Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 422 Umbridge's Dark Magic Lesson

The first class of the fifth grade was Dolores Umbridge's Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

But clearly, no one—

Even just one person, looking forward to this course as always.

Because everyone, all the Hogwarts teachers and students who attended Tyella's funeral, remembered Tyella's prophecy—

"A pink toad will appear at Hogwarts at the start of next semester..."

Clearly, this pink toad is Professor Dolores Umbridge.

As for the second half of the prophecy—

"She will send out her own pink kitten spies to monitor every corner of Hogwarts, everyone be careful, watch out for the murals."

What means.

This is a major topic of discussion for every Hogwarts student before their Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

After all the students were seated in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Professor Umbridge slowly emerged from behind the podium, from the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office.

She was wearing the same fluffy pink cardigan she had worn the night before, and the black velvet bow on her head.

Harry once again vividly and strongly imagined a large fly foolishly landing on an even larger pink toad.

When Dolores Umbridge appeared, the whole class suddenly fell silent, and the classroom became completely quiet.

Thanks to Tierra's prophecy, most students didn't have much affection for Professor Umbridge from the beginning.

"Good morning, students!" Professor Umbridge said with a smile after the class quieted down, using her usual contrived girlish voice.

"Good morning..." a few students mumbled in response.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk!" Professor Umbridge said sternly. "This won't do, will it? It's early morning, and you're all so listless. I want you to answer like this: 'Good morning, Professor Umbridge.' Okay, please do it again. Good morning, students!"

"Good morning, Professor Umbridge," they replied in unison.

“That’s right,” Professor Umbridge said in a sweet, coquettish voice. “It’s not too difficult, is it? Please put away your wand and take out your quill.”

Many students exchanged frustrated glances; following the command "put away your wands" were never classes they found interesting.

Harry stuffed his wand into his bag and took out his quill, ink, and parchment.

Professor Umbridge opened her handbag, pulled out an unusually short wand, and slammed it on the blackboard. Immediately, two lines of text appeared on the blackboard:
Defense Against the Dark Arts Returns to Basic Principles

"Students, the teaching of this course has been discontinuous and unsystematic, hasn't it?" Professor Umbridge turned to face the class, crossed her hands, and placed them neatly in front of her chest. She then said, "The constant changes in teachers, many of whom do not seem to follow the curriculum standards approved by the Ministry of Magic, have unfortunately caused you to fall far short of the level that you should be at in OWLs."

"However, you will be pleased to know that these problems are about to be corrected. This year, we will be studying a carefully designed, theory-centered Defense Against Magic course approved by the Ministry of Magic. Please write these words down."

She knocked on the blackboard again, and the two lines of words disappeared and were replaced by "Course Objectives."

1. Understand the basic principles of Defense Against Magic.

2. Learn to identify situations where it is legal to use Defense Against Magic.

3. Evaluate magical defense in the context of actual use.

The only sound in the classroom was the scratching of quills on parchment. Two or three minutes later, after each student had copied down Professor Umbridge's three course objectives, she asked, "Does every student have a copy of Wilbert Slinka's 'Defense Against Magic'?"

A murmur of affirmation rang out in the classroom.

“I think we need to do it again,” Professor Umbridge said. “When I ask you a question, I expect you to answer ‘Yes, Professor Umbridge,’ or ‘No, Professor Umbridge.’ Again: Does every student have a copy of Wilbert Slinka’s *Defense Against Magic*?”

“Yes, Professor Umbridge,” the whole class answered loudly.

“Very good,” Professor Umbridge said. “I want you to turn to page five and read ‘Chapter One, Introduction to Basic Principles.’ Don’t whisper to each other while you read.”

Professor Umbridge left the blackboard and sat down in a chair behind the podium, staring at everyone with his two droopy, toad-like eyes.

Harry turned to page five of his book, *Defense Against Magic*, ready to begin reading.

But to Harry's surprise, Hermione, who always loved to read carefully, didn't read as meticulously as usual. Instead, she quickly scanned the entire book with her finger, as if counting pages, and then—

Harry swore he had never seen such an ugly expression on Hermione's face in all the time he had known her—

Even before last year's Christmas ball, when Tyrell invited Luna to the ball in front of Hermione, Hermione's expression wasn't as unpleasant as it is now.

Then Hermione raised her hand high, her eyes fixed on Professor Umbridge. Harry remembered that Hermione had never failed to read when asked by her teachers, or been able to resist the temptation to open any book that came her way.

Harry looked at her questioningly, but she simply shook her head slightly, indicating that she did not want to answer the question at the moment, and then continued to stare at Professor Umbridge, whose gaze was equally determined in the completely opposite direction.

