Classroom 3C

Classroom 3C
Location information
Location	Serpentine Corridor, third-floor, Hogwarts Turris Magnus
Affiliation	Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Classroom 3C, also known as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom, is where Defence Against the Dark Arts class is taught. It is located off of the Serpentine Corridor on the third-floor.

Description

An iron chandelier hung from the ceiling, as well as a dragon's skeleton. On one end of the classroom stands a projector that is activated by magic. There is also a blackboard at the front of the classroom. Several desks and tables can be found in the classroom as well as some sets of large windows. The classroom decoration had several changes over the years, spanning from lots of pictures of Gilderoy Lockhart to tons of skeletons and Shrunken Heads.

History

Pre- 1908–1927

Dumbledore teaching in his classroom.

During his early teaching career, a young Albus Dumbledore occupied this classroom in his capacity as the school's Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Throughout much of this time, the classroom was home to a number of curious magical instruments that would one day find their way to the Headmaster's study following Professor Dumbledore's appointment as Head of Hogwarts many years later. A gifted instructor, he made good use of the classroom to, among other things, teach students how to handle dark creatures and how to duel.

1988–1989 school year

Professor Rakepick teaching a class

A world-renowned Curse-Breaker who had been originally enlisted by then Headmaster Albus Dumbledore to help investigate the fabled Cursed Vaults and spent the better part of the previous school year searching for them, Patricia Rakepick accepted the former's offer of employment and became a member of the teaching staff. Filling her classroom with an assortment of objects harking back to her many adventures while working for Gringotts Wizarding Bank, most of them Egyptian in origin, she also used it to house a number of dark artefacts that the students would have to identify and counter as part of their studies. An efficient teacher, her first-hand experience encountering Dark Magic throughout her career enabled her to offer her pupils a comprehensive curriculum, teaching everything from handling dark creatures, learning Defensive spells as well as Martial magic.

1989–1990 school year

Bill Weasley teaching a group of sixth year students in this classroom

Defence Against the Dark Arts was taught by a teacher who was considered useless by most students. William Weasley was given permission by Albus Dumbledore to use the classroom to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts to students after lessons were done for the day.

1991–1992 school year

Quirinus Quirrell used a temporary classroom because the third-floor corridor was out-of-bounds.

1992–1993 school year

Gilderoy Lockhart's pictures in the classroom

When Gilderoy Lockhart was the professor, during the 1992–1993 school year, he decorated the room with his own pictures. During the first lesson, he gave a quiz completely irrelevant to the subject and then released a group of boisterous Cornish Pixies for the class to practise. However, due to his ineptitude and the students' inexperience, Lockhart lost control of them, leading the classroom to be demolished, and Lockhart ultimately fled the room with the rest of the students while irresponsibly ordering Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger to clear up his mess. After this one fiasco, Lockhart simply read aloud his supposedly great deeds from his textbooks, sometimes reenacting them and usually dragging Harry to play certain degrading roles. Due to this, the students did not learn anything about the subject.

1993–1994 school year

Remus Lupin having his first lesson on Boggart

Remus Lupin taught in the 1993–1994 school year. They studied various Dark Creatures. The first class was hands-on as they fought a Boggart with the Boggart-Banishing Spell. He also brought a Grindylow to class so that they could observe it. They covered Boggarts, Hinkypunks, Kappas, Red Caps, Vampires and Werewolves in the year. Their final exam was a practical one, an obstacle course with some of the creatures they had studied throughout the year, which was carried out on the school grounds.

1994–1995 school year

Barty Crouch teaching his class on the Unforgivable Curses

The 1994–1995 school year brought yet another teacher, Barty Crouch Jr (impersonating Alastor Moody). Although they were only supposed to be learning Counter-curses (per Ministry of Magic regulations), Crouch covered the Unforgivable Curses, demonstrating with spiders. In another lesson, he placed the Imperius Curse on several students in turn until they could learn how to resist the curse. He also taught his class the art of Hex-deflection. Crouch also had a metal jar of worms, as well as a glass container full of bees.

1995–1996 school year

Dolores Umbridge treated her class with dull and meaningless materials

In the 1995–1996 school year, Harry and his fellow students were taught by Dolores Umbridge, who taught theory only with no practical training whatsoever. The book used was Defensive Magical Theory and it discouraged anyone from ever using any form of defensive or offensive spells. The chapters of the book instead focused on negotiation and states that there is no good use for a jinx. Umbridge did not allow the students to discuss the material and certainly not to disagree with it. She also forbade any talking without raising hands, and always requested wands to be put away. As one of the methods of retaliation against her tyranny, the moment she enters the classroom she would be greeted by students with ill-coated symptoms of "Umbridge-itis", much to her chagrin.

1996–1997 school year

The 1996–1997 school year brought another teacher, Severus Snape. His sixth year class learned about Dementors, the Unforgivable Curses and Nonverbal spells. Snape imposed his personality onto the room with rather dark decors: curtains drawn over the windows and the room was lit by candlelight, leading to a gloomier atmosphere, and new, gruesome pictures adorned the walls, many of them showing people in pain, sporting grisly injuries or strangely contorted body parts.

Behind the scenes

• In the video game adaptations the classroom used in 1991 is the same as the one used the following years. It is located on the third floor.
• In the Nintendo DS video game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the classroom is shown without the stairs to the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor's office. The reason may be that Severus Snape did not use this office. In the rest of the video game adaptations, you can go up the spiral staircase on the third floor and reach the entrance to the classroom, but you can not enter the room, except in The Order of the Phoenix. In that game you can enter in Umbridge's Office.
• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the set receives somewhat of an overhaul. The antichamber seen in the previous films is removed and replaced by a spiral staircase. The door leading into the classroom changes shape, and the window at the back of the classroom is enlarged.
• In the video game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, there is a door at the back of the class near the stairs that leads into a series of backrooms, which in turn lead to a roof top on the outside of the Castle. In these backrooms the trio encounter a series of obstacles which they must clear before they can proceed. This might indicate that teachers can suggest changes to the Castle to match their needs.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game) (First identified as Classroom 3C)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game) (NDS version only)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
• LEGO Harry Potter
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
• Harry Potter for Kinect
• LEGO Harry Potter
• Pottermore
• Harry Potter: The Character Vault
• Harry Potter: The Creature Vault
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter