Mysterious Journey

Chapter 1056 Umbridge's Conspiracy

As they entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, the young wizards stopped talking in unison.

Unlike other professors at Hogwarts, Dolores Umbridge had many disciplinary requirements. If you didn't want to be "kindly" reminded of the rules by a pink toad with a saccharine smile, you had better learn to be quiet after stepping into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

On the other hand, compared to some professors who occasionally arrived at the last second, Umbridge was more accustomed to arriving early.

This allowed her to observe the students' arrival order more freely and to discipline and deduct points according to her mood.

Evidently, today would be no exception.

When Aileen and the others entered the classroom, Professor Umbridge was already sitting behind the desk.

Back in Hogwarts Castle, Umbridge was still wearing her fluffy pink cardigan, a black velvet bow on her head, and an unsettling smile on her pale, loose face. Even Hermione had to admit that Harry's previous analogy was quite apt—it looked as if a large black fly had stupidly landed on an even larger pink toad.

The whole class entered the classroom in silence, as if attending a funeral rather than a class.

This was almost universally regarded as the most grueling class—at least one could sleep in History of Magic.

"Good afternoon, class!"

Professor Umbridge said sweetly when the bell rang for the official start of class.

She didn't seem to notice the resistance in the classroom at all. Hermione even suspected that the professor would find it enjoyable.

The students answered "Good afternoon" in a scattered manner, each opening their books, taking out quills, and preparing to start the lesson.

"Tsk, tsk," Professor Umbridge narrowed her eyes, mimicking a little girl's affected voice, "That won't do, will it? I remember I taught you how to answer before—'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.' Please do it again. Good afternoon, class!"

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," everyone exchanged a helpless glance and answered in unison.

"That's right," Professor Umbridge nodded with satisfaction, and continued sweetly, "It's not too difficult, is it? I hope I don't have to remind you again next time... Now put away your wands, we're going to start today's lesson."

Disappointment was evident on many students' faces. Umbridge's class had only one content previously—copying from the textbook.

Many people's wands hadn't even been drawn out. Their quills, ink, and parchment were already ready.

However, what was slightly surprising was that this time Professor Umbridge did not project the "excerpt" content onto the blackboard as she had done in the past.

Professor Umbridge opened her handbag, took out a ridiculously short wand, and tapped it hard on the edge of the desk.

In the next moment, a pile of bundled newspapers immediately appeared in front of the desk.

"First, we need to distribute today's teaching materials, let me see—"

She took a student list from her handbag and pretended to look at it carefully for a few seconds.

"Harry Potter, Aileen Cussland... you two come over and help me distribute these newspapers to each student, one for each person. Oh, I remember I said just now, put away your wands, right? Mr. Potter." Umbridge looked at Harry and said with a smile, "Before officially graduating from Hogwarts, I don't recommend you use too much magic to complete your tasks. This is the beginning of many wizards going astray."

"Now please begin, we will start the next step after everyone receives the teaching materials."

Evidently, commanding specific students would make Umbridge happier than ordering ordinary young wizards.

No matter how outstanding a student is, they are still a student in front of a formal professor—she must find a way to instill this concept into their minds.

"Okay, Professor Umbridge, I'll distribute them to everyone—"

Aileen glanced at the pile of *Daily Prophets* from a few days ago, raising her eyebrows meaningfully.

She vaguely guessed what the pink toad was thinking, but she really wanted to see how she would perform later.

As for distributing "teaching materials" or something, Umbridge, an official who was far from the front line of teaching, obviously didn't understand that such things could be done quickly without magic. Trying to use this kind of thing to drag out time was simply too naive, stupid Ministry of Magic official.

Aileen looked around the classroom, six rows and six columns, two-person desks, standard seating arrangement, so...

She picked up the pile of *Daily Prophets* and casually divided them into three stacks, placing them on the three front desks in the classroom.

"One for each person, pass it from front to back, pass the extras in the last row to the side—"

"Oh, right, Harry, go to the back of the classroom and collect the extras."

Hmm? This little witch...

Umbridge narrowed her eyes, sized up Aileen, and said nothing.

The heir to an ancient alchemical family from abroad, a Muggle orphan from Scotland, which identity is real?

As the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic, she clearly smelled a hint of something from the girl—the scent of power. This little girl has a lot of experience in the allocation of personnel and materials, which is different from magical knowledge. This is something ordinary second-year students cannot do.

However, no matter which identity the girl has, she is a very good object for Umbridge to establish her authority.

The protests of foreign wizarding families cannot affect the decisions of senior officials in the British Ministry of Magic.

A few minutes later, when everyone had received the *Daily Prophet*, Umbridge raised her wand and tapped the blackboard.

【Defense Against the Dark Arts】

【Correctly Distinguishing Between Humans and Dangerous Creatures】

"Students, according to the Ministry of Magic's investigation, the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts has been inconsistent and unsystematic. Due to the rapid turnover of teachers, many of them have not taught in accordance with the curriculum standards approved by the Ministry of Magic, so that you lack a complete understanding of the theoretical knowledge related to Defense Against the Dark Arts—I originally planned to start from the basics, but Professor Lupin obviously has some different understandings of the Ministry of Magic's suggestions..."

Professor Umbridge paused slightly here, a trace of gloom flashing in her eyes, and then continued with a smile.

