Chapter 350 The new Defense Against the Dark Arts office

"I guess none of you have taken her class yet, right?"

Harry and others nodded. It is true that their fifth year of Gryffindor had not yet taken the new Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

"Umbridge's education method is very strange. She will not teach you any actual defense skills, but pure theoretical knowledge. She also said that this can effectively improve our OWL exam scores." Mike sighed and said , "That's why I quarreled with her. As you all know, that person has come back, and we are now in a very dangerous moment. In order to better protect ourselves in the next crisis, We need more powerful Defense Against the Dark Arts. But Umbridge..."

Mike didn't say anything else, just shook his head and sighed.

Harry and others beside him were also silent. They knew very well that what Mike said was right. If Umbridge was really what Mike said, then they would never accept it.

"Maybe... maybe she is just like this to fifth-year students. After all, we are going to take the OWL exam this year, and some of us do have very poor theoretical scores (Hermione looked at Harry and Ron when she said this, It's self-evident who I'm talking about.)." Hermione said, "And students in other grades can still receive education normally."

"You are wrong." Zhou Hong shook his head and said, "The second grade is like this too. It has nothing to do with grade. That old witch simply wants to teach us to be useless."

Hermione bit her lip, Zhou Hong's words completely shattered her last expectations.

Harry next to him also had an anxious look on his face, frowning and asking Mike:

"So what are we going to do? How are we going to face Voldemort if we really don't learn any new defense techniques this year."

Hearing that name again, Ron's body trembled again, but he quickly recovered and echoed:

"No...that's right!"

Suddenly, the eyes of everyone present fell on Mike. In their opinion, Mike could always stand up and solve problems at the most critical moment.

Looking at the expectant faces in front of him, the smile on Mike's face flashed away, and he waved his hand to comfort:

"Don't worry, everyone. Things are not irreversible yet. I will have a good chat with Umbridge tonight. If I can change her mind, that would be the best. But if she persists, then we I can only think of other ways."

Hearing this, Harry, Hermione and others nodded, but the worried look on their faces became more intense. Zhou Hong next to him was even more excited. He grabbed Mike's sleeve and said:

"You must be careful! That old witch is bad! I heard that she and Filch are colluding together. She has all the torture instruments that Filch has hidden in the warehouse. Maybe she will do something to you. Physical punishment!”

Ron's body trembled again. Although he had never seen those instruments of torture himself, he had heard a lot from his two naughty brothers, and just listening to their descriptions gave Ron nightmares for a long time.

"Mike, you'd better not go. Those torture devices are really terrifying!"

Mike smiled and shook his head and refused:

"Someone has to stand up, right?"

Harry and the others were all wide-eyed. In their eyes, Mike looked like one of those heroes in knight novels who were not afraid of sacrifice!

…

At night, in front of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office on the fourth floor.

"Mike, if you yell once that old witch tortures you, we'll be ready to break in at any time!"

Ron gave Mike instructions with a serious face, while Harry next to him curled his lips and said unconfidently:

"Well, I think that might not be a good idea. We'd better go tell Professor Flitwick."

"It will be too late!" Ron glared at Harry and said, "By the time the professor comes here, Mike will have already been tortured!"

Harry said nothing now, but his slightly rolled eyes showed that he still didn't think breaking in was a good idea.

"Okay, I get it." Mike smiled and shook his head, and said to the two friends in front of him who insisted on coming to accompany him, "You just go back first, nothing will happen to me."

"no!"

Harry and Ron shouted in unison.

Seeing this, Mike didn't intend to persuade him anymore. He nodded and opened the door of the office and walked in.

Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office, this is definitely the most interesting professor's office in the entire Hogwarts, because the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts is constantly changing every year, so this office The decoration inside also changes drastically every year.

Mike is very familiar with this place. He has been here several times a year since the first grade, so he is very familiar with the decoration changes of this office over the years.

As for the previous owner of this place, Moody, at that time this office was completely transformed into a fortress by Moody, which was filled with a lot of magic used to detect other people's misdeeds and hiding places. Props, as well as some very dangerous magic restrictions.

Mike even felt that the security level of this office was higher than that of the principal's office at that time.

The decorations of the other three previous owners were also very unique. When Lupine was there, there were often many animal cages or boxes in this office, which often contained many very interesting evil creatures.

During Lockhart's time, the walls of this office were plastered with smiling portraits of himself, and most of these portraits were low-level magic portraits. Those portraits were as beautiful and arrogant as him, and they often said a lot of compliments about themselves, and Lockhart loved hearing this, and would often listen to it all day long.

There was nothing much to say about the last Quirrell era. Apart from the smell of garlic that filled the room, the most in his office were all kinds of exotic gadgets.

It must be said that the previous owners of these classrooms are all talented people, and their offices all have a strong personal style and are very interesting.

But compared with the current one, they all fell short.

That's right, the office that appeared in front of Mike now was definitely the unlikeliest place Mike had ever seen.

I saw that the surrounding walls were covered with pink wallpaper, and everything in the room was covered with lace dropcloths and tablecloths. There were also several vases filled with dried flowers, each placed on its own little cushion. A collection of decorative plates hangs on one wall, each with a brightly colored cat wearing a different bow around its neck.

Mike couldn't help but swallowed. This room felt too girly to him. It was so pink and tender that it looked like the room of a seventeen-year-old girl.

If he didn't know in advance that this was a middle-aged woman's room, Mike believed that he would be happy to come here as a guest, but now... all Mike could feel was waves of coldness.

