Irma Pince

Irma Pince
Also called	Madam
Character information
Species	Human (Wizardkind)
Occupation	Librarian at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Book information
First appearance	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Last appearance	Quidditch Through the Ages

Irma Pince is a character in the Harry Potter book series. She is a witch and the librarian at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Irma is very protective of the Hogwarts library and its books but she is very unlikeable because she is very strict.

Biography

Irma was a librarian at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during Harry Potter's first year. She was very strict and protective over her books and was known to put jinxes on them, with fines being giving to those who damage them. She put a jinx on a copy of Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration which beat Albus Dumbledore over the head when he absentmindedly wrote in it.

In December, she caught Harry going towards the Restricted Section. She asked why but he couldn't tell her what he was searching for so she chased Harry away using a feather-duster. During her second year, Hermione Granger gave her a signed permission slip written h Professor Lockhart for her to get a book that students her age couldn't access. She let her go and get it when she decided Lockhart's slip wasn't a forgery. A few days later, she gave Harry a glaring look when he caused a lot of noise storming out the Hogwarts library after he and Ernie Macmillan had an argument. She was polishing a large spellbook.

Albus Dumbledore once asked Irma for a Hogwarts Library edition of Quidditch Through the Ages in order to copy it for wider consumption. She had to be persuaded to part with one and was temporarily speechless when he told her that the republished edition was going to be avaliable to Muggles. She did not blink or move for minutes and eventually asked if he had lost his senses. After he reassured her that he was fine, he gave her his reasons for pursuing it. Even so, she wasn't happy and suggested that they should tell the Muggles that the library burned down or that he had dropped dead without leaving instructions. In the end, Dumbledore had the pry the book out of her fingers one-by-one.

Trivia

• A copy of Quidditch Through the Ages in the Hogwarts library has a form on the first page for borrowers to sign. Underneath is a warning written by Irma telling the borrower how the book should be treated. If the book were to be damaged, mistreated or not respected enough, they will get the worst possible punishment she has the power to give.
  • In his foreword for Quidditch Through the Ages, Albus Dumbledore reported her saying that the book was "pawed on, dribbled on and generally mistreated.