Hogwarts Under the Rose

There will always be those who don't want you to remember.

Appendix IX: On the Alleged Association of Niamh Peshlakai with Tom Marvolo Riddle (a.k.a. Lord Voldemort) From Post-War Irregularities and the Problem of Absence by E. Hawthorne, D.Phil. (Oxon.), Visiting Scholar, Magical Historiography, Hogwarts (Submitted 2004; rejected by three peer panels, revised 2006; rejected again)

Abstract

This paper attempts—and ultimately fails—to establish a verifiable historical relationship between a purported witch, Niamh Peshlakai, and Tom Marvolo Riddle. The failure is instructive. What remains is not proof, but a map of erasures: records that should exist and do not; testimonies that begin confidently and end in silence; and a sequence of wartime anomalies that cluster, unhelpfully, around a single absent name.

I. Archival Absence (1938–1945)

There is no complete record of a student named Niamh Peshlakai attending Hogwarts during the late 1930s or early 1940s. Enrollment ledgers from that period are compromised by wartime loss and subsequent redactions, but surviving house rolls of all four houses show no entry under that name.

And yet: several students of the era, interviewed independently, recall “a quiet girl,” “a musician,” or “someone who arrived late and left early.” None can provide a surname. None agrees on a year. All insist, with the same curious certainty, that she did not like being noticed. Strangely, several attendants of the era remember a quartet of young women who would play music at St Mungo’s. They too remember a girl matching Miss Peshlakai’s appearance, quiet, shy, but gifted. Similarly, they cannot agree on names, a year, or if they were Hogwarts students.

Such recollections fail the historian’s threshold. They do not fail the folklorist’s.

There is a curious notation pertaining to a patient at St. Mungo’s, a Mr. Teutopolis Scabior. Mr. Scabior had been a long-term patient at St. Mungo’s with severe mental trauma, probably the result of illegal dueling. This has been confirmed. A single, handwritten note is ascribed to his case, Music Therapy applied—some success. Recommend additional treatments, and then in parentheses, Niamh. It is unclear if this name was that of an attending healer, a helper, or the witch in question. Records of this time are incomplete. What is clear is that Mr. Scabior was ultimately discharged from St. Mungo’s although his whereabouts or any contacts remain unknown.

II. The Non-Magical Musician (1970–1982)

Ministry detention records confirm that, during the First Wizarding War, a non-magical musician—female, pale-eyed, auburn-haired—was detained for questioning regarding Death Eater activity. Multiple sources allege coercive interrogation; none record charges. Her release followed diplomatic pressure from the non-magical government, after which she traveled to Mexico.

Contemporaneous Muggle reports list her as presumed killed in the 1982 eruption of El Chichón, which itself remains a mystery. El Chichón was presumed dormant, yet three eruptions occurred without warning. The Ministry denied any involvement. No remains were recovered.

This is the last point of consensus.

III. The Revenge Hypothesis

A fringe theory proposes that the woman survived the eruption and—driven to revenge by unjust treatment—sought redress not through murder but exposure. Proponents claim she facilitated the capture of several Ministry officials and vigilantes who had previously detained her, delivering information that Death Eaters later exploited.

No evidence links these captures to her directly. No killings are attributed to her. Supporters cite a motive grounded in a peculiar ethic: that killing fractures the soul—a claim uncomfortably aligned with post-war revelations about Voldemort’s methods.

IV. The Charity Burbage Substitution Claim

The most sensational allegation concerns the death of Charity Burbage. A small number of post-battle rumors allege that the woman presented to Voldemort was not Burbage herself, but Niamh Peshlakai, returning.

Variants of the claim assert that:

The real Burbage was kidnapped, her memory altered, now living in the American southwest.Voices were heard after the killing that did not belong to Voldemort.Voldemort was seen, briefly, with a woman who appeared once and never again.

None of these claims withstands evidentiary scrutiny. All persist. A competing claim that a young woman appeared at the Greater Hangleton Manor the night Voldemort returned persists, and maybe a variation of the Burbage claim. The Substitution Claim may be nothing more than wishful thinking.

V. Progeny, France, and the Problem of Silence

A persistent rumor maintains that the relationship—if it existed—was consummated and produced a daughter, who was spirited away to France. No birth records support this. No magical signature matches known bloodlines. French authorities deny access to relevant archives, claiming they do not exist.

Silence, again, is the only artifact.

