10 Things Harry Potter Fans Probably Didn't Know About Voldemort

10. He Wanted To Teach Defence Against The Dark Arts At Hogwarts

It’s somewhat of a running joke that no Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts can ever seem to stay in the position for more than one school year. Whether because of a mind-wiping spell backfiring or an unfortunate affliction of lycanthropy, the position always seems to be vacant once more come the summer holidays.

What fans might not know, however, is that Voldemort himself was once keen to take up the position. As revealed in The Half-Blood Prince, Tom Riddle petitioned former headmaster Armando Dippet for the job, almost immediately after graduating from Hogwarts. Dippet turned him down due to his young age.

Voldemort returned some ten years later and once again asked the headmaster, who was now one Albus Dumbledore, to take him on. But Dumbledore saw the evil in the Dark Lord’s heart and refused to hire him.

It’s heavily implied that Voldemort cursed the position in response, as Dumbledore himself mused, “We have not been able to keep a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor for more than a year since I refused the post to Lord Voldemort.”. Bit of an overreaction, don’t you think?