Whatever Happened to Sally-Anne?

Did you know that one of Harry’s classmates apparently vanished between first and fifth year?

I don’t mean “vanished” in the same way that Montague disappeared into a Vanishing Cabinet only to reappear a few weeks later. I mean that she was listed as an incoming First Year in book one but was missing five years later.

Her name is Sally-Anne Perks. She appears on Rowling’s draft of the original forty students — and if you don’t know what that draft is, search on the Lexicon for The Class List. That list isn’t totally canon, since quite a bit of the information on it changed before making it into the books. Sally-Anne didn’t change, however. She was sorted just before Harry in chapter seven of Philosopher’s Stone. Unlike the films, the kids in the book are sorted in alphabetical order.

We don’t hear anything about Ms. Perks again. She never appears in the books. That wouldn’t mean anything, since there are a number of names which show up only once. However, there is another time that the students in Harry’s year are called off in alphabetical order, and that’s in book five. Flitwick calls groups of students to take their practical Charms exam. For example, he calls Hermione along with Anthony Goldstein, Gregory Goyle, and Daphne Greengrass.

When he gets to Harry, the book says:

Ten minutes later, Professor Flitwick called, “Parkinson, Pansy – Patil, Padma – Patil, Parvati – Potter, Harry.” — OP31

He misses Sally-Anne entirely. She should have been called just after Parvati. For some reason, Ms. Perks is no longer part of Harry’s year.

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