Cuthbert Binns

**Professor Cuthbert Binns** was a wizard and History of Magic professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He owned an office in the main castle and Classroom 4F on the first floor to teach in. He taught until a very old age, when he fell asleep in the staff room and died in slumber. Now, he is a ghost who continued to teach, droning on about various Goblin Rebellions and Giant Wars to bored, sleeping students.

Professor Binns's lessons were regarded as some of the most boring at Hogwarts, and only once in known history did he talk about something not strictly factual. During the 1991–1992 school year, he taught his first-year students about numerous historical personalities such as Uric the Oddball and Emeric the Evil, whom the class always got confused with. The following academic year, he relayed the legend of the Chamber of Secrets to his second-year class, but only after every student in the class showed complete and utter interest, despite initially stating the legend of the Chamber to be unimportant. He continued to teach Harry Potter and his class for three further years, until most, if not every one of his students dropped History of Magic.

## Biography

### Early life

> "*You're welcome. As my father always used to say, zzzzzz...*"
> ― Cuthbert Binns to Harry Potter[source]
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Cuthbert was born into the Binns family, with Mr Binns as his father. It was said that his father always used to say something to him, but Cuthbert fell asleep in the middle of his sentence before he could say what it was.

## Career at Hogwarts

#### Earlier years

> "*Professor Binns opened his notes and began to read in a flat drone like an old vacuum cleaner until nearly everyone in the class was in a deep stupor, occasionally coming round long enough to copy down a name or date, then falling asleep again.*"
> ― Description.[source]
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Cuthbert came to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and applied for the post of Professor of History of Magic, which he was granted. Cuthbert - now known as Professor Binns - was given Classroom 4F on the first floor near a mossy courtyard to teach in, as well as an office in the fifth-floor corridor.

His lessons were known to be the most boring in all of Hogwarts; he read from his never-ending collection of notes. His students, whom he never payed any attention to, would fall asleep listening to his droning, reedy voice, eventually waking up to copy down a name or date, but falling asleep again.

#### Later years and death

> "*Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff-room fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him.*"
> ― The story of Professor Binns's death[source]
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Professor Binns was still teaching well into his elderly years at Hogwarts, still lecturing students on History of Magic. Now so old that he looked like a wrinkled tortoise, Binns went down to the staffroom on the ground floor and went to sleep in front of the fire. However, he died in his sleep and, when he got up to teach his next class, was a ghost. Regardless, he did not seem to notice, though he did begin to fly into his classroom through the blackboard, but his lessons were still just as boring as ever. It was said the most exciting thing that happened in his class was when he entered through the blackboard.

### Post-mortem

#### 1970s

During the 1970s, Professor Binns taught James Potter, Lily Evans, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. For unknown reasons, Binns gave one of his Chocolate Frog Cards, that of Circe, to James Potter, which later fell into the hands of Quirinus Quirrell who put it into his vault, number 998.

#### 1991-1992 school year

> "*Easily the most boring lesson was History of Magic...*"
> ― Harry Potter evaluating over his first week at Hogwarts[source]
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During the 1991–1992 school year, Professor Binns gained the famous Harry Potter as a student. However, Binns did not notice his legendary pupil, since he did not pay any attention to his class as he read through his notes, expecting them to copy down bullet points. That year, Binns taught his first years about historical figures such as Uric the Oddball and Emeric the Evil, whom his students always got confused with. Harry also said that he considered History of Magic to be "*easily the most boring lesson*" in the school. However, Binns also gained a gifted student, Hermione Granger, who alone seems to be immune to the soporific effects of his lectures, as she listened and took notes seriously.

#### 1992-1993 school year

The following year, the Chamber of Secrets was reopened and Mrs Norris, Argus Filch (the Caretaker's) cat, was petrified by Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk. Regardless, the school ran as normal and one of Professor Binns's homework he gave out just after the attack was a three-foot essay on The Medieval Assembly of European Wizards. While lecturing his second years on the International Warlocks' Convention of 1289, Hermione Granger raised her hand and asked about the legend of the Chamber. Despite initially refusing to grant her wish, he relayed the legend after seeing the unusual amount of interest and attention his class were giving him. After reciting the story, each of his pupils argued against his belief that there was no Chamber, but he put a stop to them and their theories and, within five minutes, had bored them to sleep with his lecture. Later on in the year, he was visited by the Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, who told him that Harry Potter and Ron Weasley would be absent from his History of Magic class due to their visit to the petrified Hermione Granger.

#### 1993-1994 school year

During the 1993–1994 school year, Professor Binns continued to teach Harry Potter and his classmates. One night in the winter term, Binns allowed Professor Remus Lupin, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, to teach Harry how to cast the Patronus Charm in Classroom 4F, the room where History of Magic lessons were held.