VI. The Battle of Hogwarts and the Arch

The most radical claim alleges that, after Voldemort’s first duel with Harry Potter, a substitution occurred: that Niamh Peshlakai exchanged places with Voldemort and fought in his stead during the Battle of Hogwarts.

According to this theory:

She enacted wide-area shield charms that reduced student casualties.She permitted only Narcissa Malfoy to determine Potter’s status, limiting further bloodshed.Her intent was not victory but passage—specifically through the Arch—to join Voldemort beyond death.

There is no credible proof. There is, however, an anomaly: the density and precision of protective enchantments recorded that night exceed expectations given Voldemort’s known preferences. Reubeus Hagrid, who was present at the first duel, was insistent that Voldemort performed multiple Cruciatus curses on Potter, although he did not respond. Potter himself confirmed this but attributes it to his selfless sacrifice. There is no independently replicable magic that supports that claim. No follow-up.

VII. The Aberforth Problem

Aberforth Dumbledore initially supported portions of these accounts, stating he had met “a woman who understood the cost” shortly before the final battle. He has since refused all comment, declining interviews and returning correspondence unopened.

This retraction carries weight. Aberforth Dumbledore is not prone to whimsy.

Conclusion: Failure as Result

I set out to prove a relationship. I failed.

What remains is a pattern: whenever the historical record approaches the question of connection rather than domination, it fractures. Names vanish. Motives blur. Witnesses fall silent. The archive behaves less like a ledger and more like a ward.

It is therefore the position of this author that Niamh Peshlakai cannot be proven to have existed as a Hogwarts student, Death Eater collaborator, or covert combatant at the Battle of Hogwarts.

It is also the position of this author—off the record—that if such a person did exist, the wizarding world has every reason to ensure she remains unprovable.

Some histories are not hidden because they are false. They are hidden because they would require us to admit that power was once answered— and deliberately refused.

Prefatory Note

The following material was appended after peer reviewers suggested—correctly—that the original paper “failed to account for several uncomfortably persistent irregularities.” It does not resolve them. It merely records them before they, too, vanish.

VIII. The Music Box

In February 2003, a small, unregistered music box was recovered from a sealed evidence locker in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. No accession number exists prior to that date.

The box is silvered, undecorated, and resistant to standard charm analysis.When opened, it plays a tinkling, arrhythmic melody lasting precisely ninety-three seconds.The tune does not repeat cleanly. Each iteration differs by a fraction of a beat.

Three Unspeakables independently reported the same phenomenon:

The longer one listens, the harder it becomes to remember why the box was opened at all.

This discovery is notable only because of long-standing folklore surrounding Niamh Peshlakai, which consistently describes her as hiding powerful magic in music, rather than casting it directly. No spell matrix has been identified within the box. No curse has triggered. And yet, the object has been quietly reclassified as non-transferable and returned to storage.

The melody has not been identified.

IX. The Body That Was Never Buried

There is no official documentation concerning the burial, destruction, or containment of the body of Tom Marvolo Riddle, known publicly as Lord Voldemort.

Auror reports end with confirmation of death. Thereafter:

No transport order exists.No containment chamber is logged.No funerary rite—formal or punitive—is recorded.

The prevailing explanation is that house-elves removed the body.

This explanation raises more questions than it answers:

No house-elf has claimed responsibility.No wizard is recorded as having issued the order.House-elves do not, as a rule, act in matters of state without direction.

Why they would have intervened—and who, precisely, they believed they were serving—remains unexplained.

X. The May Second Phenomenon

Since 1999, there have been scattered reports that at approximately 1:00 a.m. on May 2nd, faint music can be heard emanating from either:

the Hogwarts Lake, orthe Forbidden Forest

Accounts differ, but common descriptors include:

“tinkling”“string-like”“not sad, but not kind”

No magical signature has been captured. No source identified. Staff explanations range from environmental enchantments to collective suggestion.

Students are discouraged from investigating.

XI. The Centaur Question

The centaurs’ decision to enter the Battle of Hogwarts—after years of strict neutrality—has never been formally examined.

This omission is striking.

Centaurs are astrologically deterministic, slow to alter course, and historically resistant to wizard entanglements. Their sudden intervention suggests:

either a celestial realignment, ora local event significant enough to outweigh the stars.

Centaur elders have declined all inquiries. When pressed, one is reported to have said only:

“Outro.”

No further clarification was offered.

