Dinah Hecat

Dinah Hecat
Biographical information
Born	c. 1847
Nationality	British or Irish
Title(s)	Head Girl Professor
Physical information
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Hair colour	Grey
Eye colour	Brown
Skin colour	Light
Magical characteristics
Wand	Unknown length, wood and core
Affiliation
Occupation	Unspeakable (formerly) Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
House	Ravenclaw
Loyalty	Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Ravenclaw British Ministry of Magic Department of Mysteries

"I demand excellence from my students. They are capable of achieving it, and they must achieve it."

— Professor Hecat's strict attitude towards her students

Professor Dinah Hecat (born c. 1847) was a witch who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a member of Ravenclaw House, and was appointed Head Girl. After graduation, she worked as an Unspeakable for the British Ministry of Magic, and went through an incident that caused her body to age considerably. She then single-handedly taken out the largest poaching ring in eastern Wales in the Great Poacher Raid of 1878.

By the 1890s, Hecat had returned to Hogwarts and become the professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts. During the 1890–1891 school year, she received a new student who started Hogwarts as a fifth-year, and worked with them both in and out of classes to hone their magical skills. She and other professors aided Eleazar Fig and the student during their final battle against the rebellious goblin Ranrok.

Biography

Early life

Dinah Hecat was born into a family of unknown wizarding descent around 1847.

Hogwarts years

She attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where she was Sorted into Ravenclaw House. She proved to be an academically gifted student, as she excelled in her studies and completed her schooling at the top of her class.

In her seventh year, she was named Head Girl, though she later remarked that the students got into just as much mischief in her day as they did in later years, and that she had "looked the other way at all sort of roguery" during this time. One notable exception to this, however, was when she reprimanded a Slytherin student, and future Headmaster, Phineas Nigellus Black, for having eaten a Sugar Quill in the middle of a lecture.

Ministry career

Sometime after her graduation from Hogwarts, Dinah joined the British Ministry of Magic, and became an Unspeakable at the Department of Mysteries. During her career she was ultimately "wounded by time itself" finding that her body had aged considerably as a result. Accepting the incident as an occupational hazard of her position, however, she would go on to carry the burden remarkably well later in life, and noted to her students that if anything, her former career at the Ministry had taught her the value of simplicity, especially in the heat of battle. Despite having aged, she still single-handedly took out the largest poaching ring in eastern Wales, an event that would later be known as the Great Poacher Raid of 1878.

Teaching career

"Perhaps you'd be good enough to blast each other to pieces on your own time. I get new students every year but I only have one Hebridean Black skull."

— Dinah Hecat

After her time at the Ministry she returned to Hogwarts as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, where she was granted Classroom 3C and an office to work in. In this role, she was a highly efficient educator who took her duties very seriously, and whose hands-on approach to teaching were believed to have satiated an innate desire for action. During her teaching career, the skeleton of a Hebridean Black hung from the ceiling of her classroom, a trophy from the Great Poacher Raid of 1878. She was teaching at the school in the 1889–1890 school year, as an unexplained magical disturbance occurred within her fourth-year class, coinciding with the acceptance of a new fifth-year student due to start in the following term.

1890–1891 school year

Dinah teaching a Defence Against the Dark Arts class

Professor Hecat taught at Hogwarts during the 1890–1891 school year, by which time her former classmate, now Professor Phineas Nigellus Black, had been appointed the Head of Hogwarts. During this term, at the behest of Deputy Headmistress Matilda Weasley, Hecat agreed to prepare extra assignments in order to help the new fifth-year student catch up to their other classmates and successfully pass their Ordinary Wizarding Level exams at the end of the year. Professor Hecat taught the student's first Defence Against the Dark Arts class, where she organised for them to duel Sebastian Sallow. Through this duel, the student and Sallow began to develop a close friendship. She was also contacted by Professor Eleazar Fig, who hoped the student would work more with her on their defensive magical skills and indicated a certain urgency to them completing their assignments.

Dinah Hecat in the battle for the final repository

At the end of the 1890–1891 school year, when Ranrok invaded the Keepers' Caverns with the aim of obtaining the final repository and supplanting wizardkind with goblinkind, Dinah Hecat defended Hogwarts Castle against his army of Loyalists and trolls, ensuring the safety of not only the school, but also the wizarding world as a whole. Hecat could be seen levitating a few goblins to clear the path for her colleagues. Dinah Hecat was present at the memorial ceremony for Eleazar Fig which took place after Ranrok's final defeat at the hands of the late-coming student she had helped to teach that year.

Physical description

Dinah was a woman of an advanced age; she had grey hair, pale skin, and brown eyes. She wore a dress of different shades of blue and had a light blue scarf around her neck. She had an elderly form which came from having been "injured by time itself" while working in the Department of Mysteries.

Personality and traits

Hecat was stern and likeable. She took her teaching responsibilities quite seriously. Her teaching methods were considered to be hands-on and satiated an innate desire for action. She demanded excellence from her students.

Magical abilities and skills

"Now, you may be asking yourself how an old woman like me single-handedly took out the largest poacher ring in eastern Wales and lived to boast about it. Knowledge."

— Dinah Hecat to her fifth-year students

• Defence Against the Dark Arts: As the Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she would have been well-versed in defensive magic.
• Magical knowledge: Due to her past employment in the Department of Mysteries, Hecat came to amass certain important information from the various research there, such as the repercussions of tampering with time-magic.
• Charms: Hecat was able to cast the Levitation Spell and the Summoning Charm successfully. She had much appreciation for the former, explaining to her students that it was extremely useful to catch opponents by surprise and weaken them (as she demonstrated it on her student Leander Prewett) and claiming that it had saved her against Dark wizards more times than she could remember. During the battle against goblins that tried to attack Hogwarts, she was able to levitate three goblins at once. She was also proficient with the Fire-Making Spell, as she was the one tasked with teaching it to the new fifth-year student, informing them of the dangers of the spell.
• Duelling: Despite her advanced age, Dinah was quite a skilled duellist, as evidenced by her success in the Great Poacher Raid of 1878. She implied that she had fought many duels against Dark wizards during her career as an Unspeakable. She was the one who taught the Disarming Charm to the new fifth-year student.
• Apparition: She was also capable of Apparating from one location to another with ease, as evidenced when she did so in order to quickly arrive at the location of the new fifth-year student and Professor Fig, to help them fight against the goblin army invading the school.
• Nonverbal spell: Hecat was able to use the Summoning Charm nonverbally to summon a training dummy.

Etymology

The name "Dinah" is derived from Hebrew dīna meaning "judged", "vindicated". Hecat is a variation of Hecate, the goddess of magic in Greek mythology.

Behind the scenes

• Professor Hecat is voiced by English actress Jane Windsor in Hogwarts Legacy.

Appearances

• Hogwarts Legacy (First appearance)
• The Art and Making of Hogwarts Legacy

External links

• Dinah Hecat at the Hogwarts Legacy Wiki