Magical creatures in Harry Potter harbor an attraction to imagery morbid and melancholy. Ghosts are very sensitive about their condition: when the Ministry initially classified them as sentient creatures with full legal rights, they claimed that the term was insensitive and received a separate "Spirit Division", apparently to control the activities and haunting locations of troublesome ghosts (as when Myrtle was forced to haunt the place of her death (Hogwarts) after she had disrupted the wedding of the brother of Olive Hornby, a girl who had teased her at school). Named Ghost characters: Peeves, the Hogwarts poltergeist, is not considered a ghost, but an "indestructible
Hogwarts staff disobey her. After the raid of Hogwarts in "Half-Blood Prince", Sprout is a staunch advocate of keeping Hogwarts open. She also supports the suggestion that Dumbledore should be laid to rest at Hogwarts. Sprout attends Dumbledore's funeral, where she appears cleaner than she has ever been seen before. In "Deathly Hallows", she chases Snape away from Hogwarts with Professors McGonagall and Flitwick. Informed that Voldemort and his Death Eaters are coming to besiege Hogwarts, she uses her knowledge of magical plants by improvising offensive botany, and, with the help of several students, throws Mandrakes, Snargaluff pods, and Venomous Tentaculas off