John Dibbit

{ Johnathon TDippet was born in October 1637,[2] and it is likely that he attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If so, he must have been Sorted into either Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, but certainly not Slytherin.[5]

If he went through his magical education at Hogwarts, he would have graduated at the age of eighteen in 1654. What he did after his graduation is unknown, although Armando Dippet seemed to have been held in high regard in his old age, since he was eventually chosen and offered the job of being Headmaster of Hogwarts, although it is unknown whether he ever took up a teaching post prior to this appointment.

As Headmaster of Hogwarts

Early years

Dippet and friends

Dippet speaking with some of his employees

John Dippet became Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the early twentieth century[7], at over 200 years old[2]. In his position, it is possible he was responsible for the employment of Horace Slughorn,[8] Albus Dumbledore,[4] Herbert Beery,[7] Silvanus Kettleburn[7] and possibly Galatea Merrythought[9] as teachers at Hogwarts. It is also known that he was responsible for hiring Minerva McGonagall, having offered her "a job in the Transfiguration department, under Head of Department, Albus Dumbledore".[10]

He may have immediately succeeded Phineas Nigellus Black as Headmaster, after his death in 1925. If so, Dippet would have sent students home early in the following year and increased the security of Hogwarts in response to the threat from Gellert Grindelwald.[11].

As the wor certainly not Slytherin.[5]

If he went through his magical education at Hogwarts, he would have graduated at the age of eighteen in 1654. What he did after his graduation is unknown, although Armando Dippet seemed to have been held in high regard in his old age, since he was eventually chosen and offered the job of being Headmaster of Hogwarts, although it is unknown whether he ever took up a teaching post prior to this appointment.

As Headmaster of Hogwarts

Early years

Dippet and friends

Dippet speaking with some of his employees

Peter Dippet became H at over 200 years old[2]. In his position, it is possible he was responsible for the employment of Horace Slughorn,[8] Albus Dumbledore,[4] Herbert Beery,[7] Silvanus Kettleburn[7] and possibly Galatea Merrythought[9] as teachers at Hogwarts. It is also known that he was responsible for hiring Minerva McGonagall, having offered her "a job in the Transfiguration department, under Head of Department, Albus Dumbledore".[10]

He may have immediately succeeded Phineas Nigellus Black as Headmaster, after his death in 1925. If so, Dippet would have sent students home early in the following year and increased the security of Hogwarts in response to the threat from Gellert Grindelwald.[11].

Christmas pantomime

"The night's entertainment concluded with a packed hospital wing..."

—Albus Dumbledore[src]

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. The show, however, was a fiasco: 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.[7]

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.[7]

Chamber of Secrets openings

"My dear boy, you must see how foolish it would be of me to allow you to remain at the castle when term ends. Particularly in light of the recent tragedy… the death of that poor little girl. You will be safer by far at your orphanage. As a matter of fact, the Ministry of Magic is even now talking about closing the school. We are no nearer locating the — er — source of all this unpleasantness…"

—Dippet regarding the closing Hogwarts after the Chamber of Secrets is opened[src]

Dippet was the Headmaster of Hogwarts when the Chamber of Secrets was opened by Tom Riddle, during the 1942—1943 school year. Very fond of Riddle, Dippet was unaware of his sinister nature.[4]

That school year, many students were attacked by Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk. On 13 June of the same year, a student named Myrtle Warren was murdered in a bathroom,[4] during one of the Chamber's openings by Riddle.[12] After realising that no one had seen Myrtle for a couple of hours, Professor Dippet asked fellow student Olive Hornby to go and look for Myrtle.[13]

Myrtle's Muggle father and mother were summoned to the school by Dippet, and the Headmaster faced the possibility of closing the school. Dippet also rejected Tom's request of staying at school over the summer holidays due to the situation, but would have given him special permission if the school were much safer.[4] Not wanting the school to close, or possibly not wanting to return to the orphanage, Riddle stopped attacking students with the Chamber's Basilisk and framed Rubeus Hagrid for the attacks. Dippet promptly expelled Hagrid. Under Albus Dumbledore's request, Hagrid was trained as Gamekeeper and was allowed to remain at the school.[12]

Exchange visit with Castelobruxo

During 1940s or 1950s, Hogwarts received students and Professor Benedita Dourado from Castelobruxo, the Brazilian wizarding school, during an exchange visit. When Dippet complained of Peeves, the resident poltergeist, Professor Dourado laughed heartily and offered to send him some Caipora for the Forbidden Forest "to show you what trouble really is". Professor Dippet did not take her up on that offer.[14]

Tom Riddle's job application

"Professor Dippet told him that he was too young at eighteen, but invited him to reapply in a few years, if he still wished to teach... I had advised Armando against the appointment — I did not give the reasons I have given you, for Professor Dippet was very fond of Voldemort and convinced of his honesty — but I did not want Lord Voldemort back at this school, and especially not in a position of power."

