by Reyna Walles

As we saw our beloved Potions Professor and Apparition Instructor on mH, Charlie Grey, leave their position, the Administration opened up a vacancy for the position of Potions Professor, to guide those aspiring Potioneers towards greatness. Our lovely creature lover, the Stoatshead Manager, Willow Maid, decided to apply for the position with interest, and combined with all her skills and experience, the Administration offered her the position which she gladly accepted. Are you interested in finding out what she said to us, the Quibbler Staff, about her new position on the site?

Reyna: Hello, Willow Maid! First of all, I must thank you for arriving here for a short Interview for our upcoming Quibbler issue. What were the instant feelings that emerged within you when you learned you were selected as the Potions Professor?

I wasn't surprised that I was chosen, considering I was the only one to apply for the position. Though still very happy 'cause for all I know, I may have been the only applicant but I could have been turned down and Hogwarts would still try to look for a new Potions professor.

Reyna: Why did you specifically apply for this subject? What's so special about the subject?

To be honest, this wasn't my first choice. Before the Potions position opened, Hogwarts was looking for a CoMC professor, and that's what I wanted. The job has opened before but I didn't apply 'cause I thought I wasn't ready, and when I felt like I was, I applied then, but the other Willow got it. I was understandably disappointed 'cause if you haven't noticed I love magical creatures. 😉 Hence why most of the jobs I have are related to it.

But then I get a message from Kit (Koolia) notifying me of an opening for a Potions professor. I did like Potions when I was a student, it was my second favourite class after CoMC, but I was conflicted. I battled with the decision of either waiting for that CoMC spot to open again or taking this chance. I then decided to wait if anyone else would apply and if none came, then I would. After all, Hogwarts was in need to fill that spot. When none came to apply, I marched right in to hand in my application. When I wrote it out, I was feeling giddy with how I would teach it 'cause Potions was an exciting class for me and I wanted to make my future students feel the same way.

Reyna: That sounds exciting! What kind of new responsibilities were you given as a result of being chosen as a professor? How are you enjoying them so far?

Well, my first responsibility is, first and foremost, to educate future potioneers, and I do have some experience in teaching, not yet from my Dragonology class at WizU but as an Animagus Instructor. That experience does come in handy when I ran the Potions practical. There were some bumps here and there with some of my students' brewing gone wrong, but failure is how they'll learn to know what not to do and be precise. Potions can be a difficult class when one hair out of place can make you start over from scratch. The other responsibility is one that I'm new to and that was, of course, going through my students' work and giving them their appropriate grades. It is fun to read their work and see the effort they put in. 😄

Reyna: What kind of new ideas do you have for the class, and have you already implemented any of them?

I really kept things the same except for implementing the role-play-based potion brewing. After wrapping that up, my students seemed to love it. I only had that up for term 2 to test it out. After seeing what I needed to see, I took notes on how to improve it slightly and decided on putting it up for Terms 1 and 2. I'm still thinking if I can come up with another practical option for students to choose from, so for now, this is what I got.

Reyna: Except being a Professor, you are also the Stoatshead Manager. How are you enjoying that specific position?

It's one of the important jobs here on mH in my opinion. I remember when Linda (SusanHP) held the job and under her management was when I sent in an application to open up my very own shop "Catching Dreams", a dream catcher shop that did very well and one I still miss running. I thought she and her assistants did great in managing the area and keeping things going smoothly. I felt like having a job where I could do something like that, to keep a part of the community afloat and run as it should. When that position opened in the form of needing a Co-Head for Level 8, I thought "this could be my chance", I could work in the shopping area (since I was familiar with how it worked at that point) while my partner handles housing (they were familiar with that area). I did love visiting Stoatshead to basically buy as much as I could (still am 😄), so here's a job where I'll be spending most of my time and help people introduce new shops or revive some for nostalgia.

Reyna: What piece of advice do you have for one of your students, or any user of the site so they can follow your path to success on mH?

I got where I am now with my ambition and the need to do my part to better the experience on mH for new, current, and future members. But, of course, I had to start small to get a feel of the responsibilities I'll need to get ahead. My first ever job was as a Badge Officer at Hogwarts. All I had to do was give out the appropriate badges and put down the recipient's name on the list. Well, there's also coming up with new badges if you could, and since it looked like there hadn't been any new ones for a long time, that's when my ambition kicked in. 😄 I ended up creating 2: "Right on Time" and "Study Like Granger", which are still standing.

Reyna: Well, well, thank you so much for sharing your words and thoughts in this interview! I am pretty sure our readers will enjoy your encouragement and the pieces of advice you shared with us. Once again, congratulations on your new roles and best of luck!