days at Hogwarts

Chapter 584: Rumors Gradually Going Wrong
Madam Pomfrey completed the basic treatment that the school infirmary could provide. The effects of potions and healing magic made Umbridge's pale and terrifying face look a little more rosy, and the chaotic and complex magic also calmed down bit by bit. She recorded the medication and treatment measures, stood by the bed, and listened to the arrangements of Headmaster Dumbledore.

Professor Flitwick, who was only half a head taller than the bed, stood on tiptoe and peered at Umbridge, observing the remaining traces of the Cruciatus Curse on his body, and occasionally exclaimed in admiration.

Snape listened to Pomfrey's explanation, leaned against the wall expressionlessly, and glanced in the direction of the school infirmary door.

Dumbledore's voice echoed in the ward: "Poppy, take good care of Professor Umbridge. I will bring people from the Ministry of Magic here later... Filius, Severus, you go back first."

"Pay attention to the time, Albus. If no one comes before 11 o'clock, I will give her another drop of the Living Hell Potion..." Madam Pomfrey said in a crisp voice. As the only resident doctor at Hogwarts, her words were more authoritative than Dumbledore's in this room. "Make sure she gets a good night's sleep."

"see you later……"

The people outside the door quickly exchanged glances, retracted their heads tacitly, and walked towards the stairs quietly.

"Loren, what did your gesture just now mean?" Hermione looked back and asked in a low voice.

"I've mentioned before that the brain is the most complex part of the human body, and the soul is the most mysterious realm of magic..." Loren shrugged and explained, "Umbridge's injuries are very complicated. She once felt pain deep in her soul. In order to escape this pain, she subconsciously closed off part of her sanity."

Harry reacted quickly, his eyes widened, and after taking a deep breath he asked in a low voice: "Just like Neville's parents?"

"Not exactly the same..." Loren said carefully, "The Cruciatus Curse cast on her was more sophisticated, and her injuries were less severe, so she is just a little nervous, hysterical, has poor self-control, has impulsive destructive behavior, lacks judgment of her own behavior, does things without considering the consequences, and has slightly out of control of her words and actions..."

Ron thought for a moment, scratched his head with some dissatisfaction: "So is there a chance that she can recover?"

"I said, Umbridge's injuries are complicated..." Loren shook his head slowly, "Her soul was twisted by the Cruciatus Curse, and her brain was messed up by the Oblivion Curse. Forgetting what happened recently is an early sign, followed by insanity, damage to other mental functions, problems using and understanding language, and problems performing daily tasks..."

Harry and Ron looked at each other. "Gilderoy Lockhart!?"

Hermione walked forward holding Loren's arm, frowning as if she was thinking about something. When they were almost at the corner, she suddenly spoke softly, "Is there really no cure?"

Loren nodded. "If you want to repair a chaotic brain and a broken soul, the key is to go deep into the patient's subconscious. The patient must completely trust the person who enters his or her brain, and the actor must be prepared to sacrifice himself or herself... Neville's parents are the ones who risked their lives and the risk of being tortured by the Cruciatus Curse to the point of losing their minds, and they resolutely went from the bottom of their consciousness..."

The voices of the little wizards gradually drifted away until they were silent.

Snape saw the tails of several flying wizard robes disappearing behind the corner, and retracted his gaze, glancing thoughtfully at the silver-haired headmaster next to him. Filius stayed in the ward to watch for a while, he was studying the control techniques of the Cruciatus Curse.

Dumbledore's azure eyes reflected the torches on both sides of the corridor. He did not speak for a while, but just thought silently for a long time, and then slowly said: "Umbridge's father is a wizard, Mrs. Umbridge is a Muggle, and the couple has a Squib son. Before she entered school, I had a conversation with Mr. Alford Umbridge..."

"He is a technical staff member of the Magic Maintenance Department. He has not been promoted for various reasons. Her mother, Ellen, um...her behavior is unconventional and her words are straightforward..."

Snape listened in silence, silently changing the next sentence to something frivolous and rude.

It was not surprising that Dumbledore knew these long-lost secrets; the headmaster had lived so long that his memory was only one of his few remaining assets.

