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 (d. summer, 1997) was the Professor of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry after the departure of the wizard who formerly held the post. Her career lasted from 1993 to 1997, and in these years 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 four years. She may have also done examinations in both Muggle Art and Muggle Music, as both appear to be separate 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 first floor (indicated as where Hermione took her Muggle Studies exam) 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 a career in Muggle relations; 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 entitled Explain Why Muggles Need Electricity. 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.

Post-mortem
"Muggles [...] are not so different from us."

- Burbage's method of teaching her subject.

She was very remarkable for her unbiased teachings, and her bravery openly denouncing Lord Voldemort's view of Muggles, who believed that they were disgusting and animal-like, at the height of the Second Wizarding War. Both Burbage's successor and predecessor were supporters of her killer, though it could be argued that Quirrell didn't became a supporter until his ill-fated trip to Albania, but it is likely that an unbiased teacher took up her post after the incarceration of Alecto Carrow.

Behind the scenes

 * Burbage is portrayed by British actress Carolyn Pickles in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
 * She shares her last words with Albus Dumbledore except she adds another "please".
 * 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 numerous unidentified female teachers who appeared in the films. One of them may be Charity.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Notes and references
Charity Burbage Чарити Бёрбэйдж Amore Burbage Clothilde Bingel