Harry Potter: All 7 Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers ranked

5. Quirinus Quirrell

Prior to becoming the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, Quirinus Quirrell was the Muggle Studies professor, and a very self conscious person. Quirrell was so uncomfortable with people laughing at him that he took a year-long sabbatical to find Lord Voldemort so he could learn powers that would discourage people from mocking him. He was successful in finding the dark lord, but Voldemort was only interested in the fact that Quirrell worked at Hogwarts. He latched himself onto the back of Quirrell’s head.

Over the course of Harry’s first year in school, Quirrell tried to kill the boy on Voldemort’s orders by hexing his broom during quidditch, steering him toward a giant troll and finally in a hidden chamber in the bowels of Hogwarts, where he reveals to Harry his true goals. It was in these chambers where Dumberdore kept the Philosopher’s Stone, which Quirrell was trying to secure for Voldemort. When Harry touches Quirrell’s face, the stuttering professor’s skin begins to burn and disintegrate, a result of the protective charm Harry’s mother put on him to protect him from Voldemort as a baby. Quirrell’s body turns to ash. Voldemort is able to separate from Quirrell and escape before being destroyed himself.

Throughout the book, we are led to believe that Professor Snape was the one doing all the nasty things Quirrell was responsible for. Overall, Quirrell is a creepy, annoying dude and a complete stooge for Voldemort. Quirrell’s body even became so weak from Voldemort that he was forced to start drinking unicorn blood in the woods, which is pretty disgusting. In the end, he probably deserved his gruesome fate.