Quirrell's Tenure (Again)

[erisedstraeh2002]

No: HPFGUIDX 44072

Gwen wrote:
 
> Secondly, I don't believe that Harry's first year was also 
> Quirrell's. Percy or Hagrid (or both) make comments that lead one 
> to believe he has taught DADA at least one year prior to PS/SS, 
> because they have to have a baseline to judge against. My books are 
> home, but the line I'm thinking of is something like, "He was all 
> right until he took a year off to travel." And then we get the 
> backstory/rumour about having run afoul of a vampire in the forests 
> of Eastern Europe. 

Now me:

Here's the quote (Hagrid's speaking): "He [Quirrell] was fine while 
he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some 
first-hand experience...They say he met vampires in the Black Forest 
and there was a nasty bit o'trouble with a hag - never been the same 
since.  Scared of the students, scared of his own subject..." (PS Ch. 
5, p. 55 UK edition).

Hagrid says that Quirrell was "studying," not *teaching.*  I 
interpreted this as Quirrell working toward some sort of advanced 
magical degree, and deciding that he ought to take some time off from 
his studies to get some practical experience, not that he was taking 
a sabbatical from teaching at Hogwarts.

The part that's contradictory is the "scared of the students" line.  
How does Hagrid know that he's scared of the students if he's never 
taught before?  Unless this is just a general reference to Quirrell's 
being scared of just about everything!

Gwen again:
 
> Now, the real problem is that the text certainly leads one to 
> believe that the "vampire" who traumatised poor Quirrell was 
> actually  Voldemort, and that the change in his personality is 
> linked to Voldemort's possession. But according to the book, 
> Voldemort only took possession of him after he met Harry in the 
> Leaky Cauldron (as our past discussions on the turban and handshake 
> have addressed). So if that's true, then no one at Hogwarts would 
> have any indication that Quirrell is different until *after* he 
> starts teaching again.

Me again:

I agree that the text leads one to conclude that the change in 
Quirrell's personality was a direct result of his encounter with 
Voldemort in the forest, but I think the personality change happened 
*before* Voldemort took over Quirrell's body.  Quirrell says: "I met 
him [Voldemort] when I travelled around the world...When I failed to 
steal the Stone from Gringotts, he was most displeased.  He punished 
me...decided he would have to keep a closer watch on me..." (Ch. 17, 
p. 211).  I interpreted this as Voldemort taking over Quirrell's body 
only after the failed attempt to steal the Stone from Gringotts.  
Which implies that Voldemort found another way to travel to the UK 
from the forest.  And that Voldemort was controlling Quirrell even 
before he became a parasite.  IIRC, Voldemort also confirms this in 
his graveyard homily in GoF.

In order to make this make some sense, Quirrell must have been lined 
up for the DADA job before he went on his fateful trip to the 
forest.  Hagrid would know that there was a change in his personality 
since Quirrell was probably spending some time at Hogwarts during the 
summer preceding his first year of teaching (which I believe ws 
Harry's first year at Hogwarts) in order to prepare his classes.

~Phyllis
who appreciates Gwen's hard work on the Nimbus conference :-)