of Hogwarts and survived it. Romilda was played by Anna Shaffer, the British actress in the Harry Potter movie adaptations.
Romilda Vane was the one who sent Harry a box of Chocolate Cauldrons infused with a love potion as a gift on Valentine’s Day. However, these were accidentally eaten by Ronald Weasley, who had to be taken to Professor Horace Slughorn who eventually cured the lovesick Ron, only to accidentally poison him with an oak-matured mead that was intended for Albus Dumbledore. This episode revealed the second murder attempt on Dumbledore which was eventually revealed to be the work of Draco Malfoy.
Personality And Traits
Anna Shaffer played Romilda Vane in the movie adaptations of the Harry Potter series. She had bushy curly hair and dark eyes in the movies. She was a very confident and strong-minded witch as was evident from her pursuit of Harry Potter. She joined Hogwarts in the year 1993 and completed her first year as a Hogwarts student in 1994. In the following year too, she continued studying at Hogwarts but was not specifically mentioned. It was in the later years that Romilda Vane got mentioned several times, especially for her obsessive crush on Harry Potter and after she became a signed member of Dumbledore’s Army.
She had a group of friends who would also behave in a way similar to her. They all tried for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but when they were asked to fly around the pitch, they simply fell over each other and giggled. Later, Hermione Granger heard of Romilda’s plans to slip Harry the love potion and Hermione eventually warned Harry about the same. This showed the level of confidence that Romilda possessed despite constantly being shown a lack of interest by her fellow Gryffindor Harry Potter.
Appearance in the Harry Potter Series
Romilda first appeared in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when she volunteered to ask Harry Potter if he would sit with her and her friends in their compartment of the Hogwarts Express. She assumed that a famous student like Harry should not be sitting with ‘unpopular students’ like Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom. However, Harry turned down her offer and chose to sit with Neville and Luna instead.
She later tried out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team with her friends but was not actually interested in playing Quidditch and was therefore sent away by Harry.
During Christmas, Romilda planned to somehow slip in a love potion from the Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes to Harry and was heard plotting about the same by Hermione Granger. She even succeeded in doing so as she laced some chocolate cauldrons with it and gave them to Harry when they met in the dorm common room. Her initial attempt of lacing some gillywater and giving it to Harry was unsuccessful. The chocolate cauldrons would remain in Harry’s room until March, when Ron Weasley came across them and decided to eat them. Ron had fallen madly in love with Romilda and had to be taken to Slughorn’s office to be cured with an antidote.
Romilda’s interest in Harry only subdued after she realized that Harry started dating Ginny Weasley. This is probably because Romilda was friends with Ginny or because she finally realized that Harry was not interested in her at all.
Romilda would still remain an important student in the Gryffindor roster as she was one of the students to fight the Death Eaters in the final battle of the Second Wizarding War which brought about several changes in the wizarding world as a whole. Other Gryffindor students who fought in the Battle of Hogwarts include Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, Lavender Brown, Fred and George Weasley and many more.
She is said to have had some run-ins with the Statute of Secrecy Task Force during the Calamity as they contacted her to return one of her music boxes that went missing.
Similarities Between Romilda Vane and Merope Gaunt
It is interesting to see that were some very significant similarities between Romilda Vane and Merope Gaunt, the mother of Tom Riddle (Lord Voldemort). Merope Gaunt managed to make Tom Riddle Sr, a Muggle who stayed near her house fall in love with her with the help of a very strong love potion. This is quite similar to the attempt that Romilda Vane made to get Harry Potter to fall in love with her. However, Merope was successful in keeping Tom Riddle Sr long enough for the two of them to have a baby together and it is only after this that Tom Riddle Sr realized he had been tricked and left her and their son.
Unlike Merope, Romilda wasn’t as persistent with her attempts to make Harry fall in love with her and she eventually lost interest in Harry after she realized that he was in love with Ginny Weasley. She was on good terms with Harry and Ginny and once even asked Ginny jokingly if Harry had a tattoo of a hippogriff on his chest.
FAQs
What happened to Romilda Vane?
Romilda Vane completed her education in Hogwarts and also fought in the Battle of Hogwarts alongside her fellow Gryffindors. She was also a member of Dumbledore’s Army during her time there. Later, during the Calamity, Romilda’s music box with a top of a ballet troll was displaced and was later returned to her by the Statute of Secrecy Task Force.
Where did Romilda get the love potion?
Romilda Vane got the love potion from the Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes joke shop. In the movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Romilda Vane was shown looking at the love potions that were kept for sale in the shop. She would later buy a love potion and lace some Gillywater and some Chocolate Cauldrons and then offer them to Harry. Harry was successful in not taking the Gillywater but took the Chocolate Cauldrons as they were a Christmas gift from her.
What does Romilda Vane spike with a love potion?
Romilda Vane spikes some Gillywater and a box of Chocolate Cauldrons with the love potion she bought from Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. She then gives them to Harry Potter. While Harry doesn’t take the Gillywater suspecting she may have spiked it with Gillywater, he takes the box of Chocolate Cauldrons as they are a Christmas gift.