"Umbridge—'High Inquisitor'?"

Hannah frowned, reverting from her koala form to human shape, and looked at the newspaper in Hermione's hand. "What does this mean?"

Hermione glanced quickly at the pink toad still in conversation with Dumbledore and read softly:

"Magical education stands at the doorway of a new era. Guiding educational reform steadily and correctly is the Ministry of Magic's core demand. Therefore, in an impromptu high-level ministerial meeting last week, the Ministry passed a new decree: the 'Educational Decree Number Twenty-Two,' strengthening control from all sectors of the magical community over Hogwarts' new curriculum, thereby better safeguarding the reforms of magical education standards—"

"Safeguarding? They almost threw the professor into Azkaban," Hannah said, raising her eyebrows with a strange expression.

"Wait, the real meat is here," Hermione said, her face grave.

"—It is understood that the High Inquisitor, as a member of Hogwarts' faculty, is not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Magic. She has the right to review her faculty colleagues, ensuring that they all meet basic teaching standards. Professor Umbridge has been granted this position in addition to her teaching duties. Considering the importance of the new curriculum reform, she has decided to temporarily relinquish her position as Senior Undersecretary to devote herself wholeheartedly to teaching and reviewing."

"These new measures by the Ministry of Magic and Professor Umbridge's decision have quickly received enthusiastic support and praise from Hogwarts students' parents."

"'Learning that Professor Umbridge has chosen to return to the teaching position fills me with admiration that words cannot express,' Mr. Lucius Malfoy, 39, said last night at his Wiltshire mansion. 'The teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts has always lacked systematic guidance. Knowing that Professor Umbridge has not been affected by the rumors and gossip before, we can breathe a sigh of relief.'"

"The so-called rumors and gossip undoubtedly refer to the emergency arrest of Quirinus Quirrell by Undersecretary Umbridge last week. The Ministry of Magic's actions in that operation were quite controversial and overstepped its authority, which this newspaper has previously reported and commented on."

"On the other hand, in a recent temporary operation initiated by Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge, the Ministry of Magic successfully raided three unregistered illegal werewolf gathering points, achieving an unprecedented level of control over the werewolf population within Britain. The Order of Merlin Committee is discussing the matter of awarding her an honor, and the Anti-Dark Arts League has recently announced Ms. Umbridge as their lifetime honorary member..."

Hermione skimmed the following content and shrugged, rolling up the newspaper and placing it beside her plate.

"Well, the rest is praising her expertise in Defense Against the Dark Arts, nothing nutritious—the core points are just two: she can now review, and even dismiss, professors; and the success in cracking down on werewolves has offset her previous controversial actions, making her an anti-dark arts vanguard."

"Dismiss professors?! I can't believe it, that's such terrible power!"

After listening to Hermione's voice broadcast, Ginny looked shocked, looking at Hermione with bated breath, awaiting further in-depth interpretation.

However, this time she was clearly going to be disappointed.

Because the confusion in Hermione Granger's eyes was no less than hers.

Hermione frowned and looked at Eileen.

She had originally thought that after suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of Professor Apocalis last week, Professor Umbridge would at least keep a low profile for a while, even if she returned to Hogwarts. Who knew that, judging from the current situation, the Ministry of Magic's interference in Hogwarts had instead intensified.

This was too unreasonable, wasn't it? Had all the Ministry of Magic officials been hit by the Obliviation Charm?!

"Generally speaking, there are two ways to respond when you've made a mistake."

Eileen picked up a napkin and wiped her mouth, slowly holding up two fingers, and said softly.

"Repent and try to make amends, admit your mistake but continue as before. But for the politicians in the Ministry of Magic, the first will greatly reduce their prestige, and the second will be questioned as being incompetent and corrupt. So, the only answer left is... to find a way to prove that you weren't wrong."

"This is the law of survival in politics. If you plan to enter the Ministry of Magic in the future, Hermione, you have to learn these things."

"No need, I will never consider entering politics in my life," Hermione refused without thinking.

