𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕆𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨𝕤 [𝔸 ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪 ℙ𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝔽𝕒𝕟𝕗𝕚𝕔]

Chapter 4 | Professor Umbridge

Neera was worried about her first day of classes, to say the least. Not entirely for how her classes would go, but more for the fact that she had been asked to sit in on one of Umbridge's Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons to try and get a knowledge of which students seemed closer to Dumbledore and Harry. And, Fudge reasoned, so that Neera would get a better understanding of how to teach her students. Not that Umbridge knew any better, in Neera's mind.

But still, on the first day of classes, as the students walked in, they were surprised to see the new professor, Neera Fox, sitting at the back of the classroom on a small chair, one leg crossed over the other, with a notebook in hand. They tried to ignore her presence as best they could, and those who found themselves staring were quickly met with a glance from the teacher accompanied by a raised eyebrow. They were prompt to turn back to talking with their friends, though the conversations mostly seemed to circle the new "Professor Fox". Mainly about how young she was compared to the other professors they had.

Neera eventually finished setting up her note page and shifted in her chair a bit to get comfortable. Once she had, she silently took note of the students. Malfoy was sitting off to one side with his goons, while Potter and his friends sat on the opposite side of the room.

As she watched, two twins, the Padma twins as she had learned, carefully folded a paper bird and with the help of a little magic, brought it to life. The paper started to flap and floated around the room, bringing laughter from the mouths of some students, while others seemed more interested in slapping it. Seamus Finnigan was one of the ones who attempted to knock it out of the sky, along with Gregory Goyle who shot what looked like a rock at it.

Suddenly, the bird burst into flames, crumbled, and slowly drifted down onto the desk of its birth. Everyone turned to see Umbridge standing at the back of the room, her wand pointed to where the bird had been.

"Good morning, children," she said. She nodded to Neera. "Professor Fox."

"Professor Umbridge," Neera said in a civil tone.

Umbridge gave her a sly smile and turned back to the class, flicking her wand as some magical chalk floated up to start writing things on the blackboard.

"Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations," she said, walking up to the front of the room. "O-W-Ls. More commonly known as..." she turned to face the class once more as she reached the front. "OWLs. Study hard and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so, and the consequences may be... severe." She gave a small giggle and with a flick of her wand, the piles of books sitting on the desks behind her floated out to the students, one being deposited on every desk.

"Your previous instruction in this subject has been disturbingly uneven. But you'll be pleased to know from now on, you will be following a carefully structured, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic." Umbridge noticed that Hermione had extended her hand in question.

"There's nothing in here about using defensive spells," Hermione said, looking concerned. Neera sighed and took a note. The Ministry didn't want them learning how to defend themselves, or fight with magic for any sort of reason.

"Using spells?" Umbridge giggled again. "Well, I can't imagine why you would need to use spells in my classroom."

"We're not gonna use magic," Ronald Weasley asked.

"You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure risk-free way."

Harry couldn't hold his tongue. "Well, what use is that, if we're going to be attacked won't be risk-free."

Umbridge turned away from Harry. "Students will raise their hands when they speak in my class." Umbridge paused for a moment. "It is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge would be sufficient to get you through your examinations, which, after all, is what school is all about."