harleyscars Chapter 554 The New Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor
Chapter 554 The New Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor
Chapter 554 The New Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor
Before most people had even finished breakfast, the fifth-grade students had already stood up and were getting ready to go to class.
After Christmas, the 0.WL exam seemed to be just around the corner, and the pressure from the professors was almost suffocating them.
Except for Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Sirius Black was originally supposed to be the professor for this course, but he was still in St. Mungo's and obviously couldn't make it back to teach the students.
According to students from other years who have already taken the course, Professor Sinesta, who teaches astronomy, was covering for the class.
But as a substitute teacher, I mostly had them read the book and memorize the knowledge points, which felt similar to what happened to Quirrell in first grade.
The fifth-year students in Gryffindor have Defense Against the Dark Arts class this morning.
After breakfast, Xilun and the others headed towards the classroom, discussing the impact of the article in the Daily Prophet along the way.
Ron believed this was a signal to start a war.
But in Sylvanas’s view, Fudge was unlikely to want to go to war with Dumbledore directly; he wasn’t good at that.
He probably wanted to get rid of Dumbledore's influence as soon as possible, but he lacked patience, or rather, he lacked a crucial figure.
Without Rita Skeeter, Fudge's move backfired, and also brought down the Daily Prophet.
Siren thought with a hint of schadenfreude that, given Dumbledore's influence, perhaps by now, a roar letter had already been delivered to the minister's office.
"Why can't Fudge see the situation clearly?" Harry said, somewhat frustrated. "If he could cooperate with Dumbledore and have the Aurors and the Order of the Phoenix fight the Death Eaters together, maybe Sirius wouldn't have been attacked."
"That's true, but—" Ron sighed, then changed the subject, "Speaking of Sirius, are we going to just be reading books for our Defense Against the Dark Arts classes from now on? Will we really pass the 0.WL exam like that?"
"It should be fine," Siron thought for a moment and said, "I've heard that the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam at Hogwarts focuses more on practical application, with other aspects accounting for a smaller percentage of the score. As long as you can cast the corresponding spell, passing shouldn't be a problem."
"Who told you that?" Hermione asked.
"Fred and George," Celen said.
"Then you've definitely been scammed," Ron said quietly, as if recalling some unpleasant experience. "They often scam me like this."
"But it's definitely beneficial to know more spells."
"That's true, but we don't even have professors. We can't just learn it all by ourselves."
"Why can't we learn it ourselves?" Hermione said thoughtfully, squinting her eyes. "Why can't we find a professor ourselves?"
The group arrived at the familiar Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, pushed open the door, and went inside.
Soon, the school bell rang, accompanied by a series of slightly hurried footsteps.
A few seconds later, a witch pushed open the classroom door from the outside.
But to everyone's surprise, the person who entered was not Professor Sinesta, as everyone had previously mentioned, but a witch that many people had never seen before.
She was short and fat, looking like a pale, large toad, with large, round, slightly bulging eyes. Her broad, loose-skinned face almost completely covered her neck.
What's even more unsettling is that she's wearing a pink cardigan that's completely out of character for her age, and a small black velvet bow on her head that even a second-year witch wouldn't like.
"It's her!" Harry frowned. "I remember she was one of Fudge's people, so why is she at Hogwarts?"
"What was her name again?" Ron asked.
"I forgot."
"Dolores Umbridge," Celen said.
He should have realized this long ago. After Fudge and Dumbledore fell out, he certainly wouldn't just cause trouble in the newspapers; Hogwarts was his main objective.
And coincidentally, Sirius was unable to continue his classes at that time, so the vacant position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor became his opportunity.
Only Umbridge —
The thought of taking her class made Xilen feel uneasy. Especially when she spoke, that deliberately affected, high-pitched, childlike voice was more jarring than the music of ghosts.
Xilun was worried that one day he would lose his temper and beat her up — well, he might as well prepare some compound decoctions in advance.
"What's she doing here?" Harry asked, frowning.
But before anyone could answer, Professor McGonagall, who had come in with them, told them the answer.
"Due to unforeseen circumstances, Professor Black is no longer able to continue teaching, and Professor Umbridge will take over his position as your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
"Good morning, everyone." It was that same high-pitched, thin voice.
"Thank you, Minerva, but I think you should be clearer. I am the Minister of Magic's appointed new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts."
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips tightly, her expression not particularly happy.
But Umbridge seemed completely oblivious to her expression and cleared his throat in a mocking manner.
"I think many of you don't know why the Ministry of Magic appointed me to this position."
No one responded, only a murmur of discussion rippled through the room.
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips even tighter.
Umbridge cleared his throat again.
"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young wizards to be a very important matter —"
What followed was a long, drawn-out speech. At first, some students listened attentively to what she was saying, but after ten minutes, the number of people listening to her had dwindled to less than half.
Ten minutes later, Hermione was all alone.
Professor McGonagall's dark eyebrows were tightly furrowed, her impatience almost written all over her face. She tried several times to interrupt Umbridge's long speech, but was ignored each time.
"We should distinguish what needs to be maintained, what should be improved, and what should be prohibited."
It took Umbridge almost half a class period before she finally finished speaking.
A sparse clapping sound came from below, most of the people clapping casually for Professor McGonagall's sake.
However, Professor McGonagall didn't seem to want to applaud. After saying a few perfunctory words, she immediately turned and left the classroom.
As for Umbridge...
She spent half a class period talking about things no one could understand, and then another half a class period teaching them how to greet each other and take attendance.
When the bell rang to signal the end of get out of class, everyone was surprised to find that they hadn't even opened their books for the entire lesson.
"Oh, you should say, 'Good morning, Professor Umbridge'—" Ron said in a high-pitched voice as he walked out of the classroom. "Look at what she said. I have a feeling that this Umbridge is probably the worst Defense Against the Dark Arts professor we've ever encountered."