"Oh, perhaps—"

Eileen glanced at the future Minister of Magic in the original timeline, shrugged noncommittally, and continued with a smile.

"However, adding a High Inquisitor can also be a good thing, especially for Hogwarts right now."

"What do you mean?"

"Hogwarts now has a full eight grades. Currently, apart from the flying class only for the first grade, there are now nine required courses, which is 72 different teaching syllabi... If you consider the class factors, then you have to multiply by two, which is 144."

After negotiation and discussion, Grammar and Mathematics courses have been temporarily classified into the required courses.

Perhaps there will be corresponding subdivisions and adjustments in the future, but in the short term, it should still become one of the students' nightmares.

After a slight pause, Eileen glanced at the course selection reference form she had just received from Cedric.

"...And then, there are currently six elective courses. The first and second grades are auditing, so there are roughly 36 different teaching syllabi. Adding the required courses, there are now roughly 108 to 180 distinctly different teaching syllabus plans."

"On the other hand, due to the current situation of the new curriculum and new curriculum reform, many courses have been enriched with quite a lot of content on the original basis. Therefore..."

"Therefore, Professor Umbridge alone cannot simultaneously attend to all the courses at Hogwarts?"

Hermione nodded thoughtfully, tentatively asking based on Eileen's words.

"Exactly—"

Eileen snapped her fingers, her ahoge swaying triumphantly, and said softly with great pleasure.

"But those outside the school, whether it's the magical society, the school board, or the Ministry of Magic, won't think that way. According to the current rules, any subject that fails to raise questions or voice doubts this semester will be considered to have passed the first phase of acceptance. What's more, Professor Umbridge herself still has courses..."

"In short, explanation complete—it doesn't matter if you didn't understand, these things won't be on the exam anyway."

Ginny and Hannah turned their heads to look at Eileen, and then at Hermione, still with blank expressions.

However, compared to the other two little dunderheads, Miss "Calculating Machine" clearly understood the explanation, nodding slightly thoughtfully.

Thinking this way, it made much more sense. This was a teaching game between Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic.

Umbridge's power, and the damage she could cause, wasn't as great as it seemed.

No matter how remarkable the review authority was, it would ultimately be constrained by time and energy, unable to be truly liberated.

If she focused on reviewing the subjects with the most changes, then she would have to expend a lot of energy to understand the new knowledge.

Perhaps Umbridge didn't need to accurately grasp the concepts like a student, but she at least had to rely on certain knowledge points to raise objections. This wasn't a simple job, and it was foreseeable that many of her attacks might be easily resolved with "course corrections."

On the other hand, based on the information Eileen had just revealed, Hogwarts was probably planning to separate the grades for the subjects.

This meant that if Umbridge wanted to suspend or even dismiss a professor, her scope of review had to cover all the courses that professor was responsible for; otherwise, her "evidence" could probably only suspend the courses of the grades she reviewed.

After all, this academic year was almost halfway over, and the long Christmas vacation was coming soon. Professor Umbridge didn't have much time left.

"Okay, stop frowning and thinking about these unimportant things. Let's study how to choose courses—"

Eileen clapped her hands, ending the discussion about the pink toad. It wasn't good to talk about disgusting things while eating.

"There's only one Magical Creatures class available each week, so it's best to grab it directly... The course selection this time is for the first and second grades together, so the competition isn't small. It's best to decide before breakfast ends. Muggle Studies can also be considered, and Ancient Runes is also recommended to study..."

"Ancient Runes?" Ginny was stunned for a few seconds.

Ancient Runes were a type of writing used by wizards hundreds of years ago. In her impression, this course was paired with History of Magic as Hogwarts' two major hypnotic courses. After all, not many people would find it interesting to study ancient runic magical manuscripts and their related translations.

Anyway, almost no one in Gryffindor would choose to take this course after entering the third grade.

"Well, Eileen's and my strength and healing abilities both come from the magical effects of runic magic, rua..."

Hannah nodded, happily explaining proactively, while easily bending a metal spoon into a bracelet like it was made of plasticine.

