Who taught DADA before Quirrell?

[bdasl]

No: HPFGUIDX 138184

Ersatz Harry wrote:
>...I found myself wondering about this today and went back to SS/PS
> to see if Quirrell's predecessor was mentioned.  No such professor 
> was named as far as I could find in a quick pass through the book.
> In fact, there were a couple of things that made me think that
> Quirrell had in fact been the DADA professor the year before Harry
> starts.  For one, Harry meets Quirrell before school actually 
> starts (on the way to Diagon Alley with Hagrid to pick up his 
> school things), and Quirrell says nothing about teaching DADA for 
> the first time, only that he teaches it.  For two, Dumbledore 
> makes no mention of new professors at the welcoming feast that 
> year (as he does in some of the other books).

> So I see multiple possibilities here:
> (1) I simply missed something (this is probably the most likely);
> (2) JKR goofed a little bit in the writing of SS/PS; or
> (3) JKR did not really settle on the one DADA professor per year
> idea until *after* writing SS/PS.

> Am I missing any possibilities?  


Well actually I think it could conceiveably be a combination of 1 and
3?  We are told that Quirrell goes off to Albania for a sabbatical.  I always figured he was there two years ago (Fred & George's first year) took a year's sabbatical (previous year to Harry's first year) and then comes back somehow with Vapormort in tow over the summer before Harry's start of term.   Hagrid mentions he hasn't been the same since coming back.  Given that he has a VERY big secret he is hiding the stutter might not have always been a fake.  This would still fit into the one year DADA teacher rule technically since Quirrell didn't stay two years in a row with this concept.  I should note that 'The Lexicon' has (for what I am sure are to their eye legitimate reasons) said that Rowling was wrong if you read their timeline on Hogwarts.  This version though would cover even the question of 'no new-professor introduction' since all but the 2nd year students of those returning would already know Quirrell.
Given how many years have transpired since the request by
Riddle/Voldemort to Dumbledore that he be allowed to teach DADA I
wonder if JKR didn't back herself into a corner thinking this way but
she's the author!  :)  Doesn't it seem just the least bit
unbelieveable that nobody else would be noticing over 25 years of
single year professors on a subject all students must take until
O.W.L. level?  

Anyway hopefully that would address your questions (and sort of
supported by canon although I didn't quote directly <g>)

bdasl