"This eldest daughter showed her magical talent soon after she was born. However, compared with her magic power, her shrewd mind was more brilliant. However, her intelligence was used in the wrong place... After entering Slytherin, she realized that other classmates had excellent family backgrounds and origins. She began to despise her parents and thought that Mr. Umbridge was a person who lacked ambition..."

"Later, his younger brother was born. This child did not have the ability of a wizard, so a rift arose in the whole family. When Dolores was fifteen years old, the family was split into two parts. The father and daughter lived together in the magical world, while the mother and son hid in the Muggle society... From then on, Dolores began to pretend to be a pure-blooded wizard in front of everyone she met, and she never saw her brother and mother again..."

Dumbledore spoke slowly, with restrained words and precise meanings: "She had excellent grades in school, and immediately joined the Ministry of Magic after graduation as a low-level intern in the Abuse of Magic Office. Although her relationship with her colleagues was not very good, and she often had conflicts with them, she was lucky that she worked hard and was soon promoted..."

"The information about the Death Eaters is a little vague, and also a little different from what you said... It is said that after Umbridge entered the Ministry of Magic, she flattered her superiors and bullied her subordinates. She always used tricks to take credit for her colleagues' achievements, framed them and spread rumors along the way, quickly defeated her competitors at the same time, and was promoted all the way to become the youngest Senior Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Magic..."

Snape's tone remained cold, but a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth. "So no one is willing to sacrifice for her, and no one will enter her consciousness to sort out the dirty and filthy cerebrospinal fluid for her and piece together that disgusting soul."

Dumbledore did not go into the topic any further. After walking through a corridor, he peeked at the faint stars outside through the diamond-shaped glass and said softly, "Severus, although I don't know what happened, I am very happy to see you now. Your shining soul is still intact..."

"I don't know if there is any magic that can see the soul at present..." Snape said indifferently, "What you should be concerned about is Voldemort. He dug out the defense mode of Azkaban from Deputy Minister Umbridge's mind, and he will soon organize a prison break to release a large number of imprisoned Death Eaters."

"I'll pass that on to Minister Cornelius Fudge."

"..."

Snape glanced at him, flicked his sleeves, and hurried down the stairs.

Dumbledore smiled and walked upstairs.

……

It's Thursday afternoon, no classes today.

Loren walked down the marble spiral staircase and saw that the bright and clean bulletin board below was already filled with notices from the beginning of the school year: a list of second-hand spell books for auction, the school rules regularly updated by Mr. Filch, the schedule of Quidditch team matches for the new school year, a note for exchanging Chocolate Frog cards, a notice for recruiting new members for the Gobstone Club, a new advertisement for the Weasley brothers looking for someone to do experiments, and a lost and found notice.

The two notices in the middle were the most eye-catching. One was a countdown to the weekend in Hogsmeade Village, with two days left. The other was a notice about Professor Umbridge's suspension of classes due to illness. It briefly introduced the relevant matters in large bold letters, with the Hogwarts seal printed underneath:
"In response to the incident in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class on the afternoon of September 9th, in which Professor Dolores Umbridge lost control of her words and actions and was suspected of threatening and intimidating students, the school and the Ministry of Magic attached great importance to it and immediately set up a special working group to conduct an overnight investigation. According to the investigation, Dolores Umbridge was attacked while she was out alone on the weekend to investigate dark wizards. She was severely tortured by the Cruciatus Curse and suffered memory damage due to the powerful Oblivion Curse.

After consultation between the investigation team and Hogwarts, it was decided to temporarily remove Dolores Umbridge from her position as Senior Minister and Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position, and transfer her to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries for recuperation and treatment... The Ministry of Magic and the Hogwarts Board of Directors attach great importance to the safety of students and will strictly investigate the dark wizards and related personnel involved..."

Loren automatically replaced the long paragraphs of nonsense with "There is no result in the relevant investigation yet" and looked away.

It has been almost a week since the incident, and the young wizards have been having a heated discussion about the truth. The speculation on Tuesday was still normal, with dark wizards, Death Eaters, and Voldemort mentioned repeatedly as high-frequency words. On Wednesday and Thursday, things gradually became outrageous -

For example, Umbridge accidentally took a new drug that George and Fred had not yet developed, which damaged her brain...

