https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-1002-The-Bizarre-Educational-Decree/12527712/
Chapter 1003: Victim of Public Opinion
Chapter 1003: Victim of Public Opinion
After becoming a High Inquisitor of Hogwarts through the Educational Decree issued by the Ministry of Magic, Dolores Umbridge failed to instill much fear in the students of the school.
In everyone's impression, she remained the hopping toad professor.
This impression was so deep-rooted that some students, in their excitement (or recklessness), referred to her as "Pink Toad."
The outcome was predictable—detention.
Thus, a few more unlucky students had the misfortune of experiencing Umbridge's punishment quill.
Even though Dumbledore had expressly forbidden the use of Dark magical objects as punishment for students, his orders were blatantly ignored by the infuriated Umbridge.
The innocent headmaster became a victim of circumstances and received a flood of complaint letters.
In fact, The Prophet also received several such letters every day, and someone even sent howlers to the newspaper, but it failed to stir any waves.
The reaction of the British magical community to the Ministry's interference in Hogwarts was rather sluggish, or one could say, numb. The wizards didn't seem to care about Hogwarts' educational issues as much as expected.
Unaware?
Impossible! The Daily Prophet clearly reported on Umbridge's appointment as High Inquisitor, and Lucius Malfoy even represented "all parents" in the newspaper.
The only dissenting voice came from Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden, veterans of the Wizengamot, who resigned in protest of the appointment of an investigator to Hogwarts.
It was only because of the importance of the Wizengamot members that this incident made it into the pages of the Prophet.
However— The British wizards showed a startling lack of interest in the matter, even though the educational issues concerned their own children.
Of course, it could also be that they were forced to keep quiet due to their circumstances, fearing that speaking up would result in persecution and dismissal from the Ministry.
The wizards were not willing to give up their respectable jobs at the Ministry so easily.
Albert remained equally indifferent to these matters, adhering to the attitude of "mind your own business."
When faced with questions from students who were full of doubts after reading the Daily Prophet, Albert would tell them to write to their families for clarification.
Speaking of which, the most intriguing aspect of the whole situation was Albert's discovery that he was about to become a new member of the Wizengamot.
Naturally, there were substitute members for the Wizengamot, but they were not official substitutes; instead, they were backup candidates agreed upon privately.
However, Albert was an official substitute, meant to fill in any vacancies that arose.
Thus, Fudge claimed that Albert had not yet graduated from school and could not fulfill the responsibilities of a Wizengamot member, intending to promote his own candidate.
This explanation was obviously unconvincing to the other members.
Fudge, facing direct protests from the Wizengamot members once again, could only stifle his anger and force a smile.
Even when dealing with these elderly wizards, Fudge dared not go too far. He knew that provoking them could stir up a hornet's nest, and these elderly individuals occupying high positions in the Wizengamot must have had some tricks up their sleeves. If they didn't, they would have been ousted from their positions long ago.
After all, there were only fifty seats in the Wizengamot, and if no one stepped down, how could others ascend?
After a vote by the Wizengamot members, it was decided that no new members would be added temporarily.
Now, rumors were spreading that Fudge would be ousted next year, and who knew if Marchbanks and Ogden would return to the Wizengamot once Fudge was gone?
As for the official substitute member, Albert Anderson, everyone acknowledged his abilities and was willing to accept him as one of their own. However, Albert was too young, and someone needed to guide him through the intricacies of the Wizengamot instead of pushing him into the position haphazardly.
Not long after Fudge left the Wizengamot meeting room with a dark expression, Percy Weasley brought him another piece of bad news.
"There's a prophecy that you'll be ousted by the end of next summer," Percy said, wiping the saliva from his face with a handkerchief as Fudge glared at him.
"Many people believe it."
Fudge suddenly understood why those old fogies wanted to keep their positions vacant.
That day, Fudge locked himself in his office, and anyone passing by could hear the sound of things being smashed inside the room.
In fact, it wasn't just Fudge who was having a hard time; far away at Hogwarts, Umbridge was also encountering numerous troubles.