A few minutes later, Harry wasn't the only one watching Hermione.

The chapter the teacher had assigned them to read was far too tedious and boring. More and more students preferred to watch how Hermione subtly drew Professor Umbridge's attention rather than struggle through the "Introductory Principles" book.

Later, more than half the class was staring at Hermione instead of their textbooks, and Professor Umbridge seemed to think she could no longer ignore the situation.

“My dear, do you have any questions about this chapter?” Professor Umbridge asked feigned concern, as if he had just noticed her.

“No, it’s not about this chapter,” Hermione said firmly, her eyes holding a dark, unreadable emotion.

“Oh, we’re reading now,” Professor Umbridge said, revealing his small, sharp teeth. “If you have any other questions, we can talk about them after class.”

“I have a question about your course objectives,” Hermione said firmly, seemingly unmoved by the suggestion.

Professor Umbridge raised his eyebrows.

"What's your name?"

“Hermione Granger,” Hermione said.

“Well, Miss Granger, I think the course objectives are written very clearly, as long as you read them carefully from beginning to end,” Professor Umbridge said in an unwaveringly sweet tone.

Harry sensed a spark flying where Hermione and Umbridge's eyes met.

“But I don’t think so,” Hermione said bluntly. “There’s not a single word about using defensive spells.”

After a brief silence, many students in the class turned their heads to carefully look at the three course objectives still written on the blackboard.

“Use defensive spells?” Professor Umbridge chuckled softly, repeating, “Well, I can’t imagine a situation in my class where you would need to use defensive spells, Miss Granger. You don’t really think you’ll be attacked during class, do you?”

“The Ministry of Magic believes that mastering pure theoretical knowledge is enough for you to pass all the exams,” Umbridge continued. “After all, that’s the purpose of the school.”

"But how can we fight off external threats with just theoretical knowledge?" Hermione continued to press.

“There’s no threat outside, dear,” Umbridge said with a forced smile, taking a step closer to Hermione. “Who do you think would attack a child like you?”

"Voldemort!" Hermione stood up, her voice cold and sharp, "Voldemort is back! We must—"

"Enough!" Umbridge suddenly roared, her face no longer displaying that fake, smiling expression, but rather an extremely ferocious one.

Ron gasped, Lavender Brown let out a low scream, Neville nearly fell off his bench, and the other students either secretly glanced at Hermione or looked at Umbridge.

Harry was completely caught off guard—

He had never seen Hermione argue with a teacher like that in any class, not even in her third-year Divination class, where Hermione had merely knocked the crystal ball over and pulled Tyella away.

The confrontation between Hermione and Umbridge happened so fast it was almost instantaneous.

Harry didn't realize what was happening until Hermione called out the name.

"Gryffindor deducts ten points, Miss Granger!"

The classroom was silent. Everyone was either staring at Umbridge or Hermione.

“Alright, let me get a few things sorted out,” Umbridge said. “Someone told you that a dark wizard has risen from the dead—”

"He's not dead!" Harry stood up angrily and interrupted rudely, "But yes, he's back!"

“Miss Granger has already cost your house ten points. Don’t make things worse, Mr. Potter!” Professor Umbridge said in one breath, without even looking at Harry. “As I just said, some people have told you that a dark wizard has resurfaced. That’s nonsense.”

“This is no nonsense!” Harry retorted aggressively. “I saw him, I fought him! And Professor Dumbledore presented ample evidence at the end of last term that it was Tyrell—”

“Solitary confinement, Mr. Potter! And Miss Granger!” Umbridge interrupted rudely. “This afternoon, at five o’clock! In my office, I’ll say it again, this is nonsense. The Ministry guarantees you will not encounter any danger from dark wizards. If you still have doubts, please come to me after class. If anyone tries to scare you with stories of dark wizards coming back to life, I’d love to hear them. I’m ready to help you. I’m your friend. Now, please continue reading page five, ‘Introduction to Basic Principles’.”

I'm so sorry it's so late today. Thank you for making up for it with tomorrow's chapter.

Today's chapter maintains the original plot development, because no matter how conclusive the evidence Dumbledore presents, the Ministry of Magic, out of consideration for maintaining its rule and not wanting to take responsibility, will do its best to cover up the truth. Therefore, the Ministry of Magic may turn a blind eye to Dumbledore's educational reforms, but it will absolutely not allow any talk of Voldemort's resurrection.

Hermione, influenced by Tyrell, is more radical than in the original story, which is why she is punished along with Harry.

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(End of this chapter)