ANST-401 Lessons

Welcome back, students! I have a very special treat for you today - Hendrichs Dankworth has joined us and I will be interviewing him about his time spent as a curse-breaker! After the interview, we will practice some non-magical, yet critical, skills just in case you decide to pursue this career in the future. Yes, thank you greatly for your applause, I am as excited as you! Since Mr. Dankworth has direct experience with this career, I suggest we get this interview started!

ES: Why did you decide to become a curse-breaker? How did you get started and what was the selection process like?

HD: Curse-breaking, in all honesty, was not my initial choice of career. I began my professional experience, after graduating from Hogwarts, as a magihistorian. However, while you may think of this as a rather safe and boring profession in comparison, my time as a historian was plagued with numerous difficulties, many of which happened because of the First and Second Wizarding War. This was due to my notes on the contributions of Muggles to magical history and the development of magical civilizations. At the time, the powers that be were… less than pleased by the implications of my work. Believe it or not, I was frequently on the run during these years, and, I suppose, I developed a bit of a taste for risk and danger.

Once the Death Eaters were rounded up, I applied through the Diagon Alley branch of Gringotts Bank. The application alone was thorough, ensuring that the applicant had an appropriate background in knowledge of curses and a working knowledge of several ancient cultures. Once I had proven my general knowledge to the satisfaction of the selection committee, I was put through a series of rigorous tests to demonstrate a more in-depth knowledge of the ancient cultures. This also required me to choose at least one ancient culture that would become the focus of my studies. Now, it is possible to get into the program without applying. In some cases, the goblins will actually recruit someone specifically, in which case (depending on why they were recruited and what their skills are) they may skip straight to acceptance and further training.

ES: What was training like? Mostly theoretical, or more on-the-job and practical?

HD: After the application process, the real training was more on-the-job and practical. Once I had proven my theoretical knowledge of my chosen field - the Greco-Roman period - I was then expected to demonstrate my ability to utilize a variety of counter-curses, anti-jinxes, and other counter effective spells that would allow people to safely explore the temples I would be clearing. The practical training consisted of two parts: individual and team scenarios.

The individual practical training was where I was expected to demonstrate, on my own, how I used the spells and my intellect to navigate through the temples. This part really challenged me; as a former paper pusher, I was not what one would call self-reliant. If it hadn’t been for my rough few years on the run during the wars, I likely wouldn’t have been able to “cut it,” as they say.

The next part, which required working with teams, I passed with flying colors. While researching old tomes well into the wee hours of the morning had done little to prepare me for working with teams of spell-slingers, I found I shone best when allowed to stick to my strengths. Utilizing the strengths of each member of the team - intellect where intellect was needed, agility where agility was needed, and combat skills where combat or perhaps flight was needed. 

ES: What is a typical day like as a curse-breaker? Do you work individually or in teams? If on a team, do you always work with the same people?

HD: Actually, I can’t say I have ever worked a “typical” day as a curse-breaker! Due to my specialization in Greco-Roman magic and temples, there isn’t a whole lot that I do “on the ground.” More often, I am called in as a consultant to assist with the rare temple that pops up that is booby trapped. More traditional curse-breakers who have been inside will share their findings, and it is my job (along with help from a maglinguist, or other related professions) to explain the historical significance of the tomb. For example, it may become obvious that we’re dealing with an infamous Parselmouth, or a person who was very fond of charms. These insights can often change our approach.

In one particularly interesting scenario, I was called in to help explore a temple to the goddess Hecate to help disarm the traps and curses on the temple. That was a nasty experience. Despite their comparatively peaceful nature, those Greeks certainly knew how to set traps! Ah, but back to the point. In these instances, I am always working with other people as part of a team. The team usually consists of the same people, with a few changes every now and again. This consistency is beneficial, since we all get to know each other and can develop a trust that is critical to success in these temples. If I see danger and tell one of them to duck, I know that they will do it without hesitation because they trust me; in the same way, I would listen to one of them without hesitation because they may have seen something that I have not.

ES: What area of the world do you work in?

HD: As you might have guessed, I have spent a lot of time in Greece, but have also traveled throughout the vast area that was the Roman Empire, which covered a large part of modern Europe, spread a little bit into Asia, and just down to the coast of Africa, enough to claim Egypt as part of the empire. One of my favorite locations was exploring a deserted temple in the area that used to be Constantinople. 

ES: What are some basic spells, materials, or tools that you use in your work? What spells should students at Hogwarts work to perfect to get them ready for this profession?

HD: The most basic tool of a curse-breaker is their wand. Without a wand, you cannot hope to succeed, unless you become an expert in wandless casting, which is extremely difficult and requires a very high level of concentration to be able to accomplish. It is also beneficial to keep a journal and quill with you, so that you can chronicle your journey, make note of any spells you use, diagrams of hallways, copies of script-based enchantments, and anything else that you suspect might be important to explore at a later time. I often use my journal to make notes about important information about a given site before I enter, so I am as prepared as I can be.

