While Hogwarts had some famous couples that we learn a lot about – such as Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione, and Cedric and Cho – romance blossomed in all kinds of places around the school. Some relationships we got glimpses of, but some we never even saw at all…

Neville Longbottom and Hannah Abbott

We know from J.K. Rowling that Neville Longbottom and Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff in the same year, eventually married, living together above the Leaky Cauldron pub. But we never really saw Neville and Hannah even talking while they were at Hogwarts. We can see it making sense though: they had a lot of opportunities to become friends, such as both being members of Dumbledore’s Army and the fact that Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors often had Herbology lessons together.

Academic anxiety was, of course, another thing Hannah and Neville had in common, with Hannah bursting into tears during a Herbology lesson and saying that ‘she was too stupid to take exams and wanted to leave school now’. Herbology was also the lesson Hannah was taken from to be told her mother had been found dead. A family being shattered by Voldemort and the Death Eaters was something else Neville could understand well. Perhaps the first deeper conversation they had was through bonding over these shared experiences.

Though we don’t see it, it’s easy to believe Neville and Hannah’s relationship would have been a lovely one, perhaps not glamorous but steadfast, long-lasting, and based on deep mutual respect, supporting each other and keeping each other strong. The sort of love that makes you feel all cosy inside, like good toffee. Bless ’em.

George Weasley and Angelina Johnson

So we all know that Angelina Johnson went out with Fred Weasley – they danced ‘exuberantly’ at the Yule Ball together – although for how long is uncertain. It makes her later marriage to George Weasley particularly interesting. It’s quite possible they united through a shared grief over Fred’s death, but couples formed in this kind of intense event often struggle to stay together once the event has passed. It would be particularly strange for Angelina: when she looked at George she would, surely, be seeing Fred in some way too?

But then again, Angelina Johnson, with her ‘towering temper’ when called for – but ability to stay cool in the face of repeated annoyances – was really the only match for a Weasley twin. She really wouldn’t stand for any nonsense, on or off the pitch, and took that attitude to eventually becoming captain. Angelina was also always the one to call out Oliver Wood for calling the Quidditch team ‘men’ when there were three women on the team. She had respect for the individual. That would, of course, include George as an individual too.

Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy

Pansy Parkinson was most often described as ‘shrieking’ rather than speaking. Her natural flair for the loud and dramatic made her the perfect provider of the attention that Draco so often wanted. It was Pansy who ‘simpered’ over Draco after Buckbeak the Hippogriff attacked him, and they even attended the Yule Ball together. But Harry did get a glimpse of their dynamic when he hid in the Slytherin carriage, on the way to school at the start of their sixth year. Malfoy lay with his head in Pansy’s lap, allowing her to stroke his hair, and later she waited for him ‘with her hand held out as though hoping he would hold it’. It seemed an almost entirely one-way relationship, with Draco only deigning to show any real affection in private, if at all. Certainly not the healthiest relationship on this list.

Hagrid and Madame Maxime

The Headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy was the only person who seemed to motivate Hagrid to comb his hair, which is achievement enough in itself. While their courtship began during the Triwizard Tournament, their relationship blossomed over the following months when they travelled together to petition the giants on Dumbledore’s behalf. It was a relationship in which they each brought out the missing half in one another. Hagrid seemed to stoke the wild side in Olympe, commenting that ‘she’s somethin’ when she’s roused, Olympe… fiery, yeh know…’

Madame Maxime, for her part, seemed to tame Hagrid, and made him go ‘misty eyed’, a feat previously only accomplished by dragons.

Filch and Madam Pince

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry first voiced his suspicions about the cantankerous caretaker and the vulture-like librarian: ‘I’ve always thought there might be something going on between them …’ These suspicions were later somewhat confirmed at Dumbledore’s funeral, which Filch and Madam Pince attended apparently together. Scandalous! But once you get over the initial shock, it makes rather a lot of sense.

They were both sticklers for the rules, seemed unhappy that students were a necessary accessory to a school, and were given to prowling around their domains (the corridors for Filch and the bookshelves for Madam Pince) after dark. Madam Pince even used similar language to Filch, describing a book that had been written on as having been ‘befouled!’ One imagines they’d spend long evenings, maybe with a cheeky nice glass of red, comparing stories of students being rule-breaking, grubby little toerags, one of those relationships based on shared dislikes rather than mutual interests. But love, just like magic, works in mysterious ways, right?