Everything before her made Dolores Umbridge furious.
She believed that the reason the students had not applauded was because Dumbledore, that old beast, had instructed Eda, that little beast, to arrange it.
The students had been threatened by the two of them, so they did not dare applaud.
She believed that Dumbledore was inciting the Ministry of Magic and the students to oppose and hate each other, thereby achieving his goal of taking over the Ministry of Magic.
Merlin knows, it had never occurred to Umbridge that this was only a semi-spontaneous action by the students, born out of their poor first impression of her.
There had been neither Dumbledore's instructions nor Eda's coercion.
At most, Eda's personal actions had influenced the Gryffindor collective, while Gryffindor's collective behavior had then influenced Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.
Everyone was simply stroking Eda's ego.
With a satisfied look in her eyes, Umbridge turned toward the Slytherins, who were applauding enthusiastically. She was very pleased with Slytherin's performance tonight.
As expected of pure-bloods who were not afraid of authority or coercion, they were truly trustworthy.
In reality, hardly any of the Slytherin students knew who Umbridge was, much less what her speech meant. The only reason they applauded in support was simply because Gryffindor had "boycotted" her.
It was that simple! That pure!
Dumbledore stood up again and finished what he had been interrupted from saying, and the atmosphere in the Great Hall returned to normal.
After the headmaster finished speaking and announced that everyone was dismissed, the sound of tables, chairs, and benches scraping against one another rang out.
The Hogwarts opening feast, which had been somewhat eventful and had contained some discordant elements, was over.
The students stood up one after another, preparing to leave the Great Hall. They were going back to their respective common rooms. They missed the soft beds in their dormitories.
...
The next morning, Eda left the dormitory early.
Unexpectedly, Fred and George had gotten up even earlier than her. They were currently posting a notice on the bulletin board in the common room.
Curious, Eda walked over to take a look. The twins were holding a recruitment notice.
Previously, many of the twins' products had been tested on themselves or on Lee Jordan. Now, they had finally extended their claws toward other students.
"Anything that needs changing?" Fred asked. "You're the Head Girl. Give us your opinion!"
Eda did not hold back either. She took the quill from George and added two lines at the bottom of the notice. She wrote:
"(Qualifications: Applicants must be fourteen years of age or older and possess a certain degree of independent judgment and behavior.)
"(We regret to inform you that all work is undertaken at the applicant's own risk. A liability waiver must be signed.)"
"That should do. It's definitely not perfect, but it should be good enough to fool people." As she spoke, Eda returned the quill to George. "Hurry up and put it up. Once you're done, we can go eat breakfast."
The twins posted the revised notice in the most conspicuous position on the bulletin board. They took two steps back and carefully examined it, and the brothers were very satisfied.
"Eda would definitely be a shady businessman if she went into business," Fred said, giving Eda a thumbs-up.
"Do you think that if she ever sold the two of us off one day," George said, winking at Fred, "we'd still be counting the money for her?"
Under Eda's reproachful gaze, the twins nodded deeply in agreement.
After taking one last look at the notice, the three of them left the common room together and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.
They had arrived somewhat early, so there were not many students in the Great Hall yet. Eda and the twins casually found an empty spot and sat down.
As the noise in the Great Hall grew louder, more and more students arrived. At this point, Professor McGonagall began going from table to table, handing out timetables.
Professor McGonagall placed Eda's timetable in front of her and firmly tapped twice on Defense Against the Dark Arts. The meaning was clear: try not to cause trouble in this class. Behave yourself and stay put.
The corners of Eda's mouth immediately drooped, and she looked pitifully at Professor McGonagall. This was a little difficult!
Even if Eda was willing to behave herself, would Umbridge let her off?
Professor McGonagall understood this situation as well, so she did not force Eda to do so. Instead, she told Eda to try her best not to confront Umbridge directly.
After all, this was a school, and Umbridge's identity had become that of a professor.
Professor McGonagall shook her head helplessly and continued handing out the timetables, leaving Eda to sigh repeatedly as she stared at her own schedule.
Then she picked up the twins' timetables. The brothers' schedules were practically empty, making them incredibly enviable. Eda's mood suddenly became as gloomy as the magical ceiling, covered in clouds of sorrow.
She wanted to be this carefree too. She wanted to leisurely enjoy her final year of school life.
Her finger pressed firmly on Defense Against the Dark Arts. This was Eda's first class of the school year. Perhaps she could think of a way to ensure that she would never have to attend this class again.
After breakfast, Eda left the Great Hall with her friends.
As they walked toward the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Angelina was constantly discussing Quidditch team tryouts with the twins and Alicia.
After former captain Oliver Wood graduated, the Gryffindor Quidditch team had not only lost a serious and responsible captain, but also an excellent Keeper. This gave the new captain, Angelina, quite a headache.
Before they knew it, they had reached the classroom door, yet Angelina and the others still had not reached any conclusion in their discussion.
