Chapter 1241 sounds like a denial, but it contains a wealth of information.
The next day, Umbridge surprisingly took sick leave.
She had previously insisted on coming to class even while covering her face and limping, which made the students realize that the shrill screams they heard in the early hours of the morning were not a hallucination.
After lunch, the lion cubs gathered in the common lounge to chat and gossip.
Fred and George's performances were spot-on, especially that scream that seemed to pierce the ceiling.
The part about the bat family was a bit exaggerated; most of the little lions thought it was unlikely to be true.
“I suddenly thought of a more plausible guess.” Simon removed his hands from his ears.
He raised his little face and began to talk at length about the second version.
As everyone knows, Umbridge has ravaged the entire school staff, and the only one who dared to confront her to her face and leave her speechless was McGonagall.
"If you ask me, Umbridge must have sneaked off to attack Professor McGonagall last night."
"Cough cough—" George suddenly coughed.
Seamus didn't seem to care and continued, "You all know Professor McGonagall's strength. During our first flying class in our first year, when we were fighting with the Slytherins, she petrified Ron and Malfoy, who were fighting the most intensely, with a single move."
Ron seemed to have something to say, but after glancing behind Seamus, he obediently shut his mouth.
"Old Toad went to attack Professor McGonagall, and the result was predictable. She thought Professor McGonagall was as easy to talk to as Professor Flitwick. She didn't realize that Professor McGonagall was the kind of person who dared to confront even the Basilisk when it broke in. Old Toad was definitely taught a lesson."
"Ahem—" Fred coughed as well, his expression unusually serious.
As Seamus got more and more excited, he completely ignored his strange behavior. "So, the reason Umbridge is taking sick leave today isn't the school legend of the bat family, but our vice principal who can turn into a cat!"
The lion cubs gasped in shock.
Seamus looked puzzled. "You don't believe me? Think about it, Umbridge insulted everyone, but he ran into a brick wall with Professor McGonagall and didn't gain any advantage at all."
He raised an eyebrow. "I bet that perverted old toad is furious. She's been having insomnia for days and finally couldn't take it anymore last night, so she went to Professor McGonagall's office in the middle of the night."
He made an extremely exaggerated gesture of being knocked away, "Bang! The perverted old toad was directly knocked down by our dean's silent disarming spell. She screamed and was thrown back onto her pink bed like a bag of moldy potatoes."
Instead of bursting into laughter at this vivid imagination, everyone turned their little heads to the side, as if they were expressing something to someone.
"Huh?" Ximo stared wide-eyed at their reaction.
Under normal circumstances, they should be laughing their heads off.
Is it because the story I made up wasn't interesting enough?
Simo's eyes darted around, as if he had thought of an even more amusing version: "If it wasn't the old toad that attacked our dean, then it was our dean who attacked—"
“Seamus,” Harry interrupted him with a look of sympathy, “Stop talking, Professor McGonagall is standing right behind you.”
Simo turned around in alarm and, sure enough, saw McGonagall with her lips tightly pursed.
"Professor, I... I was just making things up."
McGonagall's lips twitched up very slightly before she quickly regained her usual stern expression. "Mr. Finigan, I now realize just how rich your imagination is."
Simo's face turned deathly pale instantly.
McGonagall's gaze swept over each of the little lions like a searchlight. "First, I need to correct a serious misconception: no Hogwarts professor, including myself, would 'attack' another colleague late at night, no matter how..."
Her lips seemed to twitch slightly. "How unbearable."
She paused, quickly glancing at the lion cubs' expressions of fear and curiosity. "Secondly, if I really need to have a...nighttime conversation with Professor Umbridge, I assure you that the entire process will not leave any obvious marks that would require me to take sick leave."
She slightly raised her chin. "Because that would seem very unprofessional and would give Umbridge solid evidence to report to the Ministry of Magic."
The lion cubs were dumbfounded. These words sounded like a denial, but they contained a lot of information, as if to say: I won't do that, but if I did, she wouldn't even know.
“Professor,” Hermione pleaded cautiously for Seamus, “we are all very concerned about why Professor Umbridge took leave. Seamus’s nonsense is just to satisfy our curiosity.”
McGonagall turned to her, her gaze softening slightly. “Your concern and curiosity are unnecessary. The staff of Hogwarts are perfectly capable of handling…internal affairs.”
She looked around at the lion cubs again. "I suggest you focus your attention back on your studies instead of indulging in unfounded speculation."
She turned to leave, but stopped in front of the portrait hole.
Without turning around, she added in a clear voice, "Gryffindor loses ten points for your...unsubstantiated but spirit-worthy discussion just now."
Just as the lion cubs were showing their dejected expressions, they heard McGonagall's voice again:
"At the same time, because of your firm and trusting support for the school staff, I think you deserve an extra 20 points for that."
After saying that, she left, and the door closed behind her.
The Gryffindor common room was deathly silent for several seconds before Fred broke the silence.
His tone was full of respect, "Not only did she not punish Seamus, but she also taught us how to solve problems 'professionally,' and even gave us extra points in the end?"
George shook his head and exclaimed, "That's why she's the vice principal. Compared to Snape, he's still too young and too narrow-minded."
The lion cubs all burst into laughter, a knowing smile on their faces.
Snape spent over a decade at Hogwarts and still didn't fully grasp the school's complexities, yet Umbridge, a professor who only lasts a year, dared to issue a challenge right away. He truly doesn't know his own limitations.
The twins and Hermione exchanged a silent glance.
The professors have been on tenterhooks lately, fearing that she'll bring in the Ministry of Magic's education committee members to "sit in" on their classes again.
The staff were the same; Filch became completely withdrawn, and many students saw Mrs. Pince secretly wiping away tears in the library.
The school will definitely intervene, but that's far from enough.
Even if we can't expel Umbridge from school, we should at least ruin her reputation and deprive her of the right to act arrogantly at school.
……
……
