Armando Dippet

Professor Armando Dippet was a former Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the predecessor of Albus Dumbledore in the post. He was a "nearly bald and a somewhat feeble" man, and his portrait hangs in the Headmaster's office. He is featured on a Chocolate Frog Card.

Early Life
Little is known about Dippet's early life, although it is probable that he had high O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. grades as he later became Headmaster of Hogwarts, most likely succeding Newton Scamander, a famed Magizoologist, considered by many an authority in Magizoology.

The Fountain of Fair Fortune Christmas pantomime
"The night's entertainment concluded with a packed hospital wing [...]"

- Albus Dumbledore

During Dippet's tenure as Headmaster, Herbert Beery, then-Herbology master proposed an adaptation of The Fountain of Fair Fortune as a Christmas treat for both staff and students. Unfortunally, the show went wrong: the students playing Amata and Sir Luckless had been boyfriend and girlfriend until one hour before the show, at which point "Sir Luckless" dumped her for "Asha". During the play, the Engorged Ashwinder portraying the Worm (provided by the reckless Professor Silvanus Kettleburn) exploded in a shower of hot sparks and dust, filling the Great Hall with smoke and fragments of the scenery. While the Ashwinder's eggs set fire to the floorboards, "Amata" and "Asha" started duelling fiercely. Professor Beery was caught in the crossfire and his head assumed unusual proportions. While the staff evacuated the Great Hall the fire raging inside it threatened to engulf the place. Of course, there were several people sent to the Hospital wing and Professor Dippet had to put Professor Kettleburn in one of his sixty-two periods of probation. In response to this dramatic fiasco, Professor Dippet imposed a blanket ban on future pantomimes, a tradition is still followed by the Hogwarts' staff and students to this day.

Chamber of Secrets openings (1943)
Dippet was the Headmaster of Hogwarts when the Chamber of Secrets was opened by Tom Marvolo Riddle, in 1943. Very fond of Tom Riddle, Dippet was unaware of his sinister nature. That school year many students were attacked by Slytherin's Basilisk. On such occasion, on June 13th of the same year, a student named Myrtle was murdered in a School's Bathroom, during one of the Chamber's openings by Riddle. After realizing that no one had seen Myrtle for a couple of hours, Professor Dippet asked fellow student Olive Hornby to go and look for Myrtle. Myrtle's Muggle parents were summoned to the School by Dippet, and the Headmaster faced the possibility of closing the School. Not wanting the School to close, Riddle stopped attacking students with the Chamber's Basilisk and framed another student for the attacks. Dippet promptly expelled the framed student, Rubeus Hagrid, from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Under Albus Dumbledore's request, Hagrid was trained as Gamekeeper and was allowed to remain at the school.

Tom Riddle's job application
When Tom Riddle returned to Hogwarts after his graduation to apply for the post of Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts Dippet denied him the position for being too young, but invited him to reapply in a few years, despite being advised against it by Albus Dumbledore.

Legacy
Dippet perished sometime before 1995. He is featured in one Chocolate Frog Card and at least one biography of him is known: Rita Skeeter's Armando Dippet: Master or Moron? (although it is likely this work contains some defamatory false information, given the author and the book's title).

Behind the scenes

 * Alfred Burke appeared for a fleeting moment as Dippet in the film version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in the memory scene.
 * According to Albus Dumbledore, Professor Dippet had ling and strawberries planted on the mountains surrounding Hogwarts Castle when he was headmaster. This could be a lie to gain Harry Potter and Hermione Granger some more time to release Buckbeak, seeing as neither Cornelius Fudge nor Walden Macnair could see the said strawberries.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Notes and references
Armando Dippet