The beginning of Albus Dumbledore's teaching career

[oryx_leucoryx]

Some of this will be highly speculative, but I will try to justify speculation with canon as much as possible. There will also be plenty of open questions. The goal is to fill in the missing years, between the moment Albus parted ways with Gellert in the summer of 1899 and the moment we see him going to meet Tom Riddle at the orphanage in 1938.

The biggest question I have is about the influence Albus Dumbledore had on headmaster Armando Dippet. We see that in the 1940s Albus had significant influence on the headmaster - he convinced him to remove certain Dark Årts books from the library and to not hire recent alumnus Tom Riddle when veteran DADA prof Merrythought retired. What I find curious in the situation is that Armando listened to Albus' views regarding Dark Arts when Albus was the Transfiguration teacher, while the school had a professor who was a specialist in DADA - above mentioned Galatea Merrythought - who was senior enough to have taught Albus himself back in the day. It would be as if Albus as headmaster preferred the opinions of Severus on the Charms curriculum over those of Filius. How did that come to be?

We don't know what Albus did after his sister's death in August 1899, nor do we know when he started teaching, except it was well before 1938. I'm guessing Albus' time as alchemist under Nikolas Flamel's mentorship took place in the early part of those years. I doubt he had time to do alchemy seriously while teaching a required subject! We don't know anything about Potterverse alchemy except for the fact that Flamel created a working Philosophers' Stone, but if there too alchemy requires a high level of purity from the practitioner then perhaps Albus' reputation as alchemist contributed to him being perceived as an authority in opposing Dark magic? (I wonder if Albus ever confessed - knowingly or unknowingly, willingly or due to some influence - his planned adventures with Gellert to his mentor. Perhaps that was the reason he was called to solve the Dark Lord problem in Europe - because Flamel knew about their shared past and expected some emotional reaction from Gellert.)

But then, if his reputation was in alchemy - and Potions (uses of dragon blood?) - why was he hired as Transfiguration prof? Note that Molly says in HBP that Albus and Horace started teaching at the same time. This sounds like both the Transfiguration and the Potions posts were available. Why not hire the brilliant new teacher for the job that most suited his recent experience? As far as one can tell from canon Albus doesn't claim any public achievements in Transfiguration since those prizes he earned at school. Does this mean that whoever hired him (whether Phineas Nigellus Black or Armando Dippet) had known him in his student days?

So when were Albus and Horace hired? And by whom? Does Molly know of the beginnings of their respective careers because she heard from Muriel, who attended Hogwarts from 1902 to 1909? Or perhaps from her grandparents, who may have attended in the second decade of the 20th century? In that case they were hired by Headmaster Black and started teaching as Armando Dippet's peers. Alternatively they may have been originally hired by Dippet. And depending on what Dippet himself taught, maybe they were hired in 1925 when Dippet became headmaster, with one of them taking Armando's former job. Any indications as to what he might have taught?

But maybe this is the wrong question to ask. If Albus was working with Nikolas, why did he switch to teaching? I seriously doubt canon!Albus would prefer teaching to research, unless something came up that made the research situation unpleasant. Like a reminder that he really shouldn't be involved with this kind of thing that may lead to immortality (of sorts). In the form of news of Gellert's rise in Europe.

So this is my proposed scenario: September 1899, after Aberforth went to Hogwarts for his 5th year, Albus became an apprentice with Nikolas Flamel. They worked on assorted projects. Then news started coming from Europe about what Gellert was up to. At some point, whether because Flamel started hinting that Albus might be able to do something about Gellert or because Albus was becoming uncomfortable with the news and what it implied about his own past, he went to interview for the next teaching job that opened. We don't know when this was because it isn't clear how long it took from the moment Gellert stole the Elder Wand from Gregorovitch until his exploits became newsworthy. Though canon suggests enough time went by for Gellert's appearance to have changed beyond recognition as neither Gregorovitch nor Tom make the connection (is this a theme with Dark Lords?). But this could still have happened while Phineas Nigellus Black was headmaster (say in the early 1920s; 1923 if we want any kind of equivalence with Hitler's timeline). Albus arrived at the school with a reputation as an alchemist. This got him the admiration and following of some teachers, in particular those who were personally or politically uncomfortable with the Dark Arts. While Phineas was still headmaster there was little Albus could do besides networking (besides, he was the new guy around), but once Armando took Phineas' place (presumably in 1925) the time was ripe for Albus to collect the rewards in the form of influencing the new headmaster's policies. And perhaps it was a gradual process, because Merrythought stayed around for 20 more years, so I don't think she wasn't feeling abruptly sidelined.

