days at Hogwarts

Chapter 568 It’s up to you to deal with Voldemort!
"Good afternoon, students!"

A sparse murmur sounded in the classroom: "Good afternoon..."

"Tsk... tsk... you don't have any spirit at all. This is not good, right? I want you to answer like this -"

Umbridge raised her voice sharply, "Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge!"

The shrill and piercing voice made some students frown, and the strange and twisted feeling in their hearts became stronger. Umbridge's tone and expression were full of unspeakable weirdness. She seemed to treat these fifth-grade wizards as babies who had just learned to speak in kindergarten. She always spoke in a sweet and coquettish voice.

"Now let's do it again... Good afternoon, students!"

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge!" the little wizards shouted at the top of their lungs.

"Oh, that's it!" Umbridge smiled with satisfaction. "It's not too difficult, is it? Please put away your wands and take out your quills..."

As she spoke, she pulled out a surprisingly short wand from her handbag and tapped it hard on the blackboard. Immediately, neat handwriting appeared on the blank blackboard: "Defense Against the Dark Arts - Back to Basics"

"Students, the teaching of this course has been sporadic and unsystematic, right? The teachers are constantly changing, and many of them do not seem to be teaching in accordance with the curriculum standards approved by the Ministry of Magic. Unfortunately, this has caused you to be far from the level you should have reached in the OWL year..."

Umbridge faced the whole class when she was teaching, with her hands crossed and placed neatly in front of her chest. If you ignore her toad face and the sweet voice of a girl, she looks like a professor. "But you will be happy to know that these problems will be corrected soon. This year, we will be studying a carefully arranged, theory-centered, and Ministry-approved Defense of Magic course."

"Please write these down. What I am going to talk about next is the course objectives of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts class... First, understand the basic principles of magic defense... Second, learn to identify situations where magic defense can be used legally... Last but not least, evaluate magic defense in the context of actual application..."

Loren was flipping through the textbook in front of him boredly. It was "Magical Defense Theory" compiled by Wilbert Slinka. Just like the title, this was a book that purely expounded Slinka's personal theory. As a pacifist, Slinka advocated the use of passive methods to deal with conflicts and opposed the use of offensive spells, even for defensive purposes.

Simply put, he advocates not fighting back when being beaten or retaliating when being scolded.

"As long as the spread of offensive spells is completely banned, the world will become a better place..."

Loren read the final conclusion of the introduction, pondered for a moment, and returned to the title page to read the author's biography. As expected, this man did not survive the last wizard war.

The other students in the classroom were still copying down the course objectives proposed by Umbridge, and the only sound they could hear was the rustling of quills writing on parchment.

"Now, I want you to turn to page 5 and read Chapter 1, Getting Started with the Basics..."

Umbridge assigned the course tasks with a smile, sat down on the chair behind the podium, and stared at the students with her toad-like eyes with droopy eyelids, as if to hand over the stage to them.

"..."

The classroom was silent and the young wizards were stunned. The familiar teaching method reminded them of a professor they once had. There was no practical exercises and the class was just about reading books.

But Lockhart could at least tell some new stories and occasionally stage interesting stage plays. So why didn't this new Professor Umbridge even struggle and just jumped straight to the final step of reading stupidly?
Hermione didn't even open the book. She stared at the course objectives on the blackboard, with an expression that said "I disagree" clearly on her face. It was not until Loren nudged her with his elbow that she pouted and reluctantly lowered her head to turn the pages of the book.

"Another Lockhart..."

Harry cursed quietly and turned the book "Magical Defense Theory" in his hand to page 5. He glanced at it quickly. The content was boring and the wording was obscure and difficult to understand. The person who compiled the manuscript seemed to be deliberately showing off his literary talent. He stared at a line of text six or seven times, but could only understand the first few words and could not read on at all.

A few minutes passed, and Harry could clearly feel that Umbridge's eyes were always on him, with an undisguised scrutiny.