The position of High Inquisitor did not make Umbridge's actions at Hogwarts any smoother; on the contrary, it brought her a lot of trouble.
A large number of "Defense Courier" magazines suddenly appeared in the school and quickly became popular among the students.
Although Umbridge reacted swiftly and banned the "Defense Courier" in the blink of an eye, she couldn't stop it from spreading like wildfire within the walls of Hogwarts.
Students always found ways to keep things from Umbridge; would they be expelled just for reading the "Defense Courier"?
Dumbledore was still at Hogwarts! To strengthen her authority, new educational decrees kept popping up like mushrooms after rain.
Umbridge's series of actions seemed to have thoroughly angered the students of Hogwarts.
In the following days, howler after howler was sent to her, leaving her disheveled and flustered.
She had no choice but to explicitly ban red howlers from entering Hogwarts and even summoned wizards from the Ministry to inspect the letters received by the students.
However, she still couldn't stop the onslaught of howlers.
People borrowed owls from the owlery in advance and released them in the castle during breakfast, creating the illusion that someone was sending howlers to Umbridge.
The relentless howler assault finally came to an end when Umbridge cruelly killed an owl that had been used to deliver one of the letters.
From then on, no more howlers were sent to Umbridge by owl, because these smoking little red cuties seemed to have grown wings of their own, quietly flying into Umbridge's bedroom and surprising her in her sleep.
From that point on, Umbridge no longer stayed overnight at Hogwarts, choosing instead to use Floo powder to return home to rest, hoping to avoid being harassed to the point of nervous exhaustion.
She now even doubted the wisdom of accepting Fudge's appointment, as she hadn't had a good night's sleep since taking up her post at Hogwarts.
However, just as Umbridge finally managed to get a few nights of peaceful sleep, she encountered another troublesome matter.
A student secretly informed her that there were ghost radios appearing in the common rooms of each house, broadcasting Wizarding Wireless Network programs every day on time.
Because of this, Umbridge ordered the prefects of each house to confiscate the radios in their common rooms and once again prohibited the students of Hogwarts from using radios.
And just like that, another strange event occurred this term.
The prefects unanimously claimed that the ghost radios had disappeared after catching wind of Umbridge's plans.
Suspecting that the prefects were just giving her the runaround, Umbridge decided to take matters into her own hands and search the common rooms of each house.
Unfortunately, she couldn't even get into Ravenclaw's common room. Her political ambitions had clearly overshadowed her Ravenclaw wit.
Upon learning that Umbridge had once been a Ravenclaw student, a group of Ravenclaws attempted to expel her from the house, refusing to acknowledge such a fool as one of their own.
Fair enough! Many students also believed that Umbridge was from Slytherin and enjoyed close ties with its students.
...
"What are you all doing here?"
Having just returned from the library, Albert found himself faced with a crowd of Gryffindor students gathered near the corridor of the Fat Lady's portrait.
His gaze landed on Dolores Umbridge standing in front of the portrait, and he immediately guessed the reason for the commotion.
"Looks like they changed the password," Lee Jordan whispered to Albert, giving him a quick wink.
Had the Fat Lady's password really been changed? Of course not; the students simply didn't want Umbridge entering the Gryffindor common room, plain and simple.
A similar scenario had unfolded in front of the Ravenclaw common room, with a crowd gathered at the entrance, none willing to step forward and answer Umbridge's questions.
"Make way!"
Albert pushed through the crowd and approached the Fat Lady's portrait. Glancing at Umbridge, who was eyeing him suspiciously, he asked, "Professor, is something the matter?"
"I suspect there are prohibited items in the Gryffindor common room, and I intend to inspect it," Umbridge replied, her face still bearing that insincere, sickly sweet smile.
However, the smile looked rather forced.
"Prohibited items?" Albert feigned surprise.
"Get the portrait to open up, and don't tell me you don't know the password!" Umbridge fixed her eyes on Albert, her tone demanding.
"The password is 'Open Sesame'!" Albert replied without hesitation.
