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"I assert our inalienable right to party."
— Minister Milicent Bagnold defending wizards outwardly celebrating the fall of Lord Voldemort and risking exposure of the wizarding world[src]

Minister Millicent Bagnold was a British witch who served as the thirty-first Minister for Magic of the British Ministry of Magic, in office from 1980 to 1990.[7] Her tenure is most remembered for taking place during Lord Voldemort's first downfall, in 1981.[7][6]

Biography[]

Early life[]

Bagnold was born in or prior to 1963.[1] In her youth, she attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where she was Sorted into Ravenclaw house.[6]

As Minister for Magic (1980–1990)[]

"Famous Ravenclaw Ministers for Magic include Millicent Bagnold, who was in power on the night that Harry Potter survived the Dark Lord's curse, and defended the wizarding celebrations all over Britain with the words, 'I assert our inalienable right to party'."
Robert Hilliard[src]

In 1980, at the height of the First Wizarding War, Bagnold was elected the Minister for Magic of Great Britain.[7] Bartemius Crouch Snr was Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement during Ms Bagnold's term.[8]

She was in power when, on the evening of 31 October 1981, Lord Voldemort went to Godric's Hollow to murder James and Lily Potter, the destruction of Voldemort's corporeal body, as well as the inadvertent creation of a Horcrux, Harry Potter. The night that followed turned out to be the major upheaval of Bagnold's term in office since wizards up and down the country started celebrating Voldemort's downfall and the end of the First Wizarding War in what became "a night of large-scale breaches of the International Wizarding Statute of Secrecy"[7][9] Bagnold defended these celebrations by famously stating that she asserted the wizards' "inalienable right to party".[6]

Wizengamot

The Death Eater trials before the Council of Magical Law

It was also during her term in office that Death Eaters Igor Karkaroff, Rodolphus, Rabastan, Bellatrix Lestrange, as well as Bartemius Crouch Jnr were rounded up and tried before the Council of Magical Law and sent to Azkaban.[10] Sirius Black was falsely accused to be one of Voldemort's supporters and one of those responsible for the murders of James and Lily Potter and was sent to Azkaban without a trial.[8]

Daily businesses as Minister[]

Millicent Bagnold attending Knarlenbarn HM3KBD

Minister Bagnold attending Knarlenbarn in the Great Hall

During the 1986–1987 school year, Minister Bagnold visited Ollivanders in Diagon Alley to have Garrick Ollivander repair her wand. She was in a hurry that day, and did not want him to spend extra time testing out her wand. Jacob's sibling approached her in the shop and successfully asked her for a quick conversation, after they cleaned up some wands that Bagnold accidentally knocked on the floor. The student asked her to attend Knarlenbarn at Hogwarts, and to bring her pet Knarl Karl with her, in order to reunite him with his long-lost twin brother Knarl. She agreed, and attended the event in the Great Hall.[4]

In February 1990 or 1991 for Valentine's Day, Bagnold announced the rules for the love essay competition hosted by the Hogwarts Express Railway Authority to Hogwarts student at Hogsmeade station.[11] Bagnold later declared Jacob's sibling the winner of the competition in the Three Broomsticks Inn.[12]

Retirement[]

After Bagnold's retirement in 1990, it was temporarily unclear who would succeed her. In the early 1980s, Bartemius Crouch Snr initially seemed most likely to succeed Bagnold, but his popularity was tarnished following the scandal in which he sent his own son to Azkaban.[8] Albus Dumbledore also had a lot of popular support to be her successor, but he never expressed any desire to take the Minister's job, so Cornelius Fudge took the post instead.[13][14]

Later life[]

On 1 September 1991, Prefect Robert Hilliard welcomed the Ravenclaw first-years to Ravenclaw Tower with a short speech in which he mentioned former Minister Millicent Bagnold as one of the many notable Hogwarts students who had been Sorted, like them, into Ravenclaw.[6]

In the spring of 2021, as The Unforgivable were seemingly harvesting Harry Potter's traumatic memories to manifest as surges of the Calamity, snippets of their own memories started to leak through to Harry as dreams. At one point, he started having recurring nightmares of Millicent Bagnold presiding over a Wizengamot trial, accusing someone of having a Death Eater for a brother and half of their family in Azkaban for killing Muggles and conspiring with Voldemort. Hermione Granger reached out to Bagnold but she said she presided over many such trials as Minister and could not recall any specific details: Hermione speculated that Bagnold's memory of that day might have been tampered with, but ultimately found it more likely "that her age [had] caught up with her".[15]

Etymology[]

The name "Millicent" is from the Germanic name Amalasuintha, composed of the elements amal "work, labour" and swinþ "strength".

Her last name is probably derived from the English author and playwright Enid Bagnold.

Behind the scenes[]

Appearances[]

Wiki
The Harry Potter Wiki has 5 images related to Millicent Bagnold.

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Bagnold had to be of age (17) at the time of her accession to the office of Minister, which was in 1980.
  2. "World Exclusive Interview with J K Rowling," South West News Service, 8 July 2000 - "Hogwarts just serves Britain and Ireland."
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (see this image)
  4. 4.0 4.1 Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 3, "KNARL'S BIG DAY" Achievement
  5. Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Ministers for Magic" at Wizarding World
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Pottermore introductions to Hogwarts Houses (Archived here)
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Sixth question of the Third W.O.M.B.A.T. at J. K. Rowling's official site
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 27 (Padfoot Returns)
  9. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 1 (The Boy Who Lived)
  10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 30 (The Pensieve)
  11. 11.0 11.1 Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 5, "TICKET TO LOVE" Achievement - Part 1
  12. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 5, "TICKET TO LOVE" Achievement - Part 4
  13. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 5 (Diagon Alley)
  14. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 5 (The Order of the Phoenix)
  15. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (Registry: Adversaries Events)


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