https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-1052-The-Art-of-Social-Embarrassment/12527848/
Chapter 1053: I'm Not Insane
Chapter 1053: I'm Not Insane
"You there, Mr. Creevey, what is that thing you're wearing around your neck?"
Just discharged from the hospital wing, Dolores Umbridge forced a smile as she called out to a young wizard, ready to unleash her pent-up anger from the past few months on some unfortunate soul.
Having just stepped out of the hospital wing, Umbridge was already feeling a bit unhinged. Everywhere she looked, students in the corridor wore silver badges bearing the crest of their respective houses. According to valuable intelligence provided by a Slytherin student, those who wore these house badges were members of an anti-Dumbledore alliance, and there was evidence that the badges could be transformed into the shape of a toad with a touch.
That group, calling themselves the "Anti-Dumbledore Alliance," had been running rampant in the school during her hospitalization, and Dennis Creevey, from a Muggle family, became Umbridge's target to make an example of.
Since she couldn't expel every student, she had to crush their arrogance, and a soft target like Creevey was the obvious choice.
"Oh, you mean this badge? It's the latest fashion in school, a house badge." Dennis Creevey was a bit nervous, but he still introduced the badge around his neck to Umbridge. "The symbol on it represents our respective houses."
"Someone told me that this is the symbol of some sort of organization." Umbridge's face was contorted with a hypocritical smile, causing Creevey to shrink back in fear, like a plump fly being eyed by a toad.
"I know," Creevey nodded solemnly.
"You know?" Umbridge's smile widened.
"Yes, Professor, it's the symbol of Hogwarts' four houses." Just as Creevey finished speaking, Umbridge's smile froze, but the young wizard seemed oblivious to her change in expression and continued, "In fact, over eighty percent of the students in the school wear these badges, even many Slytherins."
"Take it off." Umbridge's face still wore a smile, but her tone was uncompromising as she reached out for the house badge around Creevey's neck.
"What?" Creevey was taken aback.
"I said take it off." Umbridge's smile turned cold. "I suspect..."
"Professor, this is private property," Creevey reluctantly removed the badge and placed it in Umbridge's hand, whispering, "It's expensive, one Galleon."
"Who did you buy this from?" Umbridge's smile froze as she heard the surrounding students whispering and discussing what was happening. Many of them flashed their badges at her, giving her glimpses of the silver toad badges they wore.
"Number 93, Diagon Alley, Professor," Creevey whispered.
"You, Mr. Macmillan, and Miss Abbott." Umbridge fixed her gaze on the two ahead of her, signaling for them to come closer.
"Professor, is there something the matter?"
The two Hufflepuff prefects stopped in their tracks and turned to Umbridge, confusion written on their faces.
"Give me your badges," Umbridge demanded, leaving no room for argument.
"Professor, is there a problem with the badges?" Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott exchanged glances, feigning confusion as they removed their badges and handed them to Umbridge.
"I've been told that these are symbols of an illegal organization." Umbridge took the badges and tapped them, but they remained unchanged, contrary to the Slytherin student's claim that they would transform into toads.
"Oh, is that what this is about?" Ernie Macmillan realized.
"Do you know what's going on?" Umbridge raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, everyone knows." Macmillan turned to Abbott. "Don't you?"
"Yes, it's all over the school."
"Apparently, shop number 93 didn't make badges for Slytherin, so some of their students wore makeshift badges and were mocked by others. Then, some Slytherins started spreading rumors that these badges are..."
"What are they, then?" Umbridge probed.
"Symbols of the Anti-Dumbledore Alliance, but as you can see, they're just ordinary badges. They're just more elaborate, supposedly made of pure silver, which is why they're expensive—one Galleon each," Ernie Macmillan explained helplessly. "Is there an issue with the house badges, Professor?"
"Hogwarts now prohibits wearing these badges." Umbridge replied coldly, with no intention of returning them. She planned to have the Ministry's employees inspect them for any hidden secrets.
"Professor, these are private property." Ernie Macmillan frowned. "Moreover, there's no such rule in Hogwarts. If you want to ban them through an Educational Decree, please post it on the notice board first. I'm sure everyone will voluntarily remove their badges."
"Mr. Ernie Macmillan..."
Before Umbridge could utter her threat, she felt a pain in the back of her head. Turning angrily, she found the students staring at her with contempt, each one wearing a toad badge. Umbridge's anger escalated.
"Who attacked me?"
"Professor, what are you talking about? No one attacked you." Creevey stifled a laugh, feigning confusion.
Their presence here was no accident; in fact, every student in the corridor had gathered intentionally to put on a show for Umbridge.
And as for why Creevey in particular was chosen, it was because he was the only Muggle-born wizard among them.
Before Umbridge could approach the nearest student, her head was pecked again, this time by a flock of small birds that attacked her relentlessly with their beaks.
Ah! Umbridge was almost driven mad by the birds. She drew her wand, attempting to disperse them, but her comical attempts only made the students struggle to hold back their laughter.
"Who's laughing!"
Umbridge glared angrily at the students who were mocking her as she tried to chase away the birds. When she used the Stunning Spell on one of the birds, it split into two and continued its attack.
"No one's laughing, Professor," Ernie said softly.
"Hahahahaha!"
"A toad is still a toad!"
"She really is an idiot!"
"Her expression is hilarious."
The voices continued to echo in the corridor, but aside from Umbridge, everyone else maintained blank expressions, as if they hadn't heard a thing.
"Professor, are you alright? Do you need us to escort you to the hospital wing?" Ernie Macmillan asked with concern.
