Firstie Features; Meet Your Heads of Houses

It is said that your house is your family, which means the heads of the houses are our temporary parents. And just like every parent, every head of house has their own particular quirks about them. And it is always useful when you are settling in as a first year. So, this year, instead of having four separate articles about our four amazing pseudo-parents of the castle (not including O’Keefe and Blighty), I decided that it would be easier to do one article with all four of them in one. 

So, before I go digging into the meat, allow me to introduce you to our head of houses. The Head of the Slytherins is Professor Rask who teaches arithmancy (or magical math). She is a fair but demanding professor who has an awesome hair cut. The Head of the Gryffindors is Professor Vikander (Professor Vik) teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts and even though he is a strict professor, he has his purposes–primarily to teach us how to stay alive. Professor Priaulx is the Head of the Hufflepuffs and she is the professor of astronomy. [Editor’s note: this is vastly different than astrology.] And our last, and definitely not least head of the houses is Professor Green of the Ravenclaw house. She is our resident potions mistress who expects nothing short of perfection from her house.

I asked all four Heads the same questions. 


1. What goals do you have for your house this year?

Professor Green stated that, “her goal for Ravenclaw is simple, a less chaotic year. Whether or not this is possible is yet to be seen but I’d like to think with proper schedules and activities we can get on a normal track with life.” Whereas Professor Rask has loftier goals for her house, “With the Triwizard Tournament coming this year we’ll be busier than ever, and fingers crossed we see a Slytherin chosen as Hogwarts Champion. My main goal this year however is to keep cohesion and stability within the house so that we can do some actual fun things. “ Professor Priaulx added to the conversation that, “To help them learn new things, accept what life gives them, to grow in themselves, and to discover what makes them a true Hufflepuff.” And Professor Vikander kept his answer short and sweet, “Win the House Cup.” 

It seems that even with all of the chaos of the triwizard tournament that is happening the eyes are still on the prize of maintaining the relationships within the houses and the prize of all prizes–the house cup.


2. What tips would you give to your students in both your house and in your subject that you teach.

Professor Green’s advice for her potions class would simply, “Focus. Focus is key to achieving your goals and I feel it’s the most important tip any professor can give their students. In Potions, if you don’t focus, you could injure yourself and others around you. It’s universal really.” (Why do I feel like that was directed towards me?) Professor Rask’s words echo similarly to Green’s,  “For both, I would say persistence is everything. The moment you give up is the moment you lose, so even when things seem futile or you’re deeply frustrated, know that everything will pass eventually and you’ll get through it. You could be inches away from a diamond but you’ll never know if you stop digging. “ Professor Priaulx had something similar to say, “Have confidence in yourself, you may be wrong but that shouldn’t stop you putting your hand up again after being wrong the first time” And Professor Vik, as stoic as ever, gave the shortest answer. “Don’t die and don’t pet the dragon.”

There we go. Four lessons, focus, persistence, confidence, and staying alive and don’t pet the dragon.


3. What is your preferred method of detention?

It seems that with this question every Head gave the exact same answer. Manual labour of some sort of another with the emphasis on performing the task in a muggle fashion.


4. What are your feelings on the triwizard championship?

Green stated, “My feelings are mixed. Whereas I know the chosen champion for Hogwarts will be well rounded in their skill sets, there are always tricks and small bits of knowledge we cannot teach everyone. You learn them through studies and experiencing. The tri-wizard is not the place to be making grave errors.” Rask, however, took on a more excited tone to this, “It will be an exciting time for all of us for sure, and I think this year will fly right by with everything that’s going on. I just can’t wait to see what the tasks are. “ While Priaulx just hopes that a hufflepuff gets chosen to represent the school, Professor Vik seemed indifferent in the entire situation simply stating, “I am sure that Hogwarts will provide a champion.”


5. For the students who are competing–or considering trying to compete–what tips would you offer them?

Professor Green provided the following advice, “I would offer them the following tip. Relax, do your due diligence and study. You can be well prepared for anything if you put in the time and effort before tackling the task. I would offer the same advice to those visiting us soon. Just because they are of a different school does not mean they are not still students.“ And Rask picked up the same tone, “I would just say that magical and physical ability are important but they aren’t everything. The biggest gains will be made by those who are able to think outside the box and creatively use what they have at their disposal.” Priaulx offered the suggestion that sounded almost as if it should have come from the Ravenclaw house, “The library is your new home, get used to it.” And Vikander, in his oh so eloquent way of speaking wisdom stated, “Don’t die and don’t pet a dragon.”

Whelp, there we have it everyone. The wisdom of the pseudo parents of the houses.