Chapter 348: Chapter 348: Meeting the Professor Using a Projector for the First Time (Edited)
"What's going on?" The young wizards in the class were restless, filling the room with a buzz.
The source of the problem was today's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. It's entirely normal to get nervous when the math teacher shows up in art class.
What appeared in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom today was not the kind and humorous Professor Lupin but Snape.
"Professor Snape, where is Professor Lupin?" asked a brave student. In their minds, if Professor Lupin had also been dismissed early, it would once again confirm the existence of the "curse." Furthermore, it seemed that this year's curse was especially fierce since the new professor hadn't even lasted half a semester.
"Professor Lupin isn't feeling well, so he can't teach," Snape replied with an excuse that all substitute teachers loved to use, although in this case, Professor Lupin was genuinely ill.
"I'll substitute to teach you the Defense Against the Dark Arts class." Snape never expected that his long-awaited position as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor would come true through a substitution.
To Snape's surprise, all the young wizards felt relieved. He thought the students would be very disappointed. Snape was well aware of his reputation among the students, which was not exactly good. But why did the kids seem so relieved when they found out he would be their substitute?
This was due to the theory of low expectations. The young wizards at Hogwarts were pragmatic. If Snape said he was a substitute, these young wizards would definitely reject him. But if Snape skillfully told them he would change the Defense Against the Dark Arts class to a Potions class, the students would accept his substitution.
Snape, in his black robe, walked quickly to the front of the classroom. At the same time, he waved his wand, and all the curtains in the room closed. Then, a curtain fell behind him, as if it were an old-fashioned cinema projector.
"A projector?" Tom was surprised for a moment, after all, this thing Snape had taken out looked very much like the large screen projector he had seen before.
The large canvas that Snape had lowered had a real projection function. He walked to the back of the classroom and touched a device similar to an old movie machine with his wand, and an image appeared on the big screen: a creature with a wolf's head and a human body.
Tom raised his eyebrows, truly admiring this interesting magical artifact. Professor Snape was always up to date, applying the projector in the classroom not long after the Muggles did. Tom also believed that with some modifications, this device could become a movie projector.
Perhaps in the future, students could really watch movies at Hogwarts, as long as the pages of the "visual spells" were changed quickly enough, the images would move. Moreover, with better storage techniques, movies could reach the wizarding world.
Of course, wizards could also find other ways, prolonging the looping time of actions in the photos, they could also "play" movies made in the magical world.
"Take out your textbooks."
Snape's voice echoed in the classroom, clearly disregarding the little cinema contraption. He just wanted to teach the class. Under his many years of authority, the young wizards obediently closed their mouths and took out their Defense Against the Dark Arts books.
"Open your books to page 394. Since Professor Lupin left no records of his lessons, I have no idea where you left off. It would be a good idea to start from the last chapter in the book. I suppose Professor Lupin didn't get this far, did he?"
As he watched the students struggle to find the page in their books, Snape couldn't wait any longer. He pointed his wand at those having difficulty finding the page, and their books all flipped open simultaneously to the section he was going to teach today.
This time, Hermione Granger was the one to respond to Snape's question.
"No, Professor, we just finished with Boggarts, and in the last class, we were covering Red Caps and Hinkypunks, nocturnal creatures—"
"Silence," Snape interrupted Hermione.
"I have my own plan, and Miss Granger, I remind you that in my classes, you must raise your hand before answering." Perhaps due to Lupin's suffering, Snape was in a good mood and didn't deduct any points from Ravenclaw.
Looking at the scene on the screen, he asked another question.
"Can anyone tell me the difference between an Animagus and a werewolf?"
Tom understood Snape's intentions. He was trying to reveal Lupin's identity in this way. Dumbledore, didn't you tell me not to reveal his identity? Well, I won't say it outright, but I'll find a way for the students to discover it for themselves! That's Snape's little stratagem.
In response to the professor's question, Hermione raised her hand enthusiastically.
...
"Minister, a letter from Dumbledore." Umbridge, dressed in a light pink suit, placed a letter on Fudge's desk.
"You don't need to read it; I know it's a complaint from Dumbledore." Fudge showed impatience on his face. "Severe punishments, severe punishments. Dumbledore only knows how to punish the 'guilty,' but he has never considered my difficulties."
Fudge pounded the table and took a pipe from his drawer. He normally didn't smoke in front of other people, but there was no one else in the office now. He lit the pipe's tobacco, inhaled, and exhaled purple smoke.
"Yes, Minister, although no students were harmed, Mr. Dumbledore refuses to loosen his 'standards' a bit. He doesn't understand the Ministry of Magic's difficulties; we can't punish the Dementors, they are already quite hungry. Perhaps he's losing his mind..." Umbridge forced a smile that made her face look like a bun and said pleasing things according to what Fudge wanted to hear.
"Hah! Don't say that. For a hundred-year-old man, Dumbledore has done well enough," Fudge waved his hand, Umbridge's words pleased him, and he finally made a decision.
"We will conduct a thorough investigation! I believe the truth will come to light." Fudge looked at Umbridge and said slowly, "An impartial, complete investigation."
He emphasized some adjectives.
Anyone with basic knowledge of British Ministry of Magic politics knows that a "thorough investigation" usually translates to "making concessions." Investigating everything often means investigating nothing, as in movies, the more elements are promoted in a film, the more likely it is to be bad.
"Dolores Jane Umbridge, I appoint you as the Ministry of Magic's Commissioner of Investigation. You will be responsible for investigating incidents of unusual Dementor activity at Hogwarts. I grant you permission to mobilize the Aurors and the Punishment Squad."
Chapter 349: Chapter 349: Special Envoy from the Ministry of Magic (Edited)
"It's just a small investigation; there's no need to involve the Aurors, Minister," Umbridge responded respectfully.
