New DADA teacher? (was Re: Harry's Fairy Godmother)

[snazzzybird]

No: HPFGUIDX 41601

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "xp39c" <xp39c at y...> wrote:

> Nik wrote:
> 
> > *Has* JKR stated that book 5 will have a female DADA? On all of 
the 
> websites 
> > I've seen this mentioned, it's always labeled as 
rumor/speculation. 
<snip>

And xp39c wrote:
> I just went to the Lexicon to look this up and found these two 
> quotes, among others, on the page on book 5, under the section 
> titled "What will happen in Harry Potter and the Order of the 
> Phoenix?"
> http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/book_op.html
> 
> 1. "You'll be seeing Mrs. [Arabella] Figg in book five, and you'll 
> find out all about her." (direct JKR quote)
> 
> 2. "There will be a female Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher." 
> (Lexicon's words)
> 
> Now the two could be unrelated, and both came from separate 
> interviews from almost two years ago, but having Mrs. Figg as the 
> next DADA teacher would make a lot of sense to me, much more than 
> Fleur, or every other adult witch we know.
> 
> --Hei Lun, who's a guy, btw

Now me:
I have read speculation that Fleur will be the new DADA teacher, and 
I will be really annoyed if JKR chooses to do this.  Why?  Because I 
can't see any reason for her to be chosen, other than to bring her 
back to Hogwarts for another book (ie for reasons of plot).  She's 
just out of school at Beauxbatons, so she's only 18 at the start of 
Book 5.  Okay, she was the Beauxbatons champion at the TriWizard 
Tournament, but what does that mean?  Only that she was the best of 
*that* school, at the type of challenge presented by the Tournament.  
This does not necessarily qualify her to teach Defense Against the 
Dark Arts, or anything else for that matter.

An important part of teaching is the ability to control the class, 
and a lot of that comes from the ability to command respect.  For an 
18-year-old to command respect from students so close to her own age, 
she'd have to have a spectacular record of accomplishments.  For 
example, Harry has defeated/escaped Lord Voldemort several times; if 
he became DADA professor at 18, he'd have no trouble getting the 
class' respect.  Nobody would question his qualifications.

All right, Fleur is part Veela, so she'd have no trouble holding the 
boys' attention -- but would they remember anything she told them?  
And what about the girls?  I can't imagine them buying into the idea 
that she's qualified to teach them.

Just some cranky thoughts.  Anyone with valid reasons why Fleur would 
have any business teaching DADA is welcome to toss them my way.

--Snazzzybird