Entry tags:

!complete, date: october 2003, news: daily prophet

Wickham Ravelbun: Putting the Defense Back in Defense against the Dark Arts

Hogwarts newest instructor and the third to fill the position since the untimely death of Professor Severus Snape, Professor Wickham Ravelbun promises great things this year. And by great, he means very small.

"I think what Hogwarts really needs is it get back to the basics. And I’m as basic as you can get," Ravelbun informed Prophet editor, Heradina Sparks.

Though his questionable sense of humor and youth – Ravelbun left Hogwarts himself only twelve years ago – may be off putting to some, the Professor considers Defense against the Dark Arts to be the most important subject a young witch or wizard can devote themselves to. During the war, he devised a strategy for eluding the kiss of a Dementor – the details of which the Prophet has been prohibited from printing – and he singlehandedly defended the Muggle village of Barra against an attack by Death Eaters and, allegedly, at least one giant. Ravelbun is extremely modest about his accomplishments, stating that, “what I do in the classroom is far greater of a service to wizardkind than transfiguring a giant’s fist into a barrel of carp and showering the servants of You-Know-Who with them.”

And how have Ravelbun’s skills translated to the classroom and the challenges of an entirely different beastie, the third year aspiring vampire hunter?

"Easy," Ravelbun says. "Teach them how to whittle."