But in terms of all-rounders, the first and foremost spell that you will want to know is the Effect-Cancelling Charm. Though it cannot be used in every situation, it is a good foundation to begin with. You will also want to be adept at both the Revealing Charm and the Enchantment Revealing Charm. The Enchantment Revealing Charm tells you where magic has been placed while the Revealing Charm can reveal text that will help you disarm the trap.

Finally, never underestimate the importance of the Shielding Charm. If you accidentally trigger a trap, you will want to be able to cast this spell very quickly in order to protect yourself from any harm.

ES: What other classes would you recommend aspiring curse-breakers take?

HD: That, in part, depends on what area of the world they would choose to work in, since some skills will be more important to different parts of the world than others. However, there are a few basic skills that will be important. Primarily, you will want to be as familiar with the history of the area you work in as you possibly can be. In this field, knowledge is power.

You will also want to be capable of casting spells in order to counter any jinxes, hexes, and curses that you may come across. It would also be helpful to be familiar with remedies that can be used to counteract poisons quickly and the skills required to determine how to make that concoction.

Finally, you will want to be familiar with the development of language and how the language of the area is structured; it is impossible to use a clue if you cannot understand what the clue means. Understanding the language can also help piece together what kind of temple or pyramid you are in - especially in the Greco-Roman era, there were major differences between temples to the major gods and temples to the minor gods.

Therefore, I would highly recommend the following courses: Ancient Runes, Ancient Studies, Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, and Potions. Mythology would also be a useful course to take, too.

ES: Do you have any other words of wisdom for future curse-breakers?

HD: Simply that their ability to succeed is entirely dependent on the work they are willing to put in. Remember, it is not just your own life on the line while you are out in this field of work, so put in every effort and become as knowledgeable as you can in as many fields as possible, particularly the ones discussed above - you never know when that miscellaneous information might come in handy. Most importantly, be prepared for everything, because anything can happen out there.

ES: Thank you so much for your time, Mr. Dankworth! You have given us a great deal to think about.

Practice Makes Perfect

Some of the spells that Mr. Dankworth mentioned in the interview are just a tad beyond your abilities at the moment, but rest assured that we will come back to them in the curse-breaking class for those of you interested in pursuing this career!

In the meantime, sometimes using your wits is just as important as using your wand, and we can sharpen our wits anytime. To that end, I have compiled a few riddles and messages that might be found in an Egyptian pyramid, along with some possibilities of what they could mean. As, of course, you cannot expect to find “Klutzy Curse located two paces east” written on a wall!

Beware the guards, in whose shadows lie
A danger which drips, slips, then you die

Now, I realise that the odds of having hieroglyphics translate into perfect English rhyming couplets is rather remote, but let’s pretend this is an actual poem found on the wall of a pyramid. What could it mean?

In the first part we can see that there are guards in the pyramid. If we are in Egypt, it is a safe bet that there are mummies as guards. We can also determine that the danger the riddle is referring to is physically located in the guardians’ (in this case mummies’) shadow. However, while this seems quite straightforward, shadow references are quite the doozy! The shadow of an object changes depending on where the light source is coming from at that particular moment! A curse mentioning shadows may be for a certain point during the day, or in any location that the shadow could fall during the day (if there is access to natural light).

So there is something in the shadow of the mummies (as if mummies weren’t bad enough), and it is in liquid form, possibly dripping down from somewhere. Since this is a warning, we can assume that the liquid is dangerous - a poison or toxin of some sort.

Our result then is: There are mummies nearby, and somewhere around them there is a pool of dangerous liquid. We need to protect ourselves from poisons and mummies and work to neutralize them. Really, this scenario is just plain logic and reasoning - something that I am certain you all can do!

Closing

Now I know that you are all itching to practice something not on paper, and I do have some suggestions for you to work on in your spare time if you are considering curse-breaking as a career. There are a few handy spells that you have already studied that you can practice during your free time: Impervious, Lumos, Nox, Immobulus, and Finite, which you should have learned in earlier classes.

Another way to sharpen your skills would be to play games! That’s right, I’m suggesting that you play. Word games, puzzles, brain teasers, even those electronic strategy games on videos that Muggles make. It’s all about making your brain work!

And that brings us to the end of our lecture - I hope Mr. Dankworth and I have tempted you into thinking of becoming an auror or curse-breaker someday, and if not, I hope you still enjoyed our discussions!

While your brain may be buzzing with plans to help you on your way to curse-breaking, your assignments for today are as follows: a quiz on today’s topics, a brain teaser assignment (similar to my earlier example), and an optional extra credit assignment to help to train your brain. Next week we will begin our discussions of the magic of ancient Mesopotamia. Until then, watch out for mummies!

Image credits here, here, and here
Original lesson written by Professor Liria Morgan and Jericho Penrose