The twin brothers had to prove their innocence by eating all kinds of candies for skipping classes in front of all their classmates in the auditorium. Their noses were bleeding and snot was flying, and their bodies were shaking and they were rolling on the ground. This miserable sight successfully confirmed the rumors. In the end, they were punished and had to ask the principal for help. They posted new volunteer recruitment advertisements in the name approved by the principal.

For example, Umbridge was not fooled by a dark wizard, but was a new scheme by the Ministry of Magic to frame Dumbledore for taking control of Hogwarts. Umbridge was actually hiding somewhere watching the show...

For example, Umbridge was not stupid. She just angered Professor Snape and drank the truth serum unknowingly. She was not talking nonsense in class, but was speaking from her heart. The investigation by the Ministry of Magic was just a cover-up...

In addition, there are some niche rumors that are not widely spread because they are too outrageous.

At this time, the fourth-year Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Divination classes were going on happily. Professor Trelawney was walking around in the North Tower classroom. His thin and depressed face in the past few weeks was now completely different. His eyebrows kept jumping when he spoke, and his eyes behind the black-framed glasses were shining. He looked radiant.

"I told her two weeks ago. Yes, many people witnessed the prophecy. I said she would encounter something very dangerous and dark... Merlin, she should have believed me!"

The young wizards sitting in their seats were drowsy from the spice smoke. Only a few students listened carefully. Luna from Ravenclaw poked her friend at the table in front of her: "Ginny, Ginny, do you think Professor Trelawney can really predict the future?"

Ginny shook her groggy head, turned around and looked at her blankly: "What? get out of class is over? Oh, then I have to go to the Quidditch field as soon as possible, Harry is still waiting for me!"

"..."

On the other side, Loren had left the hallway, walked down the stairs, and found the little witch reading a newspaper next to a bush of wilted wild roses.

"This is unbelievable! Those people in the Ministry of Magic actually said that Umbridge was just temporarily insane. Although she can't serve as Deputy Minister again, she will be discharged from the hospital soon and continue teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts!" Hermione was indignant and flipped the Daily Prophet loudly.

"Don't worry, Dumbledore will definitely not agree. Even if you are not confident in the headmaster, there is still Professor McGonagall behind you." Loren simply flipped through the newspaper and did not see any nutritious news. Even the rumors in it were not as interesting as "The Quibbler". He folded it up with a lack of interest.

Hermione sighed, very sad: "What should I do with the Defense Against the Dark Arts course? The exam will be in 32 weeks..."

"..." Loren's eyes twitched slightly, "Just study on your own. Anyway, Umbridge only asked us to read Magical Defense Theory in class. It doesn't matter whether she's there or not."

Hermione simply couldn't listen, and she kept muttering to herself, "Having a professor is a completely different concept than not having one", "OWLs are the most important exams in a student's life", "It will be meaningless if you can't get a full certificate", "Five years of hard work have all gone to waste", and other weird things...

Loren was not in a hurry. The little witch was under his own Imperius Curse and might not wake up for a while. So he silently took her hand and walked slowly towards the Black Lake.

Hogwarts has completely entered autumn. The temperature has dropped and the weather is no longer sunny. The gray clouds are like a thick quilt, covering the sky especially densely. This has caused Professor Sinistra, who teaches the astronomy class, to be a little irritable recently and the homework has doubled.

Loren glanced at the dazed little witch and interrupted her muttering softly, "How was the ancient rune translation homework I corrected for you last time? What grade did Professor Babel give you?"

"Oh, excellent." Hermione answered subconsciously.

"Look, Hermione, I did an excellent homework for you, shouldn't you also do an excellent homework for me in return?"

"Um……"

"How about astronomy?"

"A paper on Jupiter's satellites?" Hermione didn't notice anything wrong and immediately agreed, "Give me your finished paper and I can help you revise it."

"Then I just need to copy it once last time?"

Hermione vaguely felt that something was wrong, and after a moment's hesitation, she nodded.

Loren happily handed over a blank piece of parchment and solemnly reminded him, "Remember to revise it and give it to me as soon as possible!"

"..."

Hermione's eyebrows slowly knitted together and she looked up at him, her eyes containing three parts of silence, three parts of confusion, three parts of incredible shock, and one part of the compliment "You're worthy of me."

(End of this chapter)