#### 1994-1995 school year

> "*Meanwhile Professor Binns, the ghost who taught History of Magic, had them writing weekly essays on the goblin rebellions of the eighteenth century.*"
> ― Binns in preparation for his fourth years' O.W.L.s[source]
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The following academic year, Professor Binns gave his fourth years a huge workload of writing an entire composition every week, in preparation for their Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations in their next year. Since Harry Potter had been chosen as a champion for the Triwizard Tournament, he was exempt from the End-of-Term Exams, and so, paid less attention to Binns than usual and spent the time looking up fresh hexes for the Triwizard Tasks. It was known that one History of Magic lesson was two classes before the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament, followed by Transfiguration with Minerva McGonagall. Also, the History of Magic Fourth year exams were on the day of the Third and Final Task of the Tournament.

#### 1995-1996 school year

> "*Today, they suffered three quarters of an hour's droning on the subject of giant wars. Harry heard just enough within the first ten minutes to appreciate dimly that in another teacher's hands this subject might have been mildly interesting, but then his brain disengaged, and he spent the remaining thirty-five minutes playing hangman on a corner of his parchment with Ron, while Hermione shot them filthy looks out of the corner of her eye.*"
> ― Professor Binns's first class of the new term[source]
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For one of his first classes of the 1995–1996 school year, known to be a Monday, Professor Binns lectured his fifth year students on wars caused and participated in by Giants, which would have been interesting had it been taught by a more engaging teacher. After an hour of lecturing, Binns left the classroom through the blackboard. He had another History of Magic class the following Monday, just after Dolores Umbridge's appointment as the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, which was noted to be just as boring, drowsy and depressing as the last. That year was the year of his students' Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations, and he made his students write down notes for them to revise from for their exams. It is possible that Umbridge inspected Binns's classes that year, but unlikely, since he taught a theoretical subject that would not help Professor Dumbledore form an army, which was the Ministry of Magic's idea of what was going on in the school; at any rate, she was not present during Harry's lectures.

#### 1997-1998 school year

During this year, Voldemort had seized control over Hogwarts, it is likely that he may have attempted to and possibly successfully implement a new History of Magic curriculum to include anti-muggle propaganda, similarly to how he had implemented mandatory Dark Arts lessons. Though since Binns was a ghost and unable to be threatened by force, it's quite possible that if this were the case, Binns was not teaching History of Magic.

It is possible that Professor Binns took part in the Battle of Hogwarts against the Death Eaters during the 1997–1998 school year.

#### After the War

It is likely that Professor Binns continued his long tenure as Professor of History of Magic after the war.

## Physical description

> "*Professor Binns paused again, pursing his lips, looking like a wrinkled old tortoise.*"
> ― A brief description of Professor Binns[source]
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Professor Binns, as being a ghost, was described as looking ancient and shrivelled, and looked a little like an old tortoise when he pursed his lips. He wore glasses, which were small and thick, and had a dry, reedy voice that sounded a lot like an old vacuum cleaner, droning on and on.

## Personality and traits

Professor Binns did not display much of a personality, as all he did was read his notes in a droning voice to his students, while oblivious or uncaring about how everyone simply dozes off from boredom. However, it can be seen that he was very impatient and did not take the liberty of learning his students' names, calling Hermione Granger "Miss Grant", Parvati Patil "Miss Pennyfeather", Seamus Finnigan "O'Flaherty" and even the famous Harry Potter "Perkins". It's possible he was actually calling them by the names of previous students from years ago, possibly due to senility as he was very old at the time of death. Binns was also shown to be a firm disbeliever in legends and mythology, dedicating his studies and lectures on "*solid, believable* fact". He is said to have a drawling monotonous voice, which most of his students had become bored with.

## Magical abilities and skills

* **History of Magic**: Cuthbert was knowledgeable of magical history, teaching the subject for several decades at Hogwarts School.
* **Teaching skills**: Binns must have proven himself to be an adequate teacher to have acquired his position in Hogwarts. However, his current performance has proven to be ineffective, as he simply read notes in a droning manner that lulled many students to fall asleep. His unenthusiastic manner of communications, lack of interest in his students' attention, and his refusal to delve into what he considers to be myth, has greatly hampered his skills in delivering information to his class.

## Possessions

* **Office**: While teaching at Hogwarts, Binns had an office on the fifth floor.
* **Books:** Binns owned several books, including a Draconifors spellbook, Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century, and several other books.

## Etymology

* "Binns" is from "binoculars", a slang term for spectacles. Notice that Professor Binns wore very thick glasses.
* A bin is a large storage container. A dustbin is British English for a garbage can. This boring professor could be described as a ghostly storage for information that many Hogwarts students view as rubbish.

## Author's comments

"*The most productive ghost at Hogwarts is, of course, Professor Binns, the old History of Magic teacher who fell asleep in front of the staff-room fire one day and simply got up to give his next class, leaving his body behind. There is some debate as to whether or not Professor Binns realises he is dead. While his entrance to lessons through the blackboard is vaguely amusing the first time students see it, he is not the most stimulating teacher.*

*The inspiration for Professor Binns was an old professor at my university, who gave every lecture with his eyes closed, rocking backwards and forwards slightly on his toes. While he was a brilliant man, who disgorged an immense amount of valuable information at every lecture, his disconnect with his students was total. Professor Binns is only dimly aware of his living students, and is astonished when they begin asking him questions.*"