Chapter - 70 : New Beginnings and Old Tensions

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"Well," Draco said, leaning back in his seat, "I never thought I'd see the day when a Weasley managed to come off as more pompous and full of shite than my father but," he gestured at the letter, "there it is."

Not even Ron could hold back a snort at that comment.

"He spoke an awful lot about some article in tomorrow's Prophet, was it?" Hermione asked.

"Today's Prophet," Ron said. "He sent that letter to me last night."

"I suppose we'll find out what he was talking about soon enough," the brunette said. "I subscribed to the Daily Prophet, it should be here any minute."

The group didn't have to wait long before the usual flock of owls flew into the hall, depositing letters, parcels, and newspapers all around the hall. When a large barn owl dropped a newspaper in front of Hermione, she eagerly snatched it up and flattened it on the table.

"Oh, well that picture's horrible enough to put me off my breakfast," Blaise muttered.

Plastered across the front page of the popular newspaper was a picture of Umbridge, decked out in her usual pink cardigan and girly black bow, she was smiling that sickening sweet smile of hers and waving at the camera.

"Ministry Seeks Educational Reform," Hermione read out loud. "Dolores Umbridge Appointed First Ever High Inquisitor."

"That doesn't sound good," Neville said moving closer. "What does it mean?"

Hermione's eyes darted across the paper, her expression growing more and more disgusted with every word she read. Finally she threw down the paper, practically spitting in anger. "The High Inquisitor," she snarled, "is the closest thing the Ministry can get to making Umbridge headmistress, without actually doing it. She'll have an unprecedented amount of power, almost as much as Dumbledore, she'll have the power to inspect the other teachers and, if she finds them lacking, dismiss them!"

Blaise looked horrified. "This is going too far!" he exclaimed. "The Ministry is going mad in their attempts to discredit Dumbledore. Slandering him in newspapers and taking away his fancy titles is one thing, but interfering in Hogwarts? This is our education we're talking about."

"Fudge made his choice last spring," Harry said, calmly buttering a crumpet. "And now he's doing everything in his power to make sure that his decision is the right decision."

"But it's not!"

The green eyed Slytherin shrugged "And he'll find that out sooner or later. There's absolutely nothing we can do about it except for grin and bear Umbridge's loathsomely boring classes, and learn all that she isn't teaching by our own study. And not just for the O.W.L.s, but for the real world, when Voldemort comes back, we'll need to be ready."

Ron sighed mournfully "I can already tell this is going to be a wonderful year."

After her appointment as High Inquisitor, Umbridge wasted absolutely no time in proving just how bad of an idea the appointment had been, namely through her classroom inspections. The first professor to be inspected was Trelawney, and, from what Ron and Neville, who had been present during the investigation, related, it hadn't gone too well. Trelawney was clearly nervous and stumbled over any questions Umbridge shot her way, and when she was asked by her colleague to make a prediction for her, the Divination teacher made a complete fool of herself.

Flitwick's inspection that same day went much better despite Umbridge's poorly concealed disdain toward the part-goblin professor. The High Inquisitor had been wildly pleased with Professor Grubbly-Plank's (who had been filling in for Hagrid during the man's mysterious absence) performance. But the most amusing of all the inspections so far, had been McGonagall's, the woman refused to be cowed by Umbridge's shiny new title and treated the woman with icy disdain. It no doubt lost her important points in Umbridge's books, but it was worth it to see the toad-like woman so flustered.

"So I finally finished plotting out the basic outline of our lesson plan, for our individual study," Hermione said happily one Saturday afternoon as she, Ron, Neville, Draco, Blaise, and Harry sat by the lake, enjoying the warm weather before it took a turn for the worse. "I was thinking we should start off with the basics, you know, review everything we did or should have learned from previous years, and then move on to this year's spell curriculum. I was also talking to the older students and most of them have agreed that the O.W.L.s put a lot of focus on protective and counter-jinxes, so we'll definitely have to work on those." The excitable brunette pulled out a worn notebook and thumbed through the pages. "I've created a list of all the spells we'll need to learn, as well as some good research books, and essay topics."

"Wait, essay topics?" Ron interjected. "What do we need those for?"

"This may come as a surprise to you, Ron, but essays usually come with a topic."

"Let me rephrase my question. Why do we need essays?"

"Essays help you get a better grasp on the spells we learn, as well as the theory behind them. We'll need to write at least a few if we want to actually learn anything."

"Oh come off it, Hermione," Ron exclaimed. "It's O.W.L. year we already have enough homework as it is, we'll find some other way to learn theory and all that rubbish."

"You're being ridiculous, Ron! A few extra essays wouldn't hurt. Back me up here, Harry!"

"Um…" Draco, Blaise, and Neville collapsed into fits of laughter as Harry struggled to find something to say that would pacify both Ron and Hermione. "Well the way I see it…we should…er…"

Luckily, he was saved from his harrowing dilemma by the very welcome arrival of Ginny and Luna. "Hi, you guys," Ginny said, coming to a nervous stop before the group, she and Luna received a chorus of greeting in response.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?" Harry asked, gesturing for the two girls to join them on the ground.

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Loving the story so far? There's a whole world of magic and mystery waiting for you with over 85+ chapters still to come! By supporting my Patreon.

You not only get early access to new chapters but also exclusive content, behind-the-scenes insights, and special perks just for fans like you.

Join us on this enchanted journey and help shape the future of the tale. Your support makes all the difference—discover more and become part of the adventure today!

http//patreon.com/Kun_kanshi

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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