Hogwarts staff

"*We teachers are rather good at magic, Potter. We've even been known to turn out a worthwhile witch or wizard on occasion. I think it's time I ask a few of them to take their magic beyond the classroom.*"
— Minerva McGonagall's easement of the Hogwarts professors

The title of **Professor** is given to members of the wizarding scientific and scholarly community engaged in education and research, taken as a whole.

It is, perhaps most notably, used by teachers at wizarding educational institutions such as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Durmstrang Institute. It is considered rude by some for students to not address a member of a teaching staff on their school as *professor*, *Madam* or *Sir*, as is the case with Professor Snape. Harry Potter often chose to omit this title when speaking of Snape to others, leading them to chastise him. However, the most notable exception to this is Rubeus Hagrid, who is usually referred to by his surname.

The term *Sir* or *Madam* (depending on the gender) is an alternative title to use instead of Professor, on the speaker's preference. While talking to their colleagues, they usually use their first name. Professor Snape, however, preferred to use others' surnames. For example, he called Remus Lupin, Lupin, and Gilderoy Lockhart, Professor Lockhart in the Duelling Club in 1992. The exception to this would be Professor McGonagall, whom Professor Snape called Minerva.

## Powers and rights

Professors have the power to award and dock points (to determine the winner of the house cup competition) give detention and write notes for certain areas and activities that are usually off limits. Examples is how Hogwarts Professors can grant permission to such locations as the Restricted Section in the Hogwarts Library or permission to practise on the Quidditch pitch.

Professors have no right to use magical or physical force to assault students (at least under Headmaster Albus Dumbledore), as Professor "Moody" was reprimanded by Minerva McGonagall for turning Draco Malfoy into a ferret, while Dumbledore threatened Dolores Umbridge for violently shaking Marietta Edgecombe. They can put students in detention, but cannot expel them without the approval of the Headmaster.

## Life outside of classes

Many Hogwarts professors reside at the school during the school year, though this is not always the case. During the 1980s, Minerva McGonagall owned a cottage in nearby Hogsmeade with her husband, later moving out after his death. A teacher could also visit a home by means of Apparition, the Floo Network, or a Portkey. In the summer of 1996, Severus Snape returned to his childhood house in Spinner's End.

Those who remain at the school throughout the night seem to have private quarters, similar to apartments/flats, that are near or attached to their offices. A Head of House probably has private quarters near their House's common. On at least one occasion, Professor McGonagall could hear the noise of a party in the Gryffindor common room from wherever she was sleeping.

Professors typically eat meals with the students in the Great Hall, but this is not required. Sybill Trelawney often preferred to eat alone in her classroom. When Harry Potter attended his first Divination class with her in 1993, she mentioned that some of the students might not have seen her before.

Each Professor seems to have at least one "free" period during the school week. Harry Potter's third-year Defence Against the Dark Arts class saw Professor Snape in the staffroom once. Snape was also available to serve as a substitute teacher when Remus Lupin was, unbeknownst to the same group of students, ill from the effects of a werewolf transformation. Harry's fifth-year Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge, sent him to Professor McGonagall after he argued with her during a lesson. McGonagall was in her office.

During the second term of each year, a Head of House holds career counselling meetings with each of their fifth-year students, advising them on what N.E.W.T.-level classes they should take in preparation for their desired careers.

When a weekend Apparition Course take place at the school, a Head of House attends and helps to oversee the participating students from their House.

## Education

It is presumed that wizards and witches do not need any form of specific education or training if they wish to become teachers. They should possess knowledge and skill in the subject of their teaching, and preferably hold an O.W.L. and a N.E.W.T. in the subject. Sometimes a Headmaster/Headmistress will hire someone who did not sit the O.W.L. exams.

Dumbledore chose Rubeus Hagrid as a Care of Magical Creatures Professor in 1993, even though Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts during his third year. In 1996, Dumbledore hired Firenze, who, as a Centaur, had never attended a human school. On the other hand, he refused to hire Tom Riddle, knowing his ill intents despite his superior qualifications. Of course, this all depends on who is the current Head in question.

At least three years of after-school life experience are necessary. Both Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape were hired when they were twenty-one years old. When Tom Riddle graduated from Hogwarts, he immediately asked then-Headmaster Armando Dippet if he could teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. Dippet considered him to be too young at age eighteen, but invited him to return in a few years and apply again.

Even acquiring a post as Professor, teachers may temporarily return to the outside world to continue their practical studies. Quirinus Quirrell left his post as Muggle Studies instructor for a year-long sabbatical, allegedly to "gain first-hand experience" in Defence Against the Dark Arts so he can teach it the following year.

When Dumbledore hired Gilderoy Lockhart, simply to expose him as a fraud to the wizarding world, Professor McGonagall asked what can be learned from such a vain man. Dumbledore replied that much can be learned even from a bad teacher: what not to do, how not to be.

When the Ministry of Magic took onto more tyrannical methods of trying to wrest control of Hogwarts from Dumbledore, they imposed Educational Decree Number Twenty-Two, allowing them to implant a teacher into the staff should the Headmaster fail to find a suitable candidate. This led to the installation of Dolores Umbridge, who showed her own inability to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts properly, revealing that the Ministry would prefer to a figurehead to deliver politically authorised theories than a genuine professor with practical qualifications.