The Professors

Minerva McGonagall: Professor Minerva McGonagall, O.M. was a Scottish half-blood witch, the only daughter of Muggle Robert McGonagall and witch Isobel Ross. She also was the older sister of Malcolm and Robert Jr. Minerva attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was Sorted into Gryffindor House, but it took the Sorting Hat five and a half minutes to decide if she was Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, which made her a Hatstall. During her seventh year, she was appointed Head Girl.

After her education, Minerva worked for two years at the Ministry of Magic and later returned to Hogwarts, where she became Head of Gryffindor House and the Transfiguration professor. Though she wasn't a member of the Order of the Phoenix during the First Wizarding War, Minerva greatly helped the Ministry of Magic's resistance through spying on Death Eaters and bringing the Aurors crucial information on their activities.

Eventually, Minerva became concurrently, at differing times, Deputy Headmistress and Headmistress of Hogwarts.

Severus Snape: Severus Snape was an English half-blood wizard serving as Potions Master (1981-1996), Defence Against the Dark Arts professor (1996-1997), and Headmaster (1997-1998) of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as well as a member of the Order of the Phoenix and a Death Eater. His double life played an extremely important role in both of the Wizarding Wars against Voldemort. The only child of Muggle Tobias Snape and Gobstones witch Eileen Snape (née Prince), Severus was raised in the Muggle dwelling of Spinner's End, which was in close proximity to the home of the Evans family, though in a poorer area. He met Lily and Petunia Evans when he was nine and fell deeply in love with Lily, becoming a close friend of hers.

Severus was a talented wizard even in his childhood. It was apparent through the notes and scribbles in his potions textbook that he made time during classes to invent curses, charms, and clever potion innovations, while simultaneously learning the required textbook lessons.

Severus's potions textbook contained a few spells and curses which he was credited with inventing: Levicorpus, which grabbed the victim by the ankle and dangled him/her upside-down, and Sectumsempra, which caused slashing bloody cuts (guided by the wand gestures of the caster, like a blade/sword) which bled extensively. Levicorpus somehow escaped from Severus's secrecy, and became very popular around Hogwarts towards the end of his fifth year at school. Some other spells included Muffliato, which filled the ears of anyone nearby with an unidentifiable buzzing sound and another hex that caused toenails to grow at an unnaturally fast rate. Severus's book later fell into the hands of Harry Potter in September 1996. Harry used the Half-Blood Prince's tips and earned praise with that year's Potions master, Professor Slughorn. Harry considered the Half-Blood Prince to be a better teacher than Severus, unaware at that point that Severus was the Prince, much to Harry's later displeasure.

Severus Snape eventually joined the ranks of Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters. His actions as a Death Eater are largely unknown, though he quickly became an important Death Eater in Voldemort's inner circle. He was the spy responsible for informing Voldemort about the prophecy foretelling his downfall.

Filius Flitwick: Professor Filius Flitwick was a Part-Goblin wizard who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was sorted into Ravenclaw House, being an intelligent young man and a model student. Some time after his graduation, Flitwick returned to Hogwarts and became the Charms Master, as well as the Head of Ravenclaw House.

Brave in the face of adversity, however, whilst Flitwick once admitted to having been subjected to scrutiny from those around him from the minute he set his foot inside the castle, the future professor carried his burden remarkably well: Wise beyond his years and rather thick-skinned, he eventually came to regard those who judged him as ignorant rather than malevolent, reasoning that most people simply want those around them to be simple so that they would be easier to understand, as opposed to simply acknowledge the fact that people are complex. In this, he indirectly proved himself to be correct: During his sorting ceremony, when the Sorting Hat wavered between putting him in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor before it ultimately chose the former, though, as the decision took less than five minutes, Flitwick was not a true Hatstall.

