Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Defence Against the Dark Arts
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| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Magic | |
| Defence Against the Dark Arts | |
|---|---|
| Type | Class |
| Features | |
| First Appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Defense Against the Dark Arts is one of the required classes at Hogwarts. There has always been a rumor circulating around Hogwarts that the class is cursed, because they have never been able to have the same teacher for more than one year. Because of this, Professor Dumbledore has had immense difficulty finding teachers to fill the position as teacher.
The following is a list of the Defense Against the Dark Arts instructors Harry has had since his arrival at Hogwarts:
- Professor Quirrell
- Gilderoy Lockhart
- Remus Lupin
- Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody
- Dolores Umbridge
- Severus Snape
- Amycus Carrow - taught in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, while the three protagonists were not enrolled at Hogwarts.
[edit] Analysis
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, we learn that Tom Riddle applied for the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but Dumbledore refused to give him the job. Ever since, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher has had to leave after one year due to various circumstances.
There is a bit of an apparent contradiction here, in that to the casual reader Quirrell appears to have been the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for some time before the first book; Fred and George indicate that he was a better teacher in previous years, but that on one of his vacations he ran into some of the stuff he'd been teaching about and had become much more easily frightened. To mesh with Dumbledore's statement that he had never been able to keep the position filled for more than one year, it is possible that Quirrell had taught a number of different subjects before, and perhaps done some short-term teaching of Defence Against the Dark Arts, when the supposed curse took the main teacher out of circulation. However, it is interesting that in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, when Fred and George are enumerating the fates of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers, they only list the four who have been there since Harry started; Fred and George, two years older, should have seen two earlier Dark Arts teachers as well, but do not mention them.
[edit] Questions
- Did Voldemort actually curse Defense Against the Dark Arts class, or is it just a coincidence?
