The Secret Library is one of several but it has the distinction of being the first library. Hierophant Excelsius Binns was a lover of books. It is surprising to note that his first love was interrupted by human love and so the Binns family was not ended. Hierophant dutifully provided his "heir and a spare" in fraternal twins. His wife did not survive the unexpected birth of twins and Hierophant found himself with a son and a daughter to raise.
Hierophant vowed, to son and daughter, that he would not be denied his books. Therefore, the bedtime stories these children grew up with were histories of magic, of battles, of kings, queens, and the many wars that fascinated Hierophant the most; the wars of the Magical Creatures.
Delphine loved the many spells that the history of magic had discovered, lost, and re-discovered. Cuthbert found a love for the many and varied Goblin Wars.
Hierophant continued to amass his extensive library and he was pleased that his children added their own books and scrolls. It is a pity... or perhaps for him it was a blessing... Hierophant Excelsius passed at the middle age of 82 within his library as he was translating one of the fabled Copper Scrolls of Qumran; the strange Dead Sea Scrolls of the Muggle Bible.
As you explore this wondrous library that Hierophant and his twins added to you will be taken through a wondrous labyrinthine spiral fashioned after the classic Celtic Labyrinths. (One might note that the labyrinth that is the culmination of the Tri-Wizard Tournament is also a Celtic Spiral.) If you explore far enough, and are not distracted by a tome or two, you will find the skeleton of The Secret Library; Hierophant seated at the old desk that still has the Copper Scroll upon its surface. In Hierophant's left hand is his favoured quill; a perfectly preserved hawk feather quill with a gold tip.
The First House Elf (rarely seen by anyone other than the Headmaster) has counted every book in this Secret Library. Cassowary, the First Elf, informed this inquisitive Potions Master that Hierophant contributed 8,354 books, 1,205 scrolls, and 2,340 various objects of interest. Delphine Binns (passed naturally at the age of 182 contributed 362 various objects of interest, 132 scrolls mostly from the time of the Romans, and 785 books on the history of magic. Cuthbert Binns, who had an obsessive fascination for the hundreds of Goblin Wars had contributed 192 books and 38 objects of interest until his untimely death at 53. As you may have heard, Cuthbert continues to teach his Goblin Wars here at Hogwarts. He holds the dubious honor of being Hogwarts most Monotonous teacher for two centuries.
It is a pity that Delphine, the more mellifluous twin, chose to be a Home Witch and her child (Apollo Theonis-Binns, legendary creator of magical laws of note) carried on the Binns family name.
Perhaps I might speak to the Ghosts of Hogwarts to see if Delphine is available to teach a more rounded course of Magical History.
End
a/n: A secret library. One of the professors could have been a book collector who hid stuff away and who failed to tell anyone where it was before An Unfortunate Incident cut short his or her life. For all we know, Binns had a book collection that he'd planned to donate, but when he got sucked into teaching in perpetuity, decided that he'd given enough, thank you very much. Books about goblins, that Gringotts would be *very* interested in, perhaps. -Prompt imagined by excessivelyperky
