A/N: I had been wanting to write this character for some time, and the prompt was just perfect! I hope you enjoy reading my interpretation of Charity Burbage. Also, I still can't seem to find good titles...

THC - Round 7 - Slytherin

Class: Potions

Category: Standard

Prompt: [occupation] professor

WC: 1,483

Betas: Aya Diefair, VanillaAshes

~~ Miss Charity Burbage ~~

"All right, please sit down," Charity instructed, walking into her classroom. Her four students took their seats and looked up at her expectantly as she pulled out her notes. "Can anyone tell me what we did last lesson?"

Anita, a brown-haired girl from Ravenclaw, raised her hand. "Margaret Thatcher, I think, Miss."

"Thank you, Anita."

Charity looked down at her notes and picked up from where they'd left off; Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She briefly scanned her notes to get an idea of what she was supposed to be covering today, but quickly put them back down. She saw the notes simply as guidelines, and she was pretty sure that in ten minutes they would get sidetracked. This was because she loved taking the time to answer all of the students' questions. In her opinion, it was the best way to increase their overall understanding.

There were only four taking NEWT level Muggle Studies this year, which was a real shame, because the curriculum was so much more interesting during those final years. Politics, literature, science, and even economics.

The first couple of years were spent learning the basics on all things Muggles, like money and using the underground, which was great, but not as interesting as it got during those later NEWT years. Unfortunately, the students saw it as an 'easy' subject, and only took it until their OWLs and then dropped the subjects before their NEWTs. She had no Sixth Years this year.

Charity loved her job; she adored teaching.

And, she also loved all things Muggle. Her fondest memories were those of rainy Sunday afternoons spent at her Muggle nan's house. There had been waffles and electric lamps, and sometimes, if she had been particularly well-behaved, Nan would turn on the television, and she'd watch a couple of cartoons.

Her mother was a muggle-born, and her father only a second generation wizard. There had always been a few Muggle things around the house that you couldn't find in most magical households, but her parents loved being wizards so much, they tended to forget their Muggle side entirely.

But not Charity. Muggle Arts and Music had been her favourite subjects at school, even if they were only optional, and it had seemed only natural for her to pursue her education in Muggle Studies after leaving Hogwarts.

Charity had come back to Hogwarts full of eagerness and impatience to share her love with the students. She strived for Muggle Arts and Music to be set up again, as the professor before her had been too tired to keep them going.

At first, it had been absolutely amazing, and so much fun. She loved the way she could captivate the children with only a simple demonstration of electricity, the way they would hang back at the end of class to ask there extra questions, the way she would sometimes get gifts at the end of the year for the little Third Years—one of her biggest regrets was that it was only an elective, and that she had no firsties. She would have loved that, too.

The only thing she didn't like was correcting the essays, but she didn't think anyone liked it.

But as the years went by, things started to get less and less… fun. Charity was still just as eager, but the students weren't. The number of students in her class were slowly diminishing. Once upon a time, she'd been disappointed by the fact most of her students just wanted the easy O, but now, she would do anything to have them back.

Liking Muggles was growing less and less popular by the minute.

Sometimes, she worried that she would be out of job soon if all of the students continued to ignore her subject.

See, Charity lived a relatively simple life. She liked teaching, Muggles, and trashy romance novels—though she denied it. She had a small crush on Severus Snape—he looked a lot like those vampires from her novels, though perhaps with worse hair—but never talked to him. During the holidays, she'd go back to her mum's house and prepare the next school year.

The only thing she knew how to do was teach, and if she lost her job, she wasn't sure what she was going to do…

But no, now was not the time to worry about things like that. She had her darling Seventh Years—the one she had seen grow up and learn to love Muggles like her—to teach. She continued her lecture, answering the questions, getting slightly carried away as usual, and going into far too much detail as to why Thatcher was nicknamed 'the Iron Lady'.

When the lesson finished, Leo, Anita and Elke left, but Sophia, her only Gryffindor hung back. Slytherins had cleared out from her classroom a long time ago, and even Gryffindor wasn't taking her class anymore.

"Miss Burbage?" she asked.

Charity put her notes and looked at the girl. "What can I do for you, Sophia?"

"Is Muggle Music still on this afternoon?" Sophia paused to move her blonde-hair out of her face. "You look a little pale, Miss."

Charity smiled at her student's concern. "Of course, it's still on, don't worry."

"Really, Miss. Don't worry, you can take a break. I've already talked with Rafa and Kaitlyn and they said they didn't mind if it was cancelled."

Kaitlyn was her only student in Muggle Art, and Rafa and Sophia were the only ones to still take Muggle Music. She'd been forced to group them all together due to lack of people. It was more a club than anything else, and that truly broke her heart. But still, she always looked forward to this class, so she wasn't just going to cancel it.

"No, no. I've been looking forward to seeing your project," she reassured the girl.

"All right, see you there!" Sophia exclaimed, the excitement bubbling up in her expression.

Charity smiled as her student rushed out of the classroom. It was lovely to have students who appreciated Muggles. Muggles were wizards' equals, but so few people could see it. She put her notes away and brought out a few essays she needed to correct, before heating up a lukewarm cup of tea.

Then, she headed over to the window, and looked out over the Hogwarts grounds, a place she'd come to call home, and couldn't bear to think about leaving. But no, they wouldn't stop Muggle Studies. Charity knew Albus would never let that happen, he knew how important it was.

She still couldn't help the feeling of despair that pooled in her when she thought about it for too long.

But it was then that Charity noticed that the landscape outside was not as it should be. They were in May, it was supposed to be a beautiful sunny day. However, the skies were dark as if there was about to be a massive thunderstorm.

Pathetic fallacy, she thought with a great smile. But no, that was absurd. Her life wasn't a trashy romance novel, this didn't happen to her. And, something about these clouds made her feel nervous, scared almost.

But then Charity saw that the clouds weren't just clouds.

A Death Mark.

Horror and pure terror filled her. A Dark Mark, at Hogwarts? This didn't mean anything good. And then she saw the flashes, the students. It was as if it was the end of the world.

"Charity…" Minerva looked up at her with worried eyes.

"But Minerva, I want to come back next year, I need to!" Charity begged.

The students had been gone for a couple of days, and now the teachers were leaving, too. However, it seemed like it would be the last time Charity was leaving Hogwarts. Minerva thought it was best if she left, but Charity wanted to stay. She knew it was dangerous, but even in these terrible times, especially in these terrible times, people needed to be reminded of Muggle and wizard equality!

"Promise me you'll think about it," Minerva pleaded.

It wasn't supposed to be mean, but Charity was hurt nonetheless.

"I—I'll try," she finally agreed.

Minerva smiled. "Thank you, Charity. And have a nice holiday."

"You too, Minerva, you too."

Charity picked up her bags and walked away from Hogwarts. Her heart was broken. There was no more Albus, no more students, no more love, it seemed. Even Snape had betrayed her, which was just ridiculous because they'd never had a relationship, or even talked. But they both were professors, that had to mean something!

But still, Charity walked away hoping she would come back next year. Meanwhile, she knew it was time for her to do something brave. Maybe she couldn't teach during the holidays, maybe she wouldn't teach next year, but there were still things to be done.

Now, where could she contact someone from the Quibbler?