days at Hogwarts

Chapter 580 Happy cooperation
Monday, 3pm.

Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Before the course officially started, the young wizards always held on to a glimmer of hope, imagining that Professor Umbridge's abscess injury might not have healed yet, or even become more seriously infected. They didn't expect her to die, but at least she would not be able to attend the class...

The wonderful fantasies of the little wizards were shattered. The bell rang and Umbridge walked into the classroom with clattering footsteps, wearing her black velvet bow and looking full of ambition.

Loren was somewhat surprised to find that the abscess scars on Umbridge's face had all subsided, and the prognosis was good, leaving no traces. Although Madam Pomfrey could prepare some basic potions, the more complicated potions were mainly provided by Professor Snape. Did he not poison her potions?
"Good afternoon, students."

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," everyone drawled back.

"Please put away your wand..."

The little wizards in the classroom didn't move much because no one took out their wands.

Umbridge glanced around the classroom with a false smile on her face, and her gentle eyes occasionally revealed a bit of resentment: "I know what you are expecting. I have disappointed many students. Although it has been delayed for a few days, Professor Snape went out to purchase the materials for the special potion as soon as he had time at the weekend. It is very effective for my injuries..."

Loren exchanged a look with Hermione.

"I heard that there is a new student organization in school, the Defense Society..." Umbridge's eyes stayed on Harry, with an intriguing expression, "I want to ask, which students are involved in the activities of the Defense Society?"

The vast majority of students raised their hands.

Umbridge narrowed her eyes, covered her mouth to hide her ugly expression, and then laughed shrilly: "Forgive me, I feel sorry for you when I think of your precious time wasted on the meaningless Defense Association... Although it's not your fault, you are still children who have not grown up, and have not learned to distinguish what is good for you and what is bad for you."

"..."

Loren looked at Harry from behind and saw that he had clenched his fists, but he was still sober and not overwhelmed by anger.

Unexpectedly, Neville, who was sitting in the third row, raised his hand and shouted, "The Defense Association is not a bad thing!"

Umbridge's forehead bulged with a few blue veins. She smiled and said, "I think I have emphasized many times that in my class, you must raise your hand and ask for permission before speaking... May I ask who you are?"

"Neville Longbottom."

"Okay, Mr. Longbottom, five points will be deducted from Gryffindor for your recklessness."

"Can I tell you now?"

"You've already said that..."

Umbridge shook her head, interrupting his indignant rebuttal, and put on a kind expression for the students: "It is not my intention to waste precious class time arguing with you about the pros and cons of the Defense Society... Smart students will soon figure it out. For you fifth-year students, the most important time now is to prepare for OWLs. How much useful things can a student-organized association teach you?"

"If it were up to me, Dumbledore should agree to the Ministry of Magic's Education Order proposal to disband all student organizations, associations, groups and clubs. I mean, regular gatherings of three or more students... Of course, this does not mean depriving you of your extracurricular life. As long as your gatherings are reviewed and approved by the Ministry of Magic, all activities can be held as usual."

Neville raised his right hand in dissatisfaction. Umbridge smiled smugly, pretending not to see it, and turned to look in another direction: "Not to mention that the establishment of this defense association is unnecessary. The Ministry of Magic will not let any danger approach. The Ministry of Magic will protect every kind and law-abiding wizard..."

Loren saw her gaze move over, right in his direction, and couldn't help but raise his hand.

Umbridge felt that this man was different from Scarhead and his friends. He was a reasonable person, so she raised her hand and said with confidence: "Mr. Morgan, do you have anything to say?"

Loren teased lazily, "Professor, I heard that you led a team to ambush the dark wizards in Hogsmeade last weekend, but they ran away."

Umbridge was silent for two seconds, then hid a hand under her sleeve and pinched it twice. She smiled and explained, "Those people can't be called dark wizards at all. They are just a few petty thieves who fled in panic when they were frightened by the Ministry of Magic."

