#hogwarts classes

a detailed guide of the basic hogwarts classes

my dears! fret no more. shifting to hogwarts? here are some tips and tricks to handle the workload and do well. you are at this school for one reason: you are capable.

potions

professor snape has an intense and rigorous way of teaching. never arrive late, and never leave early. always have your things prepared before class starts- he does not tolerate slow moving students.

the class work is formulated meticulously yet can be changed suddenly to his liking. didn’t preform a potion to his expectations? you will do another. in his world, failure is merely a challenge. you do, not try.

while his class and threatening demeanor may scare you off, don’t let it push you down. once you understand the rules of his game it’s easy to play.

herbology

professor sprout is easy to be around. she’s cheery and very intelligent when it comes to plants.

the class work is breezy, and sometimes challenging. you will explore patterns, plant preferred habitats, and their uses in potion making.

care for the plants like they are your pride and joy. it will only benefit you in the long run, and will prevent many bitten fingers.

defense against the dark arts

dear, dear, professor lupin. have good work ethic and he will respect you forever. he is highly intelligent and an empathetic man.

he’s easy on the students who deserve it. headache? chocolate. breakup? advice and chocolate. everything truly ends with chocolate and a pat on the shoulder.

the curriculum can sometimes be overwhelming. it goes from magical creatures, to curses, to offense and defense spells. it may feel like a roller coaster ride, and you can just see the end of the track. remain confident in your abilities and finish assignments on time.

transfiguration

professor mcgonagall is strict yet kind. she expects you to do your work, come to class on time, and never talk back.

transfiguration is believed to be superior to other types of magic. it allows the change of appearance of items or humans.

she offers more advanced classes like N.E.W.T. to the exceeding students and those with a high level in O.W.L.S

divination

the one and only professor trelawney. some love her, some hate her. the majority think she’s crazy.

this class explores topics such as future telling, palm readings, astrology, and mediumship.

the class is incredibly easy, and can be fun for the open-minded wishing to explore beyond logical explanations.

astronomy

professor shah is determined, and very devoted to the subject of astronomy. if you do your work well she will respect you and sometimes give extra credit. if you don’t however, she can come off as cold and strict.

in astronomy, the main focus is constellations. students will be asked to go up to the astronomy tower late in the night and record constellations on their star charts.

students also learn about lunar phases, black holes, and other celestial studies.

charms

professor flitwick is an easy teacher to work with. he is encouraging, straight forward, and rewarding to good students.

get to class on time with books needed and pay attention during his lectures. while they may be long, they are important.

So, I go back and forth on this question a lot and you can find different posts on this blog for both options of student count I have for Hogwarts.

My two options are:

1. 100-ish students a year, 25-ish in each house a year, then around 700 students on the whole school.

2. 40-ish students a year, 10-ish in each house a year, then around 300 students on the whole school.

The first option is based on quotes like this:

Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right — the rest of the school must already be here

(PS, Ch7)

another wave, and the floor was covered with hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags.

(PoA, Ch9)

Harry could almost feel hundreds of eyes following him as he soared around the field

(PoA, Ch15)

Hundreds upon hundreds of owls of every breed imaginable were nestled here on perches

(GoF, Ch15)

and he could feel hundreds and hundreds of eyes upon him, as though each were a searchlight.

(GoF, Ch17)

Overhead and all around came the elephantine sounds of hundreds of students on the move.

(OotP, Ch12)

And explained further in this post.

*But* this doesn't make sense with other quotes we see that I came across more recently reviewing this topic. For starters, as I mentioned here about the design of Hogwarts school robes, there is no identifying markers of year or house on their robes. It means that whenever Harry mentions "two third-year Hufflepuffs," he says so because he recognizes their faces. Which implies a small student body Harry could reasonably remember the houses and years of everyone by face, if not name.

Additionally, in my post here regarding Hogwarts classes distribution, I've mentioned Gryffindor has DADA alone pre OWLs. Meaning all Gryffindor students of Harry’s year will be present in these classes and no one else. If we look at Lupin's boggart class from third-year, we actually get a list of all Gryffindor students that year.

We can count the students that face the boggart:

R — r — riddikulus!” squeaked Neville. […] Parvati walked forward, her face set. Snape rounded on her. There was another crack, and where he had stood was a blood-stained, bandaged mummy; […] Seamus darted past Parvati. Crack! Where the mummy had been was a woman with floor-length black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged face — a banshee. […] Crack! The banshee turned into a rat, which chased its tail in a circle, then — crack! — became a rattlesnake, which slithered and writhed before — crack! — becoming a single, bloody eyeball. […] Dean hurried forward. Crack! The eyeball became a severed hand, which flipped over and began to creep along the floor like a crab. […] Ron leapt forward. Crack! Quite a few people screamed. A giant spider, six feet tall and covered in hair […] Lavender Brown squealed and ran out of its way and it came to a halt at Harry’s feet.

(PoA, Ch7)

The boggart takes 8 forms in front of: Neville, Parvati, Seamus, unnamed Gryffindor girl #1, unnamed Gryffindor girl #2, unnamed Gryffindor girl #3, Dean, and Ron. Then Lavender runs off, not facing the boggart and we know Harry and Hermione don't face it either.

This Lands us at 11 Gryffindor students in Harry's year, and in the range of option number 2, AKA of 40 students a year (which fits the original 40 concept from JKR).

So, currently, I think they have around 10 students per house per year, so there are 4-6 students in a dorm — one girls dorm and one boys dorm per house per year as the books imply.

As we see the sign on Harry's dorm door is just the year:

and at last reached the door of their old dormitory, which now had a sign on it saying SECOND YEARS

(CoS, Ch5)

Meaning there are no other boy dorms in Gryffindor for Harry's year, otherwise, that won't be the sign.

