Chapter 676: way of diverting attention

Chapter 676: way of diverting attention

Chapter 676: Ways to divert attention

Perhaps out of desire for meritorious service, Umbridge vacated her office in just half a day and returned to the Ministry of Magic that night.

The next day, the whole school was plunged into a sea of ​​joy, and for some unknown reason, the originally ordinary breakfast was as sumptuous as a banquet, with golden plates filling the dining table.

“How did you do that?” Fred and George jumped up to the Hufflepuff table with a large jug of pumpkin juice.

 “What?” Kyle asked.

 “Umbridge,” said Fred, happily pouring a large glass of pumpkin juice.

“Don’t try to lie to us.” George sat next to him and raised his eyebrows and said, “You must know something.”

"Well, I do know something." Kyle said with a smile, "Fudge had an important errand to do, and I happened to be nearby at the time, so I recommended Umbridge."

 “He agreed?” George asked a question that seemed stupid to others.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Kyle said, "Fudge has found the best candidate, Umbridge himself is very satisfied, and the students at Hogwarts are also very happy. It can be said to be a triple win."

"I don't care about Fudge and Umbridge..." Fred drank up the pumpkin juice in the cup boldly, "but it's really a great thing for us."

“Haha, get rid of Umbridge...you will become a hero, at least our Gryffindor hero.” George patted Kyle on the shoulder.

“It is no exaggeration to say that we even think you can win another special contribution award to the school with this.”

"It would be great if it was like what you said, but it's a pity that Principal Dumbledore is not in school." Kyle smiled and didn't take it seriously.

Hogwarts will not give a student a special contribution to the school award just because he drove away a professor, no matter how annoying the professor is.

 In addition to the students, the professor was also very happy.

 At the teacher's desk, Professor McGonagall was chatting with Snape next to him. Both of them looked very relaxed, not at all the stoic look they had before.

Professor Trelawney, who was sitting across from them, was drinking glass of sherry one after another.

The school cafeteria does not provide drinks like wine, not even for professors, so she drinks everything she buys from the Three Broomsticks.

And it was the best sherry from Three Broomsticks. One bottle cost thirty galleons. In just a short while, she had finished two bottles and was opening the third bottle.

 In other words, she drank one month's salary in just one meal.

Of course, not everyone is happy, such as Tonks...

 At this time, she was sitting there helplessly, without any smile on her face.

She couldn't laugh. Now that Umbridge has returned to the Ministry of Magic, wouldn't it be natural for her, as a teaching assistant, to become a professor?

Thinking of the legendary Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's curse, Tonks felt that the tender and juicy steak in her mouth was as dry as hay and was difficult to swallow.

"No..." Tonks stood up suddenly, raised her legs and walked out of the auditorium, preparing to go back and write a letter to Fudge and Dumbledore.

Whoever wants to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, she will definitely not take over.

 Moody was such a cautious old Auror, but also powerful enough. As a result, he had just finished teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts for one school year when he was suddenly attacked.

Sirius was also tortured by Death Eaters half a year after taking over this job, and almost died.

The only lucky one was Lupine, but even he lay in the school hospital for a long time, and was carried into the school hospital in his werewolf state.

It is said that several bones in his body were broken at that time, and his whole body was covered with bandages. He lay in the school hospital for three days before he could barely get up and walk.

That was a rough-skinned werewolf who could ignore some of the spells, yet he was injured like that.

It would be fine if it was Dumbledore who took action, let alone the werewolf, even the fire dragon would have to go out sideways in front of the principal.

But the problem is that it was too simple for Dumbledore to restrain Lupine who turned into a werewolf, and it was impossible for him to take such a heavy hand, including the professors.

 But Lupine was still injured.

This position is too weird. Tonks doesn't think she is much better than them. It's better to be cautious.

Even if he can't be transferred back, the school still has to find a new professor... Three members of the Order of the Phoenix have already suffered. Dumbledore can't keep cheating his own people.

Tonks left in a rage.

 It can only be said that her idea is very good...but that's all.

It took a full week before she received a reply from the Ministry of Magic. The content was very simple. The Ministry of Magic was short of manpower and could not find a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for the time being.

As for Dumbledore...he hasn't replied yet, and no one knows where he has gone.

Tonks was desperate. She only felt that the way forward was confused, and she hesitated to stock up on some healing potions. By the way, she asked who had the tears of the phoenix...she might need that.

Except for Tonks, everyone else lived a very happy life. Without Umbridge, every day was like a Christmas holiday, relaxed and enjoyable.

