Harry potter and the breeding darkness

Chapter 21

The next day held some significance for the two of them because they spent most of the day down in the lab adding the finishing touches to the fake Peverell ring. Tom had spent weeks completing the complex layering of spells to create the illusion that it was a horcrux.

He had used pensieve memories in order to recreate a duplicate of the ring itself, and to simulate the unique magical signature he remembered the ring having before he had added his own soul to it. It had been an arduous process but it was finally done.

They conjured a very small wooden box and placed the ring inside it. Harry then slipped it into his pocket with the intention of always keeping it with him so that he would be ready the instant any opportunity presented itself for him to switch it with the real ring.

Monday morning at Hogwarts arrived and Harry quickly tucked into his breakfast. When the post owls began to arrive, an unfamiliar barn owl swooped down in front of Hermione clutching a thick, rolled-up magazine looking thing. Hermione squealed slightly with excitement and quickly removed the owl's burden before giving it a piece of bacon.

The 'magazine' turned out to be that month's copy of the 'Journal of Magical Genealogical Study'. It was one of the wizarding journals that, Professor Phoebus Penrose had published her paper, 'The Annihilation of the Muggleborn Myth',in. Hermione, apparently, had owl-ordered for a copy of the journal and had been waiting eagerly for it ever since.

Hermione quickly forgot all about her breakfast as she instantly began to flip through the journal in search of the article. Harry was amused, if not a bit stunned, that Hermione continued to read it, even through History of Magic. History was a throwaway class, and everyone knew that – except for Hermione. She always paid attention in that class. So to see her actually blowing it off was a sign of just how interested she was in what she was reading.

The rest of the day went normally up until dinner. As Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and two of Ginny's dorm mates were entering the Great Hall, they were met with the sight of an unfamiliar presence at the head table with the rest of the Professors. There seemed to be an obvious air of displeasure among the Professors, as quite a few were holding very tight expressions, or openly frowning at the intruder

"Wonder who that is," Ginny said, glancing up at the Head Table as the group sat down at the Gryffindor table.

Harry glanced up, taking on an air of curious confusion. The intruder was a short, squat woman wearing far too much pink. It was easy to guess who she was. When Lucius had described her as a 'toad', Harry hadn't realized that the man had meant it literally, for she truly did resemble a bullfrog.

Harry shrugged. "Dunno," he said as he focused on the plates of food in front of him and sorting out just what he wanted to eat.

About a half hour into the meal, when the Great Hall was at its fullest, a tinkling sound of silverware tapping against a glass goblet could be heard echoing loudly through the great hall. The sound was magically amplified so there was no chance of anyone missing it. The din of noise quieted almost instantly and all eyes went up to the Head Table where Dumbledore was standing up.

"I have an announcement to make," Dumbledore called out once everyone had quieted down. "Hogwarts will be playing host to a guest for the coming weeks. Dolores Umbridge, the Senior Undersecretary of Minister Cornelius Fudge will be joining us in her new capacity as Educational High Inquisitor. She will be sitting in on many of your classes. Please do make her feel welcome during her stay with us."

Dumbledore began to sit back down and the entire hall just stared at him with confusion as well as a bit of shock. Clearly, no one quite knew what to make of this recent development.