"Password accepted!" The Fat Lady spun around, revealing the entrance to the common room.
"Go on then. No pushing, everyone, enter the common room in an orderly fashion!"
Albert led the way into the common room, but as he stepped inside, someone jostled him from behind, causing the already short Umbridge to stumble and bump her head on the side of the entryway.
Climbing to her feet, Umbridge glared at the students returning to the common room. However, she was taken aback to find that the room was empty; everyone had mysteriously vanished.
When Albert came back downstairs carrying Mr. Tom, he was surprised to find Umbridge still there, and the other students lined up in the common room.
"What are you all up to?" Albert frowned, looking around.
"Umbridge thinks we're hiding radios, so she's inspecting the room..."
"Radios? You mean the ones that appear by the fireplace every day on schedule?" Albert placed Tom on an armchair and checked his pocket watch before continuing, "Didn't you tell her that the radios appear and disappear on their own every day?"
"We did, but she refuses to believe us," an innocent-looking student explained, batting their eyelashes at Albert.
"If I were you, I'd wait for the radios to appear on their own. If you consider them prohibited items, then take them away at that time. Don't go around asking others for them," Albert said impatiently, waving his hand. Suddenly, an armchair materialized behind Umbridge, and just as she was about to speak, her legs gave way, and she plopped down onto it.
"And you lot, stop crowding here and causing a ruckus. How are others supposed to get back to their dorms? Don't you have anything better to do in the evenings?" Albert glanced at the other students, dismissing them.
Hearing this, the students dispersed and went about their own business.
Albert took a seat and began flipping through a book he had borrowed from the library.
Fred and George were playing with cat toys, and everyone else ignored Umbridge as if she weren't there.
Just then, the familiar voice of the Wizarding Wireless Network broadcast echoed from the fireplace.
Welcome to the Wizarding Wireless Network.
Today's topic: All About the Pink Toad.
What is a Pink Toad, you ask? Why, it's Dolores Umbridge's nickname, of course! According to our sources, Dolores Umbridge was turned into a pink toad not too long ago.
Who came up with this brilliant idea? Let's give them a round of applause...
Umbridge's face turned an ugly shade of purple, and she whipped out her wand, ready to blast the radio into smithereens.
However, just as she was about to cast the spell, someone interrupted her.
"Don't use Dark Magic in the common room; there are students here, and you might end up hurting someone accidentally," Albert said calmly, closing his book. He looked at Umbridge, who was clearly taken aback, and added, "If you feel the need to destroy the radio, you can take it with you and do it elsewhere. What if your explosion spell goes awry and hurts someone? Explosion spells are considered Dark Magic and quite dangerous. You, as a teacher, shouldn't be using Dark Magic so freely; it sets a terrible example."
At that moment, the students in the common room burst into applause and cheered for Albert.
Umbridge's face contorted with rage, and she glared at Albert with murderous intent. She quickly strode forward, snatched the radio that was still babbling away, and slammed it onto the ground. But the radio continued to play, Sirius Black's voice filling the room: "One of Umbridge's favorite lies is that her father was a distinguished member of the Wizengamot. However, her father is very much alive, and he used to work for the Department of Magical—"
Suddenly, the voice cut off, and everyone stared at the culprit.
Umbridge, breathless, pointed her wand at the frozen radio, her lips curled in a snarl.
Under the watchful eyes of the students, Umbridge hastily scooped up the radio and stormed out.
The students couldn't help but feel disappointed, as they had been eager to learn more about Mr. Umbridge and the juicy gossip the Wizarding Wireless Network had promised to reveal about the Pink Toad.
"Does anyone have a spare radio?"
A voice rang out from the common room, but no one responded.
Everyone was intrigued by the potential dirt on Umbridge.
Just as they were lamenting their bad luck, a loud explosion echoed from outside, and the students rushed out of the common room. They followed the sound and were astonished to find a charred Umbridge being carried away on a stretcher.
Apparently, Umbridge had tried to destroy the radio, but it had backfired.
Literally.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