The disgust and irritation in his heart became stronger and stronger. Harry could no longer bear it. He looked up at those toad eyes and stared at Umbridge through the glass lenses.

Umbridge was stunned for a moment, then seemed to have just noticed him and asked kindly, "Dear, do you have any questions about the content of this chapter?"

"No, I have questions about your course objectives." Harry felt more confident when he felt the approving gazes coming from around him.

"The course objectives are written very clearly, as long as you read them carefully from beginning to end. However, teenage boys are always eager to attract people's attention, which I can certainly understand. Mr. Potter, please tell me your questions." Umbridge smiled casually and said in a coquettish tone.

Listening to her seemingly considerate but actually self-deprecating muttering, Hermione frowned slightly. Anyone could hear that she was implying that Harry was being unreasonable just to attract attention, just like those slanderous articles in the Daily Prophet.

Harry knew she was putting him down, but he ignored her and said bluntly, "It doesn't say a word about using defensive spells."

"Use defensive spells?" Umbridge repeated with a chuckle, as if she had heard some incredible joke. "Oh, I can't imagine a situation in my class where you would need to use defensive spells, Mr. Potter. You don't think you'll be attacked during class, do you?"

"But--"

"Please note, Mr. Potter, you are only a fifth-year student, not an education expert trained by the Ministry of Magic. I don't think you are qualified to judge how a course should be taught. Our latest learning plan is designed and formulated by wizards who are much older and smarter than you. You will learn defensive spells in a safe and risk-free way..."

"What good would that do? If we were attacked, it certainly wouldn't be in a 'safe' way!"

"In my class, students have to raise their hands before they can speak!"

Umbridge finally stopped her shrill and sweet voice and replaced it with the harsh and stern voice of a middle-aged woman. "I don't want to criticize the backward and ignorant way of running this school, but the facts are in the archives. In the past few years, you have come into contact with several irresponsible wizards, fraudsters who stole other people's deeds by despicable means, suspects who escaped from Azkaban without permission, not to mention, there are particularly dangerous half-human, half-beasts!"

"Sirius was wrongly accused! He is not a suspect! Professor Lupin is the best teacher we have ever met!"

"You didn't raise your hand, Mr. Potter! Five points from Gryffindor House for that!"

Umbridge's voice drowned out Harry's, and a false smile stretched her wide mouth even wider. "I have no intention of arguing with you about the mistakes they made, but as I said just now, the magic they introduced to you was very complicated, unsuitable for your age group, and potentially very harmful. You were frightened into thinking that you would be attacked by the Dark Arts every other day..."

Umbridge paused, and her tone softened a little: "Oh, I forgot, because of Headmaster Dumbledore's negligence, a dark wizard disguised as a professor sneaked into Hogwarts. My predecessor not only cast illegal spells in front of you, but also cast these spells on you." "This is the negligence of your Ministry of Magic!"

Hermione couldn't help but stand up and scolded, "It was a loophole in your Azkaban's defense that led to Barty Crouch Jr.'s escape! To be honest, even if it was a crazy Death Eater, we still learned a lot."

"Excuse me, who are you?"

"Hermione Granger."

"You didn't raise your hand, Miss Granger!"

"..." Hermione choked and immediately raised her hands.

Seeing her obedient cooperation, Umbridge's smile became even brighter. She was best at dealing with people who followed the rules. She turned her face away as if she didn't see her raised right hand, and said with a smile: "The Ministry of Magic believes that theoretical knowledge can help you pass the exam more effectively. After all, helping students pass the exam is the purpose of the school..."

Loren looked at the little witch beside him who was raising her right hand. Her face flushed with anxiety, but she still followed the rule of raising her hand to speak. Then he looked at the pink toad who was speaking on the stage, and nodded thoughtfully.

"Don't raise your hand. She won't let you speak even if you raise your hand." Loren advised in a voice that only the two of them could hear, while pulling her arm and letting her sit down slowly. "I have a good idea. Remember we..."