Somewhere during these years Albus was offered the Ministry - twice, as Tom remembers. I'm guessing the third time was during Tom's absence, which is why he wasn't aware of it when he met Albus again. The Albus of King's Cross exaggerates this number - I think he was trying to impress Harry with how much he believed himself undeserving of power (protesting too much). Of course in the long term he had more influence putting down the Dark Arts at school than by running the Ministry for a decade or so. I tend to think the offer of the
political position came from those who ended up being Dumbledore's supporters in the Wizengamot for decades to come, people like Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden. Their support must have been based on his various magical achievements, maybe also the recommendations of Albus' various correspondents. The fact that he had worked with Flamel must have been significant regardless of whether the latter was directly involved. And starting from 1940 these people also called him to take on Gellert. Of course, the two may have been connected - maybe the line was 'if you take care of the European Dark Lord we'll make you Minister'. Or perhaps 'look how we trust you - we want you as Minister! Just go and finish of Grindelwald (before he starts causing trouble here too)'.

Of course in 1945 Albus became the hero of the day and got his own chocolate frog card. From then on for 50 years he got everything he wanted, including controlling any powerful position he could use long term and the upbringing of 2-3 generations of British wizards.

Who else taught at Hogwarts during those years:

Phineas Nigellus Black: Born 1847. Died 1925. I'm guessing he was headmaster until his death. We don't know when he started teaching (but we do know he taught at some point, and loathed interacting with students), nor do we know what he taught nor when he was promoted to headship. Slytherin. We do not know if he was Head of House at some point either. He probably was headmaster when Albus was a student, or at least in Albus' later years as a student.

Galatea Merrythought: Taught DADA from 1895 to 1945. Which means she taught Albus from 4th year on. (Following Terri's proposal that in the past Hogwarts actually taught Dark Arts the transition, if there was one, happened during her tenure. Certainly Horace asks Tom if his interest in Horcruxes was for a project in Defense Against the Dark Arts.) If Phineas taught (DA)DA then maybe she was hired to replace him when he became headmaster.

Armando Dippet - Hogwarts headmaster, probably from 1925 until his death - either in December 1956 or a winter a few years later. It isn't clear what he did before that. Was he a teacher? For how long? What did he teach?

Herbert Beery - taught Herbology when Albus was a young(ish) teacher. Aspiring thespian.

Kettleburn - Care of Magical Creatures. Ended up retiring in 1993. Lost several limbs over his career. The description in 'Tales of Beedle the Bard' makes him appear to have no more common sense than Hagrid wrt the various creatures, but at least he took the risks himself.

Horace Slughorn - taught Potions. Started around the same time Albus did, but was younger (by how much?). Retired in 1981. At some point (before 1940s) became Head of Slytherin. Also founded The Slug Club - an in-House cross-generational networking system.

Someone I believe did not yet teach in those days is Binns. At least not in his ghost form. We know Harry studied from Bathilda Bagshot's textbook, which was published din 1947. This means that as late as 1947 there was a history teacher at Hogwarts who was aware enough of his surroundings to know a new book was published which would suit the curriculum better. Of course this implies that Tom Riddle had a live history teacher who was more involved in teaching than what we see in Harry's days. And puts most of the responsibility for ruining the teaching of history on Albus as headmaster.

Comments

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Regarding Binns... I personally like the idea that Binns died after Albus became headmaster, and that it was Albus's idea never to replace him. Dippet might have been letting him stay on, getting a little doddery, secure in the knowledge he'd soon be replaced by someone younger and more dynamic.

I admit, the only support we have for this idea is that we have evidence that Albus considered competence at teaching an agreeable bonus, not a pressing concern, when he made his staffing decisions (Trelawney, Hagrid). We don't know that of any former headmasters/mistresses, and I'd prefer not to libel them by thinking so poorly of anyone but Albus.

