Binns was old.
Like very old.
He saw many wizard come and go in his classroom and he will see many more for he will not depart so easily.
And binns know what they say about him , about history.
They came to hogwarts to learn magic and fly and distort the fabric of reality to their whim.
Meanwhile , the wizarding world is always repeating itself.
(Who was the Bad house nowaday?He think it's slytherin but he also thought that the current headmaster was a black until the bloody baron told him otherwise, three days ago)
There is always a bad house, there is always dark magic.
But it is never the same.
If they listened, they would know that obliviate used to be dark magic (he wished that it still was)
If they listened they would know that the dark house is the one where the last dark lord came from.
Each house had a dark lord.
Funnily enought, the first one in hogwarts was a muggleborn hufflepuff.
Loyal and hardworking Indeed.
He was loyal to the church. He made so many wizard and witches burn that he caused the hate of wizarding kind for the muggle for at least a hundred year.
He was hardworking. Never stopping , Always searching for more "unnatural" magic to burn at the stake.
He was known as "the inquisitor" and not many remembered him anymore, but binns did (He wasn't there please he was not THAT old , he read it in a book like a normal ravenclawy person).
Most see the hufflepuff as harmless nowaday, the default house of the untalented, but binns knew better.
(His best Friend had been a hufflepuff, surprisingly vicious when she put her mind to it)
The griffindor had a dark lord.
Great and terrible.
Reckless and merciless.
Some may say that he was brave.
He disregarded every rule of Magic in his time.
He wanted to be the best wizard to ever exist, launching himself from challenge to challenge like it was nothing.
Experimenting with the ancient power and blood sacrifice without a second thought.
Some said that he was a fool, but they died.
Some said that he was the next coming of merlin (whose story is a nightmare to decript by the way)
And they became his follower.
It was his bravery that was his undoing in the end.
He ran strait into a trap. An ancient artefact that was a portkey to a dragons nest.
He took down five dragon with him, creating a throne with their bone for him to die upon.
He too was forgotten.
(But binns remembered. And always watched the student who wanted to be great a little too passionetly.)
The ravenclaw had a dark lord (his sweet sweet house with so much knowledge and passion and bed blue like the night sky)
He wanted to know.
He wanted to know how magic worked , so he became the best.
He wanted to know why dark magic was forbidden, so he experimented with it.
He wanted to know what was a soul, so he stole some.
He was brillant.
He was barely human.
He crossbred species until he created monstruosities beyond comprehension.
He was feared.
He was worshiped.
He tried to create a god made of magic and rune and soul and life.
He failed , and he laughed.
History does not say what he became or when he died.
He too was forgotten.
(But binns remembered, and sometimes he will catch himself telling a ravenclaw that some secret are better hidden)
Finally slytherin had a dark lord.
This one binns saw.
Tom riddle who wanted to be immortal.
So ambitious, charming and cunning.
But riddle did not listen.
He thought he was special.
And he took his ambition and cunning and turned it into a weapon.
He barely lived 70 years. For a wizard, that was pathetic.
He split his soul seven times , in his Hope that he could be the one who succeded when so much failed.
But he was ultimately vanquished by a child who knew of his fear and of his split soul.
Tom riddle could have been great.
But his ambition were based on his fear.
He feared death, he feared that he was just another wizard, that he wasn't special.
And binns know that Voldemort will be forgotten.
But sometimes they listened.
There was a boy with black hair and false confidence who asked binns if there ever was a black in griffindor (there was and Sirius would be brillant and brave and every best trait his house have to offer )
There was a muggleborn witch who asked what was the chamber of secret (the terrible dangerous room that children musn't approach , poor myrtle) and then came back to ask more question to wich she already know the answer (Hermione Granger will be brillant and an agent of change for the muggleborn in the wizarding world)
There was a boy who asked him about the deathly hallows and responsability and betrayal and the greater good. (Albus Dumbledore would be molded by war and difficult choices , he would be weak and powerfull and great but alone)
Finally, among the one who listened , there was a boy who was now a man, asking him if he would be remembered.(He wanted the truth , so binns told him that eventually, his existence will be questionned , then denied , he would be forgotten, but it would take time)(he laughed and smiled like he hoped it would be the case)
(Harry Potter was never great at listening, he had many of the signs of a dark lord in the making, but he was anchored by his Friends and his duty, he was brave he was great and he would live a life worth remembering)
(He would die young, still smiling)
Binns watched and remembered, and sometimes he wished more people did.