Loren added in a strange tone, "Then our safety is very uncertain. The Hogsmeade weekend is coming up. We feel very insecure."

"Please rest assured, Mr. Morgan, I guarantee in the name of the Senior Deputy Minister that the Ministry of Magic will catch those little thieves before the event weekend!"

"I'm looking forward to that scene." Loren nodded and smiled.

Umbridge couldn't help but look at him a few times. For a moment, she couldn't tell which side he was on. She arranged the content of today's course in doubt:

"Please turn to page 34 of Magical Defense Theory and read Chapter 3, "Reasons for Taking a Non-Offensive Response to Magical Attacks." Please don't talk while reading..."

The entire book is several hundred pages long, with enough chapters to last them an entire school year in class.

In fact, except for a certain Miss Granger, no student in the class was reading seriously. Some took out homework from other subjects to copy, while others took out completely unrelated extracurricular books and read them with great interest between them and Magical Defense Theory...

Loren has already begun writing nightmares in which Freddy comes back to life and starts killing people again.

The bell rings.

Umbridge picked up her textbook and walked out, as if she didn't want to stay in the classroom any longer.

Ron turned around and kicked the leg of Harry's chair. He said excitedly, "I thought you were going to stand up and yell at her. Did you see the way she was looking at you? It was like she was expecting a fire dragon to jump out at any time. She was expecting you to jump out and spew out evil, despicable, sensational lies, and then put you in detention!"

"I might have done that in my previous life, but when I think about how I might be taken advantage of by Voldemort if I get too emotional, her words just seem ridiculous to me."

Harry shook his head. At this point, he paused and looked at Ron, as if considering how to start. "Speaking of dealing with Voldemort, Ron, I have a question for you..."

"That what..."

Ron seemed to remember something, glanced at his expression, and said awkwardly, "Harry, go back to the common room first. I have an appointment with McMillan to discuss goalkeeping tactics, so I'll leave first!"

"Why does he look so weird?"

Looking at his slightly flustered back, Harry turned to look at his other two friends and said bewilderedly, "I also wanted to ask what Ginny's last class was..."

Loren and Hermione lowered their heads and quietly packed up their textbooks, their lips tightly pursed into a straight line, feeling a little uncomfortable. …

At five minutes to eight, Snape walked out of the dim underground corridor, went up the marble stairs, came to the door of Umbridge's office, and knocked gently on the door.

"Please come in."

Thinking that this sickly sweet girl's voice came from a middle-aged toad, Snape couldn't help but frown, and every pore in his body revealed disgust.

I pushed the door open and looked around the room subconsciously, and the feeling of nausea and disgust became even stronger.

He was fairly familiar with this office. He had seen the smiling face posters left by Gilderoy Lockhart all over the wall, and the large floor-to-ceiling mirror. When Remus Lupin lived here, he would occasionally come over to deliver carefully brewed wolfsbane potion. At that time, the room was always filled with low-level and interesting evil animals, kept in cages or tanks in the corners.

Last year, during Barty Crouch Jr.'s tenure, there was also a dangerous creature locked in the box, a certain lame retired Auror...

Now, the whole room has changed completely. Everything is covered with lace drapes and tablecloths. There are several vases filled with dried flowers, each placed on a separate small cushion. There are decorative porcelain plates on the wall with large, brightly colored cats with various bows around their necks. The wallpaper has been changed to a soft pink girlish color...

Simply disgusting.

"Good evening, Professor Snape." Umbridge, who was sitting behind the desk, raised her head and looked at him with a corny smile on her face. She was wearing a bright red printed robe, the color of which blended with the tablecloth on the desk behind her and was almost indistinguishable.

Snape retracted his gaze and said calmly, "I'll deliver the last potion."

Umbridge's bulging eyes narrowed, with a strange smile on her face: "Oh, I thought I was healed."

