William was orphaned when he was only four years old and, having no living relatives, he was sent to an orphanage in Edinburgh. But after he was beaten by the warding for making one of the girl’s teddybear turn into a snake (something he couldn’t explain for the life of him), he ran away and started living on the streets. Begging for money and sleeping in stables, he was able to scrape by, taking day by day.

 

It was during a particularly cold December, when William was trying to steal some bread by the train station, a stranger in a heavily embroidered cloak approached him. The stranger handed William a strange, large gold coin, and asked him if he could buy William dinner. The stranger turned out be a professor at a school called Hogwarts, teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts.

 

Discovering he was a wizard changed William’s life. The professor’s sister, a kind old witch by the name of Honeysuckle Hobday, took him in and helped him adapt. His time at Hogwarts was some of the happiest years in his life. He finally had a warm home, and access to more food than he could imagine ever eating.

Hogwarts had been his first proper home, and the first time he had truly felt safe. So after working in the Three Broomsticks for a couple of years, he became the caretaker at the school. He loved his job, and settled down in a cottage in Hogsmeade with his wife Edwina, and their three children. After his passing, a small portrait of William was hung on the first floor corridor at Hogwarts.