Umbridge was already sitting behind the teacher's desk in the classroom, still wearing the girlish-pink cardigan from the previous night.
All the students sitting below remained silent, the classroom filled with a lifeless atmosphere.
When the class bell rang, Umbridge said, "Good morning, class!"
A sparse response came from the classroom, and Umbridge was very dissatisfied with it. She wanted the students' response to be, "Good morning, Professor Umbridge."
But the students in this classroom were all seventh-years. They did not like such rigid responses, and they certainly did not want to sit with their hands behind their backs.
So Umbridge and the students reached a stalemate. All she could hear were a few scattered, "Good morning, Professor Umbridge," while more students remained slouched and responded half-heartedly.
After repeating this several times, someone finally could not take it anymore and asked, "We're already seventh-years. When are we going to start class?"
Umbridge said shrilly, "It should be, 'Professor Umbridge, when will we begin class?' That's the proper way to say it. It seems that your education at Hogwarts has made you forget many of the things you are expected to observe."
"When will we begin class, Professor Umbridge?" the student asked dejectedly.
"Of course, after you properly say, 'Good morning, Professor Umbridge,'" Umbridge said matter-of-factly. "Good morning, class!"
"Good morning, Professor Umbridge," the students replied in unison.
At this point, at least five minutes had passed since the class bell rang.
"That's better," Umbridge said in a coy voice. "That wasn't too difficult, was it? Please put away your wands and take out your quills."
The students became even more depressed. This was only the first class of the school year, and Umbridge was already going this far. Wasn't it a little too soon?
The students reluctantly put away their wands and took out their quills and ink.
In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Lockhart had already made them read passages aloud with emotion, and he had already made them perform dramatic scenes. The students were rather curious to see what new trick Umbridge could come up with.
Without allowing the students to use their wands, Umbridge instead took out her own unusually short wand. After waving it around for a while, two lines immediately appeared on the blackboard:
Defense Against the Dark Arts
Back to Basics
Umbridge criticized Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, saying that the teachers were constantly changing, the subject lacked a proper system, and the lessons were inconsistent and disjointed. Indirectly, she made Dumbledore out to be completely incompetent.
Then Umbridge changed the subject and began praising the Ministry of Magic and Fudge. She said that she would teach according to the curriculum standards approved by the Ministry, with theory as the focus.
The classroom became even more lifeless. For a moment, everyone felt as though they were taking Professor Binns's History of Magic class rather than Defense Against the Dark Arts.
The lesson continued. Umbridge did not ask anyone to read the textbook aloud, but what she did was even worse. She had everyone read the textbook silently and then copy passages from it.
Defense Against the Dark Arts instantly became a study period. There was no teacher's voice lecturing in the classroom, only the rustling of pages turning and the scratching of quills copying text.
Umbridge looked at everyone with satisfaction. Then she turned her gaze toward Eda among the students, wanting to find fault with her.
But Umbridge was disappointed. Eda was sitting there obediently reading her book, giving her no opportunity to make an issue out of anything.
A few more minutes passed, and the dry and tedious material successfully transformed the students into sleepyheads. The scene was almost as miserable as the History of Magic classroom at the same time.
At this point, a Ravenclaw student raised his hand straight into the air. He could no longer tolerate this way of teaching.
"Dear, do you have some question about the contents of this chapter?" Umbridge asked kindly.
The Ravenclaw student stood up and asked, "Professor Umbridge, may I ask if we're going to continue like this for the entire class? Silent reading and copying. I mean, aren't you going to teach us anything?"
All the students in the classroom looked at the Ravenclaw. They very much agreed with what the little eagle had said.
Then everyone looked at Eda again, unable to understand why she had been so quiet during this class. Even Fred and George did not quite understand it. The brothers felt that Eda must be plotting something.
"Oh, dear, I simply cannot understand why your clever little brain has led you to ask such a foolish question!" Umbridge exclaimed dramatically. "All the knowledge is in that book. It was carefully selected by the Ministry of Magic's educational experts. All you need to do is memorize the knowledge contained within it."
Murmurs broke out in the classroom. The students were very dissatisfied with Umbridge's explanation.
If attending class simply meant reading books and copying them, then what was the point of having a professor? They might as well get rid of the classroom too and have everyone go to the library to teach themselves!
"Silence!" Umbridge said. "This is a decision made by the Ministry of Magic. Do you think you are wiser than the educational experts, or are you trying to resist the will of the Ministry of Magic?"
Silence.
The students who had just been murmuring among themselves immediately quieted down. Was resisting the will of the Ministry of Magic really that serious?
The students were powerless to change Umbridge's decision or the decision of the Ministry of Magic she spoke of, but they were unwilling to accept the situation.
They were already seventh-years and would soon be taking their ultimate wizarding examinations. How could this possibly work?
So the students began looking toward Eda, who was still reading her book nearby, placing their hopes in this Head Girl, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor killer.
With a loud snap, Eda forcefully closed the Defensive Magical Theory in her hands and raised her right hand high.
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