Chapter 493 Umbridge

In the Potions classroom, all the students sat in their seats in an orderly manner.

"Quiet." Snape said coldly and closed the classroom door.

In fact, he didn't need to order everyone to be quiet. As soon as the class heard the door close, they immediately became silent and all small movements stopped. Generally speaking, Snape's appearance was enough to silence the whole class.

"Before we begin today's class," Snape said as he walked quickly to the podium and looked at them all sternly, "I think it's necessary to remind you that you will be taking an important exam next June, when you will prove how much you have learned about the preparation and use of potions. Although there are indeed a few people in this class who are mentally retarded, I hope that you can all barely 'pass' your OWL exams, otherwise I will be... very angry."

The classroom was silent, and several Gryffindor students shrank their necks unconsciously. This time his eyes fell on Neville's face, and Neville gasped in fear.

Then, the corner of Snape's mouth slightly raised, his eyes fell on Shaylin Malfoy, and his tone subtly slowed down a little: "By the way - congratulations to Shaylin Malfoy on winning the Wizarding Inter-School Potions Championship. Unlike some low-IQ guys, he at least proved that he is still somewhat useful."

He raised his hand slightly, signaling to Xie Ling - the latter just leaned lazily on the back of the chair, with a faint smile on the corner of his lips, as if he was not surprised by the praise at all.

Snape retracted his gaze and added coldly: "Of course, after this year, many of you will no longer be able to take my class. I only select the best students to enter my NEWT Potions class. This means that we will have to say goodbye to some people."

Snape pouted slightly again, his eyes fell on Harry's face. For some reason, Harry stared at him without showing any weakness. This was not a wise move, but now Harry felt inexplicably happy. He had a vicious sense of satisfaction. Ever since the fight with Seamus, he began to feel fascinated by the pleasure of "untying the constraints of character or morality" -

Even if he had the courage to fight against Voldemort, why did he have to pretend to be a good boy and make himself timid and unhappy in front of Snape, Umbridge and other students who didn't understand him?
It turns out that going against Snape will not end well. Snape requires them to prepare a moderator in class. This is just the most difficult and laborious one. The ingredients must be added to the crucible in strict order and quantity, and the mixture must be stirred a prescribed number of times, no more and no less.

After stirring clockwise, it is counterclockwise. When the crucible boils, the temperature of the flame must drop to a certain standard and be maintained for a certain period of time before the last ingredient can be added. This complicated potion undoubtedly gave Harry, Ron and others a headache, and Snape was waiting for such an opportunity.

Harry's potion was just slightly inferior to Snape's wishes, so he used the Vanishing Charm to take it away, which made him get a zero for his potions homework. Harry's heart became even gloomier, and a suppressed anger continued to burn in his heart, just waiting for the next release.

Xie Ling looked at this scene with a thoughtful expression.

Harry's reaction was so strange.

Although Harry has always been a bad-tempered kid, he has never been so reckless as to write his hostility towards himself and his dissatisfaction towards Snape on his face. Doesn't he know that this will bring him trouble?

Neither himself nor Snape was someone he could afford to offend.

……

History of Magic is widely regarded as the most boring course ever designed by the wizarding world. Their ghostly teacher, Professor Binns, speaks with a wheezing, drawling tone that is almost guaranteed to put you to sleep within ten minutes; if the weather is hot, five minutes is enough.

Today, Professor Binns is talking about the war between giants.

Schelling was quite interested in this topic, after all, he had just formed an army of giants under his command.

Knowing more about the history of giants would help him understand the giants' abilities, culture and way of thinking, so that he could better use this army. But obviously, Schelling's idea was not approved by most of the little snakes. Everyone, including Draco and Daphne, was dazed with sleepy eyes, and even Goyle and Crabbe were already sleeping soundly without any concealment.

……

When the students entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, Professor Umbridge was already sitting behind the podium, wearing the same fuzzy pink cardigan she had worn the night before and this time a black velvet bow on top of her hair, and Harry had another strong and vivid thought of a large fly foolishly landing on an even larger toad.

"Good afternoon, classmates!" she said after the whole class sat down.

Several classmates muttered "Good afternoon" in reply.

"Tsk, tsk," said Professor Umbridge. "That won't do, will it? I want you to say, 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.' Please say it again, students. Good afternoon!"

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

"That's it," said Umbridge in a coquettish voice. "That's not too difficult, is it? Put away your wands and take out your quills, please."

Many students exchanged depressed looks. Following the order of "put away your wands", they never found the class interesting. What happened next proved this point. Umbridge preached the idea of ​​"returning Defense Against the Dark Arts to basic principles" in class. She did not use wands or teach spells. She only taught a set of so-called carefully arranged, theory-centered Defense Against the Dark Arts class approved by the Ministry of Magic.