Indeed, the staff whom we know or infer to have predated Albus's reign (Minerva, Filius, Pomona, Poppy, Kettleburn, Slughorn, Hooch)--going by apparent age, and the fact that positions seem to be tenured--seem competent enough. Note too that Umbridge's only two firings were, in fact, of Albus's two distincitvely incompetent hires.

And Albus is the only headmaster we know to have a specific reason for wanting history to be ill-taught, and modern history to be ignored altogether.

And I can just see Albus making the claim that it's not kind to deprive Binns of a job he loves, just because's he's no longer alive. One wouldn't want to be prejudiced againt the breathing-impaired, after all.

Albus is so nice that way.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

Here's something I've been considering....

What if we were to compare Hogwarts to a real-world university rather than a real-world secondary school? In a real-world secondary school, instructors are hired and assessed according to their ability to teach. In a real-world university, however, professors are more often judged by their expertise in their field of study; their ability to actually teach the subject is often not such an important factor. Many of us, I'm sure, have taken classes with absolutely brilliant professors who, nevertheless, absolutely suck at teaching.

If Hogwarts is more like a university, then being a professor may actually be a rather prestigious position in the WW, and it therefore doesn't seem so strange that Albus decided to become the transfiguration professor.

Also, if Hogwarts is more like a university, then Albus can justify his staffing decisions by claiming that the people he's hired are some of the foremost experts in their subjects.

Who alive knows more about history than Binns? Probably very few people. After all, most of them likely had Binns as a teacher!

Who alive knows more about magical creatures than Hagrid does? Possibly nobody.

And note how there's no mention of Umbridge trying to replace Binns, even though everyone agrees that he's an awful teacher

Note, as well, how Umbridge fires Trelawney, not on the basis that she is incompetent as a teacher, but on the basis that she is incompetent as a Seer.

[Umbridge] lurked by the fire in the heavily perfumed tower room, interrupting Professor Trelawney’s increasingly hysterical talks with difficult questions about ornithomancy and heptomology, insisting that she predicted students’ answers before they gave them and demanding that she demonstrate her skill at the crystal ball, the tea leaves and the rune stones in turn. --OOTP chapt. 25

Likewise, Umbridge seems to also fire Hagrid for reasons besides his lack of ability to teach, for she tries to remove him from Hogwarts altogether, not just from the COMC post, even though he is also the Hogwarts gamekeeper.

[sunnyskywalker]

That might also make sense historically. Iirc, you started medieval and early modern universities at around age 14 (give or take), and I think they did hire on experts whether or not those experts were focused on teaching as a primary career function. The wizarding world split off from the Muggle world before modern pedagogy and teacher certification were developed. Switching to primary education for a moment, think of all the young women as late as the 19th century who became governesses on the strength of having gone to school and probably knowing French. Not a formal process! Universities had more standards than that, but it would make some sense for Hogwarts to be operating on the model of "hire the foremost scholar who's willing to work here, and those kids better listen and be grateful for the opportunity." Come to think of it, weren't early universities unruly places with all kinds of student rebellions and brawls with the townspeople? That might explain a few things about Hogwarts culture too.

Hogwarts couldn't be exactly an early university, because presumably some of those "young sorcerers" they took on for, oh, most of the school's history wouldn't have been literate, much less able to compose those endless essays without some extra instruction. And there seems to be some trade school aspect to it too. (And they have a modern school calendar somehow...) It's probably a weird chimera of different kinds of schools smushed together for historical reasons which may no longer be relevant.

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

And one more thing.

Jo Rowling does have experience as a teacher. Specifically, a year or so as a teacher of English as a foreign language, in Portugal.

I have no idea about the program that hired her, or what her supposed qualifications were. But I do know people who were hired out of college, or soon thereafter, as English-as-a-foreign-language teachers in secondary schools in obscure places, solely on the basis of being a native English speaker with a college degree.

An expert, in short, on the subject matter. What more could be required?

Some of them ended up being adequate teachers, too.

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Yes, that works. And it would also explain why Lockhart applied for the DADA post--he thought it would be a feather in his cap (besides all those luscious book sales).

And there's Minerva, one of only 7 registered Animagi this century--how better to prove one's superlative skill at Transfiguration?

