Charity Burbage

"Not content with corrupting and polluting the minds of Wizarding children, last week Professor Burbage wrote an impassioned defence of Mudbloods in the Daily Prophet. Wizards, she says, must accept these thieves of their knowledge and magic. The dwindling of the pure-bloods is, says Professor Burbage, a most desirable circumstance... She would have us all mate with Muggles..."

- Lord Voldemort ridiculing Charity Burbage to his followers before killing her.

Professor Charity Burbage was the Professor of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She taught how Muggles weren’t so different from wizards and witches, but this belief became her end when Lord Voldemort killed her for her views.

Early Life
Burbage probably studied magic at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and it is likely that she achieved a high graded O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. in Muggle Studies as later in her life she went on to teach this subject for almost eight years. She may have also done examinations in both Muggle Art and Muggle Music, as both appear to be seperate branches of the same subject.

1993-1994 school year
"There have been a few changes in staffing this year..."

- How Dumbledore begins his ‘new teachers’ speech.

Burbage went on to return to Hogwarts from which she studied and took up the post of Muggle Studies Professor, replacing a male teacher. Her office was located on the fifth floor and it was full of Muggle toys and instruments, suggesting it was possibly used for Muggle Music classes too.

Burbage's class was described as 'a soft option', as opposed to Minerva McGonagall's Transfiguration classes. However, Percy Weasley proposed that her classes were very useful, especially if her students were planning to have a career at the Ministry of Magic; his father being a case in point. She apparently gave quite a bit of homework, such as essays on why Muggles need electricity.

"It'll be fascinating to learn about Muggles from a Wizard's point of view."

- Hermione Granger awaiting Professor Burbage's class.

Third-year Gryffindor, Hermione Granger, took Burbage’s class and found her teaching fascinating. During this year, Burbage gave homework requiring her students to write an essay on why Muggles need electricity. Halfway through the year, Draco Malfoy released a Ghoul into her classroom in the middle of the night while she and her assistant were absent. It created a huge mess, throwing things around, but three Gryffindor students managed to lock it away. At the end of the year, Hermione Granger dropped Muggle Studies, leaving Burbage without a star pupil.

Death
"Avada Kedavra! [...] Dinner, Nagini."

- Lord Voldemort casting the curse that killed Burbage and feeding her body to his snake.

During the summer holidays, Burbage was abducted by Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. An official statement claimed that she had "resigned", although many who knew her were suspicious about her disappearance. She was suspended upside down over a table at Malfoy Manor, where her abductors mocked her and her subject. Burbage, noticing Snape was one of them, begged him to save her. However, her colleague merely watched as his master killed her and fed her body to his snake, Nagini.

Legacy
"Muggles [...] are not so different from us."

- Burbage’s method of teaching her subject.

If it were not for Burbage’s unbiased teaching, almost all wizards and witches would share Lord Voldemort's view of Muggles; believing that they are disgusting and animal-like. Ironically enough, both Burbage’s successor and predecessor were both supporters of her killer, but it is likely that an unbiased teacher took up her post after the incarceration of Alecto Carrow.

Behind the scenes

 * Charity Burbage was preceded and succeeded by professors who served Lord Voldemort, though Professor Quirrell only fell to Voldemort during his year off after leaving the job; she herself was murdered by Lord Voldemort.
 * There are two unidentified female teachers who appeared in the films. One of them may be Charity.
 * It is rumoured that she will be played by Carolyn Pickles in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (film)

Notes and references
Charity Burbage Чарити Бёрбэйдж