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Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Derrick

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Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Character
Peregrine Derrick
Gender Male
Hair color Unknown
Eye color Unknown
Related Family Unknown
Loyalty Slytherin House

Overview

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Peregrine Derrick is mentioned as being one of the Beaters in the Slytherin Quidditch team.

Role in the Books

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Beginner warning: Details follow which you may not wish to read at your current level.

Bole is one of two Beaters - along with Bole - who attempt to injure Harry Potter in the Slytherin / Gryffindor final. He is unsuccessful, being out-manoeuvred by Harry. Slytherin loses the mach.

Angelina Johnson mentions Derrick (and Bole, too) in passing, saying that she always was surprised that Bole and Derrick could make it down to the Quidditch pitch without needing signs. Harry assures her that their replacements, Crabbe and Goyle, are very much in the same mould.

Strengths

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Derrick is physically imposing and has some ability to fly, as he was selected for the Slytherin Quidditch team.

Weaknesses

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Angelina's comments indicate that she does not consider Derrick's intellect to be among the strongest. We can't be certain whether this is true judgement or simple inter-house rivalry, but the "traps" he and Bole try to lay for Harry do seem to be relatively easy for Harry to out-think.

Relationships with Other Characters

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We see Derrick playing with the Slytherin team, but we cannot infer anything other than his familiarity with the team from this.

Analysis

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A recurring theme with Slytherin Quidditch teams seems to be that they go for large, strong Beaters rather than anyone with discernible talent. Lee makes a reference to "size rather than skill" in his commentary while Angelina makes a passing comment about Derrick and Bole needing signage to get to the pitch.

Questions

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Study questions are meant to be left for each student to answer; please don't answer them here.

  1. How old might Derrick be?
  2. What do you think Derrick's playing style might be?
  3. Would he be on the Quidditch team for a long time or just a temporary player?

Greater Picture

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Intermediate warning: Details follow which you may not wish to read at your current level.

It may be of note that, every time we see Slytherin play Quidditch, they appear to be menacing, cheating, and even quite violent at points. With the possible exception of Malfoy, the team is made up of something Angelina calls "gorillas". Derrick is a perfect example of this.