Now back at his old school, Professor Flitwick took up the post of Charms Master. His classroom was Classroom 2E, which was located in the Charms Corridor, on the third floor of the Training Grounds Tower. Whilst to some degree still scrutinised for his short stature, he proved a gifted educator whom the students came to greatly respect, even if his teaching style was regarded as more "laid-back" than that of some other teachers at Hogwarts, such as Minerva McGonagall or Severus Snape. He, unlike them, allowed his students to play games during the lessons before the Christmas holidays, but he was not a bad teacher as Fred Weasley commented that he "couldn't see old Flitwick getting marked down and he usually gets everyone through their exams alright". He did not hand out many detentions or deduct points often, even for lateness.

Pomona Sprout: Professor Pomona Sprout was a British witch who worked as Head of Hufflepuff House and Head of the Herbology department at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She attended the school in her youth, where she was Sorted into Hufflepuff and excelled at Herbology. Some time after her graduation, Sprout returned to Hogwarts to teach.

At some point after her graduation, Sprout returned to Hogwarts as a member of the Herbology department. She taught her classes in the greenhouses at the back of the castle and used one of the greenhouses as office. At an unknown time, Professor Sprout became Head of Department and Head of Hufflepuff House.

Professor Sprout used to bring the most interesting specimens (some of which could dance and talk) from the Herbology greenhouses to decorate Hufflepuff Basement. This was one of the reasons why Hufflepuffs were often very good in her subject.

As the Professor of Herbology at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Sprout was an incredibly skilful Herbologist. Her talents ranged from taking care of harmless plants, such as Umbrella Flowers, and Puffapods, to more dangerous ones, such as Whomping Willows, Mandrakes,Snargaluffs, Venomous Tentaculas and even the highly lethal Devil's Snare.

Horace Slughorn: Professor Horace Eugene Flaccus Slughorn was a British pure-blood or half-blood wizard. He attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a member of Slytherin before returning in 1931 as Potions Master. He also served as Head of Slytherin House, before retiring in 1981 due to a fear that Albus Dumbledore would discover that he had told Tom Riddle about Horcruxes.

At some point after completing his education, Slughorn was employed as Potions Master to his joy, likely around the same time as Albus Dumbledore started. Although he was well suited to working in politics, he preferred to stay in the background and enjoy the privileges of having famous and successful friends. He was a natural teacher and loved Hogwarts.

Once back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as Potions Master, he eventually became Head of Slytherin House. He joined the faculty in 1931. Slughorn founded a small club consisting of students he thought were particularly talented, ambitious, clever, or simply well connected. This group would become known informally as the Slug Club. By showing extreme favouritism to these select pupils, Slughorn was able to benefit from their eventual success or fame, reaping rewards such as free Quidditch tickets, boxes of sweets, or simply the chance to give advice to high ranking officials at the Ministry of Magic.

Rubeus Hagrid: Professor Rubeus Hagrid was an English half-giant wizard, son of Mr Hagrid and the giantess Fridwulfa, and elder half-brother of the giant Grawp.

Hagrid attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1940 and was sorted into Gryffindor house. In Hagrid's third year, he was framed by Tom Riddle for the crime of opening the Chamber of Secrets and using his pet Acromantula to attack several Muggle-born students and eventually killing one of them. Though Hagrid's wand was snapped and he was expelled, he was trained as gamekeeper of Hogwarts and allowed to live on the school grounds at the request of Albus Dumbledore.

Following his expulsion, the Ministry of Magic forbade Hagrid from practising magic and destroyed his wand. The then-Transfiguration teacher Albus Dumbledore, who was convinced that Hagrid was innocent, nonetheless convinced then-Headmaster, Armando Dippet, to have Hagrid trained for the job of Gamekeeper and allow the orphan to remain a resident of the school. Hagrid continued to do magic using his pink umbrella, which most likely contained the broken fragments of his wand or perhaps even his entire wand intact. It may have been reconstructed for him by Dumbledore using the Elder Wand, although he only would have done this some years later, because he did not procure the Elder Wand until 1945.

In the 1993-1994 school year, Hagrid became a professor of the Care of Magical Creatures.