"But I'm not sure if they'll teach it in class, because this content is actually—sss—"

"There are many secrets hidden in ancient magic, it's not just about power, but more importantly the inheritance of ancient knowledge."

Eileen released her hand on Hannah's waist without leaving a trace, and quickly continued, "Anyway, Hannah, you have to sign up for the Ancient Runes course. You lack a basic systematic understanding. On the other hand, it's best if everyone doesn't miss out on Muggle Studies either."

"Muggle Studies... is it necessary for us to take it too?"

Hermione frowned, her finger sliding over the parchment, and said hesitantly.

"This course is mainly open to children from wizarding families, right? Understanding Muggles from a wizard's perspective, I heard that the content of the class is mostly basic life common sense. Compared to that, I'm more curious about Divination and Arithmancy—"

If a wizard wants to work in Muggle liaison after graduation, they must obtain excellent grades in Muggle Studies in the N.E.W.T. (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests), but there is an exception to this requirement—if the wizard comes from the Muggle world, that is, what the magical world calls a Muggle-born wizard, then they can skip this screening indicator by default, directly equivalent to an excellent grade in Muggle Studies.

Therefore, for Hermione, what she needed to consider more was whether the class time was meaningful.

You should know that Hogwarts has opened six elective courses in this round.

Looking at the time, even if a student fills Monday to Friday, they can only choose a maximum of four elective courses—the course selection form is displayed according to the third-year student's official timetable, and due to the original course conflicts, only the afternoon and part of the evening are available for lower grades to choose from.

"Divination? Arithmancy?"

Eileen repeated softly with a subtle expression, shaking her head slightly.

"I'm sorry, but you might have to consider giving up one. The Muggle Studies course after this might not be what you imagine. Professor Umbridge's and Professor Quirrell's confrontation, the teaching reforms at Hogwarts during this period, and the Ministry of Magic's reaction, and... well, combined with some off-campus information you know... Hermione, you're so smart, you should be able to deduce what's happening to magical education, right?"

"Magic and science are trying to merge?" Hermione said softly.

"That's right."

"I understand, then I'll choose Divination."

Hermione's gaze lingered on the course selection form in her hand for a few seconds before finally making up her mind.

She took out a pen from her schoolbag and put a checkmark √ on Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, and Divination.

Arithmancy could wait until the next semester, after all, she still had a Mathematics class now. And about the mysterious Divination, Hermione had always had high expectations and curiosity, especially after getting to know Eileen and Luna, she gradually believed that metaphysics might exist.

"But, if we choose Muggle Studies..."

Ginny said hesitantly, subconsciously looking up at the faculty table at the end of the hall.

"Since Professor Umbridge is back, then Professor Quirrell's class after that—"

"What are you worried about? Ginny. Professor Umbridge grabs Professor Quirrell again, or dismisses Professor Quirrell, and then everyone doesn't have to hand in next week's Muggle Studies homework? Don't forget, even if that happens, there's still Professor Apocalis who can substitute."

Hannah grinned and rubbed Ginny's face like Eileen did, and continued.

"I have to say, that would be great—being able to see her beaten up every once in a while, and not having to go to class or hand in homework. Honestly, I'm starting to look forward to seeing Professor Apocalis being reviewed, that would be so interesting!"

Since Professor Apocalis fought six people alone and easily defeated the Ministry of Magic Aurors, this ruthless, taciturn, low-key and domineering elderly castle caretaker quickly replaced Dumbledore as the new idol among the students.

Many students have even started imitating the Old Demon King's actions and lines.

And as Hogwarts' first prefect, Hannah's biggest wish was that one day Professor Apocalis could substitute again.

You should know that Professor Apocalis never assigns homework in his classes.

"Professor Umbridge isn't that stupid..."

Hermione rolled her eyes at Hannah, looking at the silly girl like she was a fool, and resisted the urge to pour cold water.

"Okay, hurry up. If you want to choose a few more courses, you have to hand in the form this morning, and we still have to go to class later. If Professor Umbridge happens to check our class in the first round, and you just happen to be late, then that might not be so great, right?"