A.N. — Here we are, having escaped the world of sports and finished a run of school-age folks, only to arrive at an empty date in my outline. There's fewer characters each day to pick from, but I still will wind up leaving many out once this story's done.
314. Galatea Merrythought
Galatea Merrythought wasn't the last person to hold Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts post for over a year, but position's stigma was widely viewed to have started with her.
Merrythought had authored multiple texts on her subject and taught many luminaries in her time: Albus Dumbledore and Newt Scamander foremost. But Myrtle Warren's death, and Galatea's inability to prevent it, led to her retirement. The shame of her failure followed her from the castle, and her name became synonymous with the DADA curse.
She'd taught the true perpetrator, too, but Tom Riddle made sure another name became known instead.