"Of course, I can understand. Compared with boring rules, everyone cares more about the threat of dark creatures and dark wizards, right?"

Dolores Umbridge turned around to face the whole class, her short, stubby hands clasped together in front of her chest, as if she were holding a press conference, or holding an important meeting in the Ministry of Magic, smiling insincerely.

"Hogwarts is, after all, a school far removed from society. Whether we are learning powerful spells in the classroom, or learning magical theories to restrain ourselves, these are essentially simulated exercises that are divorced from reality. This is also the reason for the immaturity of graduates when they first enter society."

"But you will be happy to know that these problems can finally be corrected and solved."

"From today onwards, we will combine the actual cases of the Ministry of Magic's fight against the Dark Arts with some content from the textbooks, as well as some theories carefully arranged by Ministry of Magic Aurors and researchers, so that Hogwarts' teaching will enter a new field. Please copy these words down."

As she spoke, she tapped the blackboard again, and the two lines of words just now disappeared, replaced by "Course Objectives".

【1. Understanding the Basic Composition of "Dark Arts" and "Dark Creatures"】

【2. Learn to Identify the "Dark Forces" Hidden Around and Know Their Threats】

【3. Jointly Maintain the Stability and Harmony of Ourselves and the Wizarding Community in the Context of Practical Application】

The only sound in the classroom was the rustling of quills writing on parchment.

Two or three minutes later, after each student had copied down Professor Umbridge's three course objectives, she continued to ask:

"Now does everyone have a copy of the November *Daily Prophet* from last year, and Quentin Trimble's *The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection*? I remember that I should have had the prefects inform you to bring the latest teaching materials yesterday afternoon."

A scattered, murmuring voice of affirmation sounded in the class.

"I think we need to do it again," Professor Umbridge said sweetly, "When I ask you a question, I want you to answer 'Yes, Professor Umbridge.' or 'No, Professor Umbridge.' Let's do it again: Does everyone now have the two basic teaching materials I just mentioned? I think the rules I just said are not very difficult, are they?"

"Yes, Professor Umbridge," the whole class answered in unison.

"Very good." Professor Umbridge nodded with satisfaction, "I want you to carefully read the news reports on the 'Werewolf Purge Operation' on the first, fifth, and seventh editions of the *Daily Prophet*. Read carefully, and don't talk to each other while reading."

Professor Umbridge left the blackboard and sat down on the chair behind the desk, her toad-like bulging eyes surveying the classroom.

Aileen glanced at the *Daily Prophet* spread out on her desk, a playful expression appearing at the corner of her mouth.

Reading newspapers in class was a novel form of class that the young wizards had never seen before.

It must be said that Umbridge's trick was very effective, and she could sense that the previous resistance in the classroom was rapidly dissipating.

Soon, the young wizards began to actively search for other related information on the newspaper—the content of this edition of the *Daily Prophet* was carefully selected by the Ministry of Magic. In addition to the editions mentioned by Umbridge, there were also many hidden related contents.

Especially when matched with those seemingly stimulating and fierce werewolf moving pictures, as well as some shocking traces of battle, it was even more eye-catching.

Half a quarter of an hour later, the young wizards in the classroom began to whisper to each other.

Behind Aileen, Harry and Draco began to discuss the tactical skills of the Aurors in a low voice, while Lavender Brown in the distance was condemning the ugliness and disgustingness of werewolves with another Ravenclaw girl... And what was quite surprising was that Professor Umbridge on the podium seemed to have suddenly become deaf and did not interrupt the conversation of the young wizards at this time to implement her classroom discipline.

The officials of the Ministry of Magic are much more difficult and experienced than she imagined...

Compared with the "state of war" when the Dark Lord returned, the ability to confuse right and wrong and distort facts in the conventional field should not be underestimated, or this is the basic attribute of every government, but she did not expect Umbridge to use it in teaching "invasion."

Aileen flipped through the newspaper absentmindedly, while Hermione next to her also showed rare agitation.

As the "reserve justice" miss, she may be far from actual power, but she has almost the same access to information as Aileen—except for a few "Major Arcana level" top secrets, most of the information of the Destiny Group is open to her.

Among them, naturally, is the "Werewolf Project," or "Magical Family Project," which was launched recently.

Regarding the dirty decisions of the Ministry of Magic, the aid signals from the werewolf settlements, and the achievements of the "Werewolf Purge Plan"...

All the truth was without any concealment or disguise in front of Hermione. Therefore, when Dolores Umbridge released the revised illusion of the *Daily Prophet*, the last bit of luck in the young lady's heart was completely shattered. Looking at those glaring, exaggerated words, and those extremely ferocious and violent werewolves under the stimulation of spells and potions, she couldn't help but think of what Luna had said to her before:

"People's hearts are often more terrible than wild beasts, because human nature itself is more complex than this world."

Luna was right, Hermione thought with a solemn expression, perhaps Professor Umbridge herself was actually a beast.

Just like the definition of werewolves in books, the definition of "Boggarts" is also the same—its most dangerous part is that it will constantly try to turn other people into "monsters," and by the way, gather together to devour those weak people who are unwilling to become "monsters."

And now, Professor Umbridge is trying to... turn everyone into monsters.

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Good!