XII. The Disappearance of the Cave

The site once referred to—variously—as the Cave by the Sea or the Cave of Melodies can no longer be located.

This is not a matter of concealment. It is absence.

Coastal surveys show no collapse.Wards detect no residue.The cliff face appears geologically unremarkable.

And yet:

Dozens of Muggles insist such a cave once existed.Multiple witches and wizards independently describe it as ornate, wrought, and listening.Disagreement persists as to whether the cave was benevolent or malign.

What all accounts share is this:

The cave no longer answers.

XIII. Closing Assessment (Revised)

Taken individually, these anomalies are inconclusive. Together, they form a pattern that resists institutional explanation.

Music without spellwork. A body without burial. Protectors acting without command. A place that existed—and then did not.

If Niamh Peshlakai did not exist, then the wizarding world must still account for why it behaves as though she did.

The historian is left with two unsatisfactory conclusions:

That these phenomena are unrelated coincidences clustered around a period of unprecedented trauma.Or that someone who understood the cost of killing chose instead to bind, hide, and remove—not power, but its consequences.

This addendum does not strengthen the case for Niamh Peshlakai’s historical reality.

It strengthens something else entirely: The case for deliberate forgetting.

Filed. Revised. Rejected again.

MINISTRY MARGINALIA

(Recovered from copies circulated between 2004–2007. Ink, pencil, wand-scored annotations. Handwriting varies.)

[Cover Page]

Appendix IX: On the Alleged Association of Niamh Peshlakai with Tom Marvolo Riddle

— Why is this still circulating? — Flagged once already. Who reissued? — No authorization stamp. — Return to sender? — No—track readership first.

[Abstract – right margin]

“What remains is not proof, but a map of erasures.”

— Overwritten language. Editorially inappropriate. — “Erasures” implies intent. — Author warned re: anthropomorphizing archives. — This framing invites inference. Discourage.

I. Archival Absence (1938–1945)

“…records that should exist and do not…”

— Many records do not exist. Wartime losses are well documented. — Redundant emphasis. — Remove rhetorical weight.

“…a quartet of young women who would play music at St Mungo’s.”

— Music therapy not formally recognized until post-war. — Why specify quartet? — Unnecessary color.

“…(Music Therapy applied—some success)… (Niamh).”

— Handwritten notes are notoriously unreliable. — This parenthetical should not be elevated. — Strike name? — At minimum: relocate to footnote. — At best: excise.

II. The Non-Magical Musician (1970–1982)

— Why is a Muggle included at all? — Jurisdictional creep. — Foreign travel noted—irrelevant.

“…detained for questioning regarding Death Eater activity.”

— Language implies overreach. — Rephrase: “contact of interest.”

“…coercive interrogation.”

— Unsupported accusation. — Legal review required. — If retained, must balance with denial.

El Chichón eruption.

— Natural disaster. — Do not editorialize geology. — Strike “mystery.”

III. The Revenge Hypothesis

— “Hypothesis” inappropriate without data. — Speculative motive is not scholarship.

“…killing fractures the soul…”

— This is settled theory. — No need to restate. — Contextual relevance unclear.

— This section invites moral equivalence. — Dangerous framing.

IV. Charity Burbage Substitution Claim

— Absolutely not. — Why was this permitted past draft stage? — Remove entire section.

— If retained:  • Reframe as post-war rumor.  • Eliminate enumeration.  • Do not juxtapose with known death.

— This will cause harm.

V. Progeny, France, and the Problem of Silence

— Foreign Ministry noncooperation is not evidence. — Silence is not artifact. — Author indulging metaphor again.

— Still—no actionable claim here. — Low priority.

VI. The Battle of Hogwarts and the Arch

— Stop invoking the Arch. — Why does everyone insist on invoking the Arch?

“…density and precision of protective enchantments…”

— Post-battle chaos explains variance. — No further analysis required.

“…no known magic supports that claim.”

— This directly contradicts accepted post-war narrative. — Unacceptable phrasing. — Revise or remove.

— Author is not Unspeakable. — Author should not speculate on veil-adjacent phenomena.

VII. The Aberforth Problem

— Interview notes sealed by request. — Why is this referenced at all?

— Subject is alive. — Subject is litigious. — Advise removal.

Conclusion: Failure as Result

“…the archive behaves less like a ledger and more like a ward.”

— This sentence is the problem. — It reframes recordkeeping as magic. — Encourages paranoia.

