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Chapter 765: Umbridge
Chapter 765: Umbridge
Seeing Dumbledore walk in from the door, Umbridge, who was sitting at the teachers' table, felt a bright light in her eyes. She became excited and quickly stood up to greet him.
"Headmaster Dumbledore! I must remind you that according to Hogwarts' school rules, the headmaster should be present before the Sorting Ceremony..." Umbridge cleared her throat and said in a peculiar tone.
However, Dumbledore acted as if he hadn't seen her, continuing straight past her without stopping. The subtle pressure he exuded cut off Umbridge's words before she could finish.
Umbridge stood there with her mouth open, stunned and her face turning from pale to purple.
By this time, Dumbledore had already walked up to the stage, his gaze sweeping over the young wizards below. He smiled and said, "Although I'm a bit late, I must still say... welcome! Welcome, First-years, to Hogwarts!"
His words were met with particularly enthusiastic applause in the Great Hall.
The older students, who had been anxious about Dumbledore's absence during the opening rituals, were finally reassured.
Once the applause subsided slightly, Dumbledore continued, "Perhaps the long journey has left you hungry, but before we enjoy a hearty meal, I have a few words to say!"
"This year, we have two changes in our teaching staff. First, I am delighted that Professor Grubbly-Plank has agreed to return to teach Care of Magical Creatures."
As he spoke, Dumbledore turned his gaze to the teachers' table. Professor Grubbly-Plank stood up, smiling and nodding to the audience, prompting another round of applause.
Harry, who was about to ask about Hagrid's whereabouts, was held back by Hermione.
Dumbledore then turned to Umbridge, who was still standing awkwardly in the aisle. "Additionally, we have a new face this year. Defense Against the Dark Arts will be taught by Professor Umbridge..."
"Cough, cough..." Umbridge cleared her throat, interrupting Dumbledore. Her face twisted into a forced smile as she said, "Thank you, Headmaster, but I would prefer to introduce myself!"
Dumbledore remained silent, seemingly accepting Umbridge's request.
Umbridge regained some confidence, no longer frowning. She managed to display her characteristic sweet, saccharine smile and spoke in a contrived manner.
"I must say, it's wonderful to be back at Hogwarts! Seeing all of you brings back memories of my own days as a student here."
"More than forty years ago, I stood where you are now, filled with excitement and joy, as the Sorting Hat placed me in my house, making me a Hogwarts student..."
Umbridge reminisced about her youth, trying to connect with the young wizards, but to little effect.
No one was particularly interested in how she had become a Prefect through hard work and tattling, nor in those outdated rules.
The audience listened with growing boredom, and Harry, with his empty stomach, could only think about when they would finally get to eat dinner and then have a good night's sleep.
"Can't this wait until after the meal?" Ron sighed, muttering to himself. Normally, the feast came first, followed by the speeches, but for some reason, this year was different.
"... moving forward, let us continuously advance into a new era of enlightenment, efficiency, and reason. We must resolutely maintain what should be maintained, improve what needs improvement, and abandon what we should prohibit..." Umbridge spoke for over forty minutes.
The first half of her speech was a fond recollection of the honors she had achieved during her student days, while the latter half emphasized that Hogwarts would undergo certain changes under the supervision of the Ministry of Magic, and that existing school rules would be refined.
"Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge. Your speech was very enlightening", Dumbledore said as he waited for Umbridge to finish before stepping back to the podium.
"As for now, everyone can enjoy today's dinner."
Dumbledore raised his left hand and waved his wand, and large pieces of beef, pies, plates of vegetables, bread, jam, and jugs of pumpkin juice appeared on the long tables of the Four Houses.
The young wizards, who had been hungry all evening, perked up and eagerly began to eat with their knives and forks.
Ivan also cut a small piece of steak and began to eat.
Harry and Ron talked about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor while they ate.
They had met Umbridge a few times before, so they weren't holding out much hope for this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. They only hoped that Umbridge wouldn't be worse than Lockhart.
"I'm afraid it's not as simple as you think... Did you understand what Umbridge was saying just now? Don't forget, she used to be an investigator for the Ministry of Magic..." Hermione put down her knife and fork, looking at them seriously.
"Did she say anything? It all sounded like nonsense, I was almost falling asleep..." Ron yawned and drank a large mouthful of ice lemon juice to suppress his drowsiness.
"Sometimes, there are important things hidden in nonsense!" Hermione said earnestly, but Harry and Ron both looked confused.
Hermione sighed and explained, "Umbridge standing here means that the Ministry of Magic wants to interfere with Hogwarts and weaken Professor Dumbledore's influence in the school! You should have seen the Daily Prophet over the past two months; it was a sign."
At the mention of those articles, Harry and Ron became quite angry.
For the past two months, the Daily Prophet had been relentlessly smearing Dumbledore. While continuously denying Voldemort's return, it had devoted over a dozen articles to proving that Dumbledore had developed dementia.
One article mentioned that Dumbledore had a habit of saying crazy things during the opening ceremony, such as the famous line, "Ridiculous! Crybaby! Dregs! Twist!"
In addition, Dumbledore was accused of abusing his authority by randomly awarding points and favoring students.
He had reportedly awarded over five hundred points to Gryffindor in just a few minutes and ignored certain violations by special students, causing Slytherin to lose the House Cup, which severely demotivated the other houses.
According to informed sources, Dumbledore also firmly believed in Harry Potter's dream and thought that the Dark Lord, who had once threatened the wizarding world, was lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike and challenge him.
(End of Chapter)
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