As for the over a hundred tables in the OWLs exams:

He was falling through cold blackness, spinning furiously as he went, and then — He was standing in the middle of the Great Hall, but the four House tables were gone. Instead, there were more than a hundred smaller tables, all facing the same way, at each of which sat a student, head bent low, scribbling on a roll of parchment. The only sound was the scratching of quills and the occasional rustle as somebody adjusted their parchment. It was clearly exam time.

(OotP, Ch28)

Once breakfast was over, the fifth and seventh years milled around in the entrance hall while the other students went off to lessons. Then, at half-past nine, they were called forward class by class to reenter the Great Hall, which was now arranged exactly as Harry had seen it in the Pensieve when his father, Sirius, and Snape had been taking their O.W.L.s. The four House tables had been removed and replaced instead with many tables for one, all facing the staff-table end of the Hall where Professor McGonagall stood facing them.

(OotP, ch31)

We see it's both seventh and fifth years taking their OWLs and NEWTs together. So, it's the students of two years, not one. Harry mentions the Great Hall is identical, meaning there isn't a big difference in the number of tables, if at all. If we go with around 40, maybe even 45 a year, there could be about 80-90 tables there, which is pretty close to a hundred. A quick estimate in a glance of "more than a hundred" is reasonable for 90-ish tables. It's not like Harry is standing there and counting them.

Professor Mirabel Garlick

Poppy Sweeting, Lenora Everleigh

Leander Prewett, Natsai Onai

Everett Clopton, Violet McDowell

I think it goes without saying/is canon that Sirius excelled at transfiguration. One doesn't become likely one of the youngest ever people to complete the transformation successfully without a talent for the subject. In terms of favourite, I like to see him as enjoying Care of Magical Creatures. We see him having a fondness for and natural connection with animals in the books (Buckbeak, Crookshanks, Pigwidgeon) and spending time with animals is known to be excellent therapy - perfect decompression tactic for someone going through a difficult teenage home life. Being a Black, he's very fluent in Astronomy, though considering it was taught to him in depth before he started school, you can hardly call it a talent when he had such a head start. He doesn't enjoy Astronomy. He can practically hear his elders harping in his ears about family and pureblood pride when he sees their namesakes etched onto star maps.

Regulus thrives in matter-of-fact topics and is genuinely interested in traditional old-school magical academics. He has a talent for ancient runes and is in his element when he can spend hours hunched quietly over his textbooks transcribing spells and other writings. Like Sirius, he is obviously skilled in astronomy, but enjoys it a great deal more than his brother. Midnight classes high up in the tower are quiet and calm, and he still gets a burst of pride whenever he sees his proud family's namesakes through the telescope. He's not a fan of Defence Against the Dark Arts. Being taught how to overcome the evils of objects he knows are stored away in various attics and basements of the Black family residences is always a little uncomfortable.

Bonus answers because why not:

Orion adored History of Magic. The nerdy little swot was sat bolt upright in every one of Professor Binns's classes, taking it all in. Why doesn't everyone else find the historical tales of their proud magical bloodlines thrilling?? They ought to be more attentive. History teaches many lessons about the modern world.

BOOK CLUB.

students read books monthly and discuss what they enjoyed, what they didn't, symbolism, deeper meanings, etc. you may script whether books are muggle or magical fiction, as well as what books will be chosen.

THEATER CLUB.

students may audition for roles in specific plays and perform in them. there may also be workshops to improve acting, singing and dancing skills. you may script that you always get lead roles or are a talented actor in addition to this. you may also script in a theater for hogwarts.

MUSIC CLUB.

students may either learn to play instruments or improve their already existing skills. projects may be given to either perform certain songs or compose music. groups may be made and bands can be formed with specific students and friends. you may script that you already know an instrument (unless you want to learn), or that you are a talented singer / songwriter.

COOKING AND BAKING CLUB.

students can learn new recipes and how to make them with and without magic. you can script that students can keep their deserts or at the end of each meeting, members get to try other's foods either for fun or to rank them.

HERBOLOGY CLUB.

students who are interested in herbology and more advanced or intricate aspects of it may join this club. they may learn about more plants and have an opportunity to earn extra credit in herbology for joining this class.

POTIONS CLUB.

students who are interested in potions and wish to explore more complicated potions may join this club. they will create potions and learn about ingredients either brushed over in the curriculum or that aren't included. they may have an opportunity to earn extra credit in potions for joining this class.

MINISTRY OF MAGIC CLUB.

similarly to what might be a united nations club, students may take roles of ministry members and learn more about the ministry in general. students joining this club may be seen as more suitable for a job in the ministry once out of hogwarts. students may also have field-trips to learn about other country's magical governments or to the ministry itself to learn exactly how it works.

LANGUAGE CLUBS.

students wishing to learn certain languages may join language learning clubs! this may be especially helpful if you are already trying to learn a language and want more practice. languages may include whatever you script them to, such as french, latin, greek, spanish, etc.

FLYING CLUB.

as only a limited number of students may join the quidditch team, younger or less talented students may join the flying club for an enjoyable and less strict take on quidditch. they may have games that are not divided by house that are less competitive.

ART CLUB.

students who enjoy more artistic activities, such as drawing, painting, sculpting, and more may join this club. you may work on projects based on the medium you enjoy and receive criticism and help on your work. students may also simply come here to work on their personal projects alongside others.

STUDYING AND HOMEWORK CLUB.

students who wish to study with others or desire help on their work and assignments may join or attend this club. professors will be there to help with anyone struggling and talented students may gain extra credit by helping students with their work and studies.

here are just some clubs i've decided to include in my own dr. if you have any other ideas, feel free to suggest some and i'll do my best to add them!