“…the wizarding world has every reason to ensure she remains unprovable.”

— This is an accusation. — Reject.

Prefatory Note (Appended)

— Why was this allowed post-review? — Who suggested inclusion?

— This appendix materially worsens the paper. — Escalate.

VIII. The Music Box

— No accession number = no discussion. — Procedure violation.

“…harder it becomes to remember why the box was opened…”

— Subjective experience. — Unsuitable for record.

— Object should be transferred to Long-Term Containment. — Cease inquiry.

IX. The Body That Was Never Buried

— This is inflammatory. — Operational details are classified.

— House-elf speculation is inappropriate. — Who authorized this line?

— Do not pursue.

X. The May Second Phenomenon

— Seasonal auditory illusions documented. — Students discouraged = sufficient.

— No value added by inclusion.

XI. The Centaur Question

— Centaur affairs are not Ministry jurisdiction. — We do not comment on centaur motivation.

“Outro.”

— This is not a finding. — Remove quotation.

XII. The Disappearance of the Cave

— Geological surveys are conclusive. — Witness recollection unreliable.

— Stop using the word “absence.” — Use “negative result.”

XIII. Closing Assessment (Revised)

— The author persists. — Pattern-seeking behavior noted.

— This document creates connective tissue where none is required.

— Recommendation:  • No further revisions.  • No further circulation.  • No further study.

— Some subjects destabilize rather than inform.

— Let this one rest.

[Final marginal note, different hand, cramped, wand-scored into the parchment]

If this woman did not exist, the paper would be harmless. It is not harmless.

Do not assign this topic again. Do not encourage students to pursue it. And for Merlin’s sake— stop listening for music.

I. UNSPEAKABLE MARGINALIA

(Department of Mysteries copy. Blue-black ink. Tidy hand. Minimal adjectives. Long pauses between lines.)

[Inside Cover – lower margin]

— Circulated without clearance. — Origin unclear. — Do not annotate further in public copy.

On the Arch / Veil References

“…passage—specifically through the Arch…”

— Author uses imprecise terminology. — “Passage” is metaphor, not function. — Nevertheless: refrain from asserting impossibility.

— The Arch does not permit transit. — It permits alignment. — Difference matters.

May Second Addendum (Hand added later; tighter script)

— Persistent rumor confirmed in outline only.

— Morning of May 2nd (Beltane). — Approx. 05:10–05:17. — Two night watchmen on duty: one witch, one wizard. — Both experienced identical auditory perception.

“Voices.”

— Plural. — Unidentified. — Not recorded by sensors. — Not echo. — Not memory intrusion.

— Both entered the chamber. — Duration inside: < forty seconds. — Both exited without speaking. — Both exhibited acute somatic distress: pallor, tremor, dissociation.

— Neither could articulate what was perceived. — Both reported certainty that remaining would be fatal. — Not physically. Not immediately.

— Both resigned within the month. — Exit interviews declined. — Subsequent whereabouts unverified.

— Attempts to suppress narrative have failed. — Each retelling increases detail while losing accuracy. — This is consistent with Arch-adjacent phenomena.

— Recommendation:  • Do not correct the story.  • Correction strengthens it.

On Music as Vector

“…hiding powerful magic in music…”

— Music is not a spellform. — It is a carrier wave.

— Spell matrices assume intent. — Music does not.

— This distinction is operationally significant.

— If Peshlakai is fictional, the phenomenon is not.

On the Body Question

“…no funerary rite recorded.”

— Accurate. — Unresolved.

— The absence of procedure suggests avoidance rather than oversight.

— Avoidance implies exposure risk.

— No further inquiry advised.

Final Unspeakable Note (no signature)

— Do not attempt to locate her. — Do not attempt to prove she existed. — Proof is a form of summoning.

— If she listened to the Arch, — the Arch may now listen back.

II. HOGWARTS STAFF MARGINALIA

(Faculty copies, inconsistent paper, different inks, decades apart.)

Professor Minerva McGonagall

(Sharp hand. Precise margins.)

— No formal record of such a student. — That does not mean she was not taught.

— Several wartime pupils arrived late, left early, or were quietly removed. — I will say no more.

— Music rooms were not always used for music.

Professor Filius Flitwick

(Neat, enthusiastic script that stops abruptly.)

— If magic were ever persuaded rather than commanded, it would resemble music. — I do not recall the student. — I recall the effect.

— Some charms behave better when sung. — (This is not instruction.)

