SMILE » n. longbottom

xliv

"THE NEWEST DEFENSE AGAINST
THE DARK ARTS PROFESSOR"

All students except incoming First Years entered the Great Hall, all of them of which sat down according to their house and looked towards where the Professors sat. There had been a short, stout lady that wore pink robes and smiled almost too enthusiastically.

Whispers seemed to fill the Great Hall and stern face had revealed themselves. By the time anyone had noticed, Professor McGonagall had lead the First Years towards the front of the Great Hall where the Sorting Hat had been brought out, along with a chair.

"Good evening, children. Now we have two changes in staffing this year," Dumbledore stood at the front of the Great Hall, behind his owl stand. Lit candles surrounded him by his sides, while more candles had been floating above the lines of tables — great in mass. The headmaster continued, exclaiming his hands about, "We're pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank ... who'll be taking Care of Magical Creatures, while Professor Hagrid is on temporary leave.

"We also wish to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Professor Dolores Umbridge," Dumbledore looked towards the lady who smiled like a toad in response to her welcome and stood up. All students looks unpleased by the lady — disinterested. Albus Dumbledore concluded, "And I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing the professor good luck.

"Now as usual, our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has asked me to remind you ... "

Dumbledore's voice faded as Harry Potter spoke up, advising his group of friends amongst the Gryffindor table, staring among them then returning his focus towards the front where the lady had walked out from behind the professors' table; "She was at my hearing — she works for Fudge."

Once the Grand Hall had gone quiet again, Dolores Umbridge smiled more widely, her toad-like features standing out once more: "Thank you, headmaster, for those kind words of welcome. And how lovely to see all your bright, happy faces smiling up at me. I'm sure we're all going to be very good friends."

"That's likely," both of the Weasley twins said in unison in reaction to Professor Dolores Umbridge.

The lady paused a moment before continuing her speech, staring towards the Gryffindor table — more specifically towards where the two Weasley twins, Fred and George, sat amongst their fellow Gryffindor students. Umbridge continued: "The Ministry of Magic have always considered ... the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance.

"Although each headmaster ... has brought something new to this historic school ... progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged.

"Let us preserve what must be preserved ... perfect what must be perfected — and prune practices that ought to be prohibited," Dolores Umbridge concluded, she walked back towards her seat. Dumbledore then stood in her place and looked at Dolores who smiled more toad-like.

"Thank you, Professor Umbridge," The Hogwarts headmaster concluded, "that really was most illuminating."

Ron Weasley scoffed, "Illuminating? What a load of waffle."

"What's it mean?" Harry spoke out, looking amongst his fellow Gryffindors.

Dumbledore spoke loud, making sure that every student could hear him: "Magic is forbidden in the corridors."

Hermione Granger almost looked out towards the front of the Great Hall, still keeping her voice low so that only the people around her could hear, "It means the Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts."

The students listened to the rest of Dumbledore's speech until they were dismissed. Everyone had been speaking about what they had all seen in the Great Hall, some guessing in their efforts. A first-year assumed that Professor Umbridge was actually a boggart that had climbed the ranks of the Ministry, but the upperclassmen of the first-year's house had pointed out numerous reasons as to why that had been a false claim.

Alana Wallace and her roommate, Erise Wenbrell, sat on each of their beds. The latter had been sitting atop her bed, reading a magazine that had been something along the lines of "10 Tips and Tricks on How to ..." wheres Alana had been pacing in the dormitory in between of both Erise's and Alana's beds. Alana spoke out, "She just waltzes into the front doors of Hogwarts, expecting celebration on her arrival. The Ministry has always been lurking behind the authorization of Hogwarts school."

Erise Wenbrell smiled faintly and flipped to the next page of her magazine. She looked up to where Alana had been returning her attention, "She's new, Alana, give her a break."

"Is that all you have to say? Surely there's something else your pretty, little head has to say about this." Alana taunted, pausing to see how quickly all of this would be processed by Elise. Elise then stopped reading and looked up, opening her mouth to say something. Alana then sighed, grabbing her book bag and heading towards the exit of the dormitory, "I'll talk to you later, Elise."

The Hufflepuff girl walked out of the house commons and eventually, after walking through almost every hallway, Alana found herself at the library where she decided to stay. Neville found her staring at an empty section in the library, where a sign labeled "Articles Under the Topic of Dark Arts", to which he nodded towards it "It's a new order of the Ministry: they want Hogwarts to have nothing to do with protecting ourselves against the dark arts, as if the dark arts do not exist."

"It's quite peculiar, is it not?" Alana agreed. She turned to Neville, and noticed that he had been carrying a stack of books, "What have you got there?"

"Oh — these?" he set them down in a cart with books behind him. "Well, I am now being mentored by the librarian, and he has asked me to help them return book to their proper locations."

"Oh, that's cool. May I help?" Alana asked.

He looked back his cart and noted that there had only been approximately a dozen books left. Neville turned towards Alana and shook his head, "No, that's all right. There is only a little books left for me to return."

"Ah, well, that only gives me more of a reason to help," Alana picked up a stack, and exclaimed to the book on the top of the stack: "Which section does book belong to?"

The two had put away the remaining books from the cart onto their designated sections. Eventually they had finished up and found their way to the kitchens of Hogwarts, where they both sipped at drinks and talked about the current events at the school.

Eventually after a few dozen minutes of converse, Alana concluded, "You know, I just wish there was another way to learn how to defend myself against whatever dark force I may ever come in contact with, even if I may not. If the Ministry has permitted no information on how to defend ourselves against dark arts, why would they teach how to?"

"I'm not really supposed to talk about this, but ..." Neville sighed, sipping his drink once more before speaking. He whispered in a hushed tone, as if someone else could hear what he has to say, "Some friends of mine have put together a group of some select people to learn of such things. Maybe you would like to join?"