 Interestingly, the professors seemed to blame Kyle for Umbridge's departure from school.

 Mainly because of Professor McGonagall.

She went to the Ministry of Magic with her, but as soon as they came back, Umbridge was transferred away by Fudge. How could such a coincidence happen? Someone must have done something.

At that time, the only person who had contact with Fudge was Kyle, so the answer was obvious.

 So during this week, Kyle was able to get extra college points in almost every class.

 Five points for doing well in Transfiguration class, five points for handing Professor Sprout a shovel, and five points for helping correct classmates' gestures in Charms class...

Although it's not much, it can't stand up to the frequency. After a week, Hufflepuff's hourglass has skyrocketed by more than a hundred points, leaving the other three houses behind with an absolute advantage.

"It seems that Professor McGonagall has completely given up on competing for this year's Academy Cup." Fred looked at the hourglass in the auditorium and sighed: "If this continues, we may never be able to catch up with Hufflepuff."

"No, there is still a chance." Kyle on the side said with a smile, "As long as you don't deduct any more points."

Since the first grade, these two people have been one of the main points deducted from Gryffindor House. Although after entering the seventh grade, they have become much smarter and have not been caught breaking school rules for a long time.

But as luck would have it, the number of fifth-grade classes suddenly increased after the Christmas holiday, and their quick-acting truant candy also became popular. Sometimes more than a dozen students in one class would vomit, and their tongues would suddenly change. large, or other different conditions.

This abnormal situation naturally attracted the attention of Professor McGonagall, and he followed the clues to find Fred and George, the two culprits who were selling quick-acting skipping candy.

Needless to say, the final result was that each of them was deducted fifty points, which directly caused Gryffindor's ranking to drop from third to last.

"You should tell Snape about this." Fred obviously didn't want to take the blame. "If he could deduct a few points from us, maybe Gryffindor would be number one now."

This is true. Snape has always been merciless when it comes to deducting points from Gryffindor.

And since Umbridge left, he has returned to the first place on the list of Gryffindor's most hated professors, with the second place to be determined.

 …

Umbridge's departure has driven away part of the gloom hanging over Hogwarts. The gloomy March finally showed some sunshine at the end. Even the continuous wind and rain in April seemed to be much more pleasing to the eye. .

The only problem was that the Quidditch players had to practice in wet conditions and on a muddy pitch.

Even with the waterproof and moisture-proof badge, this is still very uncomfortable.

 Until the day before the Easter holiday, Dumbledore did not come back. No one knew why he had been away for more than a month.

However, they did get news from Umbridge.

“Oh, look at this...” Cedric pushed a copy of the Daily Prophet in front of Kyle.

　　【Ministry of Magic staff successfully thwarted the Death Eaters' plot】

The title is very eye-catching, and there is a photo of Umbridge at the bottom. She has finally changed out of her pink cardigan and is standing on a street holding a wand.     "Look at this..."

Cedric took the newspaper and read:

“This morning a pipe explosion occurred in a Muggle street, causing uproar among Muggles and injuring dozens of Muggles.

"Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Magic, led the strikers to the scene as soon as possible. According to the investigation, the culprit of this incident was identified as Antonin Dolo, a Death Eater who had previously escaped from prison. Hough was seen by witnesses nearby who saw him running away in panic.

“It is reported that Antonin Dolohov is an extremely cruel Death Eater. Among his past crimes are the use of the Death Curse and attacks on Muggles many times.

“It is not difficult to guess that his purpose this time is to announce his return to everyone.”

Deputy Minister Umbridge, who was in charge of leading the team, said: "We received the report too late. If we had been earlier, we might have been able to catch him."

“She called on people to be as vigilant as possible. Antonin Dolohov is a Death Eater who does all kinds of evil. Once anyone finds his traces, he must inform the Ministry of Magic immediately.

“This is a special period. Only by working together and uniting can we win the next war.”

Cedric put down the newspaper, smacked his lips and said, "Is she going to catch Death Eaters?"

 When he was in school before, he didn't realize that Umbridge, who was obsessed with power, had such skills.

Capturing Death Eaters...Cedric couldn't relate this kind of thing to Umbridge anyway.

"Who knows..." Kyle shrugged.

He remembered that the last time he went to the Ministry of Magic, he went to chat with Mr. Weasley because he was bored and accidentally saw a document on his desk.

It said that someone made a bad joke and blew up a trash can on a Muggle street. It happened to be off-duty time, and the trash that flew out hit many people.

