COMC is led by non other than Professor William W Williamson, who also doubles as the Hogwarts Groundskeeper. Never one for a dull lesson, Professor WWW had lots of fun in store for his students this term. The year started with a lesson on trolls that included a trip into a pensieve and a daydream experience that seemed far too real. We learned what not to do when encountering a troll and some of us definitely learned the hard way. Just when you thought that lesson couldn’t be topped, Care of Magical Creatures students were treated to a field trip. We were off on a camping trip to Tibet to observe Yeti’s. Yes, I said Yeti’s! These may have been the most exciting creature lessons in the history of Hogwarts.
I had the opportunity to sit down with the professor recently and here is what he had to say:
Thank you Professor Williamson for agreeing to this interview. Let’s start at the beginning. How did you get into the creature business? Hey Naya, no problem. I've always loved creatures and the outdoors, and after an... interesting Hogwarts graduation trip, where I met a lot of creatures, I decided to study them at uni. And then I worked at a dragon reservation, and then the rest is history.
What is your favorite creature and why? DRAGONS ARE MY FAVORITE CREATURE. And why? Well, they're just amazing. They're giant reptiles! They're beautiful! They can fly! It's so cool how they hatch! I could go on and on and on but I know you're pretty busy so. I mean, how does someone NOT like dragons?
Dragons are my absolute favorite too! I hope to work with them one day. I’d love to pick your brain about that, but for now.....back to the interview. You gave us a glimpse into your pre-Hogwarts adventures when we learned about trolls. Besides that, what was your most exciting or scary creature experience? Oh, yeah. I'm a bit embarrassed about that, but that was from my trip my friends and I took after our Hogwarts graduation. And a lot happened on that trip, so I don't know if I can think of one particular story for you. I have a lot, from all these years, heh. One of my most EXCITING and FAVORITE memories, though, is when we hatched a dragon at Hogwarts, back in... 2078, I think it was? Roro the dragon was the best dragon. My little baby.
If you weren’t teaching Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts, what would you be doing instead? I should probably be retired, huh?
What piece of advice would you give to someone hoping to study Magizoology or have a career working with creatures? Be patient. Sometimes you have to start at the bottom, mucking out stalls and the like. But if you're consistent and work hard, you'll get where you want to go. Eventually.
Charms
Welp. Bet none you expected to start Charms class with what seemed to be a ransacked classroom and your professor on the floor, huh? Yet, that was exactly the scene one encountered when one walked into the room one fall/winter morning. Obviously, the good professor had tripped over one of the upturned desks or chairs. Good on those who helped Professor Fuller-Thompson up- Claudine Blaze and Aboli Song. Not that those who hadn’t offered to help are bad- since when does it take more than one or two people to help a person up off the floor?
Anyway, once everyone (with the obvious exceptions of Emmerson Cambridge, Nemesis Upstead and Phoebe James [who had a good reason, actually]) had the room straightened up, we dove straight into the lesson. Which, in an interesting switch, was being taught by Headmaster Trent. Why this switch up when Professor Fuller-Thompson was already in the room? Well, apparently, the Charms professor was injured when he tripped. Yikes.
The lesson being taught (you know, aside from the importance of keeping a tidy room)? The ‘Ascendio’ charm, the one that you use to send yourself up into the air quickly. Yourself, people, not things. Also, it doesn’t keep you in the air, so no using it as a scissor lift or one of those window washing platforms. But it could be used to get out of sticky spot involving a well or quicksand (where are you guys going that you run into those things, one wonders?). Or to catch keys floating above you, as the Headmaster tasked us with doing. Which only served to point out how incredibly lucky the ‘Golden Trio’ were that they had brooms in the Chamber. Seriously. And with nary a reward for actually accomplishing the task either, shame.
And so ended the notable Charms lessons for the year, and Professor Fuller-Thompson’s time at Hogwarts. Good bye, Professor, you will be missed!
Defense Against the Dark Arts
This term saw a change in dear old Headmaster Trent, who made his low expectations and disapproval of the Hogwarts students clear in both his demeanor and his teaching approach. Apparently the man in charge no longer had the time for kids, well, being kids, and so his lessons meant that one should speak only when spoken to, and to do as you were told or face the consequences. No one seemed completely sure what had changed in the man, but it became abundantly clear that this new attitude was not simply a case of waking up on the wrong side of the bed.
