One of the most fun themes through the Harry Potter series is how each year brings a new - and strange - professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Book 1: Sorcerer's Stone
Of course, in book 1 you don't realize this is such a fun post to have at school. The current Dark Arts instructor is Professor Quirrell, a quiet, stuttering, shy man. Everyone assumes he's just had too many "scary encounters" with dark forces and has become nervous. At the end of the book, it's revealed that Quirrell is actually a servant of Lord Voldemort and has been pretending the entire time. He's killed at the end of the book.
More about Professor Quirrell
Book 2: Chamber of Secrets
In Book 2, it is Gilderoy Lockheart, the supposedly brave world traveller, that takes on the Defense against the Dark Arts position. It isn't too long into the book before you realize that this guy is a fraud. He's unable to control even the meekest of creatures, and at the end of the story a spell he casts backfires, causing him to lose his memory. He is seen in Book 5 in St. Mungo's Hospital, still recovering.
More about Professor Lockheart
Book 3: Prisoner of Azkaban
Book 3 was very much about Harry's past, and the people who hung out with his father, James. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was Remus Lupin. While he was a wild teacher, he was also a werewolf! By the end of the story he and his good friend Sirius are on the run.
More about Professor Lupin
Book 4: Goblet of Fire
By Book 4, all the students were wondering who was going to be next. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year was "Mad-Eye Moody", who had an electric-blue magical eye that could see through walls. By the end of the book you learn that the teacher really wasn't Mad-Eye - that it was Barty, posing as the teacher.
More about Professor Moody
Book 5: Order of the Phoenix
At this point we've had just about every type of teacher there is - and along comes Dolores Umbridge. She takes a new approach - not teaching at all. She insists that the class simply READ about how to defend themselves, but not actually TRY it because it's far too dangerous. She is ousted by the end of the book.
More about Professor Umbridge
Book 6: Half-Blood Prince
Finally, Severus Snape has his dream job. He is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Snape has coveted the position since the series started. He has had to remained in the background and watch, year after year, the new teachers. Severus Snape does the unthinkable by the book's end.
More about Professor Snape
Harry Potter Character Listing
Harry Potter Master Listing
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
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