The castle entrance hall was lit red by torches, echoing with the sound of students' footsteps. Crossing the stone-paved floor, Eda walked toward the two large doors on the right leading to the Great Hall.
Fortunately, this year Eda was not stopped by Professor McGonagall at the entrance to the Great Hall.
The Great Hall was filled with four long house tables. Above them was the starless black ceiling, exactly like the sky outside that could be seen through the tall windows.
The students chatted excitedly, exchanging news from their summer holidays, loudly greeting friends from other houses, and looking each other over, admiring new hairstyles and new clothes. Everything seemed just as it had always been.
As she walked, Eda suddenly stopped and stared at the staff table in astonishment.
Her unusual behavior naturally caught the attention of the others. George, who was behind her, asked, "What's wrong? Why don't you find somewhere to sit first?"
"Umbridge." Eda said despairingly. "Dolores Umbridge."
Lee Jordan also came over and asked, "Who? I've never heard of anyone like that at Hogwarts."
"Don't tell me she's that old toad from the Ministry you mentioned before!" Fred said. He remembered Eda mentioning such a person. It had been the first time he had ever learned that Eda could hate someone so much.
"Toad?" Alicia asked curiously. "Are you talking about Neville's Trevor?"
"No, the Senior Undersecretary of the Ministry, Umbridge. I call her 'the pink old toad.'" Eda nodded toward the staff table, gesturing for everyone to see for themselves whether she looked like one.
There was an unfamiliar woman sitting at the staff table. She was short and plump, with short grayish-brown hair decorated with a large pink bow. Her pink cardigan was even more painful to look at.
"What a beautiful cardigan!" Fred said with a fake smile. "It matches her bow perfectly!"
"Don't you feel even a little heartbroken saying that?" Angelina said. "When we go back tonight, I'm throwing away everything pink I own. I don't think I'll ever like pink again."
Love one thing and its associated things, hate one thing and everything associated with it.
Because of Umbridge's girlish pink outfit, another girl had become disappointed in the color pink.
"Me too. This is the first time I've realized that wearing an entire outfit in pink can look so affected." Alicia said, then looked at Eda. "You must have thrown yours away ages ago, right? I feel so heartbroken about every Knut I ever spent on pink!"
"Fortunately, there are almost no pink clothes in my wardrobe," Eda said. She did not like pink. As she had said herself, pink was too delicate.
Rather than buying a pink outfit, she would rather buy something blue like forget-me-nots.
At the front end of the Gryffindor table, Eda and the others found several empty seats and sat down. On one side of them were younger students from their house, while Katie and her classmates sat on the other.
"She looks so much like one! Even more Trevor than Trevor himself." Lee Jordan sighed. "But what is she doing at school? Spying on Dumbledore for the Ministry of Magic?"
Several of them fell silent at the same time. At this critical moment, the purpose of Umbridge appearing at the school was obvious. They did not even need to think to know what Fudge was planning.
Eda sighed deeply and said sadly, "I'm afraid the situation is even worse than that. I think Defensive Magical Theory is probably the textbook she chose..."
The students in the Great Hall were all chatting with one another. No one noticed the pink old hag at the staff table, nor did anyone notice the row of older students collapsing across the Gryffindor table.
After a while, the doors leading into the hall opened, and a long line of first-year students who looked thoroughly shaken entered the Great Hall, led by Professor McGonagall. She was carrying a three-legged stool with the old Sorting Hat sitting on top.
The buzzing conversations in the Great Hall gradually died down. The first-years lined up in front of the staff table, facing the students from the other years. Professor McGonagall carefully placed the stool in front of them, then stepped back.
Seeing the students sprawled all over the Gryffindor table, Professor McGonagall pressed her lips together, looking somewhat angry.
However, when the Sorting Hat began its annual hat-singing performance, the little Gryffindor lions reluctantly left the table and sat properly in their seats.
By this point, almost all the Gryffindor students knew who Umbridge was. Perhaps the little lions also understood how detestable Umbridge was, though they had no idea yet just how terrible Defense Against the Dark Arts would be this school year...
But everyone knew one thing clearly: Big Sis was extremely unhappy with Umbridge, and she absolutely hated her!
The last time Big Sis had hated a teacher this much was when Gilderoy Lockhart had been around.
The students burst into applause, and the Sorting Hat's performance came to a successful end. Students from all four houses whispered to one another, quietly discussing the Sorting Hat's new song.
"...Our Hogwarts faces danger, and enemies outside the school are watching us hungrily. We must unite closely within our ranks, or everything will fall apart from within..."