"Quick, help me get rid of these damn birds!" Umbridge covered her face with her hands to protect herself from the birds' beaks.
"What kind of birds are you talking about, Professor? There are no birds here." Hannah Abbott said with concern, taking a step back as she spoke, lest Umbridge suddenly go crazy and attack her.
"Those damn little birds." Umbridge aimed a Blasting Curse at one of them, causing the bird to explode instantly. However, the other students continued to look at Umbridge with blank faces, as if to say, 'Are you out of your mind?' "Professor, are you feeling alright? I think you might be under too much stress." A Ravenclaw student watching from the sidelines said anxiously, "There are no birds here, you can ask anyone."
"I'm fine!" Umbridge shouted. "Now, take off those badges this instant!"
"Professor, this is just an ordinary house badge." The student nervously took off the badge and threw it to Umbridge.
However, whether it was intentional or due to a lack of strength, the badge fell to the ground.
Ernie Macmillan, who had been observing the scene, could no longer hold back and bent down to pick up the badge, handing it to Umbridge. "This is just an ordinary badge, Professor. Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital wing?"
"She's a raving madwoman!"
"She was never quite right in the head, to begin with!"
"This is fantastic! She's finally lost it!"
"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"
Various voices echoed at varying distances in Umbridge's ears.
"Shut up, all of you!"
"Professor, are you alright? No one is talking. Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital wing?" Ernie Macmillan backed away, unsure. Not just him, but the other students also slowly moved away from Umbridge as if she were carrying some contagious disease.
The next moment, a flock of small birds flew towards Umbridge from behind, constantly harassing and attacking her. Umbridge cried out in pain and frantically waved her wand, trying to disperse the flock of birds.
"Don't worry, Professor, I think Madam Pomfrey will definitely be able to cure your hallucinations." Ernie Macmillan said expressionlessly.
In fact, he was struggling to hold back his laughter.
Hallucinations?
Of course not. Everything here was staged, and everyone was an actor except for Umbridge, who had been given a calming draught to keep her in check.
"This is not a hallucination!" Umbridge dropped her fake smile, her face contorting with rage. "If I find out who is behind this..."
"Hahaha, you almost made me laugh to death."
"What an idiot."
"Go rot in hell."
"Well then, we'll be off." Ernie Macmillan gave a subtle signal to the others, and they quickly dispersed as if they had encountered a plague. As they left, they whispered among themselves, discussing whether Umbridge had truly gone insane.
"Look, everyone knows you've gone crazy, why won't you admit it?"
"A madman will never admit to being mad."
"Shut up, all of you! If I find out who's behind this, I'll flay them alive." Umbridge raged, scanning the now-empty corridor for the source of the voices.
"Look what we have here, a raving mad toad." Peeves the Poltergeist appeared out of thin air, taking a keen interest in Umbridge's contorted face.
"It's you, isn't it? You're the one behind all this!" Umbridge pointed her wand at Peeves and fired a spell at him.
However, the spell passed right through Peeves, causing no harm.
"Me?" Peeves pointed at himself, feigning surprise, but he quickly accepted the outcome and stuck his tongue out at Umbridge before bursting into hysterical laughter. "That's right, it's me, Peeves!"
As he spoke, Peeves pulled out a dungbomb and smeared it all over Umbridge's face.
"See, she's completely lost it."
"She's gone off the deep end."
"Well, it's not surprising. She wasn't exactly stable to begin with."
"She's in for a world of trouble now."
Umbridge seemed stunned by Peeves' actions, and the next moment, a sharp scream echoed through the corridor.
The enraged Umbridge fired spells at Peeves indiscriminately, but to no avail, only managing to get herself smeared with more dungbombs.
The battle ended with Umbridge fleeing in defeat.
However, Peeves didn't seem inclined to let Umridge off the hook and chased after her, humming the 'Toad Song' while whacking her on the head with a rolled-up newspaper.
"Do you think this will really work?"
Not long after Umbridge's departure, several figures appeared out of thin air in the now-deserted corridor.
"It'll work." Fred said with a smile. "If we do this a few more times, Umbridge will definitely start questioning her own sanity."
"If Umbridge goes to St. Mungo's for a mental evaluation, our plan might be exposed." Cedrick still had his doubts. However, they didn't have a better option at the moment.
The method suggested by Fred and George was too nasty, and he was worried that carrying it out might cause the situation to spiral out of control.
After all, if Umbridge truly experienced that, she would probably go completely insane! Dealing with a madman was never a good idea.
"She'll be suspicious and paranoid, and I think that's enough. We can spread the word around the school that Umbridge has gone crazy, and a madwoman can't be allowed to continue as a professor." George explained.
"The Runny-Rump Platter idea is more reliable. I'm sure anyone who goes through that wouldn't dare show their face in Hogwarts again."
"Harry."
Hermione sighed and turned to her friend.
"Do you think we should go watch the show in her office?" Ron suddenly asked.
"It's best not to. Let's not give her any chance to discover us. We'll do this a couple more times, and as Albert said, after two or three incidents, Umbridge will definitely start questioning her own sanity." George looked at Harry and continued, "Then, we'll find an opportunity to get the toad to drink that potion, and I think we won't have to worry about her causing any more trouble after that."
"If this plan doesn't work, we can use your other idea..." Harry regretted that they couldn't make Umbridge into a Hogwarts legend, "Or we could tell her there's a secret base of Dumbledore's Army in the Forbidden Forest and let her go communicate with those giant spiders."
"Ahem, although the toad is stupid, we should still be careful. If she's really pushed to her limit, who knows what she might do." George gave a friendly reminder, "Madness knows no bounds."
(End of Chapter)
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