The co-protagonists and minor characters in Book 7

[lyraofjordan]

No: HPFGUIDX 143039

Lucianam wrote:
 I'd also like to know why Lupin chose Defense. 

Lyra (chiming in late, as usual):

You'll notice that what Lupin seems to concentrate on is the subset 
of DADA that focuses on defense against dark creatures. Once a 
month, Lupin himself is a dark creature, as the result of meeting up 
with a dark creature as a child. It makes sense to me, and seems 
perfectly in character for Remus Lupin, that Lupin would become a 
DADA teacher so that he could train others to avoid his own fate. 
It's also possible, that like his friends James and Sirius, 
he "hated the dark arts" and therefore chose to study how to defend 
against them (as opposed to Snape, whose attraction to the dark arts 
finds some sort of satisfaction in teaching defense against those 
same dark arts...) 



> > 
> > MercuryBlue wrote:
> (snipped)
> > Lupin didn't choose squat.
> > Dumbledore needed a Defense teacher. More to the point, 
Dumbledore 
> > needed someone who was familiar enough with a certain recently-
> > escaped mad mass murderer [snip]toAnd there was Remus Lupin, old 
school 
> > friend of Black's, knew him very well...also conveniently 
> > unemployed. Well, let's solve two problems at once: give Remus 
the 
> > Defense position!
> 
> Lucianam responded:
> 
>> Lucianam:
> 
>.But how did Lupin become a DADA teacher if he didn't choose to be
one? A person doesn't suddenly 'become' a teacher, whatever subject
they're teaching, they need years of study and preparation. I
suppose they have to go through examinations, too, so they can prove
their proficiency. There's a syllabus to be followed, the kids have
books, there are O.W.L.S. in 5th year... .. It'd be a very weird 
> arrangement if just any person who Dumbledore thought 'useful' at 
> Hogwarts, in a given moment (and I don't even agree with this 
> particular idea of yours) could teach the students.
> Lupin still is a very, very good DADA teacher, and therefore he 
must 
> have studied the subject very hard. He certainly seemed to like 
> teaching it.
> 
Lyra responds:

Lupin does seem like a very capable teacher -- one of the best 
teachers we've seen in six years of attending Hogwarts, actually. 
But I don't think it's a coincidence that Dumbledore decided to 
recruit him for this particular year. After all, Dumbledore needs a 
DADA teacher *every* year, and since Lupin seems among the most 
qualified of all, why would he wait for this particular year to hire 
him? This year he offered the added bonus of the link to Sirius 
Black.

But I think your premise that it takes years of training to become a 
teacher -- while valid for the real world -- is simply not the case 
in the WW. Consider Hagrid. Not only has he not had years of 
training to be a teacher, he didn't even complete his studies at 
Hogwarts. The vast majority of what he knows about COMC comes from 
experience working with the animals, not book learning. In fact, if 
the curriculum at Hogwarts hasn't changed much in the last 50 years, 
Hagrid only had a year of COMC classes before he was expelled due to 
Tom Riddle's accusations. Based on the Hagrid example, expertise is a
key consideration, teacher credentials are not.

When it comes to filling the DADA position, however, Dumbledore is 
in a much tougher situation, because he has to fill the position 
*every* year, and apparently people with expertise in the field are 
either getting harder to find or not interested in the job. That's 
why charlatans like Lockhart are sometimes his only choice (unless 
he decides this is the year Snape gets his chance). And since 
Dumbledore knows he will need a new DADA instructor each year, he 
can reserve old chums like Moody to be on campus during a year he 
has reason to believe will be one where a little extra security 
might be needed. He knows during the TriWizard Tournament his castle 
will play host to a school that specializes in dark magic with a 
headmaster who is an admitted former DE, so he chooses a DADA 
teacher who will (in theory, anyway) provide an additional layer of 
protection.

Lyra