Timocleia Gwilym
Second Year
Gryffindor
Welcome back to Hogwarts! And to the Firsties, welcome to school and welcome to my first interview of the year! This time, my interview was with our Art Professor. She is not completely new! She came to Hogwarts last year after teaching Muggles for a long time. We met in the Art Classroom. There two First Years there too, and they were doing detentions because they did silly things in the first Art Class. But Professor Moore gave me tea and we seat on chairs. She shrank one of the chairs just for me. Which was very nice! The Professor offered tea to the two First-Year girls who were doing detentions, but they said no. I am not sure why. I thought it was very nice of the Professor to offer them tea at detention, because normally detention is supposed to be bad. But this one did not seem very bad: the Professor had them cleaning things, but only in the Muggle way. So that would be annoying, but it is not as bad as some detentions I have heard of. Professor Moore also speaks Welsh! But she is still learning, so we spoke only in English. She says she started taking Welsh classes at a University over the summer.
Anyway, this is what we talked about.
What is your full name?
The Professor said her name is Juliette Anne Moore. This is a very English name. It is because the Professor is very very English.
Does everyone call you Juliette, Professor? Or do they call you something else?
She says that she would like students to call her Juliette. This would of course be very strange for a Hogwarts student, because if we do call all Professors by their first names, it is only because we all think their first names are “Professor.” She says, though, that her friends call her Jules. If you are going to try to call her Juliette, she says to make sure it is only in class, or when the Headmistress is not near. I suppose that if the Deputy Headmistress is near, then that is okay and you can still call her Juliette. I should have asked her if her parents liked Shakespeare because of her first name. But I forgot to do that, and some people are sensitive about that anyway. I also did not ask her if she knew a man by the name of Romeo, because I forgot to do that and some people are sensitive about that anyway. Maybe I should have asked her that. Maybe that is something that my readers can do.
Where did you grow up?
Professor Moore grew up in London, she said. But she said she also went to Italy and France in school after Hogwarts. I did not ask what Wizarding schools she went to after Hogwarts because I did not think of it. Are there schools after Hogwarts? If there are, are there any in the UK? Or are they all in Europe? These are interesting questions that I do not know the answers to, and I should have asked. Maybe you can ask her! But she also said she went anywhere that there was good art. So maybe the Wizarding schools she went to were near good art. And maybe there are other Wizarding schools that are not near good art. It sounds like there are a lot of Wizarding schools in Europe. We do not have so many here. And maybe we should!
So you grew up close to Diagon Alley? Did you have Magical parents?
The Professor said she is a Pureblood, and that her parents had a business in Diagon Alley. She did not say which, and I did not ask because sometimes people are sensitive about things like that. And I forgot to anyway. But she said she also likes being transparent with students, and I did not understand that. She is not a ghost (post-vital translucent substance-challenged personality), after all, unless I am very wrong. But she also casts spells and drags chairs and makes tea, and ghosts (vaporous ex-humans) do not do that. But then she was talking about the Leaky Cauldron and the food she liked there, like the Toad in a Hole, which is very good. I did not ask her about being a ghost (formerly embodied non-respirational person).
When were you at Hogwarts?
At first, she laughed at me because I also asked if she was very old. She said she is one of the youngest Professors here, but she says she is 29 and of course that is old enough to be a student’s Mum! She said, though, that she was at a place called the University for London Arts or something like that for seven years before she was a Professor here. She liked it a lot, but she had to wear a mask when she taught there, because it was a Muggle University, and she missed magic anyway, so she came here. I suppose that means she had to not do magic at all (which is very sad, but it makes a lot of sense). And if they made her wear a mask, then anyone can see why Hogwarts would be better. She says she can be herself here. So I suppose she had to be someone else at the University for London Arts, which is very sad. Maybe that is why they made her wear a mask. Anyway, she also said she was a Gryffindor when she was at Hogwarts.
What is your favourite colour?
Professor Moore said she likes crisp oranges and mustard, but those are foods. And she said it changes. The Professor is very mysterious. But I suppose to an Art Professor, colours are their own sort of food.
What do you like about Art?
The Professor said she likes colour and the way you feel when you look at something. She likes how water looks in a painting, especially a magical painting. Of course, I suppose that might depend on who is doing the painting and whether they are any good. But I forgot to ask her that. I think she probably meant good artists.
What do you like most about Hogwarts?
She said that no matter how far you are from it, it feels like home. And she said it is home for seven years, and she felt this way when she came back. For me, Caermynydd is home, and Hogwarts is school, but I suppose everyone has their own way of feeling about that sort of thing.
What is your favourite sweet?
She said Candy Floss, especially the pink kind. She did not know what flavour that was. She thought it might be strawberry, but we agreed that it was Pink flavour. Because it pretty much tastes pink.
What do you think of detention? Do you give them a lot?
Professor Moore said she had never given a detention before the ones that she gave that day. It was her first time. And then she said something about the Head of House doing their own kind of detention, but of course she did the detention with the two First-Year girls. So I am unsure how she really feels about it. Maybe she is unsure too. I did not ask her because sometimes people are sensitive about that sort of thing, and she can give me detention too so I thought it was a bad idea. But she did say it was silly. So I asked,
You think that detention… Is silly?
And yes, she does think it is silly. She said that either the person getting detention already knows they did something wrong and the detention does not change their minds about things. They did not mean to get in trouble in the first place. And the ones who keep breaking rules do not care about detention anyway. So she said the system is broken. She would do something else, something about positives and negatives, but the English was very complicated.
Is there anything you want to say to the students of Hogwarts? It can be anything.
She said to take your time and enjoy all seven years here at Hogwarts. You will not find another place that supports your growths as much. That made it sound like we all have warts (I had to look that up), but maybe she meant a different kind of growth. Or maybe I did not hear her right. But she also said we should make friends and learn new magic. And we should never forget our first day here. I wish I could forget my first day here. It was embarrassing.
Is there anything you would change about Hogwarts?
The Professor said she would stop all the blood nonsense. There is no reason to be mean to each other, and pure bloods are no different from others.
Do you have a pet?
Professor Moore has a pet cat named Clarabelle. She is a grey tabby with green eyes, and is here at the school.
Can I make a picture of you for Owl Club?
She said yes so I did it it and here it is. And she also said that she will be starting a Yearbook club soon. She will send more information soon. But just remember that Yearbook Club is starting soon!
You are wearing rings. Do they mean anything? I know that rings sometimes mean things like you are married or going to get married.
She said she is not married, but one of the rings belonged to her grandmother who has transitioned to a corporeally-challenged condition.
Professor Juliette Moore teaches us Art. She says she is not old. And she taught at a Muggle University for London Art that made her be someone else and she had to wear a mask. She did not like that, but she likes Art, and that is why she teaches Art here now. She definitely gives detentions because I saw the First-Year girls who got detentions, but she thinks they are silly. Detentions, not the girls. She is a Pureblood but she thinks all that blood stuff is stupid and should not be here at Hogwarts. She likes sweets that taste like a colour, and she likes colours that are actually food. So maybe for her Art really is food! She says she wants to be transparent (but not ghost, I do not think) and that we should call her Juliette. Maybe she knows a man called Romeo. If you see her, ask her! She is from London and she has a green-eyed cat by the name of Clarabelle. But she thinks Hogwarts is home too. And remember that Yearbook Club is starting soon!