—Discussion of Riddle's application as DADA professor[src]

When Tom Riddle returned to Hogwarts after his graduation to apply for the post of professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, after Galatea Merrythought retired, 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.[15]

Dumbledore realised Riddle's true intentions, but did not include them as his reasons for denying him the job, as Professor Dippet was very fond of him and believed that he was completely honest.[15]

Death and post-mortem

"...Rita Skeeter, best-selling author of Armando Dippet: Master or Moron?"

—Cover of The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore[src]

Prof Dippet

Dippet's Chocolate Frog Card

Professor  John Dippet's term as headmaster ended between March 1965 and March 1971.[6] His immediate successor in the post was Professor Albus Dumbledore,[4] who had been Dippet's Head of Transfiguration.

The prominence of Dippet's tenure as Headmaster is highlighted by the fact that he even got a Chocolate Frog Card made in his effigy, due to his work as chief administrator of Hogwarts.[16]

At some point, Rita Skeeter published her bestselling biography titled Armando Dippet: Master or Moron?,[17] which, given its title and Skeeter's own brand of sensationalist writing (elsewhere described as "one quarter truth to three quarters rubbish"[18]), it can be reasonably assumed that it contains false defamatory information, or otherwise facts taken out of context.

Dippet died in late 1992, after having been reported in the 1 September edition of the Evening Prophet as being suspected of causing an accident only a month before his Ancient age flying test on his 355th birthday.

After his death,[3] the late Headmaster was allowed to leave behind an imprint of himself in the form of a portrait mounted on the wall of the Headmaster's office along with other revered Headmasters and Headmistress.[19] In doing this, he effectively ensured he in some capacity could continue to posthumously serve the school by sharing his knowledge with his successors in office as a final service to his beloved school.

The portrait he left behind present him as very dignified and solemn-looking, attired in long, majestic robes of blue and bronze.[20] In 1995, he scorned the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black, who was feigning tiredness in order to avoid going to 12 Grimmauld Place like Dumbledore asked him to. He was devoted to serving whoever was Headmaster.[21]

Physical description

Professor Dippet had pale skin, brown eyes and, in his youth, a thick brown beard.[16]

In his elderly years, he became frail and feeble-looking. He was balding and had only a few wisps of white hair left.[4]

Personality and traits

As made evident by his portrait in the Headmaster's Office, he was apparently a very proud man who for the most part held himself with dignity and solemnity at all but the most trying of times, in which case he would over time look very feeble and tired after having to cope with such troubles at his age.

Very loyal to Hogwarts, Professor Dippet gave a certain impression of holding the school in higher regard than he did even his staff, as he was very distrusting of others, and Professor Albus Dumbledore, his Head of Transfiguration at during the later parts of Professor Dippet's tenure, noted that he was one of the few people that Professor Dippet confided in. He was also a man of tradition, having trained his portrait to scold anyone who showed lack of respect or loyalty to the school, which were shown when it reprimanded the portrait Phineas Nigellus's for attempting to defy a request from Professor Dumbledore, expressing that they were honour-bound to give advice to the current Headmaster or Headmistress, regardless of their personal feelings, showing that the living Professor Dippet taught his portrait to share his unyielding desire to serve the school and professional integrity.

During his time as Headmaster, Professor Dippet was apparently a disciplinarian. Perhaps somewhat harshly old-fashioned in his methods, the school was marked by an acceptance of severe punishment under his leadership, as he allowed the Caretaker of the day, Mr Apollyon Pringle, to continue the traditionally accepted use of corporal punishment on students for misbehaviour or rule-breaking. However, he was not feared by his students, but seen as revered and very capable in his own right, and ultimately a man dedicated to the protection and preservation of the school and all its inhabitants and did not take the safety of his students lightly, and his success as head of the school is shown by his depiction on a Famous Witches and Wizards Card solely in homage to his long and faithful service to the school as Headmaster.

