"But I don't want you running away with the idea that I am better at Herbology than she is!"
--Gilderoy Lockhart (CS6)
Pomona Sprout was a squat little witch with fly-away gray hair who taught Herbology at Hogwarts. In the greenhouses, Sprout had to deal with a wide variety of magical plants, some of which were very strange and even dangerous. She handled them all with aplomb, even the Venomous Tentacula. Her robes and fingernails were often earthy (CS6), and her hat was patched (HBP14).
Professor Sprout also served as Head of Hufflepuff House (GF36), and in true Hufflepuff spirit, proclaimed after Dumbledore’s death, “I feel that if a single pupil wants to come, then the school ought to remain open for that pupil” (HBP29). She was kind and nurturing to the students, and surely encouraged Neville’s penchant for Herbology because he was anxious to show her his Mimbulus mimbletonia (OP10). She also expressed her support for Harry when he was being persecuted by Umbridge, awarding him twenty points for passing her a watering can (OP26).
She contributed a Devil’s Snare to help guard the Philosopher’s Stone (PS16), cultivated Mandrakes to cure the petrified Basilisk victims (CS9, CS11, CS18), tended to the injured Whomping Willow (CS6), and during the Battle of Hogwarts she led Neville and other students to attack the Death Eaters with the most vicious and threatening plants in the greenhouses (DH31). Her favorite type of fertilizer was dragon dung (OP13).
Professor Sprout used bandages to fashion slings for a number of the Whomping Willow's branches after Harry and Ron crashed the Ford Anglia into it (CS5, CS6).
Family
Sprout was either a half-blood or pureblood, given that she stayed at Hogwarts during the 1997-1998 school year.
Commentary
Etymology
Sprout=English "to germinate, for example, a seed; also a young plant."
Pomona=Roman goddess of fruit trees.
Notes
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We know that Sprout's time at Hogwarts overlapped with McGonagall's by two years (Pm), making Sprout either McGonagall's senior or junior by five years.
One must wonder how Professor Sprout was able to put the Whomping Willow's branches in slings (CS6). Perhaps she is privy to the secret of how to freeze the tree. -BB
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