Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry discussion
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textbook: various rune dictionaries, Ancient Runes Made Easy
Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms which was on the top of Hermione's "tottering pile of Ancient Rune books."
Spellman's Syllabary
Classwork/homework includes plenty of practice interpreting runes. The O.W.L. involves translating something written in runes into English.
Arithmancy
teacher Professor Vector
textbook Numerology and Gramatica
Astronomy
teacher Professor Sinistra
textbook None specified for first year or subsequent years, but the O.W.L.. has a theory as well as a practical component.
Meets at midnight at the top of the Astronomy Tower. Essays for the theory portion involve learning a lot of facts (Ron and Harry's fifth year essay on Jupiter's moons is the best example). During their practical O.W.L., the fifth years had to fill in a star chart by locating and correctly identifying various celestial bodies then visible in the sky.
Care of Magical Creatures
teacher: Hagrid;Grubbly-Plank sometimes substitutes for him, however.
textbook: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Monster Book of Monsters
Classwork usually consists of handling, feeding, controlling various creatures. Homework included drawing a detailed diagram of a bowtruckle with all parts labeled.
Charms
teacher: Professor Flitwick
textbook: The Standard Book of Spells (?)
Classwork involves trying various charms, such as Cheering Charm.
Defence Against the Dark Arts
teacher: Quirrell (1991), Lockhart (1992), Lupin(this is the one we have now) (1993), fake Moody (1994), Umbridge (1995), Snape (1996), Amycus Carrow (1997)
textbook: The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, Defensive Magical Theory, Confronting the Faceless
[NOTE: Lockhart assigned virtually his own complete works instead, but he was a self-serving idiot, so that doesn't count. We're not explicitly told what Lupin used, but since he wouldn't have used a useless textbook and Harry didn't have to buy a new one, we deduce that Lupin reverted to Trimble, which the fake Moody also used.
She-Who-Must-Be-Obey...er, She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Nam..., oh, all right, Umbridge - relied solely on Wilbert Slinkhard's Defensive Magical Theory. - MLW]
classwork varies depending on the teacher, but studies evil magic and creatures and how to cope with them
year one: general overview
year two: basic Dark creatures
year three: intermediate Dark creatures
year four: curses
year five: no idea what a competent teacher would have set; as it was, just read the Slinkhard book
year six: Dementors, Inferi
Divination
teacher: Professor Trelawney (up to 1995 - 1996), Firenze (1995 - 1996). After that, Trelawney took the N.E.W.T. classes while Firenze took the others, much to Trelawney's displeasure.
textbook: Unfogging the Future, The Dream Oracle
An elective, offered beginning in third year, this course covers reading tea leaves, palmistry, crystal balls, astrology, and more. Firenze's emphasis as a centaur is somewhat different from Trelawney's.
Although centaurs, like humans, practice astrology, they go about it with a different emphasis. In their view, divination is far more useful for predicting large changes than day-to-day trivial events.
Trelawney's classroom is located at the top of North Tower near her living quarters. Firenze, however, being a centaur, couldn't be expected to get up there, as ParvatiLavender pointed out when he took over the class during the 1995 - 1996 school year. Firenze's lectures take place in classroom 11, which is located along the ground floor corridor on the opposite side of the entrance hall from the Great Hall.
Flying
teacher: Madam Hooch
textbook: none, practical only
Teaching students to fly on broomsticks. We have only been shown one class period at the beginning of first year in this subject.
Herbology
teacher: Professor Sprout
textbook: One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi
class takes place in the greenhouses outside the castle
second years work in Greenhouse Three, where there are more interesting and dangerous plants
second years: repotting Mandrakes
fourth years: harvest Bubotuber pus
History of Magic
teacher: Professor Binns
textbook: A History of Magic
Extremely boring lectures on various aspects of magical history. However, the boredom is due to Binns' teaching style, not the material itself, which tends to emphasize vicious goblin riots, outright goblin rebellions, and giant wars.
Muggle Studies
teacher: Charity Burbage (? - 1997), Alecto Carrow (1997 - 1998)
textbook: Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles
Classwork includes charts showing Muggles lifting heavy objects without magic, understanding the importance of electricity to Muggle technology, and so on. The emphasis, like Arthur Weasley's enthusiasms, appears to focus solely on the physical aspects of life without magic, without mention of cultural differences.
Potions
teacher: Professor Severus Snape,apprentice Lilith Bates
textbook: Magical Drafts and Potions, also One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi (OP17) and Advanced Potion-Making (HBP9)
usually a double class
takes place in a dungeon, drafty and cold
memorizing the properties of various potion ingredients, the composition of specific potions, and practice preparing them
essays on the properties of potion ingredients (and occasionally analyzing how a student's practical assignment specifically went wrong and how to correct it)
Transfiguration
teacher Professor McGonagall
textbook A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, Intermediate Transfiguration, Guide to Advanced Transfiguration
Classwork includes lectures and practical, such as changing beetles into buttons. (See Transfiguration page for details on the specific lessons, or the calendar pages for the individual books.)