It was not until Professor McGonagall glared sternly at the students who were whispering that the discussion in the Great Hall abruptly stopped. Professor McGonagall lowered her eyes to the parchment in her hands and loudly called out the first name.
"Euan Abercrombie."
He was a frightened-looking little boy with unusually large ears. The Sorting Hat placed him in Gryffindor, and the Great Hall immediately erupted with noise from the little lions.
The Sorting continued, and gradually, the long line of first-year students grew shorter and shorter.
After Rose Zeller was sorted into Hufflepuff, Professor McGonagall picked up the hat and stool and strode away. Dumbledore then stood up and, without wasting a single word, announced that it was time to eat.
The five long tables were suddenly piled high with large chunks of beef, pies, plates of vegetables, bread, jam, and jugs of pumpkin juice. The tables groaned under the weight.
The appreciative laughter and enthusiastic applause in the Great Hall stopped instantly, replaced by the clattering of knives and forks that rang throughout the hall.
The atmosphere at the Gryffindor table was somewhat different, however. There was not much enthusiasm for eating. Probably only Ron Weasley and the first-years were able to feast without a care in the world.
The little lions kept looking at Eda at their table, then at Umbridge at the staff table. Everything was left unspoken.
Once everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, the Great Hall gradually grew noisy again. Dumbledore stood up once more.
The talking immediately stopped, and everyone turned their faces toward the headmaster. As in previous years, Dumbledore emphasized several school rules, such as not going into the Forbidden Forest and not casting spells in the corridors between classes.
"This year, we have two changes to our teaching staff. We are very pleased to welcome Professor Grubbly-Plank back. She will be teaching you Care of Magical Creatures. We are equally pleased to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
Eda's ill-fated prediction had come true once again. The Ministry of Magic had not only specified the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook, they had even sent a teacher over.
If the Ministry of Magic had the authority to replace the headmaster, Umbridge would probably have become the new headmistress directly.
Just as Dumbledore continued speaking, Umbridge stood up and interrupted the headmaster. No new teacher had ever interrupted Dumbledore before.
"Thank you, Headmaster," Professor Umbridge said with a fake smile. "Thank you for that warm welcome."
Her voice was high and shrill, with a breathy quality, like a little girl's voice. She said, "Well, I must say, it is wonderful to be back at Hogwarts! It is wonderful to see all these happy little faces looking up at me!"
In reality, not a single student had a happy expression. Nobody liked being treated like a five-year-old child.
Although the students were looking at Umbridge, many of them were secretly laughing to themselves. This woman clearly did not understand the rules of Hogwarts.
Umbridge's affected, girlish voice continued as she spoke in an extremely bureaucratic tone, as though this were not the Great Hall of Hogwarts but the Ministry of Magic.
Speaking from the Ministry's standpoint, she first praised Hogwarts, then said that the school now needed "correcting", that they needed to "preserve what ought to be preserved, improve what needs improving, and discard what we ought to prohibit."
Her entire speech had only one message: the Ministry of Magic was very dissatisfied with Hogwarts, so they were going to interfere with it.
And as for why they were dissatisfied, what other reason could there be besides Dumbledore?
The Great Hall was very quiet, making it seem as though everyone was listening attentively to Umbridge. In reality, apart from a few students, the only person who listened carefully to every word of her speech was caretaker Filch.
Umbridge sat down. Dumbledore began applauding, and the other teachers followed suit. The students instinctively wanted to applaud as well.
At the Gryffindor table, Eda had absolutely no intention of clapping. She simply sat there quietly like an outsider.
Eda did not applaud, so the people beside her did not follow suit. When Eda and those around her remained motionless, the other Gryffindors also stopped what they were doing.
The little lions simply sat there in silence, as though they had no idea Umbridge's speech had already ended.
The unusual behavior of Gryffindor naturally did not escape the notice of the other three houses.
Although they did not know why the little lions were "collectively boycotting" Umbridge, the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs followed their example and also stopped applauding.
The Slytherins did not know the reason either, but that did not stop some of them from choosing to support Umbridge. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
And so, a strange scene appeared in the Great Hall. Of the five long tables, including the staff table, only the Slytherin students and teachers were applauding.
The remaining Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws remained silent, as though everyone had collectively gone offline.
For many people tonight, this was their first time meeting Umbridge. But her personal appearance, her long-winded speech, and her behavior of interrupting the headmaster all made her extremely unlikable, making it difficult for anyone to accept her right away.
Umbridge at the staff table was enraged by what she saw. She was going to write a letter to her beloved Minister. This Hogwarts was simply lawless!
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