One early morning lesson found the students facing off straight away, their task to guard their own sack of stones while attempting to take their partner's. To raise the stakes, and as if demonstrating his no-nonsense approach to schooling, the Headmaster introduced some incentive to act in your own self interest. Any student left without a sack faced detention. Any student who succeeded to protect their own and take another's was granted the power of gifting someone else with detention. First years like Kinsay James were at a distinct disadvantage, Headmaster Trent's only advice being that they figure it out. Others, like Mr. Nemisis Upstead, excelled, proving cunning was the way to work through this task. Next up, the topic of the elder wand was introduced. The first of the deathly hallows, a wand of extreme capabilities, this wand brought not only power, but danger as well. To possess the elder wand is to know this and accept the reality that others will challenge you for it. It's to know you'll need to fight. The main activity had students putting themselves in the role of elder wand owner, dueling a classmate to protect their own wand by any means necessary, and gain possession of their classmate's for an entire week. Anyone who didn't play along faced their own wand being taken by the headmaster, a threat that was clearly not just for show. Class wrapped up with the promise of detention for a large portion of the class and a threat to the wand winners that they need to follow through with keeping them for the week.
If the attitude and teaching style weren't indication enough that Headmaster Trent was a little off, his show of surprise at the students turning up to the dueling arena for another lesson was an excellent clue. Unprepared and unwilling to stop whatever it was he was focusing on, he instructed students to keep themselves busy while he continued his work. Students like Catherine Mordaunt were less than impressed. Others like Claudine Blaze sought to master more challenge spells like the Patronus charm. Eventually the man in charge seemed to remember they were there and began asking odd questions about the Forbidden Forest and the possible dangers that might be lurking inside. For a man who'd made it clear he didn't have time for students stating the obvious, it seemed a bit strange for him to inquire about a forest whose dangers were discussed each term to keep students out. Stranger still, Trent lead the class right into the forest, bribing them with the promise of house points in exchange for whatever treasure they could find. Unfortunately for them, Acromantulas found them first and the headmaster was no where to be seen, leaving the kids to figure out how to survive. Only after red sparks were sent up to signal for help did Trent return, grumpy as ever and ordering the children inside with no word about where he'd been. Whatever was going on this term with Headmaster Trent, he really needed to sort out his priorities.
Divination
Our favorite peppy, ever-so-snappy Divination professor was back this term to teach us the ins and outs of seeing and prophesizing. You have to give it to Professor Kitridge for always bringing some much-needed enthusiasm to the classroom, and she surely brought the smiles this term with some eye-opening lessons about clothes and snakes.
Yep, we put on our own episode of “Hogwarts’ Next Top Model.” After we styled our own outfits from a generous selection of garments, we could take to the catwalk to show off our lovely creations. Who knew that Hogwarts had so much fashion sense? Everyone looked fabulous, although I was personally partial to Bernadette Grantham’s avant-garde bubble skirt and Fiona Jenovick’s casual boho attire.
Then, we had to answer some weird questions about how we get dressed in the morning. I didn’t realize that the way I loop my Ravenclaw tie each morning could predict my destiny, but alas, Divination always surprises me. It turned out that this form of Divination was called stolisomancy. So, if you’ve been putting on your shirt inside out, you’d better keep one eye open—bad luck might be on the way. Hey, at least that might be better than my future. My clothing choices revealed that I would be poor and forever alone. Darn. We got to observe our classmates to see if we could map out their destinies, too. My conclusion was that we better keep an eye on students like Naya Lindsay and Whitney Quartermaine—their clothing choices predicted that they’d be rich!
Later on in the term, we got to enjoy an outdoor lesson, where we all basically became Parselmouths. Well, not exactly. But we learned how to read snakes. We talked about having gut feelings before Professor Kitridge defined ophiomancy for us and revealed a crate full of serpents. Apparently, snakes can tell when danger is near. Who would’ve thought that if a snake eats another animal in front of you, they’re feeling cool, calm, and collected? (Although envisioning a snake swallowing an entire rat doesn’t exactly evoke a picture of zen for me.)
Everything was going well—bonding with our new snake buddies and all. That is until our good ol’ friend Sylvester made an appearance through the likes of Emmerson Cambridge, Ashley Fox, and a few others (uh, including me, actually). We were able to take our snakes to various parts of the school grounds and observe their behavior, but Sylvester the ghost had other plans. He possessed a bunch of us in order to get his beloved treasure back. Now that I think of it, I wonder if Sylvester puts his right leg into his pants first when he gets ready in the morning. Maybe his demands for the treasure were just fulfilling his stolisomancy destiny of financial gain.