Cuthbert Binns

"As Binns hadn't let his own death stand in the way of continuing to teach, they supposed a small thing like Christmas wasn't going to put him off. It was amazing how he could make even bloody and vicious goblin riots sound as boring as Percy's cauldron-bottom report."

- Binn's teaching method.

Cuthbert Binns is the Ghost Professor of History of Magic at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is currently the only ghost teaching there.

Life
Cuthbert was born to Mr. Binns, who always used to say something to him. Binns probably attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and likely obtained a high graded O.W.L. and  N.E.W.T. in History of Magic, as he later went on to teach this subject. It is also known that he was afraid of death like many other wizards and instead wished to keep himself from moving on.

At some point, Binns returned to Hogwarts and took up the post of History of Magic Professor. His lectures are known to be incredibly boring and dreadfully dull, aswell as considered the worst classes in Hogwarts. His lessons consist of him reciting the pages of history books while his students fall into slumber and occasionally awake to write down a few notes, but then fall back asleep. As this is all that he does, he is known to not know anyone of his students names, calling them different names every time he speaks to them.

During his career, Professor Binns fell asleep in a chair by the fire in the Staff Room and  died in his sleep. When he awoke, his ghost leapt out of his body, although he did not seem to notice that he had shuffled off his mortal coil. He continued teaching and his classes now involved a single exciting thing happening; he flew into his classroom via the blackboard.

As a Ghost
Cuthbert Binns continued his career during Professor Dumbledore's tenure as Headmaster of Hogwarts. He was still teaching when Harry Potter arrived at the school, and became his most boring teacher. Binns lectured him and about Goblin Rebellions and constantly reffered to his students with the wrong name, even calling the famous Harry Potter 'Perkins'. Only Hermione Granger was able to stay awake in his class and was described as 'being immune to the droning power of Binns' voice'.

However, it was still apparent that Binns is a wellsource of historical knowledge and facts, although he usually refused to answer questions on myths or legends, he answered when Hermione Granger asked him about the Chamber of Secrets which had been opened that year. Despite initially stating the legend of the Chamber to be unimportant, he told them of the myth once every single student in the class urged him to.

Behind the scenes

 * Professor Binns does assign homework and essays, though as he is a ghost it's unknown how he is able to grade them.
 * Binns hasn't appeared in either the films or the PC games. His explanation in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets of the legend of the Chamber of Secrets is instead given by Professor McGonagall in the film, in the PC game it is Professor Flitwick who tells the legend.
 * In the videogame Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, there is one History of Magic Classroom featured on the Fourth Floor corridor. Professor Binns, however, is never seen in the game.
 * The only video games Professor Binns has made an appearance (so far) are the GameBoy Color adaptations, although he was mentioned in the Order of the Phoenix videogame. On the GameBoy Color versions Binns has a tendency to fall asleep during lectures and to forget about things.
 * Professor Binns's first name only appeared on a list of of the Hogwarts professors which was released on Joanne K. Rowling´s website.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)