Professor Dippet was by no means above severely punishing anyone who might pose a potential breach in the security of the castle, be it student or staff: Professor Horace Slughorn once commented, perhaps in jest, that Dippet would not hesitate to put him in detention if he found out that he had been encouraging students to be up and about past curfew. He also placed Professor Silvanus Kettleburn, whom he always considered to be quite reckless, on no fewer than sixty-two periods of probation (including once after the chaos that ensued during a performance of The Fountain of Fair Fortune, for which Kettleburn provided an Engorged Ashwinder to play the part of the Worm), since the catastrophe endangered the students.[7]

His concern for the well-being of his students was shown once more during the 1942-1943 school year, when he, like all his employees, did everything in his power to apprehend the perpetrator and protect the students after the opening of Chamber of Secrets. During that year, it is known that he instructed a student by the name of Olive Hornby to go look for fellow student Myrtle Warren the moment he realised that no one had seen her for some time.[22]

He also seemed to favour status, at least to some extent. This is demonstrated by the fact that he was fully prepared to believe the word of a Prefect over the word of a younger student, and when Rubeus Hagrid were declared a suspect in the case of who opened the Chamber of Secrets, Dippet promptly expelled him without putting much effort in investigating the matter. However, as the school at the time was dangerously near to being closed down by the Ministry of Magic after the murder on Myrtle and he was likely to have been under a lot of pressure from parents.

As Henry was allowed to stay after his expulsion, Professor John Dippet might have been a wise, well-meaning if somewhat strict administrator under pressure rather than mercilessly expelling one student on the word of another. The fact that passed away that year can also have been a factor in Professor john  Dippet permitting him to remain at Hogwarts, sympathising with the young boy's tragic situation and recognised his need for a home since there no longer was anyone to look after him, which proves that Professor John  Dippet, behind his solemn exterior, did indeed care about the students of Hogwarts, and was capable of looking past whatever wrongdoings one of the pupils was accused of and focus on their needs in times of great trouble and loss.

It is known that during his tenure at work Professor Dippet grew rather fond of Tom and was, perhaps somewhat biassed towards him, partly due to sympathising with the boy who had grown up orphaned and friendless and partly due to the young man's charisma. However, this did not blind him from keeping their safety his number one priority, nor did it stop him for keeping up certain standards. This is shown when he rejects the request of a recent graduate to become a teacher on the basis of being too young, as well as rejecting Tom Riddle's request of staying at school over the summer holidays due to the situation while unaware that Riddle was the one behind the danger Dippet wanted to protect him from. However, being fully aware that Riddle despised the orphanage where he was raised, he did comment that he would have given him special permission if the school were safer.

Magical abilities and skills

Magical mastery: As he became the Headmaster of Hogwarts, a highly prestigious and esteemed wizarding school, Dippet was therefore a highly accomplished, powerful and experienced wizard who would have possessed wide-reaching knowledge of and much proficiency in many different branches of magic.

Leadership skills: While he never achieved the level of admiration and reverence of his immediate successor, Professor Dippet was nonetheless a very capable Headmaster of the school, and remembered as such by his tenure having been the theme of his Chocolate Frog Card.

Possessions

Wand: Professor John Dippet's wand was of unknown manufacturer, length, core and wood. He was in possession of it during the 1940s. He left it on his desk during his meeting with Tom Riddle in 1943 concerning the summer holidays and the Chamber of Secrets openings.[23]

Headmaster's office: When Professor Dippet presided in the office in the Headmaster's Tower, there was a single bookcase, a desk, and several paintings there, including the portraits of his predecessors. His passwords are unknown, though it can be presumed that he told one of them to Tom Riddle in 1943.[4]

Strawberry and ling plantations: According to Albus Dumbledore, Professor Dippet planted some strawberries and ling in the castle grounds while he was Headmaster. However, it is likely that Albus was simply trying to distract Cornelius Fudge and Walden Macnair.[24]

Relationships

Tom Riddle

"I had advised Armando against the appointment — I did not give the reasons I have given you, for Professor Dippet was very fond of Voldemort and convinced of his honesty..."

—Dippet's fondness of Ri