And you're right about Dolores establishing Trelawney as being incompetent as a seer, not as a teacher.

Hagrid--well, WE know that Hagrid has endangered students as a gamekeeper before Albus gave him a chance to do so as a teacher. If Umbridge found out about Mosag, or Norberta, or any other similar releases of illegal dangerous creatures..... or even that detention in the forest Harry's first year. Hagrid thought it acceptable to send two eleven year old boys off in a forest at midnight, escorted only by a cowardly hound, to track a dying unicorn and WHATEVER WAS KILLING IT? Maybe Draco finally realized he could tell about that (if not Hagrid's dragon), and that's what turned the trick.

But even if not--if Dumbledore represented Hagrid as being an expert on magical creatures, he lied. Hagrid does have an instinctive ability to approach SOME of them and befriend them--he clearly has a touch with hippogriffs, for instance, and with the Monster Book of Monsters. But he lets himself be utterly blinded by his monster-positive prejudices. Norberta was female not male, did NOT see Hagrid as her mommy, and had no use for a teddy bear. Aragog's children appear to resent Hagrid for the restrictions their father has placed on them in Hagrid's name; no sooner is their father dead than they attack Hagrid, and note that they go after him again in DH. Neither the Skrewts nor the students enjoyed their walkies together.....

Hagrid is NOT an authority on Magical Creatures, because half of what he "knows" is dead wrong. Or rather, deadly wrong. HE has apparently inherited his mother's skin, difficult for tooth or claw or flame to penetrate, and her constitution, which is relatively immune to magical venoms as to most spells. So HE'S not often hurt by his determination to believe vicious monsters harmless. But the children around him, on whom he's siccing his monsters, don't share his immunity to harm.

So all Dolores had to do was uncover an area of ignorance or willful blindness that made Hagrid incompetent even as gamekeeper as well as discrediting Dumbledore's claims that he was a Magical Creatures expert, and he was out on his ear.

Actually, that's probably why she held her hand so long--she didn't want just to demote him (which she could probably have done after the first class she observed, if the post were supposed to be held by a Magical Creatures authority), she wanted to find grounds to rid Hogwarts of him entirely.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Regarding the forest detention: Hagrid may have decided on the details, but it was Minerva's name on the note. She was the one who placed 4 preteens under Hagrid's care in the forest at night, knowing that a unicorn killer was loose.

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Oh, totally.

I now tend to think that Albus had told her this was a good idea (under the Confidere, of course).

However, what she did was to confide four children to the official Hogwarts gamekeeper for a nighttime detention meant to teach them, to rub in irrevocably, that throwing themselves into danger for thrills, or for spite against another student, was not an acceptible idea. The kids were meant to be frightened and demeaned. Did Minerva register that this particular excursion could possibly endanger their lives? There's no canon evidence in support of that.

Note that Draco's initial objection was, "But this is servant stuff, it's not for students to do. I thought we'd be copying lines or something. If my father knew I was doing this, he'd--"

"--tell yer that's how it is at Hogwarts," Hagrid growled.

But it's one thing to send students out at night under the gamekeeper's protection; after all, if he couldn't deal with the Hogwarts fauna, he'd have died long ago. Presumably Hagrid has demonstrated his general ability to deal with the Forests' inhabitants. It's quite another to send children out with no one but a hound companion. And that last was Hagrid's contribution to the night's festivities--there's no reason to assume Minvera was ever a party to THAT piece of wisdom.

Though Albus might well have been.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

Minerva may have thought that detention with Hagrid would consist of something like shoveling manure, not chasing down unicorn killers.

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Sending students to Filch of Pomfrey (the other low-esteem servants) didn't put students in life-threatening situations, after all--it put them in danger of spending hours in demeaning tasks like polishing trophies or scrubbing out bedpans, BY HAND.

such a humiliation as doing menial work with one's HANDS should surely have taught young wizards their lesson, no?

[oryx_leucoryx]

And Albus is the only headmaster we know to have a specific reason for wanting history to be ill-taught, and modern history to be ignored altogether.

Nor does he want the most qualified living magical historian to start blabbing about her former neighbor (as we know she was wont to do in 1981 without the help of Veritaserum). We don't know when she became senile, but she may still have had several decades of lucidity ahead of her in 1947.

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Nice catch!