"I want them to go."
To Umbridge's surprise, Fudge wasn't being polite this time; he really wanted Umbridge to lead an elite team from the Ministry of Magic waiting at Hogwarts.
"If... Dumbledore is unwilling to compromise, then we will punish the Dementors and let them know that the magical world is ruled by wizards, and the Ministry of Magic has the final say."
Fudge finally relented. He didn't want to have an intense conflict with Dumbledore. In his internal balance, Dumbledore outweighed the Dementors.
Umbridge didn't have her own ideas; her only idea was to be in line with those in power. Of course, she promised to fully carry out the task.
"Of course, we must remind these lower creatures that wizards are their masters. According to the Ministry of Magic Regulations, Article—"
"Go." Fudge didn't want to talk to her anymore; Umbridge's perfume bothered him.
Umbridge stood up respectfully and said, "Yes, Minister."
...
Umbridge left Fudge's office and quickly selected a group of Aurors and a team of Ministry of Magic enforcers and headed to Hogwarts.
Once there, she ordered the Aurors and enforcers to stand by while she went ahead to negotiate at Hogwarts.
That's when she encountered Professor McGonagall.
"Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, I am Dolores Jane Umbridge, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Magic and Commissioner of Investigation for the Ministry of Magic, tasked with investigating the recent Dementor incident." Umbridge introduced herself with a sweet, childlike voice, then extended her hand in a "friendly" gesture.
Professor McGonagall looked at the five thick, stubby "carrots" offered in front of her, and her reaction was one of reluctance: she didn't want to touch that woman, but it turns out she was the Ministry of Magic's representative, and it wasn't very polite to ignore her in that manner.
So, Professor McGonagall had to hold her breath and barely brush Umbridge's five carrot fingers.
The smile on Umbridge's face grew even sweeter as she followed Professor McGonagall inside Hogwarts with her short legs.
"Oh, after all these years, the sight of Hogwarts hasn't changed at all." After a few hypocritical words of courtesy, Umbridge got to the main topic.
"Minerva, I believe this is all just a misunderstanding. As we all know, the Dementors are loyal to the Ministry of Magic, so they wouldn't disobey the Ministry's orders."
"But the Dementors certainly did break into the Quidditch field, causing great chaos. All the teachers and students at Hogwarts saw it clearly." Professor McGonagall had a serious expression; she was trying to contain her impatience and explain to Umbridge how the events unfolded that day.
However, you can't wake someone who's pretending to be asleep. Umbridge knew full well the origin, development, and outcome of the events, but she had "her" position.
Therefore, Professor McGonagall repeated time and time again, while Umbridge kept repeating like a broken record: "This is just a misunderstanding."
Her message was also quite clear: the Ministry of Magic was not wrong, and neither were the Dementors; they were just doing their duty. As for the Hogwarts professors... well, they might not be wrong either; all of this was Sirius Black's fault.
Professor McGonagall felt her temples throbbing.
"The Dementors broke in and attacked the students." She made an effort to keep a calm tone. "That's a fact."
This time, Umbridge's blood pressure went up. As much as she pretended not to have seen it, she couldn't change the fact that the Dementors had harassed the students. The students of Hogwarts, what kind of people were they?
There was no need to mention Muggle-borns and half-bloods; most of the pure-blood family descendants attended Hogwarts. Even though some of them talked about sending their children to Durmstrang, like the Malfoys, their bodies, quite honestly, still chose Hogwarts.
After these pure-blood family descendants were scared that night, they naturally complained to their elders. And their elders' attitude was quite unanimous: those who made our children uncomfortable, I will make them uncomfortable.
Blame the Dementors for their actions? Surely they wouldn't blame them. The Dementors were the Ministry of Magic's dogs; if the kids were frightened by the dogs, they would naturally seek the owners.
So, several letters of responsibility were sent to the Ministry of Magic through official and private channels. The senders' names on the letters were increasingly intimidating.
But Fudge didn't care in the least.
Making mistakes wasn't a problem as long as he could blame someone else. Sirius Black was the perfect scapegoat.
Umbridge's purpose was precisely that: to conclude, through a "thorough investigation," that everything was Sirius Black's fault. It had all been a misunderstanding! The Ministry of Magic was blameless, the Dementors were diligent servants, and Hogwarts was an innocent victim. Everyone was in the right, except Black.
Umbridge even had a prepared draft for the statement: the Dementors made some minor mistakes while pursuing Sirius Black and had some run-ins with the students, causing unnecessary discomfort. Disciplinary action has now been taken against the responsible Dementors. The Ministry of Magic sincerely apologizes for what occurred, the matter has been resolved, and public resources will not be used again, and so on.
They could send someone to apologize, and that would be it.
Umbridge's "we're all friends" strategy didn't seem to make sense to her. Why were Professor McGonagall and that stubborn old man refusing to give in?
Umbridge knew from McGonagall's reaction that it would be difficult to resolve this situation with a superficial apology and regret.
"Minerva, we're both women, and we should understand each other. I'm aware of the difficulties you face at Hogwarts, and I hope you can also understand me..." The appeasement strategy had no effect, so Umbridge resorted to the gender and emotion card.
McGonagall looked at her with a strange expression.
A difficult situation at Hogwarts? Me? It seems like I'm doing fine, don't I? Apart from a few troublesome students and a not-so-active headmaster, Slytherin House and its Head of House being too annoying, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with me, right?
"This seems unrelated to our topic today. If we're talking about understanding, I believe my students deserve more understanding," replied McGonagall firmly.
She had two clear demands: first, the Dementors to be removed from the castle; second, punishment to be imposed on them.
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