"Clean up the remaining toxins. The wound will be considered healed only when it stops itching completely." Snape placed a small bottle of potion on the table, as if he didn't want to stay for even a second longer. "Leave the potion here. I'm leaving now."

"Wait a moment, please. Can you sit for a while?"

Umbridge still had a strange smile on her face. "I have some questions to ask you, Professor Snape. You don't have to be so defensive against me. From what I have learned from my two weeks of investigation, your situation at Hogwarts is not much better than mine, is it?"

Snape said coldly, "I am only responsible for potions."

"Oh, of course..."

Umbridge seized the bottle and pulled it with her thick, stubby fingers, which were awkwardly covered with a lot of ugly old-fashioned rings. She took some effort to pull out the cork and poured the potion into her mouth, like a toad swallowing a particularly delicious and juicy fly. She grinned and said, "The potion business is successfully completed. Now we have time to discuss other matters. Don't refuse the Ministry's kindness, Professor Snape, please sit down."

Snape lowered his eyes slightly and looked at her, a hint of sarcasm flashed in his cold black eyes, and he sat down calmly.

"I checked some old information, which shows that you had just graduated from Hogwarts and had just made a name for yourself in the field of potions. Then you were caught up in the trouble of the Death Eaters. It was Dumbledore who came forward to vouch for you and saved you from the trial, right?"

"Yeah." Snape responded softly, with an inexplicable look on his face.

"As a reward, you, as a potion master, stayed in Hogwarts and became a professor of potions..." Umbridge said softly, "Damocles Belby, the winner of the Order of Merlin, has revealed on many occasions that you have given him a lot of inspiration, not just in the area of ​​wolfsbane potion... With your ability, you should have the same honor and reputation as him, but now you can only be trapped in this school, killing time..."

Snape said nothing, the sarcasm in his eyes became more intense, but he pretended to be interested on his face.

"I can cooperate with you and help you get back what belongs to you, power, wealth, fame..."

"We can be more honest with each other..."

Snape looked at her swollen face, his disgust reaching its peak. Not wanting to talk to her any more, he knocked on the table and interrupted, "I heard that Professor Umbridge is tracking down a few dark wizards whose whereabouts are secretive?"

"Do you have any suggestions?" Umbridge asked with a hint of smile in her voice.

"Potions professors always know people whose names are inconvenient to reveal. They may not be famous, but they can always find out things that ordinary people don't know..." Snape said slowly.

"They can help me find those dark wizards!"

Umbridge exclaimed in surprise. As the Senior Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Magic, she certainly knew the unknown tricks involved.

The potions in regular potion shops were ordinary and expensive. Those who had been in the shadows for years could only order them from private channels if they wanted to get some rare or banned potions. But right in front of them was a skilled potion master!

Snape seemed to know what she was thinking, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly: "I can introduce you, but you must abide by their rules and pay according to their prices, or... barter."

"Of course, I understand." A bright future appeared in Umbridge's swollen eyes.

Find those dark wizards, link them to Dumbledore, sink Dumbledore's reputation into the quagmire, gain political resources, and maybe become the next Minister of Magic!
The toad-like wide mouth grinned brightly, and Umbridge asked with a smile: "What about you, Professor Snape, what do you want from the Ministry of Magic?"

"Like you said just now, power, fame, wealth..." Snape's eyes swept across the smiling face and said meaningfully, "Maybe there are also rare materials for potion research, what do you think?"

Umbridge thought it was a little ridiculous. She was so confused while brewing the potion that she even put the potion ingredients on a par with power. She nodded: "The Ministry of Magic will definitely not let you down!"

"See you this weekend then."

"Happy cooperation!"

"..."

Snape closed the wooden door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office and glanced at the night sky outside the railing. The moon and stars were hidden in the thick clouds. It was as dark as ink, without a trace of light.

After a moment of silence, he shook his head and walked towards the basement.

Nothing can stop him from developing a drug that can bring the dead back to life...

(End of this chapter)