[Hogwarts archives, accessed 2021.]
19 June 1992
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
It is with great interest that I extend my application for the recently opened Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching position at Hogwarts School. As a Hogwarts alumnus, a long-time combatant against the Dark Arts, and a lifelong educator, I would be honoured to be interviewed for this esteemed role.
My experience is detailed in my lengthy literary output, and this letter is not the time to describe some of my more ghastly grasps with the Dark Forces of the world. Suffice it to say I have travelled the world over pursuing the hand of evil, and I believe this first-hand experience to be significantly more beneficial to the student mind than any book-learning or academic preparation. Nevertheless, I am a graduate of Ravenclaw House and the recipient in NEWTs in Defence, Charms, Transfiguration, and Care of Magical Creatures; my mastery of the academic side of Defence speaks for itself. On the experiential side, my work has taken me to all corners of the world: most recently Burkina Faso, where I have been intervening with a disturbing Runespoor outbreak. The story is galling, but I would be pleased to tell it in an interview. My work against the Dark Arts has of course taken the additional form of long-form writing and its accompanying publicity tours. Though some might view these literary ambitions as the grounds of vanity, I truly believe that promotion of the threat of the Dark Arts – and the human capacity to defeat them – is tantamount to any complete movement in the ways of love, light, and life. With new threats ever on the horizon, it is essential that someone with my particular knowledge be brought on to your staff.
I will be returning to Africa in early July, but I will be available for interview for the next two weeks of June. I enclose a resume, diploma, and a copy of my latest book. I add to these materials that my application comes at the recommendation of our mutual soldier against the Dark Arts, Mr. Judas M. Crane. I trust that your hiring committee will weigh this recommendation wisely.
Thank you for this opportunity to share ‘Magical Me’ with your learning community.
Sincerely,
Gilderoy Lockhart
Ravenclaw, Class of 1982
THE PENSIEVE PAPERS 