Firenze
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| Creature profile | |
|---|---|
| Firenze | |
| Also known as | Dobbin |
| Species | centaur |
| Allegiance | Hogwartian |
| Appearance | white-blonde hair, palomino body |
| First appearance in canon | The Forbidden Forest (PS) |
Firenze is a centaur who lived in the Forbidden Forest and later taught Divination at Hogwarts. He is uncommonly friendly and cooperative towards humans for a centaur.
Contents |
Characteristics
Firenze has white-blond hair, astonishingly sapphire blue eyes and a palomino body. He looks younger than Ronan and Bane (PS15). Many girls—Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown included—find him very attractive. He is usually calm and serious and has a mysterious air. His students are in awe of him (OP27).
Firenze does not share most centaurs' animosity towards wizards; in fact, he is always kind and civil, even if he does not agree with them. He even risked the herd's deathly wrath and accepted Dumbledore's offer to work for humans because he thought that the upcoming war concerned centaurs as well as humans (PS15, OP27).
In the Forest
Firenze was part of the herd that lives in the Forbidden Forest. Harry Potter first met him one May night in 1992 when he had to serve detention in the Forest. Harry, Draco Malfoy and Fang discovered a slain unicorn and saw a hooded figure—Professor Quirrell—drink its blood. Malfoy screamed and the figure came towards Harry, who was paralysed by a sudden pain from his scar. Firenze saved the boy: he charged at the figure and chased it away. When he recognised Harry, he decided that it was not safe for him to stay in the Forest and let him climb onto his back to bring him back to Hagrid. They were joined by Ronan and Bane, who accused Firenze of being a "common mule" for letting Harry ride on his back and told him not to interfere with the future they had seen. Ronan tried to reconcile the two, without success. Firenze told Bane that he would fight the evil presence that had killed the unicorn, even if that meant cooperating with humans. Then he galloped away. He did not answer Harry's question why Bane had been so angry. Instead, he told him that unicorn blood offered a prolongued but cursed life and hinted that the person who was interested in the blood and the Philosopher's Stone might be linked to Lord Voldemort. He left when they met Hagrid, wishing Harry good luck (PS15).
Hogwarts career
After Dolores Umbridge fired Professor Trelawney during her stint at Hogwarts as Hogwarts High Inquisitor, Albus Dumbledore asked Firenze to teach Divination at the school (OP26). Firenze agreed to do so, leading to his banishment from the herd of centaurs living in the Forest; they saw Firenze's agreement to work for wizards as a betrayal of their kind (OP27). Had it not been for Hagrid's timely intervention, Firenze might have died. However, because Hagrid interfered in the affairs of the centaurs, they developed a kind of vendetta against him, forbidding him to enter the Forest, on pain of death (OP30). Firenze, in turn, told Harry to tell Hagrid to abandon his attempts to teach his younger brother Grawp to be more civilized and human, as he believed they would fail (OP27, OP30).
As the Divination teacher, Firenze was unlike any other instructor at Hogwarts. His lessons took place in a classroom on the ground floor which had been enchanted to resemble a forest, with the stars overhead. He instructed the students in the centaurs' brand of Divination, which is entirely different from human Divination; centaur Divination is more concerned with the big picture and large, important events, instead of the minor accidents which concern human Divination. Firenze pointed out that Mars, harbinger of war, was becoming increasingly bright, suggesting that the wizarding world had been living between two wars, and that the second would start soon—indeed, the Second War began within months (OP38). Firenze also instructed the students in the art of interpreting smoke shapes and, though all of the children had difficulty finding anything, seemed not to be disappointed; Firenze's main attitude toward predicting the future seemed to be that nothing was certain, and that even the centaurs could not predict what would happen (OP27).
Professor Trelawney, upon returning to teaching the following year, was terribly upset about and very offended by the fact that she had to share her post with a non-human; she liked to call Firenze "Dobbin," and complained often to Dumbledore, threatening to leave the school if Firenze were not sacked (HBP15, HBP20). Though Firenze did not leave, neither did Trelawney.
Firenze, like the rest of Hogwarts' teachers (with the exception of Severus Snape, who had fled), attended Albus Dumbledore's funeral. Dolores Umbridge, terrified of centaurs after her encounted with the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest at the end of the 1995-1996 school year, made sure to sit as far away from him as possible (HBP30).
Battle of Hogwarts
Full article: Battle of Hogwarts
Firenze fought in the Battle of Hogwarts (DH31). His flank was injured; it bled profusely, and he was unable to stand. Madam Pomfrey tended to him (DH33). He eventually recovered (DH36).
After Voldemort's defeat, Firenze was forgiven by his herd, which now recognized that his attitude had been honourable instead of shameful (BLC).
