Spoiler warning! Even though we’re dipping into the past – we may also drift into some key Harry Potter plot points in his present! Tread carefully.

The House founders

As well as, you know, pretty much inventing Hogwarts itself, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin also taught there. (It was probably hard to head-hunt back in the tenth century...) We’re not sure exactly how they divvied up teaching responsibilities, but we can make a few educated guesses.

With Godric Gryffindor’s duelling prowess, it’s likely he would’ve passed on these skills to his students – and was known to focus on teaching ‘the bravest and the boldest’. Helga Hufflepuff was a lot more open-minded, promising to teach ‘the lot’ and had a particular talent with Charms. With her all-encompassing wisdom, Rowena Ravenclaw’s students were known to be highly intelligent, while Salazar Slytherin was too busy only teaching students ‘whose ancestry is purest’ ...

Not the best way to operate a school, but thankfully specific classes and teachers with the right expertise would soon follow!

Armando Dippet

Before Albus Dumbledore, there was Armando Dippet: often described as a ‘frail-looking wizard’ who had his fair share of challenges as Hogwarts Headmaster too.

The most notable thing to know about Dippet was his misjudged fondness of a particular student called – yes, you guessed it – Tom Riddle. During Dippet’s tenure, Riddle opened the Chamber of Secrets (an event which Dippet then tried to cover up) never realising it was, in fact, the young Lord Voldemort who did the deed in the first place.

Dippet and Riddle even became somewhat friendly, with Riddle asking the Headmaster if he could have a job at the school after he graduated. Thankfully, for the students of Hogwarts, a suspicious Dumbledore (who worked at Hogwarts as a professor at the time) persuaded Dippet against the appointment.

So, although Dippet was nowhere near as bad a Headmaster as, say, Dolores Umbridge, he seemed to lack the vigilance that his famous successor had in abundance. Perhaps this wizard’s reputation can be best summed up by Rita Skeeter’s best-selling book on the man, Armando Dippet: Master or Moron?

Herbert Beery

The then-Herbology professor before Pomona Sprout’s time, Professor Herbert Beery didn’t just love magical flora and fauna, but also amateur dramatics. Thanks to Herbert, Hogwarts put on their ‘sole attempt’ at a Christmas pantomime with him in charge – taking on the story of The Fountain of Fair Fortune from The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Suffice it to say, due to a comedy of errors, the production ended up creating a fiery inferno in The Great Hall, ending with a packed Hospital Wing and a vow from the Headmaster, Professor Dippet, to never put on another pantomime again. Maybe Herbert should’ve stuck to Bubotubers.

Phineas Nigellus Black

Like most of Sirius Black’s ancestors, Phineas Nigellus wasn’t a particularly nice fellow. In fact, he was known as one of the most unpopular Hogwarts Headmasters of all time. Of course, we had the misfortune of meeting Phineas in Harry’s story, albeit as a grumpy, sardonic portrait.

But in his days actually in charge of Hogwarts (which Hogwarts Legacy players know all too well!) Professor Black was even more dastardly than the painted version, exhibiting the same Pure-Blood fanatical views as many of his other family members. But his greatest crime? A lot of Hogwarts students would probably say banning Quidditch for a whole year...

Dilys Derwent

Another character we meet in Dumbledore’s office as a portrait, Dilys Derwent was a Healer at St Mungo’s Hospital, and soon went on to become Headmistress at Hogwarts in the 1700s – quite the double whammy.

During the attack of Arthur Weasley in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore asks for help from two of Hogwarts’ most ‘celebrated Heads’, with Dilys being one, alongside a fellow Headmaster named Everard. Even as portraits, the two professors are able to help the cause; due to their high statuses in life, they have other portraits hanging in various esteemed establishments, able to pass from one to another to help find Arthur.

Special shoutouts

A couple of Hogwarts professors of yesteryear did bleed into Harry’s present, but we’re sure they had many more stories to tell. Of course, Professor Binns has been at Hogwarts so long he did actually used to be alive at one point... while Professor Slughorn originally taught at Hogwarts during Tom Riddle’s era, famously telling him about Horcruxes: whoops. Then there’s Silvanus Kettleburn, who left the post of Care of Magical Creatures professor to make way for Hagrid – and to ‘spend time with his remaining limbs’. Apparently he was quite the character, with Headmaster of the time, Professor Dippet, putting him on probation over 60 times. We’d like to have known you better, sir.