After lunch, Hufflepuff students began leaving the common room, ready for their afternoon History of Magic class.
Charlie stretched and walked to the classroom with Ernie and Justin.
"History of Magic? I heard it's the most boring class," Justin said with a yawn.
Charlie, however, was looking forward to it.
He'd always wanted to learn more about the history of the Wizarding World. After all, as someone who'd come from another world, he still knew far too little about this one.
Making up for that with a history class seemed like a good idea.
"Actually, I'm really looking forward to History of Magic," Charlie said.
"We should at least understand the world we live in, right?"
"You're that eager?" Ernie asked, surprised. "I thought you'd keep sleeping."
"Not this time. I'm going to pay attention."
Charlie said earnestly. Even if he wasn't going to earn any Tyrant Points from this class, he still planned to listen carefully.
When they arrived at the History of Magic classroom, they found only a few students there, and most of them looked rather drowsy.
Hogwarts' schedule was undeniably light. They had only two or three classes a day.
That left them with plenty of free time. Some of the studious students spent it in the library.
Charlie had no choice but to stay away. He was allergic to the library, too; he simply couldn't go there.
Charlie found a seat near the front, took out his quill and parchment, and prepared to listen attentively.
The bell rang, and a semitransparent figure drifted into the classroom.
It was Professor Binns, Hogwarts' only ghost teacher.
He looked very old, with a white beard and an old-fashioned wizard's robe.
"Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Professor Binns," he said in an extremely monotonous voice.
"Today, we'll be studying the fundamentals of History of Magic."
Charlie perked up, ready to listen carefully.
"First, let's learn about the story of Malefactor Moryk," Professor Binns began.
"Moryk lived in the Middle Ages and became notorious for abusing magic..."
Professor Binns' voice sounded like static from an old radio, so monotonous it was unbearable.
His tone never wavered, like a school principal droning through a prepared speech.
Charlie tried hard to concentrate, but found it much more difficult than he'd expected.
Professor Binns' teaching style was so stiff, entirely lacking in passion or vivid description.
In less than ten minutes, Charlie began to feel drowsy.
He glanced around and saw that quite a few of his classmates were already nodding off.
"Next, the deeds of Eccentric Ulric," Professor Binns continued in that same hypnotic voice.
"Ulric was famous for his peculiar magical experiments..."
Charlie's eyelids began to droop.
How was this a class? It was practically a lullaby!
At this rate, I'm going to fall asleep.
No wonder History of Magic was widely considered the most boring class.
At last, Charlie couldn't take it anymore.
He raised his hand and called out, "Professor!"
Professor Binns stopped speaking. The classroom fell silent.
The students who'd been dozing were startled awake by the sudden shout and turned to look at Charlie.
"Er... Is there a problem, young man?"
Professor Binns was clearly surprised. It had been a long time since a student had volunteered a question.
"Professor, could you tell us something a little more exciting?" Charlie asked directly.
Whispers spread through the classroom. The students were stunned by Charlie's audacity.
"Charlie, are you crazy?" Ernie whispered.
Justin's eyes widened, too. "He's a professor! Even if he's a ghost, he's still a professor."
Charlie ignored them.
Professor Binns hovered in midair, looking at Charlie with his ancient eyes.
"Something more exciting? What would you like to hear?"
Without hesitation, Charlie said, "Tell us about Voldemort!"
The moment he said it, the entire classroom fell into a deathly silence.
Every student gasped. Some were so frightened they slid right off their chairs.
"Oh, my goodness!"
"What did he just say?"
"He said the name!"
The students' faces turned pale, and some even began to tremble.
Even Professor Binns looked terrified. His semitransparent body shook violently, and he grew several shades dimmer than usual.
"No... Don't say that name!" Professor Binns' voice trembled.
Charlie was at a loss.
He'd only wanted to learn about Voldemort's history. Why was everyone reacting like this?
Charlie had wanted to ask about Voldemort for a long time. His name had been infamous in his previous life, but Charlie had no idea what Voldemort had actually done.
Since arriving at Hogwarts, all he'd learned was that Voldemort was a Dark Lord who'd killed many people and had eventually been killed by Harry Potter.
No one seemed to know any specifics.
"Professor, I just wanted to learn some history..."
Charlie tried to explain.
"No, absolutely not!" Professor Binns grew dimmer and dimmer, looking as though he might disappear at any moment.
A Gryffindor student shouted:
"Oh no! Professor Binns is about to be scared out of existence! Hurry and get Professor McGonagall from her office!"
Several students immediately ran out of the classroom to find help.
Congratulations, Your Majesty. You terrified a teacher. Tyrant Points +5
The system's voice sounded in Charlie's mind, leaving him even more bewildered.
"Wait, I really wasn't trying to earn Tyrant Points!"
Before long, Professor McGonagall arrived at the History of Magic classroom.
She hurried to the front of the room and quickly did her best to reassure Professor Binns.
Professor Binns seemed much better. His body had solidified considerably, at least, but the class period was nearly over.
After hearing what had happened, Professor McGonagall glared at Charlie, took two points from Hufflepuff, then left in a huff.
"Honestly..." she muttered as she walked away.
"There's never a day when I don't have something to be angry about. If I stay at Hogwarts much longer, I'll die of stress."
The students gradually left the classroom. Quite a few of them gave Charlie strange looks as they passed him.
Evening came quickly, and the students made their way to the Great Hall for dinner.
Charlie had just sat down at the Hufflepuff table when he saw the Weasley Twins walking over with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"Charlie!" Fred slapped him excitedly on the shoulder.
"You're a genius!"
"Right? How did you even think of scaring Professor Binns in the middle of History of Magic?" George added, giving him a thumbs-up.
Charlie was speechless. "I really didn't do it on purpose..."
Harry watched Charlie quietly, feeling conflicted.
He'd heard that Charlie had turned a stick into a needle during his first class that morning. Even Hermione, the most talented student in Gryffindor, had only managed to turn one into a needle tip.
Then in the afternoon, Charlie had scared a professor half to death.
Compared with Charlie, Harry, the so-called Savior, seemed thoroughly unremarkable.
But Harry didn't envy Charlie. He thought his own life was good now. He had enough to eat and warm clothes to wear, and he had so many friends. He was already very happy.
"Charlie, you're really good at Transfiguration," Harry said sincerely.
"I'm all right. Maybe I'm just naturally gifted," Charlie replied modestly.
Just then, Hermione spoke up, her tone stern and unmistakably disapproving:
"Charlie, you shouldn't scare professors like that. It's wrong."
"You should put your talent toward your studies."
The atmosphere immediately turned awkward.
Fred and George exchanged a look, and Harry didn't know what to say, either.
Charlie set down his chicken leg and looked at Hermione.
"I was just asking a question. How was I supposed to know Professor Binns was so easy to scare?"
"You knew you couldn't just say that name!" Hermione's voice rose.
"But I didn't know why I couldn't say it." Charlie shrugged. "I'm Muggle-born. I don't know much about the Wizarding World's taboos."
Hermione was briefly stumped. She was Muggle-born, too, but she'd learned all these things from books long ago.
"Then you should have learned about it before asking!" Hermione said, frustrated.
"Learned what?" Charlie retorted.
"I was asking because I wanted to learn about history."
Hermione opened her mouth, then realized she had nothing to say.
After all, without knowing the background, Charlie had simply asked an ordinary question.
"Forget it. I'm not talking to you anymore." Hermione spun around and stormed off.
Ron watched Hermione leave, then leaned toward Charlie and whispered:
"Don't mind her. She's always like that. She thinks she knows everything."
"She can be really annoying sometimes."
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