Hermione sat down reluctantly, lowered her raised hands, pursed her lips tightly together, and the gleam in her eyes became brighter and brighter.

"As for practice?"

Umbridge's eyes swept across the class, an irritatingly contemptuous smile on her face the whole time. "As long as you learn the theory very well, there is no reason why you can't cast spells under strictly controlled test conditions."

"Don't you need to practice beforehand?" Harry didn't want to indulge her. He raised his hand and started talking. "Are you telling us that the first time we cast those spells will be during the exams?"

"I'll say it again, if you want to speak in my class, you need to raise your hand first and get my permission before you can speak!"

"Sorry, Professor, can I talk now?" Harry shook his raised right hand with an innocent expression.

Umbridge's eyes flashed with annoyance. How could she refuse when the whole class was staring at her? The smile on her face gradually stiffened, and she could only nod reluctantly: "Of course, Mr. Potter."

“What good is learning theory in the real world? Don’t we need to be prepared for what’s waiting out there?

"This is school, not the real world, and there's nothing waiting outside, Mr. Potter."

"Oh, really?" Harry's anger was boiling. He hadn't expected that Professor Umbridge was completely unreasonable and only wanted to go against the school. She was afraid that there were supporters of Dumbledore among the student body and only wanted to weaken the students' power.

"Who do you imagine would attack children like you?" Umbridge asked in a terrifyingly intimate voice.

Harry took a deep breath and said in a mock thoughtful tone, "Hmm, let me think... maybe it was... Voldemort -"

Umbridge's pupils suddenly contracted and she couldn't help holding her breath. Just when she was about to teach Harry Potter a lesson, a clear voice suddenly interrupted her.

"It's a dark wizard, professor, a terrible dark wizard!"

Loren said this seriously before raising his right hand to show that he was also a good student who followed the rules.

Umbridge glared at Harry fiercely, then immediately turned to look at Loren with a sweet and scary smile on her face: "Excuse me, who are you?"

"Loren Morgan, Professor."

"Oh, Mr. Morgan, I want to ask, why do you have such concerns?"

"Before school started, I spent a few days in Hogsmeade..." Loren said slowly, "You know, the thing we miss most during the holidays is the snacks from Honeydukes Candy Store. When we were buying candies and enjoying butter beer, we heard some bad rumors."

Umbridge stood up, leaned forward slightly, and narrowed her eyes: "Did anyone tell you that a dark wizard came back to life--"

"No, not the mysterious man..."

Loren had a serious expression, looking exactly like a playful little wizard. His confusion and worries were of course genuine, and he definitely wasn't trying to make things difficult for the Ministry of Magic. "It's a real dark wizard. Someone told us that there have been many unidentified wizards in Hogsmeade recently, including the dark wizards who have been hanging around in Knockturn Alley for many years. It's said that they are looking for something unspeakable..."

"Hogsmeade... Dark wizards..."

Umbridge muttered softly, and her expression changed slightly. She had been searching Hogwarts Castle for some time and had not paid much attention to the affairs of Hogsmeade village.

Loren said sincerely, "In my opinion, there is certainly nothing wrong with Professor Umbridge's teaching theory, but there will be an activity weekend in Hogsmeade next month, and those unidentified dark wizards are really worrying. I wonder if the Ministry of Magic can..."

"Of course, Mr. Morgan!" Umbridge agreed without hesitation, and said triumphantly, "I will contact the Ministry of Magic immediately to report this matter. This weekend, I will personally lead the Aurors to check for suspicious persons in Hogsmeade."

Loren nodded: "That makes me feel relieved!"

Umbridge raised her eyes and glanced at Harry, her smile growing even brighter:
"I say again, students, please rest assured that the Ministry of Magic guarantees that you will not encounter any danger from any dark wizards. If you still have doubts, please be sure to come to me after class. I am always ready to help you. Please remember that I am your friend. Okay, please continue reading..."

(End of this chapter)