Just as Mike was looking at the decoration of the room, a sweet voice suddenly came through from the side.

"Good evening, Mr. Townley. How is my office? Not bad."

When Mike heard the news, he saw Umbridge sitting at a small table with a small lace.

At this moment, Umbridge was no longer wearing the pink woolen coat she wore in the afternoon, but a dazzling red printed dress. It seemed that she had changed her clothes specifically to receive Mike.

However, the pattern on her printed dress blended perfectly with the tablecloth on the desk behind her, and she was not tall, so Mike did not notice her immediately after he came in.

"Good evening, Professor Umbridge," Mike said after looking up and down, "Your office is very nice, but... I really didn't expect you to like such girly things."

"Hahaha, because their presence always makes me feel that I am still young." Umbridge covered her mouth and laughed, then pointed to the small lace round table in front of her and said, "Okay, come and sit down."

There is a ceramic teapot and a three-layer tray in the shape of a cake tower placed on the small round table. On the bottom layer of the three-layer tray, which is also the largest layer, are several sandwiches of different colors. The top layer is filled with scones, butter and jam, and the top layer is filled with many exquisite and lovely desserts.

Mike understood at a glance that this was the standard configuration of British afternoon tea.

Coupled with the extremely magical decoration in this room and the two gorgeous chairs beside the small round table, Mike felt like a tea party in a classic fairy tale.

But, what kind of afternoon tea should we have this evening?

Umbridge seemed to have noticed Mike's doubts, but she obviously had no intention of explaining it to Mike. When she saw Mike sitting down, she smiled and picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea.

What surprised Mike was that what was poured out of the teapot was not black tea, but rich and mellow hot chocolate.

"Drinking some hot chocolate at night will help you sleep." Umbridge explained, then pointed to the desserts on the top of the three-tier tray and said, "Oh, you must try this, this is Bee Duke's new product. I love her so much!"

After that, Umbridge did not follow the tradition of British afternoon tea and eat the bottom sandwich first, but directly took a piece of mini castle-shaped pink cake and stuffed it into her mouth.

Seeing Umbridge in front of her closing her eyes and moaning in contentment, Mike had a look of disgust on his face. This scene was really eye-catching.

Umbridge finished eating the cake and sucked her fingers.

Seeing that Mike had no intention of tasting it, he suddenly asked strangely:

"Aren't you going to eat it? Dumbledore told me that you like sweets the most. I thought I had found a like-minded person."

Mike didn't answer and just looked at her expressionlessly.

Under Mike's gaze, Umbridge obviously lost interest in eating. She took out her handkerchief and wiped her hands. She kept smiling and asked in a sweet voice:

"Then let's get down to business. Mike, I heard that you have a society called the Los Santos Mutual Aid Society, which is dedicated to doing things for you, right?"

"To be precise, there has never been a mutual aid group. They are just the beneficiaries of the 'Los Santos Student Aid Program'." Mike crossed his legs and glanced at Umbridge. "And the 'Los Santos Student Aid Program' The "Study Plan" is a purely public welfare plan. My purpose is just to help those poor students and give them a relatively comfortable learning environment. I have never asked them for anything in return, but they don't think so. They are always trying their best to do things in the hope of repaying my kindness."

Hearing this, Umbridge lowered her head and remained silent, and the entire office suddenly fell into silence, except for the ticking sound of the clock not far away.

After a long time, Umbridge finally raised her head and said:

"Mike, I don't think there are students in need of relief at Hogwarts. You know, the funds allocated to Hogwarts by the trustees and the Ministry of Magic every year should be enough for all students to enjoy free education. of teaching.”

"Hogwarts is indeed a school with free board and lodging, and even if students don't have money to buy books, the school will give some used books and school supplies donated by graduating seniors, but this is not enough." Mike said, "Old books After all, it is old, and the quality is definitely not as good as the new one. And people always have a comparison mentality. Although this kind of behavior allows those poor students to go to school, it also causes serious harm to their hearts. They also I want a new broomstick, I also want all kinds of exquisite notebooks, and I also want to be able to go to Hogsmeade and drink a sweet drink on the weekends like other students. And these needs must be met in general Isn’t it?”

Even though Mike's face had long been trained to be as thick as a city wall, he couldn't help but feel a little blushing when he said these words.

These words are really shameless.

Logically speaking, Hogwarts' various policies towards poor students are already very conscientious. If Mike's words reach the ears of people in developing countries, they will definitely be sprayed to death.

How dare you reject such generous conditions? It's really a battle of love and hatred!

But this is a country with high welfare, and many people who grew up in this high-welfare society are extremely left-wing. Many of them have completely the same ideas as Mike.

Weird, right?

But this is reality. People who grow up in different environments have completely different views!

And Mike didn’t intend to stop yet. After a pause, he continued:

"Furthermore, these subsidies become increasingly stretched after the senior year. Take the NEWT-level Potions course as an example. The free materials provided by Hogwarts in the classroom are pitiful. If you only rely on those With free materials, no one can pass the exam except for a few geniuses. This results in students having to purchase excess course-related materials on their own, and you also know the prices of those potion materials."

Mike's words caused the smile on Umbridge's face to disappear. She frowned and said coldly:

"Isn't that right? I have calculated the amount of funds allocated to Hogwarts every year. With such a huge amount of funds, the situation you mentioned should not happen. Unless, someone has embezzled the money!"