Professor Pomona Sprout

(Earthy hand, green ink.)

— She walked the greenhouses like someone apologizing. — I cannot tell you how I know this. — I only know it felt familiar when I read the name.

Professor Silvanus Kettleburn

(Large, uneven hand. Ink blotched.)

— Xanthus. — Chestnut hippogriff. — Temperamental but loyal.

— Not bred here. — Arrived fully grown. — Excellent flyer.

— Owner donated him after an injury. — Refused compensation. — Said Hogwarts needed him more.

— Descendant still here. Same blaze. Same eye.

— Animals remember.

Madam Poppy Pomfrey

(Clinical, clipped.)

— Several students in that era presented with exhaustion inconsistent with coursework. — Music was sometimes prescribed. — Unofficially.

— Results varied.

Professor Cuthbert Binns

(Faded ink, looping script.)

— Yes, yes, of course. — Reeves. — Miss Reeves.

— Quiet girl. — Always listening.

— No—wait— — That was later.

— Or earlier.

— Or not at all.

— Terribly confusing period, that war.

Rubeus Hagrid

(Large, pressed hard.)

— There was a girl who was kind to creatures. — That’s all I’ll say.

— An’ she wasn’t dark.

III. REDACTED MINISTRY MEMORANDUM

(Public-facing. Issued 2007. Heavy black redactions. Neutral tone.)

MINISTRY OF MAGIC Department of Magical Law Enforcement Interdepartmental Advisory

RE: Ongoing Inquiries Concerning the Alleged Figure “Niamh Peshlakai”

Following internal review, the Ministry has determined that no further investigative resources will be allocated toward inquiries, research projects, or academic speculation concerning the individual referred to in certain materials as Niamh Peshlakai.

This determination is based on the following findings:

• No verifiable birth, enrollment, or death records exist. • No charges, convictions, or confirmed affiliations are documented. • No actionable threat assessment is supported by existing evidence. • Continued attention has produced no clarifying results and has, in several instances, generated counterproductive narrative proliferation.

Accordingly:

— All departments are advised to decline participation in further study. — Academic submissions on this topic should be returned without comment. — Unauthorized circulation of speculative materials is discouraged.

This memorandum does not constitute acknowledgment of the claims referenced therein.

It constitutes closure.

[REDACTED] Undersecretary for Post-War Normalization Ministry of Magic

Handwritten note at bottom margin (not redacted):

Some names are not dangerous because they are powerful. They are dangerous because they are unfinished.

The Other School Song

(collected orally; no authoritative version exists)

Usually begun softly. Often not finished.

Verse (common opening) We learned the halls by candle and stone, By stair that turned when walked alone. The castle listens. The walls reply. Some doors are opened. Some pass by.

Refrain (almost always sung) Count your steps and mind your name, Not every fire wishes flame. Sing what’s written. Hum the rest. The school remembers what we’ve guessed.

Second Verse (less common) Four were called but five once came, One would never play the game. If you hear a silver sound, Don’t look back. Don’t turn around.

Bridge (rare; staff usually intervene here) Not all brave things wield a wand, Some stay whole by not being fond. Some choose silence. Some choose sleep. Some choose promises they keep.

Final Line (almost never sung aloud) If music starts where voices end, Be kind. Be still. And don’t pretend.

Performance Notes (Observed, Not Official)

The melody is simple, childlike, and slightly off-tempo, similar to a round but never resolving into one.Different Houses emphasize different lines:

Gryffindors sing the refrain louder than the verses.Ravenclaws linger on “The castle listens.”Hufflepuffs often hum instead of sing the bridge.Slytherins sometimes mouth the words without sound.

The song is most often chosen:

After particularly intense SortingsIn years following lossWhen first-years seem unusually quiet

Staff Response (Unofficial)

Professors correct the tune by beginning the official Hogwarts School Song.Prefects attempt to redirect tempo.Filch has confiscated parchment containing partial lyrics (none have ever matched).The Sorting Hat has once stopped mid-ceremony and cleared its throat before continuing.

No student has ever been disciplined solely for choosing this melody.

No staff member has admitted to knowing where it came from.

What the Students Say

“It’s older than us.”“It sounds right in the Great Hall.”“The ceiling hums back sometimes.”“You’re not supposed to finish it.”

Final Observation (from an unnamed Deputy Head margin note)

The official School Song teaches joy. This one teaches restraint.

Both belong here.