After that, she asked everyone to take out Wilbert Slinka's "Magical Defense Theory" and read quietly, and made the students sit here reading for two whole classes.

The content of Magical Defense Theory was dull and full of long, abstruse sentences, even more boring than the most boring History of Magic taught by Professor Binns. The classroom was silent, as if everyone was woodenly supporting their heads with their hands, focusing their eyes on the pages of the book, and then forcing themselves to ensure that they would not fall asleep.

Many people haven't turned a page for a long time, but Umbridge doesn't seem to care. She sits on a chair behind the podium, looking at every little wizard in the classroom one by one, wondering what she is thinking.

Schelling liked this atmosphere very much. The book in his hand was not "Magical Defense Theory", but the most evil book on dark magic. If Umbridge saw it, she would probably faint from anger. However, Schelling changed the cover with Transfiguration. He read with relish and enjoyed the pleasure of reading.

Others were not as lucky as him.

Next to Shaylin, Draco stared blankly at the same spot on the book. Goyle and Crabbe had empty eyes and even drooled at the corners of their mouths, as if their souls had left their bodies.

This was simply a nightmare. Although Professor Binns was a little long-winded, he allowed students to do other things, such as sleeping, playing games, etc., as long as it did not affect his lecture. This was obviously not allowed with Umbridge - students were not allowed to talk, sleep, make small movements, or even lie on the table. They had to keep their backs straight and pretend to read throughout the class.

Hermione originally wanted to raise her hand and ask a question, just like she did in the original book, but when she caught a glimpse of Shalling reading with great interest, a spirit of unwillingness to admit defeat emerged uncontrollably. She hardened her heart and began to immerse herself in the contents of the book.

Harry sighed deeply. He felt that he had entered the same mood as at the start-of-term banquet again, but this time he was even angrier and more irritable. The impact of the fight with Seamus last night had not dissipated until now, Snape's sarcasm towards him in Potions class, the dream interpretation that made him drowsy in Divination class, and now Umbridge.

He just felt that the whole day was terrible, as if someone had pushed his head into water, he couldn't breathe, and his chest felt stuffy and uncomfortable. When he suppressed his emotions and finally finished reading the first page, he felt a sense of suffocation rising in his lungs, and he was about to explode.

"This is simply crazy--" Harry slammed the book shut. The class became even quieter. Everyone raised their heads and looked at Harry. Ron opened his mouth wide and tried to reach out and pull Harry. Hermione's eyes were also full of worry.

"My dear, what were you saying just now?" Umbridge walked quickly to Harry, staring at him with her small green bean eyes, unable to believe what she had just heard.

"This is ridiculous, don't you think it's funny?" Harry pushed the magic book away and stood up all of a sudden. He was taller than Umbridge. "We are not learning to use defensive spells in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and we can't even touch the wands?"

"Use defensive spells?" Professor Umbridge repeated with a chuckle. "Alas, I can't imagine a situation in my class where you would need to use defensive spells, Mr. Potter. You don't expect to be attacked in class, do you?"

"Our newest learning program was designed by wizards who are much older and wiser than you. You will learn defensive spells in a safe and risk-free way—"

"Nonsense!" Harry shouted with a sneer. The classroom became silent because of his shouting, but many classmates nodded silently with expressions of approval on their faces. Obviously, they supported Harry's statement.

Umbridge was staring at Harry with a look of vicious satisfaction on her face.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter."

There was silence and silence in the classroom. Everyone was either staring at Umbridge or Harry.

Harry's anger had been boiling inside him all day and was now approaching breaking point.

"Voldemort has been resurrected. A huge danger is before us. However, you and your Ministry of Magic are indifferent to this and want us to continue learning theoretical knowledge. When we encounter Death Eaters threatening our lives with their wands, do we have to rely on theoretical knowledge to convince them?"

Harry stood there, the voice clearly reaching everyone's ears, the classmates stared at him blankly, Seamus Finnigan looked half scared and half curious after hearing this. Even Draco couldn't help showing a concerned expression, he was not worried about Harry, but he didn't expect Harry to dare to speak like this in front of Umbridge.

"Detention, Mr. Potter!" said Professor Umbridge triumphantly. "Tomorrow evening. At five o'clock. In my office. I repeat, this is nonsense. The Ministry of Magic guarantees that you will not be in danger from any dark wizards... The so-called resurrection of dark wizards is a rumor created by some people with ulterior motives."

Harry continued to argue, his voice even reaching the point of shouting.

As a result, Umbridge gave him the most severe punishment. Starting tomorrow, Harry would have to go to her office for detention at five o'clock every night for a week.

At this time, Harry still didn't know what kind of nightmare he was about to face. (End of this chapter)