It seemed like there were fifteen or sixteen, Kyle couldn't remember clearly for a while.

 The reason he remembered this was entirely because Mr. Weasley complained that someone above him did not pay attention to this matter and must let them solve other problems first.

Kyle didn't know if this had anything to do with today's report, but judging from the content...the street exploded and a dozen Muggles were injured, so all the key information was consistent.

  He whispered this discovery to Cedric and Connor.

"You mean...this is false news?" Kangna said incredulously: "The culprit of this matter is not Antonin Dolokhov, but someone else?"

"I think that's probably true." Kyle nodded, "Why do you think Umbridge suddenly became so brave?"

“Did you already know they were going to do this?” Cedric asked. “So this was Fudge’s plan, to blame the Death Eaters for what others had done?”

"Well, that's right." Kyle said, "But it also has advantages. At least it can remind everyone at any time, don't forget that there are Death Eaters hiding in the dark."

After such a long time, the students at Hogwarts seemed to have gradually forgotten about the mysterious man, but after reading today's newspaper, they finally remembered it again.

 For a time, the castle fell into panic again.

 But some people expressed doubts, and they were all people who knew Umbridge, such as Harry and Ron from Gryffindor.

"She doesn't seem like the type to do such a thing," Harry said firmly.

 When it comes to fighting Death Eaters, no one knows it better than him, and that's what the Order of the Phoenix does.

As for Umbridge... to be honest, Harry couldn't connect her with members of the Order of the Phoenix or Aurors.

“But that’s what the newspaper said.” Hermione looked at the Daily Prophet over and over, as if trying to find some content in the corner that they had ignored.

 But she almost pressed her face against the newspaper and found nothing.

“The newspapers said that Umbridge rushed to the street as fast as possible with a team of beaters, and many people saw it.”

“The news in the newspaper may also be false.” Ron said, “Remember? Some time ago they insisted that the mysterious man had not been resurrected.”

 “That’s right.” Harry nodded. He insisted that he didn't believe Umbridge would do such a thing.

 This is just like Snape giving points to Gryffindor, it is absolutely impossible.

There are many people like them, and at the same time, they also think of Principal Dumbledore who has disappeared for a long time.

 Since morning, there has been a lot of discussion in the castle.

 “Who remembers when the principal left the school.”

 “I don’t know, it must have been a long time.”

 “I don’t think he’s been around since the Christmas holidays.”

“No, it should be mid-February…”

 “Why do I remember it’s March?”

 …

Everyone has different opinions, but the only thing that is certain is that when Dumbledore is not in school, there is always a lot less security here.

But soon they had no time to think about it anymore.

 Because the Easter holiday is here.

As a Hogwarts tradition, the two-week Easter holiday is more like a carnival of homework.

  Professors seem to be in a competition to see who can crack people up more, and they are ruthless when it comes to assigning assignments.

　　Everyone felt numb when they looked at the holiday homework that filled a piece of parchment with just the requirements.

“Are the professors crazy?” Mikel said tremblingly, “We can’t finish so much homework in a month.”

“Then we’ll have to stay up all night to write.” Ryan glanced at him expressionlessly, “Don’t forget, the Easter holiday is only two weeks long.”

 “Oh!” Mikel let out a painful howl.

 This is true for sixth grade students, let alone fifth grade students who are about to take the O.W.L. exam.

 Hermione originally wanted to have a few more DA gatherings during the holidays, but after seeing the amount of homework, she immediately crumpled the schedule into a ball.

impossible, no one would want to go to any party at this time, which can be seen from the behavior of Harry and Ron.

The two of them sat numbly in the armchairs of the common room, as if under a petrifying spell.

"What are they doing? Why are they taking a holiday?" Ron said hoarsely.

"I think the professors wanted me to forget about You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters," Hermione said.

"Then they succeeded." Harry sighed, "We probably can't think of anything other than homework for the past two weeks?"

"Hermione..." Ron raised his head suddenly and said hopefully, "You are the only one who can save us now."

"You should write it yourself..." Hermione accidentally glanced at the homework sheet mid-sentence, "Okay, I'll try my best, but you'd better not count on me."

"Of course." Ron and Harry said hurriedly: "We even canceled Quidditch training."

In fact, Angelina Johnson came to them not long ago to tell them about this. She is in seventh grade and is taking the N.E.W.T. exam. Not only does she have to do homework, but she also has to find time to review. She is much busier than fifth grade.

 (End of this chapter)