Argus Filch is the caretaker in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of books. While he does not act maliciously, and is not an evil character, he is certainly both short- and ill-tempered, which has made him very unpopular with the student body. His knowledge of the secrets and shortcuts of the castle is nearly unparalleled. The only people who have known more were the Marauders and the Weasley twins. Filch owns a cat named Mrs. Norris to which he has a particular attachment; he frequently calls her "my sweet". She acts as a hallway monitor or spy for Filch: if she observes students engaging in suspicious activity, or out of bed after hours, Filch arrives in seconds. She has been known to follow Hagrid everywhere when he goes about to the school, apparently under Filch's orders. According to Rowling, there is nothing particularly magical about Mrs. Norris, other than her being "...just an intelligent (and unpleasant) cat." The name "Argus" comes from Greek mythology, where it was the name of a giant with one hundred eyes who served the goddess Hera as a watchman (much like Mr Filch's role in patrolling the hallways of Hogwarts). The surname, "Filch", is an English word meaning [ - ]